This book examines a range of current health care issues affecting Asian Americans and explores ways to improve the quality of their health care. The author covers a variety of topics, including sociocultural approaches to health, illness, and health care; clients' experiences in accessing health care services; the important role of alternative practices in primary health care; and limitations on the professional development and practice of Asian health care providers. The book concludes with a look at challenges, implications, and research directions for Asian American health care improvements in the 21st century.

Health and illness always have multiple cultural and social dimensions that affect medical practices. Because we face rapidly evolving health care choices, it is important to understand the influence of sociocultural factors on health, illness, and health care.

The author emphasizes the cultural and socioeconomic factors that are shaping health-seeking behaviors of Asian Americans and the interrelationships among health service providers within the Asian American community. The book criticizes U.S. health care policy for discouraging the immigration of foreign medical-school graduates and limiting the number of language-competent physicians who have dual training in Western and traditional healing techniques. The book provides insights into the important role of traditional medicine in primary health care and also offers a critical analysis of managed care and its implications for Asian American health care in the 21st century.

Research in the Sociology of Health Care covers health, health care services, and sociological concerns. Each volume addresses an issue of importance in both the US health care system and health care systems across the world. Previously covered topics include: Research on social inequalities Social disparities Chronic diseases Population health Research on access, quality and utilization of health care services Theoretical, qualitative and quantitative papers deal with complex understandings of macro system issues in the following areas: The impact of the patient and individual factors on health and health care The impact of the provider and interaction between providers and patients Gender, race and poverty as sources of inequality in modern societies Articles vary greatly in their coverage, with some focusing on the US as a whole, and others on specific sections of the US or subgroups within the population such as African American women or the elderly. Other articles focus on issues from an international or comparative perspective. Each volume includes information that is essential reading for medical sociologists and people working in other social science disciplines studying health-related issues. The volume also provides vital information for health services researchers, policy analysts and public health researchers.

Centred on an analysis of a range of inter-related studies of illness and stigma conducted in recent years, this book makes a groundbreaking and timely contribution to understanding the roots of contemporary experiences of stigma. The postmodern era has been identified by sociologists as a time of fracturing and diversity in Western social development. Behaviour, lifestyle and identity are no longer the results of mass-production by social class and nation, but increasingly the quirky and unique eccentricities of the individual as consumer, reflexive citizen and free agent. Memorably, this process was characterised by Fukuyama as 'The End of History', as there is no longer the cultural space for the large-scale ideological battles of the pre-modern age. This book takes Fukuyama's notion and examines contemporary challenges tothe stigma associated with chronic illness. Award-winning author, Gill Green examines the cases of HIV, multiple sclerosis and mental illness, including substance misuse, to provide new insights into stigma in health - an issue that is of contemporary concern in the areas of medical sociology and health studies.

Hardbound. Volume 18 in this series explores the impact of social factors on health, illness and the use of care. Contributors examine a number of social factors including sex, gender and socio-economic status on the healthcare experience and focus on both patients within the care process and the providers of care.Health, Illness and Use of Care also presents papers employing a variety of methodological approaches. In the range of illnesses discussed, the social factors under consideration, and the variety of methodological approaches, this volume represents the current diversity within the field of Medical Sociology.

This volume explores issues connected with quality, planning of services and access concerns especially as linked with providers of care, health care institutions, and patients. Changes have continued to occur within the field but have been led by overall marketplace trends. Papers in this volume are presented in four parts covering changing models of health care. In Part I topics come from a broad perspective to include: development of newer models of care, more traditional areas such as the medical profession and the patient or the hospital and the patient, the changes that alternative medicine brings to issues of quality of care and access and planning, and of citizen participation in health planning. Part II deals with federal programs such as Medicare and Medicaid and access and quality issues within those programs. Part III covers the challenges of planning for long-term care needs and services. And Part IV explores other aspects of the changing health care delivery system: changes in nursing, midwifery, and rural health care and provides linkages to quality, access, and planning issues. This excellent work helps the reader to think more carefully and more creatively about issues of quality of care, access to care, and planning for services.

Clinical Decision Support and Beyond: Progress and Opportunities in Knowledge-Enhanced Health and Healthcare, now in its third edition, discusses the underpinnings of effective, reliable, and easy-to-use clinical decision support systems at the point of care as a productive way of managing the flood of data, knowledge, and misinformation when providing patient care. Incorporating CDS into electronic health record systems has been underway for decades; however its complexities, costs, and user resistance have lagged its potential. Thus it is of utmost importance to understand the process in detail, to take full advantage of its capabilities. The book expands and updates the content of the previous edition, and discusses topics such as integration of CDS into workflow, context-driven anticipation of needs for CDS, new forms of CDS derived from data analytics, precision medicine, population health, integration of personal monitoring, and patient-facing CDS. In addition, it discusses population health management, public health CDS and CDS to help reduce health disparities. It is a valuable resource for clinicians, practitioners, students and members of medical and biomedical fields who are interested to learn more about the potential of clinical decision support to improve health and wellness and the quality of health care.

A study of social assumptions, specific events, medical categories, distinct groups and ideas of control in health research. This book examines presumptions about gender, race and age with particular reference to the "biological clock" and notions of "civilized countries" and "primitive races." The volume is divided into three sections. The first section spells out the author's new theory of medicalism - a co-emergent process of health care which puts health-care consumers on an equal causal footing with health-care providers. The second section takes up each of the issues of age, sex and race in turn and looks at the particular consequences of these assumptions for specific health events. With age, fertility is the focus. With sex and race, the focus is on cancer. The third section deals with action both in terms of doing better research and making informed choices about health care.

Documenting the daily efforts of African Americans to protect their community against highly oppressive conditions, this ground-breaking volume chronicles the unique experiences of black women that place them at higher risk for morbidity and mortality - especially during pregnancy. Stress and Resilience: The Social Context of Reproduction in Central Harlem examines the processes through which economic circumstances, environmental issues, and social conditions create situations that expose African American women to stress and chronic strain. Detailing the individual and community assets and strategies used to address these conditions, this volume provides a model methodology for translating research into public health and social action. Based on interactive community partnered research, Stress and Resilience: The Social Context of Reproduction in Central Harlem Facilitates more exact hypotheses about the relationship between risk factors, protective factors and reproductive health; Furnishes a better understanding of chronic disease patterns and suggests more effective interventions to reduce rates of infant mortality; Incorporates the voices of the community and of women themselves through their own words and actions; Sheds light on epidemiologic research and intervention protocols; Examines the social context in which reproductive behaviors are practiced; Provides a holistic framework in which to understand infant mortality; And more. Filling a large gap in the literature on the social context of reproduction this important monograph offers indispensable information for public health researchers, program planners, anthropologists, sociologists, urban planners, medical providers, policy makers, and private funders.

Communications research in aviation is widely regarded by many in the healthcare community as the 'gold standard' to emulate. Yet healthcare and aviation differ in many ways, as do the vital communications shared among members of clinical teams. Aviation team communication should, then, be understood in terms of what lessons will benefit those who work in healthcare. In Improving Healthcare Team Communication, renowned experts provide insights from 'sharp end' operator research in high-hazard sectors that shed light on the performance of cognitive tasks including resource availability assessment, allocation, anticipation, prediction, trade-off decisions, speculation and negotiation. The book reports on recent field research to address what is known, and what needs to be learned, about team communication among operators. Students, clinicians and healthcare managers can find answers in it to the questions they face daily. How can healthcare information be better shared? What can we expect from its improvement, and how do we get there? Lessons learned from team communication research and experience in aviation and healthcare will point the way to improved patient safety.

Taking a different approach to biobanks - genetic databases that combine genetic information derived from blood samples with personal data about environment, medical history, lifestyle or genealogy, this book draws attention to their political and governance implications. It argues that for biobanks to be created, shaped, maintained, and to operate properly, a number of interrelated conditions need to exist, from legal environment to funding mechanisms and social acceptance.

The book takes a comparative focus, with chapters on biobanks in Iceland, Estonia, Scandinavia, France, US, Japan, UK, Germany, Australia and Israel, and is divided into three parts which:

• introduce the conceptual framework that underpins the volume
• focus on biobanks as a challenge for governance
• emphasize biobanks as a tool and site for governance.

This groundbreaking book makes clear that biobanks are a phenomenon that cannot be disconnected from considerations of power, politics, and the reshaping of current practices in governance. It will be a valuable read for scholars and students of genetics, bioethics, risk, public health and the sociology of health and illness.

Health communication research examines the role of communication in health professional/client relationships and in promoting patient adherence, the flow of information within and between health organizations, the design and effectiveness of health information for various audiences and the planning and evaluation of health care policy. Other important areas treated in this book are cultural and social factors influencing health communication, ethical issues effecting communication, and education in communication within medical schools. Medical students, physicians, policy makers, students and faculty in communications and sociology, as well as social services professionals should find this reference an important tool.

Plagued by geographic isolation, poverty, and acute shortages of health professionals and hospital beds, the South was dubbed by Surgeon General Thomas Parran "the nation's number one health problem." The improvement of southern, rural, and black health would become a top priority of the U.S. Public Health Service during the Roosevelt and Truman administrations.

Karen Kruse Thomas details how NAACP lawsuits pushed southern states to equalize public services and facilities for blacks just as wartime shortages of health personnel and high rates of draft rejections generated broad support for health reform. Southern Democrats leveraged their power in Congress and used the war effort to call for federal aid to uplift the South. The language of regional uplift, Thomas contends, allowed southern liberals to aid blacks while remaining silent on race. Reformers embraced, at least initially, the notion of "deluxe Jim Crow"--support for health care that maintained segregation. Thomas argues that this strategy was, in certain respects, a success, building much-needed hospitals and training more black doctors.

By the 1950s, deluxe Jim Crow policy had helped to weaken the legal basis for segregation. Thomas traces this transformation at the national level and in North Carolina, where "deluxe Jim Crow reached its fullest potential." This dual focus allows her to examine the shifting alliances--between blacks and liberal whites, southerners and northerners, activists and doctors--that drove policy. "Deluxe Jim Crow" provides insight into a variety of historical debates, including the racial dimensions of state building, the nature of white southern liberalism, and the role of black professionals during the long civil rights movement.

"Intersex" is the condition whereby an individual is born with biological features that are simultaneously perceived as male and female. Ranging from the ambiguous genitalia of the true 'hermaphrodite' to the 'mildly or internally intersexed', the condition may be as common as cleft palate. Like cleft palate, it is hidden and surgically altered, but for very different reasons. This important book draws heavily on the personal testimony of intersexed individuals, their loved ones, and medical careers. The impact of early sex-assignment surgery on an individual's later life is examined within the context of ethical and clinical questions. Harper challenges the conventional and radical 'treatment' of intersexuality through non-consensual infant sex-assignment surgery. In doing so she exposes powerful myths, taboos, and constructions of gender - the perfect phallus, a bi-polar model of gender and the infallibility of medical decisions. Handling sensitive material with care, this book deepens our understanding of a condition that has itself only been medically understood in recent years.

A unique, pathbreaking collection that provides the first, detailed and comprehensive analysis of the implications of new health technologies for society, the delivery of health care, and the very meaning of health itself. It is based on new, critical social science research integrated according to core themes, making it accessible and engaging. It will be of especial value to students and researchers in Social Science, Health Studies and medical schools.

Learn how to ensure quality and safety for vulnerable older adults Transitional care is crucial to older adults with complex care needs who are moving between different locations or different levels of care. Charting a Course for High Quality Care Transitions addresses this problem by providing leading experts and leaders in the field discussing practical strategies that ensure care quality and safety for transitioning vulnerable older adults. This helpful resource comprehensively discusses current research, quality improvement, risk targeting, risk identification, patterns of care, care coordination, and performance assessment. Lowering the inherent risks for adverse events when moving patients can be challenging. Numerous unforeseen variables such as possible mismanagement of medication or staff shortages can often jeopardize patient safety. Charting a Course for High Quality Care Transitions offers practical approaches to address several of the main challenges encountered by health professionals. This book focuses on various ways to provide the highest quality patient-centered care through advancements in research, practice, and data measurement. This informative text is extensively referenced and contains numerous tables to clarify and illustrate important data. Topics in Charting a Course for High Quality Care Transitions include: a semantic framework for overcoming quality improvement issues stemming from inconsistent use of terms a tool for home health agencies to identify home health care patients at risk for hospital readmission medical and social factors that contribute to poor quality care transitions a successful Advanced Practice Nurse transitional care model that can improve outcomes to cognitively impaired older adults unrecognized needs of older adults living in residential care facilities patient-centered performance measurement early results of the Reducing Acute Care Hospitalization National Demonstration Collaborative gaps in research that need to be addressed in the future Charting a Course for High Quality Care Transitions is an important resource for home care professionals, hospital discharge planners, public health nurses, geriatric health services researchers, and health care professionals of all types.

We are still only beginning to understand the increasingly complex set of interdependencies among gender, health, and globalization. "Globalization, Women, and Health in the 21st Century" brings together a diverse group of distinguished scholars and activists to explore the new risks and freedoms for men and women in a global society and their health determinants. They map the gendered impact of these processes and present a health landscape that goes beyond nation states into trans-border flows of capital, people, goods, and services. Each chapter begins with a global analysis of specific trends followed by "in perspective" pieces by authors from contrasting disciplines and geographies. Given rapid changes in global society through globalization, this book serves as an important resource to reiterate the place of health and gender at the forefront of discussion.

Bayesian analyses have made important inroads in modern clinical research due, in part, to the incorporation of the traditional tools of noninformative priors as well as the modern innovations of adaptive randomization and predictive power. Presenting an introductory perspective to modern Bayesian procedures, Elementary Bayesian Biostatistics explores Bayesian principles and illustrates their application to healthcare research. Building on the basics of classic biostatistics and algebra, this easy-to-read book provides a clear overview of the subject. It focuses on the history and mathematical foundation of Bayesian procedures, before discussing their implementation in healthcare research from first principles. The author also elaborates on the current controversies between Bayesian and frequentist biostatisticians. The book concludes with recommendations for Bayesians to improve their standing in the clinical trials community. Calculus derivations are relegated to the appendices so as not to overly complicate the main text. As Bayesian methods gain more acceptance in healthcare, it is necessary for clinical scientists to understand Bayesian principles. Applying Bayesian analyses to modern healthcare research issues, this lucid introduction helps readers make the correct choices in the development of clinical research programs.

Families of children with special health needs frequently cite difficulties in their communications with physicians and other medical professionals. Indeed, parents of high-risk, chronically ill, and disabled infants often regard interactions with health care providers as one of the most stressful parts of their early experiences with their children.

This volume was designed to present a variety of medical education approaches used to overcome this problem. After providing an overview of some of the difficulties faced by physicians and families of children with special health needs in their interactions with one another, the volume examines a number of useful medical education models. The models and viewpoints presented include those of physicians, early intervention professionals, professionals with backgrounds in education, psychology, and sociology, and parents. This volume is invaluable to those involved in designing and evaluating medical education approaches, and those developing public policy for children and the family.

Health information about patients is critical; currently, health records are saved in databases controlled by individual users, organizations, or large groups of organizations. As there are many malicious users, this information is not shared with other organizations due to security issues and the chance of the data being modified or tampered with. Blockchain can be used to securely exchange healthcare data, which can be accessed by organizations sharing the same network, allowing doctors/practitioners to provide better care for patients. The key properties of decentralization, such as immutability and transparency, improve healthcare interoperability. This book brings forth the prospects and research trends of Blockchain in healthcare, so that Researchers, Database professionals, Academia, and Healthcare professionals across the world can know/use the concept of Blockchain in healthcare. The book provides the fundamental and technical details of Blockchain, the applications of Blockchain in healthcare, hands-on chapters for graduate/postgraduate/doctoral students/healthcare professionals to secure healthcare data of patients, and research challenges and future work directions for researchers in healthcare.

This book presents the refereed proceedings of the Fourth Italian Forum on Ambient Assisted Living (AAL), held in Ancona, Italy, in October 2013. A wide range of issues are covered and new technological developments are described which will support the autonomy and independence of individuals with special needs through an innovative and integrated approach, designed to respond to the socio-economic challenges of an aging population. Topics addressed include: health and well-being, prevention and rehabilitation and support for care providers; active aging and its social implications; services for the frail elderly with health problems and their families; nutrition; ICT platforms/technologies for the benefit of the elderly; home automation and control technologies (autonomy, safety and energy saving); smart cities and smart communities; telemedicine, telerehabilitation, and telecare; mobility, participation and social inclusion; games and fun for the elderly; building design; social housing; interface design and interaction (accessibility, acceptance); social policies to encourage and support active aging; business models, market analysis and development of sustainable financing and business and ethics, privacy and data protection. Many experimental validations based on user trials and usability testing are presented and discussed. The knowledge and insights provided in this book will help researchers and others involved in AAL to understand relevant societal trends, novel technological developments and pressing challenges.

The success of healthcare decision-making lies in whether healthcare staff, patients, and healthcare organization managers can comprehensively understand the choices and consider future implications to make the best decision possible. Multiple-criteria decision making (MCDM), including multiple rule-based decision making (MRDM), multiple-objective decision making (MODM), and multiple-attribute decision making (MADM), is used by clinical decision-makers to analyze healthcare issues from various perspectives. In practical health care cases, semi-structured and unstructured decision-making issues involve multiple criteria (or goals) that may conflict with each other. Thus, the use of MCDM is a promising source of practical solutions for such problems. MCDM methods mainly include the three parts: data process, evaluation and selection, and planning and design. Data process focuses on analyzing and identifying healthcare management issues and data features for solving practical cases. Evaluation and selection focus on evaluating the performance of each solution for healthcare management, and these methods can be used to support decision-making and help organizations choose the best solution for practical healthcare management cases. Finally, planning and design focus on analyzing and designing the goals of healthcare management applications, which can be modelled as a minimizing or maximizing problem for finding the optimal solutions. Furthermore, these methods can explore the relationship structure construction among criteria between various related issues arising from healthcare.

Noted experts provide practical, effective strategies to meet global health challenges International Social Health Care Policy, Program, and Studies presents a collection of papers drawn from the Ninth Doris Siegel Memorial Fund Colloquium that focuses on social work and international health issues, emphasizing an international exchange and cooperation as a crucial facet of meeting global health challenges. Honoring the memory and spirit of social work pioneer Doris Siegel for her accomplishments and advocacy on behalf of social-health issues, this fine selection of scholarly papers explores ideas and strategies from around the world which offer greater opportunity for success for diverse social work and health care problems. Internationally recognized practitioners and academics offer research and case studies illustrating approaches, programs, and policies that any practitioner or policymaker may find helpful. International Social Health Care Policy, Program, and Studies closely examines the common ground in social health care problems shared by various countries worldwide. Issues such as the effects of terrorism, academic-practice partnerships in practice research, and the international exchange program are explored, with insightful discussions that explain in which directions to best channel social and health care energies and resources. Helpful figures and tables further explain concepts and research. Topics in International Social Health Care Policy, Program, and Studies include: Strength-focused and Meaning-oriented Approach to Resilience and Transformation (SMART) as a model of crisis intervention that uses a holistic view of health outpatient commitment as a delivery system assisted conception and social work needs in the United Kingdom a study on the psychological distress between elderly Israeli residents and immigrant family caregivers impact of prolonged terrorist attacks on children and adolescents in Israel stress experienced by social workers working with terror victims integration of social workers into hospital disaster response teams in Australia academic practice research partnerships for health social workers evaluation of the outcomes from the Mount Sinai Social Work Leadership Enhancement Program discussion of the lessons learned from the 75-year history of health social work in Melbourne, Australia and more! International Social Health Care Policy, Program, and Studies is horizon-expanding reading that is perfect for social workers dealing with a global community, social work libraries, educators, students, and libraries of all types.

By chronicling the transformations of hospitals from houses of mercy to tools for confinement, from dwellings of rehabilitation to spaces for clinical teaching and research, from rooms for birthing and dying to institutions of science and technology, this book provides a historical approach to understanding of today's hospitals. The story is told in a dozen episodes which illustrate hospitals in particular times and places, covering important themes and developments in the history of medicine and therapeutics, from ancient Greece to the era of AIDS. This book furnishes a unique insight into the world of meanings and emotions associated with hospital life and patienthood by including narratives by both patients and care givers. By conceiving of hospitals as houses of order capable of taming the chaos associated with suffering, illness, and death, we can better understand the significance of their ritualized routines and rules. From their beginnings, hospitals were places of spiritual and physical recovery. They should continue to respond to all human needs. As traditional testimonials to human empathy and benevolence, hospitals must endure as spaces of healing.

Health policy is a central preoccupation of many, if not all, developing countries. This innovative book presents a selection of ten studies illustrating that carefully conducted research can address common health policy issues.The studies included in this book exemplify the major gains to patients and citizens that can accrue from research efforts, stimulating research capacity in developing countries. Although many of the challenges confronting health systems are universal, it is often the case that research results derived from developed countries can be misleading when applied to low or middle-income settings. The authors also demonstrate the best examples of successful research on health policies and systems from diverse countries such as Argentina, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chile, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Sri Lanka and Taiwan. This insightful book will be a valuable research tool for academics, researchers and policymakers in economics and health. International agencies interested in applied research in health policy and economics will also find it a stimulating read.