Anatomical Terms in Jurgis Žilinskas’ Short Textbook of Osteology and Syndesmology

Medical terminology has an extensive and rich history in Latin and Greek languages. When Romans conquered Greece, the knowledge and language of both cultures merged, resulting in new medical concepts regarding disease treatment and containment. Medical records were chronicled by hand, creating medical terms and books. Although medical terms have been drawn from many languages, a large majority originate from Greek and Latin. Terms of Greek origin occur mainly in clinical terminology, while Latin terms make up the majority of anatomical terminology. Another reason for a large number of Greek medical terms is that the Greek language is quite suitable for building compound words. The article discusses the current state of anatomical terminology in Lithuania. The history of the Lithuanian nomenclature of anatomy dates back several centuries, during which the most frequently used Lithuanian anatomical terms were gradually developed. Every time, writing and publishing textbooks, methodological aids, and other anatomy books in the Lithuanian language, the authors interpreted various Latin anatomy terms in their own way and introduced new equivalents in the Lithuanian language. However, they often did not agree on the translation of various Latin terms into Lithuanian and their application to define various structures. The development and perfection of medical terminology is a long process. The most significant contribution in regulating Lithuanian anatomical terminology was made by Jurgis Žilinskas. The terms that we currently use can be found in his textbooks “Osteologija ir syndesmologija” (“Osteology and syndesmology”) (1932) and “Splanchnologija” (“Splanchnology”) (1934) (Litevkiene, Korosteliova 2012, 208). He initiated term regulation in his first textbook, “Lectures of Neurology” (1923), containing only Latin terms, well-formed according to Baseler’s nomenclature. The nomenclature of anatomy compiled by him was applied in other anatomy textbooks and the Dictionary of Medical Terms.

Criminalization of Care: Drug Testing Pregnant Patients

This article reveals how law and legal interests transform medicine. Drawing on qualitative interviews with medical professionals, this study shows how providers mobilize law and engage in investigatory work as they deliver care. Using the case of drug testing pregnant patients, I examine three mechanisms by which medico-legal hybridity occurs in clinical settings. The first mechanism, clinicalization, describes how forensic tools and methods are cast in clinical terminology, effectively cloaking their forensic intent. In the second, medical professionals informally rank the riskiness of illicit substances using both medical and criminal-legal assessments. The third mechanism describes how gender, race, and class inform forensic decision-making and criminal suspicion in maternal health. The findings show that by straddling both medical and legal domains, medicine conforms to the standards and norms of neither institution while also suspending meaningful rights for patients seeking care.

Peculiarities of Phonetic and Orthographic Adaptation of Latin Terms in English Clinical Terminology: On the Issue of Latin Terminological Competence Formation of Foreign Medical Students

Summary The article deals with the phonetic and orthographic adaptation of Latin terms in English clinical terminology in the context of Latin terminological competence formation of foreign medical students with English as the language of instruction. About 8,000 of the most common clinical terms selected from various lexicographic English sources have been studied on the basis of etymological and comparative approaches to demonstrate the grade of inconsistency in the reflection of Latin terms in modern English medical terminology. The quantitative analysis allowed us to determine and classify the main tendencies in the process of phonetic and orthographic development of Latin terms: (1) imitation of classical Latin spelling; (2) ‘simplification’ of classical Latin spelling; (3) syncretism of the first and second tendencies (parallel use of classical Latin and ‘simplified’ variants as synonyms). The analysis has also identified in some cases the phenomenon of ‘hypercorrectness’. The lack of a unified norm is reflected in all the analyzed reference sources, complicating the lexicographic description of medical terms as well as the process of teaching / learning the medical terminology. The proposed solution is to develop and implement some unified criteria for phonetic and orthographic adaptation of Latin terms in English. The possible ways to solve the problem are either to adhere to the etymological principle, returning ad fontes of medical terminology, and to use only non-monophthongized and non-simplified forms or to use monophthongized and phonetically and graphically simplified forms following the norms of modern English. Consistent adherence to one system of rules for the development of Latin terms is a needed requirement for the proper formation of terminological competence in medical students and correct use of terminology in their further professional activity.

Prof. M. Ya. Breitman. Dictionary of clinical terminology based on the latest Russian and foreign sources. Issue IV. Ed. Practical Medicine 1929. Price 4 rubles

With the publication of the 4th edition of the dictionary by prof. Breitman, we have completed a great work on medical lexicography. One can disagree with the author's peculiar spelling like "gynecology", "Pasteur", etc., but one can in no way dispute the value and necessity of this manual for our time. The absence of such reference books on the book market, as well as the doctor's ignorance of a foreign language, often puts him in a difficult position when he wants to establish the exact pronunciation, spelling or meaning of a clinical term. Therefore, the dictionary of prof. Breitman will undoubtedly serve for a long time to be a reliable reference in all matters concerning clinical terminology. It is very good that the author also gives an indication of the pronunciation of surnames and proper names. At this point, everyone may be puzzled. The dictionary will solve them. In this note, we will allow ourselves to note some errors and controversies regarding terms in the interest of correcting them for the 2nd edition.

Systematic Analysis of Extracting Data on Advance Directives from Patient Electronic Health Records (EHR) in Terminal Oncology Patients

Background: Advance directives are legal documents that include living wills and durable health care power of attorney documents. They are critical components of care for seriously ill patients which are designed to be implemented when a patient is terminally ill and incapacitated. We sought to evaluate potential reasons for why advance directives were not appropriately implemented, by reviewing the electronic health record (EHR) in patients with terminal cancer. Methods: A retrospective analysis of the EHR of 500 cancer patients from 1/1/2013 to 12/31/2016 was performed. Data points were manually collected and entered in a central database. Results: Of the 500 patients, 160 (32%) had an advance directive (AD). The most common clinical terminology used by physicians indicating a terminal diagnosis was progressive (36.6%) and palliative (31%). The most common clinical terminology indicating incapacity was altered mental status (25.6%), and not oriented (14%). 34 (6.8%) patients met all criteria of having a terminal diagnosis, a documented AD, and were deemed incapacitated. Of these patients who met all of these data points, their ADs were implemented on average 1.7 days (SD: 4.4 days) after which they should have been. This resulted in a total of 58 days of additional care provided. Discussion: This study provided insight on to how ADs are managed in day to day practice in the hospital. From our analysis it appears that physicians are able to identify when a patient is terminal, however, it is typically later than it should have been recognized. Further studies should be performed focusing on harnessing the power of the EHR and providing physicians formative and evaluative feedback of practice patterns to ensure that ADs are honored when appropriate.