This comprehensive book celebrates the coming of age of narrativein health care. It uses narrative to go beyond the patient's storyand address social, cultural, ethical, psychological,organizational and linguistic issues. This book has been written to help health professionals andsocial scientists to use narrative more effectively in theireveryday work and writing. The book is split into three, comprehensive sections;Narratives, Counter-narratives and Meta-narratives.
The accessibility of health information on the Internet has revolutionized access to clinical information for health practitioners and patients. This access to information has the potential to make a major contribution to health care. However, the effective use of this accessibility depends on an understanding of all the issues involved, from the underlying technologies and economic pressures, to questions of how best to manage quality and privacy, how people seek and use information, and what the barriers to its use are. Cullen's book also examines the extent of health information on the Internet, the providers of websites and their content, and outlines the nature of the paradigm shift affecting knowledge in the health sector.
The popularization of the Internet, due in larger part to the advent of multifunctional cell phones, poses new challenges for health professionals, patients, and caregivers as well as creates new possibilities for all of us. This comprehensive volume analyzes how this social phenomenon is transforming long-established healthcare practices and perceptions in a country with one of the highest numbers of Internet users: Brazil. After an opening text that analyzes the Internet and E-Health Care as a field of study, the book comprises six parts. The first part introduces the emergence and development of the internet in Brazil, its pioneering experience in internet governance, digital inclusion, and online citizen participation. The second part is dedicated to internet health audiences by analyzing the cases of patients, the young, and the elderly seeking and sharing health information online, especially in virtual communities. The third part is dedicated to the challenges that the expansion of the internet in healthcare poses to all of us, such as the evaluation of the quality of health information available online and the prevention of the risks involved with online sales, cyberbullying, and consumption of prescription medicines. The fourth presents some innovative e-learning experiences carried out with different groups in Brazil, while the fifth part analyses some practical applications involving the Internet and health, including studies on M-Health, the Internet of things, serious games and the use of new information and communication technologies in health promotion. The last chapter analyses the future of healthcare in the Internet Age. The authors establish a critical and creative debate with international scholarship on the subject. This book is written in a direct and comprehensible way for professionals, researchers, students of communication and health, as well as for stakeholders and others interested in better understanding the trends and the different challenges related to the social phenomenon of the internet in health.
"What if the [online] data generated by our searches could reveal information about health that would be difficult to gather in other ways? In this book, Elad Yom-Tov argues that Internet data could change the way medical research is done, supplementing traditional tools to provide insights not otherwise available. He describes how studies of Internet searches have, among other things, already helped researchers to track side effects of prescription driugs, to understand the information needs of cancer patients and their families, and to recognize some of the causes of anorexia. Yom-Tov shows that the information collected can benefit humanity without sacrificing individual privacy"--Jacket.
"This important book clearly explains how new smart devices and Internet-based technologies make it possible for healthcare providers and patients to work together to improve health in ways that are powerful and previously unimaginable"--page xi, Foreword.
This comprehensive book focuses on better big-data security for healthcare organizations. Following an extensive introduction to the Internet of Things (IoT) in healthcare including challenging topics and scenarios, it offers an in-depth analysis of medical body area networks with the 5th generation of IoT communication technology along with its nanotechnology. It also describes a novel strategic framework and computationally intelligent model to measure possible security vulnerabilities in the context of e-health. Moreover, the book addresses healthcare systems that handle large volumes of data driven by patients’ records and health/personal information, including big-data-based knowledge management systems to support clinical decisions. Several of the issues faced in storing/processing big data are presented along with the available tools, technologies and algorithms to deal with those problems as well as a case study in healthcare analytics. Addressing trust, privacy, and security issues as well as the IoT and big-data challenges, the book highlights the advances in the field to guide engineers developing different IoT devices and evaluating the performance of different IoT techniques. Additionally, it explores the impact of such technologies on public, private, community, and hybrid scenarios in healthcare. This book offers professionals, scientists and engineers the latest technologies, techniques, and strategies for IoT and big data.
This User’s Guide is intended to support the design, implementation, analysis, interpretation, and quality evaluation of registries created to increase understanding of patient outcomes. For the purposes of this guide, a patient registry is an organized system that uses observational study methods to collect uniform data (clinical and other) to evaluate specified outcomes for a population defined by a particular disease, condition, or exposure, and that serves one or more predetermined scientific, clinical, or policy purposes. A registry database is a file (or files) derived from the registry. Although registries can serve many purposes, this guide focuses on registries created for one or more of the following purposes: to describe the natural history of disease, to determine clinical effectiveness or cost-effectiveness of health care products and services, to measure or monitor safety and harm, and/or to measure quality of care. Registries are classified according to how their populations are defined. For example, product registries include patients who have been exposed to biopharmaceutical products or medical devices. Health services registries consist of patients who have had a common procedure, clinical encounter, or hospitalization. Disease or condition registries are defined by patients having the same diagnosis, such as cystic fibrosis or heart failure. The User’s Guide was created by researchers affiliated with AHRQ’s Effective Health Care Program, particularly those who participated in AHRQ’s DEcIDE (Developing Evidence to Inform Decisions About Effectiveness) program. Chapters were subject to multiple internal and external independent reviews.
The Internet and Health Care: Theory, Research, and Practice presents an in-depth introduction to the field of health care and the Internet, from international and interdisciplinary perspectives. It combines expertise in the areas of the social sciences, medicine, policy, and systems analysis. With an international collection of contributors, it provides a current examination of key issues and research projects in the area. Methods and data used in the chapters include personal interviews, focus groups, observations, regional and national surveys, online transcript analysis, and much more. Sections in the book cover: *e-Health trends and theory; *searching, discussing, and evaluating online health information at the individual level of analysis; *discussing health information at the group or community level; and *implementing health information systems at the regional and social level. The Internet and Health Care will prove useful for university educators and students in the social, public health, and medical disciplines, including Internet researchers. It is also oriented to professionals in many disciplines who will appreciate an integrative theoretical, empirical, and critical analysis of the subject matter, including developers and providers of online health information.
This book focuses on recent advances regarding clinical conditions and ailments whose mechanisms remain unclear, limiting our ability to treat them. The respective chapters address a range of multidisciplinary topics related to timely or emergent research areas, such as osteoporosis in postmenopausal women, the optimal surgical procedures for vertebral compression fractures, novel rehabilitative approaches in pelvic muscle training in case of urinary incontinence, and a rational approach to balneotherapy not only for the skin but also other organ systems disorders. Alterations in the endocrine function during strenuous physical activity at high altitude – a multi-stressor environment comprising hypobaric hypoxia, exercise, and nutritional changes – are presented as well. Other articles provide evidence-based insights into the diagnosis, mechanisms, and clinical course of respiratory infections in children such as bronchiolitis, pneumonia, and influenza. Finally, the pros and cons of e-health are discussed; a rapidly growing area based on the use of information and communication technology to streamline the flow of health information and patient-healthcare provider connections. The content is a well-structured blend of research and practical aspects, as well as updates on cutting-edge developments. All these essential topics are presented in a format suitable for medical professionals engaged in day-to-day patient care and therapy, as well as researchers, academics, and physiotherapists.
This book's focus is on the decisions taken in consultations between health care patients and professionals. Clinician- patient partnerships in health care decisions are increasingly advocated. Evidence- based patient choice describes a model of health care in which the evidence-based approach can integrate with the promotion of consumer choice. The book examines the traditional approach and the changing experience and expectations of consumers. It describes with many clinical examples and patient narratives how to practice evidence-based patient choice, and explores the ethical, sociological and economic issues raised. It also addresses the future modifications to professional training and organisational change which are required if evidence-based patient choice is to become the norm and speculates about what is likely to be achieved in the next few years. The book provides a summary of current perspectives in this area, which will be of interest to consumers, their representative groups, and to professionals in practice and training alike. From the foreword by Richard Grol: 'An enormous challenge lies before us. In this new and challenging field Evidence-based patient choice is manna from heaven. It summarises the current state of knowledge about these new patient involvement approaches. It is by far the most comprehensive account of scientific and ethical thinking about patient choice at this moment. And, it manages to show us the way to a potential future: health care provision where patients and professionals operate as real partners with shared goals...'
