On November 13, 2023, in an official ceremony chaired by the Minister of Science and Innovation of the Spanish Government, Ms. Diana Morante Ripoll, and the President of the Royal National Academy of Medicine of Spain (RANME), Mr. Eduardo Díaz-Rubio, the first Spanish Dictionary of Medical Terminology (DPTM) was made available to the community, It is a digital, navigable and freely accessible work. Coordinated by RANME, there are thirteen ALANAM (Latin American Association of National Academies of Medicine, Spain and Portugal) that are part of this consensus project with an integrative mission: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Spain. Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela.
The Chilean Academy of Medicine was represented by Dr. José Adolfo Rodriguez Portales, who did an amazing job during the eight years it took to prepare this great work.
In Spanish you will find different regional meanings of medical terms used in communication with patients and in literature. In addition to the scientific and medical explanation of the meaning of these words, with the ability to move from one term to another.
This important representation of the different linguistic areas of Spanish has provided the dictionary with one of its greatest values for the Spanish community: its rich geographic diversity, which facilitates supranational communication of more than 500 million speakers, while promoting the unity of the Spanish language. Spanish language Medical language in Spanish. In addition, the DPTM includes American English equivalents for all of its terms, a feature that greatly enriches the work and ensures its usefulness in bilingual settings.
In addition to the scientific and medical explanation of its meaning, the possibility of moving from one term to another is added. For example, if you enter the word “Flu”, its English translation “influenza” and the names that this disease receives in various Spanish-speaking countries will immediately appear: influenza, trancazo (colloquial) influenza (rare) influenza (undesirable) ). Along with the nomenclature there is a very complete medical description of the disease.
“We have pledged to disseminate this work in our environment and to introduce new terms, corrections or add concepts to what has been written. “We invite all members of our Academy to become familiar with and use this work, as well as to disseminate it in their workplaces,” emphasizes Dr. Emilio Rösler, President of the Chilean Academy of Medicine .
The future of the Spanish Dictionary of Medical Terms is very promising: thanks to the international codes that are included in the entries (SNOMED CT, CIE, DCI, etc.), it can be an effective interoperable tool for creating electronic medical records; Conceiving it as a digital business necessitates speed in incorporating new terminology and updating existing terminology; The possibilities currently offered by AI will allow DPTM to explore new fundamental areas of biohealth research… New paths to medical language in Spanish.
At the DPTM presentation ceremony, I witnessed a moment of particular significance: all the heads of the participating academies in their presence endorsed their explicit support for the work and committed, by their signature and declaration, to maintain their involvement in the work and to contribute to the publication of the dictionary, a living text that must be constantly updated to accommodate the continuing advances in medicine and to provide work for clinicians. and patients with accuracy and academic validity.
For the Chilean Academy of Medicine, this dictionary is of great importance and for this reason we have integrated direct access to our website menu https://www.academiachilenademedicina.cl/
