Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the United States

Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the United States

Author: Institute of Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2005-04-13

Total Pages: 360

ISBN-13: 0309133424

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Integration of complementary and alternative medicine therapies (CAM) with conventional medicine is occurring in hospitals and physicians offices, health maintenance organizations (HMOs) are covering CAM therapies, insurance coverage for CAM is increasing, and integrative medicine centers and clinics are being established, many with close ties to medical schools and teaching hospitals. In determining what care to provide, the goal should be comprehensive care that uses the best scientific evidence available regarding benefits and harm, encourages a focus on healing, recognizes the importance of compassion and caring, emphasizes the centrality of relationship-based care, encourages patients to share in decision making about therapeutic options, and promotes choices in care that can include complementary therapies where appropriate. Numerous approaches to delivering integrative medicine have evolved. Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the United States identifies an urgent need for health systems research that focuses on identifying the elements of these models, the outcomes of care delivered in these models, and whether these models are cost-effective when compared to conventional practice settings. It outlines areas of research in convention and CAM therapies, ways of integrating these therapies, development of curriculum that provides further education to health professionals, and an amendment of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act to improve quality, accurate labeling, research into use of supplements, incentives for privately funded research into their efficacy, and consumer protection against all potential hazards.


Best Care at Lower Cost

Best Care at Lower Cost

Author: Institute of Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2013-05-10

Total Pages: 437

ISBN-13: 0309282810

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America's health care system has become too complex and costly to continue business as usual. Best Care at Lower Cost explains that inefficiencies, an overwhelming amount of data, and other economic and quality barriers hinder progress in improving health and threaten the nation's economic stability and global competitiveness. According to this report, the knowledge and tools exist to put the health system on the right course to achieve continuous improvement and better quality care at a lower cost. The costs of the system's current inefficiency underscore the urgent need for a systemwide transformation. About 30 percent of health spending in 2009-roughly $750 billion-was wasted on unnecessary services, excessive administrative costs, fraud, and other problems. Moreover, inefficiencies cause needless suffering. By one estimate, roughly 75,000 deaths might have been averted in 2005 if every state had delivered care at the quality level of the best performing state. This report states that the way health care providers currently train, practice, and learn new information cannot keep pace with the flood of research discoveries and technological advances. About 75 million Americans have more than one chronic condition, requiring coordination among multiple specialists and therapies, which can increase the potential for miscommunication, misdiagnosis, potentially conflicting interventions, and dangerous drug interactions. Best Care at Lower Cost emphasizes that a better use of data is a critical element of a continuously improving health system, such as mobile technologies and electronic health records that offer significant potential to capture and share health data better. In order for this to occur, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, IT developers, and standard-setting organizations should ensure that these systems are robust and interoperable. Clinicians and care organizations should fully adopt these technologies, and patients should be encouraged to use tools, such as personal health information portals, to actively engage in their care. This book is a call to action that will guide health care providers; administrators; caregivers; policy makers; health professionals; federal, state, and local government agencies; private and public health organizations; and educational institutions.


Expanding Horizons in Health Communication

Expanding Horizons in Health Communication

Author: Bernadette Watson

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-06-01

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 9811543895

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This book explores the ways in which Eastern and Western medical knowledge inform each other in the treatment of people in Asia across a wide range of health issues. To do so, it brings together health communication scholars from diverse disciplines both in Hong Kong and worldwide and combines their observations and expertise with those of clinicians working in healthcare in Asia to provide a topical portrait of the expanding horizons of healthcare in Asia. Social scientists and clinicians discuss their research and clinical practice respectively using a range of analytic approaches that include traditional qualitative and quantitative methodologies, as well as cutting-edge computer diagnostics that digitally visualize health interactions across time. The book presents an innovative and interdisciplinary investigation of Eastern and Western perspectives on healthcare in Asia. It covers topics concerned with a range of mental and physical problems that are currently confronting Asia. Importantly, the views and experiences of front line clinicians delivering patient care in Asia are also included. Accordingly, the book offers varied and innovative perspectives on health communication issues in China, Singapore, Bangladesh and Australia.


Tapestry of Health

Tapestry of Health

Author: Daniel A Monti

Publisher: National Geographic Books

Published: 2020-09-09

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 0979845696

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Tapestry of Health artfully synthesizes the complex world of healthy living into a set of clear principles in guiding you to feel your best and thrive at your highest potential through evidence-based integrative medicine treatment of body, mind and spirit. Living a healthy lifestyle is not always easy. The conflicting health advice can feel overwhelming. Tapestry of Health takes the complex world of healthy living and gives you a set of clear, uncomplicated health principles that will show you how to feel your best and thrive, no matter your starting point. The book shares practical and easy-to-implement health plans that will help you: ? transform your health and weight ? improve your nutrition ? optimize your sleep ? manage your stress Doctor Monti and Doctor Bazzan are clinical and academic pioneers in the emerging medical specialty of integrative medicine. They having started the first-ever department of integrative medicine at a US medical school. In their book they share the principles and health plans they have used with their own patients over the last two decades to create transformative results. Their approach to health integrates all aspects of well-being, including the physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, social, and nutritional. They present here evidence-based restorative approaches and emerging cutting-edge strategies. They also offer a new perspective on how we view wellness in a way that reflects the shift from seeking medical care only when we are sick to one when we mindfully take responsibility for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. All this makes Tapestry of Health your partner on your path to optimal wellness.


The Future of Nursing

The Future of Nursing

Author: Institute of Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2011-02-08

Total Pages: 700

ISBN-13: 0309208955

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The Future of Nursing explores how nurses' roles, responsibilities, and education should change significantly to meet the increased demand for care that will be created by health care reform and to advance improvements in America's increasingly complex health system. At more than 3 million in number, nurses make up the single largest segment of the health care work force. They also spend the greatest amount of time in delivering patient care as a profession. Nurses therefore have valuable insights and unique abilities to contribute as partners with other health care professionals in improving the quality and safety of care as envisioned in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) enacted this year. Nurses should be fully engaged with other health professionals and assume leadership roles in redesigning care in the United States. To ensure its members are well-prepared, the profession should institute residency training for nurses, increase the percentage of nurses who attain a bachelor's degree to 80 percent by 2020, and double the number who pursue doctorates. Furthermore, regulatory and institutional obstacles-including limits on nurses' scope of practice-should be removed so that the health system can reap the full benefit of nurses' training, skills, and knowledge in patient care. In this book, the Institute of Medicine makes recommendations for an action-oriented blueprint for the future of nursing.


Safeguarding the Bioeconomy

Safeguarding the Bioeconomy

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2020-05-01

Total Pages: 393

ISBN-13: 0309495679

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Research and innovation in the life sciences is driving rapid growth in agriculture, biomedical science, information science and computing, energy, and other sectors of the U.S. economy. This economic activity, conceptually referred to as the bioeconomy, presents many opportunities to create jobs, improve the quality of life, and continue to drive economic growth. While the United States has been a leader in advancements in the biological sciences, other countries are also actively investing in and expanding their capabilities in this area. Maintaining competitiveness in the bioeconomy is key to maintaining the economic health and security of the United States and other nations. Safeguarding the Bioeconomy evaluates preexisting and potential approaches for assessing the value of the bioeconomy and identifies intangible assets not sufficiently captured or that are missing from U.S. assessments. This study considers strategies for safeguarding and sustaining the economic activity driven by research and innovation in the life sciences. It also presents ideas for horizon scanning mechanisms to identify new technologies, markets, and data sources that have the potential to drive future development of the bioeconomy.


Crossing the Global Quality Chasm

Crossing the Global Quality Chasm

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2019-01-27

Total Pages: 399

ISBN-13: 0309477891

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In 2015, building on the advances of the Millennium Development Goals, the United Nations adopted Sustainable Development Goals that include an explicit commitment to achieve universal health coverage by 2030. However, enormous gaps remain between what is achievable in human health and where global health stands today, and progress has been both incomplete and unevenly distributed. In order to meet this goal, a deliberate and comprehensive effort is needed to improve the quality of health care services globally. Crossing the Global Quality Chasm: Improving Health Care Worldwide focuses on one particular shortfall in health care affecting global populations: defects in the quality of care. This study reviews the available evidence on the quality of care worldwide and makes recommendations to improve health care quality globally while expanding access to preventive and therapeutic services, with a focus in low-resource areas. Crossing the Global Quality Chasm emphasizes the organization and delivery of safe and effective care at the patient/provider interface. This study explores issues of access to services and commodities, effectiveness, safety, efficiency, and equity. Focusing on front line service delivery that can directly impact health outcomes for individuals and populations, this book will be an essential guide for key stakeholders, governments, donors, health systems, and others involved in health care.


All Physicians are Leaders: Reflections on Inspiring Change Together for Better Healthcare

All Physicians are Leaders: Reflections on Inspiring Change Together for Better Healthcare

Author: Peter B. Angood

Publisher: American Association for Physician Leadership

Published: 2020-05-15

Total Pages: 186

ISBN-13: 9780984831036

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COVID-19 is clearly creating significant change in how daily lives are pursued. The impacts on healthcare as an industry are profound and how physicians continue to provide patient care is being challenged. Those in group practices, as well as those within institutional environments, are all now faced with the prospect for how to develop new approaches in their professional pursuits. The changing environment in healthcare provides all physicians with a unique opportunity to develop and implement larger scales of change for the industry, as a result. Dr. Peter Angood is president and CEO of the American Association for Physician Leadership, the only association solely focused on providing professional development, leadership education, and management training exclusively for physicians since its founding in 1975. In that role since 2012, he has continuously promoted the charge that "at some level, all physicians are leaders." The book is a frank dialogue and call to action on how all physicians can reach their fullest potential by becoming and remaining more engaged while inspiring engagement in others. It is also a clear-eyed look at the positive and trusted role physicians exercise in every sector of the healthcare industry. Including chapters on wellness and burnout, patient safety, lifelong learning and the necessary personal and professional competencies for physicians, Dr. Angood's commentaries are uniquely astute and bold. He asserts that physicians remain the most trusted and dominant conduit for care and decision-making within the multidisciplinary sphere of healthcare and, further, with increasing demands for quality care and patient satisfaction, the physician leader is well-positioned and deserves an equitable say in shaping the future of the healthcare industry. "The research shows that the benefit of a physician-led organization is improved patient outcomes and decreased costs," says Dr. Angood. "While academia and basic science research continue to expand the scientific knowledge of medicine at rapid rates, technology, pharmaceuticals, device innovation and digital communication all are redefining their value equation with physicians as leaders in their organizations." This book of personal reflections on healthcare and the state of the industry is precisely that: personal. Dr. Angood's goal is for the various chapters to spur personal reflection among physicians while instilling in them a renewed sense of privilege and commitment to the profession.