Hi, all...

I did a tympanotomy and the doc used a couple of pieces of equipment I'd never heard of and can't seem to find. I was hoping somebody could confirm them for me...

"Gimmik" elevator (he spelled it)
"weapon" (I don't think this is capitalized; just some kind of slang for a tool of some kind)

Thanks for your help!

Hi Gracie,

I found Gimmick elevator in The Surgical Word Book.


I'm not much help on the other one though.

Sorry

Thanks, Nat.

I have the Stedman's Equipment Words and the Stedman's Surgery Words, as well as the Stedman's Medical Speller, and it wasn't in any of them. Which book do you have? I might have to add it.

It's The Surgical Word Book by Claudia Tessier, 2nd edition.

I have found this book to be invaluable. When looking up terms, often times, this is THE ONLY book that I can find them in.

I also hear that a new edition is due out soon, possibly in May. That hasn't been confirmed yet though. Not sure if I did the URL thing right. Surgical Word Book Yahoo! I did it. LOL....my first time.

Thank you! I'll be ordering that one up for sure.

Hey, guys and gals! (OK, I'm being hopeful here )

I've pretty much converted all my research tools to one. Google! Fast, simple, and almost always has an answer. If you get close, it even asks if another word in its database is what you're looking for. Sometimes you have to try several spellings, and also you have to be aware that internet users, as a class, are pretty poor spellers, but once you figure out how far to trust the links, it's a wonderful resource.

For instance, Googling for - Gimmik elevator - found no references and a "Did you mean Gimmick elevator?" question. Clicking on that link brought up 23 occurrences. (Don't ya just love doctors' guesses?)

Google had never heard of a tympanotomy weapon though...

Have you tried a military handbook?

Hello Peter and welcome to the board

You brought up something very interesting for me. Books vs. online

I don't know what it is, but I'd much rather crack open a book to search for something than use the internet. Am I putting myself at a disadvantage? There is just something about a book (the look, feel, etc)that I take comfort in...I'm a huge book freak...can ya tell??

I will say though that it's much easier and convenient to "Google" something.

Do you use an electronic dictionary as well?

The whole books/online has always made me curious. I'd love to hear your take on it since you've been in the business for so long.

Thanks for your time!

Nat, I have my dictionaries and drug book on CD. But I'd never give up my books -- mainly because when you find something (on the internet for instance) that isn't in them you can write it in! the sections under "test" and "sign", for instance, are full of write-ins. Sometimes even when I update the books I find that all the write-ins aren't there, so I just add them to the new book.

Thanks Carol!

That's good to hear you use both. I guess that's what I'm doing. If I'm stuck on something since I'm right there (at the computer), I'll do a quick Google. I haven't quite mastered any drug sites yet, so that isn't really helpful to me. I just break out my drug book.

I don't think I could ever give up my books either. My hubby and oldest (she's 15 and learning to drive!) maybe, but NOT MY BOOKS!!

Take care and have a great rest of the day.

Hi Nat,

Thanks for the welcome!

I certainly have a high regard for hardcopy. It's a much more tactile and intimate resource. And they haven't found a good way to annotate electronic margins. 8^D.

But I'm a "whatever works" kinda guy and short on time. I find myself leaning on both my Stedman's speller and Google more every day, and Word's dictionary is a pretty good one. As soon as Stedman's comes out with their electronic dictionary for Mac OSX, I'll get one.

I still trust print accuracy more and if there's a question of truth, I dig out the books.

In the end though, we all need to be happy in, and comfortable with, what we do. "Whatever works" for you.

Thanks for answering Peter..

I completely agree with your comment about "whatever works for you". That's exactly what I do.

I've incorporated a bit of both (books and internet). I'm marching to my own beat over here...lol

Although I did just get an electronic dictionary that I'm anxious to put to use. It sure weighs less than my hardcopy

Off to the pool for me!! The weather is GORGEOUS!!