Health Care Fundamentals and Anatomy/Physiology Basics
Scope of the domain
This domain checks whether you can (a) place body structures at the correct organisational level, (b) use standard anatomical language, and (c) connect the structure of each major system to its function and to a normal vital-sign range. Questions are usually short-answer and carry marks for the correct technical word, not for a long description.
Core rules
- Organisation runs cell → tissue → organ → system → organism; a tissue is a group of similar cells, an organ is two or more tissues working together.
- The anatomical position is standing erect, face forward, arms at the sides, palms forward. All directional terms refer to the patient, never to the observer.
- Planes: sagittal divides left and right (midsagittal only if equal halves), coronal divides front and back, transverse divides upper and lower.
- Terms: superior/inferior, anterior/posterior, medial/lateral, proximal/distal (limbs only), superficial/deep.
- Cavities: cranial, vertebral, thoracic (lungs, heart), abdominal, pelvic.
- Homeostasis is the maintenance of a stable internal environment, achieved mostly by negative feedback.
Worked example
A student asks why shivering occurs in a cold room. Reasoning: the hypothalamic set point is about 37 °C; cold blood is detected by thermoreceptors; the control centre sends efferent impulses to skeletal muscle; rapid contraction (shivering) releases heat; body temperature rises back towards the set point; the stimulus is reduced, so this is negative feedback. Full marks need the four parts named: sensor, control centre, effector, response.
Traps that cost marks
Writing "sagittal" when the question says equal halves; reversing proximal and distal; describing planes as cutting the picture rather than the body; naming the shoulder as "above" when the exam word is superior; treating afferent as outgoing (afferent arrives).