Medical Terminology & Abbreviations

Rachel R Walden, MLIS

rachel.walden@vanderbilt.edu

Strategies for Building Your Knowledge

Read (and look up unfamiliar terms) Medical News (such as in MDConsult, online

newspapers) Journal articles of interest

Attend lectures or view taped lectures Study roots, suffixes, and prefixes Use pronunciation resources Word of the Day Explore MeSH Purchased workbooks and tools

Resources: Finding Definitions

Dictionaries such as Stedman’s or Dorland’s, MedlinePlus

MeSH browser in PubMedGoogle search – define:word

Example define:pericarditisAssorted online dictionaries

Resources: Subject-Specific

Diabetes Dictionary: http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/dictionary/index.htm

Dictionary of Radiological Terms: http://remm.nlm.nih.gov/dictionary.htm

Digestive Diseases Dictionary (currently being updated): http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/dictionary/

Kidney Diseases Dictionary: http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/kdictionary/

NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms: http://www.cancer.gov/dictionary/ NCI Drug Dictionary: http://www.cancer.gov/drugdictionary/ Talking Glossary of Genetic Terms: http://

www.genome.gov/glossary.cfm Sexual Health Glossary:

http://www.ashastd.org/learn/learn_glossary_A_D.cfm Urologic Diseases Dictionary:

http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/udictionary/ Martinale (links to others):

http://www.martindalecenter.com/MedicalD_Dict.html

Resources: Pronunciation

Merck Manual Home Edition: http://www.merck.com/mmhe/resources/pronunciations/index/a.html

Medical Terminology Jukebox: http://www.wisc-online.com/objects/index_tj.asp?objID=GEN504

Listen to PodCasts: http://casesblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/podcasts-from-conferences-of-university.html and http://casesblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/your-spreadsheet-becomes-wiki-lets-make.html

Resources: Prefixes, Suffixes, and Roots

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_Prefixes%2C_Suffixes%2C_and_Combining_Forms Ex: find prefixes meaning “slow,” “bladder”

http://ec.hku.hk/mt/ Ex: find suffixes meaning “pain,” “puncture”

http://msjensen.cehd.umn.edu/1135/med_term_activites/

Terminology workbooks

Resources: Abbreviations

Flashmed - http://www.flash-med.com/Abbreviation.asp Example: find “IM”

Biomedical Abbreviation Server - http://abbreviation.stanford.edu/ Ex: find what “CABG,” “TRALI” stand for

Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_medical_abbreviations and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_abbreviations_used_in_medical_prescriptions Ex: find abbreviation meaning a drug should be administered

3x per day

Resources: Abbreviations, con’t

JCAHO “Do Not Use” Abbreviations - http://www.jointcommission.org/PatientSafety/DoNotUseList/

Resources: Eponyms

whonamedit.com Example: Addison’s Disease

Wikipedia (pages for eponymous diseases, signs, and anatomical features)

Print reference works on eponyms

Resources: Word of the Day

Stedman’s: http://www.stedmans.com/section.cfm/9

Tabers: http://www.tabers.com/tabersonline/ub?

MedTerms: http://www.medterms.com/script/main/hp.asp

Games & Quizzes

Quia: http://www.quia.com/shared/med/,

http://www.quia.com/shared/search?category=15176

FreeNurseTutor: http://www.freenursetutor.com/home/