The growing number of Spanish medical dictionaries emanating from the USA is clear evidence that the Hispanic community now forms the largest immigrant group in that country with an estimated 45 million native Spanish speakers. This volume is the latest edition of a work first published in 1992 and now contains concise definitions for almost 23,000 medical terms and abbreviations in English and Spanish. The publication of a new edition has enabled the compilers to update existing terminology in the earlier editions and incorporate new terms emanating from this continually developing field.
The volume is clearly intended to take its place among the handy reference works used by a range of health care professionals from the hospital consultant to the junior nurse, in fact by anyone needing to communicate with Spanish‐speakers requiring medical assistance. In the UK care may need to be exercised over the use of American rather than British English, for example “chupete” is translated by the American term “pacifier”, rather than the UK English “dummy”. Nevertheless, publishers Wolter Kluwer hope that the work will become an indispensable reference source for health care professionals, students and patients worldwide. Given that many of the standard medical texts are only available in English the volume will surely prove useful to Spanish‐speaking medical practitioners needing to use such texts.
The work includes a useful guide – in both English and Spanish – to using the dictionary, including the layout of entries and organization of information; this is followed by lists of abbreviations, conversion tables, and pronunciation examples together with basic grammars of both the Spanish and English languages. The main body of the dictionary aims to cover all words likely to be required in the day‐to‐day work of the health professional. Interspersed in both the Spanish and English sections of the text are a number of illustrations showing parts of the body, such as the carpal bone structure and the eye. The text also includes a number of useful tables, some of which guide users from general terms, such as fractures, to more specific terms, such as greenstick fractures, whilst others provide detailed information on a subject, such as the table on immunisation. These tables appear in both the Spanish and English language sections. The work is completed by a 200‐page collection of appendices which range from conversations likely to take place between health practitioners and their patients to bilingual information on a range of topics, including AIDS, nutrition and Alzheimer's disease. The health practitioner should also find the selection of sample consent forms in both Spanish and English useful. The work is completed by a 16‐page section of coloured illustrations covering different parts of the body which include appropriate terms in both languages.
Layout of the volume is extremely clear although one suspects that having to search through pages of conversation examples is likely to make any patient/health care worker consultation a lengthy process. At £26.50 the volume should be within the price range of even the most budget‐conscious student. Purchase of the dictionary enables the buyer to access the restricted area of the publisher's web site offering audio examples of pronunciation, images with Spanish and English terminology, and all appendices from the print edition in PDF format. One wonders, however, how the increasing trend towards online publication will affect the commercial viability of print versions of dictionaries and encyclopaedias of this nature in years to come. While the volume deserves to match the success of earlier editions buyers will need to commit to acquiring future editions in order to keep abreast of new terminology.
