How to Learn Medical Terminology for Medical Transcription
The job of a medical transcriptionist is to write out recordings dictated by doctors and other health care personnel. The data they're responsible to transcribe include documents such as patient records, consultations, discharge summaries, procedure reports, and test results or findings. To do this, medical transcriptionists must have a solid knowledge of medical terminology.
Other People Are Reading
Things You'll Need
- Medical terminology guide or book
- Anatomy/physiology guide
- Computer with Internet service
- Flashcards/index cards
- Colored pencils
- Poster of human body (unlabeled)
- Labels
Instructions
-
Understanding the Language
-
1
Familiarize yourself with the way medical terms are formed and the linguistic structure they follow. The terms are derived from the Greek and Latin languages, and broken down into three primary parts.
-
2
Review a list of medical terms and see how well you are able to identify the term's word root (normally found in the center of the word), the term's prefix (before the word root) and the term's suffix (at the end of the word).
-
-
3
Take different colored pencils and underline the word root, prefix and suffix of each term.
-
4
Make note when you come across the letters "i" and "o"; these vowels are attached to the end of a word root, forming a new term where a suffix can be applied. This is referred to as the combining form and makes the transitions smoother so the language flow betters.
-
5
Create flashcards with the name of a medical term on one side, and the term's meaning on the other. Continue going through the cards until you're confident you know their meanings.
-
6
Make another set of flashcards that only contain word roots, prefixes and suffixes. Study the various cards until you're familiar with them. For example, the word root cards can include acr, aur, aut, bacteri, brachi, cardi and gastro. The prefix cards can include contra, dys, endo, hyper, para and trans. The suffix cards can include ectomy, esthesi, hemat, hepat megaly and ologist.
Anatomy and Physiology
-
7
Learn the design of the human body and the connection among the body parts (anatomy), along with how the structures of the body function (physiology).
-
8
Start examining the systems that the body is classified into, one by one. Familiarize yourself with each of the following categories before moving on: Body Structure/Functions, Cells/Tissues/Membranes, Skeletal System, Muscular System, Nervous System, Endocrine System, Cardiovascular System, Lymphatic System, Respiratory System, Digestive System, Urinary System and Reproductive System.
-
9
Write the names of each system and parts of the body on your labels and hang or lay out the poster of the human body.
-
10
Identify and stick the corresponding label to the parts and systems you recognize. Continue doing this until you've labeled them all correctly. Repeat this exercise or leave the poster up to study with.
-
11
Take the flashcards with medical terms and locate the area of the body that each one pertains to. Aside from helping you learn medical terminology, this provides a comprehensive illustrated picture, as to how it all fits together.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Try to gain a fundamental understanding of the medical terminology that's used to identify things such as diagnosis, surgical instruments, procedures, protocols, treatments and medications.
For a comprehensive explanation of this subject, look into purchasing a book such as "Quick Medical Terminology: A Self-Teaching Guide," by Shirley Soltesz Steiner.
Trying to learn everything is not only time-consuming, but near impossible. Remember, even seasoned medical transcriptionists use online tools and other manuals if they are unclear or have questions.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit human anatomy showing the skeleton from the back image by patrimonio designs from Fotolia.com
