Please help me with a confusing school problem

[Kevin L.]

Hi guys:

I am in nursing school and--as an autistic adult--I struggle with literalness.

It was my understanding that the same medical term shouldn't be applied to two (or more) different diseases.

So, when we're studying pediatrics, we're told that myelodysplasia is the name for a severe form of spina bifida (a birth defect), yet when I look it up, I find that it's a rare form of blood cancer that tends to affect people over 60. These are two drastically different things, and ended up butting heads with my instructor.

So I dug deeper, and it seems that the same name is used as a medical term for spina bifida.

How do medical people keep such things straight?

Please see below:

I always thought that the purpose of scientific and medical nomenclature is to avoid ambiguity. I didn't take these snips off questionable websites. One website is from the University of Rochester neurosurgery program, and one website is from the NHS.

In pediatrics, we are discussing both spina bifida and pediatric cancer (and pediatric bone marrow transplants), and I struggle with the idea that my autism will cause me to do badly on a test by getting these terms mixed up . . . and possibly looking ignorant in Clinicals by getting my medical terms confused.

Can anyone clarify this? I would actually be very grateful.

And is the reason I'm confused because of my autism?

 

[Rodafina]

Frustrating.

Initial inquiry into this is terribly confusing. It doesn’t make sense. I hope someone here has a satisfactory explanation. I’m with you, @Kevin L.

 

[Kevin L.]

Frustrating.

Initial inquiry into this is terribly confusing. It doesn’t make sense. I hope someone here has a satisfactory explanation. I’m with you, @Kevin L.

Thank you very much for this, as I feel like I need the validation. Everybody says that I'm "just being stupid, and that it isn't the issue I think it is."

Also, this isn't the first time that I've run into things like this.

In any case, thank you again.

 

[Kevin L.]

The only reason why I knew about it being a blood cancer is because I had an autistic obsessive interest in Carl Sagan's work when I was younger, and Carl Sagan died from complications of myelodysplasia (the bone marrow/blood disease).

I alienated my professor when I asked for clarification . . . which is an old story with me.

 

[TBRS1]

Huh.

Your instructor should not have been critical of you for pointing out a fact that is both true and confusing.

A proper instructor would have been impressed that you noted the problem and provided clarification.

Do not fault yourself. The instructor was at fault.

 

[Kevin L.]

Huh.

Your instructor should not have been critical of you for pointing out a fact that is both true and confusing.

A proper instructor would have been impressed that you noted the problem and provided clarification.

Do not fault yourself. The instructor was at fault.

Thank you . . . but I do blame myself, as this is an ongoing problem with me. If it was only one instructor, then I can blame the professor. If it happens all of the time, then it's me. It was the same when I was a child.

In any case, thank you . . . but where do I go for clarification so I can do better on a test with this material?

I looked on the Internet, and found many references for this term used interchangeably between a blood disease later in life and a spinal birth defect. The two conditions aren't even similar.

 

[Outdated]

I always thought that the purpose of scientific and medical nomenclature is to avoid ambiguity.

A lot of Latin terms are very vague. I remember my great grandmother having a bit of a rant about it many years ago. She was born in 1880 and was taught to speak Latin when she went to school as a kid. She said a lot of doctors don't understand the terms they're using and don't really know what they're saying.

She used the term Dermatitis as an example, it literally means Skin Problem. It doesn't state what the problem is. Technically a cut on your hand can be called dermatitis, there's a problem with the skin, there's a hole in it and it leaks.

 

[Kevin L.]

A lot of Latin terms are very vague. I remember my great grandmother having a bit of a rant about it many years ago. She was born in 1880 and was taught to speak Latin when she went to school as a kid. She said a lot of doctors don't understand the terms they're using and don't really know what they're saying.

She used the term Dermatitis as an example, it literally means Skin Problem. It doesn't state what the problem is. Technically a cut on your hand can be called dermatitis, there's a problem with the skin, there's a hole in it and it leaks.

Thank you.

Part of my issue (and why I'm a little upset about this) has to do with medical errors. The school harps and harps on medical errors (as they should, so please don't get me wrong). They even had us do a school assignment on a nurse in Tennessee who is looking at 15 years in the joint for manslaughter because she accidentally killed a patient when she got the medications mixed up (she pushed a paralytic drug instead of a sedative, and this caused the patient to slowly die when she couldn't breathe . . . a miserable, agonizing, and undignified death).

This myelodysplasia problem could have caused an issue for me when I was a paramedic. We routinely give a radio report when coming to the hospital with a patient, and preparing for someone with a blood disorder who is having a crisis is drastically different from a spina bifida child with a crisis.

I can see how just using this nomenclature--even if medically correct--could have created a misunderstanding that can kill a patient.

The United States is very litigious, so how do I follow up on this when I'm skating on thin ice with my professor?

Please see below:

I don't think my concerns are trivial.

 

[Judge]

In any case, thank you . . . but where do I go for clarification so I can do better on a test with this material?

I looked on the Internet, and found many references for this term used interchangeably between a blood disease later in life and a spinal birth defect. The two conditions aren't even similar.

Perhaps the answer may be that you might have to do a lot of research to find a "rosetta stone" that explains the relationship between the two terms so explicitly, as I found on this link:

Myelodysplasia (myelomeningocele, spinal bifida) - Pediatrics - Orthobullets

www.orthobullets.com

The two conditions may not be particularly similar, but that the medical establishment decided to put them under one common "umbrella" of a common group of disorders for reasons that may not be so apparent.

Example: Consider how many of us agonize over Asperger's Syndrome versus the DSM-V's "autism spectrum disorder". Going from a reasonably concise definition to a broad spectrum of traits and behaviors. Making it that much more confusing at times.

I suspect many med school students would probably lament how critical simply relying on rote memory may be at times. Where one simply is more likely to accept such inconsistencies and move on, rather than dwell on them in frustration.

In essence sometimes you just have to accept things as they are. Kind of like trying to learn the English language. Which quite often makes little to no sense.

 

[Kevin L.]

Perhaps the answer may be that you might have to do a lot of research to find a "rosetta stone" that explains the relationship between the two terms so explicitly, as I found on this link:

Myelodysplasia (myelomeningocele, spinal bifida) - Pediatrics - Orthobullets

www.orthobullets.com

The two conditions may not be particularly similar, but that the medical establishment decided to put them under one common "umbrella" of a common group of disorders for reasons that may not be so apparent.

Example: Consider how many of us agonize over Asperger's syndrome versus autism spectrum disorder.

I suspect many med school students would probably lament how critical simply relying on rote memory may be at times. Where one simply is more likely to accept such inconsistencies and move on, rather than dwell on them in frustration.

Thank you very much.

 

[Outdated]

I don't think my concerns are trivial.

I don't think they are either. Perhaps the meaning of the term changes depending on context. I tried to get a literal translation of the term but couldn't find one, I think that might be the key to understanding the term. It won't actually be one word but a concatenation of 2 or more words.

 

[Kevin L.]

I don't think they are either. Perhaps the meaning of the term changes depending on context. I tried to get a literal translation of the term but couldn't find one, I think that might be the key to understanding the term. It won't actually be one word but a concatenation of 2 or more words.

Thank you again. I do appreciate (very much!) that you, Judge, Rodafina, and TBRS1 are trying to help me.

I wasn't trying to inconveinence anyone, so thank you again for trying.

 

[Judge]

Thank you again. I do appreciate (very much!) that you, Judge, and TBRS1 are trying to help me.

I wasn't trying to inconveinence anyone, so thank you again for trying.

Your point is valid. But then science- and medicine isn't always as concise and exact as we'd all like to think. Even when lives are at stake.

 

[Kevin L.]

Your point is valid. But then science- and medicine isn't always as concise and exact as we'd all like to think.

Thank you.

 

[Outdated]

It's all good. And being a bit pedantic about language is a common autistic trait. One of the questions I was asked during my diagnosis was "How well do you cope with US spelling?".

That's another thought too, could the double meaning of the term stem from wrong spelling? There's a lot of words that lose their meaning when misspelled. One that always makes me smile is the US spelling of the word for child lover, Paed means child, Ped means foot.

 

[Judge]

One that always makes me smile is the US spelling of the word for child lover, Paed means child, Ped means foot.

That's where rote memory comes into play. We've all been raised on "ped"- not paed.
Without spending any time on the whys of it all.

But then I've always chuckled at the possibility of such things which may come down to just another way to thumb our nose at George III.

One thing for sure, if I spent much time analyzing the English language it would just give me a huge headache. Even Latin would probably be easier to deal with. Pax vobiscum!

 

[Kevin L.]

It's all good. And being a bit pedantic about language is a common autistic trait. One of the questions I was asked during my diagnosis was "How well do you cope with US spelling?".

That's another thought too, could the double meaning of the term stem from wrong spelling? There's a lot of words that lose their meaning when misspelled. One that always makes me smile is the US spelling of the word for child lover, Paed means child, Ped means foot.

Thank you again, and it never occurred to me that "pedophile" could mean someone with a foot fetish or a criminal who victimizes children.

I was concerned about the spelling variations, and I looked it up and the spelling is the same for the spinal defect and the blood disease.

I have also come across other similar issues, and it's confusing.

 

[Outdated]

Interesting - I searched the Oxford English dictionary and it appears that the usage of the word changed over time.

It would be interesting to se a literal translation.

Oxford English Dictionary

The OED is the definitive record of the English language, featuring 600,000 words, 3 million quotations, and over 1,000 years of English.

www.oed.com

 

[Kevin L.]

Interesting - I searched the Oxford English dictionary and it appears that the usage of the word changed over time.

View attachment 110161

It would be interesting to se a literal translation.

Thank you very, very much for providing this.

 

[Outdated]

Thank you very, very much for providing this.

So maybe the term refers to Abnormal Development and doesn't refer to anything specific.