Leveraging an mLearning Prototype to Teach Medical Terminology to Nursing Students: A Linguistic Approach

• What is currently known about this topic: Medical terminology enables medical and healthcare professionals’ effective communication by offering precise and clear meanings about complex medical conditions. However, students find learning and retaining medical terms challenging. • What the paper adds to the existing knowledge: Using innovative mLearning tools to teach healthcare students medical terminology like a language is proposed as a potential solution to overcome barriers to students’ understanding of these complex medical terms frequently comprising Greek and Latin terms. • How the information in your manuscript can be applied to practice: mLearning tools support students’ ability to decode and learn medical terminology like a language, while promoting effective communication with healthcare colleagues. Effective communication, in turn, encourages safe practice. Medical terminology enables effective communication. Many nursing students find this learning challenging. Research suggests that nursing students perceive value in receiving dedicated teaching on the linguistic rules of medical terminology. The aim of this quantitative study was to explore nursing students’ experiences of using a mLearning prototype to learn medical terminology like a language. Preregistration undergraduate first-year nursing students used the mLearning prototype for 6-weeks. Its use was supplemental to lectures, seminars, and practicals while remaining self-directed. Pre and postassessments were completed by participants measuring their medical terminology knowledge before and after using the mLearning prototype. Quantitative data analysis using SPSS revealed a significant mean difference in knowledge of medical terminology between the pre and postassessment results. 95% of participants agree that it increased their knowledge of medical terminology. Participants valued the evidence-based language learning strategies incorporated. Specialized, supplementary mLearning tools may offer an inclusive solution to support learners’ acquisition of essential medical terminology academic and clinical environment.