Test for new medical assistant
Written test for second medical officer assistant who should have a basic knowledge of medical terminology upon which to build the on-the-job training.
QUESTIONS
1. Define the following terms: hyperkalemia and hypokalemia? What is the normal level of sodium in the blood?
2. Differentiate between cervicitis and endometritis? What is the common denominator about these diseased conditions?
3. A patient presents at a hospital with worrisome clinical features. Investigations reveal creatinaemia, anemia and uricaemia. How can u explain these terms in simple terms?
4. What is the difference between colposcopy and embryoscopy? Despite their differences, what is the similarity? Where are they useful?
5. A twin can be monozygotic or dizygotic: what does this mean?
6. Hysterotomy and hysterectomy are surgical procedures in contemporary obstetric practice. What do they mean?
7. If a paper indicates that a young lady has the following symptoms: dysuria, dysmenorrhoea and dyspareunia. What do you think is common to all these symptoms? What do they mean?
8. How is ketonuria different from glycosuria?
ANSWERS
Hyperkalemia is elevated levels of sodium in the blood while hypokalemia refers to reduced levels of potassium in the blood. The normal reference limit is 3.0-5.0mmol/l. hyper and hypo are prefixes for elevated and reduced levels respectively.
Cervicitis is inflammation of the cervix, the terminal part of the uterus while endometritis is inflammation of the endometrium. Both of them are inflammatory conditions characterized by redness, heat, pain and loss of function. ‘itis’ is a suffix for inflammation.
Creatinaemia means creatinine is present in blood. Anaemia is reduced blood volume/red blood cells. Uricaemia is the presence of uric acid in blood. ‘aemia’ refers to blood.
Colposcopy and embryoscopy are both endoscopic procedures, i.e. the ability to see cavities through a viewing tube. Colpo refers to cervix while embryo refers to embryo. Colposcopy is useful with cervical pathology like cervical cancer. Embryoscopy is useful when prenatal diagnosis of congenital malformations.
Monozygotic twin is formed from a single zygote while dizygotic twin is formed from two zygotes, just as the prefixes suggest.
‘Hyster’ refers to the uterus. Hysterotomy is the surgical incision of the abdomen and uterus to deliver the product of conception before the age of viability. Hysterectomy is surgical removal of the uterus for many reasons[s].
‘Dys’ means malfunction. In the case of the three symptoms, it means pain. Dysuria is painful urination. Dysmenorrheal is painful menstruation. Dyspareunia is painful sexual intercourse.
Presence of ketones and glucose in urine is ketonuria and glycosuria, respectively. ‘uria’ is the suffix and means urine.
REFERENCES
Ash Monga. Gynaecology by Ten Teachers. 18th Edition.
Philip Baker. Obstetrics by Ten Teachers 18th Edition.
Philip Mayne. Clinical Biochemisty. 21st Edition.