This book presents some recent systems engineering and mathematical tools for health care along with their real-world applications by health care practitioners and engineers. Advanced approaches, tools, and algorithms used in operating room scheduling and patient flow are covered. State-of-the-art results from applications of data mining, business process modeling, and simulation in healthcare, together with optimization methods, form the core of the volume. Systems Analysis Tools for Better Health Care Delivery illustrates the increased need of partnership between engineers and health care professionals. This book will benefit researchers and practitioners in health care delivery institutions, staff members and professionals of specialized hospital units, and lecturers and graduate students in engineering, applied mathematics, business administration and health care.

Lasting healthcare for the entire population, specifically the elderly, has become a main priority in society. It is imperative to find ways to boost the longevity of healthcare services for all users. Sustainable Health and Long-Term Care Solutions for an Aging Population is a pivotal reference source featuring the latest scholarly research on issues pertinent to health cost and finding effective ways of financing healthcare for the elderly. Including coverage on a number of topics such as provider accreditation, corporate social responsibility, and data management, this book is ideally designed for policy makers, academicians, researchers, and advanced-level students seeking current research on the innovative planning and development of healthcare.

BTEC First Award Health and Social Care Student Book - Our BTEC First in Health and Social Care Award Book covers Units 1 - 8 so learners have relevant and specific content to complete the new next Pearson BTEC First Award in Health and Social Care for level 2 learners. If learners are studying other sizes of this qualification they might prefer our Full Edition*. - Provides all the underpinning knowledge and understanding needed at level 2 to help learners prepare for the course. - Activities in each unit provide support and guidance for learners, and can be used in the classroom or for independent work. - The new BTEC Assessment Zone guides learners through the challenges of both internal and external assessment with grading tips and support for external assessment. * From 2012, Pearson's BTEC First qualifications have been under re-development, so schools and colleges could be teaching the existing 2010 specification or the new next generation 2012-2013 specification. There are different Student Books to support each specification. If learners are unsure, they should check with their teacher or tutor. Units covered: Unit 1. Human Lifespan Development Unit 2. Health and Social Care Values Unit 3. Effective Communication in Health and Social Care Unit 4. Social influences on Health and Wellbeing Unit 5. Promoting Health and Wellbeing Unit 6. The Impact of Nutrition on Health and Wellbeing Unit 7. Equality and Diversity in Health & Social Care Unit 8. Individual Rights in Health & Social Care

This timely volume explains the pitfalls and problems of managed care for those practitioners, especially child clinicians, who wish to take part in it, while mapping out independent financing strategies for those who wish to remain outside the system. Managing Managed Care provides an overview of the managed care marketplace as it currently affects children and families, reviews relevant legal and financial issues, and illustrates with case examples some problems of the system.

This innovative reference examines how consumer health informatics (CHI) can transform healthcare systems stressed by staffing shortages and budget constraints and challenged by patients taking a more active role in their care. It situates CHI as vital to upgrading healthcare service delivery, detailing the relationship between health information technologies and quality healthcare, and outlining what stakeholders need to learn for health IT systems to function effectively. Wide-ranging content identifies critical issues and answers key questions at the consumer, practitioner, administration, and staff levels, using examples from diverse conditions, countries, technologies, and specialties. In this framework, the benefits of CHI are seen across service domains, from individual patients and consumers to healthcare systems and global health entities. Included in the coverage: Use of video technology in an aged care environment A context-aware remote health monitoring service for improved patient care Accessibility issues in interoperable sharing of electronic health records: physician's perspective Managing gestational diabetes with mobile web-based reporting of glucose readings An organizing vision perspective for developing and adopting e-health solutions An ontology of consumer health informatics Contemporary Consumer Health Informatics combines blueprint and idea book for public health and health informatics students, healthcare professionals, physicians, medical administrators, managers, and IT practitioners.

This book introduces a new theory on the substantial comorbidity that exists between many illnesses and disorders and concurrent symptoms such as pain, impaired sleep and fatigue. The specific illnesses and disorders discussed include obesity, diabetes mellitus type-II, medical illnesses including cardiovascular disease and sleep-disordered breathing, insomnia, disordered eating such as binge-eating disorder and night-eating syndrome, affective distress (anxiety and depression), and comorbidities that are linked to eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. The book posits that the comorbidities are the result of a complex bio-psycho-behavioral mechanism that includes circadian rhythm dysfunction. It examines the statistical and methodological (e.g. measurement) problems that can complicate the understanding of comorbidity and explores a broad range of novel, existing, and repurposed therapy approaches that could have utility in treating comorbid disorders. This book will be of great value to academics as well as practitioners working in the field of psychiatry, health psychology and medicine more broadly.

This issue of Primary Care: Clinics in Office Practice focuses on practice management models for achieving health outcomes in chronic disease management and serves as a key to help the primary care practitioners work with local systems of care, integrate behavioral medicine in primary care, and collaborate with university-based research.

Amid ongoing debate about health care reform, the need for informedanalyses of health policy is greater than ever. The twelve original essays inthis volume show that common public debates routinely bypass complexethical, sociocultural, historical, and political questions about how we shouldaddress ideals of justice and equality in health care. Integrating perspectivesfrom the humanities, social sciences, medicine, and public health, the contributorsilluminate the relationships between justice and health inequalitiesto complicate and enrich debates often dominated by simplistic narratives. Understanding Health Inequalities and Justice grounds key conceptualdiscussions in timely case studies and policy analyses that explore threeoverarching questions: first, how do scholars approach relations betweenhealth inequalities and ideals of justice; second, when do justice considerationsinform solutions to health inequalities, and how do specific healthinequalities affect perceptions of injustice; and third, how can diverse scholarlyapproaches contribute to better health policy? From addressing patientagency in an inequitable health care environment to examining how scholarsof social justice and health care amass evidence, this volume combines theskills and sensibilities of diverse scholars to promote a richer understandingof health and justice and the successful paths to their realization. The contributors are Judith C. Barker, Paula Braveman, Paul Brodwin,Jami Suki Chang, Debra DeBruin, Leslie A. Dubbin, Sarah Horton, Carla C.Keirns, J. Paul Kelleher, Nicholas B. King, Eva Feder Kittay, Joan Liaschenko,Anne Drapkin Lyerly, Mary Faith Marshall, Carolyn Mokley Rouse, JenniferPrah Ruger, and Janet K. Shim.

This open access book about the Zadeh Project demonstrates and explores a core question in clinical ethics: how can ethics consultants be accountable in the face of a robust plurality of ethical standpoints, especially those that underwrite practices and methods for doing ethics consultation as well as those viewpoints and values encountered in daily clinical ethics practice? Underscoring this question is the recognition that the field of clinical ethics consultation has arrived at a crucial point in its maturation. Many efforts are underway to more formally "professionalize" the field, with most aimed toward stabilizing a specific set of institutional considerations. Stretched between these institutional and practical initiatives resides a crucial set of of ethical considerations, chief among them the meaning and scope of responsibility for clinical ethics consultants. Developed around a long-form case scenario, the Zadeh Project provides a multi-layered series of "peer-reviews": critique of the actions of the case scenario's ethics consultant; reflection on clinical ethics method; examination of the many ways that commitments to method and practice can, and do, intersect, overlap, and alter one another. The design and format of this book thus models a key element for clinical ethics practice: the need and ability to provide careful and thoughtful explanation of core moral considerations that emerge among diverse standpoints. Specifically designed for those studying to become and those who are ethics consultants, this book, with its innovative and multi-layered approach, allows readers to share a peer-review-like experience that shows accountability to be what it is, an ethical, not merely procedural or administrative, undertaking.

Rapid progress in health research has led to generation of new knowledge and innovative practices in management of illness. This has resulted in a significant challenge for health professionals: if today we discovered a new therapy through research, when will this discovery be regularly prescribed or utilized to treat all patients suffering from this condition? Knowledge translation is the non-linear and often complicated process of translating knowledge into routine health practices. Technology enabled knowledge translation (TEKT) is the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to accelerate knowledge translation. With the ubiquity of the internet, the proliferation of different approaches in communication and social networking, and the continuously improving technologies from netbooks to smartphones, there are rich opportunities for TEKT in health education, service delivery, and research.

Every day for the next twenty years, more than 10,000 people in the United States will turn 65. With life expectancies increasing as well, many of these Americans will eventually require round-the-clock attention--and we have only begun to prepare for the challenge of caring for them. In Labors of Love, Jason Rodriquez examines the world of the fast-growing elder care industry, providing a nuanced and balanced portrait of the day-to-day lives of the people and organizations that devote their time to supporting America's aging population. Through extensive ethnographic research, interviews with staff and management, and analysis of internal documents, Rodriquez explores the inner workings of two different nursing homes--one for-profit and one non-profit--to understand the connections among the administrative regulations, the professional requirements, and the type of care provided in both types of facilities. He reveals a variety of challenges that nursing home care workers face day to day: battles over the budget; the administrative hurdles of Medicaid and Medicare; the employees' struggle to balance financial stability and compassionate care for residents. Yet, Rodriquez argues, nursing home workers give meaning and dignity to their work by building emotional attachments to residents and their care. An unprecedented study, Labors of Love brings new insight into the underlying structures of a crucial and expanding sector of the American health care system.

This issue covers topics central to the management of the patient with a chronic disease by taking a comprehenisve look at: Successful/Innovative Models in Chronic Disease Management, The Patient-Centered Medical Home, Self-Management Education and Support, Major Pharmacologic Issues in Chronic Disease Management, Health Information Technology, Community-Based Partnerships for Improving Chronic Disease Management, and Effective Strategies for Behavioral Change, Diabetes Management, CHF Management, Asthma Management, and Depression Management.

This book's main message is to advocate for a collaborative, affective, visualised and future-oriented research agenda. The book finds its inspiration in "the chasm [that separates] philosophising about being shattered and thinking that is shattered" (Heidegger 1946, Letter on Humanism). To explore this chasm, the book journeys through a range of psychological and posthuman perspectives on affect and becoming. The aim of this journey is to reconcile shattered thinking-feeling with Spinoza's ethics according to which 'our capacity to be affected determines our capacity to act'. The book elaborates this capacity to become in terms of our uniquely human propensity to experiment with counter-intuitive inversions: in this case, to call to account that which is affected, rather than that which affects. The book will appeal to students and academics working in the fields of alternative research methods, the social sciences, and organisation studies.

Geographic Information Systems and Public Health: Eliminating Perinatal Disparity is designed to introduce a community health group to the potential of using a geographic information system (GIS) to improve birth outcomes. Chapters in this book provide an overview of why geography is important in the investigation of health, the importance of the four main components of a GIS (data input, manipulation, analysis and visualization), how important neighborhood context is when using a GIS, and the general differences found between urban and rural health environments. In addition, the reader is introduced to the importance of GIS and confidentially, how a mobile urban population may impact GIS findings, and why pregnant mothers should catered for when making disaster response plans. Examples are drawn heavily from the Baton Rouge Healthy Start program, with one chapter providing an overview guide as to how GIS can be incorporated in the initial grant writing stage for such a program.

This book focuses on Africa's challenges, achievements, and failures over the past several centuries using an interdisciplinary approach that combines theory and fact and evidence-based practices and interventions in public health, and argues that most of the health problems in Africa are not a result of scarce or lack of resources, but of the misconceived and misplaced priorities that have left the continent behind every other on the globe in terms of health, education, and equitable distribution of opportunities and access to (quality) health as agreed by the United Nations member states at Alma-Ata in 1978.

"A must-read for both current and future retirees." --Robert Powell, Retirement Daily Includes the Most Up-to-Date Information for 2020-2021 Confused by Medicare? Get answers from Maximize Your Medicare, an informative guide by nationally recognized expert Jae W. Oh. Maximize Your Medicare helps readers understand how and what to choose when deciding on Medicare options. This book shows readers how to: Enroll in Medicare and avoid never-ending penalties Compare Medigap vs. Medicare Advantage Discern the differences among Parts A, B, and D Increase benefits every year Avoid costly errors Deal with special circumstances Get the most from the plan Written in a clear and concise style, Maximize Your Medicare is a vital resource for every American aged sixty-five or older, as well as for their families and care coordinators.

This contributed volume draws a vital picture of the health care sector, which, like no other is affected by technology push and stakeholder pull. Innovative product and service solutions emerge, which have to integrate different stakeholders' interests. This book studies current challenges in health care management from different perspectives. Research articles analyze the situation in the health care sector and present solutions in the following areas: the health care system; hospitals; teams in health care; patients' perspectives; assessment of technologies and innovations; and toolkits for organizing health care. All these contributions summarize pressing hot topics in the health care sector, analyze their future potential, and derive managerial implications. Outstanding best practices throughout Europe are presented in the case study section of the book. Consequently, the book closes the gap between science and practical application by addressing not only readers from academia but also practitioners working in the health care industry.

This is the first and only book on the diagnosis and treatment of cicatricial alopecia, written by leading experts in the field. This highly illustrated and practical text helps residents and practicing dermatologists to accurately diagnose and treat the scarring alopecias.

Now, more than ever, the field of rehabilitation psychology is growing. Research programs are focusing on involving consumer participation from communities and society at large. Interventions are now designed to make fundamental changes so that all people - regardless of sensory, physical, or cognitive capacity - can fully participate. In addition, the field has begun to address central concerns in health care delivery and health policy. This book - one of the few that focuses solely on rehabilitation psychology research - provides recommendations for future research programs, policy changes, and clinical interventions from the various perspectives within rehabilitation psychology research and practice, and demonstrates how much the field can evolve with the implementation of these changes. Topics covered include: assistive technology; cultural diversity; community integration; future of rehabilitation research; health policy; employment; and health disparities.

This lucid and comprehensive book explores the ways in which the State, the market and the citizen can collaborate to satisfy people's health care needs. It argues that health care is not a commodity like any other. It asks if its unique properties mean that there is a role for social regulation and political management. Apples and oranges can be left to the buyers and the sellers. Health care may require an input from the consensus, the experts, the insurers, the politicians and the bureaucrats as well. David Reisman makes a fresh contribution to the debate. He argues that the three policy issues that are of primary importance are choice, equality and cost. He explores the balance between the patient, the practitioner and public opinion; the disparities in outcome indicators and access to medical care; and the escalation in prices and quantities at the expense of other areas of social life. Reisman concludes that, despite its significance for the individual and the nation, there is no single definition of health or health care. The maximand is a mix. Yet decisions have to be made. This thought-provoking and insightful book will be of use to students and scholars of public policy, social policy and health economics. It will also be of interest to medical practitioners who want to situate hard choices about health and illness in a broad multidisciplinary context.

Fundamentals of US Health Care: Principles and Perspectives takes the broad, complex topic of health care in the United States and presents it in a digestible, easy-to-read format. Focusing on some of the fundamental issues facing the health care system today, this book delivers simple, objective coverage of key topics including cost, access, quality, financing, manpower, and public health. By blending current, factual data, basic principles, and multiple perspectives on controversial issues, the book provides a balanced approach to the core issues facing the health care industry. Case studies and vignettes throughout allow readers to explore how these problems impact real-life situations and hone their critical thinking skills for their professional careers.

This book highlights (1) the significance of reciprocity for the maintenance of self-esteem in old age and (2) the negative implications for the well-being of dependent older people when that significance goes unrecognized and, as a consequence, opportunities to give back to society, as well as take from it, are not facilitated by those in a position to do so. The discussion draws on research undertaken in the UK and Southern India into the extent to which having the self-perception of being valued in the world is important to older people in receipt of care support and whether, in their experience, this is recognized by others. The author presents an analysis of theoretical insights from leading thinkers across a broad range of literature and from several disciplines, including social theory, social work, philosophy, and gerontology. The author also gives voice to the perspectives of those dependent older people not often heard because of marginalizing and disempowering processes that contribute to their having little opportunity to be heard in the first place. The emphasis of this book is on aspiration to a meaningful life and continuing personal growth as offering a challenge to dominant discourses the equate old age with decline.