Medical Terminology for Nurses
Decode the language of healthcare with confidence. Learn to break down complex medical terms, navigate patient charts, and communicate clearly during shift handoffs.
Like Duolingo, but for Medical Terminology for Nurses. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
27 levels across 4 sections, about 54 minutes end to end, roughly 11 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Cracking the Clinical Code; Mapping the Patient's Body; Pathologies, Tests, and Bedside Procedures; and Orders, Medications, and Charting. It starts from scratch.
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Key ideas in Medical Terminology for Nurses
- Medical terms are decoded starting with the suffix at the end
- After interpreting the suffix, look to the prefix at the very beginning
- The root word in the middle is decoded last to complete the translation
- The root word identifies the core body part or anatomical system involved
- Combining vowels (most often 'o') have no independent meaning and serve solely as phonetic bridges between hard consonants
- Prefixes sit at the very start of a word to alter how, where, or when a root applies
- Common nursing prefixes indicate spatial position (like under or above), timing (before or after), or amount/rate (slow, fast, one, many)
- A suffix sits at the end of a medical term and signals what is happening to the body part
- Suffixes differentiate between a patient's complaint (symptom), an underlying pathology (disease), an investigative tool (test), or a treatment (surgery)
- The combining vowel (usually 'o') is dropped if the suffix begins with a vowel (e.g., -itis becomes gastritis)
- The combining vowel is kept only when connecting a root to a suffix that starts with a consonant (e.g., -megaly becomes gastromegaly)
- The prefix tachy- means abnormally fast or rapid
- The prefix brady- means abnormally slow
- Combining tachy- with cardiac (-cardia) or respiratory (-pnea) roots describes an abnormally elevated rate
- The prefix hyper- indicates an excess or value above the normal baseline
- The prefix hypo- indicates a deficiency or value below the normal baseline
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives Medical Terminology for Nurses the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
Right after you decode the suffix at the end of a word, where do your eyes go next?
Get it right to open this lesson and 26 more in the app.
Where Medical Terminology for Nurses takes you
- 1
Cracking the Clinical Code
- The Word-Building Formula
- Vital Signs, Speed, and Numbers
- 2
Mapping the Patient's Body
- Directional Planes and Positioning
- Anatomical Roots for Body Systems
- 3
Pathologies, Tests, and Bedside Procedures
- Decoding Conditions and Diagnoses
- Surgical and Diagnostic Procedures
- 4
Orders, Medications, and Charting
- Pharmacology and Medication Orders
- Safe Charting and Shift Handoffs
4 sections · 8 units · 27 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
Tomo is in ChatGPT
Tomo is also a ChatGPT plugin: the same playable courses, built and played inside your chat.
Add Tomo to ChatGPT- What to ask
- “Make me a Tomo course on black holes.” “Turn this chat into a Tomo course.”
- What you get
- Quick questions with instant feedback, hearts and stars, ready to play in about a minute.
- Where it goes
- No sign-up to start. Connect your Tomo account and your streak carries on in the app.
You pick the voice
Medical Terminology for Nurses is taught in the Professor style: clear, structured, thorough. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
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Start Medical Terminology for Nurses today.
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