Body Organization and Anatomical Terminology
Anatomical position, the planes and directional terms, the body cavities and the four abdominal quadrants, and the levels of organization from cell to organism. This is the vocabulary every other page here assumes you already have.
8 min read · Updated September 10, 2026
Why the Vocabulary Comes First
Every description you will ever give of a patient depends on words that mean exactly one thing. "The wound is on his left arm" is useless if the person reading it does not know whose left you meant. Anatomical terminology exists to remove that ambiguity, and once you have it, the rest of the body becomes much easier to describe.
Learn this page first. Every other page in this section assumes you already have it.
Anatomical Position
Anatomical position is the reference posture that every directional term is defined against. The patient is standing upright, facing forward, arms at the sides, palms turned forward, feet flat and pointing forward.
The patient does not have to be in that position for the terms to apply. You describe a patient lying face down on a sidewalk exactly as if he were standing in anatomical position, because otherwise the words would change meaning every time you rolled him.
The single most important consequence: left and right always mean the patient's left and right. A laceration on the side of the chest facing you as you kneel at his side is his left if you are on his left. Your own orientation never enters into it.
Quick check
The words left and right in a patient report refer to which frame of reference?
Frequently asked questions
What is anatomical position?
Standing upright, facing forward, arms at the sides with the palms turned forward, feet flat and pointed forward. Every directional term is defined against that position, so left and right always mean the patient’s left and right no matter which way the patient is actually lying.
What are the four abdominal quadrants and what is in each one?
The quadrants are drawn by crossing a vertical line and a horizontal line at the umbilicus. Right upper holds the liver, gallbladder and part of the pancreas. Left upper holds the stomach, spleen and most of the pancreas. Right lower holds the appendix and the cecum. Left lower holds the descending and sigmoid colon. The small intestine spreads through all four.
What is the difference between proximal and distal?
Proximal means closer to the trunk or to the point of attachment, and distal means farther from it. The elbow is proximal to the wrist, and the wrist is distal to the elbow. Both words only make sense on a limb, so a chest injury is never described as proximal.
Now go use it
Reading anatomy and recalling it under exam pressure are different skills. Practice questions at your certification level are free and unlimited, and the flashcard decks cover the same material in a format built for repetition.