The new edition of Dermatological Signs of Systemic Disease helps you identify a full range of common and rare systemic diseases early on so they can be managed as effectively as possible. Formerly titled Dermatological Signs of Internal Disease, it takes an evidence-based approach to diagnosis and treatment, offering dependable clinical recommendations that enable you to attain definitive diagnoses of internal diseases that manifest on the skin. Allows you to attain definitive diagnoses of internal diseases that manifest on the skin. Uses a consistent, user-friendly format for easy reference. Expert Consult eBook version included with purchase. This enhanced eBook experience allows you to search all of the text, figures, images, and references from the book on a variety of devices. Covers hot topics such as lupus erythematosus, dermatomyositis, autoinflammatory diseases, eosinophilic and neutrophilic dermatoses, and psoriasis therapies and co-morbidities. Highlights newer therapies and treatment options for most diseases. Includes over 500 full-color illustrations - 200 new to this edition - that provide the best possible representations of diseases as they appear in the clinic. Features more viewpoints from an expanded team of nationally recognized experts in their respective fields.

The reorganization of general practice and the NHS mean that GPs now face many new and distinctive ethical dilemmas in their practice. With pressure on resources and an increasing concern to evaluate the outcomes of health care, GPs have additional responsibilities that could conflict with the primary objective of caring for the individual patient.
General Practice and Ethics explores the ethical issues that are encountered by GPs in their everyday practice, addressing two central themes; the uncertainty of outcomes and effectiveness in general practice and the changing pattern of general practitioners' responsibilities. Among the topics examined are:
* the ethical implications of the use of evidence-based medicine in general practice
* consent, autonomy and confidentiality in general practice
* the history of patient-centredness
* research ethics in general practice
General Practice and Ethics presents a topical and comprehensive analysis of the kinds of ethical dilemmas faced by GPs on a daily basis which will be useful to practitioners and students alike.

Private medical practice is an attractive option for career development. In the United Kingdom it forms a significant industry, yet little has been done to assist medical consultants in managing their businesses. This book gives clear advice to all medical practitioners on both business management and performance. It outlines ways to improve financial performance and economic efficiency in a constantly changing market. It reveals some of the 'secrets' of the successful business professional, and relates business management theories and techniques to real day-to-day problems. Written by a practising accountant and business advisor, this book provides help with finance, banking, taxation, staffing, marketing, medical insurance companies, and business planning, and considers future developments. It is essential for all those contemplating or currently working in private medical practice, and valuable to business, legal and financial professionals servicing this field.

Primary healthcare premises are increasingly becoming more sophisticated, offering health promotion, minor surgery and specialist services. The acquisition of new premises, expansion or investment in traditional surgeries can be the greatest financial commitment and also one of the most daunting. This book is specifically written to enable development with minimal disruption to the daily medical routine. The book contains viewpoints of specialists with many years' experience gained from working in their individual fields. It is essential reading for GPs, trainees, practice managers and professional advisers to general practice. Specialist architects, solicitors, financial advisors, accountants and health authority managers will also achieve a better understanding of this complex subject.

Survival Skills for GPs is an in-depth interactive personal coaching course that: * Shows how you can survive the rigours of general practice * Teaches you how to stay in control of your professional life * Helps you learn to enjoy your career as a GP again * Gives you the confidence and skills to develop your career The first personal coaching course for GPs presented as an interactive workbook, which allows individual GPs, to progress from any stress in their lives through to job satisfaction and career development. It is applicable to all areas of life and shows comparisons to how other GPs' are doing. Survival is not only about learning to cope with the changing circumstances of being a GP, but how to flourish and enjoy work and life in general. This practical workbook takes the reader on a path from becoming more aware of the causes of stress, the effects and reactions to stress, through to looking at positive solutions and ideas. Survival skills for GPs is a specific programme written by a GP for GPs, which has evolved from the RCGP Stress Fellowship Learning Programme. It comprises six stand alone chapters which introduce stress management in both personal and professional lives. With in-depth practical ideas it can be used by individuals or small groups as an informal resource, or for more formal continuing professional education if PGEA is arranged. Here's what GPs have said about the Survival Skills for GPs programme: 'I liked the effective content and approach' 'Made me realise I am not alone and that I can improve' 'Helped me look at the good points of my work' 'Makes you think more than attending a course would' 'Useful to see how much of my stress equalled other GPs'

This book fills the need in this growing market for a lucid and comprehensive description of the complex and exciting world of primary care. It is a readable "ready reference," positive in its approach, straightforward and factual in its style. This text also includes extensive references for further information and relevant clinical content that provides general information on subjects relevant to nurses in primary care, avoiding protocols which may vary from one area to another. Key facts relating to specific areas are presented in boxes throughout the text.

Rewritten with the new primary care environment in mind, this greatly expanded and updated edition of Child Mental Health in Primary Care extends the structured approach of the first edition to adoelscent mental health. As in the first edition, Primary Child and Adolescent Mental Health covers each problem in a uniform way, offering definitions, assessment outlines, detailed management options and indications for referral. Numerous case examples further illuminate aspects of many conditions. Comprehensive and practical, the forty-eight chapters of Primary Child and Adolescent Mental Health cover the full range of difficulties and disabilities affecting the mental health of children and young people. The book is divided into three volumes, and can either be read from cover to cover or used as a resource to be consulted for guidance on specific problems. This book is vital for all healthcare professionals including general practitioners, health visitors and other staff working in primary care to assess, manage and refer children and adolescents with mental health problems. School medical officers, social workers and educational psychologists, many of whom are in the front line of mental health provision for children and young people, will also find it extremely useful. Reviews of the first edition: 'This very comprehensive and detailed book provides the tools for primary care health professionals not only to assess a child's needs but in many cases also to implement an initial package of care.' JUST FOR NURSES 'I have no reservation in recommending the book to all people working with children and families in any capacity. An important training text for a variety of professions. A very effective text to be used in daily practice for quick reference.' CHILD AND ADOLESCENT MENTAL HEALTH 'This book is well produced and clearly written. A useful book for anyone interested or involved with children.' FAMILY PRACTICE 'I looked through the book again and again but could not find anything missing.' NURSING TIMES

This book is vital for health service managers and clinicians, in both purchaser and provider organizations, in community and hospital settings. It helps the reader understand the principles and purposes of casemix and provides practical examples of using casemix groupings to manage services better. Its lessons are not just for acute services, but provide a way of understanding the complete spectrum of services required for a wide range of conditions, from individuals at risk to those with irreversible and progressive disease. The book explains why casemix groups are useful and the reasons for grouping and analysing patient records. It focuses on the difference between groupings of patients with conditions, and groupings of intervention episodes. Using both enables better identification of the services required to meet the needs of the population, and better communication between purchasers and providers. It has potential for managing the whole healthcare system from a population based perspective.

There are many changes in the skin, hair, and nails during and after pregnancy. Patients are certainly aware that those changes are occurring, but few physicians and even fewer patients know how to predict the course of those changes. Pigmentary changes occur, but are they permanent? Can they be prevented or reversed? Hair may become thicker during pregnancy, only to fall out in the postpartum period. When will hair stop falling out? Will it grow back? What hormonal changes are occurring to produce these effects on the skin, hair, and nails? Will those hormonal changes affect other organs? Some cutaneous manifestations of pregnancy are common and recognized by most physicians. Abdominal striae, for example, are easily identified, but physicians have many questions about them. Why do they develop? Can they be prevented or treated? Other cutaneous manifestations of pregnancy are less common and recognized by few. For example, pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy is a debilitating condition that is treatable once diagnosed. Even more important than the treatment, the knowledge imparted to a worried mother that her child will be fine and that the condition is se- limited is priceless; but the condition must first be recognized by the patient's physician. All of these questions and conditions are addressed in this extraordinary book. Pigm- tary disorders are addressed in detail in Chap. 2.

Presents information and advice on the extended role of the practice manager for both those with experience and increasing responsibility, and for those new to the primary care team. The book: identifies the various members of the primary health-care team; describes their individual roles; explores the management skills needed to manage the team and the practice; provides examples of real problems experienced in general practice; and examines communication in all its forms.

Though medically minor and very common, herpes simplex is a condition which is capable of causing considerable distress, for psychological and social as much as physical reasons. Herpes Simplex contrasts the image of the condition presented in the media with the medical and epidemiological evidence, and discusses ways in which the distress associated with the condition can be alleviated.
The first part of the book examines the impact of diagnosis and then explains the roles of accurate information and empathic support, medical treatment and support groups in learning to live with recurrent symptoms. Other chapters use the experiences of people with the condition in different parts of their bodies to illustrate how the meaning of herpes simplex and response to the symptoms alters in association with life changes. The final chapters review psychosocial research, discuss the importance of the Herpes Viruses Association in acquiring a store of knowledge about people's experiences, and highlight the significance of herpes simplex as a public health problem.
Herpes Simplex demonstrates the importance of a biopsychosocial approach. It will be invaluable to doctors, nurses and other health professionals, as well as to people troubled by the condition.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203137132

Other titles in the National Primary Care Research and Development Centre series: NPCRDC: What is the Future for a Primary Care-led NHS? NPCRDC: Primary Care: Understanding Health Need and Demand NPCRDC: Better Building for Better Services NPCRDC: Primary Care and Social Services: developing new partnerships for older people NPCRDC: Primary Health Care and the Private Sector

Managed care organizations are paving the way to the future of health care delivery in the United States and countries around the world. As managed care systems evolve, a major concern is quality. Managed Care Quality: A Practical Guide is a collection of applications and experiences gathered from practicing health professionals in the field of managed care. This first "how to" guide was written to help managed care organizations meet the common objective of ensuring the best quality of services and care. Managed Care Quality: A Practical Guide presents successive steps in implementing quality in health care organizations. It introduces the methods, skills, and practices involved in quality health care programs and offers solutions to problems typically encountered in managed care.

Examines how evidence-based medicine can be applied in general practice, and how its benefits can be realized in the form of effective treatments. It argues for rational rationing, using clinical effectiveness to exclude ineffective measures.

This second edition reviews recent reforms and the likely impact of future developments in management and competition in the NHS. In particular, it reflects the growing importance of primary care and the continuing debates about health care rationing. It concentrates on the realities and how they can be interpreted to help strategists, managers, clinicians, students and those supplying the NHS understand the mechanism of efficient health care delivery.

Today we face the painful reality of the prevalence of chronic, rather than acute, diseases. The technologies developed to manager long-term, incurable illnesses have radically and irrevocably altered the organizational structure of health care, presenting us with a frequently bewildering array of medical specialties. Social Organization of Medical Work offers essential insight into this new era of health care.

Through richly documented, often gripping case studies, Anselm Strauss and his co-authors show us exactly how health workers are confronting the problems created by chronic disease and coping with today's highly technologized hospitals. They guide us through the various hospital work sites, describing in detail the kinds of tasks performed by medical personnel, the interactions of staff members with each other and with patients, and the overall resulting patient treatment and response.

Focusing on the concept of illness trajectory, the authors vividly illustrate the complex, contingent nature of modern medical work. For example, open heart surgery keeps ill persons alive and may even improve them symptomatically, but those who do survive must face an uncertain future in terms of the physiological consequences of the surgery and the drugs required. They also have to adjust t altered lifestyles. In the new introduction, Anselm Strauss discusses the continuing importance of this work to sociologists, medical scholars, and medical professionals.

This innovative and timely book draws on pioneering precedents, basic principles, current examples and international experience to capture the narratives, examples and ideas that underlie and demonstrate the exceptional potential of general practice: "If health care is not at is best where it is needed most, health inequalities will widen." "The unworried unwell are not hard to reach but they are easy to ignore and are often ignored." "With patient contact, population coverage, continuity, coordination, flexibility, long term relationships and trust, general practices are the natural hubs of local health systems." "... practitioners ... are not only scientists but also responsible citizens and if they did not raise their voice who else should?" Written for family doctors looking to strengthen local collaboration, it brings together the traditional strengths of consultations, caring, continuity, coordination and coverage with the current and future challenges of building capacity, community, creativity, consistency, collegiality and campaigning. It highlights the critical importance of working with patients, maximising the use of serial encounters, integrating care, joint working between practices, social prescribing, community development and advocacy based on patient and practitioner experience. Drawing on the highly-regarded work of Deep End GPs serving the poorest communities in Scotland www.gla.ac.uk/deepend the book is an invaluable handbook for all primary care doctors, irrespective of health care system or country, seeking to provide unconditional continuity of personalised care for all patients, whatever problem or combination of problems a patient may have.

This unique book is the first to bring together primary care experiences from around the world, with emphasis on non-Western regions. Utilising published articles that profile different countries' primary health care, accompanied by expert commentaries, the book consolidates global primary health care information over the past decade. Profiling the different countries' primary health care systems and their implementation of primary health care policy, as promoted by WHO and WONCA, the guide provides evidence of how countries and regions can introduce primary health care and family practice to improve their health care infrastructure and delivery. The book is essential reading for policy makers, health educators and academic leaders in primary care and students of global health and provides useful background for those entering or established in clinical family practice around the world.

This book presents a broad range of perspectives on the topic of CPAP adherence. This includes theoretical underpinnings of adherence; multi-disciplinary practical approaches as well as special considerations in diverse clinical populations, age groups and cultures by authors from five continents. CPAP Adherence is a novel and highly relevant publication for sleep physicians, psychologists, dentists, respiratory therapists, sleep technicians, family physicians as well as PAP and oral appliance providers. This book will help improve patient care and quality of life.

This text is based on the practical experience of pilot schemes which have identified a variety of opportunities and innovative ideas which others can adopt and develop. This book is a reference for principals and managers of fundholding practices, those thinking about becoming fundholders, and for the managers of provider units seeking to expand their services, including the commissioning authorities.

'Fundamental changes in the Health Service demand a radical shift in approaches to patient core. The NHS is becoming increasingly led by the primary care sector. This has a greater meaning than simply more involvement of GPs in secondary care purchasing. It means that we start from where the patient is, in their own home and community. We provide care for them there and only move them into secondary services if and when it is appropriate to do so. 'Extending Primary Care shows that it is possible to experiment beyond traditional boundaries in these areas. It will provide encouragement to people who work in some of these difficult settings by showing what can be done... This book could not be more timely as a resource to many managers who will need to extend their own understanding of primary care - in the fullest sense of the whole team of people in primary care and the associated community health services.' From the Foreword by Barbara Stocking

This overview of the NHS Research and Development Programme is written by people who are at the leading edge of its implementation. It integrates the issues of research management and funding with the importance of focusing research on the needs of the customer (the NHS) and the challenges of implementing the findings of research into clinical practice. The experience of the authors extends from developing local research networks to managing a national research programme, reflecting the scope of the NHS strategy and the potential of this book.

This work adopts a modern approach to quality assurance and quality improvement in general practice. It provides an introduction to the subject, enabling readers to see how best to proceed in their own practices. It revises and updates previous books by Donald and Sally Irvine on clinical audit by placing audit within the wider quality context. It is designed to provide an easily accessible approach to the basic tenets as well as speculating on the future developments in this area, and should be of interest to all members of the practice team. The themes of the book are illustrated by reference to the five major case studies provided, which describe in some detail the various ways of starting, implementing and maintaining quality assurance in general practice today. Practical examples of Total Quality Management, the use of British Standard 5750, Kings Fund organizational audit, Investors in People, and Fellowship of the Royal College of General Practitioners by assessment, are also provided. These studies are written by the practitioners, medical and non-medical, who have themselves been through the experience of turning theory into practice.

All GPs undertake the non-NHS work, some of which can add substantially to practice income. This book describes a wide range of fee-paying work which GPs are uniquely qualified to undertake; it shows how opportunities for this work arise and how to become involved in it. For many, the financial benefits are greatly enhanced by the professional satisfaction such work brings.

Management controls on prescribing have greater impact on a GP's freedom of choice than on any other matter requiring clinical judgement. However, in order to deliver the most effective patient care, the GP needs a much broader base of knowledge including, for example, an understanding of basic pharmacological principles and the process of conducting clinical trials. This book deals systematically with the practical aspects of prescribing throughout primary care. It provides the busy GP with readily-accessible information so that the benefit to patients and the pratice can be maximized.