For many medical students, learning medical terminologies is one of the most challenging tasks. Some find it hard to memorize the meaning of intricate terms, while for others opening a medical dictionary is a tedious chore. Whether you are an aspiring medical student or currently studying in a medical school, you have to learn this important part of the medical school curriculum. If you want to become a successful medical student and a professional doctor, you have to understand the medical language.
If truth be told, learning medical terminologies is not as difficult as it sounds. With the right learning strategies, the best resources, and effective memorization techniques, you can turn this tedious and challenging task into an interesting one.
Let’s discover some of the best learning strategies and exciting ways to learn medical terminologies.
- Use Visual Learning Techniques
You can better memorize medical terminologies by following some effective visual learning tips. For instance, you can associate a specific image with each term that will serve as a cue and will help you recall the term. The human brain has an amazing ability to store information like images, so if you assign a visual to each medical term, it would be easier for the brain to associate the image with the term. It will make learning complex medical terminologies interesting.
- Use Flashcards
Yes, this old-fashioned learning strategy can help medical students to learn and memorize medical terminologies and important concepts. Since the human brain is wired to absorb information by visual cues, using flashcards to memorize the term can help train your brain for effective memorization. You can either purchase medical terminology flashcards or use online flashcard resources for accelerated learning and retaining medical terms.
- Learn Greek and Latin Words
If you want to learn medical terminologies and perform better in your preclinical years, it is advised to learn Latin and Greek roots. It is because a lot of medical terms come from Latin and Greek. So, if you only learn some common Greek and Latin roots, suffixes, and prefixes, it will become easier for you to better medical language.
You don’t have to become a Latin or Greek scholar to memorize complex medical terms; all you need to do is to learn some basic words to decipher a word’s meaning. Fortunately, the internet is filled with many medical terminology cheat sheets, medical roots, prefixes, and suffixes that you can easily download to understand the term in the best possible manner.
- Use Your Phone to Learn Medical Terms
There is no need to carry a medical dictionary, flashcards, and medical books all the time to learn medical terms. You can easily learn them on your phone as there are a number of apps and games available that you can easily download to memorize and retain medical terms.
Here is a list of medical apps that you can install to become a smart medical student:
- Psych Terms
If you are interested in Psychiatry, then you should download this app. It is a medical dictionary that includes a glossary for psychology, psychiatry, and mental health. You will find a number of medical terms, definitions that are available in an easy-to-understand format.
- Learn Medical Terminology
It is an excellent app for medical students that helps students understand medical language. The app includes a comprehensive list of roots, prefixes, suffixes, and many interactive terminology exercises that is ideal for exam revision.
- Anatomy Cards Anatomicus
Anatomy flashcards application is a very good app for medical students that helps them learn intricate anatomical terms. The app helps you learn the location and parts of the human anatomy system that is presented in the diagrams.
- Medical Terminology A-Z
It is a very effective learning tool for medical students, physicians, nursing students, and more, as it includes common and uncommon terms, phrases that you can quickly learn.
- Med Term Scramble
It is a very interesting game that allows medical students to test their knowledge for medical terms. Medical Scramble can be used as an important part of your revision strategy, as it helps you recall and retain important medical terms.
- Record Yourself
It is an effective learning strategy that can help you learn important terminologies. Simply record yourself saying medical terms and their definitions. Your voice will serve as aural flashcards, and listening to your own voice will better help you memorize the words better. So, give it a try; perhaps this strategy will work and help you remember the words.
- Create Acronyms
It is one of the easiest and simplest ways to memorize a group of similar medical terms. All you need to do is to take one letter of each word and create a new phrase. It is a little bit tricky, but it can work. Simply take a group of related words, choose the first letter, and then rearrange them to create something new, which is easy to absorb and recall.
It’s totally up to you how you will use your creativity and imagination for creating acronyms lists. If it sounds confusing, you can search for online medical abbreviation lists that you can use to increase your knowledge of medical terms.
Final Verdict
Determining the right strategy to learn medical terms that works best for you is crucial to succeeding in your preclinical medical school years and helps you pursue a rewarding career in medicine.