Does Medical Terminology Contribute to Hospital Mistakes?

After completing courses in medical terminology, administrative medical assisting and billing and coding, I have discovered that medical terminology contributes to hospital mistakes. In fact, my medical terminology book states, "This year in the United States, more than 400,000 people will die because of drug reactions and medical errors." This can happen for a number of reasons, including medical terms that are similar and using the wrong abbreviation. Learning medical terminology is the same as learning a complex foreign language. Let's dig deeper into some of the mistakes that can happen due to the incorrect usage of medical terminology.

Using the Wrong Medical Term

Medical terminology combines a root word with a prefix or suffix. Sometimes a term has two prefixes. Gastric is the root word meaning stomach. Epi is the prefix meaning above, while hypo is the prefix meaning below. Endo is the prefix meaning inside. Epigastric means above the stomach while hypogastric means below the stomach. Endogastric, of course means inside the stomach. If a medical assistant forgets what each of these terms means, confuses them or even mishears what the doctor says, the term can easily be written down wrong on paper. If the medical assistant writes down that surgery is to be performed epigastric instead of hypogastric, the patient receives surgery in the wrong part of the stomach. This is a simple example of how misusing medical terms can cause mistakes.

Medical terminology can also be confusing when two words sound and look alike, yet mean two completely different things. Words such as dysphagia and dysphasia look and sound alike, but their definitions are quite different. Dysphagia means difficulty swallowing while dysphasia means impairment or loss of the power to use or understand speech.

More Examples

• Humeral and Humoral: Humeral means pertaining to the humerus bone while humoral refers to a bodily fluid.
• Malleolus and Malleus: Malleolus is the rounded lateral projections of the bone at the ankle while malleus is the outermost of three small bones in the ear.

Using the Wrong Medical Abbreviations

AS is the abbreviation for left ear, AD is the abbreviation for right ear and AU is the abbreviation for both ears. RAT stands for right anterior thigh while LAT stands for left anterior thigh. It is easy to see how mistakes can happen if a medical assistant writes down the wrong abbreviation. The Doctor takes what is written down and unknowingly performs an operation or procedure on the wrong side of the body.

Past Examples of Medical Mistakes

Hospital mistakes are unfortunate and I find them heartbreaking, yet knowledge is empowering.

• In 1995, a doctor amputated the wrong leg of a patient who ended up with two amputated legs rather than one.
  
• In 2000, a New Jersey Surgeon operated on the wrong lung of a man with a lung tumor, which ultimately led to his death.
• An article written in 2009 states that a surgeon operated on the wrong part of a patient's spine.
• In 2010, an Australian hospital amputated a woman's wrong leg.
  

Protect yourself and your loved ones by speaking up. No question is ever a dumb questions nor can one ask too many.

1. Ask questions.
2. On the day of surgery, make sure everyone involved in your surgery knows exactly what is being done.
3. Remind staff what side of your body or body part is being operated on.
4. Make sure all the medications you are taking are known about, including over-the-counter medications.
5. Make sure any drug allergies are known about.
6. Before agreeing to surgery, be sure it is absolutely necessary.

Sources:
Allan, David M., Lockyer, Karen D., Buchman, Michelle A. (2008): Medical Language for Modern Health Care. New York: McGraw-Hill

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