F.A. Davis The Foundation of Communication in Health Care

Medical Terminology

THE FOUNDATION FOR COMMUNICATION IN HEALTH CARE

Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN Managing Director Collaborative Momentum Consulting

Imagine your student in the following situation.

The diagnosis of a patient the student hopes to care for is pericardial effusion , which will require pericardiocentesis to avoid cardiac tamponade . Prior to this procedure, the patient will have an electrocardiogram, a chest X-ray, an echocardiogram , and a computed tomography scan . Explaining the diagnosis and proposed diagnostic care and treatment as well as potential adverse events to this patient requires your student to be competent in their use of the language of medical terminology. Without understanding the meaning of these words, as well as their pronunciation, and the ability to translate them into layman’s terms, health care providers, regardless of their discipline, cannot provide safe, effective care. As faculty, it is your job to prepare students to become competent in the use of medical terminology by the time they graduate from their health professions program.

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Benefits of Being Fluent in Medical Terminology 1. Effectively using medical terminology is much like being fluent in a foreign language. The greater one’s fluency, the more likely they will be successful in an environment where the language is spoken. The ability to pronounce medical terms correctly and understand their meaning influences the effectiveness of communication with patients AND health professionals. Some of the specific benefits of fluency in Medical Terminology include: 1. Ensuring that health professionals understand each other to ensure the safety of the patient. Medical terminology helps describe a patient’s medical condition and the treatment requirements in an efficient way so all members of the health care team have a common understanding. Consider a situation where a physician tells the scheduler in the outpatient surgery center to schedule a patient for an endoscopy, and the operating room staff prepare for a colonoscopy. At the very least, delays and confusion can occur to inconvenience everyone, including the patient. At the very worst, a medical error could occur. 2. Building confidence among the health care team. Inexperienced providers who confidently and correctly use medical terminology signal to more experienced staff that they can be trusted to communicate effectively. Although new graduates understandably may stumble, particularly in pronouncing or using difficult terms, becoming fluent in communicating with the health care team contributes to the success of the new practitioner. 3. Improving the patient experience. Most patients want to understand what is happening to them when they are undergoing diagnostic and treatment procedures. Yet rarely do they understand the medical “jargon” health care professionals use to explain treatment and procedures. Meeting a patient’s “need to know” requires, as we saw in the initial scenario, the ability to accurately translate the “jargon” into language the patient understands. Patients are more likely to rely on and trust a caregiver who uses simple language that everyone understands. Dissecting Medical Terminology 2. Although some terminology, such as acronyms, simply must be memorized, many medical terms are derivatives of Latin or Greek words. Medical terms often are a combination of a prefix, a root, and a suffix. Knowing what these parts of the word mean in Latin or Greek can provide clues as to the meaning of the word. Table A below provides some examples of these clues.

Types of combinations of parts of medical terms

Definition of Derivative

Definition

erythron = red; reddish cyte = cell

erythrocyte: red blood cells

Root + Suffix

bronchiectasis: a condition in which the lungs’ airways become damaged, making it hard to clear mucus.

bronchi/o = bronchus/bronchi ectises = expansion/dilation

Prefix + Root

peri = around card = heart it is = inflammation

pericarditis: inflammation of the sac around the heart.

Prefix + Root + Suffix

Table A: Example of Analyzing Medical Terms

Curricula 3. Health professions curricula typically prepares students to be fluent in medical terminology in one of two ways. The course of study includes 1) a medical terminology course or 2) an opportunity to gain experience in deciphering medical terms in several courses throughout the curriculum. For example, Anatomy and Physiology, Microbiology, or a course that serves as an introduction to the specific health care discipline may include opportunities to learn medical terminology. Regardless of how the medical terminology content is offered to

students, the basic objectives are teaching students to: § Define medical terms using suffixes, roots, and prefixes. § Pronounce and spell medical terms correctly. § Identify and understand medical abbreviations.

The challenge becomes meeting these objectives. Unfortunately, too often students are given a list of words and abbreviations to memorize on their own, particularly when the content is integrated into a course with other content. The evaluation of their competence in using this terminology is through recognition of medical terms on a written exam or on students’ ability to use the terms appropriately in assigned written work. Little attention may be paid to the ability of students to pronounce terms correctly or to effectively integrate the knowledge the medical term represents into their care of patients. 4. For more than 25 years, research has demonstrated that when students are cognitively, emotionally, and socially engaged with the material to be learned, they are more likely to retain the content and apply it in a variety of contexts (Eyler, 2018). To accomplish these goals, what strategies can be used to foster student engagement with medical terminology in a meaningful way? Publisher Materials With the advent of online delivery of content, students can use ebooks and a wide range of supplemental online activities that increase student engagement when studying medical terminology. Student Engagement: The Key to Success For example, resources by F. A. Davis supplement their medical terminology texts (or ebooks) with Medical Language Lab . This lab provides an opportunity for a student to independently search for an appropriate word, choose the appropriate spelling, and find words in a crossword format. Students also are given the opportunity to identify pictures associated with the word as a memory tool, label parts of the anatomy with appropriate terms, and practice combining root words with prefixes and/or suffixes to describe medical situations. Using auditory learning, students can also hear how a term is pronounced, allowing them to emulate the pronunciation delivered by audio until they can pronounce the term without difficulty. These materials are designed to catch the imagination of students and engage a variety of their senses in the learning process whether they are studying alone or with a group. As students work independently to memorize medical terminology, the use of visual imagery can be a great association technique. For example, when trying to remember what the word thrombosis means, imagining a clogged drainage pipe in as much detail as possible can help differentiate this word from others that are similar. (Think of a lot of sludge in that pipe!)

Opening Class Activities Brooks (2023) suggests a learning strategy to engage students as a class in medical terminology or in a course where applying medical terminology is prominent. As students enter the classroom, the faculty should write a list of terms built from word segments students are studying. As students take their seats, assign individual students or a group to analyze and define a term. Follow this five-minute activity with students sharing their analyses and definitions in small groups or with the entire class. Flash Cards Flash Cards with prefixes and suffixes or medical abbreviations or terms are a tried-and-true method to support memorization. Individual students may use these cards (either purchased from a publisher, homemade, or accessed via phones, tablets, and laptops from internet sources) to check their own memory. Flash Cards of various types may also be used in small group activities. Brooks (2023) suggests dividing students into small groups (three or four) and giving them 5-15 minutes. One member of the group holds up a card, allowing another member to pronounce the word and another to provide the definition. At the end of this short session, students might also be asked to categorize the cards by the information the word conveys, such as anatomic structures, pathology, surgery, diagnostics, specialty provider, and so forth. Having students determine the categories can add a twist to this exercise by building more context into this memory work. Medical Terminology Bingo Medical Terminology bingo can also be a fun way to review definitions of various terms. Although there are commercial medical terminology bingo games available, these can also be homemade to represent medical terms faculty want to emphasize, for example, terms in a particular unit the students have recently studied. While this can be an interesting class activity (especially, if there are prizes), a group of students can also use bingo as a review mechanism without an instructor present. Emphasizing Correct Pronunciation The correct pronunciation of medical terms is often difficult for students to achieve. Requiring students to read various written patient scenarios aloud in class can be an adjunct to a Medical Language Lab. (Even if students are working independently, reading aloud in an effort to smoothly pronounce difficult words in the context of a patient scenario can be helpful.) Throughout the health professions student’s educational experience, they will likely be required to make presentations about clinical situations in class or other venues. Even students in an online course may make video presentations in order for faculty and/or classmates to grade their presentation skills. To incentivize students to use appropriate medical terms in their presentation, faculty might consider including a criterion in the presentation grading rubric, such as “Uses medical terminology appropriately, including proper pronunciation.” One Last Thought 5. Learning a new language, including Medical Terminology, is an important skill requiring student engagement, application, repetition, and faculty/peer feedback . Regardless of whether medical terminology is learned in an independent course or integrated into courses within the total curriculum, faculty must provide opportunities for each of these components to be in place, so that students can truly be fluent in medical terminology by their graduation. Denise DeAntonio suggests a simple framework to guide the teaching of medical terminology: “Keep it fun! Keep it real!” Six words that provide a perfect framework to learn medical terminology.

References DeAntonio, D. (2023) Tips on Teaching Medical Terminology. https://www.theclassroom.com/tips-teaching-medical-terminology-8334065.html Accessed, 2023 Brooks, D.L. (2023) Tips for Teaching Medical Terminology. January. https://medicalterminologyblog.com/tips-for-teaching-medical-terminology/ Accessed, 2023. Eyler, J. (2018) How Humans Learn: The science and stories behind effective college teaching. West Virginia University Press. About the author Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN , is a nationally recognized speaker and consultant with over 10 years of consulting experience, providing program development and other consultation services to nursing and health professions programs throughout the United States and Canada. Previously, she served as Dean of the College of Health Sciences and Human Services at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas.

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