Progress in Recognizing and Comprehending of Medical Terms Among Medical Students / 医学教育

ABSTRACT

Introduction: To implement effective medical education, it is important to clarify the process of recognizing and comprehending medical terms.　Methods: We conducted a questionnaire survey of 492 first- to fifth-year medical students to evaluate the recognition and comprehension rates of 57 medical terms in each grade. The terms were classified using the hierarchical cluster analysis based on the recognition and comprehension rates.　Results: The response rate was 91.1% (n=448). The 57 terms were classified into the following five clusters #1, 30 terms that the students recognized and comprehended from Y1; #2, 18 terms that the students recognized from Y1 and comprehended as the grade increased; #3, six terms that the students recognized and comprehended as the grade increased; #4, two terms that the students recognized from Y1 but had not comprehended even in upper grades; #5, one term that the students recognized as the grade increased but had not comprehended even in Y5.　Discussion: Teachers may need to devise educational strategies while considering different patterns of students’ recognition and comprehension of medical terms.