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If you’re planning to take a medical terminology course online, you can benefit from a little preparation. If you come to class with a bit of basic background in the subject matter, then you will get much more out of the lectures. This article will give you some idea of what you can expect from such a course so that you can get a head-start towards an A-grade. Study resources are also provided at the end of the article.

ANATOMY

A large part of medical terminology revolves around describing the human body. In fact, there is even a set of terms within anatomical terminology used just for describing the position of structures within the human body, called anatomedical terminology. You could take an entire course on anatomy though, so any anatomy that’s covered in your medical terminology course online will be pretty basic.

MEDICATIONS

There are thousands upon thousands of different medications in use around the world. Lucky for you, they are named according to certain traditions with prefixes and suffixes that describe what they’re used for. That makes learning to recognize, understand, and remember complex medicines much easier. For example, if a medication has the affix -adol-, -butazone, -fenine, -eridine, or –fentanil, you know that it’s an analgesic.

EQUIPMENT

There are a lot of different kinds of medical equipment out there. If a doctor asks you to hand him a speculum, will you know what it is? Even equipment that you’ll never use yourself, like MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) machines, will need to be familiar to you, so that you can understand what procedures a patient has undergone or is scheduled for.

PROCEDURES

If you tell a patient that they will have to undergo a procedure, they will likely ask what it involves, and will expect you to have at least some general idea. Words for medical procedures include terms like “laproscopic surgery” (abdominal surgery through a very small incision), and “dialysis” (the mechanical cleansing of the blood). These words, like all medical words, can be broken down into their component parts for ease of memorization. For example, Lapra is Greek for the soft area of the body between the ribs and hips, and “scope” comes from the Greek “scopein”, which means to examine.

STUDY RESOURCES

Before you get your class materials, you can study online by using free resources like Wikipedia. There are hundreds of medical articles on Wikipedia. I recommend you start with the medical terminology article, and move on from there. Another important resource is the U.S. National Library of Medicine online. If you would like to see pictures of medical equipment, use Google’s image search feature. Also look up the websites of various medical authorities and controlling bodies online. An example is the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS).

Now that you know how a medical terminology online course is broken down, and you have some online resources to explore, you’ll be able to get ahead of the game. Focus on getting a broad overview. Don’t get bogged down in the details, just make sure you understand all of the main concepts, and the main concepts within the main concepts. Study hard, and enjoy your career training.

Courses like Medical Terminology are great for a number of healthcare fields. If you are interested in advancing your career, consider an online healthcare management degree and get started today.