Medicinal terminologies list for beginners

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Medical terminology refers to terms used in medicine to describe various diseases, medical processes and conditions. These consist of medical procedures, diseases, disorders, and pharmacology. Medical terminologies refer to the vocabulary used in the medical profession to describe the body, what it does, and the treatments and the prescriptions that are needed.

In this article, you will find an entire list of useful terms to use and understand your medical profession better.

Basic terminologies

Medical terms for Patient status

S. no	Name	Details
1.	Acute	The patient who needs immediate care
2.	Critical	Patient out of the normal range and maybe unconscious
3.	Inpatient	The Patient who needs hospital admission
4.	Observation	A state where the physicians will decide by seeing the condition of the patient whether the patient should be admitted or discharged from the hospital
5.	Outpatient	The Patient status who is not in the hospital for the care. This includes one-day emergency or clinic visits or same-day surgeries

Medical terms for condition and diseases

S. no	Name	Details
1.	Abrasion	Scrape affects the skin and can be treated at home
2.	Abscess	Puss-filled pocket happens due to infection
3.	Acute	The Condition which starts and end quickly
4.	Aneurysm	This is a bulge in the artery which weakens the artery and can also cause rupture
5.	Aortic dissection	This is the tear in the inner layer of the aorta
6.	Bradycardia	It slows down the heart rate
7.	Benign	It refers to a tumour that is not cancerous or malignant
8.	Chronic	A recurring or persistent condition
9.	Cyanosis	In this, the skin turns bluish and lacks oxygen in the blood
10.	Thrombosis	Blood clot in the vessel that affects the flow of blood
11.	Edema	By fluid accumulation, swelling happens
12.	Fracture	Broken or cracked bone
13.	Hypertension	In this the blood pressure became high
14.	Hypotension	In this. the blood pressure became low
15.	Malignant	refers to tumours that have cancerous cells
16.	Cancer	In this,Note the body cells became out of control as this is a collection of diseases that also cause abnormal functioning of the body
17.	Tumour	It is related to cancer where swelling occurs
18.	Remission	The disease is constant as it is not getting worse
19.	Normal sinus rhythm	The normal heartbeats are between 60 to 80 beats per minute in an adult
20.	Sepsis	It is the imbalance of the body which affects the tissues and organs of the body
21.	Biopsy	In this process a small tissue sample is taken for the testing so that we can find o\if there is any disease or extent is present
22.	Contusion	This is a bruise from the impact
23.	Diagnosis	This is the process of identification, where we get to know the diseases by the evaluation of the tests and the other factors
24.	Embolus	This is the blood clot, bubble of air, or any other obstacle which interferes with the flow of blood in the affected vessel
25.	Atrial fibrillation	This is the condition when the muscles result in irregular pulse and low blood flow
26.	Ischemia	This is caused by the lack of blood flow in the parts of the body which can refer to heart-cardiac ischemia.
27.	Tension pneumothorax	This is occurred by the collapsed lungs as the air leaks and there is a space between the chest wall and the lungs
28.	Pericardial effusion	In this, the blood is leaking in the pericardium which is surrounded by the heart
29.	Myocardial infarction	This is called heart attack as in here when the arterial blockage is present which result in reduced blood flow and chest pain too
30.	Cerebrovascular accident (CVA)	The other name is stroke, this occurs due to the blockage or any rupture of the blood vessels as then the brain is deprived of blood and oxygen.
31.	Angina	This is the symptom of coronary artery disease, where there is reduced blood flow and chest pain occurs.

Tools and types of equipment and medication terms

S.no	Name	Details
1.	Endoscope	It’s a tube that is flexible and has lighting and a camera fixed on it so that we can see into the body. And there are different types of endoscopes are present
2.	Foley	A flexible tube enters the urethra to drain the bladder, it is an indwelling catheter
3.	Fluoroscope	It is called an X-ray machine which is used for the still images
4.	Stethoscope	It checks the person’s heartbeats and breathing and it is a very small piece of equipment
5.	Intravenous(IV)	It is the fluid that is inserted through the veins
6.	Epidural	A local anaesthetic injection is used to relieve the pain during labour
7.	Sublingual	It is known as blowing the tongue
8.	Nocte	It means for at night, which refers to when the medication is administered
9.	Mane	It means in the morning, which refers to when the medication should be administered
10.	OD	It means Once daily (medication)
11.	BDS	It means to take two times per day (medication)
12.	TDS	It means taking three times per day (medication)
13.	QDS	It means taking four times per day (medication)
14.	PRN	It means take as needed (medication)
15.	PR	It means taken rectally (medication)
16.	PO	It means taken by month (medication)
17.	IV push	It’s a rapid injection of medication
18.	NS	It means normal saline which is called the mixture of salt and water produced by the body

Medical jargon/slang

S.no	Name	Details
1.	Champagne tap	A lumbar puncture undertaken without any red blood cells found in it.
2.	stat	Immediately
3.	Thready	This indicates the large issues and refers to the weak pulses which are disappearing because of pressure
4.	Golden hour	This refers to the high chances of successful treatment

Medical procedures and tests

S.no	Name	Details
1.	Blood culture	It is the test by which we can find any bacteria, fungi in the person’s blood
2.	Blood gas	This is the test that shows the components which are gas based in the blood which includes oxygen, carbon dioxide, pH balance, etc.
3.	Blood pressure	This test measures the good circulation of blood as the normal blood pressure is about 120/80 for adults
4.	Blood swab	In this test blood sample is taken on the cotton stick
5.	Bowel disimpaction	In this, there is the manual removal of fecal matter from the person’s rectum
6.	Central line	Here the catheter is present in the large vein which allows multiple IV fluids and to draw the blood easily
7.	C-section	It is the shorthand for the surgical delivery of the baby through the abdominal wall
8.	pulse/ox	It is called pulse oximetry, which measures the saturation of oxygen in the blood
9.	Dialysis	It is the process of blood cleaning of those people whose kidneys are failing
10.	Pulse	It measures the pulsating artery
11.	Intubation	assists the person in breathing through the endotracheal tube
12.	Laparotomy	is a surgery that involves the abdominal wall
13.	Lumbar puncture	refers to spinal tap
14.	Sternotomy	This refers to the surgical opening of the breast bone
15.	Thoracotomy	This refers to the surgery in the chest cavity
16.	Tox screen	Refers to the toxic analysis of blood is done in case of a drug overdose, for the purpose of identifying the drug
17.	Ultrasound	This refers to the image diagnostic by the sound waves of high frequency
18.	Venipuncture	This is a drawing of blood from a vein

Medical abbreviations

S.no	Name	Details
1.	ALOC	stands for Acute Loss of Consciousness
2.	ASA	is known as acetylsalicylic acid also called aspirin
3.	BMI	stands for Body Mass Index, this is the process of measuring the fat of the body based on height and weight.
4.	BP	It stands for Blood Pressure
5.	BLS	stands for Basic Life Support
6.	CAT scan	It stands for computerised axial tomography
7.	CHF	stands for Congestive heart failure
8.	CPR	It stands for Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, this is also called the mouth-to-mouth technique to save someone’s life
9.	DNR	stands for Do not resuscitate
10.	DOA	It stands for DEad on arrival
11.	ED/ER	It stands for emergency department and emergency room
12.	EEG	is used to measure the activities of the brain
13.	EKG/ECG	It stands for Electrocardiogram, this is used to record the electric signals in the heart
14.	EMS	It stands for Emergency medical services
15.	HR	stands for Heart rate
16.	KUB	It stands for Kidney, ureter, and bladder x-ray, this is used for the abdominal pain diagnosis
17.	LFT	It stands for Liver Function Test
18.	MIR	It stands for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, in this process we use large magnets and radio waves to see inside the human body.
19.	NICU	It stands for Neonatal intensive care unit
20.	NSAID	It stands for Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug
21.	OR	It stands for operating room
22	OT	It stands for Occupational therapy
23.	Psych	refers to the psychiatric ward.
24.	PT	It stands for physical therapy
25.	Rx	This is the shorthand of the medical prescription and also signifies some other treatments
26.	U/A	This is called urinalysis; we can say the process of testing the urine.

Conclusion

From the above terms it is clear that with respect to the medical profession there are multiple medical terminologies present for dealing with different situations. The medical terms for patient’s conditions and treatments are different or for the diseases and much more other terms as these terminologies are important so that we can be familiar with the things. Other than that we can say that it is another language in the medical profession. Get in touch with our team at DBMCI for more information on the medical profession and how to build a successful medical career.