Stedman's Abbreviations, Acronyms & Symbols: Abbreviations, Acronyms & Symbols

Rating:
Summary: Abbreviations you MUST know beforehand!
Review: If you already know the abbreviation you need, this book is ok. If you need to know an abbreviation you are NOT going to like this book. For instance, need to know how to abbreviation mercury? If you don't know it starts with H...good luck. No index in the back listing mercury...page etc etc. Would have been nice.

Rating:
Summary: Abbreviations you MUST know beforehand!
Review: If you already know the abbreviation you need, this book is ok. If you need to know an abbreviation you are NOT going to like this book. For instance, need to know how to abbreviation mercury? If you don't know it starts with H...good luck. No index in the back listing mercury...page etc etc. Would have been nice.

Rating:
Summary: Stedman's word books necessary for transcription
Review: In reading the other review here, I get the feeling the reviewer isn't using this book correctly. The stated purpose and intent of each of the Stedman's word books is, quoting the publisher's preface, "to the wordsmiths of the healthcare professions---medical transcriptionists, medical editors and copy editors," etc. In doing medical transcription, I have *never* had to abbreviate "mercury," as transcription must be clear as possible. Mercury should always be spelled out. Even a common medical term like KCl (which *is* found in this book under K) must be spelled out as "potassium chloride." That is the unsurpassed value of the Stedman's word books.

This is one of their books that I use quite frequently. When listening to dictation, acronyms are often used and are sometimes required to be spelled out even when dictated as an acronym. This book is loaded with hundreds of pages of acronyms and their meanings. Also, if a doctor's "F" sounds like "S" or "B" sounds like "V," this book is extremely helpful in eliminating possible acronyms to find the correct one, because it lists not just the letters ("SUV" for standard uptake value, for example, and no entry for "FUV") but the meaning also.

This book may not be much use for students in medical school, I don't know; but it beautifully meets its stated intent, and that is for MTs, etc., as stated above. Just as a telephone directory may be no use in giving demographics of any given neighborhood, that is not its purpose; giving chemical symbols for the various elements is not the purpose of a book of acronyms to be used in transcription and medical copywriting/editing/proofreading etc.

Rating:
Summary: Stedman's word books necessary for transcription
Review: In reading the other review here, I get the feeling the reviewer isn't using this book correctly. The stated purpose and intent of each of the Stedman's word books is, quoting the publisher's preface, "to the wordsmiths of the healthcare professions---medical transcriptionists, medical editors and copy editors," etc. In doing medical transcription, I have *never* had to abbreviate "mercury," as transcription must be clear as possible. Mercury should always be spelled out. Even a common medical term like KCl (which *is* found in this book under K) must be spelled out as "potassium chloride." That is the unsurpassed value of the Stedman's word books.

This is one of their books that I use quite frequently. When listening to dictation, acronyms are often used and are sometimes required to be spelled out even when dictated as an acronym. This book is loaded with hundreds of pages of acronyms and their meanings. Also, if a doctor's "F" sounds like "S" or "B" sounds like "V," this book is extremely helpful in eliminating possible acronyms to find the correct one, because it lists not just the letters ("SUV" for standard uptake value, for example, and no entry for "FUV") but the meaning also.

This book may not be much use for students in medical school, I don't know; but it beautifully meets its stated intent, and that is for MTs, etc., as stated above. Just as a telephone directory may be no use in giving demographics of any given neighborhood, that is not its purpose; giving chemical symbols for the various elements is not the purpose of a book of acronyms to be used in transcription and medical copywriting/editing/proofreading etc.