Medical Terminology is too overwhelming?

angeloublue22, BSN, RN · Jul 22, 2017

There are also some good phone apps that can help you study.

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Jul 22, 2017

:)
I studied Latin and Greek too! I loved it, but they never taught us anything like "Semper ubi, sub ubi."

I have a friend who is a cardiologist who is even older than I (hard to believe, right?) We used to leave little Latin phrases on the assignment board for the other to figure out. This gem was from Dr. Bob.

WanderingWilder, ASN · Jul 23, 2017

I'm going into my second year. We do not have to take a medical terminology class. I found that I pick up the medical terms as I go. Your instructors are not going to expect you to know everything. Just because you haven't mastered Latin doesn't mean you aren't passionate enough or won't be a good nurse. You'll be fine. Stupid people don't get into Nursing School. Its too hard to get in. You can do it.

kaycikaps · Jul 27, 2017

Use your medical terminology textbook and go back and study what your professor assigned you to study. Don't try to remember definitions but remember how to words break down into their prefixes and suffixes to make the word meaning. It made more sense to me to study this way for my (not required) medical terminology course. Medical terminology is not hard, it's just like vocabulary from grade school, only at the college level for health students.

Beldar_the_Cenobite, CNA · Jul 28, 2017

I'm feeling really unprepared to start nursing school next month because I realized I don't have enough background with medical terminology.
Taking the exams didn't help either since they were really basic and easy questions, so I didn't have to take much effort with studying them.
Right now I'm trying to once again teach myself the terminology before I start but it seems futile as I truly don't understand how to absorb all of this information in a couple of weeks. It also worries me that this class was required for my program and so they may think that I should already know all of this information, which I don't. So this could either make or break me.
Anybody have any tips on what I should do and better prepare myself before school starts back up?

I'm not in nursing school yet but I've taken a course just like the one you took. My med term class was also 1 credit. HIT-117B. I believe there's an old saying in college: "The lower the class number, the easier it is. It all just depends on the syllabus and you".

So you got accepted into nursing school and you have issues reabsorbing what you stated was in the med term class as "Taking the exams didn't help either since they were really basic and easy questions"...I'm lost....so the exam questions were easy so you knew the material? -itis is inflammation, cephalic is head, cardio is heart, ology is the study of, etc. This is stuff you HAVE to know in the medical field once you become a nurse. I don't know if before nursing school you have to know it, but the terms you learn are terms you will see.

"So this could either make or break me." I'm sure there are classes more than one credit and higher than whatever your med term class is in nursing school that will make you or break you. I'm afraid of the classes too but I hope the teacher won't say to me "here's your wings now go fly", if they can't seem to fathom teaching the material, at least be approachable with concerns from the student, but the medical terminology is something you gotta have down eventually.

Your med term class sounds like something SUPER basic and something I'd have at least down before nursing school because if you don't know what Q2H or ER is when you become a nurse, I've heard doctors can be REAL *******S especially in the surgery room when the surg tech doesn't hand them the scaple a "certain" way or other tools in a "specific" pattern. If you are able to take this class before nursing school and the terms in the material relate to things you will see in nursing, I'd take down the information now and google it, whatever you can so you can be prepared. Theres an old saying in life "Knowing is half the battle"...

Nevada State College, where I'm thinking of going to instead of UNLV, requires Pathophysiology and Medical terminology prior to their program. They told me "Language of Medicine" at CSN, which I guess is the same thing as the one credit class I took and I'm taking it prior to applyng to NSC, is ok. They won't take the one credit class I took. Which is fine because I need something for financial aid requirements anyway and Language of Medicine is 3 credits and a full semester.

BuriedSet127 · Jul 31, 2017

When I took MT online I found a lot of success with Quizlet. It's a flash card website that you can also download to your phone. Just glancing at words and trying to remember doesn't work well for me in this class, so I'd type up all of the terms on Quizlet and by physically typing them out it was helping me learn, but also then I would review them on the app on my phone. You always have your phone with you so just look at a few every now and then when you get a chance (while standing in line, before you lay down for bed, or even in between classes. You'll start to notice after you build up your knowledge of prefixes and suffixes it becomes so much easier. Then all that's left is learn the root word and you have so many different terms that you can break down.

Meeshie · Aug 2, 2017

:)
I studied Latin and Greek too! I loved it, but they never taught us anything like "Semper ubi, sub ubi."

Its a homophone.. one of the better ones Ive seen. :)

Semper = always

Ubi = Where

Sub = Under

'Always where under where' which in English sounds like... Always wear underwear

C0SM0 · Aug 2, 2017

I wouldn't stress too much about medical terminology. If you're going to stress about something, I'd make sure you have A&P down first. My school doesn't even require medical terminology for nursing school. I'm sure that taking the course gives you a small edge over others while learning the material, but there's so much better things to worry about when it comes to nursing school.

BAY AREA RN, BSN · Aug 3, 2017

your school may give you a list of med terms (roots and suffixes) when you start of what you should know. my program did and they tested us on our first exam with them. go on quizlet and search medical terminology and some will show up and test yourself that way

WishfulThinkingRN · Aug 5, 2017

My school used Dean Vaughn videos. They were extremely helpful and the visuals they use really stick with you. Still can't pass a gas truck without thinking about a stomach.

Check out youtube for an example

VanFrost · Jun 18, 2024

First I just want to say WOW. Don't let Shiba get you down! Medical Terminology classes can vary greatly depending on the course. I'm currently taking a particularly difficult course myself. You feel like you have to memorize every word of every sentence of every paragraph of every page of every chapter... my class has the standard prefix, root, suffix memorization but additionally they expect us to remember a million definitions, specific medications and their applications, all the parts of all the organ systems, being able to lable diagrams. It feels like 3 classes crammed into one. I wonder if I should have taken A&P first so that some of this would have been just review instead of all brand new material. But as others have mentioned you probably don't need to have it all memorized now. The more you use it the more will stick. I am practicing like crazy and probably about 30% of the material is sticking, but I've already found that as things come up again and I look up the meaning AGAIN that I'm having more "oh yeah" moments and fewer, "I'm never going to get this" moments. Not everyone gets things right away. And it is an unattainable amount of information. But as long as you keep at it and don't let the haters get you down, you'll do fine. It speaks volumes that you are going back and trying to relearn the material on your own. That is the kind of dedication it takes to succeed! You WILL get this! You CAN do this! Best of luck!

FullGlass, BSN, MSN, NP · Jun 25, 2024

VanFrost said:

First I just want to say WOW. Don't let Shiba get you down! Medical Terminology classes can vary greatly depending on the course. I'm currently taking a particularly difficult course myself. You feel like you have to memorize every word of every sentence of every paragraph of every page of every chapter... my class has the standard prefix, root, suffix memorization but additionally they expect us to remember a million definitions, specific medications and their applications, all the parts of all the organ systems, being able to lable diagrams. It feels like 3 classes crammed into one. I wonder if I should have taken A&P first so that some of this would have been just review instead of all brand new material. But as others have mentioned you probably don't need to have it all memorized now. The more you use it the more will stick. I am practicing like crazy and probably about 30% of the material is sticking, but I've already found that as things come up again and I look up the meaning AGAIN that I'm having more "oh yeah" moments and fewer, "I'm never going to get this" moments. Not everyone gets things right away. And it is an unattainable amount of information. But as long as you keep at it and don't let the haters get you down, you'll do fine. It speaks volumes that you are going back and trying to relearn the material on your own. That is the kind of dedication it takes to succeed! You WILL get this! You CAN do this! Best of luck!

Nurses MUST understand medical terminology. It is critical to understand the basics, such as:

hyper

hypo

cardio

endo

exo

derm

and so on.

I took medical terminology before nursing school and was so glad I did. Most of my classmates who had not done this struggled a lot with basic terminology.

If you understand the basic prefixes, roots and suffixes, you will be able to figure out the meaning of a lot of words w/o having to look them up. It will also make it a lot easier to memorize key terms in nursing school. You probably already know more than you realize - most of us know "cardio" pertains to the heart, for example.

You don't have to be an expert in Greek and Latin, but knowing the most commonly used word parts is essential. It is well worth investing some time in learning medical terminology prior to nursing school. I always advise this to prenursing students.