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Increasing verbal ability
Effective communication is a necessary skill that all nurses need.
By using basic techniques as a way to improve their vocabulary, nurses can ensure that they grow their communication skills.
One way to increase your overall vocabulary is by writing down new words and learning their meanings.
This isn’t difficult to do and you won’t only find these new words in what you read, but in the television shows that you watch as well as when you talk to others.
When you identify a new word and you aren’t sure of its meaning, use a dictionary to help you and then try to use the word in your daily conversations.
By doing so, the word will become part of your vocabulary.
Increasing etymology
The study of words is known as etymology.
The focus here is where words originated from and their development between languages over time.
As you know languages come from various parts of the world and are made up of words from many different cultures.
Over time, new words are created as technology evolves, well older ones are changed and redefined.
In some cases, words can be formed when prefixes or suffixes are combined with root words.
As a way to improve verbal ability for testing purposes, students should focus on learning what common prefixes and suffixes are.
For example, the prefix pre is one that can help to clarify medical terms like predate, for example.
Important terms: A glossary
In the nursing field, there are many terms that you should know and understand including:
Abrupt: Describes an abrupt change that takes place without warning
Abstain: To refrain from a certain action in a deliberate manner
Access: Having the ability or permission to enter a certain area or entity; using something as you choose without restraint
Accountable: Responsibility for what one says or does
Acute: Experiencing something intensely, such as pain
Adhere: Using something to bind one thing to another, for example, tape, glue or other agents; the action of providing support and loyalty
Adverse: In an opposite fashion; having a negative effect, someone that is against one’s interests
Affect: Affecting one’s emotions
Ambivalent: Not certain; having thoughts or feelings about something that conflict
Ambulate: Moving and walking around without the assistance of others
Annual: A single year’s duration; something that takes place on one occasion yearly
Apply: Put something to work; having a relevant connection to another thing
Assent: To endorse or agree to something
Audible: Can be heard
Bacteria: Having a simple structure and no distinct nucleus, these are microscopic, free-living, single-celled organisms
Bilateral: Comprising two sides; in the human body, it might refer to something affecting both the right and left side thereof
Cardiac: Pertains to the heart
Cast: Pouring liquid substance into a mold to give shape to something; An object being thrown
Cavity: Hollow space or pocket; a specific space in the human body, for example, the chest cavity
Cease: To bring to an end in a gradual manner; the act or process of extinction
Chronic: Happens time and again or persists for a long period of time
Chronology: According to their occurrence in a time, this is arranging events in a specific order
Compensatory: A payment that counterbalances another action; an equivalent
Complications: A degree of difficulty presented by a factor; in medical parlance, it could mean a condition or secondary disease
Comply: To carry out another person’s wishes; As prescribed by law, to perform in a specific manner
Concave: A curved or arched surface; an inwardly rounded surface, similar to the shape of a bowl
Concise: Minus all detail that’s considered excessive; to the point and straightforwardly so
Congenital: Having a disease from the day you are born
Constrict: Squeezing/compression that makes something narrower
Contingent: When something is dependent upon something else, or conditioned by it; an event that is possible
Contour: A line showing a curvy figure’s shape
Contract: A legal agreement that binds two parties
Contraindication: Specific treatment is unadvisable due to the presence of a certain condition or symptom
Convulsive: Causing sudden involuntary movements
Cursory: Not thorough or in-depth but brief/hasty
Defecate: Feces moves out of the bowels
Deficit: A lack of quality, or a shortfall of something
Depress: Pressing down on something; when something moves to a lower position; activity or strength lessening
Deteriorating: Quality diminishing; function or condition diminishing
Device: Equipment used for a specific task; Something that is thought up or devised
Diagnosis: Figuring out a disease, or a function
Diameter: This looks at the body of an object and the length of a line passing through it
Diffuse: Widely spread over a large area
Dilate: Extend, widen, enlarge; pupils also dilate (become wider)
Dilute: Potency of a substance can be diluted so it is less strong; a substance can be made thinner by diluting it; intensity and flavor diminished
Distal: Away from a central point (location-wise)
Distended: Through the force of internal pressure, something has enlarged
Dysfunction: An organ or system in the body having hindered function
Elevate: Pick something up to a higher position
Empathy: Understanding the feelings of another person
Endogenous: Deep tissue growth; the result of internal factors within an organism
Equilibrium: A state of balance
Etiology: The reason for something’s existence; the origin or cause
Exacerbate: Increasing the intensity of something; an increase in severity
Excess: Usual limitations are surpassed; excessive indulgence that’s not necessary
Exogenous: Developing/growing from shallow/superficial tissues; Factors external to the organism causing various conditions
Expand: Unfold or open, Size, scope or number of something increasing
Exposure: Subjected to a certain influence or condition; publicly making a secret known
Extension: A preexisting entity has something added to it or is elongated
External: On the outside of the human body
Fatal: Something that can cause the death of an individual; having to do with proceeding or fate in a way that a fixed event sequence
Fatigue: Tiredness brought on by one of several factors including, stress, exertion, or labor, for example; the propensity of a material to break when placed under stress
Febrile: Linked to fever, as well as symptoms of fever
Flaccid: Not firm; a lack of youthful firmness, force, or vigor
Flexion: The condition of being bent or bending and in the medical field, pertains to limbs or joints
Flushed: When a part of the body reddens or blushing in the face
Gaping: An area that is open and exposed
Gastrointestinal: Dealing with a person’s stomach and intestines
Gender: Associated with a specific sex particularly in light of psychological, cultural, and behavioral traits
Hematologic: This term is with regards to blood
Hydration: Introducing or resupplying with fluids; The act of someone taking in water
Hygiene: Activities that help maintain health from a physical standpoint; the science of health
Impaired: Performing functionally or in a proper manner is not possible due to a condition; if someone is under the influence of drugs or alcohol, they are said to be impaired
Impending: Probably will occur in the near future; threateningly hanging overhead
Impervious: watertight, resistant, not affected; won’t allow the passage of fluid or not allowing entrance
Imply: Not directly stating something but suggesting or insinuating it
Incidence: When something arrives at the surface; When something that happens affects something else
Infection: When pathogenic organisms invade an area of body tissue
Infer: Coming to a conclusion or making judgements in light of evidence and reasoning
Inflamed: When an intensely emotional state is incited further; can also describe something that has been set alight
Ingest: Taking something via the mouth to be digested in the stomach
Initiate: To set something in motion/cause it to begin; entry into a club or organization sees newcomers following a certain process to do so
Insidious: An enticing or dangerous someone/something
Intact: Something that has not been touched by any destructive forces; something that has no part that’s relevant to it altered or removed
Internal: Refers to things both inside the mind as well as the body; something that exists within another entity
Intubate: The insertion of a tube as a way to bypass an obstructed airway
Invasive: Infringe or spread upon something; when something enters the body
Kinetic: Relating to or resulting from objects that are moving; Associated with that motion, this relates to the forces and energy concerned
Labile: changing/breaking down chemically or physically constantly; unstable
Laceration: Refers to wounds that have irregular borders, commonly has a knife like appearance
Latent: Has potential to become a problem although not currently active
Lateral: Affecting sides a side or sides of a body, or referring to them
Lethargic: Slowish/sluggish, apathetic, or indifferent
Musculoskeletal: Relates to the muscles and the skeleton and the connection between them
Neurologic: Relates to the nervous system
Neurovascular: Relates to the nerves and blood vessels
Nutrient: Provides nourishment
Occluded: Blocked off/closed
Ominous: Showing an omen; relates to something disastrous/evil that could happen
Ongoing: In the process of happening; Moving ahead/continuously advancing
Oral: In the medical field, this relates to the mouth; spoken words
Otic: Located in, or relating to the ear region
Overt: Obvious or openly displayed
Parameter: Boundary/limit; this arbitrary value is used in math to describe a statistical population
Paroxysmal: Relates to an attack of symptoms or a sudden fit; an uncontrollable action or sudden emotion
Patent: An easily accessible passage that is clear
Pathogenic: Causes disease
Pathology: Disease study
Posterior: This equates to the back/rear position
Potent: Able as a male, to copulate; pertaining to something that is effective from a chemical or medical point of view
Potential: The chance that something that is a possibility, in fact becomes a reality
Precaution: Taking care of things in advance; Taking measures beforehand to prevent injury or harm
Precipitous: Refers to something that is difficult to overcome or climb
Preexisting: Previous to something else or existing before
Primary: refers to a rank of importance; first in order
Priority: To be given a preferential rating; coming first in order of position or date
Prognosis: After diagnosis of a disease or illness this is the possibility of recovery
Rationale: Practices, beliefs, principles, and opinions of a specific group of people explained
Recur: The process of revisiting something for reconsideration; When a thought/idea enters your thoughts for a second time
Renel: Related to the kidneys
Residual: After most of something is removed, this is a small part remaining
Respiration: Breathing air in and out
Restrict: Having some limitations/boundaries and imposing them on someone
Retain: Keeping your possessions; a person or item is retained in security
Site: Where a structure is physically located; the scene or place where something occurred; a place reserved for a structure
Status: Rank or position in relation to others; the condition of a person or object with regards to their situation
Strict: Maintained in a way that cannot be altered/changed; inflexible
Subcutaneous: Applied, being situated, living, or occurring under the skin
Sublingual: Under the tongue
Supplement: When something is completed by another item
Suppress: Using authority or force to restrain; to push something out of one’s memory; keep out of the knowledge of the public
Symmetric: Divided into equal sections along a longitudinal plane; displaying symmetry
Symptom: Relates to evidence that a disease or illness is present; symptoms indicate that something else is going on
Syndrome: Illness or irregular conditions suggested through the discovery of a group of symptoms happening close together
Therapeutic: This relates to the treatment of an irregular condition or illness
Toxic: Damaging and harmful to organisms, often poisonous; showing symptoms of toxicosis or infection
Transdermal: Permeating through the skin
Transmission: When something is passed from one place to another
Trauma: When an outside object causes an injury
Triage: System used to determine patients that need the highest level of care immediately. This is done by evaluating their condition as well as the chances of them responding in a positive manner to the treatment they receive
Ubiquitous: Present everywhere; common or widespread
Untoward: Characterized by unpleasantness or trouble; hard to manage
Urinate: The process where urine is expelled from the body
Vascular: Relating to blood vessels
Verbal: Pertaining to words
Virulent: Produces damaging/harmful results; ineffective
Virus: Pathogens that can cause disease and that replicate, can only be seen under microscopes
Vital: Essential or necessary to life
Void: No legal effect or force; empty; not occupied
Volume: Pages printed and bound together as a book; changing the degree of loudness; the space taken up by a three-dimensional form
