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Medical Terminology · Chapter 4

The Anatomical Compass

Every directional word in every chart assumes one fixed posture: standing erect, facing forward, palms turned forward. In Where is it? two structures light up on the figure and you supply the term that links them. In Stack the directions you snap directional roots together into the compound words radiologists and surgeons actually write.

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Anatomical position

Human figure in anatomical position with two structures marked A front view of a body standing erect, arms at the sides, palms forward. A teal marker shows the first structure and a blue marker the second structure named in the sentence. PATIENT’S RIGHT PATIENT’S LEFT midline
structure Astructure Bmidline
Right is the patient’s right. In every note, on every film, right and left belong to the patient as if they were facing you — so the patient’s right appears on the left of the picture. This is why surgical time-outs read the side aloud from the consent and mark it on the skin.