Medical terminology

MTL introduces students in the Health Sciences to medical terms derives from Greek and Latin. The course will also briefly introduce students tp the history of ancient medicine.

The course is intended for students in medicine, dentistry, veterarinary, biological and medical sciences, dietetics, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, radiology, speech therapy, nursing, pharmacy and related programs. Students acquire a specialised vocabulary to use in their studies and future careers

The average medical student has to learn 5000 new terms, approximately 94% of which derive from Greek and Latin

Instead of learning the terms by heart without having a idea what they mean or how to determine their meanings, the student in Medical Terminology only have to learn about 600 basic Greek and Latin derived basic forms and their meanings. It is possible to determine any medical term’s meaning by menas of structural analysis and meaning compilation

MTL Correspondence course can be taken as a semester or year course and students can enrol at the beginning or even during the academic year. Examination will take place in June and November only.

Prescribe text books:

Bosman JP et al.: Medical Terminology for Students of the Health Professions 2011(Second Edition)

Price R320.00 (available at Academia Latina)

Dictionary

Stedman’s Concise Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions

Philidelphia: Lippencot Williams and Wilkins, 2001

MTL Entry Form (pdf)

Medical terminology (MTL180/181) is a semester course offered to students who are studying in the Health Sciences or any other related programmes.  It is presented by the Department of Ancient Languages in collaboration with the Academia Latina.  The course is presented to students studying Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing, Biological and Agricultural Sciences, Dietetics, Occupational Therapy, Radiology, Veterinary Science and Biokinetics at the University of Pretoria. A correspondence course is also offered. 

Studying medical terminology is about the learning of Greek and Latin prefixes, suffixes and combining forms, which forms the building blocks of this specialised terminology. Students are helped to understand the structure of Greek and Latin based medical terminology, to analyse the terms and to derive the meaning of these terms from the analysis. The basic principles are explained in class; students make them their own through exercises, assignments and the writing of regular tests.