Health science teachers know the value of interacting with their students, and many approach us wanting to find ways to move beyond textbooks when teaching subjects like medical terminology.
One of the questions teachers often ask is what the difference is between the iCEV Medical Terminology curriculum and the Medical Terminology learning materials offered by the National Healthcare Association (NHA).
Between the Medical Terminology course and the additional resources in HealthCenter21, iCEV offers a robust program that teaches the basics of medical terminology along with hundreds of other concepts and skills. However, depending on the needs of your classroom, it might not be the right fit for you.
In this article, we’ll address the most common questions teachers have about the differences between the medical terminology materials from NHA and iCEV:
- What Topics Are Covered by Each Program?
- What Is the Purpose of Each?
- What Does Each Program Cost?
- Which Program is Right for You and Your Students?
After reading the article, you'll have a clearer idea of which resource is most appropriate for your needs.
1. What Topics Are Covered by Each Program?
When deciding on what program works best for you, it’s important to keep in mind the specific topics handled by each, so that you can choose the one that aligns most closely with your goals.
In this section, we’ll discuss what topics are covered by NHA and iCEV for medical terminology.
Topics Covered by NHA’s Medical Terminology Resource
Medical Terminology from NHA is a learning resource divided into 16 concise, interactive sections, governing vocabulary that includes:
- Body Systems (Endocrine, Muscular, Respiratory, and more)
- Diseases and Treatments
- Concepts, Suffixes & Prefixes
- Special Senses (like Ears and Eyes)
NHA’s Medical Terminology resource serves as a focused platform for teaching students crucial vocabulary, and it won’t go beyond the bounds of those topics.
If you need a supplemental program that focuses almost exclusively on teaching your students appropriate health science terminology, then these materials will probably be a good fit for you.
Topics Covered by iCEV's Medical Terminology Curriculum
The iCEV curriculum includes two resources for teaching medical terminology: the iCEV Medical Terminology course and the HealthCenter21 Medical Terminology lesson.
Between the two resources, educators gain access to hundreds of hours of instructional content, intended to foster strong technical skills and a well-rounded knowledge base in your students.
iCEV Medical Terminology Course
The iCEV Medical Terminology course is a complete class for teaching medical terminology. With 40 pre-built lessons complete with multimedia presentations and hundreds of interactive activities, the course is designed to help students comprehend vocabulary essential to working in the medical field.
The course covers medical terminology extensively, including lessons on:
- Medical Terms and Terminology
- Morphemes
- Body Systems
- Diseases and Conditions
- Employability Skills in Healthcare
Each lesson introduces students to the structure of medical terms, including prefixes, suffixes, word roots, singular and plural forms, and medical abbreviations.
In addition, the iCEV Medical Terminology course includes projects and formative and summative assessments to ensure students master medical terms they'll need for certifications and their future careers.
HealthCenter21 Medical Terminology Lesson
Alongside the full Medical Terminology course, you can use HealthCenter21 as a resource to teach and reinforce medical terminology concepts with iCEV.
The Medical Terminology lesson of HealthCenter21 is divided into four sections:
- Word Parts: Roots (for studying the roots of medical terms)
- Word Parts: Suffixes and Prefixes (for medical suffixes and prefixes)
- Abbreviations (for both general and body system-specific abbreviations)
- Anatomic References (including body directions, planes, and cavities)
With the breadth of material included with iCEV's Medical Terminology course and HealthCenter21, it's a great choice for those looking to teach medical terminology along with all the other aspects of the health science field.
If you need a fully-fledged curriculum that covers a broad range of health science topics besides just medical terminology, then iCEV may fit your classroom well.
Want a closer look at some of the material available from iCEV? Check out our full list of health science courses.
2. What Is the Purpose of Each?
When thinking about which digital learning resource to choose, it’s important to consider the purpose each resource is intended for.
After all, the medical terminology resources from NHA and iCEV were designed with very different purposes and audiences in mind. One or the other might align better with the specific needs of your course.
In this section, we’ll discuss what both programs were created to accomplish.
The Purpose of NHA’s Medical Terminology Resource
The purpose of NHA’s Medical Terminology resource is to teach current or aspiring medical professionals terms that they will need to know for the allied health care space.
Depending on the needs of your classroom, NHA’s resource may be used in different ways.
If you are helping current professionals refresh themselves on vocabulary they should already once have learned, Medical Terminology could be used to help them review.
Alternatively, you may be preparing future professionals to gain their certifications, in which case Medical Terminology could be used as a supplemental learning resource to teach them important vocabulary.
NHA indicates that health professionals most likely to gain something from the Medical Terminology learning resource include:
- Pharmacy Technicians
- EKG Technicians
- Medical Assistants
- Electronic Health Records Specialists
If you’re looking for a digital learning resource focused on teaching adult students medical terminology for use in their careers, then NHA’s Medical Terminology resource might be the right choice for your classroom.
The Purpose of iCEV's Medical Terminology Curriculum
The iCEV health science curriculum is a comprehensive solution designed to help students who are exploring and preparing for careers in medical professions. When used together, the iCEV Medical Terminology course and the additional materials in HealthCenter21 provide extensive resources for educators to teach and reinforce essential medical vocabulary.
The iCEV Medical Terminology course provides a dedicated curriculum to teach medical terminology to your students over the course of an entire academic term. With 40 lessons and 745 projects, activities, and assessments, the course includes everything teachers need to teach and review medical terminology concepts.
The additional resources available in HealthCenter21 further supplement and support the iCEV Medical Terminology course. The Medical Terminology lesson covers word parts, abbreviations, and anatomic references in depth, helping students be prepared for certifications and career opportunities.
Ultimately, iCEV offers extensive resources for teaching medical terminology as part of a CTE health science program. If you're looking for an all-encompassing curriculum that you can use to cover health science vocabulary, then iCEV might be the right fit for you.
3. What Does Each Program Cost?
Accounting for the cost of a learning resource is an important step to decide whether it will work for your school or district. Certain price ranges might be more appealing to your school budget, after all!
In this section, we’ll talk about the cost ranges of both NHA’s Medical Terminology and HealthCenter21.
The Cost of NHA’s Medical Terminology Resource
The general price range of NHA’s Medical Terminology hovers around $75 per single student subscription.
Doing the math, it’s easy to get an estimate on how the cost of Medical Terminology can scale with the number of student licenses you need:
- For 25 student licenses, the price might come out to about $1,875.
- For 100 student licenses, that price may go up to about $7,500.
Depending on the needs of your class, this may be a very economical choice. It’s also important to keep in mind that NHA’s Medical Terminology falls outside of their core product line, and so pricing may be more flexible here than with some of NHA’s other products.
Another factor to consider is that NHA licenses are often tied to one student for one semester only, and cannot be recycled, reused, or shared between semesters. This may be the case for Medical Terminology licenses, which could affect the amount you pay for a year’s worth of lessons.
To find out the specifics of both pricing and the lifespan of NHA Medical Terminology licenses, consider contacting NHA directly so you can get a more accurate idea of whether their terms will fit your classroom.
The Cost of iCEV
iCEV offers a subscription-based curriculum solution that you can purchase on a yearly basis. The price of iCEV will vary depending on the number of CTE subjects your program needs and the number of students who need access to the curriculum.
The single price of the iCEV health science curriculum includes both the Medical Terminology course and the additional resources available in HealthCenter21.
While the price of iCEV will vary from program to program, the cost of a single-subject subscription to the iCEV Health Science curriculum starts at $1,500.
Schools can save money by subscribing to multiple CTE subjects or purchasing a site license to the complete iCEV CTE curriculum.Check out our pricing page to get a better sense of each plan or to request a quote for your school.
4. Which Learning Resource Is Right for You and Your Students?
NHA and iCEV offer very different learning resources for medical terminology. Depending on the needs of your students, one or the other may be the superior choice.
If you are looking for supplemental learning material focused specifically on helping adult students or medical professionals learn medical terms necessary for the workforce or for certification exams, then the NHA Medical Terminology resource may be the best option for you.
On the other hand, if you need a broad, comprehensive digital curriculum intended to help middle and high schoolers learn the ins and outs of beginning a career in the health sciences field, then iCEV would probably better suit your aims.
If iCEV sounds like it could be right for you, sign up for a free trial. You'll be able to try out the complete curriculum for yourself to decide if it's right for your classroom!
