meaning of presentation in medical terminology

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pre·sen·ta·tion

Patient discussion about presentation.

Q. What are the presenting signs of ALS? Are the upper or lower extremeties affected initialilly? A. The most common presenting sign of ALS is asymmetric limb weakness, usually starting with the hands (problems with pinching, writing, holding things etc.) shoulders (lifting arms above head etc.) or legs (problems walking). Other presenting signs may be problems with speaking or swallowing, although these are less common. You may read more here: www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/amyotrophiclateralsclerosis.html

Q. Iam a bipolar and presently on tegretol medication.I found this to be the best way to get my doubt clarified. I am a bipolar and presently on tegretol medication. My doctor frequently changes the meds and he has tried variety of medicines before prescribing tegretol. He changes the meds every time when I visit him for routine check-up. I am bit confused and obviously cannot question my doctor as I repose faith and confidence in him. I found this to be the best way to get my doubt clarified. A. Are you being treated by your GP? I would suggest if you are having trouble finding the right combinations it might be a good time to ask to be referred to a Psychaitrist. GP's will do their best but like anything specialized they only have a certain amount of knowledge and a specialist in the field could be more help. I also think that other treatments along with The medications like theropy and group theropy, excercise, good diet, plenty of sleep etc helps a lot too... Try to be patient it is a process to get everything in place that will work the best for you... everyone is different and the .mmedications and treatments that work for one may not work for another...

• 21-hydroxylase deficiency
• abnormal presentation
• anterior presentation
• antigen presentation
• asynclitism
• atypical GERD
• bacterial meningitis
• bipolar version
• presbyosmia
• prescapular fossa
• prescribed experience
• prescribing
• prescribing nurse
• prescription
• prescription drug
• prescription exemption certificate
• Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority
• prescription only medicine
• Prescription Pre-payment Certificate
• Prescription Pricing Authority
• Prescription Pricing Division
• presence of mind
• presenile dementia
• presenile spontaneous gangrene
• presenility
• presentative
• Presenteeism
• presenting symptom
• preseptal cellulitis
• preservation
• preservative
• presinusoidal
• presomite embryo
• presphenoid
• presphenoid bone
• presphygmic
• presplenic fold
• prespondylolisthesis
• pressed juice
• pressor base
• pressor fiber
• pressor fibers
• pressor nerve
• pressoreceptive
• Present Worth
• Present Worth of Capital Expenditures
• present you as
• present you with
• present yourself
• Present, The
• present-day
• Present-Day English
• Present-Minded Individualism
• present-worth factor
• presentability
• presentable
• presentablely
• presentableness
• presentably
• Presentance Report
• Presentaneous
• Presentasi Pemikiran Kritis Mahasiswa
• Presentation Accept
• Presentation and Personalization Management
• Presentation Brothers College, Cork
• Presentation client
• Presentation Connect
• Presentation Connection Endpoint
• Presentation Connection Endpoint Identifier
• Presentation Context Definition List
• Presentation Context Identifier
• Presentation Controller Mediator Entity Foundation
• Presentation Convent Kodaikanal
• Presentation copy
• Presentation Data Value
• Presentation Department
• Presentation Departments
• Présentation des Normes Européennes
• presentation drawing
• Presentation du Systeme de Planification et de Gestion de Frequence
• Presentation Element Parser, YACC
• Presentation Environment for Multimedia Objects
• Presentation File
• Presentation Function
• Présentation Générale Lex Persona
• presentation graphics
• presentation graphics program
• Facebook Share

Overview and General Information about Oral Presentation

• Daily Presentations During Work Rounds
• The New Patient Presentation
• The Holdover Admission Presentation
• Outpatient Clinic Presentations
• The structure of presentations varies from service to service (e.g. medicine vs. surgery), amongst subspecialties, and between environments (inpatient vs. outpatient). Applying the correct style to the right setting requires that the presenter seek guidance from the listeners at the outset.
• Time available for presenting is rather short, which makes the experience more stressful.
• Individual supervisors (residents, faculty) often have their own (sometimes quirky) preferences regarding presentation styles, adding another layer of variability that the presenter has to manage.
• Students are evaluated/judged on the way in which they present, with faculty using this as one way of gauging a student’s clinical knowledge.
• Done well, presentations promote efficient, excellent care. Done poorly, they promote tedium, low morale, and inefficiency.

General Tips:

• Practice, Practice, Practice! Do this on your own, with colleagues, and/or with anyone who will listen (and offer helpful commentary) before you actually present in front of other clinicians. Speaking "on-the-fly" is difficult, as rapidly organizing and delivering information in a clear and concise fashion is not a naturally occurring skill.
• Immediately following your presentations, seek feedback from your listeners. Ask for specifics about what was done well and what could have been done better – always with an eye towards gaining information that you can apply to improve your performance the next time.
• Listen to presentations that are done well – ask yourself, “Why was it good?” Then try to incorporate those elements into your own presentations.
• Listen to presentations that go poorly – identify the specific things that made it ineffective and avoid those pitfalls when you present.
• Effective presentations require that you have thought through the case beforehand and understand the rationale for your conclusions and plan. This, in turn, requires that you have a good grasp of physiology, pathology, clinical reasoning and decision-making - pushing you to read, pay attention, and in general acquire more knowledge.
• Think about the clinical situation in which you are presenting so that you can provide a summary that is consistent with the expectations of your audience. Work rounds, for example, are clearly different from conferences and therefore mandate a different style of presentation.
• Presentations are the way in which we tell medical stories to one another. When you present, ask yourself if you’ve described the story in an accurate way. Will the listener be able to “see” the patient the same way that you do? Can they come to the correct conclusions? If not, re-calibrate.
• It's O.K. to use notes, though the oral presentation should not simply be reduced to reading the admission note – rather, it requires appropriate editing/shortening.
• In general, try to give your presentations on a particular service using the same order and style for each patient, every day. Following a specific format makes it easier for the listener to follow, as they know what’s coming and when they can expect to hear particular information. Additionally, following a standardized approach makes it easier for you to stay organized, develop a rhythm, and lessens the chance that you’ll omit elements.

Specific types of presentations

There are a number of common presentation-types, each with its own goals and formats. These include:

• Daily presentations during work rounds for patients known to a service.
• Newly admitted patients, where you were the clinician that performed the H&P.
• Newly admitted patients that were “handed off” to the team in the morning, such that the H&P was performed by others.
• Outpatient clinic presentations, covering several common situations.

Key elements of each presentation type are described below. Examples of how these would be applied to most situations are provided in italics. The formats are typical of presentations done for internal medicine services and clinics.

Note that there is an acceptable range of how oral presentations can be delivered. Ultimately, your goal is to tell the correct story, in a reasonable amount of time, so that the right care can be delivered. Nuances in the order of presentation, what to include, what to omit, etc. are relatively small points. Don’t let the pursuit of these elements distract you or create undue anxiety.

Daily presentations during work rounds of patients that you’re following:

• Organize the presenter (forces you to think things through)
• Inform the listener(s) of 24 hour events and plan moving forward
• Promote focused discussion amongst your listeners and supervisors
• Opportunity to reassess plan, adjust as indicated
• Demonstrate your knowledge and engagement in the care of the patient
• Rapid (5 min) presentation of the key facts

Key features of presentation:

• Opening one liner: Describe who the patient is, number of days in hospital, and their main clinical issue(s).
• 24-hour events: Highlighting changes in clinical status, procedures, consults, etc.
• Subjective sense from the patient about how they’re feeling, vital signs (ranges), and key physical exam findings (highlighting changes)
• Relevant labs (highlighting changes) and imaging
• Assessment and Plan : Presented by problem or organ systems(s), using as many or few as are relevant. Early on, it’s helpful to go through the main categories in your head as a way of making sure that you’re not missing any relevant areas. The broad organ system categories include (presented here head-to-toe): Neurological; Psychiatric; Cardiovascular; Pulmonary; Gastrointestinal; Renal/Genitourinary; Hematologic/Oncologic; Endocrine/Metabolic; Infectious; Tubes/lines/drains; Disposition.

Example of a daily presentation for a patient known to a team:

• Opening one liner: This is Mr. Smith, a 65 year old man, Hospital Day #3, being treated for right leg cellulitis
• MRI of the leg, negative for osteomyelitis
• Evaluation by Orthopedics, who I&D’d a superficial abscess in the calf, draining a moderate amount of pus
• Patient appears well, states leg is feeling better, less painful
• T Max 101 yesterday, T Current 98; Pulse range 60-80; BP 140s-160s/70-80s; O2 sat 98% Room Air
• Ins/Outs: 3L in (2 L NS, 1 L po)/Out 4L urine
• Right lower extremity redness now limited to calf, well within inked lines – improved compared with yesterday; bandage removed from the I&D site, and base had small amount of purulence; No evidence of fluctuance or undrained infection.
• Creatinine .8, down from 1.5 yesterday
• WBC 8.7, down from 14
• Blood cultures from admission still negative
• Gram stain of pus from yesterday’s I&D: + PMNS and GPCs; Culture pending
• MRI lower extremity as noted above – negative for osteomyelitis
• Continue Vancomycin for today
• Ortho to reassess I&D site, though looks good
• Follow-up on cultures: if MRSA, will transition to PO Doxycycline; if MSSA, will use PO Dicloxacillin
• Given AKI, will continue to hold ace-inhibitor; will likely wait until outpatient follow-up to restart
• Add back amlodipine 5mg/d today
• Hep lock IV as no need for more IVF
• Continue to hold ace-I as above
• Wound care teaching with RNs today – wife capable and willing to assist. She’ll be in this afternoon.
• Set up follow-up with PMD to reassess wound and cellulitis within 1 week

The Brand New Patient (admitted by you)

• Provide enough information so that the listeners can understand the presentation and generate an appropriate differential diagnosis.
• Present a thoughtful assessment
• Present diagnostic and therapeutic plans
• Provide opportunities for senior listeners to intervene and offer input
• Chief concern: Reason why patient presented to hospital (symptom/event and key past history in one sentence). It often includes a limited listing of their other medical conditions (e.g. diabetes, hypertension, etc.) if these elements might contribute to the reason for admission.
• The history is presented highlighting the relevant events in chronological order.
• 7 days ago, the patient began to notice vague shortness of breath.
• 5 days ago, the breathlessness worsened and they developed a cough productive of green sputum.
• 3 days ago his short of breath worsened to the point where he was winded after walking up a flight of stairs, accompanied by a vague right sided chest pain that was more pronounced with inspiration.
• Enough historical information has to be provided so that the listener can understand the reasons that lead to admission and be able to draw appropriate clinical conclusions.
• Past history that helps to shed light on the current presentation are included towards the end of the HPI and not presented later as “PMH.” This is because knowing this “past” history is actually critical to understanding the current complaint. For example, past cardiac catheterization findings and/or interventions should be presented during the HPI for a patient presenting with chest pain.
• Where relevant, the patient's baseline functional status is described, allowing the listener to understand the degree of impairment caused by the acute medical problem(s).
• It should be explicitly stated if a patient is a poor historian, confused or simply unaware of all the details related to their illness. Historical information obtained from family, friends, etc. should be described as such.
• Review of Systems (ROS): Pertinent positive and negative findings discovered during a review of systems are generally incorporated at the end of the HPI. The listener needs this information to help them put the story in appropriate perspective. Any positive responses to a more inclusive ROS that covers all of the other various organ systems are then noted. If the ROS is completely negative, it is generally acceptable to simply state, "ROS negative.”
• Other Past Medical and Surgical History (PMH/PSH): Past history that relates to the issues that lead to admission are typically mentioned in the HPI and do not have to be repeated here. That said, selective redundancy (i.e. if it’s really important) is OK. Other PMH/PSH are presented here if relevant to the current issues and/or likely to affect the patient’s hospitalization in some way. Unrelated PMH and PSH can be omitted (e.g. if the patient had their gall bladder removed 10y ago and this has no bearing on the admission, then it would be appropriate to leave it out). If the listener really wants to know peripheral details, they can read the admission note, ask the patient themselves, or inquire at the end of the presentation.
• Medications and Allergies: Typically all meds are described, as there’s high potential for adverse reactions or drug-drug interactions.
• Family History: Emphasis is placed on the identification of illnesses within the family (particularly among first degree relatives) that are known to be genetically based and therefore potentially heritable by the patient. This would include: coronary artery disease, diabetes, certain cancers and autoimmune disorders, etc. If the family history is non-contributory, it’s fine to say so.
• Social History, Habits, other → as relates to/informs the presentation or hospitalization. Includes education, work, exposures, hobbies, smoking, alcohol or other substance use/abuse.
• Sexual history if it relates to the active problems.
• Vital signs and relevant findings (or their absence) are provided. As your team develops trust in your ability to identify and report on key problems, it may become acceptable to say “Vital signs stable.”
• Note: Some listeners expect students (and other junior clinicians) to describe what they find in every organ system and will not allow the presenter to say “normal.” The only way to know what to include or omit is to ask beforehand.
• Key labs and imaging: Abnormal findings are highlighted as well as changes from baseline.
• Summary, assessment & plan(s) Presented by problem or organ systems(s), using as many or few as are relevant. Early on, it’s helpful to go through the main categories in your head as a way of making sure that you’re not missing any relevant areas. The broad organ system categories include (presented here head-to-toe): Neurological; Psychiatric; Cardiovascular; Pulmonary; Gastrointestinal; Renal/Genitourinary; Hematologic/Oncologic; Endocrine/Metabolic; Infectious; Tubes/lines/drains; Disposition.
• The assessment and plan typically concludes by mentioning appropriate prophylactic considerations (e.g. DVT prevention), code status and disposition.
• Chief Concern: Mr. H is a 50 year old male with AIDS, on HAART, with preserved CD4 count and undetectable viral load, who presents for the evaluation of fever, chills and a cough over the past 7 days.
• Until 1 week ago, he had been quite active, walking up to 2 miles a day without feeling short of breath.
• Approximately 1 week ago, he began to feel dyspneic with moderate activity.
• 3 days ago, he began to develop subjective fevers and chills along with a cough productive of red-green sputum.
• 1 day ago, he was breathless after walking up a single flight of stairs and spent most of the last 24 hours in bed.
• Diagnosed with HIV in 2000, done as a screening test when found to have gonococcal urethritis
• Was not treated with HAART at that time due to concomitant alcohol abuse and non-adherence.
• Diagnosed and treated for PJP pneumonia 2006
• Diagnosed and treated for CMV retinitis 2007
• Became sober in 2008, at which time interested in HAART. Started on Atripla, a combination pill containing: Efavirenz, Tonofovir, and Emtricitabine. He’s taken it ever since, with no adverse effects or issues with adherence. Receives care thru Dr. Smiley at the University HIV clinic.
• CD4 count 3 months ago was 400 and viral load was undetectable.
• He is a gay male, not currently sexually active. He has never used intravenous drugs.
• He has no history of asthma, COPD or chronic cardiac or pulmonary condition. No known liver disease. Hepatitis B and C negative. His current problem seems different to him then his past episode of PJP.
• Review of systems: negative for headache, photophobia, stiff neck, focal weakness, chest pain, abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, urinary symptoms, leg swelling, or other complaints.
• Hypertension x 5 years, no other known vascular disease
• Gonorrhea as above
• Alcohol abuse above and now sober – no known liver disease
• No relevant surgeries
• Atripla, 1 po qd
• Omeprazole 20 mg, 1 PO, qd
• Lisinopril 20mg, qd
• Naprosyn 250 mg, 1-2, PO, BID PRN
• No allergies
• Both of the patient's parents are alive and well (his mother is 78 and father 80). He has 2 brothers, one 45 and the other 55, who are also healthy. There is no family history of heart disease or cancer.
• Patient works as an accountant for a large firm in San Diego. He lives alone in an apartment in the city.
• Smokes 1 pack of cigarettes per day and has done so for 20 years.
• No current alcohol use. Denies any drug use.
• Sexual History as noted above; has sex exclusively with men, last partner 6 months ago.
• Seated on a gurney in the ER, breathing through a face-mask oxygen delivery system. Breathing was labored and accessory muscles were in use. Able to speak in brief sentences, limited by shortness of breath
• Vital signs: Temp 102 F, Pulse 90, BP 150/90, Respiratory Rate 26, O2 Sat (on 40% Face Mask) 95%
• HEENT: No thrush, No adenopathy
• Lungs: Crackles and Bronchial breath sounds noted at right base. E to A changes present. No wheezing or other abnormal sounds noted over any other area of the lung. Dullness to percussion was also appreciated at the right base.
• Cardiac: JVP less than 5 cm; Rhythm was regular. Normal S1 and S2. No murmurs or extra heart sounds noted.
• Abdomen and Genital exams: normal
• Extremities: No clubbing, cyanosis or edema; distal pulses 2+ and equal bilaterally.
• Skin: no eruptions noted.
• Neurological exam: normal
• WBC 18 thousand with 10% bands;
• Normal Chem 7 and LFTs.
• Room air blood gas: pH of 7.47/ PO2 of 55/PCO2 of 30.
• Sputum gram stain remarkable for an abundance of polys along with gram positive diplococci.
• CXR remarkable for dense right lower lobe infiltrate without effusion.
• Monitored care unit, with vigilance for clinical deterioration.
• Hypertension: given significant pneumonia and unclear clinical direction, will hold lisinopril. If BP > 180 and or if clear not developing sepsis, will consider restarting.
• Low molecular weight heparin
• Code Status: Wishes to be full code full care, including intubation and ICU stay if necessary. Has good quality of life and hopes to return to that functional level. Wishes to reconsider if situation ever becomes hopeless. Older brother Tom is surrogate decision maker if the patient can’t speak for himself. Tom lives in San Diego and we have his contact info. He is aware that patient is in the hospital and plans on visiting later today or tomorrow.
• Expected duration of hospitalization unclear – will know more based on response to treatment over next 24 hours.

The holdover admission (presenting data that was generated by other physicians)

• Handoff admissions are very common and present unique challenges
• Understand the reasons why the patient was admitted
• Review key history, exam, imaging and labs to assure that they support the working diagnostic and therapeutic plans
• Does the data support the working diagnosis?
• Do the planned tests and consults make sense?
• What else should be considered (both diagnostically and therapeutically)?
• This process requires that the accepting team thoughtfully review their colleagues efforts with a critical eye – which is not disrespectful but rather constitutes one of the main jobs of the accepting team and is a cornerstone of good care *Note: At some point during the day (likely not during rounds), the team will need to verify all of the data directly with the patient.
• 8-10 minutes
• Chief concern: Reason for admission (symptom and/or event)
• Temporally presented bullets of events leading up to the admission
• Review of systems
• Relevant PMH/PSH – historical information that might affect the patient during their hospitalization.
• Meds and Allergies
• Family and Social History – focusing on information that helps to inform the current presentation.
• Habits and exposures
• Physical exam, imaging and labs that were obtained in the Emergency Department
• Assessment and plan that were generated in the Emergency Department.
• Overnight events (i.e. what happened in the Emergency Dept. and after the patient went to their hospital room)? Responses to treatments, changes in symptoms?
• How does the patient feel this morning? Key exam findings this morning (if seen)? Morning labs (if available)?
• Assessment and Plan , with attention as to whether there needs to be any changes in the working differential or treatment plan. The broad organ system categories include (presented here head-to-toe): Neurological; Psychiatric; Cardiovascular; Pulmonary; Gastrointestinal; Renal/Genitourinary; Hematologic/Oncologic; Endocrine/Metabolic; Infectious; Tubes/lines/drains; Disposition.
• Chief concern: 70 yo male who presented with 10 days of progressive shoulder pain, followed by confusion. He was brought in by his daughter, who felt that her father was no longer able to safely take care for himself.
• 10 days ago, Mr. X developed left shoulder pain, first noted a few days after lifting heavy boxes. He denies falls or direct injury to the shoulder.
• 1 week ago, presented to outside hospital ER for evaluation of left shoulder pain. Records from there were notable for his being afebrile with stable vitals. Exam notable for focal pain anteriorly on palpation, but no obvious deformity. Right shoulder had normal range of motion. Left shoulder reported as diminished range of motion but not otherwise quantified. X-ray negative. Labs remarkable for wbc 8, creat 2.2 (stable). Impression was that the pain was of musculoskeletal origin. Patient was provided with Percocet and told to see PMD in f/u
• Brought to our ER last night by his daughter. Pain in shoulder worse. Also noted to be confused and unable to care for self. Lives alone in the country, home in disarray, no food.
• ROS: negative for falls, prior joint or musculoskeletal problems, fevers, chills, cough, sob, chest pain, head ache, abdominal pain, urinary or bowel symptoms, substance abuse
• Hypertension
• Coronary artery disease, s/p LAD stent for angina 3 y ago, no symptoms since. Normal EF by echo 2 y ago
• Chronic kidney disease stage 3 with creatinine 1.8; felt to be secondary to atherosclerosis and hypertension
• aspirin 81mg qd, atorvastatin 80mg po qd, amlodipine 10 po qd, Prozac 20
• Allergies: none
• Family and Social: lives alone in a rural area of the county, in contact with children every month or so. Retired several years ago from work as truck driver. Otherwise non-contributory.
• Habits: denies alcohol or other drug use.
• Temp 98 Pulse 110 BP 100/70
• Drowsy though arousable; oriented to year but not day or date; knows he’s at a hospital for evaluation of shoulder pain, but doesn’t know the name of the hospital or city
• CV: regular rate and rhythm; normal s1 and s2; no murmurs or extra heart sounds.
• Left shoulder with generalized swelling, warmth and darker coloration compared with Right; generalized pain on palpation, very limited passive or active range of motion in all directions due to pain. Right shoulder appearance and exam normal.
• CXR: normal
• EKG: sr 100; nl intervals, no acute changes
• WBC 13; hemoglobin 14
• Na 134, k 4.6; creat 2.8 (1.8 baseline 4 m ago); bicarb 24
• LFTs and UA normal
• Vancomycin and Zosyn for now
• Orthopedics to see asap to aspirate shoulder for definitive diagnosis
• If aspiration is consistent with infection, will need to go to Operating Room for wash out.
• Urine electrolytes
• Follow-up on creatinine and obtain renal ultrasound if not improved
• Renal dosing of meds
• Strict Ins and Outs.
• follow exam
• obtain additional input from family to assure baseline is, in fact, normal
• Since admission (6 hours) no change in shoulder pain
• This morning, pleasant, easily distracted; knows he’s in the hospital, but not date or year
• T Current 101F Pulse 100 BP 140/80
• Ins and Outs: IVF Normal Saline 3L/Urine output 1.5 liters
• L shoulder with obvious swelling and warmth compared with right; no skin breaks; pain limits any active or passive range of motion to less than 10 degrees in all directions
• Labs this morning remarkable for WBC 10 (from 13), creatinine 2 (down from 2.8)
• Continue with Vancomycin and Zosyn for now
• I already paged Orthopedics this morning, who are en route for aspiration of shoulder, fluid for gram stain, cell count, culture
• If aspirate consistent with infection, then likely to the OR
• Continue IVF at 125/h, follow I/O
• Repeat creatinine later today
• Not on any nephrotoxins, meds renaly dosed
• Continue antibiotics, evaluation for primary source as above
• Discuss with family this morning to establish baseline; possible may have underlying dementia as well
• SC Heparin for DVT prophylaxis
• Code status: full code/full care.

Outpatient-based presentations

There are 4 main types of visits that commonly occur in an outpatient continuity clinic environment, each of which has its own presentation style and purpose. These include the following, each described in detail below.

• The patient who is presenting for their first visit to a primary care clinic and is entirely new to the physician.
• The patient who is returning to primary care for a scheduled follow-up visit.
• The patient who is presenting with an acute problem to a primary care clinic
• The specialty clinic evaluation (new or follow-up)

It’s worth noting that Primary care clinics (Internal Medicine, Family Medicine and Pediatrics) typically take responsibility for covering all of the patient’s issues, though the amount of energy focused on any one topic will depend on the time available, acuity, symptoms, and whether that issue is also followed by a specialty clinic.

The Brand New Primary Care Patient

Purpose of the presentation

• Accurately review all of the patient’s history as well as any new concerns that they might have.
• Identify health related problems that need additional evaluation and/or treatment
• Provide an opportunity for senior listeners to intervene and offer input

Key features of the presentation

• If this is truly their first visit, then one of the main reasons is typically to "establish care" with a new doctor.
• It might well include continuation of therapies and/or evaluations started elsewhere.
• If the patient has other specific goals (medications, referrals, etc.), then this should be stated as well. Note: There may well not be a "chief complaint."
• For a new patient, this is an opportunity to highlight the main issues that might be troubling/bothering them.
• This can include chronic disorders (e.g. diabetes, congestive heart failure, etc.) which cause ongoing symptoms (shortness of breath) and/or generate daily data (finger stick glucoses) that should be discussed.
• Sometimes, there are no specific areas that the patient wishes to discuss up-front.
• Review of systems (ROS): This is typically comprehensive, covering all organ systems. If the patient is known to have certain illnesses (e.g. diabetes), then the ROS should include the search for disorders with high prevalence (e.g. vascular disease). There should also be some consideration for including questions that are epidemiologically appropriate (e.g. based on age and sex).
• Past Medical History (PMH): All known medical conditions (in particular those requiring ongoing treatment) are listed, noting their duration and time of onset. If a condition is followed by a specialist or co-managed with other clinicians, this should be noted as well. If a problem was described in detail during the “acute” history, it doesn’t have to be re-stated here.
• Past Surgical History (PSH): All surgeries, along with the year when they were performed
• Medications and allergies: All meds, including dosage, frequency and over-the-counter preparations. Allergies (and the type of reaction) should be described.
• Social: Work, hobbies, exposures.
• Sexual activity – may include type of activity, number and sex of partner(s), partner’s health.
• Smoking, Alcohol, other drug use: including quantification of consumption, duration of use.
• Family history: Focus on heritable illness amongst first degree relatives. May also include whether patient married, in a relationship, children (and their ages).
• Physical Exam: Vital signs and relevant findings (or their absence).
• Key labs and imaging if they’re available. Also when and where they were obtained.
• Summary, assessment & plan(s) presented by organ system and/or problems. As many systems/problems as is necessary to cover all of the active issues that are relevant to that clinic. This typically concludes with a “health care maintenance” section, which covers age, sex and risk factor appropriate vaccinations and screening tests.

The Follow-up Visit to a Primary Care Clinic

• Organize the presenter (forces you to think things through).
• Accurately review any relevant interval health care events that might have occurred since the last visit.
• Identification of new symptoms or health related issues that might need additional evaluation and/or treatment
• If the patient has no concerns, then verification that health status is stable
• Review of medications
• Provide an opportunity for listeners to intervene and offer input
• Reason for the visit: Follow-up for whatever the patient’s main issues are, as well as stating when the last visit occurred *Note: There may well not be a “chief complaint,” as patients followed in continuity at any clinic may simply be returning for a visit as directed by their doctor.
• Events since the last visit: This might include emergency room visits, input from other clinicians/specialists, changes in medications, new symptoms, etc.
• Review of Systems (ROS): Depth depends on patient’s risk factors and known illnesses. If the patient has diabetes, then a vascular ROS would be done. On the other hand, if the patient is young and healthy, the ROS could be rather cursory.
• PMH, PSH, Social, Family, Habits are all OMITTED. This is because these facts are already known to the listener and actionable aspects have presumably been added to the problem list (presented at the end). That said, these elements can be restated if the patient has a new symptom or issue related to a historical problem has emerged.
• MEDS : A good idea to review these at every visit.
• Physical exam: Vital signs and pertinent findings (or absence there of) are mentioned.
• Lab and Imaging: The reason why these were done should be mentioned and any key findings mentioned, highlighting changes from baseline.
• Assessment and Plan: This is most clearly done by individually stating all of the conditions/problems that are being addressed (e.g. hypertension, hypothyroidism, depression, etc.) followed by their specific plan(s). If a new or acute issue was identified during the visit, the diagnostic and therapeutic plan for that concern should be described.

The Focused Visit to a Primary Care Clinic

• Accurately review the historical events that lead the patient to make the appointment.
• Identification of risk factors and/or other underlying medical conditions that might affect the diagnostic or therapeutic approach to the new symptom or concern.
• Generate an appropriate assessment and plan
• Allow the listener to comment

Key features of the presentation:

• Reason for the visit
• History of Present illness: Description of the sequence of symptoms and/or events that lead to the patient’s current condition.
• Review of Systems: To an appropriate depth that will allow the listener to grasp the full range of diagnostic possibilities that relate to the presenting problem.
• PMH and PSH: Stating only those elements that might relate to the presenting symptoms/issues.
• PE: Vital signs and key findings (or lack thereof)
• Labs and imaging (if done)
• Assessment and Plan: This is usually very focused and relates directly to the main presenting symptom(s) or issues.

The Specialty Clinic Visit

Specialty clinic visits focus on the health care domains covered by those physicians. For example, Cardiology clinics are interested in cardiovascular disease related symptoms, events, labs, imaging and procedures. Orthopedics clinics will focus on musculoskeletal symptoms, events, imaging and procedures. Information that is unrelated to these disciples will typically be omitted. It’s always a good idea to ask the supervising physician for guidance as to what’s expected to be covered in a particular clinic environment.

• Highlight the reason(s) for the visit
• Review key data
• Provide an opportunity for the listener(s) to comment
• 5-7 minutes
• If it’s a consult, state the main reason(s) that the patient was referred as well as who referred them.
• If it’s a return visit, state the reasons why the patient is being followed in the clinic and when the last visit took place
• If it’s for an acute issue, state up front what the issue is Note: There may well not be a “chief complaint,” as patients followed in continuity in any clinic may simply be returning for a return visit as directed
• For a new patient, this highlights the main things that might be troubling/bothering the patient.
• For a specialty clinic, the history presented typically relates to the symptoms and/or events that are pertinent to that area of care.
• Review of systems , focusing on those elements relevant to that clinic. For a cardiology patient, this will highlight a vascular ROS.
• PMH/PSH that helps to inform the current presentation (e.g. past cardiac catheterization findings/interventions for a patient with chest pain) and/or is otherwise felt to be relevant to that clinic environment.
• Meds and allergies: Typically all meds are described, as there is always the potential for adverse drug interactions.
• Social/Habits/other: as relates to/informs the presentation and/or is relevant to that clinic
• Family history: Focus is on heritable illness amongst first degree relatives
• Physical Exam: VS and relevant findings (or their absence)
• Key labs, imaging: For a cardiology clinic patient, this would include echos, catheterizations, coronary interventions, etc.
• Summary, assessment & plan(s) by organ system and/or problems. As many systems/problems as is necessary to cover all of the active issues that are relevant to that clinic.
• Reason for visit: Patient is a 67 year old male presenting for first office visit after admission for STEMI. He was referred by Dr. Goins, his PMD.
• The patient initially presented to the ER 4 weeks ago with acute CP that started 1 hour prior to his coming in. He was found to be in the midst of a STEMI with ST elevations across the precordial leads.
• Taken urgently to cath, where 95% proximal LAD lesion was stented
• EF preserved by Echo; Peak troponin 10
• In-hospital labs were remarkable for normal cbc, chem; LDL 170, hdl 42, nl lfts
• Uncomplicated hospital course, sent home after 3 days.
• Since home, he states that he feels great.
• Denies chest pain, sob, doe, pnd, edema, or other symptoms.
• No symptoms of stroke or TIA.
• No history of leg or calf pain with ambulation.
• Prior to this admission, he had a history of hypertension which was treated with lisinopril
• 40 pk yr smoking history, quit during hospitalization
• No known prior CAD or vascular disease elsewhere. No known diabetes, no family history of vascular disease; He thinks his cholesterol was always “a little high” but doesn’t know the numbers and was never treated with meds.
• History of depression, well treated with prozac
• Discharge meds included: aspirin, metoprolol 50 bid, lisinopril 10, atorvastatin 80, Plavix; in addition he takes Prozac for depression
• Taking all of them as directed.
• Patient lives with his wife; they have 2 grown children who are no longer at home
• Works as a computer programmer
• Smoking as above
• ETOH: 1 glass of wine w/dinner
• No drug use
• No known history of cardiovascular disease among 2 siblings or parents.
• Well appearing; BP 130/80, Pulse 80 regular, 97% sat on Room Air, weight 175lbs, BMI 32
• Lungs: clear to auscultation
• CV: s1 s2 no s3 s4 murmur
• No carotid bruits
• ABD: no masses
• Ext; no edema; distal pulses 2+
• Cath from 4 weeks ago: R dominant; 95% proximal LAD; 40% Cx.
• EF by TTE 1 day post PCI with mild Anterior Hypokinesis, EF 55%, no valvular disease, moderate LVH
• Labs of note from the hospital following cath: hgb 14, plt 240; creat 1, k 4.2, lfts normal, glucose 100, LDL 170, HDL 42.
• EKG today: SR at 78; nl intervals; nl axis; normal r wave progression, no q waves
• Plan: aspirin 81 indefinitely, Plavix x 1y
• Given nitroglycerine sublingual to have at home.
• Reviewed symptoms that would indicate another MI and what to do if occurred
• Plan: continue with current dosages of meds
• Chem 7 today to check k, creatinine
• Plan: Continue atorvastatin 80mg for life
• Smoking cessation: Doing well since discharge without adjuvant treatments, aware of supports.
• Plan: AAA screening ultrasound

Tools for the Patient Presentation

The formal patient presentation.

• Posing the Clinical Question
• Searching the Medical Literature for EBM

Sources & Further Reading

First Aid for the Wards

Lingard L, Haber RJ.  Teaching and learning communications in medicine: a rhetorical approach .  Academic Medicine. 74(5):507-510 1999 May.

Lingard L, Haber RJ.  What do we mean by "relevance"? A clinical and rhetorical definition with implications for teaching and learning the case-presentation format . Academic Medicine. 74(10):S124-S127.

The Oral Presentation (A Practical Guide to Clinical Medicine, UCSD School of Medicine)  http://meded.ucsd.edu/clinicalmed/oral.htm

"Classically, the formal oral presentation is given in 7 minutes or less. Although it follows the same format as a written report, it is not simply regurgitation. A great presentation requires style as much as substance; your delivery must be succinct and smooth. No time should be wasted on superfluous information; one can read about such matters later in your admit note. Ideally, your presentation should be formulated so that your audience can anticipate your assessment and plan; that is, each piece of information should clue the listener into your thinking process and your most likely diagnosis."  [ Le, et al, p. 15 ]

Types of Patient Presentations

New Patient

New patients get the traditional H&P with assessment and plan.  Give the chief complaint and a brief and pertinent HPI.  Next give important PMH, PSH, etc.  The ROS is often left out, as anything important was in the HPI.  The PE is reviewed.  Only give pertinent positives and negatives.  The assessment and plan should include what you think is wrong and, briefly, why.  Then, state what you plan to do for the patient, including labs.  Be sure to know why things are being done: you will be asked.

The follow-up presentation differs from the presentation of a new patient.  It is an abridged presentation, perhaps referencing major patient issues that have been previously presented, but focusing on new information about these issues and/or what has changed. Give the patient’s name, age, date of admission, briefly review the present illness, physical examination and admitting diagnosis.  Then report any new finding, laboratory tests, diagnostic procedures and changes in medications.

The attending physician will ask the patient’s permission to have the medical student present their case.  After making the proper introductions the attending will let the patient know they may offer input or ask questions at any point.  When presenting at bedside the student should try to involve the patient.

Preparing for the Presentation

There are four things you must consider before you do your oral presentation

• Occasion (setting and circumstances)

Ask yourself what do you want the presentation to do

• Present a new patient to your preceptor : the amount of detail will be determined by your preceptor.  It is also likely to reflect your development and experience, with less detail being required as you progress.
• Present your patient at working or teaching rounds : the amount of detail will be determined by the customs of the group. The focus of the presentation will be influenced by the learning objectives of working responsibilities of the group.
• Request a consultant’s advice on a clinical problem : the presentation will be focused on the clinical question being posed to the consultant.
• Persuade others about a diagnosis and plan : a shorter presentation which highlights the pertinent positives and negatives that are germane to the diagnosis and/or plan being suggested.
• Enlist cooperation required for patient care : a short presentation focusing on the impact your audience can have in addressing the patient’s issues.

Preparation

• Patient evaluation : history, physical examination, review of tests, studies, procedures, and consultants’ recommendations.
• Selected reading : reference texts; to build a foundational understanding.
• Literature search : for further elucidation of any key references from selected reading, and to bring your understanding up to date, since reference text information is typically three to seven years old.
• Write-up : for oral presentation, just succinct notes to serve as a reminder or reference, since you’re not going to be reading your presentation.

Knowledge (Be prepared to answer questions about the following)

• Pathophysiology
• Complications
• Differential diagnosis
• Course of conditions
• Diagnostic tests
• Medications
• Essential Evidence Plus

Template for Oral Presentations

Chief Complaint (CC)

The opening statement should give an overview of the patient, age, sex, reason for visit and the duration of the complaint. Give marital status, race, or occupation if relevant.  If your patient has a history of a major medical problem that bears strongly on the understanding of the present illness, include it.  For ongoing care, give a one sentence recap of the history.

History of Present Illness (HPI)

This will be very similar to your written HPI. Present the most important problem first. If there is more than one problem, treat each separately. Present the information chronologically.  Cover one system before going onto the next. Characterize the chief complaint – quality, severity, location, duration, progression, and include pertinent negatives. Items from the ROS that are unrelated to the present problem may be mentioned in passing unless you are doing a very formal presentation. When you do your first patient presentation you may be expected to go into detail.  For ongoing care, present any new complaints.

Review of Systems (ROS)

Most of the ROS is incorporated at the end of the HPI. Items that are unrelated to the present problem may be briefly mentioned.  For ongoing care, present only if new complaints.  

Past Medical History (PMH)

Discuss other past medical history that bears directly on the current medical problem.  For ongoing care, have the information available to respond to questions.

Past Surgical History

Provide names of procedures, approximate dates, indications, any relevant findings or complications, and pathology reports, if applicable.  For ongoing care, have the information available to respond to questions.

Allergies/Medications

Present all current medications along with dosage, route and frequency. For the follow-up presentation just give any changes in medication.  For ongoing care, note any changes.

Smoking and Alcohol (and any other substance abuse)

Note frequency and duration. For ongoing care, have the information available to respond to questions.

Social/Work History

Home, environment, work status and sexual history.  For ongoing care, have the information available to respond to questions.

Family History Note particular family history of genetically based diseases.  For ongoing care, have the information available to respond to questions.

Physical Exam/Labs/Other Tests

Include all significant abnormal findings and any normal findings that contribute to the diagnosis. Give a brief, general description of the patient including physical appearance. Then describe vital signs touching on each major system. Try to find out in advance how thorough you need to be for your presentation. There are times when you will be expected to give more detail on each physical finding, labs and other test results.  For ongoing care, mention only further positive findings and relevant negative findings.

Assessment and Plan

Give a summary of the important aspects of the history, physical exam and formulate the differential diagnosis. Make sure to read up on the patient’s case by doing a search of the literature. 

• Include only the most essential facts; but be ready to answer ANY questions about all aspects of your patient.
• Keep your presentation lively.
• Do not read the presentation!
• Expect your listeners to ask questions.
• Follow the order of the written case report.
• Keep in mind the limitation of your listeners.
• Beware of jumping back and forth between descriptions of separate problems.
• Use the presentation to build your case.
• Your reasoning process should help the listener consider a differential diagnosis.
• Present the patient as well as the illness .
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1.2 Components and Categories of Medical Terms

Word components.

Medical terms can be defined by breaking down the term into word components and defining each component. These word components include prefixes, word roots, and suffixes.

• The prefix (P)  appears at the beginning of the medical term and adds meaning to the word root.
• The word root (WR) is the core of many medical terms and refers to the body part or body system to which the term is referring.
• The suffix (S) is at the end of the medical term and usually indicates a procedure, condition, or disease. When defining a medical term, start the definition with the suffix. For example, consider the common medical condition tonsillitis . The word root “tonsil” refers to the tonsils, an anatomical part of the body found in the throat. The suffix “-itis” refers to inflammation. Therefore, the definition of the medical term tonsillitis is “inflammation of the tonsils.”
• Combining vowel (CV) is typically the letter “o” that helps with pronunciation. A combining vowel can connect a word root and a suffix or two word roots. When a word root is combined with a combining vowel, the word part is referred to as a combining form (CF) . See examples of word components in Table 1.2a.

Table 1.2a. Components of Medical Terms

By defining the meaning of each component of a medical term, you can easily construct the full meaning of the term based on the meanings of its components. See an example of defining a medical term by its components in the following box.

Defining a Medical Term by its Components

The medical term arthropathy  contains the following word components:

• The word root “ arthr- ” that refers to a joint
• The combining vowel “ o ” that creates the combining form arthro-
• The suffix “ -pathy ” that refers to a disease

When putting the meaning of these components together, the medical term arthropathy means “ disease of a joint .”

Definitions of common prefixes, word roots, suffixes, and combining vowels will be discussed in greater detail in the following sections of this chapter.

Types of Medical Terms

Medical terms can be divided into three categories of terms, based on the origin of their components:

• Terms built from word components of Greek and Latin origin
• Terms NOT built from word components of Greek and Latin origin
• Terms that look like they are made from word parts but are not easily translated

Definitions of medical terms built from word components of Greek and Latin origin can be easily identified by analyzing the components, defining each component, and then building the meaning of the term based on the meaning of its components.

Medical terms NOT built from word components of Greek and Latin origin, or terms that are not easily translated, must be learned by memorizing and recalling the definitions. See Table 1.2b for examples of these  categories of medical terms.

Table 1.2b. Types of Medical Terms

Defining Medical Terms by Breaking Down Components

Defining medical terms built from word components is easily accomplished by analyzing the components of the term, defining each component, and then building the overall definition of the medical term.

For example, see Table 1.2c for instructions on how the definition of the medical term “osteoarthropathy” can be identified by breaking down its components and defining them.

Table 1.2c. Technique for Defining Medical Terms Based on Their Components

When breaking down medical terms into its components, place slashes between the components and a slash on each side of a combining vowel. Notice how the term is defined by beginning with the meaning of the suffix and then shifts to the beginning of the term with the meaning of the word parts in the order they appear. Additional examples of identifying definitions of medical terms by analyzing their components are provided in the following box.

Additional Examples of Identifying Definitions of Medical Terms by Analyzing Their Components

Example: Osteoarthritis 1. Analyze Components: oste/o/arthr/itis 2. Define Components: oste  is a word root (WR) that means “bone” /o/ is a combining vowel (CV) arthr is a word root (WR) that means “joint” -itis is a suffix (S) that means “inflammation” 3. Build Definition: Inflammation of bone and joint

Example: Intravenous 1. Analyze Components: intra/ven/ous  2. Define Components: intra- is a prefix (P) that means “within” ven  is a word root (WR) that means “vein” -ous is a suffix (S) that means “pertaining to” 3. Build Definition: Pertaining to within a vein

Language Rules

Language rules are a good place to start when building foundational knowledge of medical terminology. Many medical terms are built from word parts and can be translated literally. At first, literal translations sound awkward. However, after you build a medical vocabulary and become proficient at using it, the awkwardness will slip away. Suffixes will no longer be stated and will be assumed. For example, the definition of intravenous can be condensed from “pertaining to within a vein” to “within the vein.” It should be noted that as with all language rules there are always exceptions, often referred to as “rebels.”

By the end of this book, by using these simple rules and processes, you will easily learn hundreds of medical terms.

Pronunciation

Pronouncing complex medical terms can be challenging. When learning how to pronounce medical terms, special marking above vowels indicates the proper pronunciation. When you see a macron (i.e., straight line) above the vowel, that means the vowel sound is long. A u-shaped symbol above a vowel indicates a short vowel sound. Additionally, capital letters indicate where to place the emphasis when pronouncing a word. See examples of pronunciation markings in the Table 1.2d. Try pronouncing each example out loud.

Table 1.2d. Pronunciation Guidelines

Categories of Medical Terms

Medical terms can be classified into the following general categories of terms:

• An example of an anatomical term is medial , which describes the middle or direction toward the middle of the body.
• An example of a disease is bronchopneumonia , an infection of the bronchi in the lungs.
• An example of a diagnostic term is transrectal ultrasound , an ultrasound procedure used to diagnose prostate cancer.
• An example of a therapeutic term is nebulizer , which is a device that creates a mist used to deliver medication for respiratory treatment.

These categories will be used to discuss medical terms by body systems throughout the remaining chapters of the book.

Medical Terminology - 2e Copyright © 2024 by Open Resources for Nursing (Open RN) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Healthcare 101: Medical Terminology for Beginners

Whether you’re starting work as a medical professional, a patient in a doctor’s office or  considering a healthcare career , it can sometimes be hard to follow an experienced doctor’s explanations. That’s because medical terminology uses unfamiliar terms to the average person. Even the simplest words and phrases can sound like a foreign language. If you can relate, this article on basic medical terminology for beginners is sure to help!

How to Study Medical Terminology

If you think medical terminology sounds like another language, that’s because it is! Most medical terms have Greek and Latin roots, sometimes strung together like tongue twisters. So, there’s no reason to feel bad if you find medical terms confusing, as they come from a foreign language.

Still, you can learn some tricks to unlock the meaning of these complex terms. Medical terms have three essential components — root words, prefixes and suffixes. Some terms only consist of a root word and suffix or prefix and root word. When all three components are together, the typical structure is prefix + root word + suffix. Once you learn the meanings of common medical prefixes, suffixes and root words, you can decode medical terms by breaking them into their different components and understanding them through association.

For example, if you break the term “hypothyroidism” into its prefix, root word and suffix, you get hypo + thyroid + ism. The prefix “hypo” means below, beneath or deficient. Thyroid is the root term for the thyroid gland, while the suffix “ism” refers to a process or condition. Through association, you can decipher that term as a condition where someone has a deficient thyroid gland.

Since the root words form the foundation of a medical term’s meaning, it makes the most sense to start there. As such, here are some common root words in medical terminology.

• Angi or vaso:  Blood vessel
• Append:  Appendix
• Brachi:  Arm
• Bronch or laryng:  Airways or windpipe
• Carcin/o:  Cancer
• Cardi/o:  Heart
• Carp:  Wrist
• Chol:  Bile or gallbladder
• Chondr:  Cartilage
• Crani:  Skull
• Cyto:  Cell
• Derma:  Skin
• Esophago:  Esophagus
• Gastro:  Stomach or abdomen
• Gyne/o:  Female
• Hepat:  Liver
• Histio:  Tissue
• Hyster:  Uterus
• Malign:  Bad or harmful
• My/o:  Muscles
• Neuro:  Nerves
• Nephro:  Kidney
• Ocul/o:  Eye
• Onco:  Mass or tumor
• Osse, osso or oste:  Bone or bony tissue
• Pneum or pulmon:  Breath, air or lung
• Pod or ped:  Foot
• Renal:  Kidney
• Spondyl:  Vertebra
• Steth or thorac:  Chest

Most Common Prefixes/Prefix Change

Medical prefixes have various purposes. Some designate when or where the condition or procedure occurs, while others indicate a condition’s behavior or characteristics, such as the size, function or quantity. With that in mind, here are some medical prefixes indicating position, location or direction:

• Ab-,  which means away from
• Ad-,  implying toward
• Acro-,  which demonstrates top or extremities
• Ante-,  signifying before or forward
• Anti or anter-,  indicating opposing or against
• Ap- or apo-,  meaning away from or detached
• Cirum- or peri-,  which means around
• Co, con or com,  indicating together or with
• De-,  which signifies down, from or lacking
• Dia-,  meaning through or apart
• Ecto-,  which means outside
• Epi-,  meaning upon
• Extra- or extro-,  which indicates beyond or outside of
• Inter-,  which means between
• Intra-,  meaning within or inside
• Intro-,  signifying into or within
• Meta-,  which suggests after or beyond
• Pre- or pro-,  meaning before or in front of
• Poro-,  which means pore, opening or passing through
• Post- or postero-,  which signifies after, following or behind
• Sub-,  meaning under
• Topo-,  illustrating place or position
• Trans-,  which means through or across

Some common medical prefixes signifying when a condition occurs or its speed and rate of activity include:

• Ante-,  meaning before.
• Brady-,  signifying slow.
• Chron-,  indicating a long time.
• Re-,  which means again.
• Retro-,  which shows back or backward.
• Tachy-,  which signifies fast.

As for medical prefixes that have to do with size or quantity, these include:

• A- or an-,  signifying absence or without.
• Bi-, di- or dipl-,  meaning two, twice or double.
• Equi-,  indicating equal.
• Hemi- or semi-,  which means half or half of.
• Macro-,  signifying large.
• Meso-,  which indicates middle size.
• Micro-,  which means tiny or small.
• Mono-,  meaning one or single.
• Multi- or poly-,  which signifies many.
• Pan-,  indicating total or all.
• Quad-,  which means four.
• Tri-,  meaning three.
• Ultra-,  indicating excessive or beyond.

Medical prefixes concerning procedural or conditional behavior or characteristics include:

• Acu-,  meaning sharp or severe.
• Chemo-,  which represents chemical.
• Encephal/o-,  which refers to the brain.
• Estro-,  meaning female.
• Fibro-,  which refers to fibers.
• Hemat/o-,  referring to blood.
• Hyper-,  meaning above, excessive or beyond.
• Hypo-,  which indicates below, beneath or deficient.
• Secto-,  meaning to cut.

Most Common Suffixes/Suffix Change

In general, medical suffixes refer to a procedure or a pathology, condition or function. As with prefixes, many of the suffixes help provide context to root medical terms, even though they aren’t unique to medical terminology. Some common medical suffixes of pathology, condition or function include the following.

• -algia:  pain.
• -ary or -ic:  pertaining to.
• -ase:  enzyme.
• -ation:  process.
• – cele:  hernia.
• -clasis:  to break.
• -constriction:  narrowing of.
• -dilation:  to expand or stretch.
• -dynia:  pain or discomfort.
• -edema:  swelling or inflammation.
• -ema:  condition.
• -emia:  related to blood.
• -esis, -iasis or -osis:  abnormal condition or disease.
• -eurysm:  expanding or widening.
• -genic:  causing.
• -globin:  protein.
• -ia:  condition.
• -icle:  small, possibly microscopic.
• -ism:  process or condition.
• -itis:  swelling or inflammation.
• -ly or -lysis:  breakdown, deterioration or separation.
• -mania:  obsession.
• -mortem:  death.
• -oma:  mass, tumor or cyst.
• -one:  hormone.
• -paresis:  weakness or failing.
• -partum:  birth.
• -pathy:  emotion or disease.
• -phasia:  speech.
• -phylaxis:  protection.
• -pnea:  breathing.
• -poiesis:  formation.
• -rrhag, -rrhage or -rrhagia:  burst or excessive flow.
• -rrhea:  discharge.
• -schisis:  to split.
• -somnia:  sleep.
• -spasm:  muscle contraction.
• -stasis:  to control or stop.
• -tropia:  to turn.
• -tropin:  to trigger.
• – uria:  urine.

Suffixes related to medical procedures include:

• -ectomy:  removal.
• -graphy:  recording of something.
• -opsy:  display of.
• -pexy:  fixation.
• -plasty:  mold or shape.
• -scopy:  examination.
• -stoma or -stomy:  create a new opening.
• -tomy:  the process of cutting or making an incision.
• -tresia:  opening.
• -tripsis:  rub or crush.

Popular Terms

Now, it’s time to put some of those root words, prefixes and suffixes together! Here are a few of the most common medical words to help you get started.

• Analgesic:  Pertaining to the absence of pain, or a substance that takes the pain away.
• Appendectomy:  Surgical removal of the appendix.
• Bradycardia:  A condition where the heart beats too slowly.
• Carcinoma:  A cancerous mass, tumor or cyst.
• Chronic:  A condition that lasts a long time.
• Osteoporosis:  A condition where a person’s bones are too porous.
• Pericarditis:  Inflammation of the tissues surrounding the heart.
• Thoracotomy:  Surgical incision into the chest cavity.

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Common Medical Abbreviations & Terms

• Medical Author: William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR
• Medical Editor: Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD

What should I know about medical abbreviations? What do they mean?

A - medical abbreviations, b - medical abbreviations, c - medical abbreviations, d - medical abbreviations, e - medical abbreviations, f - medical abbreviations, g - medical abbreviations, h - medical abbreviations, i - medical abbreviations, j - medical abbreviations, k - medical abbreviations, l - medical abbreviations, m - medical abbreviations, n - medical abbreviations, o - medical abbreviations, p - medical abbreviations, q - medical abbreviations, r - medical abbreviations, s - medical abbreviations, t - medical abbreviations, u - medical abbreviations, v - medical abbreviations, w - medical abbreviations, x - medical abbreviations.

• Comments **COMMENTSTAGLIST**
• More **OTHERTAGLIST**

Have you ever wondered why you can't read the doctor's note or the letters and numbers on a prescription? Health care professionals often quickly scribble notes with important medical information that they would like a patient to reference in regard to the type of current, or recently diagnosed disease, syndrome, or other health condition(s). Have you ever seen the doctor's notes in your medical record and found peculiar abbreviations and jargon? Do you wonder what the letters and numbers mean on your prescriptions or other items related to a disease, syndrome, or disorder?

Doctors and other health care professionals commonly use a list of abbreviations, acronyms, and other medical terminology as a reference to rapidly search and accurately record information about, and give instructions to their patients. There is no standard or approved list used by health care professionals to search for medical acronyms or abbreviations. Therefore, it is important to understand the context in which the abbreviation or term has been used.

Abbreviations, acronyms, and medical terminology are used for many conditions, and for instructions on medication prescribed by your doctor. This is a shortlist of common abbreviations you may have seen on a doctor's notepad; a prescription drug package or bottle; lab or other test results; or in your doctor's notes.

• ALL: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia .
• AMI: Acute myocardial infarction ( heart attack )
• B-ALL: B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia
• FSH: Follicle-stimulating hormone . A blood test for follicle-stimulating hormone is used to evaluate fertility in women.
• HAPE: High altitude pulmonary edema
• HPS: Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome . A type of contagious , infectious disease is transmitted by rats infected with the virus.
• IBS : Irritable bowel syndrome (A medical disease that involves the gastrointestinal tract.)
• IDDM: Insulin -dependent diabetes mellitus . Type 1 diabetes .
• MDS:  Myelodysplastic syndrome
• NBCCS: Nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome
• PE: Pulmonary embolism . A type of blood clot in the lungs .
• SIDS : Sudden infant death syndrome
• TSH: Thyroid-stimulating hormone. A blood test for TSH is used to diagnose thyroid disease .

Use this list as a resource for common abbreviations and acronyms used in the health care community, to quickly search and answer your questions about those letters and numbers of a drug your doctor has prescribed to you, or other notes from your doctor or other medical professionals.

• a.c. : Before meals. As in taking medicine before meals.
• a/g ratio : Albumin to globulin ratio.
• ACL : Anterior cruciate ligament. ACL injuries are one of the most common ligament injuries to the knee. The ACL can be sprained or completely torn from trauma and/or degeneration.
• Ad lib : At liberty. For example, a patient may be permitted to move out of bed freely and orders would, therefore, be for activities to be ad lib.
• AFR: Acute renal failure
• ADHD : Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
• ADR: Adverse drug reaction. If a patient is taking a prescription drug to treat high blood pressure disease
• AIDS : Acquired immune deficiency syndrome
• AKA : Above the knee amputation.
• Anuric : Not producing urine. A person who is anuric is often critical and may require dialysis .
• ANED: Alive no evidence of disease. The patient arrived in the ER alive with no evidence of disease.
• ADH: Antidiuretic hormone
• ARDS: Acute respiratory distress syndrome .
• ARF: Acute renal (kidney) failure
• ASCVD: Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease . A form of heart disease .

• b.i.d. : Twice daily. As in taking medicine twice daily.
• bld: Blood. Blood was visible on the patient’s scalp .
• Bandemia : Slang for an elevated level of band forms of white blood cells.
• Bibasilar : At the bases of both lungs . For example, someone with  pneumonia in both lungs might have abnormal bibasilar breath sounds.
• BKA : Below the knee amputation.
• BMP : Basic metabolic panel. Electrolytes (potassium, sodium, carbon dioxide, and chloride) and creatinine and glucose.
• BP : Blood pressure . Blood pressure is recorded as part of the physical examination. It is one of the "vital signs."
• BPD : Borderline personality disorder . A personality disorder.
• BSO : Bilateral salpingo- oophorectomy . A BSO is the removal of both of the ovaries and adjacent Fallopian tubes and often is performed as part of a total abdominal hysterectomy .

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• C&S : Culture and sensitivity, performed to detect infection.
• C/O : Complaint of. The patient's expressed concern.
• cap : Capsule.
• Ca: Cancer ; carcinoma . For example, a patient who underwent treatment for cancer should assure that they are eating and drinking enough fluids daily, both during and after treatment.
• CABG . Coronary artery bypass graft . A surgery involving the heart .
• CBC : Complete blood count .
• CC : Chief complaint. The patient's main concern.
• CDE: Complete dental (oral) evaluation.
• cc : Cubic centimeters. For example, the amount of fluid removed from the body is recorded in ccs.
• Chem panel : Chemistry panel. A comprehensive screening blood test that indicates the status of the liver , kidneys, and electrolytes .
• CPAP : Continuous positive airway pressure. Treatment for sleep apnea .
• COPD : Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease .
• CT: Chemotherapy . A type of treatment therapy for cancer .
• CVA : Cerebrovascular accident ( Stroke ).
• D/C or DC : Discontinue or discharge. For example, a doctor will D/C a drug. Alternatively, the doctor might DC a patient from the hospital.
• DCIS: Ductal Carcinoma In Situ . A type of breast cancer . The patient is receiving treatment for Ductal Carcinoma In Situ .
• DDX: Differential diagnosis. A variety of diagnostic possibilities are being considered to diagnose the type of cancer present in the patient.
• DJD: Degenerative joint disease . Another term for osteoarthritis .
• DM : Diabetes mellitus .
• DNC, D&C, or D and C : Dilation and curettage . Widening the cervix and scrapping with a curette for the purpose of removing tissue lining the inner surface of the womb (uterus).
• DNR : Do not resuscitate. This is a specific order not to revive a patient artificially if they succumb to illness. If a patient is given a DNR order, they are not resuscitated if they are near death and no code blue is called.
• DOE : Dyspnea on exertion. Shortness of breath with activity.
• DTR : Deep tendon reflexes. These are reflexes that the doctor tests by banging on the tendons with a rubber hammer.
• DVT : Deep venous thrombosis ( blood clot in a large vein).
• ETOH : Alcohol . ETOH intake history is often recorded as part of patient history.
• ECT : Electroconclusive therapy. A procedure used to control seizures (convulsions).
• FX : Fracture .

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• g: gram, a unit of weight. The cream is available in both 30 and 60-gram tubes.
• GOMER: Slang for "get out of my emergency room."
• GvHD: Graft vs. host disease. It is complicated by the syndromes of acute and chronic graft-vs-host disease ( GVHD ).
• gtt : Drops.
• H&H : Hemoglobin and hematocrit . When the H & H is low, anemia is present. The H&H can be elevated in persons who have lung disease from long term smoking or from disease, such as polycythemia rubra vera .
• H&P : History and physical examination.
• h.s. : At bedtime. As in taking medicine at bedtime.
• H/O or h/o : History of. A past event that occurred.
• HA : Headache .
• HRT : Hormone replacement or hormone replacement therapy .
• HTN : Hypertension .

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• I&D: Incision and drainage.
• IBD : Inflammatory bowel disease . A name for two disorders of the gastrointestinal (BI) tract, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis
• ICD: Implantable cardioverter defibrillator
• ICU: Intensive care unit. The patient was moved to the intensive care unit.
• IM: Intramuscular. This is a typical notation when noting or ordering an injection (shot) given into a muscle, such as with B12 for pernicious anemia .
• IMP: Impression. This is the summary conclusion of the patient's condition by the healthcare professional at that particular date and time.
• ITU: Intensive therapy unit
• in vitro: In the laboratory
• in vivo: In the body
• IPF: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis . A type of lung disease.
• IU : International units.
• JT : Joint.
• K : Potassium. An essential electrolyte is frequently monitored regularly in intensive care.
• KCL : Potassium chloride .
• LCIS: Lobular Carcinoma In Situ. A type of cancer of the breast . The patient is receiving treatment for Lobular Carcinoma In Situ.
• LBP : Low back pain . LBP is one of most common medical complaints.
• LLQ : Left lower quadrant. Diverticulitis pain is often in the LLQ of the abdomen.
• LUQ : Left upper quadrant. The spleen is located in the LUQ of the abdomen.
• Lytes : Electrolytes (potassium, sodium, carbon dioxide, and chloride).
• MCL : Medial collateral ligament.
• mg : Milligrams.
• M/H: Medical history
• ml : Milliliters.
• MVP : Mitral valve prolapse .
• N/V : Nausea or vomiting .
• Na : Sodium. An essential electrolyte is frequently monitored regularly in intensive care.
• NCP: Nursing care plan
• NPO : Nothing by mouth. For example, if a patient was about to undergo a surgical operation requiring general anesthesia, they may be required to avoid food or beverage prior to the procedure.
• NSR: Normal sinus rhythm of the heart
• O&P : Ova and parasites. Stool O & P is tested in the laboratory to detect parasitic infection in persons with chronic diarrhea .
• O.D. : Right eye.
• O.S. : Left eye.
• O.U. : Both eyes.
• ORIF : Open reduction and internal fixation, such as with the orthopedic repair of a hip fracture .
• P : Pulse. Pulse is recorded as part of the physical examination. It is one of the "vital signs."
• p¯ : After meals. As intake two tablets after meals.
• p.o. : By mouth. From the Latin terminology per os.
• p.r.n. : As needed. So that it is not always done, but done only when the situation calls for it (for example, taking pain medication only when having pain and not without pain).
• PCL : Posterior cruciate ligament.
• PD: Progressive disease. Patients at risk of developing progressive disease of the kidneys include those with proteinuria or hematuria . PERRLA : Pupils equal, round, and reactive to light and accommodation. PFT: Pulmonary function test. A test to evaluate how well the lungs are functioning.
• PERRLA : Pupils equal, round, and reactive to light and accommodation.
• Plt : Platelets, one of the blood-forming elements along with the white and red blood cells .
• PMI : Point of the maximum impulse of the heart when felt during the examination, as in beats against the chest.
• PMS : Premenstrual syndrome
• PT: Physical therapy
• PTH: Parathyroid hormone
• PTSD : Post-traumatic stress syndrome
• PUD: Peptic ulcer disease. A type of ulcer of the stomach.
• q.d. : Each day. As in taking medicine daily.
• q.i.d. : Four times daily. As in taking a medicine four times daily.
• q2h : Every 2 hours. As in taking a medicine every 2 hours.
• q3h : Every 3 hours. As in taking a medicine every 3 hours.
• qAM : Each morning. As in taking medicine each morning.
• qhs : At each bedtime. As in taking medicine each bedtime.
• qod : Every other day. As in taking medicine every other day.
• qPM : Each evening. As in taking medicine each evening.
• RA : Rheumatoid arthritis . A type of joint disease.
• RDS: Respiratory distress syndrome
• R/O : Rule out. Doctors frequently will rule out various possible diagnoses when figuring out the correct diagnosis.
• REB : Rebound, as in rebound tenderness of the abdomen when pushed in and then released.
• RLQ : Right lower quadrant. The appendix is located in the RLQ of the abdomen.
• ROS : Review of systems. An overall review concerns relating to the organ systems, such as the respiratory, cardiovascular, and neurologic systems.
• RUQ : Right upper quadrant. The liver is located in the RUQ of the abdomen.
• s/p : Status post. For example, a person who had a knee operation would be s/p a knee operation.
• SAD: Season affective disorder. A type of depression that occurs during the winter months when there is little light.
• SOB : Shortness of breath.
• SQ : Subcutaneous. This is a typical notation when noting or ordering an injection (shot) given into the fatty tissue under the skin, such as with insulin for diabetes mellitus.
• T : Temperature. Temperature is recorded as part of the physical examination. It is one of the "vital signs."
• T&A : Tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy
• t.i.d. : Three times daily. As in taking medicine three times daily.
• tab : Tablet
• TAH : Total abdominal hysterectomy
• TAH: Total abdominal hysterectomy. A type of surgery to remove a woman’s uterus, Fallopian tubes, and ovaries.
• THR : Total hip replacement
• TKR : Total knee replacement
• TMJ : Tempomandibular joint
• UA or u/a : Urinalysis . A UA is a typical part of a comprehensive physical examination.
• U or u: Unit. Mistaken as the number 0 or 4, causing a 10-fold overdose or greater (for example, 4U seen as "40" or 4u seen as "44"); mistaken as "cc" so the dose is given in volume instead of units (for example, 4u seen as 4cc).
• ULN: Upper limits of normal
• URI: Upper respiratory infection , such as sinusitis or the common cold
• ut dict: As directed. As in taking medicine according to the instructions that the health care professional gave in the office or in the past
• UTI : Urinary tract infection
• VSS : Vital signs are stable. This notation means that from the standpoint of the temperature, blood pressure, and pulse, the patient is doing well.
• Wt : Weight. Body weight is often recorded as part of the physical examination.
• XRT: Radiotherapy (external). A type of treatment that uses radiation .

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Ultimate Guide to Medical Presentations: Templates, Tutorials, Tips and Resources

About medical presentations.

Medical presentations are fundamentally different from other presentation types. In fact, they are one of the toughest type of presentations to design.

Medical slides have research facts, data charts, diagrams and illustrations that demand a totally different approach to design. You need a slide creation method that considers the unique problems you face as a medical presenter. In this guide, you will Tips, Tutorials and resources to get your started with making over your Medical slides.

We will start with some general tips and tricks on creating medical slides and then proceed to step by step tutorials. 

Quick Navigation

Tips to create Medical Presentations

PowerPoint Tutorials for Medical Slides

How to Present Lists & Text

How To Showcase Pictures Creatively

How to use animations effectively, creative morph transition ideas, making medical slides easy to understand, powerpoint delivery tips, powerpoint tips & tricks, issue with typical medical slides, medical slides makeover examples, medical powerpoint templates, free medical & healthcare icons, free medical presentation images, more resources for medical presentations, tips to create medical presentations, how to avoid overwhelming audience in technical presentations.

Do you want to improve how you explain concepts in a technical presentation? In this article, you will find a powerful technique called ‘Telescopic explanation’ to make your technical presentations much clearer and more memorable for your audience. To know more, read this post over on PrezoTraining.com

Tips to present Scientific Information

There are two major facets to a presentation: the content and how you present it. Let’s face it, no matter how great the content, no one will get it if they stop paying attention.

Here are some pointers on how to create clear, concise content for scientific presentations – and how to deliver your message in a dynamic way.   Find the tips over on Elsevier connect .

Preparing a Research Presentation

If you have never presented a paper at a scientific meeting,  or would like to polish your research presentations, this post contains information that will improve your presentation.

This article contains a set of guides and checklists to help you in the preparation of your presentation.   Read this post on ACP .

10 Tips for Medical Presentations

Whether you are presenting an audit or a case report at a local meeting, presenting a paper at a conference, presenting a business case to your Trust, or even presenting on a hot topic at your medical interview, you will need to know how to prepare medical slides which attract your audience rather than distract it. This post on ISC Medical provides 10 tips for Medical presentations.

For a 5-Part series on how to make your Medical Slides Clear and Visual , sign up for our Free E-course.

In the following sections, you'll find step by step PowerPoint tutorials & Makeover Ideas to help you makeover different parts of your presentation. 

How To Present Lists and Text

Information presentations use a lot of text and bullet list. In this section, you will find some creative ways to design these type of slides.

PowerPoint Tip: How to Present Long Lists on One Slide

If you have a Long Lists of items on One Slide here is a one-click trick on how to do this. Watch the video below to know more.

PowerPoint Trick to Convert Text to Graphics

Find a useful PowerPoint SmartArt Trick to convert Bullet Point Text to Graphics quickly and easily. Learn how to take the graphics to the next level with some creative ideas from Ramgopal.

For a 5-Part series on how to make your Medical Slides Clear and Visual , sign up for our Free e-course.

Get access to exclusive members-only e-courses & downloads.

Medical presentations usually have a lot of pictures. Especially the training and informational slides. Here are some ways in which you can present the pictures in your presentations in a creative way. 

Right Way to Showcase Pictures

Learn the benefit of showcasing pictures using SmartArt tool in PowerPoint. In the video below we start with a typical picture Showcase slide used by presenters. Though the slide looks quite attractive in the first glance, there are some issues that makes the slide ineffective. Watch the video below to know more:

Cropping Pictures in PowerPoint

Learn a super easy trick to crop a picture in PowerPoint in a step by step way. This trick will help you crop a picture in the shape you want, in a single click.

A PowerPoint slide with too much content can be overwhelming for the audience. If you learn to sequence the way you present your information, you make it easy for your audience to understand your presentation.

Here are different ways you can use Custom Animations and Morph Transition effects to sequence information.

Animation for Process with Pictures

In this tutorial, you will find how to create a useful and practical slide with pictures and text to show a process or a timeline diagram. Learn how to create and present it to make an impact.

Animation for Highlighting Pictures

Learn to create an Animated Picture Reveal Effect in PowerPoint. Present your important picture with this effect. Watch the video to preview the effect and learn how to create it:

Sequential Fading technique in PowerPoint

This trick is super useful for medical presentations where you need to present an image step by step. Since it is an image you cannot break it up and present it in parts. However with this useful technique you can highlight one part of an image at a time with animation. 

For a 5-Part series on how to make your Medical Slides Clear and Visual , sign up for our Free e-course. Get access to exclusive members-only e-courses & downloads.

In PowerPoint for Office 365, Microsoft introduced the Morph Transition. It is an effective way to create animations fast. Here are some ideas on how you can use this feature to create your slides.

Pros & Cons with Morph Transition

Learn how to create an easy animated scales diagram with Morph Transition Effect. This effect is available in PowerPoint for Office 365. You can also sign up & download the original PowerPoint file over at our website .

Morph Transition To Present Pictures

In this video you will find how to use PowerPoint Morph Transition to replace Custom Animations. See how this can be done with this example of a slide with multiple pictures with text.

Convert your boring text-based slides, blog articles or research papers into clear & beautiful visual slides - even if you have zero Design skills, zero PowerPoint skills & very little time - using our ‘4-step Neuro Slide Design System for Medical Presentations’

Watch the video below to learn more:

Ideas to Present Data

Medical presentations also usually contain a component of data. This could be related to statistics or research. In this section, you will find some easy ways to makeover your slides with numbers.

Creating Pie & Donut Charts 

Learn how to create a Pie chart in PowerPoint with this step by step tutorial. This video also covers how to adjust the Pie chart settings and also how to add Donut charts.

How to Animate a PowerPoint Table

Learn a trick to Animate a PowerPoint Table. PowerPoint does not have the feature of animating parts of a table.

[Advanced] Conditional Formatting for Charts

Learn to create a PowerPoint conditional formatting chart that changes color and direction of bar chart automatically for negative values. The positive values are displayed in green color and the negative values in red color. 

Here are some tips for when you are actually delivering your presentation. Present confidently with these ideas!

Use Presenter View in PowerPoint like a PRO

How to use Presenter View in PowerPoint to present your slides like a PRO (Presentation Delivery Tips). This view is for the presenter only - when the slideshow This requires 2 monitors (your laptop and the projector screen). Even if you want to use Presenter View in 1 monitor it is possible.  Learn how with this video.

Use Hidden Slides to Present Confidently

In this video, you will find a PowerPoint Tip on how to use Hidden slides to present confidently. This feature is especially useful when creating business presentations.

PowerPoint Slideshow Shortcuts

Here are some useful PowerPoint Slideshow Shortcuts you can use when delivering your next presentation. Hope you find these PowerPoint tips useful.

If you wish to improve the quality of your medical slides in a reliable way, take a look at the first  video over on this page .

Here are some tips and tricks to reduce time taken to create your slides. 

Setting Up Quick Access Toolbar

In this PowerPoint tips tutorial, you will find how to set up the Quick Access Toolbar. It is a great time-saving tool for any version of PowerPoint.

Autocorrect Trick to Save Time

Learn this trick to use PowerPoint Auto-correct option to save time and effort in creating your presentations. Write complex medical terminology accurately & easily in PowerPoint!

Get access to exclusive members-only e-courses & offers.

Many of the medical slides you may see may look like this:

These slides are taken from various sources online like Slideshare and YouTube and represent various types of presentations. The common issues with such slides include:

• Issue with readability - due to poor color choices and font sizes
• Unprofessional design - with overlapping content, hard to read diagrams etc.
• Too much content - that overwhelms  the audience

It is quite common to see well researched medical content being totally ignored by the audience - because the presentation slides look busy and boring. And… You can’t blame your audience for tuning out of your presentation. 

The quality of your slides makes or breaks your medical presentations.

In this section, we'll makeover usual text filled PowerPoint slides into a visual and interesting slides. 

The original slides are taken from various sources online like Slideshare and YouTube and represent various types of presentations. 

Medical Title Slide

Original title slide:

Title slide after makeover:

Medical Training Presentation Slide

Original training slide:

Training slide after makeover:

Medical Slide With Quote

Original slide with quote:

Quote slide after makeover:

Health and Safety Training Slide

Slide after makeover:

In the  Medical Presentations Bundle with Neuro Slide Design Training, you can watch me make over Text-based slides, a Blog article, a Wikipedia article and a 11-page Research paper. I go through each of the 4 steps to transform these text-based documents to clear and beautiful visual slides.

The Bundle includes 900 Fully Editable PowerPoint Templates. Go over and checkout the bundle .

One of the ways to quickly improve the quality of your slides is to use good quality templates create with the needs of medical presenters in mind. Here are some resources...

Free Medical Title Templates

Leawo website provides free medical title templates for download. These templates are suitable for different type of medical presentations. You can preview and download them here .

FPPT website provides similar free title templates for use as well. You can find title templates related to medical and health fields over here on FPPT .

Premium Medical PowerPoint Templates

While free medical PowerPoint Templates are good enough for student or non-critical presentations, if you are consultant or specialist, you may prefer to use high-quality PowerPoint Templates. 

Preview Medical PowerPoint Templates Bundle

Create Medical Slides You Feel Proud to Present Using the Breakthrough Slide Design System created using proven Brain research principles. You can preview templates from our Medical Templates Bundle below:

Browse more templates and know more about the Medical PowerPoint Templates Bundle here .

Icons are useful to represent ideas on slides. Here are some useful links for downloading Healthcare and Medical Icons online. 

ICONFINDER : This website has a good collection of vector icons without too many ads or links to other websites.. You can search iconfinder by keyword and specifically look for free to use icons. You can also search by types of icons like glyphs, outline, flat, filled outline, 3D and more.

VECTEEZY : This website provides both free and premium icons. The license may require you to provide attribution to the author.  There are lot of popups and ads, and the focus in on their premium icons.

POWERPOINT : If you are using Office 365, you can find a lot of free icons right in PowerPoint. There are icons for people, technology and electronics, communication, business, analytics, commerce, education, signs and symbols, arrows, medical and much more.  You can edit the fill colors of these icons to customize them. 

Make your own icons in PowerPoint

Make your slides look professional and visual with these icons. Icons make it easy for your audience to remember the information you are presenting. Learn the secret to finding icons for free right within PowerPoint.

300+ Editable Icons for PowerPoint

The   Medical Presentations Bundle includes 300+ Medical Icons for PowerPoint. You can break these icons into individual components, mix and match them to create custom icons that meet your specific needs. As one of the doctors using this Bundle said, it is a “ ONE STOP SHOP” for every busy medical practitioner.

Medical presentations can be made more interesting and engaging by the addition of relevant images. If you are looking for high-quality free images, here are some suggestions:

FREEIMAGES.COM :  Images on this website are free for use for personal and commercial purposes. You can find a range of generic medical and healthcare images here.

PICJUMBO.COM :  This site provides free and interesting images for backgrounds. 

WIKIPEDIA is a great source for free images and illustrations. However, there are a couple of things to keep in mind when you use images from Wikipedia.

1) Please check the copyright terms for each image. You may need to provide attribution as per their terms.

2) Images may be of different formats, sizes, color schemes and quality. 

Here is a collection of images from Wikipedia related to Brain:

150+ Medical Illustrations | 170+ Medical Photos | 150+ Silhouettes

In the   Medical Presentations Bundle     we have already done the hard work of putting together a large collection of high quality Medical, Pharma and Science photos & editable illustrations to use in your presentations. 

Remember, these are not the usual photos of smiling Doctors and pretty handshakes. These are practical medical photos you can use in your medical slides to illustrate your ideas.  As one of the doctors using this Bundle said, it is a “ONE STOP SHOP” for every busy medical practitioner.

For a  5-Part series on how to make your Medical Slides Clear and Visual , sign up for our Free e-course. Get access to exclusive members-only e-courses & downloads.

PowerPoint Skills for Medical Professionals Learn the 14 essential PowerPoint techniques that every medical professional needs to know to design clear medical slides. This training is part of Medical Presentations Bundle .

Advanced PowerPoint Video Tutorials Enhance your presentations with these ideas. In this section you will find extensive video tutorials for 2D and 3D Diagrams, Models, Picture Effects, Animations and More… Click here to browse

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Abbreviations you may find in your health records

Here you can find out what some of the most common medical abbreviations mean. This may be useful if you want to understand your health records. An abbreviation is a short way of writing a longer word or phrase.

Healthcare staff sometimes use the same abbreviations to mean different things.

If you do not know what something in your health records means, ask your doctor, nurse or pharmacist.

List of abbreviations

If you cannot find the abbreviation you are looking for

Speak to your doctor, nurse or pharmacist for help with understanding your health records.

Page last reviewed: 22 August 2022 Next review due: 22 August 2025

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Type 4 tibial tuberosity avulsion fractures: surgical treatment early outcomes and a presentation of the distal cortical fixation.

1. Introduction

2. materials and methods, statistical analysis, 4. discussion, 5. conclusions, author contributions, institutional review board statement, informed consent statement, data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

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Segal, D.; Dillenkofer, M.; Wall, E.J.; Tamai, J. Type 4 Tibial Tuberosity Avulsion Fractures: Surgical Treatment Early Outcomes and a Presentation of the Distal Cortical Fixation. J. Clin. Med. 2024 , 13 , 5695. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm13195695

Segal D, Dillenkofer M, Wall EJ, Tamai J. Type 4 Tibial Tuberosity Avulsion Fractures: Surgical Treatment Early Outcomes and a Presentation of the Distal Cortical Fixation. Journal of Clinical Medicine . 2024; 13(19):5695. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm13195695

Segal, David, Michael Dillenkofer, Eric J. Wall, and Junichi Tamai. 2024. "Type 4 Tibial Tuberosity Avulsion Fractures: Surgical Treatment Early Outcomes and a Presentation of the Distal Cortical Fixation" Journal of Clinical Medicine 13, no. 19: 5695. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm13195695

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