How to Decipher Medical Terms

We’re getting health information from a wealth of sources these days—from books, the Internet, trusted friends and—of course—our doctors. But you might be feeling like the old saying, “garbage in, garbage out,” still applies. How can you make sense of it all—so that all the information becomes news you can use? Check out these sites below to start decoding doctor-ese and other technical health terms.

The Medical Library Association has a very simple glossary that translates medical terms into everyday language. It also has a handy guide to the medical shorthand that your doctor might jot down on your prescriptions. The glossary is available in Spanish.
www.mlanet.org/resources/medspeak/index.html

The American Association for Clinical Chemistry has a comprehensive list of lab tests and the terminology associated with these tests.
http://labtestsonline.org

Ready for a short course in medical-speak? Des Moines University offers a Web site full of medical terms related to specific diseases, along with quizzes to test what you’ve just learned.
www.dmu.edu/medterms

The Nemours Foundation has a medical glossary just for kids. For instance, “acne” is described as “little red bumps on the skin called pimples.”
www.kidshealth.org/kid/word/index.html

Excerpted from Jessie Gruman’s Aftershock: What to Do When the Doctor Gives You—or Someone You Love—a Devastating Diagnosis, Walker and Company, 2007.