What is medical terminology
Medical terminology is a language used by medical practitioners to describe the human body components, conditions processes, and procedures to be done to it. The language is used to describe symptoms, diagnoses, tests that need to ordered and ran and special medical equipment. Medical terminologies are not limited to doctor and nurses only, but it is also essential for other workers in the health industries to know how to say, spell and dread medical terms. Some of these workers include medical billers, medical assistants, pharmacists and medical coders.
The language has several importance especially when it comes to accurate patient charting. Medical charting refers to a full record of a patient’s essential clinical data and medical history. It comprises of medical notes made by physicians, nurses, technicians and other health professions regarding history such as immunization date, surgical history, allergies and so on. The fact that patient charting contains such vital information and various medical professions access it necessitates the accuracy of medical charting especially when it comes to medical terminology. This is achieved through enabling standardized communication between professional, accessible documentation and communication and avoiding errors.
Why medical terminology is important
Standard terms provided by medical terminology allow health care experts to understand patient’s condition and issues. Moreover, the healthcare workers can interpret complex information and make a more precise diagnosis regarding the reasons the patient is in the hospital and how to help the patient.
Abbreviation in medical terminology replaces longer language that can be transcribed into plain English. Healthcare workers deal with a lot of patients on a daily basis, and it is essential to document information regarding each patient. Standard medical abbreviation enable easy and accurate documentation that can be understood by other medical workers
Miscommunication in healthcare
Errors are bound to occur during communication between medical practitioners. Medical terminology helps avoid such error enabling accurate patient charting. This contributes to prevent putting the patient at greater risks. For instance, inaccurate information regarding patient dosage may result in overdose or wrong drug administration. Through accurate terminology, this is evaded.
There is a significant role that medical terminology play in patient charting. It is, therefore, essential for all healthcare workers to familiarize themselves with the language; how to write it, speak it and decipher it to ensure administration of efficient healthcare services.
