referencebooks

The Origin of Medical Terms, Second Edition

By Henry Alan Skinner

Published by Hafner, 1970

This is a 7" by 10" clothbound book running to 438 pages, printed two columns per page, plus an introduction. Entries for medical scientists are illustrated with small pen and ink drawings or etchings.

Etymological dictionaries are fascinating, and more fascinating if they focus on a subject of interest to you. Most etymological dictionaries provide longer discussions of fewer words than a regular dictionary, which makes it logical to create one focused on a specific vocabulary, like the vocabulary of medicine. This dictionary has about 4,000 words in it, a tenth of what you typically find in a smaller English dictionary. Typical entries are about two column inches in length but are sometimes a half a page long.

The drawback of this book is its age. At 36 years old, it's a bit dated, in more than one way. First, the vocabulary of medicine has greatly expanded and has also rendered some terms obsolete. Second, some ideas in historical linguistics have changed, which means that we now know that some of the etymological tracings in this book are probably wrong. (I can't tell you which ones, but I can tell you that the introduction states that Basque is a Semitic language, an idea that historical linguistics has thoroughly discarded by now.) If you use this book taking account of its age, however, it can be very useful and entertaining.

Here is a list of the first fifteen entries in the "L" sequence:

• LABIUM
  
• LABORATORY
  
• LABOUR
  
• LABRUM
  
• LABYRINTH
  
• LAC
  
• LACERTUS FIBROSUS
  
• LACRIMAL
  
• LACUNA
  
• LAENNEC
  
• LAEVULOSE
  
• LALLOUETTE
  
• LAMARCK
  
• LAMBDA
  
• LAMINA
  

The etymological discussions provided are kind of fun. Here's just one typical example:

RADIUM
    Latin--a ray.
    The discovery of a metallic element which emitted rays was announced in December 1898 in a paper communicated to the Académie des Sciences de Paris and signed by Pierre Curie, S. Curie, and G. Bemont, "Sur une nouvelle substance fortement radioactive, dans la pech blende." The substance was radium chloride. The action of radium on malignant tumours was first shown by Danysz in 1903.

The Enyclopedia of Aging, Third Edition

George L. Maddox, Editor-in-Chief

Published by Springer, 2001

This is a two-volume work measuring 7" by 10" and running to a total of 1235 pages, plus some preferatory material, a subject index, and a contributors' index.

The intention of this book is to be the standard reference work for gerontology and geriatrics. Though I haven't compared it to competing works, it seems thorough and complete enough to succeed in that aspiration. Entries are longish, sometimes running to several pages. Some background in medical science and a little background in psychology and social work topics is assumed.

Here is a list of the first fifteen entries in the "P" sequence:

• Pain
  
• Palliative Care
  
• Paranoia
  
• Parathyroid Hormone, Calcitonin, and 1,25 Dihydroxyvitamin D
  
• Parenting
  
• Parkinson's Disease
  
• Pensions
  
• Pepper Centers
  
• Perception
  
• Personal Care/Personal Assistant/Personal Attendant Services
  
• Personality
  
• Person Perception
  
• Pets
  
• Pharmacodynamics
  
• Physical Restraint
  

This is a very useful book, especially for an academic audience.

Mosby's Pocket Guide to Cultural Assessment, 2nd Edition

By Elaine M. Geissler

Published by Mosby, 1998

This is a 4.25" by 7.25" paperback running to 326 pages including the index plus a brief foreword and preface.

This is a practical guide to cultural differences intended for medical professionals to use as a quick reference to help them better understand patients and clients from diverse backgrounds. The preface says,

"The purpose of this guide is to help focus your attention on the potential variations a culturally diverse client may, or may not, exhibit. It is based in generalizations that must not be mentally converted into stereotypes by the user. Pull out this guide when you are faced with someone from a culture that is unfamiliar to you. Use this guide to start quickly and efficiently increasing your awareness and understanding of potential similarities and differences--the generalizations. For unless you are conscious of the cultural patterns of behavior a patient might exhibit, you will not think to address them in your assessment. To be culturally competent with the many cultures with which you may on occasion be faced is unrealistic. To not use a guide such as this for fear of stereotyping only impedes movement toward delivery of culturally relevant health care. I am willing to risk criticism for stereotyping; but in return, I ask you to thoughtfully build on the information inside these pages with an individualized cultural assessment...

We all recognize the importance of understanding cultural differences in a multicultural society, but usually find it very uncomfortable to actually make any generalizations about a cultural group that actually say what those cultural differences are. It's dicey. So it's not surprising that one of the only types of reference books out there that simply provide access to the soundest available generalizations about cultural groups come from medical field, where everyone acknowledges the good intentions involved. (Business books that tell you how to act in other countries are also pretty common and often good.)

Entries in this book are by country and are usually about a page long. Opening the book at random and I'm at the entry for Bulgaria, which is a shorter entry. This entry gives brief statments about Bulgaria's geography, it's languages, ethnic groups and religions, some group-specific data on prevelance of AIDS (other diseases show up in this section for other countries), food practices and intolerances, childhood immunizations used, and "other characteristics" (for Bulgaria, it says "The head motions for yes and no are the opposite of those used in the United States") followed by a bibliography of three sources for the information given. The entry on the Philippines is longer, just over three pages. It includes some additional information, like "predominant sick care practices," "health care beliefs," "health team relationships," "family's role in hospital care," "dominance patterns," "eye contact practices," ("Some may fear eye contact; however, if it is established it is important to return and to maintain eye contact") "touch practices," "perceptions of time," ("Time generally moves ahead slowly. Life is lived from day to day.) "pain reactions," ("People may appear stoic if they believe that pain is the will of God and that God will give them the strength to bear is."), etc.

This is a very useful and interesting little book.

The Encyclopedia of Vitamins, Minerals and Supplements, Second Edition

By Tova Navarra, B.A., R.N.

Published by Facts On File, 2004.

This is a 7.5" by 9" hardcover book that runs to 353 pages including numberous appendices, a bibliography and an index, plus a foreword, a preface and an introduction.

Reference books on controversial subjects are interesting, because the authors know that their responsibility to be accurate is a difficult one and that no matter what they write, some people are going to strongly dislike it. A reference book on the subject of vitamins and other dietary supplements is in this category. It seems that every vitamin and herb has its champions and detractors, and that medical research is often less than conclusive. This author's approach to the difficulty is unfortunately not admirable: it is to mix science-based entries on known nutrients with entries on every controversial herb under the sun, for the latter reporting what benefits herbalists or naturopaths claim for it and how it is used in general terms, without saying whether it works or what is a safe dosage. I find this solution a little bit of a copout.

A typical science-based entry is the one for folic acid. It's nearly two pages in length, and has sections that define it and describe its major uses, its sources, what happens when a person's system is deficient in it, dosages, toxicity, content levels in certain foods, and a long table listing the causes of deficiency. There is a lot of good information here. Entries for minerals are similar if a little shorter. There are also entries for some other types of nutrients and chemicals as well as topics in physiology as they relate to nutrition. The most abundant type of entry, however, are the brief entries for herbs and other substances used in traditional or alternative medicine. These typically give a brief description of the plant or substance and summarize how it is used, often with a quick reference to history. These entries never make a claim of efficacy or provide instruction for use, only report what the substance is used for within communities that use it. By their presence in the book these entries validate the use of those substances by people who want it validated, without providing any actual information that rationally supports their use. That means that a large portion of this book is telling people what they want to hear without providing good information. Entries for herbs and other non-traditional substances would be good to include in a book that consistently provided science-based information across the board, but this book does not do that.

Not recommended.

The Autism Encyclopedia

By John T. Neisworth and Pamela S. Wolfe

Published by Paul S. Brookes Publishing Co., 2005.

This is a nicely-manufactured, hardbound book measuring 6" by 9" and running to 306 pages including a bibliography and appendices, plus notes on the editors and contributors, a preface, acknowledgements, and a "how to use this book" section.

The entries in this book, which are closer to dictionary-length than encyclopedia length, cover over 500 specialized terms relating to the study and treatment of autism and other "pervasive developmental disorders" (PDD's).

For an idea of what's included, here is are the first fifteen terms defined in the "E" sequence, not including "see" references:

• early intervention
  
• early signs
  
• echolalia
  
• ecological approach
  
• ecological inventory
  
• ecology of human performance
  
• Education of the Handicapped Act (EHA) of 1970 (PL 91-230)
  
• electroencephalogram (EEG)
  
• eligibility
  
• embedded skills
  
• emotional support
  
• empiricism
  
• encopresis
  
• engagement
  
• entrepreneurial model
  

The entries are written clearly and informatively. While they don't assume too much background knowledge, they do assume a good level of literacy.

I'm not very knowledgeable about the study and treatment of autism, but my impression of the book is that behaviorist methods are noticeably prominent. Also, it's interesting to note that the editors made the decision not to confine the book to the study of autism but to include other developmental disorders as well, although the focus is on autism and treatment of other disorders is very incomplete. The preface doesn't explain the reason for this decision, but it may have to do with similarity in symptoms, treatment or etiology.

Anyway, this is a useful book on a subject of growing importance.

Grant's Atlas of Anatomy, 11th Edition

By Anne M.R. Agur and Arthur Dalley II.

Published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2005.

This is a 9.5" by 11" hardbound book running to 848 pages including the index, printed in full color.

Grant's has been a standard since 1937, when it was published as A Method of Anatomy, Descriptive and Deductive (By Dr. John Charles Boileau Grant). New knowledge and ideas have been incorporated in successive editions. The basics of the Atlas of Anatomy have been consistent in recent editions: classic dissection illustrations, schematic illustrations, surface anatomy, and diagnostic images, all arranged in sections for areas of the human body. The areas covered are:

1. THORAX
   
2. ABDOMEN
   
3. PELVIS AND PERINEUM
   
4. BACK
   
5. LOWER LIMB
   
6. UPPER LIMB
   
7. HEAD
   
8. NECK
   
9. CRANIAL NERVES
   

Opening the book at random, I'm looking at pages 510 and 511, in the section called "JOINTS OF PECTORAL GIRDLE AND SHOULDER," looking at illustrations 6.41 and 6.42, "Anterior aspect of shoulder joint" and "Posterior aspect of the interior of shoulder joint." The illustrations are not photographs but dissection drawings designed to represent structures clearly and accurately. They're labelled with the scientific names of specific parts ("transverse humeral ligament," "synovial fringe"). On the lower portion of each of these pages are descriptions of the structures you are seeing with reference to their function.

This is a very useful text for people studying the human body.

A Historical Dictionary of Psychiatry

By Edward Shorter

Published by Oxford University Press, 2005.

This is a black, clothbound book measuring 6" by 9" and running to 338 pages including a bibliographic essay, a bibliography, and the index, plus a brief preface.

The preface makes the claim that the book is the "first-ever historical dictionary of psychiatry," and places the work in the context of the discipline's transition from a psychoanalytic paradigm to a neurobiological and psychopharmacological one.

For each concept in present-day psychiatry (and some outmoded concepts as well) entries trace their evolution since the time of Freud, providing clearly-written explanations of the theories involved as they were introduced and later left behind. Obsolete terminology is defined in the process, and facts about theoreticians and standard therapeutic practices are provided as well. Besides entries on concepts, there are also entries on people, institutions, and therapies. The emphasis is less on telling the story of psychiatry than on explaining the origins of the elements of present-day practice.

For an idea of what is covered, here are is the full list of entries in the "A" sequence, including see reference:

• Affective Disorders. See Depression: Emergence; Depression: Recent Concepts; Hypomania; Manic-Depressive Illness.
  
• Agoraphobia. See Anxiety and Phobias (1870 and after).
  
• Akathisia, or inability to remain in a sitting posture.
  
• Alcoholism (See also Substance Abuse).
  
• Alzheimer, Alois (1864-1915).
  
• Alzheimer's Disease. See Dementia: Alzheimer's presenile dementia (1906, 1910)
  
• Amphetamines. SeeNarcolepsy; Antidepressant: First-generation anti-depressants: the amphetamines.
  
• Andreasen, Nancy Coover (1938-).
  
• Anhedonia.
  
• "Anna O."
  
• Anorexia Nervosa. See Body Image, Disturbances Of.
  
• Antidepressant.
  
• Antipsychiatry Movement.
  
• Antipsychotics.
  
• Anxiety and Phobias.
  
• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
  
• Autism
  

This is a fascinating and useful reference book.

Handbook of Fractures, 2nd Edition

Edited by Clayton R. Perry, MD, and John A. Elstrom, MD.

Published by McGraw-Hill, 2000.

This is a handy, compact little paperback measuring 4" by 7" and running to 399 pages on thin paper, in small type. It fits in a coat pocket.

The book's preface is very descriptive and objective to boot, so I am going to take the liberty of copying a large part of it here:

Fracture management is fundamental to orthopaedic practice. In developing this book, we wanted a portable handy reference written for the practicing orthopaedic surgeon. It is not always convenient to refer to the large published tomes for quick management decisions. Our aim has been to create a concise, organized, and readily accessible reference for fracture management. In order to fulfill our objectives, it has been necessary to publish a pocket-size book that can be readily carried.

We have attempted to bring together the basic elements that the reader must know in order to diagnose, classify, and manage specific fractures. Despite the small trim size of the book, we have maximized the use of illustrations to avoid excess use of words in the text and to better present a balanced overview of fracture management; it is not our intention to discuss some of the more controversial issues that can be read elsewhere. Despite this, the author's philosophy of management may be evident, and we encourage the reader to also review other literature for specific technical procedures. In keeping with the scope, we decided to omit references within the text, but to include a more practical list of reading material entitled, "Selected Readings."

The organization of this book is simple. Initially, there are general chapters that cover clinical evaluation, methods of fixation, nonoperative techniques, anesthetic techniques, and fracture healing and bone grafting. Thereafter, each chapter specifically examines fractures organized by anatomy, starting with the glenohumeral joint and working down to the foot. For ease of accessibility, we have divided each chapter into identical sections: anatomy, fracture classification, diagnosis and initial management, radiographic examination, and associated injuries. Bolding of key words within the text is designed to help the reader quickly identify relevant material. The glossary at the end of the book defines terms that are not defined within the text itself, thus, it can be used asd a quick reference.

I don't have much to add, not knowing enough about medical science to point out the book's flaws or special strengths.

I can say that the book is mainly useful to surgeons and medical students.

"Don't try this at home."

Saunders Pharmaceutical Word Book 2005

By Ellen Drake and Randy Drake.

Published by Elsevier, 2005.

This is a paperback book measuring 5" by 8.25" and running to 763 pages, plus a Preface and "Notes on Using the Text," all on slick, thin paper.

The preface begins,

Saunders Pharmaceutical Word Book has been compiled primarily with the medical transcriptionist in mind, although it will certainly appeal to coders, quality assurance personnel, nurses, ward clerks, students of all allied health professions -- anyone who has a need for a quick, easy-to-use drug reference that gives more information than just the spelling. Even physicians may find it useful to get quick information on medications their patients may be using for conditions outside their specialty...

This book presents an alphabetical arrangement for names of prescription drugs (generic and brand names as well as slang terms), along with the names for related "consumable products," including in vitro testing kits, radiographic contrast agents, and non-prescription drugs. The book is unusual in not putting different types of names of drugs (slang, generic and brand) and different categorise of drugs all in one sequence, so that you don't have to know anything about a drug to find out more information - all you need is the name.

Information about the drugs includes the name, agencies that have approved the name, the drug's designated use, cross references (including references to the current, official name, if an older or a non-official name is given; alternate names; and full name if the entry is for an abbreviation), dosage information, and names of drugs that sound similar, to ensure you're looking up the right drug.

This is a well-done and useful book.

Tyler's Honest Herbal: A Sensible Guide to the Use of Herbs and Related Remedies, 4th edition

By Steven Foster and Varro E. Tyler.

Published by The Haworth Herbal Press, 1999.

This is a 6" by 9" harbound book running to 442 pages including a summary chart and index, plus the prefaces to each edition and a section of full color illustrations.

The preface ends with this descriptive paragraph:

Tyler's Honest Herbal, Fourth Edition, is intended to bring scientific understanding of commonly sold herbs into the twenty-first century. Again, if we err, we do so on the side of conservatism. The current interest in herbs is consumer driven. Now that herb products are much more widely available, offered more often than not repackaged by marketing companies with no internal scientific knowledge of the substances they purvey, truth can indeed be stranger than fiction.

Opening the book at random we find the entry for Feverfew, which is two pages in length. The entry begins with a brief paragraph describing the history of the herb's use going back to antiquity, and then goes on to discuss the results of scientific studies that have tested its efficacy, potency, safety, and identified its active chemical compounds. Finally the article gives caveats to consumers and identifies some important questions for further research.

The book is honest where scientific studies of an herb's effectiveness have been less than conclusive, or when they have simply shown an herbal remedy to be ineffective for some of its traditional uses (as with Betony).

In the preface, the authors also say that this book is controversial among herbalists, some of whom don't like its scientific approach to what they see as a traditional art. The book fills a need, however, for a scientific guide to herbal remedies.

The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Substances

By Richard Rudgley.

Published by St. Martin's Press, 1999.

This is a red, hardcover book measuring 6" by 9" and running to 302 pages including the bibliography and index, plus the acknowledgments and introduction.

This little encyclopedia gives information about the social history, psychological effects, methods of use, and in some cases a little of the botany and chemistry concerning dozens of psychoactive substances, ranging from the very mild (chocolate) to the very powerful (PCP); and from the very common (marijuana) to the obscure (ayahuasca). The book is neutral on the desirability of the use of psychoactive substances, treating it simply as a fact.

For a sense of what is included, the full list of entries in the "P" sequence (one of the longer ones) is:

• PANAEOLUS see Fungi
  
• PCP
  
• PEGANUM HARMALA
  
• PETROL SNIFFING see Inhalants
  
• PEYOTE
  
• PHENCYCLIDINE see PCP
  
• PIPES
  
• PIPER BETLE see Betel
  
• PIPER METHYSTICUM see Kava
  
• PITURI
  
• POPPERS see Nitrites
  
• PROZAC
  
• PSILOCYBE
  
• PSYCHEDELICS
  
• PUFFBALLS
  

Of those entries, the one on Pipes is the longest at eight pages, with the ones on Pituri and Psilocybe being the next longest, at 4.5 and 4 pages long, respectively.

The text is very readable and interesting. It's not very technical, but communicates a ton of non-obvious information.

This is a book that's potentially very useful for a variety of research purposes.

Handbook of Environmental Health, Fourth Edition.

By Herman Koren and Michael Bisesi.

Published by Lewis Publishers, an imprint of CRC Press, 2002.

This is a thick, two volume set. The books measure 6.5" by 9.5", and together run to 1670 pages plus preferatory pages in both volumes.

The two volumes cover different areas of the science of environmental health; the first covering biological, chemical and physical agents of environmentally-related disease and the second covering pollutant interactions in air, water and soil.

This is the fourth edition of what has been the standard handbook in the field for about 25 years now.

There are a total of 21 chapters in the two volumes, as follows:

First Volume:

1. Environment and Humans
   
2. Environmental Problems and Human Health
   
3. Food Protection
   
4. Food Technology
   
5. Insect Control
   
6. Rodent Control
   
7. Pesticides
   
8. Indoor Environment
   
9. Institutional Environment
   
10. Recreational Environment
    
11. Occupational Environment
    
12. Major Instrumentation for Environmental Evaluation of Occupational, Residential and Public Indoor Settings
    

Second Volume:

1. Air Quality Management
   
2. Solid and Hazardous Waste Management
   
3. Private and Public Water Supplies
   
4. Swimming Areas
   
5. Plumbing
   
6. Private and Public Sewage Disposal and Soils
   
7. Water Pollution and Water Quality Controls
   
8. Terrorism and Environmental Health Emergencies
   
9. Major Instrumentation for Environmental Evaluation of Ambient Air, Water, and Soil
   

Each volume ends with an extensive bibliography and an index to both volumes.

The standard chapter outline includes:

1. Background and status
   
2. Scientific, technological, and general information
   
3. Problem (subdivided)
   
4. Potential for intervention (subdivided)
   
5. Resources (subdivided)
   
6. Standards, practices, and techniques
   
7. Modes of surveillance and evaluation (subdivided)
   
8. Control (subdivided)
   
9. Summary
   
10. Research needs
    

One of the major strengths of this reference work is that each chapter explains some of the science and other details underlying the area of environmental health that it is addressing, whether that's the principles of hydraulics or detailed discussion of relevant Federal laws.

This book is comprehensive and very deep in terms of the amount of detailed information provided. It is rather technical, and many sections do require a basic background knowledge of chemistry.

Medical Selection of Life-Risks: A Comprehensive Guide to Life Expectancy for Underwriters and Clinicians

Second Edition

By R. D. C. Brackenridge

Published by The Nature Press (UK), 1985

This is a cloth-bound book of 5.5" X 8" running to 814 pages including a rich index.

This has got to be the most dismal book I have ever seen. It is a listing of life expectancies and insurability for every terminal illness on the books, designed primarily for use by life insurance underwriters and using data compiled by insurance company studies. It's out of date, which on balance means that estimates of life-expectancy may be on the low side given current medical science.

The chapters are as follows:

PART I
1. A Historical Survey of the Development of Life Assurance
2. Forms of Life Assurance Contract
3. Principles of Selection
4. The Rating of Substandard Lives
5. Life Office Organization

PART II
6. The Concept of Health and Disease
7. The Medical Examination
8. Build
9. Glycosuria: Diabetes Mellitus
10. Blood Pressure
11. Cardiovascular Disorders
12. Electrocardiography
13. Diseases of the Kidneys and Urinary Tract
14. Respiratory Disorders
15. Disorders of the Alimentary Tract
16. Tumours
17. Blood Diseases
18. Endocrine Disorders
19. Diseases of the Nervous System and Associated Disorders
20. Psychiatric Disorders
21. The Rheumatic Group of Disorders
22. Disorders of the Skeleton
23. Tropical Diseases
24. Miscellaneous Impairments
Appendix
Index

The terminology, spelling and the population studied are British.

The book assumes that you have some medical knowledge and some knowledge of insurance as well.

"URINARY CALCULI: RENAL AND URETERIC COLIC" is a typical entry for a disease, beginning with a short introductory paragraph and going on for two pages with the headings, "Mortality and Urinary Stone Disease," "Bladder Stone," "Selection of Risks," and "Rating." Here is a paragraph from this entry picked at random: "Deaths by cause were analysed in the 1951 Impairment Study and showed that mortality from diseases of the heart and circulation was significantly higher than expected, as was mortality from suicide. A smaller proportion of deaths was due to kidney diseases, although this was also above average expected."

Encyclopedia of Hormones

Helen L. Henry and Andrew W. Norman, editors-in-chief

Published by Elsevier Science on their Academic Press imprint, 2003.

This is a three volumne work, 8.5" X 11", hardbound, totaling 2154 pages plus preferatory materials (contents, editors' bios, preface, section on how to use the encyclopedia).

The "Guide to using the encyclopedia" says:

"The Encyclopedia of Hormones is a comprehensive description of all known hormones in vertebrate animals, insects, and plants. It includes hormones in the classical sense of the term (chemical messengers) but also in the expanded contemporary sense (local paracrine and autocrine signaling).

"This reference work consists of three separate volumes and includes about 300 different articles on various aspects of the subject of hormones. Each entry in the encyclopedia provides a focused description of the given topic, intended to inform a broad spectrum of readers, ranging from research professionals to students to the interested general public."

For a sense of what's in this encyclopedia, check out the article titles in the "S" sequence (with length in pages):

• Salicylic Acid (7.5 pages)
  
• Secretin (6 pages)
  
• SERMs (Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators) (5.5 pages)
  
• Sex Hormone-Binding Globulin (SHBG) (4.5 pages)
  
• Sex Hormones and the Immmune System (4 pages)
  
• Sexual Differentiation, Molecular and Hormone Dependent Events In (7.75 pages)
  
• Sexual Differentiation of the Brain (6 pages)
  
• Sgk Protein (Serum- and Glucocorticoid-Inducible Protein Kinase) (9.5 pages)
  
• Signaling Pathways, Interaction of (7 pages)
  
• Somatostatin (9 pages)
  
• Spermatogenesis, Hormonal Control of (5.5 pages)
  
• Stem Cell Factor (10 pages)
  
• Steroid Hormone Receptor Family: Mechanisms of Action (7 pages)
  
• Steroid Nomenclature (10.5 pages)
  
• Steroid Receptor Crosstalk with Cellular Signaling Pathways (7 pages)
  
• Stress (5.5 pages)
  
• Stress and Reproduction (5.5 pages)
  
• Systemins (3 pages)
  

As you can see from the article titles, the content of this encyclopedia is technical and requires relevant knowledge of biology in order to use it.

Code of Medical Ethics: Current Opinions with Annotations. 2004-2005 Edition

American Medical Association Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs.

This is a 7" X 10" paperback book of 377 pages including the index and table of cases.

This book is a compilation of the official opinions of the American medical profession on medical social policy issues and issues in all areas of medical ethics.

The table of contents divides the opinions into the following sections:

1. Introduction
2. Opinions on Social Policy Issues
3. Opinions on Interprofessional Relations
4. Opinions on Hospital Relations
5. Opinions on Confidentiality, Advertising, and Communications Media Relations
6. Opinions on Fees and Charges
7. Opinions on Physician Records
8. Opinions on Practice Matters
9. Opinions on Professional Rights and Responsibilities
10. Opinions on the Patient-Physician Relationship
Appendix (Bylaw, rules, etc.)

Following each opinion are citations to the original published articles that led to the codified opinion, most from law reviews.

The preferatory pages include the brief document, "Principles of Medical Ethics," on which the opinions are based.

Mosby's Medical, Nursing, and Allied Health Dictionary, 6th Edition.

Published by Reed/Elsevier, 2002. Chief lexicographer, Douglas M.
Anderson.

This is a serious, up-to-date, well illustrated medical dictionary.
It's hard bound and runs 2138 pages plus the 2005 addition of a CDROM
that has a spell-checker and a pronunciation feature.

The sixth edition has 3000 new entries and 10,000 revised entries,
which is an indication of how fast medical science is progressing.

Entries for terms give the definition (or more than one),
abbreviations, non-obvious plural or singular forms, hidden entries
(usually more specific terms that also have their own headings in the
dictionary), cross references, parts of speech, prefixes and suffixes,
pronunciation information, and etymologies and eponyms.

Following the dictionary portion are appendices running a total of 283
pages, covering things like units of measurement, symbols and
abbreviations, a tabular atlas of human anatomy, language translation
guides for common medical terms, information for use in the laboratory,
information on complementary and alternative medicine, nursing
interventions classifications, and health organizations. (And a lot
more.)

This is a sweet book.

Medical Sign Language: Easily Understood Definitions of Commonly Used Medical, Dental and First Aid Terms, by W. Joseph Garcia, Director, Silent Environment Educational Kamp (sic), Ellensburg, Washington. Published by Charles C. Thomas, 1983.

This is essentially an English to American Sign Language bilingual medical dictionary, for use in a clinical setting or in education for medical practice. It's just over 700 pages long and in fairly large print with large illustrations for the ASL versions of various terms.

The illustrations are in simple line drawings with arrows showing the direction of hand movements. Most terms are shown in multiple drawings to show the multiple signs involved. From the perspective of someone who doesn't know any ASL I'd say they seem pretty understandable, and the "pronunciation" likely ends up no worse than what you'd get out of a typical phrasebook for any foreign language.

Besides being practical from a medical point of view, it's interesting to look through this book to get a glimpse of how ASL works. For example, the phrase "general anesthetic" is made up of the sign for "injection" followed by the sign for "sleep."

The pictures are accompanied by written descriptions of how to make the sign. Some of these are all you need to know. For example, here's the description of the sign for "uvula." "(1) The index finger of the right "one" hand points to the mouth. (2) With the mouth open, the right "one" hand points down and wiggles slightly as if imitating the uvula moving."