Every industry has it’s own set of words, unique to its area of expertise, so here is a list of just a few of the more common medical terms used in NZ.
Health is one of the few areas that everyone is connected to – and happens to be filled with some of the longest and most confusing words of all. Many you may already be familiar with, so test yourself, and see how you go!
Common medical terms
- Acute: A condition that begins abruptly and is sometimes severe, but the duration is short
- Benign: not cancerous
- Biopsy: a small sample of tissue that is taken for testing
- Chronic: a recurring, persistent, or long lasting condition eg asthma, diabetes
- Contusion: bruise
- Hypertension: high blood pressure
- Intravenous: medication or fluid that is delivered by your vein
- Malignant: the presence of cancerous cells
- Outpatient: A patient who receives care without being admitted to a hospital
- Stat: Immediately
Common medical abbreviations
- BMI: Body mass index, a measure of body fat based on your height and weight
- BP: Blood pressure
- CPR: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, also called mouth-to-mouth resuscitation
- ED/ER: Emergency department or emergency room
- HR: Heart rate, expressed as beats per minute
- HDL-C: High-density lipoprotein cholesterol, or ‘good’ cholesterol
- LDL-C: Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, or ‘bad’ cholesterol
Common medical root words
- Cardi/o: Related to the heart
- Derm/a/o, dermat/o: Related to the skin
- Encephal/o: Related to the brain
- My/o: Related to muscle
- Gastr/o: Related to the stomach
- Hemat/o: Related to blood
- Oste/o: Related to bone
- Pulmon/o: Related to the lungs
Get your medicine delivered from ZOOM Pharmacy
ZOOM Pharmacy provides personalised care, specific to you. Our customer care and service is second to none. Get prescription medicine delivery to your door, repeats sorted for you.
Simply send ZOOM your prescription. You can do this through your patient portal, or tell your medical centre to send it, or take a photo and securely upload your prescription, or freepost / courier it yourself. A pharmacist will then get in touch and take it from there.
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