What better way to connect your medical terminology students with the real world of healthcare than to include an assignment for them to interview a healthcare professional!
Interviewing a Healthcare Professional
Interviewing a healthcare professional as a medical terminology class assignment is a favorite of mine because I find that by interviewing a professional, the students:
- develop a greater appreciation for why and how terms are used in healthcare practice.
- learn how various professions within the healthcare field employ different sets of medical terms.
- realize how the use of medical language with other healthcare professionals improves communication, but the same use of medical language with patients can create confusion.
The Assignment
The student is asked to interview a healthcare professional about the use of medical language on the job, then share what they learn with the class.
I assigned the interview for the third week of class. This gives students two weeks to become familiar with the class, and it is early enough in the semester to help them connect with why they are studying medical language. I make sure to include the assignment in the course syllabus and give information about it in the first two weeks of class so that students can prepare.
I prefer to make this assignment low-stakes by allowing students to conduct informal interviews with someone they know who works in healthcare. However, I encourage those who are motivated to find a professional who works in the field the student would like to be employed in.
For online classes, I have students post their interview on a discussion board and assign classmates to read the post and respond with a question or additional information. In face-to-face classes, I have students share their interviews in small groups and then report back to the class what they learned.
A copy of the interview summary is turned in for grading either by posting it on a discussion board or by handing in a hard copy.
The Interview
I ask students to spend 15-20 minutes with a healthcare professional. The interview can be conducted in person, by phone, or over the internet.
To prepare for the interview, the student identifies several questions to ask, such as:
- What is the purpose of medical language?
- How do you use medical language on the job?
- How does using medical language support your professional role?
- Can you share examples of word parts, terms, and abbreviations you use daily?
- How do you use electronic health records in your work?
- How and/or why is medical language used in patient records?
- How has the impact of electronic medical records impacted the use of medical language on the job?
- What do you do when you encounter a term you do not know?
The interview report should include:
- a brief description of your interviewee, such as first name, position title, perhaps how long they have worked in health care, etc.
- the questions asked.
- a summary of the interview with a reflection on what was most significant or surprising.
I invite you to try this assignment in your medical terminology course. Feel free to use, edit, and adapt any element of this post. Let me know how it goes for you!
Warmly,
Danielle
Danielle LaFleur Brooks is the Coordinator and Faculty of Teaching and Learning for Allied Health and Science at the Community College of Vermont, and the author of the textbooks Exploring Medical Language and Basic Medical Language.
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