Specialty Medical Terms

Specialty Medical Terms

The inclusion of this specialty med term illustrates the growing importance of the use of medications at some point in most people’s lives. The aging population frequently is able to age due to the proper and accurate use of drugs that mitigate (lessen) the effects of chronic conditions that used to be fatal. It may surprise you to know that many medication categories use a similar nomenclature as you have learned this week for other health professions terms. For example, the suffix “lol” is used for a classification of medications called “beta blockers”. Beta-blockers are beta-adrenergic-blocking drugs. Explained simply, cholinergic fibers, when stimulated, slow things down (heart rate decreases, blood pressure drops, etc.). Adrenergic fibers, when stimulated, speed things up (heart rate increases, blood pressure goes up, etc.). It makes sense then that adrenergic blockers prevent the speeding up. There is beauty in naming medication groups like this. If you know the base, you have at least some idea of how the drug works and the reasons a patient might be prescribed it. There are over 60 beta blockers.

Some of the most common are:

• Acebutolol (Sectral)
• Atenolol (Tenormin)
• Bisoprolol (Zebeta)
• Carvedilol (Coreg)
• Metoprolol (Lopressor, Toprol XL)
• Nadolol (Corgard)
• Nebivolol (Bystolic)
• Propranolol (Inderal, InnoPran XL)

Check tips on how to do your Nursing Assignments.

Note that there is often a big difference between the generic name (the first one) and the brand name (in parenthesis). The developer of a medication assigns the generic name and that name stays with the medication forever. Brand names belong to any particular manufacturer of a drug, are usually patented, and cannot be used by anyone else. Unfortunately, patients tend to use brand names as they are usually shorter, have catchy names, and are easier to remember. Health professionals use generic names for several safety reasons. You may not have heard these particular drug names before, but seeing the “lol”, you realize they are likely to decrease your patient’s heart rate and blood pressure. Perhaps this is the reason it is being given, perhaps not. That is important for you to determine.

Specialty Medical Terms

Determine the category of medications you use or have used.

Include the following aspects in the discussion:

• Write down the names of medications (both generic and brand) you have at home (you may use a family or friend if you do not have any)
• Search to see if there is a root to help you determine the category
• Does the category of the drug match the reason you have prescribed it?
• Discuss peer lists. Did you find any you were familiar with?
• Cite any references. At all times proper grammar, sentence structure, and spelling. Copying and pasting are not allowed. Always use your own wo