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Medical Terminology · Chapter 9

The Scalpel and the Chart

The root never changes meaning; the suffix decides whether the patient leaves with an incision, an opening, a missing structure or a drained space. Build a procedure from a root and one of the operative suffixes and watch what actually happens on the diagram. Then open a real respiratory note, expand every abbreviation in it, and finish by flagging the ones that should never have been written down at all.
Root where the operation happens
Operative suffix what is actually done

What just happened to the patient