stethoscope laying on dictionary page open to the word medical

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Test Your Medical Jargon IQ

How familiar are you with the language used by health care providers?

Peter Urban,

AARP

En español

Published December 05, 2022

8 Questions

35da11a6-b571-482e-898a-215a301f0d1b

Test Your Medical Jargon IQ

[ {
  "question" : "True or false? It’s bad news if, after your cancer screening test comes back, the doctor tells you the results are negative.",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "True",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "False",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "A negative result means they didn’t find cancer, something almost everyone understands, according to a recent study that questioned adults attending the 2021 Minnesota State Fair about their knowledge of medical jargon.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "After surgery for cancer, your doctor says test results show “your nodes are positive.” Meaning?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "You are clear of cancer",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "The cancer has spread",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "The cancer has not spread",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "You have recovered from the anesthesia",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "The surgeon is telling you that the cancer has spread to your lymph nodes. Remember, if you aren’t sure what your doctor is saying, ask them to explain it again in plain language.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "Your radiologist says that your chest X-ray was “unremarkable.” Meaning?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "You need to do more bench presses",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "They found something of concern",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Everything looked normal",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "They prefer to have your doctor explain what the X-ray shows",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Explainer: An “unremarkable” X-ray means the doctors didn’t find anything abnormal.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "If your doctor tells you that you will need to be NPO at 8 a.m., you should...",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "Be getting out of bed at 8 a.m.",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Begin prepping for surgery at 8 a.m.",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Stop eating or drinking after 8 a.m.",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "Not plan to overdo it after 8 a.m.",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "NPO is an abbreviation of the Latin nil per os, which means “nothing by mouth.” So no eating or drinking anything past 8 a.m.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "True or false? It’s not good to be halfway through your chemotherapy treatment and be told that your tumor is progressing.",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "True",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "False",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "When a tumor is progressing, it means it’s growing, which is not what you want to hear halfway through chemotherapy.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "Is it good or bad news to be told that your neuro exam is “grossly intact”?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "Good news",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "Bad news",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "While it’s commonly used to mean “unpleasantly,” in this context “grossly” means “in general,” and “intact” means “nothing abnormal.”",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "Your doctor tells you he is concerned you may have an occult infection. Meaning?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "He fears you are living under a curse",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Bacteria was found in your eyes",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "You have a hidden infection",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "You are suffering from multiple infections",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "When health professionals use the term “occult,” they mean “hidden.”",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "If your doctor asks if you have been febrile, he wants to know...",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "If you have experienced dizziness",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Whether or not you have ringing in your ears",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "If you have been feverish",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "If you have lost muscle strength",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Both feverish and febrile mean “marked or caused by fever” and are derived from febris, the Latin word for fever.  ",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
} ]

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Peter Urban is a contributing writer and editor who focuses on health news. Urban spent two decades working as a correspondent in Washington, D.C., including a stint as Washington bureau chief for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, and for daily newspapers in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Ohio, California and Arkansas, His freelance work has appeared in Scientific American, Bloomberg Government and CTNewsJunkie.com.