Wars and natural disasters--from the Balkans to the Sudan, and from Afghanistan to Central Africa--have increasingly placed humanitarian workers in the crossfire. Kevin M. Cahill has assembled an international team of renowned experts to offer a much-needed assessment of the moral, legal and political dilemmas and consequences of humanitarian assistance.
Focusing on health issues, "A Framework for Survival" takes an unflinching look at the reality facing the nations and people involved, from refugees to relief organizations. In contrast to conventional military, economic and geopolitical strategies, it suggests rational and effective solutions and foreign policy recommendations. With the collapse of many government infrastructures since the end of the Cold War, the success or failure of humanitarian efforts may, to a large extent, define the world's chances for survival.

Published in 1999. Contemporary organizations are faced with increasingly rapid and dramatic change within their political, cultural and technological environments. Institutions in Turbulent Environments critically examines the way organizations respond to these changes,with a particular focus upon the institutional disability sector. The book examines available theory concerning organizational contingency, adaptation and population ecology. It utilizes a framework developed from this theory to examine the ways in which a major institution for the intellectually disabled responded to the turbulence within its environment. It uses this data to re-examine theory and to propose changes to the way organization/environment relationships are understood.

Healthcare management is a burning issue at the moment and this timely and topical book explores the ethical issues that arise in the context of healthcare management. Among the topics discussed are healthcare rationing, including an exposition and defence of the Qaly criterion of healthcare rationing and an examination of the contribution that ethical theory can make to the rationing debate, an analysis of how managers can be preoccupied with the goals of management and the values of doctors simultaneously, an outline of potential guidelines towards formulating a cohesion of healthcare management and ethical management and a reassessment of the role of healthcare professionals. Ethics and Values in Healthcare Management provides a valuable and much needed analysis of the ethical problems associated with healthcare management and offers some solutions towards ameliorationg healthcare organisations.

Contents:
None

A century ago, health services absorbed few resources and provided little benefit. Since then, advances in medical knowledge and techniques have escalated both the benefits and the costs. The affordability of health services is being questioned in even the richest countries, and the economic aspects of health policy have become ever more intrusive.Australia is no exception, with its health system now absorbing 19% of all government tax revenue. Familiarity with economic issues - such as how to assess health outcomes, how to assign resources efficiently and what financial arrangements will promote equity as well as efficiency - is essential to understanding health policy. This is especially so at a time when the economics of health care are being internationally re-examined, with new forms of competition, challenges to public ownership and case-mix funding of hospitals under scrutiny, and a re-evaluation of the benefits of pharmaceuticals and new technologies underway.Economics and Australian Health Policy offers this understanding to readers with and without formal economic training. It starts with an introduction to both the economic way of thinking about health systems, and the context in which those economic questions are raised - the structure of the Australian health system, its culture and its patterns of financial flows. It then describes and appraises from an economic perspective the major components of the system and the policy issues which arise.This collection has been specially commissioned to address both Australia's most pressing policy issues and the needs of public health and health economic policy-makers, academics, commentators and students. The list of contributors reads like a who's who in Australian health economics, who have been encouraged, clearly successfully, to write accessibly yet with authority and conviction.

Although public safety agencies protect our well-being, they also shape social problems and community inequities. Public safety protections promote what T.H. Marshall called "social rights" of equitable citizenship. Frontlines of Welfare State shows how public safety agencies function as welfare state agencies, responsible for a range of essential public functions including emergency service, criminal investigation, regulatory oversight and social service outreach. Furthermore, this volume shows how public safety agencies are being asked to absorb more social welfare functions amidst cut-backs in other areas of the welfare state. Two areas of public safety are examined: arson control and fire prevention, especially within the contexts of urban change and gentrification, and community policing, especially as a mechanism of expanding drug treatment service and prevention programs. Facilitating a greater understanding of institutional biases within the state built around organizational structures, procedures and cultures and their impact on social outcomes, this original and exciting book will be of interest to researchers, practitioners and undergraduate and postgraduate students in the fields of Policing and Fire Control, Public Policy and Administration, Drugs and Substance Abuse and White Collar Crime.

A growing reliance on market disciplines and incentives characterised health care reform strategies in many countries in the 1990s, yet the country which relies most heavily on private health care - the U.S.A. - is the most expensive in the world and still fails to deliver affordable health care to millions of its citizens. This apparent paradox is the starting point for Markets and Health Care: A Comparative Analysis.

Tracking the issue of health care reform through the tumultuous 1990s, Politics, Power, and Policy Making opens a window on the changing dynamics of American politics from the Clinton inauguration in January 1993 through the Republican revolution of 1995 and the 1996 presidential race. The book brings the legislative process to life by tracking a single controversial policy issue through the system, effectively linking public policy studies with the study of American political institutions.

This text is part of a practical tool-kit designed to help managers take control of their budgets. It should enable managers to understand the reports from management accounts and to know what to expect or demand from them. It has been exclusively developed to suit the specific needs of the NHS.

Following the Governments health reforms in 1991 rationing has been put firmly on the agenda. This book identifies and clarifies the numerous political and ethical issues surrounding rationing in healthcare. Drawing upon international examples it offers a critical overview of the approaches to rationing and makes practical proposals for its management.
"Desperately Seeking Solutions "challenges the assumption that all health services are inherently subject to rationing as demand invariably outstrips supply and examines this within a comparative framework. The author critically evaluates the extent to which rationing has always existed and should exist within the NHS, although until recently it operated on an implicit rather than explicit basis and was bound up with clinical judgements rather than purely financial considerations. The author questions whether calls for explicit rationing are actually desirable and potentially feasible.

Tracking the issue of health care reform through the tumultuous 1990s, Politics, Power, and Policy Making opens a window on the changing dynamics of American politics from the Clinton inauguration in January 1993 through the Republican revolution of 1995 and the 1996 presidential race. The book brings the legislative process to life by tracking a single controversial policy issue through the system, effectively linking public policy studies with the study of American political institutions.

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.

* A practical introduction to the business of management for doctors and managers at all levels * This simple guide provides easy-to-use tools and techniques * It explains jargon, presents managerial tasks in context and provides managerial models

The Juran Prescription surveys the breadth of knowledge and skills and identifies the practical steps needed if clinicians are to build quality programs that are tailored to their individual organizations. Based on the highly effective management techniques of renowned Dr. Joseph Juran, this book outlines management strategies and techniques that transform health care organizations. The author examines the principle at the heart of Juran's teachings - total quality management - as reflected in such impressive management innovations as outcomes measurement, guidelines for practice, reengineering, and patient-focused care. The Juran Prescription is a comprehensive primer written for physicians, administrators, managers, and other health care personnel who play a leadership role in today's highly complex and competitive environment.

Rationalization is concerned with making the most effective use of the resources available. In many places where this process is taking place it is plagued with public opposition and misunderstanding. Hitherto, rationalization in the acute care sector has primarily been concerned with closing sites, closing beds, moving beds between services, and moving beds from one site to another. This book discusses the need for rationalization in the context of health service reforms and future strategy. It considers recent changes in the health service, the case for rationalization, health care needs, the role of public relations, the future of the acute care hospital, site and facilities appraisal, and the costs of rationalization. The text is essential reading for managers and clinicians involved in acute care services, non-executive members of boards and trusts, and students of health services management.

An introduction to hazards, human vulnerability and disaster, paying particular attention to the more severe or novel risks and disaster that affect the general public. The book is split into two parts, the first of which gives an overview of the field of risk and disaster in terms of three perspectives: hazards perspective; vulnerability perspective and the active perspective. The second part illustrates and develops these ideas in relation to some of the more severe dangers and disasters of the twentieth century, for example, earthquake risk, cities at risk and the civil disasters of war.

OSHA (29 CFR 1910.119) has recognized AIChE/DIERS two-phase flow publications as examples of "good engineering practice" for process safety management of highly hazardous materials. The prediction of when two-phase flow venting will occur, and the applicability of various sizing methods for two-phase vapor-liquid flashing flow, is of particular interest when designing emergency relief systems to handle runaway reactions. This comprehensive sourcebook brings together a wealth of information on methods that can be used to safely size emergency relief systems for two-phase vapor-liquid flow for flashing or frozen, viscous or nonviscous fluids. Design methodologies are illustrated by selected sample problems. Written by industrial experts in the safety field, this book will be invaluable to those charged with operating, designing, or managing today's and tomorrow's chemical process industry facilities.

The need for a more conscious, focused and proactive approach to the management of health-care organizations has increased substantially. One consequence of this is that health-care managers are having to look at managerial approaches and techniques that previously were the province of the private sector. Prominent among those is the whole area of marketing. This work takes a broad approach to the marketing process, highlighting some of the challenges that health-care managers and medical professionals are having to face. Having done this, the authors move on to examine some of the characteristics of good and bad management practice. It is against this background that, in subsequent chapters, they turn their attention to the question of marketing and how it might best contribute to the management of organizations throughout the health sector. Each chapter includes questions and checklists offering scope for applying marketing principles to primary and secondary health-care organizations of all types, sizes and specialities.

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.

This book presents an evaluation framework for assessing the impact of the new media on the health care system by juxtaposing characteristics of emerging information and communication technologies (interactive, seamlessly connected, and user-driven) and health care objectives (to increase access, improve quality, and manage costs). Each chapter provides a unique set of tools and perspectives on how to harness these new media to improve individual health and the health care delivery system. This innovative volume has also stimulated the creation of a "Forum on Health and the New Media" on the World Wide Web (http: //Health.Dartmouth.edu/NewMedia/). The forum offers highlights of the book as well as links to the authors and related web sites.
The volume is divided into six sections as follows:
*The "Overview" juxtaposes characteristics of the new media (interactive, connected, and user-driven) with the three criteria for health care improvement: increased access, improved quality, and cost management. It offers a New Media and Health Care matrix of criteria for building and evaluating emerging health care systems.
*The "Delivery" -- how new media can enhance the delivery of health care -- includes chapters on: managed care, demand management and self-care, telemedicine for rural residents, and how the Internet can be used to facilitate collaboration among health researchers and providers.
*Health Information -- the life blood of health care -- addresses the potential for: extending the traditional flow of health information (from researchers to providers) to reach patients who want to share in decisions about their care; and the federal government's role in providing health information to the public.
*Health Education discusses: integrating multimedia health programming for public schools; using networked multimedia and simulation technologies and new learning theories that promise to transform public health education; and educating health providers and patients through interactive media and drama.
*Potholes Along the Highway provides a sobering balance to otherwise rather optimistic assumptions that a national information infrastructure will be forthcoming.
*The New Media: Annotated Glossary provides computing and networking technology tools for readers who are not fluent in cyberlanguage.

The power of purchasers exposes the weaknesses of conventional thinking on the costs and benefits of priorities. Health policy analysts now have to develop rational criteria to support decisions in a process which may be inherently intuitive. This authoritative and practical text points the way towards clear choices in resource allocation and the implications of these choices on expenditure diverted among different health care programmes.

This book focuses on the problems in America's health care system that have developed over the past 30 years and that will be with us for the next 30 years. It goes beyond mind-numbing quantitative data to probe the underlying causes of the nation's difficulties. Three broad questions are addressed: Why are health care costs in the United States higher than elsewhere? What needs to be done to bring down costs without lowering quality? Is America doing enough about research, prevention, and public information?

This book focuses on the problems in America's health care system that have developed over the past 30 years and that will be with us for the next 30 years. It goes beyond mind-numbing quantitative data to probe the underlying causes of the nation's difficulties. Three broad questions are addressed: Why are health care costs in the United States higher than elsewhere? What needs to be done to bring down costs without lowering quality? Is America doing enough about research, prevention, and public information?

Child surveillance is a subject of increasing scientific, social and political debate in many countries of the world. In the UK, protocols for effective action are based on a government report, 'Health for all children'. The research which gave rise to these protocols has been developed further in the Netherlands and, drawing on the experience of other health care systems, has produced conclusions which challenge some widely-accepted assumptions about appropriate procedures. This book reviews the international research and recommendations of the Dutch working party. It presents an authoritative and practical survey of the contents and frequency of child health surveillance programmes, procedures for quality control and improvement, possibilities for parental involvement, and the levels of expertise necessary to run programmes effectively. It offers a clear vision of a more sophisticated approach to child health care and is therefore an important reference for community paediatricians and others involved in the development of primary care.