Best or most preferred Medical Dictionary?

[EDAC]

I would like to know what Medical Dictionary you would advise a new student to get. I have a medical Dictionary now, it is Taber's, but I have found that many of the terms that have been used in class today are not in that dictionary. I can see that a good dictionary is going to be a must in order to comprehend the terminology that is used on a regular basis in class. I'm not sure if the terms that were used are just local jargon or perhaps terminology that is just not covered in the dictionary that I have.

For example "pulse ox" is one that was used and I could not find it in the dictionary, I googled it and found it to mean pulse oximetry, then was able to look up pulse and oximetry to find the defination. The other one I could not find was "due regard" I googled it and really could not find a definative definition. gathered it means taking personal responsibility for your actions in regard to the safety of others while operating an emergengy vehicle. Like i said i am not sure if these are terms that are defined in a good medical dictionary or if it is something, that I will have to research a couple of definitions and come up with the meaning. And while I am on the subject, CBL was another, I could not find in the dictionary, but google again was the source I found that made some reference to the acronym, but again no definition, all I found was Clear Bilateral Lung sounds, in class clear bilateral was all the instructor referenced, and that was in passing. I made a note of it for some reason, so if I did I felt it was important enough to know.

Thanks, again, I will try to keep my ingnorance to a minimum, but I just want to be as informed as possible, and don't want to let something slip by that I should know, or more importantly, that will be on a test.:wacko:

 

[AJ Hidell]

Due regard is a legal term, not a medical term.

Tabers is good enough for a street medic. And, as you have seen, the terms you cannot find in Tabers are either slang terms, like "pulse ox", or else they are compound words, comprised of multiple word roots that you will have to deconstruct in order to find listed. The dictionary is not the problem. Your lack of understanding of medical terminology is the problem. And you will not learn medical terminology from a dictionary, no matter how good.

Spend your money on a programmed self-study workbook of medical terminology instead. There are several. Just search amazon.com and pick one you like. Spend a couple hours a day for a week working through the book until you complete it. Once you have done that, the medical dictionary will make a lot more sense to you, and be a lot easier to use. Until you do that, using the dictionary is going to be an endless ordeal of looking up words that were used in the previous definitions you looked up.

If you want to go nutzoid and buy the best medical dictionary (some people are just anal about having the "best" of everything), then get Dorland's. If you want the best law dictionary, get Black's.

 

[LucidResq]

Dean Vaughn medical terminology course < I completed this course through a special Health Sciences class in high school. Has given me a huge advantage in work and school - EMT school and college. Absolutely excellent. Not sure how you could complete it... maybe you'd have to look for a school that teaches it in your area.

As far as abbreviations go, print this out.
I kept it at hand during class and while writing/reading my first reports. Some of them may just be in use in my region, but most of them are general and common in EMS.


Here's an online glossary from the AAOS book's website.

 

[EDAC]

Excellent, thanks for the input, I really appreciate it.