How can i study medical terminology

Developing a mind map is a great way to retain and apply information — especially for visual learners. Feel free to use your artistic skills to create doodles instead of writing — or whatever else works! And who could forget the Quadratic Formula song? The sooner you learn Latin and Greek medical roots , the better your chances of graduating pre-med classes. This app is perfect for visual learners. Every component of the human body is revealed in incredible detail and interactive bone and joint movement.

The best way to study is to find the best way for YOU, so make sure that you are blocking out distractions, taking breaks, and learning the way that you learn best! One of the things that can make studying medical terms far easier is learning some of the Greek and Latin roots in them.

Some terms are just Greek, some just Latin, and some are a combination. How do we know? Knowing that, we can then assume that other words with similar roots have related meanings. Examples include laryngitis inflammation of the larynx , bronchitis inflammation in the bronchial tubes , gastritis inflammation of the stomach lining , and many others. We think so too! We mention these magical little cards in our earlier post about study tips , but they are just that helpful!

Kids will probably enjoy that you are using the same tools they do in school and may even learn or thing or two! Do you know what your learning style is? There are a variety of learning style quizzes that you can find online, like this one. They may give you an idea of whether you are an visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learner. Here are some ideas for each one:.

Many strategies for knowledge retention work just as effectively in online courses as they do in traditional courses. Breaking complex terms down into simpler components, incorporating multimedia tools to address different learning styles, and structuring your courses to reinforce associations are strategies you can use to increase knowledge retention and design an engaging, effective medical terminology course.

Most medical terminology is based on Latin and Greek root words. When the roots of modern medical science were developed, these languages formed the lingua franca of academics everywhere. Historically, this allowed physicians around the world to communicate clearly and easily, regardless of their native language.

Encountering it for the first time can be intimidating for students who are new to the study of medical terminology. Conveniently, some basic root words are found throughout the medical field. Teaching the meaning and form of the most common components and word stems can help students break down the meanings of terms, even if they have never encountered them before. Many of these component words and word stems are found in the same position in various terms and retain their meaning regardless of placement.

In general, a compound term is made up of a stem word, a suffix, and potentially a prefix. In most cases, the meaning of the stem is retained, even in different contexts. In many cases, identifying just a part of a word will help students figure out its meaning as a whole. Memorizing word stems, prefixes, and suffixes can help students tease out meaning from even the most obscure medical terminology. Understanding the meanings of words derived from Greek or Latin verbs and adjectives is also an important tool for long-term retention of medical terminology.

Many bodily processes have names that stem from verbs in these languages. In teaching your students, you can focus on individual word parts, on disciplines, or on body systems.

Grouping ideas together will help your students associate them with appropriate learning schema and retain them more effectively. Online flashcard sets organized into these categories helps reinforce relationships between terms while also helping students study. Once your students understand these fundamental roots of medical terminology, they will find it easier to analyze and comprehend medical terms far beyond the ones covered in your course.

Once students have spent some time learning the fundamental roots of medical terminology, they are prepared to start breaking words apart and putting them back together. This process of breaking a compound medical term into its component parts is known as fracturing.

Fracturing is a viable strategy for approaching even the most complex medical terms, provided students understand how to apply it properly. The most important part of fracturing a word is to fracture it in the right place. Even changing a single vowel can have consequences.

You can contrast this by explaining to your students that individual word parts can be fractured further into sub components. By breaking words down in this manner, you can show how different word parts can be used in different circumstances. Medicine is such a broad field that it would be impossible to fully memorize every single medical term. Knowing key word components and how to break larger terms down into those components equips students to understand medical terminology without memorizing thousands of unique terms or checking a dictionary every time.

Once students understand fundamental word parts and relationships, you can start to teach more specific terminology. One of the simplest ways to organize your instruction is by relevant body systems. There are a variety of ways to learn this skill, but taking online courses can give you many added benefits, including the ability to learn in your own way and at your own pace. But how do you ensure that you retain this information? Here are some tips on studying medical terminology.