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.

With the advent of the new health authorities, multifunds and consortia, it is likely that the GP's professional leadership of primary care will rapidly become only one of a number of provider options. This book defines some of the future options for the organization of primary care. The evolving possible roles of GPs and practices in these changing circumstances are examined closely. As the new health authorities come into full legislative force, how will they deploy the combined financial allocations for primary and secondary care to support their new capacity to enter into local contracts? Which health care providers will emerge in this market place in response to this shift in commissioning power? These are critical questions for general practice. With contributions from a variety of sources that reflect the varied origins of organizational initiatives, this is a book for planners, providers and purchasers of extended primary care.

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.

The management function is practice-based primary care and who performs it varies by practice. While the number of practice managers increase and their role continues to unfold in response to NHS changes, the development of practice management as a profession is contained if not constrained by GPs, as both employers and as the dominant profession within primary care. This stimulating review of the responsibilities, opportunities and future prospects of management in primary care, based on workshops with GPs and practice managers, identifies their respective management development needs and the ways in which these might be met.

The quality of health care in the US depends on the patient's ability to pay and his or her insurance cover, at an annual cost of $3600 per head of population. In the UK, the quality of care costs less at an annual cost of $1000 per head of population, although care is sometimes delayed through a lack of resources. This book compares the two systems from the viewpoint of primary care, identifying some models of excellence from which both can benefit. It draws on the experience of the NHS reforms in the UK and the political imperative to control costs and improve the service in the US.

The NHS pension scheme is the largest in Europe. This guide explains how it works and how to maximize its benefits and avoid its pitfalls. The book covers: recent changes to the scheme including new provisions for early retirement; personal pensions, financial planning and investment options; advice on preparing for retirement and working after retirement; state benefits; and health and leisure in retirement. It is written for all NHS staff and should be of particular value to GPs and salaried doctors.

General practice is the cornerstone of primary care in the UK. However, this traditional model has been challenged by new visions of its role, particularly a responsibility for improving health as well as for the care of illness, and a responsibility for populations as well as for individuals. This book focuses on the development of general practice as a framework within which community nurses and other professionals can build their contibution to the future of primary care. In so doing it shows how the care of general practice can be maintained and strengthened. This work is intended for all primary care staff, including doctors, nurses and managers, and for anyone interested in the future of primary care in the changing NHS.

This book deals with the area of marketing in general practice. It presents a step-by-step guide to the nature of marketing in which each aspect is presented in short, separate chapters accompanied by questions, checklists and practical examples. It is based upon the lessons learned by a number of GPs and practice managers over a variety of situations and concludes with a comprehensive case study of one particular practice with which the authors worked. Readers of this book should gain a clear idea of the nature and purpose of marketing techniques and how the opportunities now becoming available can benefit both practice and patients.

For GPs and practice managers the challenge of the NHS reforms is to understand the business context in which general practice operates. Of the many skills learned from commerce and industry needed for the development of an effective strategy, business planning has been demonstrated to bring important benefits to the practice. However, for many the concept is necessary but unfamiliar. This book sets out to demystify the subject, explains the benefits and, by way of numerous examples, shows how they can be applied to the single-handed GP and group practices, whether or not they are fundholders. It suggests that good clinical care is not possible without the necessary planning and management skills to run a business.

As soon as this book first appeared in 1990 it became the standard text for the new generation of practice managers with responsibility for implementing many of the radical changes taking place in general practice. It required reprinting several times to satisfy demand and has since undergone two major revisions to ensure that it is up to date. This Third Edition incorporates several new chapters and new contributors, who reflect efficient and patient-friendly practice, and the continuing evolution of the NHS reforms. Topics are presented in clear, comprehensive and concise terms, from which managers will derive confidence and understanding, whether they use the book for background reading in the practice, or as a textbook on the many training courses that have now adopted it.

This is a book about primary care clinicians and the "clinical uncertainty" endemic to their work. Even when seemingly straightforward, each patient raises unique questions regarding how best to listen to their complaints, empathize with their suffering, or respond to their silences.

This book is also about "addressing" uncertainty in primary care practice and "engaging" it. Engagement requires knowledge, explicit and tacit, placed in the service of a single patient s problem. It also requires carefully managed communication, facilitating dialogue with the patient and encouraging shared problem-solving.

Most importantly, this book is about "collaborative engagement with case-based uncertainty in the setting of small groups of clinicians. "Sommers and Launer contend that the medical profession s tradition of working independently should be augmented with an explicitly shared, collegial one of jointly creating wisdom through practice-based learning.

An international panel of expert clinicians and educators provides: Perspectives on clinical uncertainty in the medical literatureA taxonomy of clinical uncertainty with patient examplesAnalysis of the educator role to support clinicians in engaginguncertainty A compendium of small group methods for collaborative engagement with clinical scenariosAnalysis of the special challenges ofcollaborative engagement

A mind-opening manifesto, "Clinical Uncertainty in Primary Care" will equip primary care clinicians, educators, public health and behavioral health professionals with resources for infusing practice with meaning through collegial collaboration.

From the Foreword: Lucia Sommers and John Launer, with the accompanying input of their contributing authors, have done a deeply insightful and close-to-exhaustive job of defining clinical uncertainty. They identify its origins, components and subtypes; demonstrate the ways in which, and the extent to which it is intrinsic to medicine and they present a cogent case for itsspecial relationship to primary care practice Clinical Uncertainty in Primary Care not only presents amodel of collegialcollaboration and support, it also implicitly legitimatesit. Renee Fox. "

Evaluating Treatment Environments describes how to assess the quality of psychiatric and substance abuse programs and how to use that information to monitor and improve these programs. Its aim is to identify environments that promote opportunities for personal growth, simultaneously enhancing both physical and psychological well-being. Although treatment programs are diverse, Moos asserts that a common conceptual framework can be used to evaluate them, and more emphasis should be placed on the process of matching personal and program factors and on the connections between such matches and patients' outcomes. The book is divided into three main parts. Part I focuses on hospital programs, using a sample of 160 programs throughout the United States. Part II evaluates community programs. Moos describes how to monitor and improve these programs, and assesses program implementation. Part III considers treatment environments, examining factors that shape the treatment environment, patients' satisfaction with and participation in program activities, patients' adaptation and community living skills, and patient-program congruence and the influence of treatment environments on patients with different levels of impairment. It also highlights the importance of the health care workplace and its impact on staff and the treatment environment. Treatment programs vary substantially in their policies and services, especially in what they expect of clients, rules about clients' daily life choices, and to what extent clients must be governed by the program, and whether or not the programs provide health and treatment services. Comparison studies are becoming more important as clients move more quickly from acute in-patient to community residential care. Moos stresses the need to pay special attention to how programs and services affect clients when conducting evaluations. Evaluating Treatment Environments will be a necessary addition to the libraries of mental health service professionals, as well as sociologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers.

The recent shifts in power, resources, influence and responsibility in primary care has increased the strain on general practice. This book is a comprehensive guide to the wide range of quality schemes available. It is unique in examining quality within the context of current practice, and it discusses future options based on new examples and research. It outlines the development of clinical governance, strategies for managing and assessing quality, continuing professional development, Department of Health policy initiatives and future trends.

The upheavals of the NHS reforms have caused a great deal of stress and uncertainty in primary care, and professional development and support for general practitioners needs to take account of this. This book offers a group supervision model which can be used to develop the core competencies needed for GPs to make the new primary care organisations work. The book analyses how primary care professionals have dealt with the various reforms of the past decade, and picks apart the paralysing culture of politeness, conflict avoidance and rivalry for power, to reveal how at the core of reform is the struggle for each GP to construct a new professional identity which integrates medicine, management and politics. It proposes ways GPs can benefit from these experiences to become equipped with the necessary competencies to be active members or dynamic leaders in the new primary care organisations. The doctor-patient relationship is no longer one-to-one, but located within a group matrix, in the same way that a GP is now required to work within a group framework. This book enables GPs to develop the essential group skills they now need, and on which the success of the healthcare reforms ultimately depends.

Medical partnerships are highly complex legal and financial entities. This book navigates the reader through the key issues and deals with the less tangible aspects such as partnership dynamics and organisational behaviour. Examples illustrate common difficulties and offer possible choices. It is clear, practical and readable and essential for all GPs entering a partnership. It is also relevant for GPs currently in partnerships, practices considering their partnership deed, Senior House Officers and GP registrars.

With every passing year, the mutual mistrust between doctor and patient widens, as doctors retreat into resentment and patients become increasingly disillusioned with the quality of care. Rich in anecdote as well as science Doctors and Their Patients describes how both have arrived at this sad shape.

This book has been written to serve as a manual for physicians practicing in a private office setting to recognize and recommend appropriate treatment for patients believed to be substance abusers. While it is not written for drug abuse specialists, it provides information regarding the diagnosis and treatments a competent, concerned physician can provide without becoming immersed in addiction treatment. Topics discussed include the degree to which a physician should become involved, when it is appropriate to refer, using other professions and volunteer groups, and useful medications. Guidelines for recognizing substance abuse, testing to confirm the abuse, confronting the patient, and motivating the patient into specific treatment are also presented. Tables and illustrations are used to summarize major points, making this an extremely useful reference tool for internists and other non-specialist private practitioners.

A Fateful Meeting A year and a half ago, I was sitting at a conference listening to Ed Noffsinger speak, and suddenly had the most profound ''Aha'' moment of my professional career. Here was someone presenting a practical and tested solution to some of the most challenging problems currently plaguing the US healthcare system, problems such as poor access to primary and specialty care; the uncontainable and rising costs of healthcare; our nation's relatively poor quality outcomes; and finally, the sense of frustration, disempowerment, loneliness, and disenfranchisement that patients and their families too often experience. Dr. Noffsinger's solution seemed deceptively simple-shared medical appointments (SMAs) that afford the highest quality healthcare to be delivered in the highest quality care experience-a group setting. Experience collected over a decade and involving more than 100,000 patient visits throughout the United States, Canada, and parts of Europe has demonstrated that SMAs, when used in primary care as well as in the medical and surgical subspecialties, lead to increased access to care, enhanced quality of care, and improved patient satisfaction. For physicians, the efficiency gains and team support from their participation in SMAs translate into much needed relief and improved career satisfaction.

Over ten percent of people infected with the COVID virus will suffer with long COVID syndrome. Up until now, more than one million people have been affected with this syndrome in the United Kingdom alone, and the incidence worldwide is estimated to be more than 35 million people, although this may be the tip of the iceberg. The World Health Organization has highlighted a need for the three Rs -- Recognition, Research and Rehabilitation. Long COVID syndrome can be frustrating and disabling, even many months or years after the infection; sufferers complain of fatigue, pain, post-exertional malaise, cognitive dysfunction and many other systemic symptoms. It can be challenging for healthcare professionals to recognise the disease and for patients who are suffering from the condition it can have a wide and far-reaching impact on their lives and day-to-day activities. Being a relatively new condition, many healthcare professionals, now more than ever, need to have the requisite knowledge to recognise and manage this severely debilitating disease. This book will be useful to all frontline healthcare professionals to help diagnose, manage and direct patients to the available resources. General practitioners, physiotherapists, pain therapists, nurses, surgeons, physicians, junior doctors, psychologists, medical students and other clinicians will be able to update their knowledge on long COVID syndrome with this easy-to-read book. Patients will also find the book useful to understand the basis of the disease and how they can seek help. This comprehensive treatise covers a wide variety of topics on long COVID syndrome including the aetiopathogenesis, recognition, systemic involvement, investigations, guidelines on management, available resources, systemic management and pain/fatigue management. This book will be handy for candidates preparing for various examinations conducted by the Royal College of General Practitioners, UK (MRCGP), Royal College of Anaesthetists, UK (FRCA), Faculty of Pain Medicine, UK (FFPMRCA), College of Anaesthesiologists of Ireland (FCAI), European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care (EDAIC), Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (FANZCA), World Institute of Pain (FIPP/CIPS), National Board of Examinations of India (Dip NB), and the American and Canadian board examinations, as well as other examinations conducted by medical boards across the globe. The author is a consultant in pain medicine who has published extensively on various topics and specialises in treating long COVID patients. He has written many textbooks in the fields of anaesthesia and pain, and conducts regular examination courses attended by candidates from all over the world. He is also a regular invited lecturer on the specialist subject of long COVID syndrome.

This book examines the best ways to provide primary care at nights and weekends. There has been increasing demand from patients for out-of-hours care, and a great reorganisation of primary care services outside normal surgery hours. Different models of organisations are being tested, including primary care centres and nurses giving telephone advice. This book examines the tensions between public and professional expectations, and describes the range of options for providing services, with examples of good practice. It reviews the evidence about what works best, and the issues to consider in setting up different services. The contributors combine experience in organising, researching, evaluating and providing out-of-hours care, and offer practical advice, critical analysis and a political perspective. The book is an accessible and valuable contribution to this increasingly important aspect of healthcare. It is essential reading for all practitioners, managers and researchers in primary care, public health, Accident and Emergency departments, pharmacy, community nursing and ambulance services.

How patients heal doctors In Patients and Doctors, physicians from around the world share stories of the patients they'll never forget, patients who have changed the way they practice medicine. Their thoughtful reflections on a variety of themes--from suffering to humor to death--help us to understand the experience of doctoring, in all its ordinary and extraordinary aspects. In settings as diverse as Slovenia and Sweden, Cambodia and New Jersey, we learn what makes the healer feel graced with insight or scarred with misadventure. In Washington State, we anguish with patient and doctor alike when a young resident removes a screw from a little boy's foot; on the Israeli-Jordanian border, a woman goes into labor just as the air-raid sirens signal the beginning of the Gulf War. These compelling accounts remind us what is at stake in doctoring, reinforcing the value of stories in the teaching and practice of medicine: to calm, to validate, and to illuminate the human experience. "These stories illustrate humane physicians at their best."--Sharon Kaufman, author of The Healer's Tale

Bewahrt als Standardwerk fur Kinder- und Jugendarzte in Klinik und Praxis, prasentiert die 5. Auflage luckenlos das gesamte aktuelle Wissen der Padiatrie in zwei Banden. Der Erfahrungsschatz des erweiterten Herausgeberteams und der uber 300 renommierten Autoren sorgt fur exzellente didaktische und inhaltliche Qualitat des Buches. In dem mehrbandigen Werk sind in uber 350 Kapiteln alle organspezifischen Erkrankungen bis hin zu seltenen Krankheiten nach aktuellen Behandlungsleitlinien ubersichtlich, pragnant und klar beschrieben. Eingangige UEbersichten und instruktive Abbildungen machen das Werk anschaulich. Knappe Literaturangaben geben am Ende jedes Kapitels die wichtigsten UEbersichtsarbeiten zu jedem der padiatrischen Themen und Spezialgebiete an. Die letzte Sektion widmet sich der Arzneimitteltherapie bei Kindern und bietet unter anderem ein Kapitel zur padiatrischen Labordiagnostik und eine UEbersicht uber die Interaktion von Arzneimitteln in der Kinder- und Jugendmedizin.

Convenient, practical, and portable.Revised and updated, the second edition of this practical resource remains the only advanced practice guide to provide an overview of the major DSM-5 disorders across the lifespan and complete clinical guidelines for their psychopharmacologic management. Compiled by expert practitioners in psychiatric care and pharmacy, it is designed specifically for use by nurse practitioners and other primary caregivers in clinical practice. Organized for quick access to key information, the resource includes the clinical features of each disorder and symptoms and information about the most current and effective drugs for its management. Tables delineate the first and second lines of drug therapy along with adjunctive therapies for each disorder. Drugs are organized according to classification and include the essential information needed to safely prescribe and monitor a patient's response to a particular drug. Brand and generic names, drug class, customary dosage, side effects, drug interactions, pharmacokinetics, precautions, and management of special populations are also addressed. Convenient, practical, and portable, this guide will be a welcome and frequently used resource. Key Features: Delivers psychopharmacological treatment guidelines for major DSM-5 disorders and parameters for drug use Prioritizes drugs according to their clinical efficacy and recommended treatment algorithms Includes brand and generic names, dosages, side effects, drug interactions, pharmacokinetics, precautions, and management of special populations Provides easy-to-read tables for quick clinical consultation Offers information on clinical algorithms, lab evaluation, and preventive services Addresses medical and legal pitfalls Purchase includes access to the eBook for use on most mobile devices or computers

This text uses cases to illustrate differential diagnoses of various infectious diseases. Unlike any other book on the market, this book is specifically designed for ease of use and can cater to a variety of medical professionals and their needs. The text features brief cases that allow for quick readability, an appendix particularly designed for cross-referencing cases with common symptoms, exposures, and putative diagnoses, bulleted conclusion points, and differential diagnoses tables. Each case is written by an expert in the field and includes a discussion that leads the reader through the logical process of deduction to narrow the diagnosis as well as the laboratory testing, physical examination findings, and elements of the patient's history and exposures utilized to make a diagnosis. Chapters conclude with a focused review on a specific topic related to diagnosis, treatment, or prognosis that the case illustrates, including references for further reading on the topics from the literature. The Infectious Disease Diagnosis is an outstanding resource for infectious disease specialists, internal medicine physicians, emergency room staff, primary care and general practice physicians, family practitioners, consultants in infectious disease, medical students, residents, fellows, and trainees who diagnose patients.