As a health information management technician, why is a thorough understanding of medical terminology importan

Question

As a health information management technician, why is a thorough understanding of medical terminology importan

Answer 1

Jobs in the medical field use medical terminology. And if you work in the medical field you're going to have to know medical terminology as well.

Answer 2

Great question, essentially it boils down to the fact that you'll be interacting with medical personnel, blokes like myself, who are not terribly sharp when it comes to high-tech ITstuff.  When there is a system failure where there is either not working properly or may be functioning perfectly well, many medical personnel simply lack the sophistication to understand the intricacies of computerized data and the integration of various systems in, say, a hospital.  So, if a physician calls you in despair during a time of stress because s/he is trying to look up a value or a report on a computer, s/he may start using medical jargon which is otherwise meaningless to you.  If you have a reasonable grasp of medical terminology (which frankly will come mostly with experience), it'll facilitate your interaction with the person calling you for help so that the issue can be resolved in a timely and reasonable manner.  It's a simple matter of being able to communicate effictively with people of varying sophistication with various, often complex computer networks, particularly in the era of PACS, integration of Surgical, Pathology, Chemistry, Radiology reports and so forth.  The easier it is to understand what the person calling you is trying to acheive, the smoother things should run in your effort to assist the healthcare professional.