Medical terminology is the language that those in healthcare roles, from physical therapists to surgeons, use to describe components and processes of the human body. These can be used in relation to medical procedures, diseases, disorders and pharmacology. It is crucial that those working in healthcare understand medical terminology without any fail. If they get the name of a body part or disorder wrong, it could be catastrophic and lead to incorrect treatment or diagnosis.
If you’re a healthcare professional who feels as though your medical terminology could do with being touched up a little bit, fear not! You can update all your medical terminology skills online through tutorials. Suitable for all levels, below are the best medical terminology courses for any budget to help you nail your medical understanding.
1. Medical Terminology (Udemy)
- Level: Beginner
- Completion time: 12h 14m
- Cost: $69.99
- Certification: No
- Number of people who have completed the course: 7,990
- Course rating: 4.6/5 (out of 1,651 ratings)
As a Udemy best seller, this course is an excellent introduction to medical terminology and the various roots, terms and combining forms that are components of medical words.
To kick off the 12 hour course, you take at look the organization of the human body and its various systems. The course then goes to look at all the special and unique words that can be described each of the bodies systems. To start, you look at the integumentary system, before looking at the musculoskeletal system, respiratory system, urinary system and many others before closing by looking at the nervous system and the eyes and ears.
If you want to enhance your medical terminology knowledge for all areas of the human body, then this course is the one for you.
2. Clinical Terminology for International and U.S. Students (Coursera)
- Level: Beginner
- Completion time: 34h
- Cost: Enroll for free
- Certification: Yes
- Number of people who have completed the course: 97,144
- Course rating: 4./5 (out of 2,686 ratings)
Offered by the University of Pittsburgh, this Coursera tutorial is designed to help you understand all the clinical terms and abbreviations that are used during verbal or written communication in U.S hospitals.
Suitable for students and practitioners who want to work in healthcare, or who are caregivers to those with medical conditions, you will leave this course with a better understanding of all things clinical and medical terminology related! The first section, taking 5 hours to complete, offers an introduction to clinical terms and abbreviations. The second, looks at decoding complex medical terms and later modules look at the medical terminology related to bodily systems, diagnostic procedures and complex terms in clinical situations.
3. Career Certificate in Medical Terminology (Ashworth College)
- Level: Beginner to Intermediate
- Completion time: 12h 14m
- Cost: From $799
- Certification: Yes
- Number of people who have completed the course: N/A
- Course rating: N/A
Offered by Ashworth College, this course will offer you the ability to arm yourself with real-world knowledge that is useful in many healthcare settings, from hospitals to private clinics.
You’ll start by covering how to spell, build, interpret and pronounce common medical words so that you can apply them to all types of bodily systems. After, you’ll look to identify terms related to oncology, radiology, nuclear medicine and mental health, so that your skills and knowledge are applicable to all areas. What is more, is this course offers you additional support from staff and textbooks to help you land a job and progress in your career.
4. Medical Terminology 101 (Udemy)
- Level: Beginner
- Completion time: 2h 18m
- Cost: $39.99
- Certification: No
- Number of people who have completed the course: 2,067
- Course rating: 4.5/5 (out of 581 ratings)
Join Dr Emma Hitt Nicholos and Dr Jessica Martin as they help you improve your medical knowledge and vocabulary. With more opportunities than ever before to work in healthcare, anyone, from dentists to midwifes can use this course that includes cheat sheets and over 140 quiz questions.
In just over two hours, you will learn professional pronunciation of medical terminology, including the suffixes and prefixes used in medical settings. The course then finishes by helping you put it all together and apply it to body systems, so that you can get the best from this course.
5. Medical Terminology (edX)
- Level: Beginner
- Completion time: Approx. 80h
- Cost: Free
- Certification: Yes if upgrade
- Number of people who have completed the course: 59,827
- Course rating: N/A
Get to grips with the highly distinct and specialized terms used in medicine with this edX course. Taking roughly 8 weeks to complete, you will receive thorough instruction that will leave you feeling as though you have acquired a comprehensive understanding of medical terms.
This course teaches medical vocabulary with an emphasis on the root (or stem word), before exploring prefixes, suffixes and abbreviations. With this 80 hours of knowledge, absolutely anyone can feel confident that they understand the terms associated with anatomy, physiology, pathology and diagnostic testing.
6. Cancer & Medical Terminology (National Cancer Institute)
- Level: All levels
- Completion time: N/A
- Cost: Free
- Certification: No
- Number of people who have completed the course: N/A
- Course rating: N/A
Designed for those wanting to learn about medical terminology in relation to cancer, this course is designed to help you recognize and understand various cancer terms. You will learn how to define key Greek and Latin roots that are used in medical terminology. After, you’ll learn how to define the meanings of common prefixes and suffixes used in cancer terminology, before moving on to determine the meanings of medical terms.
With the new knowledge learnt on this free course, you should be able to walk away with the full understanding of all terms used on the medical record of a cancer patient.
Conclusion
So, there you have it… the 6 best medical terminology tutorials online that are suited to those wanting to improve their understanding of medical terminology. Having good medical terminology skills is important for many careers, such as:
There are lots of online options available for you to advance your medical terminology skills! There are free courses that take less than an hour, and there are more expensive courses that take longer to complete! The online classes on this list are the best of the best. Each is taught by an experienced and dedicated teacher and they all have lots of satisfied and happy customers.
So, which course you decide take depends on your experience, funds and spare time. Are you a newbie to the medical world? Or have you got years of experience of turning audio into text and just want to further develop your skills? Do you have a huge amount of money to spend on your skill development? Do you have a lot of spare time, or are you just looking for a quick, but effective, skill top up?
