The Goals of Medicine

The Goals of Medicine PDF Author: Mark J. Hanson
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
ISBN: 9781589014442
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
Debates over health care have focused for so long on economics that the proper goals for medicine seem to be taken for granted; yet problems in health care stem as much from a lack of agreement about the goals and priorities of medicine as from the way systems function. This book asks basic questions about the purposes and ends of medicine and shows that the answers have practical implications for future health care delivery, medical research, and the education of medical students. The Hastings Center coordinated teams of physicians, nurses, public health experts, philosophers, theologians, politicians, health care administrators, social workers, and lawyers in fourteen countries to explore these issues. In this volume, they articulate four basic goals of medicine — prevention of disease, relief of suffering, care of the ill, and avoidance of premature death — and examine them in light of the cultural, political, and economic pressures under which medicine functions. In reporting these findings, the contributors touch on a wide range of diverse issues such as genetic technology, Chinese medicine, care of the elderly, and prevention and public health. The Goals of Medicine clearly demonstrates the importance of clarifying the purposes of medicine before attempting to change the economic and organizational systems. It warns that without such examination, any reform efforts may be fruitless.

The Goals of Medicine

The Goals of Medicine PDF Author: Mark J. Hanson
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
ISBN: 9781589014442
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 258

Get Book Here

Book Description
Debates over health care have focused for so long on economics that the proper goals for medicine seem to be taken for granted; yet problems in health care stem as much from a lack of agreement about the goals and priorities of medicine as from the way systems function. This book asks basic questions about the purposes and ends of medicine and shows that the answers have practical implications for future health care delivery, medical research, and the education of medical students. The Hastings Center coordinated teams of physicians, nurses, public health experts, philosophers, theologians, politicians, health care administrators, social workers, and lawyers in fourteen countries to explore these issues. In this volume, they articulate four basic goals of medicine — prevention of disease, relief of suffering, care of the ill, and avoidance of premature death — and examine them in light of the cultural, political, and economic pressures under which medicine functions. In reporting these findings, the contributors touch on a wide range of diverse issues such as genetic technology, Chinese medicine, care of the elderly, and prevention and public health. The Goals of Medicine clearly demonstrates the importance of clarifying the purposes of medicine before attempting to change the economic and organizational systems. It warns that without such examination, any reform efforts may be fruitless.

The Nature of Suffering and the Goals of Medicine

The Nature of Suffering and the Goals of Medicine PDF Author: Eric J. Cassell
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199748004
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
This is a revised and expanded edtion of a classic in palliative medicine, originally published in 1991. With three added chapters and a new preface summarizing our progress in the area of pain management, this is a must-hve for those in palliative medicine and hospice care. The obligation of physicians to relieve human suffering stretches back into antiquity. But what exactly, is suffering? One patient with metastic cancer of the stomach, from which he knew he would shortly die, said he was not suffering. Another, someone who had been operated on for a mior problem--in little pain and not seemingly distressed--said that even coming into the hospital had been a source of pain and not suffering. With such varied responses to the problem of suffering, inevitable questions arise. Is it the doctor's responsibility to treat the disease or the patient? And what is the relationship between suffering and the goals of medicine? According to Dr. Eric Cassell, these are crucial questions, but unfortunately, have remained only queries void of adequate solutions. It is time for the sick person, Cassell believes, to be not merely an important concern for physicians but the central focus of medicine. With this in mind, Cassell argues for an understanding of what changes should be made in order to successfully treat the sick while alleviating suffering, and how to actually go about making these changes with the methods and training techniques firmly rooted in the doctor's relationship with the patient. Dr. Cassell offers an incisive critique of the approach of modern medicine. Drawing on a number of evocative patient narratives, he writes that the goal of medicine must be to treat an individual's suffering, and not just the disease. In addition, Cassell's thoughtful and incisive argument will appeal to psychologists and psychiatrists interested in the nature of pain and suffering.

The Principles and Practice of Narrative Medicine

The Principles and Practice of Narrative Medicine PDF Author: Rita Charon
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199360197
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
The Principles and Practice of Narrative Medicine articulates the ideas, methods, and practices of narrative medicine. Written by the originators of the field, this book provides the authoritative starting place for any clinicians or scholars committed to learning of and eventually teaching or practicing narrative medicine.

The Future of Public Health

The Future of Public Health PDF Author: Committee for the Study of the Future of Public Health
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309581907
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
"The Nation has lost sight of its public health goals and has allowed the system of public health to fall into 'disarray'," from The Future of Public Health. This startling book contains proposals for ensuring that public health service programs are efficient and effective enough to deal not only with the topics of today, but also with those of tomorrow. In addition, the authors make recommendations for core functions in public health assessment, policy development, and service assurances, and identify the level of government--federal, state, and local--at which these functions would best be handled.

Patient-Centered Medicine

Patient-Centered Medicine PDF Author: Moira Stewart
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1909368032
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
This long awaited Third Edition fully illuminates the patient-centered model of medicine, continuing to provide the foundation for the Patient-Centered Care series. It redefines the principles underpinning the patient-centered method using four major components - clarifying its evolution and consequent development - to bring the reader fully up-to-

Naturalism in the Philosophy of Health

Naturalism in the Philosophy of Health PDF Author: Élodie Giroux
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319290916
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 227

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Book Description
In a series of papers published in the 1970s, Christopher Boorse proposed a naturalist theory of health, mainly based on a value-free concept of ‘biological function’, a concept of ‘reference class’ and the notion of ‘statistical normality’. His theory has profoundly shaped the philosophical debates on the concepts of health and disease. It could even be said that the numerous criticisms of his 'biostatistical theory' are at the centre of what is usually referred to as the debate between ‘normativists’ and ‘naturalists’. Today, the predominant naturalist theory of health is still Boorse’s biostatistical theory. This volume offers the first comprehensive review and critical assessment of the nature and status of naturalism in the philosophy of health. It explores the notion of biological normativity and its relevance for the philosophy of health, and it analyses the implications of the philosophical theories of health for healthcare and the debate on health enhancement. In the first section, several contributions identify the kind of ‘naturalism’ the biostatistical theory belongs to and offer further criticisms or possible modifications, such as the concept of function that is required by this theory, and whether a comparativist approach to health is more relevant than a non-comparativist one. The second section explores natural or biological ‘normativity’ and some possible accounts of health that could be based on this concept. The third and final section focuses on the implications of naturalism in healthcare. 'Goals of Medicine’ is the first paper in which Christopher Boorse ventured toward analysing the implication of his biostatistical theory of health on the practice of medicine, the difficult issue of the goals of medicine and the boundary between treating and enhancing. Other papers in this section critically evaluate Boorse’s account and analyse the importance of a positive concept of health.

Crossing the Quality Chasm

Crossing the Quality Chasm PDF Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309132967
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 359

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Book Description
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.

Achieving Your Personal Health Goals

Achieving Your Personal Health Goals PDF Author: James W. Mold
Publisher: Full Court Press
ISBN: 9780692926239
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
It is important that each of us understand and communicate our personal health goals in order to maintain good health and receive good health care. We all hope to avoid premature death and disability, participate in meaningful life activities, become more capable and adaptable, and experience a comfortable death. However, each of us defines these goals differently, and we differ in the strategies we choose to achieve them. In this book, the author, a primary care physician and teacher, uses case examples and practical advice to help readers clarify their health goals, understand the kinds of strategies likely to be effective, and understand the health care system in order to get the help they need and avoid unnecessary tests and treatments. The book includes 16 chapters divided into 3 sections, The Goals of Health and Health Care, Obstacles and Challenges, and Achieving Your Health Goals. The first 14 chapters are followed by questions for contemplation or discussion. The book has 256 pages.

Handbook of the Philosophy of Medicine

Handbook of the Philosophy of Medicine PDF Author: Thomas Schramme
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9789401786874
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This is the first wide-ranging, multi-authored handbook in the field of philosophy of medicine, covering the underlying conceptual issues of many important social, political and ethical issues in health care. It introduces and develops over 70 topics, concepts, and issues in the field. It is written by distinguished specialists from multiple disciplines, including philosophy, health sciences, nursing, sociology, political theory, and medicine. Many difficult social and ethical issues in health care are based on conceptual problems, most prominently on the definitions of health and disease, or on epistemological issues regarding causality or diagnosis. Philosophy is the discipline that deals with such conceptual, metaphysical, epistemological, methodological, and axiological matters. This handbook covers all the central concepts in medicine, such as ageing, death, disease, mental disorder, and well-being. It is an invaluable source for laypeople, academics with an interest in medicine, and health care specialists who want be informed and up to date with the relevant discussions. The text also advances these debates and will set the agenda for years to come.

Life Choices

Life Choices PDF Author: Joseph H. Howell
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
ISBN: 9781589013605
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 620

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Book Description
An authoritative introduction to bioethics, Life Choices examines a comprehensive range of ethical questions and brings together some of the most probing and instructive essays published in the field. Some of the articles are classics in the literature of bioethics, while others address current issues. Topics include moral decision making, abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide, life-sustaining technologies, organ transplantation, reproductive technologies, and the allocation of health care resources. This second edition features new sections on the goals and allocation of medicine and on the cloning of human beings. It also includes new articles on genetics, the duty to die, and ethical theory. Written by the foremost authorities in bioethics, Life Choices provides a comprehensive introduction to the field. Instructors who have used the first edition as a text will welcome this new, updated edition. Scholars and health care practitioners will find it useful as a valuable reference on a wide range of bioethical issues.