How can countries chart their own course toward universal health coverage? Like many ambitious global goals, universal health coverage (UHC) remains an aspiration for many countries. The World Health Organization estimates that half the world's population lacks access to basic health services. Moreover, this already staggering number masks inequities that exist between and within countries: gaps between rich and poor, men and women, young and old, and among people of different ethnic backgrounds. UHC promises to give all people greater access to higher quality health services without the fear of financial hardship. But the task of turning this vision into reality poses a significant challenge for countries at all stages of economic development. In The Road to Universal Health Coverage, Jeffrey L. Sturchio, Ilona Kickbusch, Louis Galambos, and their contributors explore the ways in which the private sector is already helping countries achieve universal health coverage. Stressing the many positive aspects of UHC developments, the book focuses on the new health economy and the sometimes controversial dimensions of the private sector helping countries achieve UHC. Theoretical chapters are complemented by a series of case studies that explore the myriad ways in which private sector actors are already addressing UHC. What are the conditions required for countries to translate their successful experiences and policy promises into practical results for improved population health? In answering this question, the contributors examine the relationship between health employment and economic growth. They also analyze the critical success factors for private sector engagement in UHC, the role of healthy women in creating and sustaining healthy economies, and the role of the pharmaceutical sector. Looking to the political, economic, and social implications of moving from aspiration to implementation, The Road to Universal Health Coverage points the way to the many opportunities ahead as companies continue to work with governments and civil society partners to help achieve UHC. Jean-Louise Arcand, Hector Arreola-Ornelas, Nathan J. Blanchet, Christine Bugos, Jim Campbell, John Campbell, Jr., Ibadat Dhillon, Donika Dimovska, Christian Franz, Michael Furst, Louis Galambos, Belen Garijo, Adeel Ishtiaq, Sowmya Kadandale, Ilona Kickbusch, Felicia Marie Knaul, Jeremy Lauer, Robert Marten, Justin McCarthy, Harald Nusser, K. Srinath Reddy, Yasmine Rouai, Jeffrey L. Sturchio, Cicely Thomas, Tana Wuliji, Snow Yang, Pascal Zurn

This book is concerned with the provision of health information remotely via the latest communications technologies. The rapidly aging population has led governments to seek more effective methods of maintaining high standards of public health through the cultivation of healthy living, as well as improved and more efficiently delivered health advice and diagnostic services. Experiments with remote provision of health information and transactional services have been piloted to assess in this context the efficacy of new communications technologies, such as personal computers linked to the Internet, interactive digital television in the home, and electronically networked touch-screen kiosks in public locations. Such developments represent part of a wider agenda--through electronic government--to cultivate more dynamic democracies and involve citizens of a time of growing political alienation. The impact of such developments can only properly be established through systematic empirical research. This book examines what has been learned from research-based evaluations of digital health projects.
It draws upon research from different parts of the world and offers an up-to-date review of the literature in this field. It also presents a detailed account of recent research carried out in Britain on the effectiveness of government-sponsored pilot health information, advice and transactional services provided via kiosks, the Internet, and interactive digital television. It considers the effectiveness of these communications technologies in relation to a range of distinct applications, their use by the public and perceived usefulness and authority, and the potential of remote health deliveryto support or supplant more traditional and direct forms of health diagnosis and treatment.
The book will be of interest to those involved in the academic study of digital media developments, e-government and remote health, as well as to policy-makers and practitioners working in these rapidly growing fields of endeavor.

This book is concerned with the provision of health information remotely via the latest communications technologies. The rapidly aging population has led governments to seek more effective methods of maintaining high standards of public health through the cultivation of healthy living, as well as improved and more efficiently delivered health advice and diagnostic services. Experiments with remote provision of health information and transactional services have been piloted to assess in this context the efficacy of new communications technologies, such as personal computers linked to the Internet, interactive digital television in the home, and electronically networked touch-screen kiosks in public locations. Such developments represent part of a wider agenda--through electronic government--to cultivate more dynamic democracies and involve citizens of a time of growing political alienation. The impact of such developments can only properly be established through systematic empirical research. This book examines what has been learned from research-based evaluations of digital health projects.
It draws upon research from different parts of the world and offers an up-to-date review of the literature in this field. It also presents a detailed account of recent research carried out in Britain on the effectiveness of government-sponsored pilot health information, advice and transactional services provided via kiosks, the Internet, and interactive digital television. It considers the effectiveness of these communications technologies in relation to a range of distinct applications, their use by the public and perceived usefulness and authority, and the potential of remote health deliveryto support or supplant more traditional and direct forms of health diagnosis and treatment.
The book will be of interest to those involved in the academic study of digital media developments, e-government and remote health, as well as to policy-makers and practitioners working in these rapidly growing fields of endeavor.

Imagine if whole communities - not simply a community's direct health services - really cared about its member's health and social well-being. Imagine if that care extended to the dying, death and losses experienced by everyone in that community. Imagine if "death" was an idea that went beyond the "death of the body" and came to include the deaths of identity and belonging as these endings apply to people living with dementia or the aftermath of sexual abuse, dispossession of indigenous or refugee peoples. Such community and policy frameworks partly do exist in the World Health Organization's "Healthy Cities" international programs, but they often do not include end-of-life care issues such as death, dying and loss. This book takes the idea of the Healthy City and extends these policy and practice ideas to include frequently overlooked end-of-life care experiences and concerns. Compassion is an idea that goes beyond "health" and "welfare" and embraces and promotes empathy and support as new forms of "health promotion."
Beginning with an examination of the parallel histories of public health and end-of-life care the book moves to a critique of the current limits of both for human experiences of death, dying and loss. The theory and policy ideas of Healthy Cities are introduced and a comparison with Compassionate Cities policies made. Policies of Compassionate Cities are discussed alongside their sociological basis. The strengths and weaknesses of such large-scale programs are examined. The final sections of the book outline and summarize basic models of community development and action strategies for implementing a "Compassionate Cities" program.
This is a book for practitionerswho want to include end-of-life care issues into their health promotion and community development practices. It is also a book for end-of-life care practitioners who want to include community development and health promotion ideas into their practice. For social sciences, public health and end-of-life care academics this book argues that the integration of death, loss and compassion into contemporary public health ideas may address important long-standing limits and criticism of public health. "Compassion" may go beyond "infection control" and "health promotion" and invite us to think of a "third wave" movement of public health that joins empathy, equality and action together as practical policies for future domestic and international well-being.

First published in 1999, this volume examines the inclusion of disabled children as a category of children in need under the Children Act 1989 and as eligible for assessments of need under the NHS and Community Care Act 1990 has drawn renewed attention to the plight of these children and their families. This book presents the findings from a study of parents whose child has cerebral palsy. The research undertaken at the cost of social policy change focuses on the apparent gap between the well-argued proposals for community care and the experiences of carers. A bewildering picture emerges of inadequate services and treatments from the health, education and social services in the public, voluntary and private sectors. Parents experience isolation and stress as they explore ways to improve the quality of their children's lives by experimenting with unregulated and under-researched treatments for an incurable physical condition. The conclusion that there has been deterioration in provision for these families is a serious indictment on current social policy direction.

This book discusses how to identify those children who are at hazard of becoming less than they might be as adults. It explores critical policy issues in broadening access to health care services and reassessing results of major intervention efforts for improving life chances of vulnerable children.

This book provides an examination of the American health care system, a benchmark for cost-containment efforts, exploring two worlds: that of cost containment and that of the patient experience. It emphasises on the quality of care as perceived by the individual patient.

Linda Morrison brings the voices and issues of a little-known, complex social movement to the attention of sociologists, mental health professionals, and the general public. The members of this social movement work to gain voice for their own experience, to raise consciousness of injustice and inequality, to expose the darker side of psychiatry, and to promote alternatives for people in emotional distress. Talking Back to Psychiatry explores the movement's history, its complex membership, its strategies and goals, and the varied response it has received from psychiatry, policy makers, and the public at large.

This in depth comparative study is one of the first books to fully explore the emergence of modern Western-style hospitals in China. The author disscusses how the hospital established in China -- its planning and architecture, financing, and all aspects of day-to-day operation -- differed from its counterpart in the West. These differences were never due to a single or dominant cause. They were a result of a complex process involving accommodation, appreciation, negotiation, opportunism and pragmatism. Doctors were trying to balance the pressures of the political, cultural, economic and physical realities in China whilst maintaining their own professional standards. story. It enriches the history of the Western hospital by describing its manifestation beyond the West. Also, being a place where ordinary Americans met ordinary Chinese in the most intimate of circumstances, the hospital provides a unique window into the economic, political, cultural and social conditions of life in China at the time.

Survival in the growing managed care environment requires the integration of financial analysis, market appraisal, and administrative management. The authors of Managed Service Restructuring in Health Care provide a unique tool for readers to enable them to make these successful management decisions in restructuring services. The unique approach in this book assists health care managers and prospective managers as they seek to solve the problem of how to deal with health care services that appear to be no longer productive. In Managed Service Restructuring in Health Care, the authors provide a solid theoretical base for what they have developed in MSR (Managed Service Restructuring)--a conscious--not crisis--management tool. They prepare readers for implementing MSR techniques by describing them in detail for their application to readers'situations. MSR approaches to planned health care management, as introduced in this book, help administrators channel scarce resources to the services the community wants and needs most. Facts and cases are offered as examples of when and how MSR techniques have been applied successfully. The authors also include failure cases where, if MSR techniques had been followed, health care providers would have survived in several communities.Incorporate the information in this book to enhance long-range planning and prevent closure of health care services needed by the community. Along with financial and marketing tools necessary for long-range planning, Goldman and Mukherjee list warning signals that alert professionals to the need to review the services and products offered. They also fully explore these areas: Product Life Cycle Boston Consulting Group's Portfolio of Business (Growth Share Matrix) Product Development Product Planning Public Service of Health Care Providers Centers of Excellence Service Diversification/Consolidation Investment/Disinvestment Criteria Marketing in Competitive Environment for Health ServicesHealth care managers, hospital administrators, and students in health services management programs can benefit from the focus on conscious planning in Managed Service Restructuring in Health Care. While many of the examples take place within acute care hospitals, the MSR approach and this book are designed to assist any health care administrator or manager. With knowledge of when and how services can be prolonged, professionals can more effectively lead their health care provider into a more competitive environment. The analyses used in the book should enhance many readers'knowledge of basic marketing and financial principles and theories important to restructuring and providing health services today.

With the development of mobile internet technology, people's lifestyle and consumer behavior are changing rapidly. Nowadays, the products on the market are updating more and more frequently, and the traditional marketing theory and brand theory fail to get with the mobile internet. So, what's the innovative marketing to take in the new era? Since 2012, China has entered into the mobile era, and became a major country of mobile internet application. The book summarizes the experience of the author accumulated from many trials and errors in management and marketing innovation, so as to form the pattern of management and marketing for the next 30 years. Mobile Marketing Management lays the foundation for the new era with four pillars: service, substance, superuser, space, known as 4S theory for short. In view of the concept of customer-first, it is all about service, and products become productized service concepts. In view of the failure of mass communication, the competition among all services becomes the competition of substance differentiation. Regarding the popularity of self-organization, it becomes a trend to cooperate with people rather than the company to develop the market. In view of the principle of fuzzy market boundary, the enterprises shall optimize their living space and evolve their development space. This book contains numerous case studies along with analysis and creates the discipline of mobile marketing management, providing innovative theories, methods and tools for the marketing of enterprises. Through this book, readers can master the marketing methods of the mobile internet era. They can apply the marketing theory in this book to guide the marketing practice, thus improving marketing efficiency and reducing marketing costs.

Recommended to all health professionals currently working or planning to set up services in paediatrics and telemedicine. This book is written by an international team of contributors who are working with paediatric telemedicine services. It covers a broad spectrum of topics: Specialist services: including Fetal medicine, Child psychiatry , Diabetes , Asthma, Burns, Paediatric surgery clinics, Sexual abuse, Tele-ophthalmology, Teleradiology and image transfer, Tele-ENT Primary and community services: including Telemedicine and under-served communities (US and developing countries), Palliative care, Rehabilitation, Telephone help lines for parents Education services including: Education of doctors - Grand Rounds in Queensland, Australia, Educational videoconferences for parents in the Bronx, and websites for parents and children

The Tidal Model represents a significant alternative to mainstream mental health theories, emphasising how those suffering from mental health problems can benefit from taking a more active role in their own treatment. Based on extensive research, The Tidal Model charts the development of this approach, outlining the theoretical basis of the model to illustrate the benefits of a holistic model of care which promotes self-management and recovery. Clinical examples are also employed to show how, by exploring rather than ignoring a client's narrative, practitioners can encourage the individual's greater involvement in the decisions affecting their assessment and treatment. The appendices guide the reader in developing their own assessment and care plans. The Tidal Model's comprehensive coverage of the theory and practice of this model will be of great use to a range of mental health professionals and those in training in the fields of mental health nursing, social work, psychotherapy, clinical psychology and occupational therapy.

Our public health system is primarily concerned with the promotion of health and the prevention of disease. But while everyone may agree with these goals in principle, in practice public health is a highly contentious policy arena that is inevitably entangled with sensitive issues ranging from occupational safety and environmental hazards to health education, immunization, and treatment of addiction and sexually transmitted disease. Today however, concern for protecting the population against bio-terrorism and "new" epidemics such as SARS is tipping the balance back toward increased support for public health. This book focuses on the politics, policies, and methodologies of public health and the twenty-first century challenges to the public health system of the United States. It explores the system's relatively weak position in the American political culture, medical establishment, and legal system; scientific and privacy issues in public health; and the challenges posed by ecological risk and the looming threat of bio-terrorist attack. Each chapter includes study questions. The volume also includes a chronology of major laws and events in public health policy along with an extensive bibliography.

Stay up-to-date in health care ministry as cultural and spiritual heterogeneity increases Ministry in the Spiritual and Cultural Diversity in Health Care: Increasing the Competency of Chaplains identifies concrete methods for improving the provision of pastoral care to culturally and religiously diverse patients and/or residents. Experts from both inside and outside the profession with established records in cross-cultural work and experience with religious diversity discuss in detail the multicultural revolution that has challenged the traditional health care delivery system. With this timely resource, you will be able to respond to the requests and desires of patients and their loved ones with compassion and consideration for their cultural and spiritual backgrounds. Ministry in the Spiritual and Cultural Diversity in Health Care explores the challenges for the spiritual care professional in health care to address the emotional, cultural, and spiritual needs of a patient without assumption, bias, or discomfort for either person.In addition to advice, recommendations, and real-world examples and case studies, this valuable resource provides a guide for chaplaincy supervisors to use when training chaplain students to impart such unprejudiced care. The book is devoted to establishing chaplains who are clinically trained and certified to contribute to the increasingly pluralistic and global health care context with assorted religious, spiritual, and cultural values, beliefs, and practices. Ministry in the Spiritual and Cultural Diversity in Health Care will keep you updated on: how a health care chaplain can overlook the differing worldview of a patient and his or her family how cultural diversity impacts the work of the health care chaplain specific strategies and tools that will assist chaplains in acquiring spiritual and cultural competency definitions, obstacles, and standards of care for fostering a genuine multicultural perspective among health care givers, particularly chaplains how professional health care chaplains take leadership in responding to cultural and spiritual diversity within health care environments

This new book is a 'what and how to' guide to writing for successful scholarly publication in the emerging fields of healthcare improvement and patient safety. While there are many useful authors' aids for scholarly biomedical publication, none focuses explicitly on these relatively new fields. It offers practical advice that includes preparation and organization of a scholarly healthcare improvement manuscript, where to submit it to find the most likely interested editor and journal, how to take full advantage of coauthors' working together effectively, and strategies for authors to reach a broader health professions readership.

Research into the delivery and organisation of health care is a vital component in the improvement of health services. A wide range of disciplines and methods needs to be deployed to address research questions in this field. This unique Reader brings together thirty examples of high-quality SDO research using a range of disciplines, including organisational studies, epidemiology, sociology, history, health economics, anthropology and policy studies, illustrating the use of qualitative and quantitative approaches and primary and secondary research. Expert editorial commentary highlights different themes and methodological issues. Studying the Delivery and Organisation of Health Services: A Reader covers six main areas of research: ullet Patient and carer centred services: Organising services around the user ullet Patient and carer centred services: User involvement in organising services ullet Workforce issues ullet Evaluating models of service delivery ullet Quality management and the management of change ullet Studying health care organisations. topics covered, the research methods used and their overall significance. This Reader is a companion volume to Studying the Organisation and Delivery of Health Services: Research Methods edited by Naomi Fulop, Pauline Allen, Aileen Clarke and Nick Black also published by Routledge (2001). It makes top-quality, empirical and secondary research readily accessible to health service managers and health care professionals who are interested in research, to health service researchers and to undergraduate and postgraduate students following courses in health and health management studies.

Research into the delivery and organisation of health care is a vital component in the improvement of health services. A wide range of disciplines and methods needs to be deployed to address research questions in this field. This unique Reader brings together thirty examples of high-quality SDO research using a range of disciplines, including organisational studies, epidemiology, sociology, history, health economics, anthropology and policy studies, illustrating the use of qualitative and quantitative approaches and primary and secondary research. Expert editorial commentary highlights different themes and methodological issues. Studying the Delivery and Organisation of Health Services: A Reader covers six main areas of research: ullet Patient and carer centred services: Organising services around the user ullet Patient and carer centred services: User involvement in organising services ullet Workforce issues ullet Evaluating models of service delivery ullet Quality management and the management of change ullet Studying health care organisations. topics covered, the research methods used and their overall significance. This Reader is a companion volume to Studying the Organisation and Delivery of Health Services: Research Methods edited by Naomi Fulop, Pauline Allen, Aileen Clarke and Nick Black also published by Routledge (2001). It makes top-quality, empirical and secondary research readily accessible to health service managers and health care professionals who are interested in research, to health service researchers and to undergraduate and postgraduate students following courses in health and health management studies.

Cost-effectiveness analysis is becoming an increasingly important tool for decision making in the health systems. Cost-Effectiveness of Medical Treatments formulates the cost-effectiveness analysis as a statistical decision problem, identifies the sources of uncertainty of the problem, and gives an overview of the frequentist and Bayesian statistical approaches for decision making. Basic notions on decision theory such as space of decisions, space of nature, utility function of a decision and optimal decisions, are explained in detail using easy to read mathematics. Features Focuses on cost-effectiveness analysis as a statistical decision problem and applies the well-established optimal statistical decision methodology. Discusses utility functions for cost-effectiveness analysis. Enlarges the class of models typically used in cost-effectiveness analysis with the incorporation of linear models to account for covariates of the patients. This permits the formulation of the group (or subgroup) theory. Provides Bayesian procedures to account for model uncertainty in variable selection for linear models and in clustering for models for heterogeneous data. Model uncertainty in cost-effectiveness analysis has not been considered in the literature. Illustrates examples with real data. In order to facilitate the practical implementation of real datasets, provides the codes in Mathematica for the proposed methodology. The motivation for the book is to make the achievements in cost-effectiveness analysis accessible to health providers, who need to make optimal decisions, to the practitioners and to the students of health sciences. Elias Moreno is Professor of Statistics and Operational Research at the University of Granada, Spain, Corresponding Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Spain, and elect member of ISI. Francisco Jose Vazquez-Polo is Professor of Mathematics and Bayesian Methods at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and Head of the Department of Quantitative Methods. Miguel Angel Negrin is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Quantitative Methods at the ULPGC. His main research topics are Bayesian methods applied to Health Economics, economic evaluation and cost-effectiveness analysis, meta-analysis and equity in the provision of healthcare services.

The plethora of inquiry reports published in the fields of health and welfare in the 1990s covered the full range of user groups, individuals and institutions. What similarities or differences were there between these inquiries? How effective were they in bringing about change? Whose interest did they best serve? These are some of the questions The Age of the Inquiry explores in detail, bringing together distinguished contributors with personal experience of chairing or providing evidence to inquiries to consider: the participant's view of inquiries the purpose of inquiries the impact of inquiries on health and social policy inquiries into: child abuse and death; homicides by mental health service users; the abuse of adults with learning disabilities; the abuse of older people. Wide-ranging in scope, The Age of the Inquiry focuses on service and policy development. It provides an invaluable text for students, teachers and professionals from a wide range of disciplines and professional groups.

The theme of this collection of essays is partnerships between health and local government. Such partnerships are not new. Nor is discussion of the merits (or otherwise) of collaboration between the two sectors. The history of collaboration between these two sectors of the public services has been chequered to say the least; indeed, the boundary between health and social care has been described as a 'Berlin Wall'.
However, New Labour's ascension to power in 1997 has rekindled an avid interest in this issue. The government's emphasis on partnerships and collaboration has been projected as a key element of its 'Third Way' philosophy. Partnership working in particular has been viewed as the most appropriate means of addressing endemic, obdurate social ills, such as social exclusion, poor health, poverty, and low educational standards.

The theme of this collection of essays is partnerships between health and local government. Such partnerships are not new. Nor is discussion of the merits (or otherwise) of collaboration between the two sectors. And the history of collaboration between these two sectors of the public services has been checkered to say the least; indeed, the boundary between health and social care has been described as a 'Berlin Wall'. However, New Labour's ascension to power in 1997 has re-kindled an avid interest in this issue. The Government's emphasis on partnerships and collaboration has been projected as a key element of their 'Third Way' philosophy. Partnership working in particular has been viewed as the most appropriate means of addressing endemic, obdurate social ills, such as social exclusion, poor health, poverty, low educational standards and so on. No one agency can tackle these 'wicked issues' which require collaborative action. New Labour's enthusiasm for partnership approaches produced many new iniatives, legislation and guidance, powers and duties, incentives and rhetoric. And the Government's exhortation to collaborate has been particularly intense in the area of joint working bet

Through observations in three intensive care units, this book draws on the reality of practice to explore how nurses and doctors work in intensive care settings. It examines:
the power held by the competing knowledge bases
the roles of the different professions
the decision-making process
the sources of conflict
the need for change.
Drawing together sociological theories and clinical practice, Power and Conflict Between Doctors and Nurses explores the role of nurses in delivering contemporary health care. It makes a strong case for interdisciplinary working and is particularly timely when health care policy is challenging work boundaries in health care.

A primary premise of this special issue is that religious faith and spirituality comprise an integral component of lay discourse and lay theories associated with health. The articles included in this collection begin to fill a void and--at the same time--illustrate a role health communication fulfills within the behavioral sciences, emphasizing how everyday people make sense of health conditions in their daily living. Following the introduction, the next paper provides an integrated synthesis of the ways and means that religious faith and spirituality have been assessed, primarily through use of quantitative measures. The next two articles utilize instruments discussed in the previous review. The remaining papers utilize qualitative methods to begin to address the absence of specific understanding regarding religious faith and health communication, answering the challenge to health communicators to enrich the field through greater use of such methodological approaches to inquiry.