AMA 171 Anatomy & Physiology/Medical Terminology/Pathology Skin and Senses

Course Handouts

http://www.umm.edu/dermatology-info/anatomy.htm

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AMA 171 Anatomy & Physiology/Medical Terminology/Pathology Skin and Senses
Course Handouts

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AMA 171 Anatomy & Physiology/Medical Terminology/Pathology Skin and Senses
Course Handouts

http://www.nshearing.ca/anatomy.php

http://www.medicinenet.com/vestibular_balance_disorders/page2.htm

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AMA 171 Anatomy & Physiology/Medical Terminology/Pathology Skin and Senses
Course Handouts

http://www.tedmontgomery.com/the_eye/

Courses Notes for AMA 171:

This is extra information that the instructors would like you to know – if we
lectured, we would tell you more than the text alone does. Please read these
notes carefully and study them along with your text.

SENSES:

Glaucoma is a condition of increased intraocular pressure that can damage

eyesight. Note it is in the anterior chamber of the eyeball; look at the
eyeball diagram in the text. It is often misunderstood that the pressure is

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Course Handouts

in the eyeball itself, which is not true. The aqueous humor which is in the
anterior chamber, whereas vitreous humor is in the eyeball.

PERRLA is a common abbreviation that physicians use to note some basics

about the patient. It stands for Pupils Equal, Round, Reactive to Light and
Accommodation.

See the picture on page 672: this gives you an idea of what the physician
sees when using an ophthalmoscope to examine a patient’s retina. This can
tell them many things such as high blood pressure – the vessels’ appearance
can show that.

The MA who works in an ophthalmology clinic is often called an Ophthalmic

Assistant or Technician and has some additional training beyond the typical
MA.

MAs do a lot of visual acuity tests. For children who cannot read letters,
there are Snellen charts with pictures on them or with hands that point
various directions. Be sure you can explain what “20/20” means. Patients
commonly ask this. An example for explanation would be a patient who has
20/60 vision: a person reading at 20 feet from the chart can read the “60”
line of letters where a person with normal vision would be able to read it at
60 feet away; vision of 20/200 means the patient can read the “200” line at
20 feet but the normal vision person could read it at 200 feet away.

There are some terms in terminology that are used more commonly than the
terms that are made of word parts. An example in this chapter would be
enucleation: this means removal of the eyeball and/or its contents. If you
made a word for this by literal word parts it would be ophthalmectomy –
however, this is not the term used.

MAs often irrigate (or lavage) eyes and ears. This can be done to either,
cleanse the area, flush out debris, or flush with medication. It is important
to know the anatomy and physiology of these parts to avoid any damage. For
example, you should direct a flow of fluid to the top of the ear canal to avoid
the stream directly squirting at the tympanic membrane.

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The ears are connected to the pharynx (throat) by the eustachian tubes.
People may confuse these for “ear tubes,” which are small devices often
inserted into the tympanic membrane to create and maintain an opening for
equalizing pressure between the outer and middle ear. These are often
inserted in children who have chronic middle ear infections (otitis media).
These often work their way out as the membrane grows around it.

Use an otoscope to view the tympanic membrane. When the MA irrigates an

ear, the MA must look at the ear canal to assess the amount, consistency
and location of cerumen (ear wax) prior to irrigation, then periodically during
irrigation to assess when the TM is visible – that is when you are finished
irrigating the ear; that is the typically the purpose for irrigating the ears –
to allow the physician to see the TM to determine infection or fluid behind
the ear or to remove impacted cerumen from those patients who produce a
lot and come to the office complaining of pain, dizziness or hearing loss.

Eye irrigations are ordered by the physician with the amount of cc’s of fluid
to administer. There are various instruments to use in irrigation, also.
Emergency irrigations are often done with an open IV set up without the
needle or an eyewash station in a sink.

SKIN:

Dermatology and integumentary are the terms for the skin system. There
are usually a lot of procedures in a dermatology office using minor surgery
assisting and aseptic techniques.

The skin is the largest organ of the body and is the first line of defense.
Skin often shows symptoms of various conditions since it is on the surface
of the body and visible. The skin system includes hair, nails and breast
tissue.

Be sure to learn the word parts of colors. These are used in all body
systems. Note small differences in spelling can change the meaning of the
word part (or term). An example: hidro and hydro.

Note the pronunciation of some of the words/word parts: an example is

xantho which means yellow. It is pronounced as if the x were a z.

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Be sure to learn the lesions such as macule, pustule, etc. These are very
common.

Terms like pruritus for itching and urticaria for hives are very common and
are generally used instead of the layman’s terms. When charting a patient’s
symptoms, use proper medical terms.

These terms are included here as they do not appear in your text but are
common terms: nevus = mole (nevi is plural), keloid is an overgrowth of scar
tissue and cicatrix is a scar.

Note there are many terms that mean basically a bruise. There are many
types according to size, severity, etc. These include such terms as
contusion, petechia, hematoma.

On burns, please note that a 3rd degree burn may seem so severe that it
would be extremely painful. However, nerves are destroyed in 3rd degree
burns so are not painful until they begin to heal. Then they must be
debrided often to keep dead skin and debris from causing infection. One of
the biggest problems of a newly burned patient is dehydration.