Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary (2003, Hardcover)

This is the medical dictionary that is issued by the world-class Andrews School for medical transcription.

With the purchase of the 2003 version of Dorland's comes a passcode to Dorland's on-line dictionary which allows you to look up Dorland's definitions online from any Internet-connected computer. Additionally, you'll be able to download Dorland's Electronic Spell-Checker which enhances the existing spell-checker on all of the most popular word processing programs (119,000 medical terms). Also, a CD is included that will enable you to download to a PDA.

However, those features are only available to the first user of the book. If you purchase this book used, be sure to ask if the passcode page is still there and if it has ever been used.

The book is thumb-indexed for ease of use. All word headings are printed in bolded red with subheadings in a lighter shade of red. This makes it easy to find what you are looking for.

This book has colored, detailed pictures that illustrate what particular diseases and conditions look like.

Included with this book is a detailed section on the fundamentals of medical terminology etymology explaining both the greek and latin rules of word formations.

The preferred spelling of a word is indicated by the word that has the definition. This is important in medical transcription.

The only drawback that I can find with this book is the fact that the word entries do not specify if the word is an adjective or a noun. However, that should not be a problem if you have a background in medical terminology.

Andrews made a wise decision when they selected this book for their student's references.

You'd make a good decision by including and using this book for your medical transcription reference.