Gross anatomy examination performances in relation to medical students' knowledge of classical latin and greek

The ability of medical students to acquire anatomical and medical terminologies could be influenced by their knowledge of classical Greek and Latin. In a previous study (Stephens and Moxham 2016 , Clin. Anat. 29:696at. ), it was reported that, while newly recruited medical students have a very favorable attitude toward the need to understand these classical languages, final year students see no benefit. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that, regardless of attitude, students in the initial stages of their medical education perform better at both summative and formative anatomy examinations if they have prior knowledge of Greek and Latin. First year medical students at Cardiff University who had been involved in the previous study concerning attitudes toward the relevance of the classical languages to medical education were evaluated in terms of their examination results in anatomy. Two hundred and twenty‐seven students responded to a questionnaire (83% of the class) that categorized students into their linguistic knowledge and skills and their performances in formative and summative examinations were analyzed. For medical students with prior knowledge of classical Greek and Latin performed better in both summative and formative anatomy examinations. The results are therefore consistent with our hypothesis. Clin. Anat. 31:501–506, 2018. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Latin and Greek in gross anatomy

BACKGROUND: 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. METHODS: 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. RESULTS: 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. CONCLUSIONS: 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.     

Do medical students who are multilingual have higher spatial and verbal intelligence and do they perform better in anatomy examinations?

We have already reported that medical students who have prior knowledge of classical Greek and Latin perform better in anatomy examinations. It has also been shown that fluency in more than one language can influence spatial and verbal intelligence and here we hypothesize that medical students who have linguistic skills develop higher spatial and verbal intelligence compared with monolingual students, that there are gender differences, and that there are positive effects on performance in anatomy examinations. One hundred and seventy‐three second year medical students at Cardiff University responded to spatial and verbal intelligence questions that were adapted from the British MENSA website. This is a 63% response rate for the student cohort. The students were then categorized into different groups depending upon their linguistic knowledge and skills. Across all groups, no gender differences were discerned for either spatial or verbal intelligence. Students who were categorized as monolingual (with only skills in English) had lower spatial and verbal intelligence than those who were multilingual. Medical students who had fluency in English and non‐European languages showed greater spatial and verbal intelligence than other groups. However, there was no significant improvement in their examination marks for anatomy, although the examination performance might be complicated by cultural considerations. A further finding from our study was that, where an anatomy test required spatial recognition using cadaveric specimens, students with low spatial intelligence had significantly poorer performances. Furthermore, where tests used multiple choice questions, the level of spatial and verbal intelligences had no influence. We would advocate that, when all newly‐recruited medical students are tutored in medical terminologies to help them develop the extensive vocabulary required for their professional careers, they should also be made aware of any deficiencies in spatial and verbal skills that could affect their learning abilities. Given that we would expect students to benefit in their careers from developing spatial and verbal skills, we also recommend that examination tests in anatomy should avoid the exclusive use of multiple choice questions. Clin. Anat., 2018. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The linguistic roots of Modern English anatomical terminology

Previous research focusing on Classical Latin and Greek roots has shown that understanding the etymology of English anatomical terms may be beneficial for students of human anatomy. However, not all anatomical terms are derived from Classical origins. This study aims to explore the linguistic roots of the Modern English terminology used in human gross anatomy. By reference to the Oxford English Dictionary, etymologies were determined for a lexicon of 798 Modern English gross anatomical terms from the 40^th edition of Gray's Anatomy. Earliest traceable language of origin was determined for all 798 terms; language of acquisition was determined for 747 terms. Earliest traceable languages of origin were: Classical Latin (62%), Classical Greek (24%), Old English (7%), Post‐Classical Latin (3%), and other (4%). Languages of acquisition were: Classical Latin (42%), Post‐Classical Latin (29%), Old English (8%), Modern French (6%), Classical Greek (5%), Middle English (3%), and other (7%). While the roots of Modern English anatomical terminology mostly lie in Classical languages (accounting for the origin of 86% of terms), the anatomical lexicon of Modern English is actually much more diverse. Interesting and perhaps less familiar examples from these languages and the methods by which such terms have been created and absorbed are discussed. The author suggests that awareness of anatomical etymologies may enhance the enjoyment and understanding of human anatomy for students and teachers alike. Clin. Anat. 25:1015–1022, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Retention of medical genetics knowledge and skills by medical students

PurposeTo determine whether specific knowledge and skills medical students acquire after completing a Year 1 genetics course are retained at the end of Year 3.MethodsA genetics case was developed for an observed structured clinical exam at the end of Year 3. The case involved a pregnant patient who underwent population screening for cystic fibrosis and is identified as a carrier of a common mutation. Student's performance in completing eight essential genetic tasks taught in Year 1 was assessed by their ability to apply these concepts in the Year 3 observed structured clinical exam.ResultsA total of 212 students were included in the study. Performance on the essential tasks revealed that students were better able to discuss inheritance pattern (73.1%). Students were less likely to calculate and discuss fetal risk (25%), discuss the option of prenatal diagnosis if the father is a carrier (25%), and ask about a family history of cystic fibrosis (36.8%). Only half (50%) explained the test result and implications to the patient. There was no correlation between individual student exam scores in Year 1 and the eight essential genetics tasks scores assessed in the observed structured clinical exam (r = 0.003, P ≤ 0.67).ConclusionThird year medical students do not retain medical genetics knowledge and skills learned in the first year of medical school. Medical schools need to integrate genetics curriculum through the continuum of the 4 years of medical school.     

Development and validation of the CAM Health Belief Questionnaire (CHBQ) and CAM use and attitudes amongst medical students

Background  

The need for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) and holistic approaches in allopathic medical school curricula has been well articulated. Despite increased CAM instruction, feasible and validated instruments for measuring learner outcomes in this content area do not widely exist. In addition, baseline attitudes or beliefs of medical students towards CAM, and the factors that may have formed them, including use of CAM itself, remain unreported.     

Knowledge and attitudes of Israeli high school pupils towards alternative medicine

One hundred ninety-seven high school students were examined concerning their knowledge and attitudes towards complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). The students attended the 9-12th grades. The score level of the pupils' knowledge was quite satisfactory (67%). The knowledge didn't change during the 4 years of high school attendance and was not correlated with the pupils' grades or the socio-economic status (SES) data. The majority of the pupils showed positive attitudes towards the topics and treatment methods of CAM. The pre-existence of chronic diseases in the family and experience of family members with CAM had a positive influence upon pupils' attitudes. The principal sources of knowledge concerning CAM were the media (TV, radio and newspapers) and other acquaintances' experience with CAM. Sixty-nine percent of the pupils expressed their willingness to attend formal lessons and instruction about CAM in school. Our suggestion is to teach these topics formally in school with professional instructors (physicians and/or academic healers) during biology lessons.     

The evolution of a novel biomedical informatics curriculum for medical students

Health information technology is an essential component of current medical practice, and federal initiatives to promote the further adoption of these technologies are under way. Therefore, it is increasingly important that medical students receive training in the use of these technologies and become familiar with the discipline of biomedical informatics (BMI), which seeks to maximize the utility of health information. In August 2007, the University of Arizona College of Medicine established a new four-year medical school campus in Phoenix. At the same time, a new BMI department was created by the Arizona State University on the same campus. One of the unique features of the new medical school curriculum was a significant focus on BMI, consisting of over 45 hours of required sequenced and integrated instruction in BMI topics. This article describes how the medical school curriculum was created, what BMI elements were contained within the curriculum, and how the instruction was provided. Evaluation of the curriculum included subjective and objective components and revealed significant differences both within group (pre- and posttraining) and across groups when compared with students without formal BMI training. Specifically, self-assessment of BMI ability increased after exposure to the curriculum, and students receiving the BMI curriculum were able to answer objective questions related to BMI content. Implications and lessons learned in the implementation are also discussed.     

One vowel or two? Diphthongs,digraphs, ligatures,and diaereses,oh my!

This is the first in a short series about orthography in anatomical Latin. Although phonology is an important aspect of diphthongs and digraphs, the focus here is on spelling, not the more complicated topic of pronunciation. Recommendations are made for standard spellings of words that contain or may appear to contain diphthongs in Latin anatomical words or their ancient Greek sources. Ligatures and diaereses (typographical symbols that were developed after the classical period) are not recommended for use in anatomical Latin terms. Clin. Anat. 30:1013–1016, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Impact of clerkship in the attitudes toward psychiatry among Portuguese medical students

Background

A number of recent developments in medical and nursing education have highlighted the importance of communication and consultation skills (CCS). Although such skills are taught in all medical and nursing undergraduate curriculums, there is no comprehensive screening or assessment programme of CCS using professionally trained Standardized Patients Educators (SPE's) in Ireland. This study was designed to test the content, process and acceptability of a screening programme in CCS with Irish medical and nursing students using trained SPE's and a previously validated global rating scale for CCS.

Methods

Eight tutors from the Schools of Nursing and Medicine at University College Cork were trained in the use of a validated communication skills and attitudes holistic assessment tool. A total of forty six medical students (Year 2 of 5) and sixty four nursing students (Year 2/3 of 4) were selected to under go individual CCS assessment by the tutors via an SPE led scenario. Immediate formative feedback was provided by the SPE's for the students. Students who did not pass the assessment were referred for remediation CCS learning.

Results

Almost three quarters of medical students (33/46; 72%) and 81% of nursing students (56/64) passed the CCS assessment in both communication and attitudes categories. All nursing students had English as their first language. Nine of thirteen medical students referred for enhanced learning in CCS did not have English as their first language.

Conclusions

A significant proportion of both medical and nursing students required referral for enhanced training in CCS. Medical students requiring enhanced training were more likely not to have English as a first language.     

Medical students' exposure to pharmaceutical industry marketing: a survey at one U.S. medical school.

PURPOSE: While much is known about the interactions between the pharmaceutical industry and physicians, very little is known about pharmaceutical marketing directed toward medical students. This study sought to characterize the extent and forms of medical students' exposure to pharmaceutical industry marketing. METHOD: In 2001-02, an anonymous, 17-item questionnaire was distributed to 165 preclinical and 116 clinical students at the University of Minnesota Medical School-Twin Cities. The main outcome measures were the number and forms of exposures to pharmaceutical industry marketing reported by medical students and whether students had discussed these exposures with teachers or advisors. Preclinical and clinical students were compared using chi(2) analysis (p < .05). RESULTS: One hundred fourteen (69.1%) preclinical students and 107 (92.2%) clinical students responded. Nearly all students reported at least one exposure to pharmaceutical industry marketing. Seventy-six (71.7%) clinical students compared to 38 (33.3%) preclinical students recalled over 20 exposures (p < .005). Clinical students were more likely to have received a free meal (p < .01), textbook (p < .005), pocket text (p < .005), or trinket (p < .005) than were their preclinical colleagues. Most students (68.2%) had not discussed pharmaceutical marketing with an instructor or advisor; 59 (55.7%) clinical students as compared to 87 (80.6%) preclinical students recalled no such discussion (p < .005). CONCLUSION: Medical students have extensive exposure to pharmaceutical industry marketing during their early years of training. Given existing evidence that such exposure influences physicians' practice and prescribing patterns, the authors propose that medical school curricula include formal instruction to prepare students to critically assess these contacts.     

Ordering by the numbers in anatomy and by letters Too

Here, new rules of Latin anatomical nomenclature are proposed to deal with cases not covered by existing or other recommended rules. Determiners (e.g., numerals, letters, alphanumeric strings, and Latin names of Greek letters) should follow the noun they specify or limit, just as it is recommended that adjectives should follow the noun they modify. In general, Roman numerals, Latin letters, and Latin names of Greek letters are preferable to Arabic numerals and Greek letters in Latin anatomical terms. It is also noted that the word typus (type) appears to be superfluous and unnecessary in the Latin anatomical nomenclature. Clin. Anat. 30:700–702, 2017. © 2017Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Physicians' and medical students' knowledge of nutrition

A study was conducted to assess the knowledge of nutrition of 184 family practitioners and general internists and 24 first- and second-year medical students before they had received medical school instruction in clinical nutrition. Overall, the physicians answered 69.2% of the questions correctly, a significantly better score than that of the medical students (62.5%, p = .0065). The physicians scored better on topics that have been the most heavily researched (such as diet and coronary heart disease) and worse on less heavily investigated topics (such as diet and cancer, iron absorption). There was no significant difference in overall knowledge in terms of gender or practice. However, a significant negative correlation was found between the number of years since graduation from medical school and respondents' knowledge about nutrition.     

Computer knowledge amongst clinical year medical students in a resource poor setting

Objective

To study the computer knowledge and desires of clinical year medical students at one of the oldest and largest medical schools in Nigeria.

Design

A survey using validated structured questionnaires.

Setting

Medical school of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria.

Subjects

Two hundred and thirty seven clinical year (4^th, 5^th and 6^th years) medical students.

Outcome measures

Computer knowledge, mode of acquiring computer knowledge, regular access to computer, desire for inclusion of computer training in curriculum.

Results

One hundred twenty (50.6%) students had knowledge of computer technology and it use. Of these, 108 (90%) had no regular access to a computer and none owned a computer; only 32 (26.7%) were sufficiently familiar with computer tools to perform advanced tasks, but 72 (60%) were comfortable with word processing. Seventy two of the 120 students acquired their computer knowledge through self-learning efforts while 45 (37.5%) attended short periods of formal training. Overall, 45.7% of males and 64.5% of females had computer knowledge. The main reason for lack of computer knowledge was lack of time and lack of access to a computer. Eighty percent of all students would like computer education to be included in medical school curriculum.

Conclusion

Knowledge and use of computers amongst clinical year medical students in this setting is low. It is important that computer education be taught to the students to enhance their ability to use electronic information and communicate more effectively using computer resources.     

Psychosocial predictors of attitudes toward physician empathy in clinical encounters among 4732 1st year medical students: A report from the CHANGES study

Objective

Medical school curricula intended to promote empathy varies widely. Even the most effective curricula leave a significant group of students untouched. Pre-existing student factors influence their response to learning experiences. We examined the individual predictors of first semester medical students’ attitudes toward the value of physician empathy in clinical encounters.

Methods

First year students (n = 4732) attending a stratified random sample of 49 US medical schools completed an online questionnaire that included measures of dispositional characteristics, attitudes and beliefs, self-concept and well-being.

Results

Discomfort with uncertainty, close-mindedness, dispositional empathy, elitism, medical authoritarianism, egalitarianism, self-concept and well-being all independently predicted first year medical students’ attitudes toward the benefit of physician empathy in clinical encounters.

Conclusion

Students vary on their attitude toward the value of physician empathy when they start medical school. The individual factors that predict their attitudes toward empathy may also influence their response to curricula promoting empathic care.

Practice implications

Curricula in medical school promoting empathic care may be more universally effective if students’ preexisting attitudes are taken into account. Messages about the importance of physician empathy may need to be framed in ways that are consistent with the beliefs and prior world-views of medical students.     

Ontology integration: experience with medical terminologies

To build a common controlled vocabulary is a formidable challenge in medical informatics. Due to vast scale and multiplicity in interpretation of medical data, it is natural to face overlapping terminologies in the process of practicing medical informatics [A. Rector, Clinical terminology: why is it so hard? Methods Inf. Med. 38 (1999) 239–252]. A major concern lies in the integration of seemingly overlapping terminologies in the medical domain and this issue has not been well addressed. In this paper, we describe a novel approach for medical ontology integration that relies on the theory of Algorithmic Semantic Refinement we previously developed. Our approach simplifies the task of matching pairs of corresponding concepts derived from a pair of ontologies, which is vital to terminology mapping. A formal theory and algorithm for our approach have been devised and the application of this method to two medical terminologies has been developed. The result of our work is an integrated medical terminology and a methodology and implementation ready to use for other ontology integration tasks.     

Human anatomy nomenclature rules for the computer age

Information systems are increasing in importance in biomedical sciences and medical practice. The nomenclature rules of human anatomy were reviewed for adequacy with respect to modern needs. New rules are proposed here to ensure that each Latin term is uniquely associated with an anatomical entity, as short and simple as possible, and machine‐interpretable. Observance of these recommendations will also benefit students and translators of the Latin terms into other languages. Clin. Anat. 30:300–302, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

One lump or two? One butt but two buttocks

Future revisions of anatomical terminologies will have to give more consideration to the relationships between terms and referents, and the relationships between referents, because computer applications require greater precision. Median anatomical entities and paired entities that closely flank the median plane present common problems in nomenclature, semantics, and ontology. Some of these problems represent vestiges of usage in classical Latin. For example, the use of plural words for polite names of some body parts, and singular words for euphemisms for naughty words. Clin. Anat. 32:22–24, 2019. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.