Smith Sean B, Carmichael Stephen W, Pawlina Wojciech, Spinner Robert J
Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota 55905, USA.
Clin Anat. 2007 Apr;20(3):332-7. doi: 10.1002/ca.20342.
Medical students and practitioners learn and use a vocabulary originating almost entirely from classical Latin and Greek languages. Previous generations required Latin or Greek prior to medical school, but the current generation does not have such requirements. Anecdotal evidence suggests that understanding Latin or Greek helps students to learn and practitioners to recall otherwise foreign terminology. This study evaluated students' familiarity with Latin and Greek etymologies before and after a gross anatomy course that incorporated etymologies into its curriculum.
First-year medical students at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine were taught Latin and Greek etymologies through lectures and handouts during their gross anatomy course. They took a pretest and a posttest before and after the course to assess their understanding of etymologies. In addition, students from all four years of medical school, residents, and staff physicians also took a general etymology quiz to assess their understanding of etymologies.
After their gross anatomy course emphasizing etymologies, first-year students scored higher on the posttest than they did on the pretest. First-year students also reported that learning etymologies enhanced anatomy learning, made the experience more enjoyable, and proved to be less difficult than they thought it would be prior to the course. Medical students, residents, and staff physicians scored almost equally on the general etymology quiz and almost equally reported that etymologies enhanced learning and recalling terminology. Medical students, residents, and staff physicians almost equally endorsed incorporating etymologies into medical education.
This study provides novel scientific evidence that a basic understanding of Latin and Greek etymologies enhances performance and comfort when learning and using medical terminology.
医学生和从业者学习并使用的词汇几乎全部源自古典拉丁语和希腊语。前几代人在上医学院之前需要学习拉丁语或希腊语，但当代学生并无此类要求。轶事证据表明，了解拉丁语或希腊语有助于学生学习，也有助于从业者记忆那些原本陌生的术语。本研究评估了在将词源学纳入课程的大体解剖学课程前后，学生对拉丁语和希腊语词源的熟悉程度。
梅奥诊所医学院的一年级医学生在大体解剖学课程期间通过讲座和讲义学习拉丁语和希腊语词源。他们在课程前后分别进行了一次预测试和一次后测试，以评估他们对词源的理解。此外，医学院所有四个年级的学生、住院医师和在职医生也参加了一次通用词源学测验，以评估他们对词源的理解。
在完成强调词源学的大体解剖学课程后，一年级学生的后测试成绩高于预测试成绩。一年级学生还报告说，学习词源学增强了对解剖学的学习，使学习体验更愉快，而且事实证明比他们在课程开始前所认为的难度要小。医学生、住院医师和在职医生在通用词源学测验中的得分几乎相同，并且几乎同样表示词源学有助于学习和记忆术语。医学生、住院医师和在职医生几乎同样赞成将词源学纳入医学教育。
本研究提供了新的科学证据，即对拉丁语和希腊语词源有基本的了解，在学习和使用医学术语时能提高表现并增强舒适度。
