Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 Sloane's MWB 4th Edition February 15, 2008
Impressive bulk, many different sections such as General Terms, Specialties, Guide to Terminology. There are no visible dividers to show you where the different sections start and end. I use sticky flags, or I could use marks on the edge of the pages if I didn't plan to resell it.
Otherwise, very useful book.
 Sloans Medical Word Book August 11, 2007
Don't waste you money. I have been a Medical Transcriptionist for 36 years. I bought the book and so did a co-worker. Have only found one thing in there I was looking for. It has become a joke to look in the $50 word book.
 Inadequate May 15, 2004
17 out of 18 found this review helpful
I have been a transcriptionist for three-plus years, and I have owned this book for all that time. I honestly cannot recall a single time this book has been helpful. It is a small volume, for a medical word book, being about the size of a thick popular paperback novel, which is wholly inadequate for the monstrously huge field of medical words. It is separated by specialty, and to give an example of how inadequate this book is, let's just compare the number of pages dedicated to a couple of specialties: For instance, this book gives about 70 pages to ophthalmology, while Stedman's ophthalmology book is 560 pages. The OB/GYN section is about 60 pages, while Stedman's OB/GYN book is over 600 pages. It's for good reason the sections are so small in this book. For instance, under "orbital" in the ophth section we find 10 entries (orbital apex, orbital cellulitis, etc.). Looking under "orbital" in the Stedman's ophth book we find about 120 entries (orbital abscess, orbital adipose tissue, orbital akinesia, etc.). The MT who hears a hurried eye doc state "orbital akinesia" will find zero help from Sloane. That, obviously, is just one of many such examples I could give. And, I'll point out, my page totals above for the Stedman's books do not include their multiple appendices, which are also very helpful; this book has no such feature by specialty. I learned quickly that I'd always do better to check my Stedman's specialty word book first, and consequently haven't had reason to use this because it is missing *so much* information. You get what you pay for. If you need to work independently as an MT, this cheapo approach won't help you much. If you can find any way to lay out a few hundred dollars for a set of Stedman's word books or CDs, you'll be way ahead of the game. I may throw this book into our next garage sale, as it just takes up office space for no good reason.
 Fabulous for newbies to med trans! June 19, 2003
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
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.
 Good book for transcription May 21, 2003
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
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
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