Contemporary Public Health


Book Description

Public health refers to the management and prevention of disease within a population by promoting healthy behaviors and environments in an effort to create a higher standard of living. In this comprehensive volume, editor James W. Holsinger Jr. and an esteemed group of scholars and practitioners offer a concise overview of this burgeoning field, emphasizing that the need for effective services has never been greater. Designed as a supplemental text for introductory courses in public health practice at the undergraduate and graduate levels, Contemporary Public Health provides historical background that contextualizes the current state of the field and explores the major issues practitioners face today. It addresses essential topics such as the social and ecological determinants of health and their impact on practice, marginalized populations, the role of community-oriented primary care, the importance of services and systems research, accreditation, and the organizational landscape of the American public health system. Finally, it examines international public health and explores the potential of systems based on multilevel partnerships of government, academic, and nonprofit organizations. With fresh historical and methodological analyses conducted by an impressive group of distinguished authors, this text is an essential resource for practitioners, health advocates, and students.




The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century


Book Description

The anthrax incidents following the 9/11 terrorist attacks put the spotlight on the nation's public health agencies, placing it under an unprecedented scrutiny that added new dimensions to the complex issues considered in this report. The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century reaffirms the vision of Healthy People 2010, and outlines a systems approach to assuring the nation's health in practice, research, and policy. This approach focuses on joining the unique resources and perspectives of diverse sectors and entities and challenges these groups to work in a concerted, strategic way to promote and protect the public's health. Focusing on diverse partnerships as the framework for public health, the book discusses: The need for a shift from an individual to a population-based approach in practice, research, policy, and community engagement. The status of the governmental public health infrastructure and what needs to be improved, including its interface with the health care delivery system. The roles nongovernment actors, such as academia, business, local communities and the media can play in creating a healthy nation. Providing an accessible analysis, this book will be important to public health policy-makers and practitioners, business and community leaders, health advocates, educators and journalists.




Three Essays in Search of a Conversation


Book Description

These essays are for Americans concerned about the future of our country and for policy wonks. By and large, the political process is controlled by those who take an intertest in politics, large in number but small as a percent of population. Are you a member of the political class? Membership is voluntary. Our first 800 years of thinking: science culture and empathy from the Enlightenment ~1600 to ~ 2400 The Crisis of the Anthropocene: The most comprehensive description of all issues of the crisis in less than 100 pages. For the purpose of going through your mind to influence your brain. Musings on our Present Discontent: America, not advanced, not a democracy. Right to life for baby; right to choose for mom. Taxation. The security of a free state. Issues not discussed. The threat from within, Trumpism. The threat from without: Putinism. How to participate. Renewal.




Communities in Action


Book Description

In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.







U.S. Health in International Perspective


Book Description

The United States is among the wealthiest nations in the world, but it is far from the healthiest. Although life expectancy and survival rates in the United States have improved dramatically over the past century, Americans live shorter lives and experience more injuries and illnesses than people in other high-income countries. The U.S. health disadvantage cannot be attributed solely to the adverse health status of racial or ethnic minorities or poor people: even highly advantaged Americans are in worse health than their counterparts in other, "peer" countries. In light of the new and growing evidence about the U.S. health disadvantage, the National Institutes of Health asked the National Research Council (NRC) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to convene a panel of experts to study the issue. The Panel on Understanding Cross-National Health Differences Among High-Income Countries examined whether the U.S. health disadvantage exists across the life span, considered potential explanations, and assessed the larger implications of the findings. U.S. Health in International Perspective presents detailed evidence on the issue, explores the possible explanations for the shorter and less healthy lives of Americans than those of people in comparable countries, and recommends actions by both government and nongovernment agencies and organizations to address the U.S. health disadvantage.




The American Psychiatric Association Publishing Textbook of Psychiatry


Book Description

The American Psychiatric Association Publishing Textbook of Psychiatry, first published more than 30 years ago, is a landmark text with a legacy of sound scholarship, expert knowledge, and effective pedagogy. Thoroughly revised and featuring new authors and content, the seventh edition raises the bar, adding age-related, cultural, societal, and population considerations in the practice of psychiatry to the authoritative text that generations of students, residents, and clinicians have heretofore relied upon. The book first focuses on foundational knowledge, with chapters on psychiatric interviewing, diagnostic formulation, developmental assessment, laboratory testing and neuroimaging, and ethical and legal aspects of clinical psychiatry, and then proceeds to a full presentation of psychiatric disorders in alignment with DSM-5. The third section offers an overview of treatment strategies and methods in present-day psychiatry, a combination of evidence-based biological interventions and psychotherapies, and gives a clear sense of exciting new directions in psychiatric therapeutics. The final section of the textbook is focused on the care of special patient populations, including women; children and adolescents; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals; older adults; and culturally diverse individuals. Many topics are new to this volume, including the following: Suicide risk assessment, a critically important subject, is addressed in a new chapter that provides the reader with up-to-date knowledge needed to conduct a thorough, attuned, and accurate psychiatric interview in line with best practices. A new chapter on the social determinants of mental health has been added, reflecting an increased emphasis on populations whose specific concerns have been historically underappreciated in American psychiatry, and illuminating factors that influence mental health needs and barriers to care in specific patient populations. Precision psychiatry, an integrative approach that pulls together the scientific foundation of the discipline and recent technological advances and directs them toward closing the gap between discovery and clinical translation, is explored in a new chapter. E-health strategies in mental health have become increasingly available to psychiatrists and other health professionals, especially in the mobile and monitoring spheres. A new chapter offers insights into these intriguing new options for delivering treatment. A chapter on complementary and integrative therapies explores the integration of conventional medicine with alternative treatments for which there is an evidence base, providing an overview of nutrients, phytomedicines, hormones, mind--body practices, and electromagnetic treatments. With features such as key clinical points and recommended readings for further study, The American Psychiatric Association Publishing Textbook of Psychiatry is a comprehensive course book, an indispensable reference, and the ultimate resource for clinical care.




Leadership in Health Care


Book Description

This unique text is the first to explore leadership in the context of healthcare systems across Europe. It investigates leadership and management learning against the backdrop of increasing European parliamentary influence, the expansion of EU membership, and the increasing number of patients, staff, governments and healthcare employers viewing Europe as a single market for healthcare provision and employment. Written by leading authority Neil Goodwin, this timely book provides an assessment of the literature as well as practical guidance for developing personal leadership. It includes case studies and examples and is a must-buy for all students studying health management, leadership and public management as well as professionals within health services across Europe. This is the fourth text in the Routledge Health Management Series.




Advancing the Science to Improve Population Health


Book Description

In September 2015, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine hosted a workshop to explore the basic and translational research needs for population health science, and to discuss specific research priorities and actions to foster population health improvement. The workshop was designed to provide frameworks for understanding population health research and its role in shaping and having an effect on population health, identify individual and institutional facilitators and challenges regarding the production, communication, and use of research for population health improvement, and identify key areas for future research critical to the advancement of population health improvement. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.




Key Themes in Public Health


Book Description

‘The growth of public health courses aimed at undergraduates has created a new need for textbooks that are appropriate and stimulating. Miranda Thurston has succeeded in producing something which strikes the right note. It is wide ranging in scope without being superficial and is accessible to the young learner. It is a sort of 'Wiki'. Just what the aspiring public health practitioner ordered.’ – Professor John R. Ashton C.B.E., President of the UK Faculty of Public Health. Key Themes in Public Health comprises a series of introductory essays exploring key themes and concepts in public health. Ranging from political and economic concern with improving population health and reducing health inequalities, to debates about how to protect populations from new health threats, as well as a concern with individual responsibility for lifestyles and behaviour, the themes discussed include: determinants of health, globalisation, evidence, climate change, ethics, development, poverty, risk and population. Presenting provocative ways of thinking about key ideas in a concise fashion, each essay provides a basic grounding in the relevant theme as well as a departure point for further study by: Defining the theme in an accessible way Placing each idea in its particular social, political, economic and historical context Illustrating its application and significance for public health Identifying and exploring issues surrounding each of the themes This text provides an accessible overview for students new to public health who want to get to grips with the full range and complexity of this diverse and multidisciplinary field.