Most medical terms come from Latin or Greek, and part of learning medical terminology involves understanding how these terms are formed. When you are able to recognize word parts, you can move easily into studying the terminology itself. You will study anatomy, the names of diseases, and which organ or body part is affected by those diseases. You will learn medical abbreviations, work on exercises that teach you how to read and interpret patients' charts and reports, and study pharmacology terms.
There are many options online to learn this profession free of charge. At SweetHaven.com, there is a course designed for you to access and complete at your own pace. The learning components are suitable for anyone in all health occupations. Some of the terms might need a prior knowledge of physiology, anatomy and pharmacology. The site offers flash cards as the source of learning. There are four parts to this course; each part ends in an exam.
SheppardsSoftware.com puts learning medical terminology into a game form. The site FunTrivia.com asks you to complete questions allowing you to enhance your medical terminology vocabulary (see Resources). Medical-Dictionary.com is a site that gives you the option of reading forty-five thousand medical terms and their definitions. If you want to have your own medical dictionary, you can download it free at Soft32.com.
VirtualLearningCenter.com offers a course online to sample the medican terminology language to see if it is what you want to study (see Resources). This course is designed to give you an introduction to both long-distance learning and medical terminology. Should you choose to study a certificate course, there are many inexpensive options online where you can complete the certification in less than two months.