The Laboratory Revolution in Medicine


Book Description

Essays by leading researchers on the nature and genesis of laboratory medicine.




Evidence Based Pathology and Laboratory Medicine


Book Description

Focusing on practical, patient related issues, this volume provides the basic concepts of Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) as they relate to Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and presents various practical applications. It includes EBM concepts for use in the identification of cost-effective panels of immunostains and other laboratory tests and for improvement of diagnostic accuracy based on the identification of selected diagnostic features for particular differential diagnosis. EBM concepts are also put forth for use in Meta-analysis to integrate the results of conflicting literature reports and use of novel analytical tools such as Bayesian belief networks, neural networks, multivariate statistics and decision tree analysis for the development of new diagnostic and prognostic models for the evaluation of patients. This volume will be of great value to pathologists who will benefit from the concepts being promoted by EBM, such as levels of evidence, use of Bayesian statistics to develop diagnostic and other rules and stronger reliance on "hard data" to support therapeutic and diagnostic modalities.




Blood Work: A Tale of Medicine and Murder in the Scientific Revolution


Book Description

"Excellent…Tucker’s chronicle of the world of 17th-century science in London and Paris is fascinating." —The Economist In December 1667, maverick physician Jean Denis transfused calf’s blood into one of Paris’s most notorious madmen. Days later, the madman was dead and Denis was framed for murder. A riveting exposé of the fierce debates, deadly politics, and cutthroat rivalries behind the first transfusion experiments, Blood Work takes us from dissection rooms in palaces to the streets of Paris, providing an unforgettable portrait of an era that wrestled with the same questions about morality and experimentation that haunt medical science today.




Molecular Diagnostics


Book Description

Advances in genomic and proteomic profiling of disease have transformed the field of molecular diagnostics, thus leading the way for a major revolution in clinical practice. While the range of tests for disease detection and staging is rapidly expanding, many physicians lack the knowledge required to determine which tests to order and how to interpret results. Molecular Diagnostics provides a complete guide to the use and interpretation of molecular testing in the clinical arena. No other available resource offers this emphasis, comprehensive scope, and practical utility in the clinical setting. - Serves as the definitivereference for molecular pathologists worldwide - Covers a variety of molecular techniques including next generation sequencing, tumor somatic cell genotyping, infectious and genetic disease tecting, and pharmacogenetics - Discusses in the detail issues concerning quality assurance, regulation, ethics, and future directions for the science




Medicare Laboratory Payment Policy


Book Description

Clinical laboratory tests play an integral role in helping physicians diagnose and treat patients. New developments in laboratory technology offer the prospect of improvements in diagnosis and care, but will place an increased burden on the payment system. Medicare, the federal program providing coverage of health-care services for the elderly and disabled, is the largest payer of clinical laboratory services. Originally designed in the early 1980s, Medicare's payment policy methodology for outpatient laboratory services has not evolved to take into account technology, market, and regulatory changes, and is now outdated. This report examines the current Medicare payment methodology for outpatient clinical laboratory services in the context of environmental and technological trends, evaluates payment policy alternatives, and makes recommendations to improve the system.




Learning To Heal


Book Description

The development of American medical education involved a conceptual revolution in how medical students should be taught. With the introduction of laboratory and hospital work, students were expected to be active participants in their learning process, and the new goal of medical training was to foster critical thinking rather than the memorization of facts. In Learning to Heal, Kenneth Ludmerer offers the definitive account of the rise of the modern medical school and the shaping of the medical profession.




Secrets and Knowledge in Medicine and Science, 1500–1800


Book Description

Secrets played a central role in transformations in medical and scientific knowledge in early modern Europe. As a new fascination with novelty began to take hold from the late fifteenth century, Europeans thirsted for previously unknown details about the natural world: new plants, animals, and other objects from nature, new recipes for medical and alchemical procedures, new knowledge about the human body, and new facts about the way nature worked. These 'secrets' became popular items of commerce and trade, as the quest for new and exclusive bits of information met the vibrant early modern marketplace. Whether disclosed widely in print or kept more circumspect in manuscripts, secrets helped drive an expanding interest in acquiring knowledge throughout early modern Europe. Bringing together international scholars, this volume provides a pan-European and interdisciplinary overview on the topic. Each essay offers significant new interpretations of the role played by secrets in their area of specialization. Chapters address key themes in early modern history and the history of medicine, science and technology including: the possession, circulation and exchange of secret knowledge across Europe; alchemical secrets and laboratory processes; patronage and the upper-class market for secrets; medical secrets and the emerging market for proprietary medicines; secrets and cosmetics; secrets and the body and finally gender and secrets.




The Creative Destruction of Medicine


Book Description

A professor of medicine reveals how technology like wireless internet, individual data, and personal genomics can be used to save lives.




MoneyBall Medicine


Book Description

How can a smartwatch help patients with diabetes manage their disease? Why can’t patients find out prices for surgeries and other procedures before they happen? How can researchers speed up the decade-long process of drug development? How will "Precision Medicine" impact patient care outside of cancer? What can doctors, hospitals, and health systems do to ensure they are maximizing high-value care? How can healthcare entrepreneurs find success in this data-driven market? A revolution is transforming the $10 trillion healthcare landscape, promising greater transparency, improved efficiency, and new ways of delivering care. This new landscape presents tremendous opportunity for those who are ready to embrace the data-driven reality. Having the right data and knowing how to use it will be the key to success in the healthcare market in the future. We are already starting to see the impacts in drug development, precision medicine, and how patients with rare diseases are diagnosed and treated. Startups are launched every week to fill an unmet need and address the current problems in the healthcare system. Digital devices and artificial intelligence are helping doctors do their jobs faster and with more accuracy. MoneyBall Medicine: Thriving in the New Data-Driven Healthcare Market, which includes interviews with dozens of healthcare leaders, describes the business challenges and opportunities arising for those working in one of the most vibrant sectors of the world’s economy. Doctors, hospital administrators, health information technology directors, and entrepreneurs need to adapt to the changes effecting healthcare today in order to succeed in the new, cost-conscious and value-based environment of the future. The authors map out many of the changes taking place, describe how they are impacting everyone from patients to researchers to insurers, and outline some predictions for the healthcare industry in the years to come.




Medicine, Knowledge and Venereal Diseases in England, 1886-1916


Book Description

This book reveals the ever-present challenges of patient care at the forefront of medical knowledge. Syphilis and gonorrhoea played upon the public imagination in Victorian and Edwardian England, inspiring fascination and fear. Seemingly inextricable from the other great 'social evil', prostitution, these diseases represented contamination, both physical and moral. They infiltrated respectable homes and brought terrible suffering and stigma to those afflicted. Medicine, Knowledge and Venereal Diseases takes us back to an age before penicillin and the NHS, when developments in pathology, symptomology and aetiology were transforming clinical practice. This is the first book to examine systematically how doctors, nurses and midwives grappled with new ideas and laboratory-based technologies in their fight against venereal diseases in voluntary hospitals, general practice and Poor Law institutions. It opens up new perspectives on what made competent and safe medical professionals; how these standards changed over time; and how changing attitudes and expectations affected the medical authority and autonomy of different professional groups.