Doctor-Speak 101

Anna Burkhead -- The field of medicine pretty much has its own language, and as a medical student, you have to learn it fast! However, doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers are not the only ones who have to learn this doctor-speak. There are regular non-medical Joes and Josephines out there, who, by virtue of birthing, marrying, befriending, or just having a conversation with a person in the medical field, have to understand some of this language.

Additionally, writing for and reading comments on this blog has shown me that medical systems in different parts of the world use different terms for what appears to be the same position.

Medical dictionaries are available to look up the meanings of words such as "cryoglobulinemia" and conditions such as "Osgood-Schlatter Disease". But other basic everyday medical words cannot be found in these dictionaries. For the benefit of any non-medical readers of this blog, as well as non-US medical students, here is a short list of terms (and their meanings) that we throw around on a daily basis.

-Pre-Med: A college (undergraduate) student taking classes with the anticipation of applying to medical school. This student has completed high school, and is usually working towards a BS or BA degree.

-Medical Student: A college graduate in a training program to become a doctor. These programs are almost always four years, and degrees earned are MD or DO (aka osteopathic student).

-Residency: a medical school graduate training program for a particular specialty. Examples: Pediatrics residency, Urology residency, etc. Related words: Resident – a medical school graduate in one of these training programs.

-Internship: The first year of residency, or the first year of post-graduate training. Related words: Intern – a medical school graduate in his first year of post-graduate training.

-Fellow: A doctor who has completed residency training, and is enrolled in a subspecialty training program.

-Attending / Attending Physician: A doctor who has completed residency training, and can supervise/train fellows, residents, and medical students.

-Rotation: Most often a term used by medical students to describe 4-8 week periods spent on specialty services. Example: Surgery rotation, Anesthesiology rotation.

-Boards: Also known as USMLE Step 1, 2, 3. These are tests that assess medical knowledge and ability to apply concepts and demonstrate skills in the medical field.

-Shelf: A standardized test at the end of a rotation (see above).

Just call me Merriam-Webster :)