Medical Terminology For Dummies®, 2>nd Edition
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Copyright © 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2014945060
ISBN 978-1-118-94404-2 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-94406-6 (ePDF); ISBN 978-1-118-94405-9 (eMobi)
Manufactured in the United States of America
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Welcome to Medical Terminology For Dummies! Consider this your personal, private course in the study of the medical terms used everyday in doctor’s offices, hospitals, clinics, billing and insurance companies, labs, and even pharmacies. This is a personal grand tour through not only the world of medical terminology, but also through your own body.
You’ll find as you read this book that learning medical terms is a two-part proposition. First, you’ve got to master the landscape of language itself. Don’t worry, though – there will be no quiz. We just want you to better understand how to both create and break down words. Once you get to know more about prefixes, suffixes, and root words, you can do darn near anything with the terminology. For example, you can go inside the body to discover the terms that match up with different systems, diseases, procedures, and pharmaceutical products.
Mastering medical terminology involves more than just memorizing. Exploring these terms and how they can be created will unlock not only medical mysteries for you, but great opportunities as well.
About This Book
Getting to know the world of medical terminology can get a bit repetitive at times. That’s why we decided to break the book down into several parts about all kinds of different things. You start by getting the backstory of terminology – the history and the players involved with bringing this “language” to the masses. Then you get into the nitty-gritty of how words are formed and all about word parts, usage, pronunciation, and recognition. Finally, you take a gander at all the different body systems and the words associated with them. We even throw in some bonus top ten lists at the end that we hope you find useful.
There’s a lot to learn about medical terminology, we admit, but we’ll be right there with you for the whole wild, crazy ride. Keep in mind that you don’t have to read this book cover-to-cover, nor do you have to remember all the details from chapter to chapter. Read out of order, skip what you don’t need. It will all be there for you should you choose to revisit the sections, tips, or sidebars at another time.