Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary (Thumb Index)

By Donald Venes

• I can't tell you how invaluable this book is to me. It is safe to say I would be lost without it. I am in a bridge nursing program (RN-Masters) and have never worked in the medical feild before. Upper division textbooks are usually unhelpful because they contain no glossary at the back of the book. If your books are the same way this book is a necessity!
  
  Definitions are in plain english rather than crazy medical jargon so you rarely have to filp pages to define words in the definition of the original word in question. Even better are the multitude of pictures and diagrams that really solidify your understanding of select terms.
  
  There are some additional niceties specifially for nurses or nursing students. The appendix is filled with useful nursing guides such as:
  1. Nutrition and dietary refrence values
  2. Herbal medicines and their uses
  3. Normal refrence laboratory values
  4. Prefixes and suffixes
  5. Latin and Greek nomenclature
  6. Medical abbreviations
  7. Units of measurement
  8. Mini English-Spanish-French dictionary inclusive of specific medical phrases that may be used on the job
  9. Classification of poisons and poisoning, including pathology, symptoms, and medical treatment
  10. Addresses for health care resources and organizations, and nursing organizations
  11. NIC and NOC lists
  12. Nursing diagnosis
  13. Conceptual models and theories of nursing
  
  Those additional resources alone are worth the price of this book. You may be on a tight budget, but this is one book you cannot afford to be without.