Medical Terminology Essentials™

What you will learn

This program has four parts. By the end of each part, you should be able to:

Part 1

• Explain why medical terminology matters for safe, accurate healthcare communication.
• Break down medical terms into prefixes, suffixes, root words, and combining forms.
• Apply word-building rules and combining vowels to interpret unfamiliar terms.
• Use basic anatomical position, body planes, directional terms, and body cavities correctly.
• Recognize common healthcare abbreviations and use them appropriately in context.
• Apply study strategies to build confidence and retention in medical terminology.

Part 2

• Interpret medical terms related to the cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive, musculoskeletal, nervous, urinary, reproductive, endocrine, and integumentary systems.
• Break down complete medical terms into roots, prefixes, suffixes, and combining forms to determine meaning and use.
• Use common body-system abbreviations and terminology accurately when reading patient charts and workplace documentation.
• Recognize common diseases and disorders associated with major body systems and describe them in plain language.
• Pronounce essential medical terms more confidently and apply them in realistic healthcare scenarios.
• Analyze simple patient cases and choose appropriate terminology for communication, documentation, and care discussions.

Part 3

• Interpret common diagnostic, laboratory, imaging, medication, and surgical terms used in clinical settings.
• Use emergency, trauma, infection prevention, and isolation terminology accurately in workplace scenarios.
• Recognize and explain common medical abbreviations, physician orders, and documentation terms in patient records.
• Read and interpret basic healthcare documentation using correct terminology and context clues.
• Communicate professionally with patients and healthcare team members using accurate medical language and plain-language explanations.

Part 4

• Interpret complex medical terms by breaking them into prefixes, suffixes, root words, and combining forms.
• Apply medical terminology accurately across patient care, documentation, and team communication scenarios.
• Use medical terminology correctly in EHR entries while avoiding common terminology errors.
• Communicate terminology clearly and professionally with clinicians, patients, families, and support staff.
• Match career-specific terminology to common roles across healthcare settings.
• Demonstrate workplace readiness through case studies, practical exercises, and a final exam.

Program details

• Self-paced online program for healthcare professionals
• Program length: 10 hours, in four parts
• Includes graded assessments you must pass to complete the program
• Earn a downloadable Certificate of Completion upon successful program completion—ideal for documenting professional development and submitting to your employer for potential reimbursement
• Each certificate has a verification ID that employers can check at nahcp.com/verify

Program length describes the length of the program, not a number of continuing-education credits. Check with your employer or licensing board before submitting a program for credit or reimbursement.