You should try to have a medical dictionary at hand to use. Two of the most common are Dorland's and Stedman's. There are other good medical dictionaries as well. Remember that these are basically dictionaries of medical terminology, and not of diseases. For example you can find a definition of "acute" and a definition of "gastritis," but probably won't find a definition of "acute gastritis." Understanding a medical term completely by looking up its parts does not always work. Also, the terms are often arranged hierarchically. You will find "renal glycosuria" under "glycosuria" not under "renal." And finally, in both Stedman's and Dorland's there is a helpful section called "Syndromes" where many of those terms are gathered in one place.
The PDR comes out each year and is a compilation of information about prescription drugs used in the United States. The major portion is devoted to "product information" where detailed descriptions of drugs and their effects are given. Each company's products are listed together. The descriptions are written by the drug's manufacturer and therefore the PDR is not the best place to find critical evaluations of drugs. This information must legally include all side effects that have ever been reported, even if they were only reported once. The descriptions are long, and so you may not feel you have time to read them completely over the phone. If not, you must use extreme caution in choosing what sections to read. Some libraries feel that it is best to ask the patrons to come into the library to read from the PDR themselves, rather than try to pick out what to read. There are helpful indexes by generic (or chemical name), brand name, category of drug, and manufacturer. For example, Abbott Laboratories produces a drug they call Nembutal sodium capsules. This drug is listed in these places in the 2002 PDR:
It's often hard to tell whether a prescription name is a trade name or generic name and you will need to check both.
There is also a section with color pictures of pills used for identification. Remember that only approved U.S. drugs are included. There are many drugs in use experimentally or in other countries that people ask about that will not be included. Since drugs and their usages change frequently, be very careful about using older editions of the PDR.
Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment (Lange Medical Publications) is aimed at health professionals, but is an excellent source when you can't find anything written for the general public, or when your patron wants to see professional level material. It is intended as a quick handbook which summarizes common health problems, and gives the most widely accepted current medical treatment. For most conditions it gives symptoms, treatment and prognosis (outlook). While it's written for the professional, much of it is quite understandable and helpful to the general public.
This new encyclopedia provides current and readable information on over 5,000 medical topics. While arranged alphabetically, it has a good subject index and provides extensive cross references (indicated by italicized print) within entries. The encyclopedia has good illustrations and charts. You can use this encyclopedia to find information on surgical procedures, medical tests, symptoms, disorders and basic human anatomy.
A bonus of the book is an introductory section which describes how to locate different types of information. As an AMA publication, it does provide sound information, although it does not have bibliographies or suggested readings for further information. It is a good tool for doing telephone reference, although as with any medical reference tool, it can become dated quickly and providing information about symptoms and diseases over the telephone is often tricky and patrons are often better served by contacting health professionals or reading the information themselves.
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