[Jedi of Zen]

One of the required books on my list to buy is Taber's Cyclopedic Dictionary (20th ed.). Actually we have the option of either getting that one or Mosby's Medical/Nursing/Allied Health Dictionary (7th ed.)

Taber's is priced at $39 at most brick and mortar bookstores I've checked out so far. However...at one store I found one copy of a Taber's that comes packaged with a CD-Rom which apparently has extra/background info on it. The price for the book and CD together is $81, which is obviously twice the cost of the book alone. So I'm thinking it must be a pretty darn good CD to be that expensive. My question, is are any of you famaliar with the CD that I'm referring to? Do any of you use Taber's? Do you generally use the medical dictionaries/encyclopedias a lot in school? My gut tells me that having more knowledge avaliable is always a good thing, so I'm leaning towards getting the CD and book together. But I was just wondering if anyone else out there has used it.

Thanks,

the Jedi.

[ZooMommyRN]

Is the CD just the pc quick look up version? or does it include the PDA software as well? I use my Davis' quick look up more than the actual book, realy just depends on what is covered by the CD

[Daytonite]

I have no idea what is on the CD or how it would be useful to you. I have, however, had a Taber's since I was in nursing school in 1973. When I was reading from my nursing textbooks I had it at my side to look up medical words I did not know. (A basic medical terminology class is just a start to learning all the terms.) Most facilities where I worked had a copy of Taber's in their reference collection for the nurses to use. I currently have the 18th edition, but I think the 20th edition is what is currently being published, if I'm not mistaken. I also have a copy of Mosby's Medical, Nursing, & Allied Health Dictionary, 6th edition, published in 2002. There are things in each that are not in the other. The Mosby dictionary is bigger, the print is larger and the paper is thicker. The pages of Taber's are like onionskin. To render an opinion, however, I would have to say that, by far, Taber's wins my vote hands down. It is designed for use by nurses. Many of the disease listings include causes and symptoms as well as nursing implications in the individual entries. It has an extensive Appendix with a lot of information in it. In the center of my 18th edition is a 7-page Nursing Assessment tool (students are sometimes looking for an assessment form when they are getting ready to go into their clinicals).

I would recommend that you go to a larger bookstore and look at a copy of both of these books before making a decision. Look at the appendices. Look up the same abbreviations and words like s.s., a.c., t.i.d., h.s., measles, and ostomy to see how the entries in the two dictionaries differ.

[Jedi of Zen]

Originally Posted by Daytonite

I have no idea what is on the CD or how it would be useful to you. I have, however, had a Taber's since I was in nursing school in 1973. When I was reading from my nursing textbooks I had it at my side to look up medical words I did not know. (A basic medical terminology class is just a start to learning all the terms.) Most facilities where I worked had a copy of Taber's in their reference collection for the nurses to use. I currently have the 18th edition, but I think the 20th edition is what is currently being published, if I'm not mistaken. I also have a copy of Mosby's Medical, Nursing, & Allied Health Dictionary, 6th edition, published in 2002. There are things in each that are not in the other. The Mosby dictionary is bigger, the print is larger and the paper is thicker. The pages of Taber's are like onionskin. To render an opinion, however, I would have to say that, by far, Taber's wins my vote hands down. It is designed for use by nurses. Many of the disease listings include causes and symptoms as well as nursing implications in the individual entries. It has an extensive Appendix with a lot of information in it. In the center of my 18th edition is a 7-page Nursing Assessment tool (students are sometimes looking for an assessment form when they are getting ready to go into their clinicals).

I would recommend that you go to a larger bookstore and look at a copy of both of these books before making a decision. Look at the appendices. Look up the same abbreviations and words like s.s., a.c., t.i.d., h.s., measles, and ostomy to see how the entries in the two dictionaries differ.

Cool. Thank you very much; sounds like you have plenty of experience to speak from, and I appreciate you sharing.

I have looked at both dictionaries side by side as you suggest. It's interesting that you say that about Taber's, because I have already kind of gotten that gut impression. But, of course, since I have not actually yet begun nursing school I obviously cannot know or say which is better. I have however noticed that most stores that I've looked at seem to stock several copies of Tabers, and usually only one or two of Mosby's. Which, I'm sure they're both good sources, but that made me think that perhaps the Taber's tends to sell more frequently and is thus a better product.

And yeah, the 20th ed of Taber's is what's on my list, while the Mosby's is the 7th ed. and I'm assuming those the latest eds of each.

I may consider just buying both actually. As I said, I don't think that having too much knowledge is ever a bad thing. Besides I'm just a nerd like that.

[psalm]

I found my Taber's for $1 at a garage sale, it was one year old and the gal selling it was a new RN grad and didn't think she'd need it. Her loss my gain!! Ask around at library sales or rummages. Or if you have a birthday coming up ask for $$ towards the books.

[JBudd]

You can also try amazon.com, ecampus.com, or any of the other used book sites. I've gotten quite a few text books that way.

I've not used the Mosby's, but the Tabers was invaluable. It is also small enough to carry around to clinicals. Most floors have a Tabers around somewhere though. Can't help you with the CD, but if I were writing a paper on my laptop, I'd hate to have to stop and look up up stuff when I could just have a book at my elbow.

[SMK1]

Mosby's has cool pictures I believe (i love pictures!), but honestly I have cracked open my taber's maybe twice and I am a senior nursing student. My texts usually have a good glossary section. I have however put tabers on my PDA and it is fun and easy to look up things as soon as I think of them instead of having to go back and look it up later (which I never did anyway so the book never got used). Having seen the wonderful pictures in the Mosby's I probably would have bought that and most of my classmates said the same thing because it was far more interesting to look through, but we all had already bought tabers and it has served us just fine.

[CRNA2BKY]

I've got Taber's, a drug guide, and other excellent "books" all on my PDA. I can look stuff up faster on it than finding it in the actual book, plus, I don't have to lug around all those books. I use them all the time in clinicals, and I just keep it in my pocket and pull it out all the time to look stuff up. It is a HUGE convenience to have it all on my PDA, so if you can, I would HIGHLY recommend going the PDA way.