I had Ms. Smernes as my instructor in Health Information Technology 50A and 50B Medical Terminology I and II in 2006. She didn't teach in the 2007-08 school year and isn't scheduled to teach in Fall 2008, so she may have retired. If she does teach again, though, I recommend her as an instructor. Ms. Smernes is well qualified to teach medical terminology. She is a native speaker of Greek who has studied Latin. She has worked in the medical field for many years, previously as a medical transcriptionist and currently in a cancer registry. She is an easy grader and is dedicated to seeing students do well in her class and in the health care careers that they are pursuing.

The first several weeks of Medical Terminology I are devoted to covering the Greek and Latin words that form most medical terms. After that, medical terminology is introduced in the context of the different systems of the body the digestive system, the musculoskeletal system, the nervous system, etc. Tests are multiple choice and are fairly easy. The textbook is good, and students can save themselves a lot of money by buying a previous edition. The current edition doesn't differ much from previous ones.

The two semesters of medical terminology consist almost entirely of lectures supplemented by overhead projections. I can't say that they lectures always captured my attention, but I'm not sure that medical terminology lends itself to consistently engaging lectures. On the basis of her experience in the medical field, Ms. Smernes added interesting commentary to the topics we were covering.