Hello! Welcome to my blog! Every medical transcriptionist needs to have a good collection of reference materials close by. Today, I was researching what books a medical transcriptionist needs to own. I learned that reliable reference materials can really make the difference when you are in "down time" and trying to beat a tight deadline. It is amazing how many different reference materials there actually are available for MTs to use! Although I found a variety of answers, there was still one basic recurring response: a grammar and style guide, an English dictionary, at least one complete medical dictionary, at least one drug index, and a diverse collection of specialty books are essential to own.
So, before you start your own medical reference collection, take the time to research what books are available to you. Also, take the time to research places to buy these books. A good place to start is by checking your local library for book sales. I was lucky enough to learn about one such book sale through the "Friends of the Library," which is an organization that holds an annual book sale open to the public. There is a great collection of used medical reference books to be picked up here for a fraction of the cost you would spend on brand new books, and the money raised is all donated to your public library.
