МІНІСТЕРСТВО ОХОРОНИ ЗДОРОВ’Я УКРАЇНИ

ХАРКІВСЬКИЙ ДЕРЖАВНИЙ МЕДИЧНИЙ УНІВЕРСИТЕТ

English for medical students

Підручник для англомовних студентів вищих медичних навчальних закладів

Затверджено

вченою радою ХДМУ

Протокол №

Від

Харків ХДМУ 2007

English for medical students. Підручник для англомовних студентів вищих медичних навчальних закладів / Упор. Рузін І.Г – Харків. 2007. – 196 с.

Preface

The course of MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY is aimed to help you be absolutely familiar with the language of medicine. It is not to substitute special medical subjects, although it deals with some aspects of anatomy, histology, physiology, pathology etc. The ultimate target of the course is to teach you only two things:

1. How to analyze and, consequently, understand any medical term.

2. How to build medical terms

The classes and exercises connected with learning terminology might seem boring at first, but you will find them very useful even in the very beginning of your medical education while dealing with the material at your lectures and practical classes on anatomy, histology, physiology etc. Further on complete value of the course will gradually become clear to you when you start studying clinical subjects. When at the lecture you hear a word stereoelectroencephalography, you’ll immediately analyze the term (-graphy - recording; encephalo- brain; electro- electricity; stereo- 3D) and understand that the topic in question is recording electricity of the brain in 3 dimensions, and this knowledge in its turn will help you master the material of the lecture much quicker and easier. Neither you, nor your professors will be wasting time trying to understand or explain what in general acanthodermocele is, for you’ll automatically recognize the term as a hernia of thorny skin.

Not only does the knowledge of terminology make comprehension of medical topics much easier, but professional communication as well. Imagine how awkward it would be, if instead of a comparatively short gastrospasm doctors always had to say involuntary contractions of the muscles of the stomach! And when you complete the course of terminology, building correct medical terms will present no problem to you.

When eventually you are working as a doctor, or a medical scientist, you’ll be able to completely appreciate the value of the course of MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY and realize that the time spent over learning the subject was worth it.

Medicine as a science. Branches of medicine

Medicine is the branch of health science and the sector of public life concerned with maintaining or restoring human health through the treatment of disease and injury. It is both an area of knowledge – a science of body systems, their diseases and treatment – and the applied practice of that knowledge.

The practice of medical care is shared between the medical profession (physicians or doctors) and other groups of professionals such as nurses and pharmacists, sometimes known as allied health professionals. Historically, only those conferred with a medical doctorate have been considered to practice medicine. Clinicians can be physicians, nurses or medical assistants. The medical profession is the social and occupational structure of the group of people formally trained and authorized to apply medical knowledge. Many countries and legal jurisdictions have legal limitations on who may practice medicine or the allied medical fields.

Medicine is typically seen as composed of various specialized sub-branches, such as cardiology, pulmonology, and neurology, or dealing with particular body systems, diseases, or areas of health.

Systems of medical and health care practices have existed inside human societies since at least the beginnings of recorded history. These systems have developed in various ways across different cultures and regions. Medicine, as understood in the modern period, has historically been considered to be the mainstream tradition which developed in the Western world since the early modern age. Many other traditions of medicine and health care are still widely practiced throughout the world; most of these are still considered to be separate and distinct from Western medicine, which is also called biomedicine or the Hippocratic tradition. The most highly developed systems of medicine outside the Western system are traditional Chinese medicine and the Ayurvedic traditions of India and Sri Lanka. Various non-mainstream traditions of health care have also developed in the Western world distinct from mainstream medicine. These systems, practiced among various cultures, are sometimes considered companions to Hypocratic medicine, and sometimes are seen as competition to the Western tradition.

"Medicine" is also often used amongst medical professionals as shorthand for internal medicine. Veterinary medicine is the practice of health care in animal species other than human beings.