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Volume 03
Spine 2019
October 16-17, 2019
Journal of Neurology and Clinical Neuroscience
October 16-17, 2019 | Rome, Italy
SPINE AND SPINAL DISORDERS
5
th
World Congress on
J Neurol Clin Neurosci, Volume 03
Comparative study between the attitudes of Feeder Stream and First Year medical
students toward the importance of understanding classical Greek and Latin in the
development of an anatomical and medical vocabulary
Shiby Stephens
Cardiff University, UK
First Year medical student often finds newly introduced anatomical and medical terminologies challenging. This might be
because 75% of terminologies are derived from classical languages such as Greek and Latin, languages that are rarely taught
nowadays in schools as part of their regular curriculum. Another factor that might contribute to difficulty in acquiring these
terminologies could be decreased time the students spend in the dissecting room, this might impair students’ knowledge and
understanding of anatomical relationships thus impacting the acquisition of terminologies. Until now, there have been no studies
that have compared the attitudes of First Year medical students with feeder stream students (students who join the mainstream
medical course following a degree scheme) towards the importance of understanding classical Greek and Latin during their
medical training. To assess these attitudes, the study involved both these cohorts into a medical course at Cardiff University.
Following ethical approval from the School Research Ethical committee, these students were provided with a brief questionnaire
that was designed in accordance with the principles of Thurstone and Chave (1951). 28 feeder stream students participated
(100%) in the survey (Medical Pharmacology n=16, Medical Science n=14). One hundred and eighty First Year students (60%)
responded. The initial hypothesis was that being taught in the same environment, both these cohorts will have a positive attitude
towards the importance of classical Greek and Latin. Contrary to the hypothesis, the First Year students had a positive attitude
while feeder stream students had a negative attitude.
As these feeder stream students belong to Second Year of their studies, they have either dissected animals or have attended
anatomy station based practicals during their initial years, it could be suggested that they became well-versed with anatomical
and medical terminologies. It was concluded that these feeder stream students are likely to have become accomplished in the
origins of medical terminologies without formal instruction.
e
:
stephenssg@cardiff.ac.uk