Rating: 
Summary: Leaves much to be desired.
Review: Long the bible of many MTs, Sloane's Medical Words suffers from the noble attempt at "doing it all." It attempts to compile words from every medical specialty, including drugs, labs, anatomy and abbreviations, arranged not alphabetically but by section, thus making it difficult to search for terms which might be under more than one section. For example, diabetes and related terms can be found under Pediatrics but not Internal Medicine, and whiplash is found under Immunology but not Orthopedics.It is nice to have normal lab values, tables of elements, weights and measures, and combining forms all in one place. But it is hard to see what place a section on drugs might have in a reference such as this. Even drug books updated every year are already out of date by the time they are in print. In addition, one often needs to see indications, dosages and method of supplying when looking up drugs, none of which is included here. Presenting a list of drug names without other accompanying information is at best unnecessary and at worst dangerous. A search through the General Medical section fails to turn up emphysema or hypertension; it turns up exogenous obesity but not central obesity. General Surgical Terms fails to turn up abdominoplasty or V-Y advancement flap; it turns up Dacron and Marlex grafts but not tunnel, bypass or even vein graft. The lab section fails to turn up troponin or psittacosis; it turns up anion, but not anion gap. A search through Abbreviations fails to turn up LOC (loss of consciousness) or CCE (clubbing, cyanosis or edema); RRR is shown to be "renin-release rate", but not "regular rate and rhythm". Hardly a scientific survey - but one can see how one would be searching through other, more comprehensive reference books in no time. And why soon one would be saving oneself the trouble and going right to those other books to begin with.
Rating: 
Summary: The most-used reference book in my medical library!
Review: My initial leap into the medical transcription field was incredibly frustrating - attempting to learn an entirely new language . . . in Latin . . .and type at the speed of sound. None of the manuals that I received with my pre-packaged medical "tutorial" compared to the salvation that I found in this book and my Stedman's spellchecker. I agree that some updating is necessary, but this book is still the best quick reference that I have. After 5 years of transcription, I still pick it up first!
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed!
Review: Since I am a medical transcriptionist (for 23 years), I need information immediately! This book would have been more useful to me if the book was in alphabetical order, not split up into sections/specialties. Many medical terminology words are used in ALL fields of medicine, not just one. As far as I am concerned, the idea of this sort of book is to make life EASIER not more difficult. It is difficult to find words in this book...alphabetically listed words would have made this book outstanding!
Rating: 
Summary: Good book for transcription
Review: This book helped me with vocabulary and pronounciation and it was easy to understand. However, for a more thorough look into anatomy and physiology, I recommend:
Anatomy and Physiology Study Guide: Key Review Questions and Answers with Explanations
(Volume 1) (ISBN: 097199919)
(Volume 2) (ISBN: 097199927) Buy all three books to help with medical transcription
Rating:
Summary: Perfect for medical transcriptionists
Review: This book is a quick reference guide formatted in categories and is easy to use. It does not give any definitions for the words, just the spelling. I use this book often, especially when the physician is referring to a field that I am unsure of. It has saved me many times from frustration in using the dictionary when I am not exactly sure of the prenunciation by the physician. This is definitely a book to have in your medical library.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent reference for medical transcriptionists
Review: This is an excellent reference for medical transcriptionists, however it is now 8 years old and needs to be updated.
Rating:
Summary: If only I would have purchased this book sooner.....
Review: When I first received this book I was going to send it back; but the more I compared the context of it to the words I messed up on my Medical Transcription papers, I realized that if I would have had this book at the beginning of the course I would have gotten my papers correct. I recommend it, you will use it.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous for newbies to med trans!
Review: When I first started transcribing in 1980, the first edition of this book was my bible. When I was lost in a black hole of unintelligible doctor-mumble, being able to narrow the terms down to groups of specialties saved the day for me. Now, after 23 years as an acute care MT, I teach full time at a community college and I require this book for my transcription students. Ellen Drake's meticulous edits and additions have at least quadrupled the page count and made it a trustworthy reference. I must admit, though, that as an experienced MT, it would not be the first book I pulled off my shelf when stuck on a word now. Now I usually first turn to the latest edition of Stedman's, the Drakes' latest pharmaceutical reference, or to a word book with extensive terms in a particular specialty. That's because the Medical Word Book is more like a text version of an experienced MT's brain. So I probably wouldn't recommend this for an "old" MT like me -- but newbies will LOVE it.
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