Finding What Works in Health Care
Finding What Works in Health Care

Author: Institute of Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2011-07-20

Total Pages: 267

ISBN-13: 0309164257

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Healthcare decision makers in search of reliable information that compares health interventions increasingly turn to systematic reviews for the best summary of the evidence. Systematic reviews identify, select, assess, and synthesize the findings of similar but separate studies, and can help clarify what is known and not known about the potential benefits and harms of drugs, devices, and other healthcare services. Systematic reviews can be helpful for clinicians who want to integrate research findings into their daily practices, for patients to make well-informed choices about their own care, for professional medical societies and other organizations that develop clinical practice guidelines. Too often systematic reviews are of uncertain or poor quality. There are no universally accepted standards for developing systematic reviews leading to variability in how conflicts of interest and biases are handled, how evidence is appraised, and the overall scientific rigor of the process. In Finding What Works in Health Care the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommends 21 standards for developing high-quality systematic reviews of comparative effectiveness research. The standards address the entire systematic review process from the initial steps of formulating the topic and building the review team to producing a detailed final report that synthesizes what the evidence shows and where knowledge gaps remain. Finding What Works in Health Care also proposes a framework for improving the quality of the science underpinning systematic reviews. This book will serve as a vital resource for both sponsors and producers of systematic reviews of comparative effectiveness research.

Searching for Health
Searching for Health

Author: Kapil Parakh

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2021-04-20

Total Pages: 177

ISBN-13: 1421440296

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An insider's guide to searching online, communicating with your physician, and maximizing your health from a doctor who works at Google. We've all been there. Late at night, staring into the glow of a phone trying to make sense of some health-related issue that we know nothing about. In Searching for Health, Dr. Kapil Parakh, with Anna Dirksen, brings to life knowledge he gained from working at Google and practicing medicine. Helping readers avoid common pitfalls, get the information they need, and partner effectively with their health team to figure out a path to good health together, the book distills decades of scientific research into a set of easy-to-follow tips. It also incorporates • firsthand accounts of common challenges on the path to good health; • an inside look at how doctors approach and assess health-related information; • techniques that consumers can use to locate evidence-based information online, whether in blogs, social media postings, forums, or news stories; • guidance on how individuals can make the best use of new technologies, such as health trackers and other applications; • recommendations to help patients assess health information for themselves and make decisions based on what they find; • brief summaries of the scientific studies underpinning the recommendations; and • online and offline resources—including handy checklists and worksheets—to help readers prepare for appointments, discuss tough topics with their doctors, and take control of their health. In addition to helping readers find evidence-based information online, the book provides insights into what you can expect from a visit to a doctor or hospital, how to make a decision about surgery or other treatment, what tests doctors will order, which symptom trackers are really effective, and what questions to ask about medications, supplements, and more. Searching for Health is a valuable resource for charting a healthier path through life.

Care Without Coverage
Care Without Coverage

Author: Institute of Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2002-06-20

Total Pages: 213

ISBN-13: 0309083435

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Many Americans believe that people who lack health insurance somehow get the care they really need. Care Without Coverage examines the real consequences for adults who lack health insurance. The study presents findings in the areas of prevention and screening, cancer, chronic illness, hospital-based care, and general health status. The committee looked at the consequences of being uninsured for people suffering from cancer, diabetes, HIV infection and AIDS, heart and kidney disease, mental illness, traumatic injuries, and heart attacks. It focused on the roughly 30 million-one in seven-working-age Americans without health insurance. This group does not include the population over 65 that is covered by Medicare or the nearly 10 million children who are uninsured in this country. The main findings of the report are that working-age Americans without health insurance are more likely to receive too little medical care and receive it too late; be sicker and die sooner; and receive poorer care when they are in the hospital, even for acute situations like a motor vehicle crash.

Knowing What Works in Health Care
Knowing What Works in Health Care

Author: Institute of Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2008-05-29

Total Pages: 279

ISBN-13: 0309113563

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There is currently heightened interest in optimizing health care through the generation of new knowledge on the effectiveness of health care services. The United States must substantially strengthen its capacity for assessing evidence on what is known and not known about "what works" in health care. Even the most sophisticated clinicians and consumers struggle to learn which care is appropriate and under what circumstances. Knowing What Works in Health Care looks at the three fundamental health care issues in the United States-setting priorities for evidence assessment, assessing evidence (systematic review), and developing evidence-based clinical practice guidelines-and how each of these contributes to the end goal of effective, practical health care systems. This book provides an overall vision and roadmap for improving how the nation uses scientific evidence to identify the most effective clinical services. Knowing What Works in Health Care gives private and public sector firms, consumers, health care professionals, benefit administrators, and others the authoritative, independent information required for making essential informed health care decisions.

Evidence-Based Medicine and the Changing Nature of Health Care
Evidence-Based Medicine and the Changing Nature of Health Care

Author: Institute of Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2008-09-06

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13: 0309113695

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Drawing on the work of the Roundtable on Evidence-Based Medicine, the 2007 IOM Annual Meeting assessed some of the rapidly occurring changes in health care related to new diagnostic and treatment tools, emerging genetic insights, the developments in information technology, and healthcare costs, and discussed the need for a stronger focus on evidence to ensure that the promise of scientific discovery and technological innovation is efficiently captured to provide the right care for the right patient at the right time. As new discoveries continue to expand the universe of medical interventions, treatments, and methods of care, the need for a more systematic approach to evidence development and application becomes increasingly critical. Without better information about the effectiveness of different treatment options, the resulting uncertainty can lead to the delivery of services that may be unnecessary, unproven, or even harmful. Improving the evidence-base for medicine holds great potential to increase the quality and efficiency of medical care. The Annual Meeting, held on October 8, 2007, brought together many of the nation's leading authorities on various aspects of the issues - both challenges and opportunities - to present their perspectives and engage in discussion with the IOM membership.

Your Body, Your Health
Your Body, Your Health

Author: Neil Shulman

Publisher: Pyr

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 298

ISBN-13: 9781591020127

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Offering basic medical information and advice, this guide to health offers chapters on how doctors make diagnosis and how to evaluate medical services. It then turns its attention to discussions of common medical problems to watch out for during the various stages of and explores some basic disease prevention practices. Explanations of some of the most common medical tests are presented. Finally, health related information on the Internet is reviewed. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Finding the Health
Finding the Health

Author: Robert Lever

Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers

Published: 2016-11-01

Total Pages: 136

ISBN-13: 1909141755

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The art of osteopathy has always been based on a body of anatomical and physiological theory and data but it has recently been expanded in exciting ways involving contemporary thinking in physics and biology that tell us more about disease causation and tissue function. This book brings these two fields of thinking together. The author is now recognised as deep thinker in the field of osteopathy and has developed an international following since the publication of his first book At the Still Point. He puts into clear and understandable prose the ideas and feelings that many osteopaths experience but find difficult to express. The application of concept, theory and, above all, principle, is the real challenge and it is by addressing these with penetration and relevance that the book allows the practitioner to 'find the health' rather than merely attempting to confront disease.

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

Author: Institute of Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2003-02-01

Total Pages: 536

ISBN-13: 0309133181

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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.

Crossing the Quality Chasm
Crossing the Quality Chasm

Author: Institute of Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2001-07-19

Total Pages: 359

ISBN-13: 0309132967

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Second in a series of publications from the Institute of Medicine's Quality of Health Care in America project Today's health care providers have more research findings and more technology available to them than ever before. Yet recent reports have raised serious doubts about the quality of health care in America. Crossing the Quality Chasm makes an urgent call for fundamental change to close the quality gap. This book recommends a sweeping redesign of the American health care system and provides overarching principles for specific direction for policymakers, health care leaders, clinicians, regulators, purchasers, and others. In this comprehensive volume the committee offers: A set of performance expectations for the 21st century health care system. A set of 10 new rules to guide patient-clinician relationships. A suggested organizing framework to better align the incentives inherent in payment and accountability with improvements in quality. Key steps to promote evidence-based practice and strengthen clinical information systems. Analyzing health care organizations as complex systems, Crossing the Quality Chasm also documents the causes of the quality gap, identifies current practices that impede quality care, and explores how systems approaches can be used to implement change.

Communities in Action
Communities in Action

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2017-04-27

Total Pages: 583

ISBN-13: 0309452961

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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.