Encyclopedia and dictionary of medicine, nursing, and allied health

ENCYCLOPEDIA AND DICTIONARY OF MEDICINE, NURSING, AND ALLIED HEALTH FOURTH EDITIONIt is a challenge to any dictionary of the health sciences to continue to serve as an authoritative guide to the language of medicine and science. Rapid advances in theory, in practice, and in technology are accompanied by continual changes in language as new words are coined, old words are discarded, and the meanings of existing words are modified in the light of advancing knowledge. Furthermore, not only must a dictionary of the health sciences incorporate these changes, but it must also address the fact that some background knowledge of the theory or procedure in which a term is used is often necessary to an understanding of the term. This background information, like the vocabulary itself, must constantly be updated, and it must be presented to the reader clearly in order to make the concepts understandable. In addition to all this, the dictionary must provide the reader with an accurate record of good and current usage; that is, it must answer the question, "How is this term used today!" It is therefore necessary for such a dictionary to change constantly: the new must be added; the obsolete must be deleted; modifications must be incorporated.