Amytrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS or motor neurone disease) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that can cause profound suffering for both the patient and their family. Whilst new treatments for ALS are being developed, these are not curative and offer only the potential to slow its progression. Palliative care must therefore be integral to the clinical approach to the disease. Palliative Care in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: From diagnosis to bereavement reflects the wide scope of this care; it must cover not just the terminal phase, but support the patient and their family from the onset of the disease. Both the multidisciplinary palliative care team and the neurology team are essential in providing a high standard of care and allowing quality of life (both patient and carer) to be maintained. Clear guidelines are provided to address care throughout the disease process. Control of symptoms is covered alongside the psychosocial care of patients and their families. Case studies are used to emphasise the complexity of the care needs and involvement of the patient and family, culminating in discussion of bereavement. Different models of care are explored, and this new edition utilizes the increase in both the evidence-base and available literature on the subject. New topics discussed include complementary therapies, personal and family experiences of ALS, new genetics research, and updated guidelines for patient care, to ensure this new edition remains the essential guide to palliative care in ALS.

Few concepts can have achieved the status of unchallengeable common-sense in such a short space of time, and across such a broad range of professional activity, as evidence-based practice.

Evidence-Based Practice: A Critical Appraisal stands back from the flurry of excitement and activity that has accompanied the development of evidence-based practice. This is the first text to provide a critical appraisal of the strengths and weaknesses of evidence-based practice, weighing the arguments of both advocates and opponents of the approach. It is also the first text to examine the concept of evidence-based practice as a cross-disciplinary phenomenon, looking at how and why evidence-based practice has spread beyond acute medicine and considers the relevance of the approach for other disciplines. This book also contains an introduction to the basic concepts and terminology of evidence-based practice for those who are less familiar with the approach.

Key features:
Critically appraises the strengths and limitations of evidence-based practice
Covers evidence-based practice in primary care, mental health, public health, nursing, social work and probation, education and human resource management.
Considers what evidence-based practice is and why it has developed
Includes a team of internationally renowned contributors, including John Muir- Gray and Martyn Hammersley

The book is essential reading for a wide range of health care students, practitioners and managers. It is of direct relevance to professionals working in areas where evidence-based practice is emerging strongly such as social work/probation and education. The book will also be of interest to students ofsocial policy.

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.

The previous edition of this book for the Membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners examination proved to be hugely popular since publication in 2005. But now the MRCGP exam and Summative Assessment have merged to become the compulsory nMRCGP, and with this has come a change in the format of the written exam. Rather than Paper 1 and Paper 2 there is now a single Applied Knowledge Test consisting of one three hour exam. This new edition reflects all these changes. In addition, updates include revised guidelines and questions on relatively new topics such as practice based commissioning. This book will continue to familiarise you with the types of questions found in the new exam and also covers good exam technique to optimise your results with the knowledge you have. The questions have been divided into papers, so you can practice exam timing, and you can also use the book to test yourself on specific subjects by referring to the topic-based question index. Compared with the limited alternative preparation material for this examination, this book gives far better explanations of answers, and the information is presented more accessibly. It is essential for all examination candidates.

The new edition of this best-selling title from the popular 100 cases series explores common scenarios that will be encountered by the medical student and junior doctor when working in the community setting, and which are likely to feature in qualifying examinations. The book covers a comprehensive range of presentations from tiredness to tremor. Comprehensive answers highlight key take home points from each case and provide practical advice on how to deal with the challenges that occur in general practice at all levels.

This fascinating book presents 100 biographies of general practitioners, the majority of whom have made key contributions to the development of general practice and medicine, but also some who have influenced society through engineering, literature, music, politics, sport and other fields. Organised into four different time periods and with key themes in each, the reader will gain an insight into the background of these individuals and what led to their decision to enter the speciality, discover their successes and occasional failures, while also learning about significant events in the history of general practice, medical education, medical politics, medical research, the Royal College of General Practitioners and society as a whole. Key features: * Highly readable and visual introduction to the history of general practice * Includes 100 biographies of a variety of general practitioners from 1640 to the present day * Describes both successes and failures in the development of the specialty and how these have helped direct and shape current clinical practice * Key themes covered include academia and research, medical education, medical politics and society * Ideal for anyone wishing to gain a broader insight into the history of this important specialty, as well as those interested in medical biography Written in an accessible style, and illustrated throughout, the book is an invaluable guide for academics, doctors or students with a special interest in general practice, medical education, medical history or social history.

This book presents an extensive collection of high-yield case vignettes with recommendations for a comprehensive approach to cultural psychiatry. Culture is defined from an anthropological perspective, with an emphasis on aspects of culture beyond race, ethnicity, and other traditional demographic categories. The goal of this book is to offer clinical applications of cultural psychiatry via examination of special populations, systems, and settings. With ever-changing geopolitical environments, institutional structures, and sociodynamics, attention and consideration of context is paramount. Theoretical models and specific frameworks for evaluating cultural influence on the manifestation, development, and treatment response of mental health illnesses are presented. The chapters are organized to showcase different ways in which culture plays into everyday clinical practice. Emphasis is placed on the full sum of the care delivery transaction within a larger context, including public and community systems of care. Real-world case examples are discussed in each chapter to help contextualize the dynamic nature that culture plays in practice across inpatient and outpatient settings. Each case presents with relevant academic and historical background and practical operational advice for psychiatrists providing care within these respective communities. The authors address diverse clinical cases related to refugee and asylum seekers, military service members, survivors of human trafficking, incarcerated populations, and more. Training recommendations and best practices are outlined including psychopharmacology, psychosocial treatments, and cultural adaptations to evidence based treatments. Diversity in Action: Case Studies in Cultural Psychiatry is a useful resource for all psychiatrists, psychologists, general practitioners, social workers, nurses, administrators, public policy officials, and all medical professionals working with a culturally diverse subset of patients seeking mental health.

Written by a group of multi-professional authors, this fully updated third edition builds on the success of this classic text. The book explores a number of key areas for prescribers, including prescribing within a multidisciplinary team context, consultation skills, ethical and legal issues surrounding prescribing, the psychology and sociology of prescribing, and applied pharmacology. Among the other topics featured are monitoring skills, medicines concordance, evidence based prescribing, prescribing within a public health perspective, calculation skills, prescribing in dermatology, and minimizing the risk of prescribing errors. Each chapter has been revised and additional chapters on antimicrobial prescribing, education and training to become a prescriber, and a new section on renal impairment have been added. This book is an essential resource for both new and experienced prescribers and anyone undertaking the non-medical prescribing (NMP) programme including nurses, pharmacists, allied health professionals and optometrists.

This indispensable toolkit is full of practical hints and tips to enhance and develop the role of nursing in general practice. The user-friendly, straight-forward style makes it great for quick reference, bringing together all the basic information required to find a clear career path. This toolkit, along with the linked on-line material, prepares readers for adjusting their roles in accordance with patient needs, personal and professional aims and career aspirations. It is ideal for all nurses and health care assistants in general practice, including healthcare students wanting a career in general practice. Practice managers, PCT managers, health care educators and general practitioners will also find it of great interest.

To maintain the correct balance between patient choice and patient protection, all health care practitioners must draw on their own knowledge and training. Patients often feel they have been badly informed, or have been deprived of the power to make decisions, even though the practitioner was "acting in the patient's best interests." This book discusses and evaluates the two main approaches to advocacy: empowering the patients with information, and endorsing their needs by speaking out on their behalf. It is an accessible yet authoritative analysis of the nature of advocacy in the health care professions, and puts forward a research-based model which practitioners can use in their study or in everyday

A thorough examination of lab-on-a-chip circuit-level operations to improve system performance A rapidly aging population demands rapid, cost-effective, flexible, personalized diagnostics. Existing systems tend to fall short in one or more capacities, making the development of alternatives a priority. CMOS Integrated Lab-on-a-Chip System for Personalized Biomedical Diagnosis provides insight toward the solution, with a comprehensive, multidisciplinary reference to the next wave of personalized medicine technology. A standard complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) fabrication technology allows mass-production of large-array, miniaturized CMOS-integrated sensors from multi-modal domains with smart on-chip processing capability. This book provides an in-depth examination of the design and mechanics considerations that make this technology a promising platform for microfluidics, micro-electro-mechanical systems, electronics, and electromagnetics. From CMOS fundamentals to end-user applications, all aspects of CMOS sensors are covered, with frequent diagrams and illustrations that clarify complex structures and processes. Detailed yet concise, and designed to help students and engineers develop smaller, cheaper, smarter lab-on-a-chip systems, this invaluable reference: Provides clarity and insight on the design of lab-on-a-chip personalized biomedical sensors and systems Features concise analyses of the integration of microfluidics and micro-electro-mechanical systems Highlights the use of compressive sensing, super-resolution, and machine learning through the use of smart SoC processing Discusses recent advances in complementary metal oxide semiconductor-integrated lab-on-a-chip systems Includes guidance on DNA sequencing and cell counting applications using dual-mode chemical/optical and energy harvesting sensors The conventional reliance on the microscope, flow cytometry, and DNA sequencing leaves diagnosticians tied to bulky, expensive equipment with a central problem of scale. Lab-on-a-chip technology eliminates these constraints while improving accuracy and flexibility, ushering in a new era of medicine. This book is an essential reference for students, researchers, and engineers working in diagnostic circuitry and microsystems.

This book comprehensively reviews soft tissue, bone, ligament, and nerve injury of the hand and wrist unique to baseball. Organized into three sections, the book begins with a discussion on fractures of the hand and wrist, including the distal radius, scaphoid, and phalanges. Following this, section two examines ligament injuries from the wrist to the thumb. Section three then concludes the book with an analysis of tendon and nerve injuries. Chapters include high-quality images and tables to supplement expertly written text. Unique and thorough, Hand and Wrist Injuries in Baseball is an invaluable resource for orthopedics surgeons and sports medicine specialists, as well as primary care physicians, emergency room physicians, pediatricians, athletic trainers, and therapists.

The book discusses the impact of genetics, social determinants of health, the environment, and lifestyle in the burden of cardiometabolic conditions in African American and Hispanic/Latinx populations. It includes fully updated and revised chapters on genetics and CVD risk, epidemiology of cardiovascular health, cardiovascular imaging, dyslipidemias and other emerging risk factors, obesity and metabolic syndrome, heart failure, and genetic variations in CVD. Unique aspects within African American and Hispanic/Latinx populations are explored with suggested appropriate therapeutic interventions. New chapters focus on ASCVD risk assessment, emerging precision medicine concepts, the impact of diabetes, resilience and CVD survival, and lifestyle and dieting considerations. Written by a team of experts, the book examines the degree to which biomedical and scientific literature can clarify the impact of genetic variation and environment on cardiovascular disease. The Second Edition of Cardiovascular Disease in Racial and Ethnic Minority Populations is an essential resource for physicians, residents, fellows, and medical students in cardiology, internal medicine, family medicine, clinical lipidology, and epidemiology.

We invest more in health care than ever before, yet we are more anxious about doctors, hospitals, and the NHS in general. As perceptions of patients' rights have expanded, so has the transparency of the difficult choices that are routine. Government has become more critical of the NHS and the public less willing to wait for treatment. Why does demand for health care consistently exceed supply and how should Government manage the problem? There is a danger that improved rights for the strong and articulate will ignore less visible, or unpopular interests. How should the rights of elderly patients, or children, or those with terminal illnesses be balanced? Who should decide: the government, doctors, NHS managers, citizens, or the courts? How should decision-makers be held accountable, and by whom? How should governance regulate the NHS? As patients become 'consumers' of medical care, what choice do they have as to how, where, and when they will be treated; and should this include hospitals abroad? This completely revised new edition puts patients' rights into their political, economic and managerial contexts. It considers the implications of the Bristol Inquiry and the rhetoric of patients as 'consumers' of care. In balancing the rights of individuals with those of the community as a whole, it deals with one of the most pressing problems in contemporary society.

Primary care providers (physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants) make decisions on a daily basis regarding treatment for musculoskeletal problems, including referrals to orthopedic surgeons and other specialists. Despite the large number of patients presenting with musculoskeletal complaints, primary care providers often feel poorly educated about how to assess and manage these conditions. Now in its fully revised second edition, Principles of Orthopedic Practice for Primary Care Providers continues to be a go-to resource for clinicians interested in the effective treatment of musculoskeletal disorders. Written by expert orthopedic, physical medicine and pain management specialists at major Harvard teaching hospitals, the second edition of Principles of Orthopedic Practice for Primary Care Providers represents a high-yield and succinct resource on the assessment and management of musculoskeletal conditions. Chapters overview specific body parts, typical presentations of disease, options for diagnostic testing, treatment paradigms, and anticipated outcomes of management both in the primary care setting and following specialist consultation. The text offers suggested pathways for working up and treating these problems with an emphasis on when referral to a specialist, or surgical intervention, is needed. While all previous chapters have been fully revised, this edition also includes nine brand new chapters, including chapters on pain management, hip-spine syndrome, adult spinal deformity, sports-related injuries, and cost and quality in musculoskeletal care.

This comprehensive text on the pharmacological, medical, and legal aspects of drug abuse has been thoroughly updated for the Fourth Edition, and a new chapter on club drugs added. The chapter on medical effects was completely rewritten to focus on infections that develop in i.v. drug abusers, and information on the international regulation of drug use was added to the chapter on drug abuse and the law. The book is written at a level appropriate for upper level undergraduate students, graduate or medical students, and drug counselors. All major drugs of abuse are covered: tobacco, opiods, central stimulants (including cocaine, amphetamine, and caffeine), alcohol and other sedatives marijuana, club drugs (MDMA, GHB, and ketamine), hallucinogens, and volatile solvents. For each type the authors discuss history and culture, the characteristic patterns of use, subjective and physiological effects, mechanisms of pharmacological action, and toxic effects. Epidemiological aspects are discussed as well as pharmacological treatment possibilities where applicable.

American medicine attracts some of the brightest and most motivated people the country has to offer, and it boasts the most advanced medical technology in the world, a wondrous parade of machines and techniques such as PET scans, MRI, angioplasty, endoscopy, bypasses, organ transplants, and much more besides. And yet, writes Eric Cassell, what started out early in the century as the exciting conquest of disease, has evolved into an overly expensive, over technologized, uncaring medicine, poorly suited to the health care needs of a society marked by an aging population and a predominance of chronic diseases. In Doctoring: The Nature of Primary Care Medicine, the author shows convincingly how much better fitted advanced concepts of primary care medicine are to America's health care needs. He offers valuable insights into how primary care physicians can be better trained to meet the needs of their patients, both well and sick, and to keep these patients as the focus of their practice. Modern medical training arose at a time when medical science was in ascendancy, Cassell notes. Thus the ideals of science, objectivity and rationality became the ideals of medicine, and disease, the target of most medical research, became the logical focus of medical practice. When clinicians treat a patient with pneumonia, they are apt to be thinking about pneumonia in general, which is how they learn about the disease, rather than this person's pneumonia. This objective, rational approach has its value, but when it dominates a physician's approach to medicine, it can create problems. For instance, treating chronic disease, such as rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, stroke, emphysema, and congestive heart failure, is not simply a matter of medical knowledge, for it demands a great deal of effort by the patients themselves: they have to keep their doctor appointments, take their medication, do their exercises, stop smoking. The patient thus has a profound effect on the course of the disease, and so for a physician to succeed, he or she must also be familiar with the patient's motivations, values, concerns, and relationship with the doctor. Many doctors eventually figure out how to put the patient at the center of their practice, but they should learn to do this at the training level, not haphazardly over time. To that end, the training of primary care physicians must recognize a distinction between doctoring itself and the medical science on which it is based, and should try to produce doctors who rely on both their scientific and subjective assessments of their patients' overall needs. There must be a return to careful observational and physical examination skills and finely tuned history taking and communication skills. Cassell also advocates the need to teach the behavior of both sick and well persons, evaluation of data from clinical epidemiology, decision making skills, and preventive medicine, as well as actively teaching how to make technology the servant rather than the master, and offers practical tips for instruction both in the classroom and in practice. Most important, Doctoring argues convincingly that primary care medicine should become a central focus of America's health care system, not merely a cost-saving measure as envisioned by managed care organizations. Indeed, Cassell shows that the primary care physician can fulfill a unique role in the medical community, and a vital role in society in general. He shows that primary care medicine is not a retreat from scientific medicine, but the natural next step for medicine to take in the coming century.

Family Physicians need to be expert and active providers of mental health care. Their rapport with patients and accessibility enable them to control minor mental health conditions before these problems become critical. Brief Mental Health Interventions for the Family Physician is an ideal resource for Family Physicians. It provides a "refresher course" of sensible paths toward resolution of common mental health problems. It features an easy to read style, and well-focused references. The book summarizes the basic components of brief therapy and reviews how to conduct a brief therapy interview. It also includes chapters on specific clinical conditions and situations that routinely confront the family physician. Each chapter includes an outline, a case example or vignette, and a concise discussion of brief therapy strategies for the disorder. Primary care physicians will find this convenient text an ideal handy reference and review.

During the last 8-10 years the research on homocysteine has become very active. Hundreds of articles are now published each year. A disturbed homocysteine metabolism can be an underlying factor for pregnancy complications and fetal malformations, cardiovascular disease, dementia, psychiatric and neurologic disorders and possibly carcinogenesis. A disturbed homocysteine metabolism can in most cases be normalized by treatment with folate and/or vitamines B12 and B6. Many of these findings therefore directly concern most practitioners.

Real-life examples of how to apply intelligence in the healthcare industry through innovative analytics Healthcare analytics offers intelligence for making better healthcare decisions. Identifying patterns and correlations contained in complex health data, analytics has applications in hospital management, patient records, diagnosis, operating and treatment costs, and more. Helping healthcare managers operate more efficiently and effectively. Transforming Healthcare Analytics: The Quest for Healthy Intelligence shares real-world use cases of a healthcare company that leverages people, process, and advanced analytics technology to deliver exemplary results. This book illustrates how healthcare professionals can transform the healthcare industry through analytics. Practical examples of modern techniques and technology show how unified analytics with data management can deliver insight-driven decisions. The authors--a data management and analytics specialist and a healthcare finance executive--share their unique perspectives on modernizing data and analytics platforms to alleviate the complexity of the healthcare, distributing capabilities and analytics to key stakeholders, equipping healthcare organizations with intelligence to prepare for the future, and more. This book: Explores innovative technologies to overcome data complexity in healthcare Highlights how analytics can help with healthcare market analysis to gain competitive advantage Provides strategies for building a strong foundation for healthcare intelligence Examines managing data and analytics from end-to-end, from diagnosis, to treatment, to provider payment Discusses the future of technology and focus areas in the healthcare industry Transforming Healthcare Analytics: The Quest for Healthy Intelligence is an important source of information for CFO's, CIO, CTO, healthcare managers, data scientists, statisticians, and financial analysts at healthcare institutions.

This book originated in an international conference on "Values in medical Decision Making" held at the University of Aarhus, Denmark, in June 1988. This was the second conference of the European Society for Philosophy of Medicine and Health Care (ESPMH), which was founded in Maastricht, the Netherlands, in 1987. ESPMH aims at promoting philosophy of medicine and health care in a wide sense and at stimulating contacts between European scholars in this field.

As a follow up and review book to Dr. Robert Taylor's highly successful FAMILY MEDICINE: PRINCIPALS AND PRACTICE, TAYLOR'S FAMILY MEDICINE REVIEW will become an indespensible study guide for family practice residents preparing for certification exams, practioners preparing for recertification and medical students during their family practice clerkship. Complete with over 1,200 questions drawn directly from and keyed to FAMILY MEDICINE, this question and answer book will provide an extensive review all the issues confronted by family practitioners in clinical practice.

Doing Practitioner Research Differently encourages those embarking on practitioner research to consider the validity of innovative methods and styles of reporting. The book looks at three methods of enquiry and reporting - visualisation, conversation and fictional writing.
Using practitioners' own accounts and research reports as case studies, this book explores the reasons why some practitioners reject the traditional research methods. It looks at the challenges faced by these practitioners and the conditions in higher education that encourage or inhibit innovative practitioner research. The case studies used illustrate that there are modes of enquiry and reporting that can foster the development of professional thinking and practice.

eBook available with sample pages: HB:0415237572

Pediatric and Adolescent Urologic Imaging provides a comprehensive reference for health care providers of children and adolescents with urologic conditions. This is the first book in which each chapter is written collaboratively by at least one author from each specialty. This unique approach melds the expertise of each specialist and offers it to the reader in a manner aimed at reinforcing the integration of clinical information to radiologic imaging. The book is arranged into two sections allowing for easy access to the information. The first section covers the principles of each radiologic modality as well as radiation safety and the history of uroradiology. The second section integrates the lessons of the first section into specific urologic conditions arranged anatomically and includes additional unique conditions. Pediatric and Adolescent Urologic Imaging is a key reference for pediatric urologists and radiologists as well as primary care providers, general urologists and radiologists, fellows, residents, medical students, and mid-level providers.