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Discussion

Med Terms

how many colleges require nursing students to take a class in mt's?

i believe that medical terminology is a huge part of the nursing or for that matter, any medical profession.

my stance is, how can someone do a job without knowing the language?

i think it is darn near impossible.

when i met with my nursing adviser this summer, i asked her about mt's, she said she thought that was a great idea because that is what first year nursing students struggle with the most is the terminology.

at this point, the college i attend doesn't require nursing students to take the course but the class is offered on my campus through a technical college that is partners with the one that i attend.

although they are together, they are not the pest of friends.

while i was in high school, i was lead to believe if i took edge classes (like medical terminology) i would receive college credit if i passed the state exam, which i did. there was one class that i took, where i was the only one to receive the credit(74 or higher), the other 20+ either failed, or passed according to the school system grading policy (64 or better).

since the college i attend and the technical college are not friends, i did not receive credit for the many classes i took at a technical school and passed the state exams.

i plan on taking medical terminology in nursing school, just to have an easy a because i use correct mt's all the time and a refresher course.

so tell me, do you think medical terminology is an important class to take? and should it or should it not be required for nursing, rad tech, pre-med, etc. majors?

thanks,

mandi

Featured Replies

Our school requires medical terminology as a pre-req. Since the medical field has its own language the people that work in that field need to be "fluent" in that language.

No medical terminology class in our program. Although I think it would have been 100x more useful than some of the other dumb classes we had to take...

Med terms is included in our very first class we took in nursing school. It's part of Fundamentals. It maybe could have been better taught but I think we've got it covered. You should see my pile of cards!

What I think would have helped some of my classmates was to explain just how a term is constructed. The root, the combining vowel(& when it's used) as well as the prefixes & suffixes. I had Latin in HS many, many years ago & it helped me immensely but some of my classmates really struggled and resorted to just plain memorizing.

Dixie

We were not required to take medical terminology in my program. However, we had several "lab tests" during A&P where we had to identify hundreds of pre- and suffix's-- I feel it helps to break down the words for identification.

  • Experts

mandi. . .i don't remember if medical terminology was a required class prior to entering my aa nursing program (it was 32 years ago!), but i did, and do remember, taking the medical terminology class at the college. it's on my transcript! i have since taught basic medical teminology in a vocational school as well.

while i understand your passion about this, i can honestly tell you, after many years of experience and two degrees in nursing, that what i and everyone else learns in basic medical terminology is just that--basic. i still have a very vivid recollection of reading my nursing textbooks for my aa program along with a taber's cyclopedic medical dictionary at my side. i had to constantly look up medical terms. these were medical terms that were never covered in my basic medical terminology class. i'm sorry to disappoint you, but i feel that the most important concepts of basic medical terminology that a nursing student needs to know can be learned in one or two lectures and a couple of handouts. that would include a discussion of word roots (combining forms), suffixes, prefixes and how these are used to construct medical terms. knowing those rules is all i think a student need to get started. that, and a good medical dictionary.

if you have a taber's, look in the appendix. it has a listing of prefixes, suffixes and combining forms. you will see oodles of combining forms listed there that are never covered in basic medical terminology textbooks/workbooks. i used to pull bonus questions from this list for our class final jeopardy questions only because i mentioned this resource a number of times as well as showed it to my students to indicate that what they were learning was only the beginning.

i think you would do better to invest in a good copy of a medical dictionary (not a pocket edition). here are some websites where you can learn or review medical terminology for free online rather than take a class.

http://www.training.seer.cancer.gov/module_cancer_terminology/unit01_sec01.html - a basic medical terminology course. click on the arrows on the top menu bar to move through the program

http://www.training.seer.cancer.gov/module_cancer_terminology/00_cancer_terminology_home.html - main page, "cancer and medical terminology"

http://www.lcsc.edu/healthocc/enable02/medterm.htm - medical terminology in a nutshell with several short quizzes - organized into sections on word roots, suffixes, prefixes, how to read a medical term, and abbreviations

http://wps.prenhall.com/chet_rice_terminolog_2/0,4681,198650-,00.html - this is the companion website self study resource for terminology of health and medicine by jane rice. there is a dropdown box just under the top banner that will give you access to the various chapters of the course. clicking on the individual chapters takes you to a page of objectives. however, on the left side of each page are links to multiple choice, t/f, labeling, fill in the blank and essay questions for that chapter along with a link to a glossary of medical terms. the labeling includes basic anatomy structures to be labeled.

http://www.free-ed.net/free-ed/healthcare/medterm-v02.asp - this is a free on line medical terminology course. this link takes you to a page of links that are organized by stems (word roots), prefixes, and suffixes. there are multiple choice and matching exams after each section that give you instant feedback that tells you if your response is right or wrong

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/wnor/terminologyanatplanes.htm - this really is more for someone taking anatomy, but it is medical terminology. this site shows and tells you the anatomical planes of the body, defines terms of relation or position, defines terms of movement, and has a listing of frequently used medical terms in anatomy with their definitions. a reference you might want to print out for your anatomy notebooks. there are links at the bottom of the page. this is only one page in an anatomy site maintained by a former anatomy professor from georgetown university.

http://www.jdmd.com/glossary/medabbr.pdf - a 15-page glossary of common medical abbreviations

http://www.jointcommission.org/nr/rdonlyres/2329f8f5-6ec5-4e21-b932-54b2b7d53f00/0/06_dnu_list.pdf - the official jcaho "do not use" list

Med Term is not required at the college I attend but I took it anyways when I was getting the Gen Eds out of the way. I also took Law & Ethics of the Medical Professional and they both have served me very well.

I would recommend them to anyone who is going into Nursing.

I also study with a medical dictionary by my side to look up all the strange stuff- the index & glossary suck in the book we are using!

  • Author

thanks to everyone who have posted!!!!

i absolutely love my 20th ed. taber. it was a graduation gift from my mentor/ best friend, who teaches mt's :) she taught me in both mt's and the host (heath occupation science & technology) program.

thanks for all opnions and etc.

mandi

Medical Terminology wasn't required for my associate degree program. I took it before anyway just cuz I thought I would like it and that it would be useful. I say that it was useful in a few ways but any nursing student should be able to pick up the lingo in nursing school if MT isn't taught.

My school doesn't require it, but they suggest it as a possible elective.

My college doesn't require it either. While I was at the community college getting my english and science courses, I decided to take it and use the credits toward electives. It was a wise decision. During the first semester of the nursing program, they did cover some terminology, but it was mostly full words. So I found that most of the students were just memorizing the definitions to those particular words. However, if they were taught more about the definitions of the word parts, they would be able to figure most any words. I can't understand how the course wouldn't be something required. I couldn't imagine trying to understand the course materials while trying to understand the language as well.

If you have a chance to take a class in medical terminology, take it! Yes, you can learn the terms as you wade through other classes, but it's so much easier if you already know at least some of the specialized vocabulary. Consider your copy of Taber's to be as essential to your confidence as a pair of comfortable shoes. :-)

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