# Medical Terminology



## Artique (May 20, 2007)

I have a question. I begin EMT-B courses in 3 months, and Its a direct cirrioculum. I was told that Medical Terminiology is not required but is very helpful. Is it that its helpful for my general Knowledge of EMS work or is it crucial to actually passing the EMT-B course. I ahve the Medical Terminology book but Its very big and daunting and If I am reading and studing material that I wont need rioght away or should I push medical Terminology even harder. I tend to read only occasianlly and focus more on the pressing things. Should I treat it more important or just glance at it


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## MedicPrincess (May 20, 2007)

During your EMT-B class they are going to teach you terminology you need to know to pass the course.  There should not be a need for you to take an additional Med Term course to get through the Basic course.

Once you advance on, and want to continue your education, take that Med Term course.  It will only help your education process and assist you in writing "more better"   reports.  Of course, I still like plain english sometimes, but I am getting better.


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## Ridryder911 (May 20, 2007)

To master medicine, one has to know the language. Unfortunately, EMT's are not taught but the very bare minimum, in fact majority of medical terminology was removed from the curriculum ten years ago. Again, another down fall of those that felt the basic EMT should be more of a first-aid course, rather than a medical technology program. 

I highly encourage those that truly want to enter the medical profession and succeed to take a formal medical terminology course that requires phonetics as well. 

R/r 911


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## Alexakat (May 20, 2007)

Ridryder911 said:


> I highly encourage those that truly want to enter the medical profession and succeed to take a formal medical terminology course that requires phonetics as well.
> 
> R/r 911




I agree 100%.  I hear people misuse/mispronounce medical terminology quite often & it's embarassing.

A simple medical terminology course can be taken at your local community college.  This will provide a very good foundation.


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## firecoins (May 20, 2007)

medical terminology is necessary if you want to know what your talking about.  You don't need it for the class.


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## MMiz (May 20, 2007)

I don't think you need it for the class, but I think it would be very helpful.  It would give you a great foundation, and as you learn topics in the class, you'll have a lot more of those "light bulb" moments than your classmates.

I got through EMT-B class just fine by making flashcards and studying them every night.  I know that by the end of the class, which was only a month and a half, I had more than 1000 flash cards.


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## Raf (May 22, 2007)

You can be an EMT-B that takes it to the next level, and understands medical terminology. You can also be an EMT-B and get by with knowing almost no medical terminology. Scoop and screw method. 

It depends on how good of an EMT-B you want to be.

The more effort you put into it, the more you get out of it.


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## Artique (May 23, 2007)

nice, thats what I wanted to know. I still study Medical Terminology just to know it, but I wont put it up on as high a priorty as my EMT training. Who wouldent want to do what they do better then the best.


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## TKO (May 23, 2007)

Med Term is very relevant to what we do.  It is important to your academic training as well as practical application.  I promise you that co-workers won't mind explaining to you what a word means, ONLY so many times.  If you are always asking they'll start to view you as lazy for not learning the terms before coming to work.

Medical Terminology isn't that difficult, it just seems so.  But there are some very basic rules that you will learn that makes it all easy.  If your textbook is a large hardcover book, it may very well be useless.  I don't know that for a fact, mind you, but medical terminology was recently redefined to focus on rules than on latin or definitions.

For beginners, learn some of the x-rules.  That is, start by knowing that you go from the end of the word to the beginning.  And make the root of the word "X".  Ok?  So, phlebitic is phleb-it-ic, which is x-itis-ic.  You can figure it out then as PERTAINING TO - INFLAMMATION - OF X (itis = inflammation).  Well what is phleb but VEIN, right (look that one up too)?

That's really general knowledge and won't take you far alone, but the rules are what are important.  Don't spend all your time reading a freakishly large textbook when you can learn the rules and practice them instead.  When you master the rules, you'll be ready for the advanced stuff.  

Learn smarter not harder.  And good luck!!


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