Getting the right diagnosis is a key aspect of health care - it provides an explanation of a patient's health problem and informs subsequent health care decisions. The diagnostic process is a complex, collaborative activity that involves clinical reasoning and information gathering to determine a patient's health problem. According to Improving Diagnosis in Health Care, diagnostic errors-inaccurate or delayed diagnoses-persist throughout all settings of care and continue to harm an unacceptable number of patients. It is likely that most people will experience at least one diagnostic error in their lifetime, sometimes with devastating consequences. Diagnostic errors may cause harm to patients by preventing or delaying appropriate treatment, providing unnecessary or harmful treatment, or resulting in psychological or financial repercussions. The committee concluded that improving the diagnostic process is not only possible, but also represents a moral, professional, and public health imperative. Improving Diagnosis in Health Care, a continuation of the landmark Institute of Medicine reports To Err Is Human (2000) and Crossing the Quality Chasm (2001), finds that diagnosis-and, in particular, the occurrence of diagnostic errorsâ€"has been largely unappreciated in efforts to improve the quality and safety of health care. Without a dedicated focus on improving diagnosis, diagnostic errors will likely worsen as the delivery of health care and the diagnostic process continue to increase in complexity. Just as the diagnostic process is a collaborative activity, improving diagnosis will require collaboration and a widespread commitment to change among health care professionals, health care organizations, patients and their families, researchers, and policy makers. The recommendations of Improving Diagnosis in Health Care contribute to the growing momentum for change in this crucial area of health care quality and safety.

Nearly 20 million nuclear medicine procedures are carried out each year in the United States alone to diagnose and treat cancers, cardiovascular disease, and certain neurological disorders. Many of the advancements in nuclear medicine have been the result of research investments made during the past 50 years where these procedures are now a routine part of clinical care. Although nuclear medicine plays an important role in biomedical research and disease management, its promise is only beginning to be realized. Advancing Nuclear Medicine Through Innovation highlights the exciting emerging opportunities in nuclear medicine, which include assessing the efficacy of new drugs in development, individualizing treatment to the patient, and understanding the biology of human diseases. Health care and pharmaceutical professionals will be most interested in this book's examination of the challenges the field faces and its recommendations for ways to reduce these impediments.

Evidence suggests that medical innovation is becoming increasingly dependent on interdisciplinary research and on the crossing of institutional boundaries. This volume focuses on the conditions governing the supply of new medical technologies and suggest that the boundaries between disciplines, institutions, and the private and public sectors have been redrawn and reshaped. Individual essays explore the nature, organization, and management of interdisciplinary R&D in medicine; the introduction into clinical practice of the laser, endoscopic innovations, cochlear implantation, cardiovascular imaging technologies, and synthetic insulin; the division of innovating labor in biotechnology; the government- industry-university interface; perspectives on industrial R&D management; and the growing intertwining of the public and proprietary in medical technology.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) uses a screening tool called the Listing of Impairments to identify claimants who are so severely impaired that they cannot work at all and thus immediately qualify for benefits. In this report, the IOM makes several recommendations for improving SSA's capacity to determine disability benefits more quickly and efficiently using the Listings.

Image Processing for Automated Diagnosis of Cardiac Diseases highlights current and emerging technologies for the automated diagnosis of cardiac diseases. It presents concepts and practical algorithms, including techniques for the automated diagnosis of organs in motion using image processing. This book is suitable for biomedical engineering researchers, engineers and scientists in research and development, and clinicians who want to learn more about and develop advanced concepts in image processing to overcome the challenges of automated diagnosis of heart disease. - Includes advanced techniques to improve diagnostic methods for various cardiac diseases - Uses methods to improve the existing diagnostic features of echocardiographic machines - Develops new diagnostic features for echocardiographic machines

A practical guide to performing and analysing cardiovascular scans, this handbook is fully updated in this second edition. Containing a wealth of example scan images and detailed guidance on techniques and interpretations, this book is an invaluable workstation resource.

Computerized medical imaging and image analysis have been the central focus in diagnostic radiology. They provide revolutionalizing tools for the visualization of physiology as well as the understanding and quantitative measurement of physiological parameters. This book offers in-depth knowledge of medical imaging instrumentation and techniques as well as multidimensional image analysis and classification methods for research, education, and applications in computer-aided diagnostic radiology. Internationally renowned researchers and experts in their respective areas provide detailed descriptions of the basic foundation as well as the most recent developments in medical imaging, thus helping readers to understand theoretical and advanced concepts for important research and clinical applications.

Now with new imaging tools and more illustrative cases, this extensively updated second edition of the successful EAE Textbook of Echocardiography is a valuable resource to support not only those with an interest in echocardiography but also those seeking the information needed for accreditation and training through the EACVI.