Bringing together international experts from different academic disciplines, this collection explores the challenges and opportunities of bringing gender to the heart of health policy, practice and research. It examines debates over health reform, access to services, the organization of care and professional development.

Until the start of the new century, efforts to strengthen health systems focused solely on the public sector and health programs overseen by public bodies. The private sector was sidelined in certain countries and even banned in others. At the same time, some private-sector stakeholders readily adapted themselves to this special situation so as to avoid becoming part of a structured health system.

This volume notes profound changes in health care around the world in two areas. The stakeholders involved in the health sector are increasing in number and diversifying as a result of the development of the private sector. They are also responding to a process of democratization and decentralization. These developments have been paralleled by greater functional differentiation. Various stakeholders are increasingly specializing in particular areas of the health system: service delivery, procurement, management, financing, and regulation.

The interdependence of health stakeholders becomes more evident along with the increased complexity of delivery systems as these respond to changing demand. There is a compelling need to forge relationships. Such relationships are in fact emerging in developed countries and, more recently, in developing countries. They may be informal, but are increasingly organized and structured.

The Internet and the many applications it supports continue to transform and expand the ways in which it is possible to relate, communicate, collaborate, and perform human service work. In this book, human service researchers and practitioners explore major opportunities and challenges to well being, social justice, and human service work that technology use in everyday life has exposed. Drawing on the latest research their contributions examine issues associated with human service practices in the network society, including: the implications of an expanded capacity to share human service data across agency and national boundaries; ethical issues associated with the use of remote sensing and surveillance technologies (e.g. the satellite tracking of offenders, and telecare services for older people); the risks and benefits of social network sites including issues associated with online privacy, intimacy, and safety; and the influence of technology-mediated services on human relationships and the sense of 'being present' with another person. Human Services in the Network Society will be of considerable interest to human service professionals, academics and researchers who are concerned about the social impact of networked technologies. This book was previously published as a special issue of the Journal of Technology in Human Services.

This book provides an overview of the core professional issues in the field of child and youth care practice. The author explores themes ranging from relationships and the exploration of Self to career building and field-specific approaches to management. The book is written from a pragmatic perspective, and serves both to advance current thinking in the field about professional issues as well as to provide the student of child and youth care practice and practitioners with practical and accessible approaches to developing a strong and sustainable professional identity. All of the themes in this book are explored within a context of ethical decision-making and practice approaches informed by a commitment to children's rights and empowerment. Throughout the discussions, concepts and themes are considered in relation to four specific lenses: the power lens, the diversity lens, the language lens and the transitioning from theory to practice lens. These lenses serve to ensure that the reader adopts a critical understanding of the professional issues in the field and is able to develop his or her own professional identity while mitigating the power and identity issues necessarily associated with being a practitioner in a helping profession. This book was published as a special issue of Child and Youth Services.

The book presents interpretations of culture, health, politics, and religion in Sweden today, Sweden transforms from the well-functioning but existentially bland economic wonder to a more fragmented and gloomy society. Contributors include scholars from film studies, literary studies, political science, religious studies and theology

In 2004, Charles Cullen was arrested and charged in the deaths of more than 30 patients in his care. Crossing several jurisdictions in seven counties in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, he was stopped after a fifteen-year spree at ten institutions. While many people do not think of healthcare workers as serial killers, their profession is disproportionately represented among the serial killer population, and they tend to be more prolific than other serial killers, having more opportunities, better cover, and easy alibis. Healthcare professionals who kill have learned how to exploit the atmosphere of trust in the healthcare community and to hasten deaths that may go unnoticed in an already vulnerable arena. This book delves into the world of the healthcare serial killer, looking at the special characteristics of the different groups of murderers, the motives, the methods, and the outcomes. Crime specialists have long suspected that many healthcare serial killers have gone undetected. Because it is easier to cover up their crimes, it is harder to uncover that a crime has even been committed. Here, Ramsland identifies some of the warning signs that a serial killer may be on the loose in a healthcare setting. Further, she offers suggestions for reform in the healthcare and criminal justice communities that would help identify potential killers before they have a chance to strike, or strike again. Using numerous real-life cases in every chapter, she provides a fuller picture of this most deadly type of serial killer and helps readers understand how they work, and how they can be stopped.

As Carole Browner explains in her foreword: ""These chapters compellingly reveal that although we anthropologists tend to speak of biomedicine in hegemonic terms, in fact its penetration is quite variable and often ambivalently met. . . . Risk, Reproduction, and Narratives of Experience sheds new light on a troubling core aspect of medicalisation processes, which simultaneously render pregnant women more docile subjects even as they are impelled to actively engage with biomedicalised prenatal care regimes. . . . We also see that a consummate means by which states seek to consolidate power in the reproductive realm is through expansion of the biomedical concept of risk. This critical observation emerges repeatedly in this collection.""

The increasing importance of sickness and disability data across health-related disciplines is the focus of this concise but comprehensive resource. It reviews the basics of morbidity at the population level by defining core concepts, analyzing why morbidity has overtaken mortality as central to demographic study, and surveying ways these data are generated, accessed, and measured. Subsequent chapters demonstrate how this knowledge can be used to better understand-and potentially solve-critical public health issues, benefitting not only populations served, but also areas such as health services planning, resource allocation, and health policy-setting. To make this material useful to the most readers, this reference: Explains why and how morbidity data are categorized by health professionals and other data users. Examines various methods of identifying and measuring morbidity data. Identifies demographic and non-demographic factors associated with morbidity. Describes and evaluates sources of U.S. morbidity data. Reviews the current state of morbidity in the U.S., and what it means for healthcare and society in general. Suggests future uses of morbidity data in reducing health disparities and improving population health. In Sickness and In Health is uniquely relevant to demographers and demography students, public health professionals, and epidemiologists. Its presentation of concepts and applications makes the book a valuable classroom text and a useful guide for those addressing challenges facing U.S. healthcare.

Exploring the increasing involvement of the private sector in social policy, this collection examines the complex relationship between the public and private sectors from an international perspective, focusing on health and pension policies.

Many Yemenite Jews made their way to Israel in the first half of the century. Later, following the foundation of the state of Israel in 1948, the rest of the community was flown in from the Yemen--an airlift of 50,000 people code-named Magic Carpet. These two groups, the early and late immigrants, afford a rare opportunity to describe the changes in health patterns during development toward a modern society. Using the fascinating but scanty information available from all manner of sources and comparing it with contemporary accounts of life in the Yemen today, Michael Weingarten relates the changes in the physical and psychological health of the Yemenite Jews to the various components of their new environment.

There was no modern medicine available in the Yemen, and most of the older generation of patients described in this study continue to believe in a threefold etiology of disease--magic, fate, and environment. Weingarten describes how traditional healers coexist with modern doctors and how, even when modern medicine is used, magical cures are expected. Although there are several sections dealing with largely medical data which will interest physicians and geneticists, most of the book is readable by anyone taking an interest in health and culture, including ethnologists, anthropologists, sociologists, health workers and planners, students of medical history, as well as all those interested in the study of Yemen, Judaic history, or Israeli culture.

With the background of the 10 years' existence of the European Public Health Association (EUPHA) the present book deals with the developments and results of European Public Health in Science and Practice. The contributions involve actual aspects and issues of different topics in Public Health:
- Health care management and quality assurance in various settings
- Health promotion and prevention for different population groups
- Health related information and communication
- Health care policy and science.

"This book shows why contests over intellectual property rights and access to affordable medicines emerged in the 1990s and how they have been resolved so far. It argues that the current arrangement mainly ensures wealth for some rather than health for all, and points to broader concerns related to governing intellectual property solely as capital"--Provided by publisher.

"China Engages Global Health Governance" is the first book to systematically examine China's participation in the global health domain. It examines how and why China changed its stance on its HIV/AIDS epidemic and investigates China's emerging role in Africa's AIDS crisis and the controversial issue of access to anti-retroviral drugs for the continent's impoverished people. In scrutinizing China's evolving global role and its intentions for global governance and global health governance, this book argues that China is neither a system-defender nor a system-transformer of the liberal international order. While acting in concert with other major powers, China strives to defend itself from the encroachment of liberal democratic values on the world stage. In order to carve out some international space for itself and to fend off attacks by the liberal normative structure, China calls for multilateral cooperation in a "harmonious world." With the suggestion that there is no universally applicable blueprint for development, Beijing tries to shore up the principle of national sovereignty and non-intervention and strengthen ties with developing countries to consolidate a normative and political bulwark against liberal democratic values. In short, China possesses a hybrid national identity in its deepening engagement with global governance.

The 1980s opened a discussion of the varying nature of health in different segments of the United States. Falling under the rubric of "health disparities," a great deal of research has been published demonstrating the substantial differences in health status within a population. The causes of health disparities are varied and not always clear but most researchers agree that disparities are a reflection of social and economic inequities and political injustice. One of the obstacles to addressing disparities is the lack of meaningful health data especially for vulnerable populations, which is often nonexistent despite being a critical factor for informing health programs and policies at the local level. This book provides a model for combating health disparities by describing how the authors gathered local health information, engaged the community at every step of the process, and created movement toward evidence-based sustainable change.
This book describes how a landmark health survey in Chicago generated dramatic data that are allowing investigators throughout the city to move from data to action and from observation to intervention. In providing a detailed description of how the community-focused collection and analysis of health data can serve as an impetus for improved well-being, Urban Health is an invaluable resource for researchers, community groups, students and professionals.

Informing Health Care Purchasers

In today's competitive marketplace, health care providers, corporate purchasers, and health care executives are focusing their attention on quality, value, and accountability.

This valuable resource provides health care practitioners, administrators, and policymakers with the pertinent information they need to create a scientific method of measuring customer satisfaction.

The health care sector has become a major component of the contemporary econo mies of Japan and the United States. It absorbs significant proportions of the GDP in both countries and places increasing stress on private, government and corporate budgets. As their income rises, the citizens ofJapan and the United States choose to allocate increasing portions of it on health care services because ofthe direct contri bution of health care services to prolonged life expectancy, reduced morbidity, or other indicators of improved health and well-being. The health care sector is a ma jor source ofemployment and affects the lives of all citizens. Adequate health care services are expected to have an important contribution to the quality of human life in any society. With so much at stake, arrangements for planning, financing, and operating health care service systems have increasingly come to be regarded as im portant economic and political issues. The political importance of health care is evidenced by the health care reform proposals of the Clinton administration in the United States and the deep involve ment of the government in the medical care security system in Japan. As policy makers in both countries look ahead to the coming decades, they realize that the imperatives of economic restructuring, globalization, and their rapidly aging socie ties will affect the way in which health care is organized, delivered, and financed."

The book sets out to inform a broad range of professionals working in medicine and healthcare about how creative thinking and design concepts can be used to innovate in providing an enhanced patient experience. It outlines these concepts as a primary means to identify, clarify and resolve some of the process improvement and enhancement challenges in healthcare delivery. It demonstrates by example how such challenges can be addressed, drawing on case examples from healthcare and other industries, and from the authors’ own experiences as innovators and educators. It emphasizes the value of learning in action. For the reader who already has a leaning towards novel approaches to addressing healthcare delivery challenges, it provides guidance on harnessing team inputs and engaging with a network of contributors. It is an ideal resource for all working in medicine and healthcare, from managers, nurses, doctors, administrators, executives, and allied health professionals to medical engineers, medical physicists, medical scientists and medical product developers. Features Provides a unique framework to conceptualise innovation in healthcare and medicine. Authored by an award-winning medical scientist and an established business school Professor who have proven track-records with innovation, in education settings and as entrepreneurs. Presents a clear interdisciplinary approach, complemented with practical case studies set in the context of the challenges facing healthcare delivery in the 21st century. Dr. Barry McMahon has a national and international reputation as an Academic Medical Physicist in the fields of novel physiological measurement and medical device innovation and design. He is the co- inventor of the Functional Lumen Imaging Probe (FLIP) technique later commercialised as EndoFLIP™. He was the Director of the Innovation Academy at Trinity College Dublin from 2012 to 2017. Since 2020 he is advising Children’s Health Ireland on innovation practice. In 2021, he retired as Chief Physicist/Clinical Engineer at Tallaght Hospital, Ireland and currently runs his own innovation-consulting group Electric Mindset Ltd. Dr. Paul Coughlan is Professor in Operations Management and Co-Director of Faculty at Trinity Business School, Trinity College Dublin. His research explores collaborative strategic improvement of operations through network action learning. He was the Director of the Innovation Academy at Trinity College Dublin from 2010 to 2012. He is a founding director of a research-based spin-out venture, Easy Hydro Ltd.

Teaching in Practice offers a range of practical methods for teaching and facilitating learning geared to the day-to-day realities encountered by professionals in the human services. Drawing on the literature of adult education and on a wealth of practical examples from different kinds of professional, practice Farquharson provides a wide range of conceptual models for improving teaching in human service practice.

In virtually all the developed countries of the Western world, people are living longer and reproducing less. At the same time, costs for the care of the elderly and infirm continue to rise dramatically. Given these facts, it should come as no surprise that we are experi- encing an ever-increasing concern with questions relating to the proper care and treatment of the aged. What responsibilities do soci- eties have to their aging citizens? What duties, if any, do grown chil- dren owe their parents? What markers should we use to determine one's status as "elderly"? Does treatment of pain in aged patients present special medical and/or moral problems? How can the com- peting claims of autonomy and optimal medical care be reconciled for elderly persons who require assisted living? When, if ever, should severely demented patients be included in nontherapeutic clinical tri- als? These questions, and others of similar interest to those con- cerned with the proper treatment of the aged, are discussed in depth in the articles included in this text. The essays in this volume of Biomedical Ethics Reviews fall loosely into two broad categories. The first four articles-those con- tributed by Sheila M. Neysmith, Allyson Robichaud, Jennifer Jackson, and Susan McCarthy-raise general questions concerning the propri- ety of Western society'S current mechanisms for dealing with and treat- ing elderly citizens. The remaining four articles-those by Simon Woods and Max Elstein, Marshall B.

Hardbound. This volume explores issues connected with health care providers, institutions, and patients. The focus of many of the articles is on changing patterns of care delivery and provision of care, as it affects these important groups of actors within the health care system. The articles range from those that focus on more specialized groups of patients, such as the elderly, to those that focus on people who deliver health care services to those that deal with more general issues of the restructuring of the US health care system.

In the 1970s and 80s Japan experienced some deep-rooted social changes which affected attitudes to health care services among both professionals and consumers alike. Health Care in Japan provides an introduction to and overview of health and medical services in Japan at that time. It describes the historical development of modern medical care; the social, political, and cultural factors which have influenced the development of the system for the provision of health and medical services. It also discusses and analyses those aspects of the health care system which are of concern to the government and assesses how the existing system of health care will meet the needs of Japanese society in the future.

E-Health Systems Diffusion and Use: The Innovation, the User and the Use IT Model offers an overview of the use and diffusion of information systems in the health care sector with particular attention to the role of the user. This book starts with classic contributions and modifications and then continues with contemporary contributions, which include both qualitative and quantitative approaches. ""E-Health Systems Diffusion and Use: The Innovation, the User and the Use IT Model"" combines various approaches to understand the diffusion and use of IS in health care, combining quantitative and qualitative approaches offering ""the best of both worlds"". From a healthcare viewpoint, ""E-Health Systems Diffusion and Use: The Innovation, the User and the Use IT Model"" serves as a guide to better innovation through information technology, bringing a leap forward in formal evaluation of information systems in health care.