This volume, developed by the Observatory together with OECD, provides an overall conceptual framework for understanding and applying strategies aimed at improving quality of care. Crucially, it summarizes available evidence on different quality strategies and provides recommendations for their implementation. This book is intended to help policy-makers to understand concepts of quality and to support them to evaluate single strategies and combinations of strategies.
Social Work Practice in Health Care by Karen M. Allen and William J. Spitzer is a pragmatic and comprehensive book that helps readers develop the knowledge, skills, and values necessary for effective health care social work practice, as well as an understanding of the technological, social, political, ethical, and financial factors affecting contemporary patient care. Packed with case studies and exercises, the book emphasizes the importance of being attentive to both patient and organizational needs, covers emerging trends in health care policy and delivery, provides extensive discussion of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and addresses social work practice across the continuum of care.
The third installment in the Pathways to Quality Health Care series, Rewarding Provider Performance: Aligning Incentives in Medicare, continues to address the timely topic of the quality of health care in America. Each volume in the series effectively evaluates specific policy approaches within the context of improving the current operational framework of the health care system. The theme of this particular book is the staged introduction of pay for performance into Medicare. Pay for performance is a strategy that financially rewards health care providers for delivering high-quality care. Building on the findings and recommendations described in the two companion editions, Performance Measurement and Medicare's Quality Improvement Organization Program, this book offers options for implementing payment incentives to provide better value for America's health care investments. This book features conclusions and recommendations that will be useful to all stakeholders concerned with improving the quality and performance of the nation's health care system in both the public and private sectors.
Social isolation and loneliness are serious yet underappreciated public health risks that affect a significant portion of the older adult population. Approximately one-quarter of community-dwelling Americans aged 65 and older are considered to be socially isolated, and a significant proportion of adults in the United States report feeling lonely. People who are 50 years of age or older are more likely to experience many of the risk factors that can cause or exacerbate social isolation or loneliness, such as living alone, the loss of family or friends, chronic illness, and sensory impairments. Over a life course, social isolation and loneliness may be episodic or chronic, depending upon an individual's circumstances and perceptions. A substantial body of evidence demonstrates that social isolation presents a major risk for premature mortality, comparable to other risk factors such as high blood pressure, smoking, or obesity. As older adults are particularly high-volume and high-frequency users of the health care system, there is an opportunity for health care professionals to identify, prevent, and mitigate the adverse health impacts of social isolation and loneliness in older adults. Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults summarizes the evidence base and explores how social isolation and loneliness affect health and quality of life in adults aged 50 and older, particularly among low income, underserved, and vulnerable populations. This report makes recommendations specifically for clinical settings of health care to identify those who suffer the resultant negative health impacts of social isolation and loneliness and target interventions to improve their social conditions. Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults considers clinical tools and methodologies, better education and training for the health care workforce, and dissemination and implementation that will be important for translating research into practice, especially as the evidence base for effective interventions continues to flourish.
In this practical book, the authors of each chapter have synthesized the currently available evidence regarding specific issues in diabetes care. The chapters have been written by an interdisciplinary team of scientists and medical professionals. Such an approach emphasizes the need for collaboration in the care of any individual with diabetes and in the effort to find new therapies for the disease. This reference provides practical guidance in a single resource.
Over the past three decades, more and more nursing educators have turned to Lewis: Medical-Surgical Nursing for its accurate and up-to-date coverage of the latest trends, hot topics, and clinical developments in the field of medical-surgical nursing — and the new ninth edition is no exception! Written by a dedicated team of expert authors led by Sharon Lewis, Medical-Surgical Nursing, 9th Edition offers the same easy-to-read style that students have come to love, along with the timely and thoroughly accurate content that educators have come to trust. Completely revised and updated content explores patient care in various clinical settings and focuses on key topics such as prioritization, critical thinking, patient safety, and NCLEX® exam preparation. Best of all — a complete collection of interactive student resources creates a more engaging learning environment to prepare you for clinical practice. Highly readable format gives you a strong foundation in medical-surgical nursing. Content written and reviewed by leading experts in the field ensures that the information is comprehensive, current, and clinically accurate. Bridge to NCLEX Examination review questions at the end of each chapter reinforce key content while helping you prepare for the NCLEX examination with both standard and alternate item format questions. UNIQUE! "Levels of Care" approach explains how nursing care varies for different levels of health and illness. More than 50 comprehensive nursing care plans in the book and online incorporate NIC, NOC, and current NANDA diagnoses, defining characteristics, expected outcomes, specific nursing interventions with rationales, evaluation criteria, and collaborative problems. Over 800 full-color illustrations and photographs clearly demonstrate disease processes and related anatomy and physiology. NEW! Unfolding case studies included throughout each assessment chapter help you apply important concepts and procedures to real-life patient care. NEW! Managing Multiple Patients case studies at the end of each section give you practice applying your knowledge of various disorders and help you prioritize and delegate patient care. NEW! Informatics boxes discuss how technology is used by nurses and patients in health care settings. NEW! Expanded coverage of evidence-based practice helps you understand how to apply the latest research to real-life patient care. NEW! Expanded Safety Alerts throughout the book cover surveillance for high-risk situations. NEW! Separate chapter on genetics expands on this key topic that impacts nearly every condition with a focus on the practical application to nursing care of patients. NEW! Expanded coverage of delegation includes additional Delegation Decisions boxes covering issues such as hypertension and postoperative patient care. NEW! Genetic Risk Alerts and Genetic Link headings highlight specific genetic issues related to body system assessments and disorders. NEW! Revised art program enhances the book’s visual appeal and lends a more contemporary look throughout.
Better health all around--this is what clinicians and patients, alike, desire. But achieving and maintaining good health can be difficult task, as this requires the adoption of behaviors, habits, and lifestyles that are challenging for a variety of reasons. Perhaps the most vital tool in the delivery of healthcare, despite its low-tech nature, is communication--it plays an important role in informing, motivating, and ultimately achieving optimal health behaviors. This edited volume brings together top-notch scientists and practitioners to explain and illustrate the state-of-the-art in the interfaces of health communication, behavior change, and treatment adherence. The Oxford Handbook of Health Communication, Behavior Change, and Treatment Adherence presents a three-factor model that includes information, motivation, and strategy. If individuals are to engage in health-promoting behaviors they must be informed and know what they should do and how to do it. But information is not enough--individuals must want to carry out those behaviors, they must be motivated to do so. Finally, people must have the resources to do those things that they know are good and that they desire to do--barriers must be minimized or removed and effective strategies and support systems put into place. Although these three elements are broadly applicable, their details will necessarily vary; the second major section of the handbook therefore revisits health behavior change and treatment adherence from the perspective of different points in the lifespan and in the context of comorbidities. Readers will find in this handbook a synthesis of cutting-edge empirical research and demonstrably effective applications, solidly grounded in theory. Clearly written by some of the best scholars and professionals in the field, this volume is accessible, highly informative, and a must-have for understanding the ins-and-outs of health communication, behavior change, and treatment adherence.
Motivation is key to substance use behavior change. Counselors can support clients' movement toward positive changes in their substance use by identifying and enhancing motivation that already exists. Motivational approaches are based on the principles of person-centered counseling. Counselors' use of empathy, not authority and power, is key to enhancing clients' motivation to change. Clients are experts in their own recovery from SUDs. Counselors should engage them in collaborative partnerships. Ambivalence about change is normal. Resistance to change is an expression of ambivalence about change, not a client trait or characteristic. Confrontational approaches increase client resistance and discord in the counseling relationship. Motivational approaches explore ambivalence in a nonjudgmental and compassionate way.
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.
Over the past three decades, more and more nursing educators have turned to Lewis: Medical-Surgical Nursing for its accurate and up-to-date coverage of the latest trends, hot topics, and clinical developments in the field of medical-surgical nursing - and the new ninth edition is no exception! Written by a dedicated team of expert authors led by Sharon Lewis, Medical-Surgical Nursing, 9th Edition offers the same easy-to-read style that students have come to love, along with the timely and thoroughly accurate content that educators have come to trust. Completely revised and updated content explores patient care in various clinical settings and focuses on key topics such as prioritization, critical thinking, patient safety, and NCLEX® exam preparation. Best of all - a complete collection of interactive student resources creates a more engaging learning environment to prepare you for clinical practice. Highly readable format gives you a strong foundation in medical-surgical nursing. Content written and reviewed by leading experts in the field ensures that the information is comprehensive, current, and clinically accurate. Bridge to NCLEX Examination review questions at the end of each chapter reinforce key content while helping you prepare for the NCLEX examination with both standard and alternate item format questions. UNIQUE! "Levels of Care" approach explains how nursing care varies for different levels of health and illness. More than 50 comprehensive nursing care plans in the book and online incorporate NIC, NOC, and current NANDA diagnoses, defining characteristics, expected outcomes, specific nursing interventions with rationales, evaluation criteria, and collaborative problems. Over 800 full-color illustrations and photographs clearly demonstrate disease processes and related anatomy and physiology. NEW! Unfolding case studies included throughout each assessment chapter help you apply important concepts and procedures to real-life patient care. NEW! Managing Multiple Patients case studies at the end of each section give you practice applying your knowledge of various disorders and help you prioritize and delegate patient care. NEW! Informatics boxes discuss how technology is used by nurses and patients in health care settings. NEW! Expanded coverage of evidence-based practice helps you understand how to apply the latest research to real-life patient care. NEW! Expanded Safety Alerts throughout the book cover surveillance for high-risk situations. NEW! Separate chapter on genetics expands on this key topic that impacts nearly every condition with a focus on the practical application to nursing care of patients. NEW! Expanded coverage of delegation includes additional Delegation Decisions boxes covering issues such as hypertension and postoperative patient care. NEW! Genetic Risk Alerts and Genetic Link headings highlight specific genetic issues related to body system assessments and disorders. NEW! Revised art program enhances the book's visual appeal and lends a more contemporary look throughout.
