By combining electronic communication and information technology with healthcare practices, e-health promises access to health information, diagnosis, treatment, and care to patients who may "enter" and interact with the system in new ways. Telemedicine and E-Health Services, Policies, and Applications: Advancements and Developments offers a comprehensive and integrated approach to telemedicine by collecting e-health experiences and applications from around the world and by exploring developments and trends in medical informatics. Researchers and professionals in health management, medicine, nursing, and medical informatics will find discussions of critical issues in the emerging field of e- health. The book also introduces innovative concepts and services at the leading edge of healthcare and information technology, which may enable a safer, higher quality, more equitable and sustainable health system.

In the past century there has been awareness of the importance of a global public health perspective in understanding the etiology, course and treatment of mental disorders. However, just recently there has been a focus on population science and with it an evidence-based call to improving public mental health in communities. Mental Health in Public Health synthesizes important topics in public health psychiatry that were discussed at the American Psychopathological Association (APPA) meeting in 2010. The book, like the APPA meeting, aims to bring advanced knowledge of the social and environmental risk factors for psychiatric disorders, as well as ideas for preventing them. Chapters are written by experts from around the world and include such public health concerns as Veteran's mental health, mental health disparities among minorities, causes of addictions, and mortality of these disorders.

At present, human society is facing a health care crisis that is affecting patients worldwide. In the United States, it is generally believed that the major problem is lack of affordable access to health care (i.e. health insurance). This book takes an unprecedented approach to address this issue by proposing that the major problem is not lack of affordable access to health care per se, but lack of access to better, safer, and more affordable medicines. The latter problem is present not only in the United States and the developing world but also in countries with socialized health care systems, such as Europe and the rest of the industrialized world. This book provides a comparative analysis of the health care systems throughout the world and also examines the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.

Examines the health care structure of the United States, Europe, and the third world, both separately and comparativelyOffers primary source insight through in-depth interviews with pharmaceutical and health care industry leaders from around the worldCarefully explains, in clear terms, the intricacies of the health care and pharmaceutical system and how these intricacies have led to the current crisisOffers concrete, comprehensive solutions to the health care crisis

User-Driven Healthcare and Narrative Medicine: Utilizing Collaborative Social Networks and Technologies fills this gap by exploring various individual user driven strategies that move towards solving multiple clinical system problems in healthcare, utilizing real life examples. Documenting individual concrete experiences, reflective observations, abstract conceptualizations and particular instances of active experimentation, this text is a valuable resource not only for the healthcare academic community, but patients interested in social networking to improve their own healthcare outcomes.

Around half the world's population live in countries where the fertility rate is far below the replacement rate and where life expectancy is increasing dramatically. Using Singapore as a case study, Social Policy in an Ageing Society explores what might happen in a dynamic and prosperous society when falling births, longer life expectancy and rising expectations put disproportionate pressure on scarce resources that have alternative uses. David Reisman investigates the challenges facing Singapore, where a rapidly rising median age and the growing pressure of the elderly upon medical attention are threatening to disrupt the economic and even the political status quo. The dependency of the old upon the young is becoming a financial and an emotional burden. Health care is swelling in quantity and price. Voluntary and compulsory savings are being used up. New demands for pensions and subsidies are challenging the national ideology of family network and self-reliance. Despite a wealth of prospective problems, the author argues that viable solutions can be found. Discretionary savings can increase. Reverse mortgages can monetise owner-occupied property. A higher participation rate can give the elderly the opportunity to earn a living for themselves. This book concludes that public policy must play its part in facilitating these solutions. It must ensure that the old retain their dignity. The old should not lie where they fall. This comprehensive, intelligible and highly original cross-disciplinary study will appeal to a wide-ranging audience. Readers will include academics, researchers and students with an interest in health economics, the economics of development, social policy and administration, public policy and the socio-economic aspects of medicine.

In The Movement for Global Mental Health: Critical Views from South and Southeast Asia, prominent anthropologists, public health physicians, and psychiatrists respond sympathetically but critically to the Movement for Global Mental Health (MGMH). They question some of its fundamental assumptions: the idea that "mental disorders" can clearly be identified; that they are primarily of biological origin; that the world is currently facing an "epidemic" of them; that the most appropriate treatments for them normally involve psycho-pharmaceutical drugs; and that local or indigenous therapies are of little interest or importance for treating them. The contributors argue that, on the contrary, defining "mental disorders" is difficult and culturally variable; that social and biographical factors are often important causes of them; that the "epidemic" of mental disorders may be an effect of new ways of measuring them; and that the countries of South and Southeast Asia have abundant, though non-psychiatric, resources for dealing with them. In short, they advocate a thoroughgoing mental health pluralism.

Written directly to individuals who have experienced childhood trauma, this book provides essential information that allows victims to begin recovering from their immense pain and suffering, and empowers them to examine their specific issues in order to become a true survivor. The American Medical Association currently estimates at least one in every five adults suffered abuse as a child. While childhood abuse or trauma is certainly not a new issue, it has reached epidemic proportion. Yet most clinicians have not been sufficiently trained to appreciate or understand the devastating long-term impact of abuse on the total person. John J. Lemoncelli, EdD, authored this book to enable those who suffer in silence to understand what happened, take control, and begin and maintain a program of recovery. It helps those abused in childhood to grasp how their experience impacted their development and the extent to which it negatively affects their present lives; encourages them to let go of the belief that they are damaged, dirty, or at fault; and provides an effective strategy for externalizing the source of their anguish, rather than blaming themselves. The author outlines several stages and common issues that may need to be addressed, but as no "one size fits all" treatment is possible, he provides strategies that empower victims to identify the specific sources of their pain.

This revealing book tackles the daunting problem of increasing chronic illness in America, offering fresh ideas for the ways in which the challenge can be successfully managed. Remaking Chronic Care in the Age of Health Care Reform: Changes for Lower Cost, Higher Quality Treatment is nothing less than a blueprint for a new mode of chronic care. It depicts a current system in which there is little financial incentive to furnish coordinated services via appropriate primary care and few penalties for failure to deliver such care. Arguing that the current system is unsustainable, the book documents efforts that have been made to promote better coordination of care through patient-centered medical homes and accountable care organizations. Specifically, the book focuses on linking the ongoing innovations in health care practices with the supports for scaling up innovations found in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. It shows how expanding and improving primary care as the vehicle for care coordination will reduce costs for those with conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, hypertension, or other longstanding disorders, but also makes it clear that incentives have to be realigned if such improved primary care is to become a reality. 400 up-to-date references A brief history of the development of patient-centered primary care Qualitative descriptions of what it means to have a chronic illness and how it can be managed in the community Comments from patients about appropriate and inappropriate professional behavior

Over the decades, the fields of health information systems and informatics have seen rapid growth. Such integrative efforts within the two disciplines have resulted in emerging innovations within the realm of medicine and healthcare. The Handbook of Research on Emerging Perspectives on Healthcare Information Systems and Informatics provides emerging research on the innovative practices of information systems and informatic software in providing efficient, safe, and impactful healthcare systems. While highlighting topics such as conceptual modeling, surveillance data, and decision support systems, this handbook explores the applications and advancements in technological adoption and application of information technology in health institutions. This publication is a vital resource for hospital administrators, healthcare professionals, researchers, and practitioners seeking current research on health information systems in the digital era.