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Understanding Medical Terms

Occasionally, it can be useful to have a general sense of what some common medical terms mean in order to understand your condition, medication or treatment plans. Check out these sites below to start decoding what your doctor is saying:

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, also.

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

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.

The Nemours Foundation has a medical glossary just for kids. For instance, "acne" is described as "little red bumps on the skin called pimples."

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