The American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary [Hardcover]

Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0618428992 | ISBN-13: 978-0618428991 | Publication Date: September 8, 2004 | Edition: Second Edition

This comprehensive dictionary of medical words and phrases is intended for use by health-care consumers, students, and professionals as well as anyone who wants to keep up with the burgeoning new terminology found in today’s medical news. Entry words are clearly defined, up-to-date, and free of confusing jargon. This second edition contains more than 1,300 new words reflecting the latest tests (virtual colonoscopy), diseases (SARS), treatments (photodynamic therapy), and technology (Gamma Knife). Hundreds of commonly prescribed and over-the-counter medications are covered, and definitions have been revised to reflect state-of-the-art medical research and practice. The expanding vocabulary of health-care management and policy is included, along with common medical abbreviations and medical biographies. Ninety clearly labeled illustrations and tables complement the text. The frontmatter includes a summary of medical conditions and subgroups for quick reference, making this complete, accessible reference even more versatile.

• More than 45,000 authoritative, easy-to-understand definitions • Up-to-date medical vocabulary, including prescription drugs, common brand names, and health policy terms • Informative charts and illustrations • All medical specialties and areas of interest, including alternative medicine, obstetrics, and genetics • An essential family reference with the latest words and terms

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up–In a world in which medical and health literacy are increasingly important, an accessible medical dictionary is an asset. This revision of the 1995 edition contains over 45,000 jargon-free terms that will help intelligent consumers understand what the doctor says, as well as the increasingly ubiquitous messages and acronyms in ads, self-help publications, TV shows, and social conversation. Thirteen hundred terms are new to this edition, including biographical entries, abbreviations, and commonly prescribed medications. The introductory guide succinctly explains the book's organization, syllabication, pronunciation, inflection, and sequencing of information. A "Compound Word Index" lists nouns found in more than one entry. Each entry in the index includes every adjective that precedes it in the dictionary (e.g., "abortion" appears eight times, including "incomplete abortion," "spontaneous abortion," and so on). Illustrations of specific anatomical features and anomalies appear throughout for clarification. Appendixes include measurements and metric conversions, RDA recommendations for vitamins and minerals, a periodic table of elements, and full-body illustrations of skeletal muscles, bones, and both the vascular and nervous systems. While the print format poses limitations (the book cannot keep up with every breaking medical issue, such as the Vioxx recall), this volume is nonetheless a fount of information and terms clearly–but not simplistically–defined.–Mary R. Hofmann, Rivera Middle School, Merced, CA
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About the Author

The Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries and of other reference titles published by Houghton Mifflin Company are trained lexicographers with a varied array of interests and expertise. Most of the editors hold graduate degrees and have studied at least one foreign language. Several have degrees in linguistics or in the history of the English language. Others have degrees in science or sometimes other disciplines. All the editors familiarize themselves with the vocabulary in specific subject areas, collect materials on new developments and usage, and work in association with consultants to ensure that the content of our publications is as accurate and as up-to-date as possible.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 944 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Second Edition edition (September 8, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618428992
• ISBN-13: 978-0618428991
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 7.4 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,356,336 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)