PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION The need for a thorough understanding of medical terminology has not diminished in the least for pharmacists and other health care practitioners in the five years between the publication of the first edition of this book and this second edition. If anything, it has become greater. The pharmacy profession has further solidified its clinical role in patient care, and pharmacists are more entrenched than ever before in the role of counselor and advisor to both patients and practitioners alike. For more than a few pharmacists, what not long ago was an occasional question from a physician about appropriate drug therapy has become regular consultation concerning the interaction of drugs with the patient, his life, and the many other therapies he may be facing. Pharmacy chains, which not long ago installed glass walls to separate the pharmacist from customers, have asked technicians to count pills while pharmacists are in continuous contact with the patient. Such practice changes have increased the demand for clinical knowledge among pharmacists, including a knowledge of medical terminology, and those demands have been passed on to the authors in preparation of the second edition of this book. While the role of the text is still to help pharmacists be more effective interpreters and counselors, some changes have been made in response to reader requests.

This book tells the intriguing and often colorful stories of the medical words we use. The origins of clinical and scientific terms can be found in Greek and Latin myths, in places such as jungles of Uganda and the islands of the Aegean Sea, in the names of medicine’s giants such as Hippocrates and Osler, and in some truly unlikely sources. In this book you will learn the answers to questions such as: • What disease was named for an American space flight? • Do you know the echoic word for elephantine rumbling of the bowels? • What drug name was determined by drawing chemists’ notes out of a hat? • What are surfer’s eye, clam digger’s itch, and hide porter’s disease? This book can give you new insights into the terms we use every day in the clinic, hospital, and laboratory. Knowing a word’s history assists in understanding not only what it means, but also some of the connotative subtleties of terms used in diagnosis and treatment. The Amazing Language of Medicine is intended for the enrichment of physicians, other health professionals, students, and anyone involved in clinical care and medical science.

A groundbreaking text on how to deliver the highest quality patient care through professionalism in daily medical practice Five Star Doody’s Review: “This is an outstanding book for all clinicians and professors, indeed for everyone in medicine to help mentor and self-police the medical profession.” "Understanding Medical Professionalism is a 'must-have' for all involved in the healing arts. The book demystifies professionalism, bringing it from a philosophical, mystical concept to a practical everyday set of behaviors. The twelve chapters, in a uniform way, provide wonderful, real-life stories that illustrate the challenges faced by practitioners, describe ways to deal with those challenges, and help develop the personal and institutional skills necessary to provide excellent and compassionate care." -- Carlos A. Pellegrini, MD, FACS, FRCSI (Hon.), The Henry N. Harkins Professor and Chair, Department of Surgery, University of Washington "Insightful, practical, and authoritative. Building on their own research and that of others, Levinson et al. offer a comprehensive discussion of medical professionalism from the refreshing perspective of behavioral skills and an enabling healthcare system. Understanding Medical Professionalism has fundamentally reframed the professionalism debate and will likely remain the definitive work in this field for quite some time." -- David G. Nichols, MD, President and CEO, The American Board of Pediatrics "The authors' ambitious goal of providing a framework for the continuum of physician development of professional behaviors, from student through expert senior clinician, has been met. Students will find the text modular and instructive; residents will benefit from the reinforcement of positive professional behaviors and explication of strategies to excel in this competency; educational program directors will find the framework and tools for assessment and strategies for remediation enriching; and the expert professional will find subtle opportunities to grow to mastership of this most important physician competency." -- Thomas J. Nasca, MD, MACP, Chief Executive Officer, Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, Professor of Medicine, Jefferson Medical College "The authors offer a framework and an approach to medical professionalism that enable us to understand it, teach it, and incorporate it into our day-to-day lives as health professionals. It is a much needed addition to our armamentarium as we work to align the education of health professionals with the needs and expectations of the society we serve." -- George E. Thibault, MD, President, Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation

Many published books that comment on the medical model have been written by doctors, who assume that readers have the same knowledge of medicine, or by those who have attempted to discredit and attack the medical practice. Both types of book have tended to present diagnostic categories in medicine as universally scientifically valid examples of clear-cut diseases easily distinguished from each other and from health; with a fixed prognosis; and with a well-understood aetiology leading to disease-reversing treatments. These are contrasted with psychiatric diagnoses and treatments, which are described as unclear and inadequate in comparison. The Medical Model in Mental Health: An Explanation and Evaluation explores the overlap between the usefulness of diagnostic constructs (which enable prognosis and treatment decisions) and the therapeutic effectiveness of psychiatry compared with general medicine. The book explains the medical model and how it applies in mental health, assuming little knowledge or experience of medicine, and defends psychiatry as a medical practice.

Written specifically for short medical terminology courses in a variety of educational settings or for self-study learning, Medical Terminology Made Easy, Fourth Edition, is a self-paced learning approach designed to ease you into the language of medicine that separates the layperson from the professional. The programmed-learning format requires active participation through reading, writing, answering questions, labeling, repetition, and providing immediate feedback. This format will help you to correctly decipher new terms by identifying and then practicing different word parts.

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.

In response to a request by the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), the Institute of Medicine proposed a study to examine definitions of serious or complex medical conditions and related issues. A seven-member committee was appointed to address these issues. Throughout the course of this study, the committee has been aware of the fact that the topic addressed by this report concerns one of the most critical issues confronting HCFA, health care plans and providers, and patients today. The Medicare+Choice regulations focus on the most vulnerable populations in need of medical care and other services-those with serious or complex medical conditions. Caring for these highly vulnerable populations poses a number of challenges. The committee believes, however, that the current state of clinical and research literature does not adequately address all of the challenges and issues relevant to the identification and care of these patients.

Provides students with a foundation of knowledge they can build on as they pursue a career in healthcare. This work is written in a user-friendly style.

An accessible new title focused on the science of healthcare delivery, from the acclaimed Understanding series A Doody’s Core Title for 2024! “... a landmark text that will shape the field and inform our dialog for years to come—-and it should be part of the required curriculum at medical and nursing schools around the world. Excellence in healthcare delivery science should become a core competency of the modern physician. Howell and Stevens have given medicine an important gift that may enable just that.” —Sachin H. Jain, MD, MBA, FACP; President and CEO, CareMore and Aspire Health; Co-Founder and Co-Editor-in-Chief, Healthcare: The Journal of Delivery Science and Innovation “You hold in your hands 35 years of investigation and learning, condensed into understandable principles and applications. It is a guidebook for effective care delivery leadership, practice, and success.” —Brent C. James, MD, MStat, Clinical Professor, Stanford University School of Medicine “...a must-read for anyone who, like me, is frustrated with the pace of our progress and is committed to creating a learning health system for all.” —Lisa Simpson, MB, BCh, MPH, FAAP, President and CEO, AcademyHealth “... will quickly become the go-to, must-read resource for practitioners looking to have an impact as innovators in healthcare delivery.” —David H. Roberts, MD, Steven P. Simcox, Patrick A. Clifford, and James H. Higby Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School Today’s healthcare system is profoundly complicated, but we persist in trying to roll out breakthroughs as if the healthcare system were still just the straightforward “physician’s workshop” of the early 20th century. Only rarely do we employ research-quality analytics to assess how well our care delivery innovations really work in the practice. And shockingly, the US healthcare delivery system spends only 0.1% of revenue on R&D in how we actually deliver care. Small wonder that we find ourselves faced with the current medical paradox: Treatments that seemed miraculous at the beginning of our lifetimes are routine today, but low-quality care and medical errors harm millions of people worldwide even as spiraling healthcare costs bankrupt an unacceptable number of American families every year. Healthcare delivery science bridges this gap between scientific research and complex, real-world healthcare delivery and operations. With its engaging, clinically relevant style, Understanding Healthcare Delivery Science is the perfect introduction to this emerging field. This reader-friendly text pairs a thorough discussion of commonly available healthcare improvement tools and top-tier research methods with numerous case studies that put the content into a clinically relevant framework, making this text a valuable tool for administrators, researchers, and clinicians alike.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION The need for a thorough understanding of medical terminology has not diminished in the least for pharmacists and other health care practitioners in the five years between the publication of the first edition of this book and this second edition. If anything, it has become greater. The pharmacy profession has further solidified its clinical role in patient care, and pharmacists are more entrenched than ever before in the role of counselor and advisor to both patients and practitioners alike. For more than a few pharmacists, what not long ago was an occasional question from a physician about appropriate drug therapy has become regular consultation concerning the interaction of drugs with the patient, his life, and the many other therapies he may be facing. Pharmacy chains, which not long ago installed glass walls to separate the pharmacist from customers, have asked technicians to count pills while pharmacists are in continuous contact with the patient. Such practice changes have increased the demand for clinical knowledge among pharmacists, including a knowledge of medical terminology, and those demands have been passed on to the authors in preparation of the second edition of this book. While the role of the text is still to help pharmacists be more effective interpreters and counselors, some changes have been made in response to reader requests.