Healthcare -- Terminology the Fundamental

Healthcare -- Terminology

The Fundamental Importance of Consistency in Medical Terminology

Medical science is one of the most technical and complicated of all modern professional fields. It is, simultaneously, a field in which the potential consequences of human error can be catastrophic. Within the field, human error is more often attributable to breakdowns in communications of one form or another more than to any other cause of error (Taylor, Lillis, & LeMone, 2005). In that respect, medicine is not unique at all: other highly technical industries, particularly those in which the consequences of error can be extremely serious also rely as heavily on the precision and consistency of communications. Typical examples would include aviation, architecture, and construction. As is the case with medical error, major accidents in those fields are also related to communications failures more often than to any other specific source of error.

In medicine, certain terminology derives from formal Latin anatomical nomenclature whereas other elements of standard communications reflect arbitrary choice, initially (Taylor, Lillis, & LeMone, 2005). In principle, the same is also true of standard traffic signals in modern society: there is not inherent significance to driving on the right side of the street or of stopping on red and proceeding on green. However, despite the arbitrary origin of specific terminology and commonly shared understanding, once established as a system, those concepts take on a crucial importance.

The Potential Consequences of Non-Standard Medical Terminology

Obviously, the consequences of human error in medical settings can include serious harm to patients including unnecessary death from causes completely unrelated to the underlying medical conditions for which patients are receiving medical treatment (Fawcett, 2005; Reid, 2009; Taylor, Lillis, & LeMone, 2005). Such errors can occur at virtually every point of healthcare delivery, such as where physicians employ non-standard terminology that is misunderstood by other physicians, nurses, or other healthcare specialists; it is also a concern where physicians and pharmacists fail to express themselves clearly enough to distinguish important drugs and instructions for their administration (Fawcett, 2005; Taylor, Lillis, & LeMone, 2005). In principle, there is a very good reason for the standardization of medical terminology: it reduces one of the most common and preventable potential causes of serious error: miscommunication.

Non-Standard Medical Terminology in the Insurance Review Process