Best of
Medicine

2015

10% Human: How Your Body's Microbes Hold the Key to Health and Happiness


Alanna Collen - 2015
    For every one of the cells that make up the vessel that you call your body, there are nine impostor cells hitching a ride. You are not just flesh and blood, muscle and bone, brain and skin, but also bacteria and fungi. Over your lifetime, you will carry the equivalent weight of five African elephants in microbes. You are not an individual but a colony.Until recently, we had thought our microbes hardly mattered, but science is revealing a different story, one in which microbes run our bodies and becoming a healthy human is impossible without them.In this riveting, shocking, and beautifully written book, biologist Alanna Collen draws on the latest scientific research to show how our personal colony of microbes influences our weight, our immune system, our mental health, and even our choice of partner. She argues that so many of our modern diseases—obesity, autism, mental illness, digestive disorders, allergies, autoimmunity afflictions, and even cancer—have their root in our failure to cherish our most fundamental and enduring relationship: that with our personal colony of microbes.Many of the questions about modern diseases left unanswered by the Human Genome Project are illuminated by this new science. And the good news is that unlike our human cells, we can change our microbes for the better. Collen's book is a revelatory and indispensable guide. It is science writing at its most relevant: life—and your body—will never seem the same again.

Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic


Sam Quinones - 2015
    Communities where heroin had never been seen before—from Charlotte, NC and Huntington, WVA, to Salt Lake City and Portland, OR—were overrun with it. Local police and residents were stunned. How could heroin, long considered a drug found only in the dense, urban environments along the East Coast, and trafficked into the United States by enormous Colombian drug cartels, be so incredibly ubiquitous in the American heartland? Who was bringing it here, and perhaps more importantly, why were so many townspeople suddenly eager for the comparatively cheap high it offered?With the same dramatic drive of El Narco and Methland, Sam Quinones weaves together two classic tales of American capitalism: The stories of young men in Mexico, independent of the drug cartels, in search of their own American Dream via the fast and enormous profits of trafficking cheap black-tar heroin to America’s rural and suburban addicts; and that of Purdue Pharma in Stamford, Connecticut, determined to corner the market on pain with its new and expensive miracle drug, Oxycontin; extremely addictive in its own right. Quinones illuminates just how these two stories fit together as cause and effect: hooked on costly Oxycontin, American addicts were lured to much cheaper black tar heroin and its powerful and dangerous long-lasting high. Embroiled alongside the suppliers and buyers are DEA agents, local, small-town sheriffs, and the US attorney from eastern Virginia whose case against Purdue Pharma and Oxycontin made him an enemy of the Bush-era Justice Department, ultimately stalling and destroying his career in public service.Dreamland is a scathing and incendiary account of drug culture and addiction spreading to every part of the American landscape.

Trauma Room Two


Philip Allen Green - 2015
    It is a place where life and death meet. A place where some families celebrate the most improbable of victories while others face the most devastating of losses. A place where what matters the most in this life is revealed. Trauma Room Two is just such a place. In this collection of short stories, Dr. Green takes the reader inside the hidden emotional landscape of emergency medicine. Based on fifteen years of experience as an ER physician, he reveals the profound moments that often occur in emergency rooms for patients, their families, and the staff that work there.

American Pain: How a Young Felon and His Ring of Doctors Unleashed America's Deadliest Drug Epidemic


John Temple - 2015
    From a fortress-like former bank building, American Pain's doctors distributed massive quantities of oxycodone to hundreds of customers a day, mostly traffickers and addicts who came by the vanload. Inked muscle-heads ran the clinic's security. Former strippers operated the pharmacy, counting out pills and stashing cash in garbage bags. Under their lab coats, the doctors carried guns and it was all legal sort of. American Pain was the brainchild of Chris George, a 27-year-old convicted drug felon. The son of a South Florida home builder, Chris George grew up in ultra-rich Wellington, where Bill Gates, Springsteen, and Madonna kept houses. Thick-necked from weightlifting, he and his twin brother hung out with mobsters, invested in strip clubs, brawled with cops, and grinned for their mug shots. After the housing market stalled, a local doctor clued in the brothers to the burgeoning underground market for lightly regulated prescription painkillers. In Florida, pain clinics could dispense the meds, and no one tracked the patients. Seizing the opportunity, Chris George teamed up with the doctor, and word got out. Just two years later Chris had raked in $40 million, and 90 percent of the pills his doctors prescribed flowed north to feed the rest of the country's insatiable narcotics addiction. Meanwhile, hundreds more pain clinics in the mold of American Pain had popped up in the Sunshine State, creating a gigantic new drug industry. American Pain chronicles the rise and fall of this game-changing pill mill, and how it helped tip the nation into its current opioid crisis, the deadliest drug epidemic in American history. The narrative swings back and forth between Florida and Kentucky, and is populated by a gaudy and diverse cast of characters. This includes the incongruous band of wealthy bad boys, thugs and esteemed physicians who built American Pain, as well as penniless Kentucky clans who transformed themselves into painkiller trafficking rings. It includes addicts whose lives were devastated by American Pain's drugs, and the federal agents and grieving mothers who labored for years to bring the clinic's crew to justice."

Lights and Sirens


Kevin Grange - 2015
    Blending months of classroom instruction with ER rotations and a grueling field internship with the Los Angeles Fire Department, UCLA’s paramedic program is like a mix of boot camp and med school. It would turn out to be the hardest thing Grange had ever done—but also the most transformational and inspiring.An in-depth look at the trials and tragedies that paramedic students experience daily, Lights and Sirens is ultimately about the best part of humanity—people working together to help save a human life.

Less Medicine, More Health: 7 Assumptions That Drive Too Much Medical Care


H. Gilbert Welch - 2015
      You might think the biggest problem in medical care is that it costs too much. Or that health insurance is too expensive, too uneven, too complicated—and gives you too many forms to fill out. But the central problem is that too much medical care has too little value. Dr. H. Gilbert Welch is worried about too much medical care. It’s not to deny that some people get too little medical care, rather that the conventional concern about “too little” needs to be balanced with a concern about “too much”: too many people being made to worry about diseases they don’t have—and are at only average risk to get; too many people being tested and exposed to the harmful effects of the testing process; too many people being subjected to treatments they don’t need—or can’t benefit from. The American public has been sold the idea that seeking medical care is one of the most important steps to maintain wellness. Surprisingly, medical care is not, in fact, well correlated with good health. So more medicine does not equal more health; in reality the opposite may be true. The general public harbors assumptions about medical care that encourage overuse, assumptions like it’s always better to fix the problem, sooner (or newer) is always better, or it never hurts to get more information. Less Medicine, More Health pushes against established wisdom and suggests that medical care can be too aggressive. Drawing on his twenty-five years of medical practice and research, Dr. Welch notes that while economics and lawyers contribute to the excesses of American medicine, the problem is essentially created when the general public clings to these powerful assumptions about the value of tests and treatments—a number of which are just plain wrong. By telling fascinating (and occasionally amusing) stories backed by reliable data, Dr. Welch challenges patients and the health-care establishment to rethink some very fundamental practices. His provocative prescriptions hold the potential to save money and, more important, improve health outcomes for us all.

Atul Gawande's Being Mortal:


Ant Hive Media - 2015
    This is a summary and review of the original book. Available in a variety of formats, this summary offers you as a reader the opportunity to enjoy great writings.when you might not have the time to read the original book Being Mortal, by writer Atul Gawande focuses on several critical issues that include death, aging, mortality and critical and terminal illness. The writer has included vast research and has chronicled stories and experiences of his own patients, patients of other doctors and stories of his members of the family. The story based on these experiences provides information to readers regarding various circumstances, life situations and scenarios, which can facilitate people to find an optimum journey through the final days of their own lives or the lives of their family members. Key Takeaways 1. Nursing homes neither have been created for assisting elderly persons to reduce their level of dependency on another person nor to provide better options than the poorhouses. The purpose for creating nursing homes is clearing hospital beds. 2. Assisted living therefore has risen from the requirement to provide alternative solution to nursing homes, which can make patients more independent and have a better grip over their own lives. 3. Most people, in the later years of their own lives want something more than survival and that is where nursing homes, medical institutions and assisted living fail. 4. People must question what makes life worth living at the time when they get old, are frail, ill and have to depend on another person for their daily care.

Stories from the Shadows: Reflections of a Street Doctor


James J. O'Connell - 2015
    O'Connell’s collection of stories and essays, written during thirty years of caring for homeless persons in Boston, gently illuminates the humanity and raw courage of those who struggle to survive and find meaning and hope while living on the streets.

The Conversation: A Revolutionary Plan for End-of-Life Care


Angelo E. Volandes - 2015
    Two thirds of Americans die in healthcare institutions tethered to machines and tubes at bankrupting costs, even though research shows that most prefer to die at home in comfort, surrounded by loved ones.Dr. Angelo E. Volandes believes that a life well lived deserves a good ending. Through the stories of seven patients and seven very different end-of-life experiences, he demonstrates that what people with a serious illness, who are approaching the end of their lives, need most is not new technologies but one simple thing: The Conversation. He argues for a radical re-envisioning of the patient-doctor relationship and offers ways for patients and their families to talk about this difficult issue to ensure that patients will be at the center and in charge of their medical care.It might be the most important conversation you ever have.

Brain Storms: The Race to Unlock the Mysteries of Parkinson's Disease


Jon Palfreman - 2015
    In Brain Storms, the award-winning journalist Jon Palfreman tells their story, a story that became his own when he was diagnosed with the debilitating illness. Palfreman chronicles how scientists have worked to crack the mystery of what was once called the shaking palsy, from the earliest clinical descriptions of tremors, gait freezing, and micrographia to the cutting edge of neuroscience, and charts the victories and setbacks of a massive international effort to best the disease. He takes us back to the late 1950s and the discovery of L-dopa. He delves into a number of other therapeutic approaches to this perplexing condition, from partial lobotomies and deep brain stimulation to neural grafting. And he shares inspiring stories of brave individuals living with Parkinson's, from a former professional ballet dancer who tricks her body to move freely again to a patient who cannot walk but astounds doctors when he is able to ride a bicycle with no trouble at all. With the baby boom generation beginning to retire and the population steadily aging, the race is on to discover a means to stop or reverse neurodegenerative conditions like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. Brain Storms is the long-overdue, riveting, and deeply personal story of that race, and a passionate, insightful, and urgent look into the lives of those affected.

The Death of Cancer: After Fifty Years on the Front Lines of Medicine, a Pioneering Oncologist Reveals Why the War on Cancer Is Winnable--and How We Can Get There


Vincent T. DeVita Jr. - 2015
    But most of us know very little about how the disease works, why we treat it the way we do, and the personalities whose dedication got us where we are today. For fifty years, Dr. Vincent T. DeVita Jr. has been one of those key players: he has held just about every major position in the field, and he developed the first successful chemotherapy treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a breakthrough the American Society of Clinical Oncologists has called the top research advance in half a century of chemotherapy. As one of oncology’s leading figures, DeVita knows what cancer looks like from the lab bench and the bedside. The Death of Cancer is his illuminating and deeply personal look at the science and the history of one of the world’s most formidable diseases. In DeVita’s hands, even the most complex medical concepts are comprehensible.Cowritten with DeVita’s daughter, the science writer Elizabeth DeVita-Raeburn, The Death of Cancer is also a personal tale about the false starts and major breakthroughs, the strong-willed oncologists who clashed with conservative administrators (and one another), and the courageous patients whose willingness to test cutting-edge research helped those oncologists find potential treatments. An emotionally compelling and informative read, The Death of Cancer is also a call to arms. DeVita believes that we’re well on our way to curing cancer but that there are things we need to change in order to get there. Mortality rates are declining, but America’s cancer patients are still being shortchanged—by timid doctors, by misguided national agendas, by compromised bureaucracies, and by a lack of access to information about the strengths and weaknesses of the nation’s cancer centers.With historical depth and authenticity, DeVita reveals the true story of the fight against cancer. The Death of Cancer is an ambitious, vital book about a life-and-death subject that touches us all.

Black Man in a White Coat: A Doctor's Reflections on Race and Medicine


Damon Tweedy - 2015
    Instead, he finds that he has joined a new world where race is front and center. The recipient of a scholarship designed to increase black student enrollment, Tweedy soon meets a professor who bluntly questions whether he belongs in medical school, a moment that crystallizes the challenges he will face throughout his career. Making matters worse, in lecture after lecture the common refrain for numerous diseases resounds, "More common in blacks than in whites."Black Man in a White Coat examines the complex ways in which both black doctors and patients must navigate the difficult and often contradictory terrain of race and medicine. As Tweedy transforms from student to practicing physician, he discovers how often race influences his encounters with patients. Through their stories, he illustrates the complex social, cultural, and economic factors at the root of many health problems in the black community. These issues take on greater meaning when Tweedy is himself diagnosed with a chronic disease far more common among black people. In this powerful, moving, and deeply empathic book, Tweedy explores the challenges confronting black doctors, and the disproportionate health burdens faced by black patients, ultimately seeking a way forward to better treatment and more compassionate care.

The Heart Healers: The Misfits, Mavericks, and Rebels Who Created the Greatest Medical Breakthrough of Our Lives


James S. Forrester - 2015
    By the middle of the twentieth century, it was killing millions and, as with the Black Death centuries before, physicians stood helpless. Visionaries, though, had begun to make strides earlier. On September 7, 1895, Ludwig Rehn successfully sutured the heart of a living man with a knife wound to the chest for the first time. In 1929, Dr. Werner Forssman inserted a cardiac catheter in his own arm and forced the X-ray technician on duty to take a photo as he successfully threaded it down the vein into his own heart . . . and lived. And on June 6, 1944 D-Day another momentous event occurred far from the Normandy beaches: Dr. Dwight Harken sutured the shrapnel-injured heart of a young soldier and saved his life, and thus the term "cardiac surgeon" was born. In "The Heart Healers," James Forrester, MD, tells the story of these rebels and the risks they took with their own lives and the lives of others to heal the most elemental of human organs: the heart. The result is a compelling chronicle of a disease and its cure, a disease that is still with us, but one that is slowly being worn away by the "Heart Healers."

A Surgeon in the Village: An American Doctor Teaches Brain Surgery in Africa


Tony Bartelme - 2015
    Dilan Ellegala's quest to teach brain surgery in one of the poorest and most remote places on earth. In vivid detail, the book also exposes one of the world's most neglected but serious public health problems - one that kills more people than malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS combined.

Ending Medical Reversal: Improving Outcomes, Saving Lives


Vinayak K. Prasad - 2015
    But some tests and therapies are discontinued because they are found to be worse, or at least no better, than what they replaced. Medications like Vioxx and procedures such as vertebroplasty for back pain caused by compression fractures are among the medical "advances" that turned out to be dangerous or useless. What Dr. Vinayak K. Prasad and Dr. Adam S. Cifu call medical reversal happens when doctors start using a medication, procedure, or diagnostic tool without a robust evidence base—and then stop using it when it is found not to help, or even to harm, patients.Drs. Prasad and Cifu narrate fascinating stories from every corner of medicine to explore why medical reversals occur, how they are harmful, and what can be done to avoid them. They explore the difference between medical innovations that improve care and those that only appear to be promising. They also outline a comprehensive plan to reform medical education, research funding and protocols, and the process for approving new drugs that will ensure that more of what gets done in doctors’ offices and hospitals is truly effective.

The Chimp and the River: How AIDS Emerged from an African Forest


David Quammen - 2015
    Recent research has revealed dark surprises and yielded a radically new scenario of how AIDS began and spread. Excerpted and adapted from the book Spillover, with a new introduction by the author, Quammen's hair-raising investigation tracks the virus from chimp populations in the jungles of southeastern Cameroon to laboratories across the globe, as he unravels the mysteries of when, where, and under what circumstances such a consequential "spillover" can happen. An audacious search for answers amid more than a century of data, The Chimp and the River tells the haunting tale of one of the most devastating pandemics of our time.

The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype, and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine's Computer Age


Robert M. Wachter - 2015
    For the past few decades, technology has been touted as the cure for all of healthcare's ills.But medicine stubbornly resisted computerization - until now. Over the past five years, thanks largely to billions of dollars in federal incentives, healthcare has finally gone digital.Yet once clinicians started using computers to actually deliver care, it dawned on them that something was deeply wrong. Why were doctors no longer making eye contact with their patients? How could one of America's leading hospitals give a teenager a 39-fold overdose of a common antibiotic, despite a state-of-the-art computerized prescribing system? How could a recruiting ad for physicians tout the absence of an electronic medical record as a major selling point?Logically enough, we've pinned the problems on clunky software, flawed implementations, absurd regulations, and bad karma. It was all of those things, but it was also something far more complicated. And far more interesting . . .Written with a rare combination of compelling stories and hard-hitting analysis by one of the nation's most thoughtful physicians, The Digital Doctor examines healthcare at the dawn of its computer age. It tackles the hard questions, from how technology is changing care at the bedside to whether government intervention has been useful or destructive. And it does so with clarity, insight, humor, and compassion. Ultimately, it is a hopeful story."We need to recognize that computers in healthcare don't simply replace my doctor's scrawl with Helvetica 12," writes the author Dr. Robert Wachter. "Instead, they transform the work, the people who do it, and their relationships with each other and with patients. . . . Sure, we should have thought of this sooner. But it's not too late to get it right."This riveting book offers the prescription for getting it right, making it essential reading for everyone - patient and provider alike - who cares about our healthcare system.

The Real Doctor Will See You Shortly: A Physician's First Year


Matt McCarthy - 2015
    But when a new admission to the critical care unit almost died his first night on call, he found himself scrambling. Visions of mastery quickly gave way to hopes of simply surviving hospital life, where confidence was hard to come by and no amount of med school training could dispel the terror of facing actual patients.This funny, candid memoir of McCarthy’s intern year at a New York hospital provides a scorchingly frank look at how doctors are made, taking readers into patients’ rooms and doctors’ conferences to witness a physician's journey from ineptitude to competence. McCarthy's one stroke of luck paired him with a brilliant second-year adviser he called “Baio” (owing to his resemblance to the Charles in Charge star), who proved to be a remarkable teacher with a wicked sense of humor. McCarthy would learn even more from the people he cared for, including a man named Benny, who was living in the hospital for months at a time awaiting a heart transplant. But no teacher could help McCarthy when an accident put his own health at risk, and showed him all too painfully the thin line between doctor and patient.The Real Doctor Will See You Shortly offers a window on to hospital life that dispenses with sanctimony and self-seriousness while emphasizing the black-comic paradox of becoming a doctor: How do you learn to save lives in a job where there is no practice?

Crucial Interventions: An Illustrated Treatise on the Principles & Practice of Nineteenth-Century Surgery


Richard Barnett - 2015
    In 1750, the anatomist John Hunter described it as “a humiliating spectacle of the futility of science”; yet, over the next 150 years the feared, practical men of medicine benefited from a revolution in scientific progress and the increased availability of instructional textbooks. Anesthesia and antisepsis were introduced. Newly established medical schools improved surgeons’ understanding of the human body. For the first time, surgical techniques were refined, illustrated in color, and disseminated on the printed page.Crucial Interventions follows this evolution, drawing from magnificent examples of rare surgical textbooks from the mid-nineteenth century. Graphic and sometimes unnerving yet beautifully rendered, these fascinating illustrations, acquired from the Wellcome Collection’s extensive archives, include step-by-step surgical techniques paired with depictions of medical instruments and depictions of operations in progress.Arranged for the layman (from head to toe) Crucial Interventions is a captivating look at the early history of one of the world’s most mysterious and macabre professions.

Shrinks: The Untold Story of Psychiatry


Jeffrey A. Lieberman - 2015
    Lieberman traces the field from its birth as a mystic pseudo-science through its adolescence as a cult of "shrinks" to its late blooming maturity — beginning after World War II — as a science-driven profession that saves lives. With fascinating case studies and portraits of the luminaries of the field — from Sigmund Freud to Eric Kandel — Shrinks is a gripping and illuminating read, and an urgent call-to-arms to dispel the stigma of mental illnesses by treating them as diseases rather than unfortunate states of mind.“A lucid popular history...At once skeptical and triumphalist. It shows just how far psychiatry has come.” —Julia M. Klein, Boston Globe

The Health Gap: The Challenge of an Unequal World


Michael G. Marmot - 2015
    The same twenty-year avoidable disparity exists in the Calton and Lenzie neighborhoods of Glasgow, and in other cities around the world.In Sierra Leone, one in 21 fifteen-year-old women will die in her fertile years of a maternal-related cause; in Italy, the figure is one in 17,100; but in the United States, which spends more on healthcare than any other country in the world, it is one in 1,800. Why?Dramatic differences in health are not a simple matter of rich and poor; poverty alone doesn't drive ill health, but inequality does. Indeed, suicide, heart disease, lung disease, obesity, and diabetes, for example, are all linked to social disadvantage. In every country, people at relative social disadvantage suffer health disadvantage and shorter lives. Within countries, the higher the social status of individuals, the better their health. These health inequalities defy the usual explanations. Conventional approaches to improving health have emphasized access to technical solutions and changes in the behavior of individuals, but these methods only go so far. What really makes a difference is creating the conditions for people to have control over their lives, to have the power to live as they want. Empowerment is the key to reducing health inequality and thereby improving the health of everyone. Marmot emphasizes that the rate of illness of a society as a whole determines how well it functions; the greater the health inequity, the greater the dysfunction.Marmot underscores that we have the tools and resources materially to improve levels of health for individuals and societies around the world, and that to not do so would be a form of injustice. Citing powerful examples and startling statistics ("young men in the U.S. have less chance of surviving to sixty than young men in forty-nine other countries"), The Health Gap presents compelling evidence for a radical change in the way we think about health and indeed society, and inspires us to address the societal imbalances in power, money, and resources that work against health equity.

Sugar Surfing: How to manage type 1 diabetes in a modern world


Stephen W. Ponder - 2015
     An excerpt from Chapter 4 – A Force For Change “… In the grand scheme of diabetes self-management, I explain to patients and families that I (the doctor) don’t “manage” anyone’s diabetes. My role is more like that of a coach, occasional cheerleader, mentor, and at times role model I suppose. It truly is the sum of your choices; not mine or your doctor’s. Simply receiving diabetes education is often not enough. I see a three step process at work, and often times we barely get past the frst step. What we call “diabetes education” is intended to result in understanding on the part of the person(s) receiving it. But that is not the fnal element. Understanding should translate into behavior or actions for the education “loop” to be intact. There are many highly intelligent and understanding individuals in the criminal justice system who are well educated and understand all too well their actions, even the illegal ones. So what does all this have to do with using a CGM? In my opinion, it means all the difference in the world. It morphs a CGM device from a simple high or low blood alarm system (not a bad thing by itself) into the key for unlocking a vast new universe of diabetes self-realization that could once only be dreamed about. Basic diabetes self-care can be drawn as a decision loop. This loop is actually being executed daily by most persons with diabetes albeit often in a mindless fashion. Turning this chore into a more mindful action loop transforms this into an incredible tool for attaining the best blood sugar control possible for you. Like any loop, Sugar Surfing has no beginning or end. I tend to jump in at the point I call “monitoring”. This embodies many inputs both measurable and subjective. Most of us think of the act of measuring a blood sugar level with a meter or CGM device. But it’s more than that. It’s also being “in the moment”. That means being aware of recent, current and impending actions that are known to affect the ebb and fow of blood sugar levels in the body. Since blood sugar levels can be unpredictable, staying “in the moment” is a about the only approach that works for anticipating, or at least quickly reacting to unexpected shifts in BG. Once the status of the system (your body) has been sized up, either through the act of measuring a glucose level or glancing at the screen of your CGM device (or both), the next step is to analyze what is going on. This involves pulling in memories of recent actions (last insulin dose, most recent bout of exercise, what and how much was eaten (or will be soon) and more. The analysis step is where all of the little inputs come together for a final determination which is the next step: decision- making. Deciding is prioritizing one or more actions based on all the possible actions. The one that seems to be the best option is placed at the top of the list to be acted upon. Back up options are most likely numerous, but an initial action is required. The fnal part of our loop is execution: the act of following through on our decision. Immediately afterwards we are moving back into monitoring to determine the effect of our action and then modifying it as needed. You are probably saying “I already do this” and you would be right. But as has been written about by many authors, many of our decisions are mindless as opposed to mindful. This loop is a skill as much as it is a process. And as such, skills are practicable and can improve over time, or grow rusty with disuse.

Medical School for Everyone: Emergency Medicine


Roy Benaroch - 2015
    There's an elderly man complaining of chest pain, a teenage girl whose arms are swollen with bee stings, and an ambulance bringing in two unresponsive kids from a car crash. What do you do next?In Dr. Benaroch's 24 lectures, experience for yourself the high-stakes drama and medical insights of life in an everyday emergency department: the most intense department in any hospital and home to the kind of split-second decision making, troubleshooting, and detective work that can make the difference between a patient's life and death.Every lecture brings you up close and personal with the common and uncommon medical crises that emergency doctors encounter throughout their careers. As you shadow Dr. Benaroch on his shifts and sometimes even venture off-site, you'll encounter patients coming in with a variety of symptoms and complaints - some of which are easily diagnosed and treated and some of which are more life-threatening than they first appear. At the heart of each case are powerful examples of:How emergency doctors think on their feetHow emergency doctors determine what's really wrong with a patientHow emergency doctors rule in - or out - certain diagnosesHow emergency doctors counsel patients and families on improving healthThis is your opportunity to explore the adventure, mystery, and fascination of emergency medicine - and to discover why it's one of the most exciting and rewarding branches of medicine to work in.

It's All in Your Head


Suzanne O'Sullivan - 2015
    A neurologist's insightful and compassionate look into the misunderstood world of psychosomatic disorders, told through individual case histories

Bite Me: Tell-All Tales of an Emergency Veterinarian


Laura C. Lefkowitz - 2015
    Follow one veterinarian's story through the course of her career and experience the dramas, the traumas and the comedies that regularly take place in a veterinary emergency room. Become privy to some of the authors most humorous, shocking and hackle-raising encounters with animals and overhear some of the more memorable conversations that she has had with owners throughout her years of practice. Follow her through her foreign travels and learn how modern veterinary medicine far exceeds the medical care that is available in these third world countries.Bite Me gives a rare insider's view of the frustrations, the joys and the heartbreak that veterinarians experience on a daily basis and exposes the reasons why the veterinary profession is currently facing some dire and frightening challenges. From page to page you will find yourself laughing, crying, angry, shocked, laughing again, and then eager to know more.Bite Me is a must-read for any pet owner, any person aspiring to be a veterinarian, any veterinary student, and any person who has an interest in the welfare of both animals and people.

Gone in a Heartbeat: A Physician's Search for True Healing


Neil Spector - 2015
    Neil Spector, one of the nation's top oncologists, led a charmed life. He was educated at prestigious universities, trained at top medical centers, and had married the woman of his dreams. It seemed too perfect. And it was.In 1994, it all came crashing down. He and his wife lost two unborn children. And a mysterious illness brought him to the brink of death. In his compelling memoir, Gone in a Heartbeat, Dr. Spector describes in great detail how he was misdiagnosed and, despite being a medical insider, was often discounted by his fellow physicians.As he recounts his own unorthodox approach to medicine and physician/patient relationships, Dr. Spector encourages readers to never surrender their power to a third party. He tells of courageous patients who served as role models, he conceded that doctors do a disservice to patients when "we treat them like statistics," and he advocates for educated patients who can make informed decisions collaboratively and not simply follow instructions. In Dr. Spector's words: "To recognize that we are in control of our own bodies and destinies can be a powerful step toward true healing."Readers of Gone in a Heartbeat will never view the medical profession the same again.

EMERGENCY 24/7: NURSES OF THE EMERGENCY ROOM


Echo Heron - 2015
    EMERGENCY 24/7: Nurses of the Emergency Room, portrays thirty-one nurses, each with a distinctive voice and unique view of what really goes on behind the closed doors of the secret and chaotic world of the emergency room. Also included are the moment-by-moment chronicles of eleven nurses who worked in New York City and Washington, D.C., on September 11, 2001. These compelling accounts give new perspectives on the horrors and heroics of that tragic day. Ranging from inspiring to heart-rending to outrageously funny, these gripping narratives make EMERGENCY 24/7 a fascinating and provocative book—a fitting tribute to the frontline nurses.

A Surgeon's War: My Year in Vietnam


Henry Ward Trueblood - 2015
    A young surgeon is drafted into the U.S. Navy and sent to Vietnam, where he finds himself closer than he ever imagined to the carnage of war. He performs operations while under fire and sees wounds that can barely be contemplated. Marines are dying on the operating table in front of him. The small-town moral certainties he grew up believing in may themselves succumb to the ravages he is witnessing. More than anything, he wants to make it home to marry the woman he loves.

How the Immune System Works (The How it Works Series)


Lauren M. Sompayrac - 2015
    In this book, Dr. Sompayrac cuts through the jargon and details to reveal, in simple language, the essence of this complex subject: how the immune system fits together, how it protects us from disease and, perhaps most importantly, why it works the way it does.

Epic Measures: One Doctor. Seven Billion Patients.


Jeremy N. Smith - 2015
    While it is one of the largest scientific projects ever attempted—as breathtaking as the first moon landing or the Human Genome Project—the questions it answers are meaningful for every one of us: What are the world’s health problems? Who do they hurt? How much? Where? Why?Murray argues that the ideal existence isn’t simply the longest but the one lived well and with the least illness. Until we can accurately measure how people live and die, we cannot understand what makes us sick or do much to improve it. Challenging the accepted wisdom of the WHO and the UN, the charismatic and controversial health maverick has made enemies—and some influential friends, including Bill Gates who gave Murray a $100 million grant.In Epic Measures, journalist Jeremy N. Smith offers an intimate look at Murray and his groundbreaking work. From ranking countries’ healthcare systems (the U.S. is 37th) to unearthing the shocking reality that world governments are funding developing countries at only 30% of the potential maximum efficiency when it comes to health, Epic Measures introduces a visionary leader whose unwavering determination to improve global health standards has already changed the way the world addresses issues of health and wellness, sets policy, and distributes funding.

Warrior Patient: How to Beat Deadly Diseases With Laughter, Good Doctors, Love, and Guts


Temple Emmet Williams - 2015
    Awarded a B.R.A.G. Medallion in October 2015.Enjoy the surprisingly funny story of someone who recovers completely from a relentless series of medical problems, many resulting from the system designed to prevent them. Today, the patient plays tennis, walks, bikes and works out in a gym. Almost miraculously, he recaptures “normal.” Read how he does it in this award-winning story of survival.PREFACE: The world we live in has the best doctors and the most advanced medical system that our civilization has ever known. Yet 100,000 patients die and nine million suffer injury every year. If medical mistakes were a disease, it would be the sixth leading cause of deaths in America. In this extraordinary age of medical miracles, patients continue to sink into the quicksand of "going to the hospital." Who has not heard about someone who checked into a facility for "normal" surgery ... leading to their death? A cartoon makes a joke out of it. It shows a doctor in a laboratory, surrounded by white lab rats. "We don't need better medicine," he announces to his colleagues, "we need stronger lab rats." As you read Warrior Patient you become one of the nine million who suffer injury every year. You take an extraordinary, often amusing journey into the quicksand of modern medicine. In the midst of a long list of life-threatening illnesses, you learn to laugh and you learn how to become a much stronger lab rat, a "Warrior Patient." You take advantage of America's fabulous medical system. You are not taken advantage of by that system. The story unfolds with humor and anecdotes that capture characters, times and places, from good doctors to bad ones, from childhood to old age, from Africa to Sweden. In the end, you fully recover. You live again. You have a life. Enjoy the trip.

Pear Shaped: The Funniest Book So Far This Year About Brain Cancer


Adam Blain - 2015
    It made him laugh." Cindy McCain "This book is funny, moving and inspirational. I read some of it and had to get him on my radio show." Christian O'Connell, Absolute Radio Breakfast Show DJ "So honest, uninhibited, down-to-earth and readable despite the difficult subject. The best non-fiction book I have read in a very long time.....and I strongly recommend it." Peter J "Hilarious and moving in equal measures. What a brave man!" David Reuben "Adam Blain manages to be funny, poignant and inspiring describing with heart breaking honesty his journey so far, beginning with a diagnosis no one ever wants to face." RG A must-read memoir about coping with cancer Description Adam is a middle aged father of three. Completely out of the blue, and for no reason other than sheer dumb chance, he was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive brain tumour. Adam has endured radiotherapy and chemotherapy which were preceded by major brain surgery to remove the tumour - helpfully described by his surgeon as being the size and shape of a pear. Using the blackest of humour, this book charts Adam's journey from normality to having a disease regularly described as a “death sentence”. How will he cope with the treatment? How will his relationship with family and friends be affected? Most important of all, how will his hair come through this? Quite simply, it is the funniest book so far this year about brain cancer. Warning - this book is intended for mature audiences due to the subject matter and use of strong language.

Medical School 2.0: An Unconventional Guide to Learn Faster, Ace the USMLE, and Get into Your Top Choice Residency


David Larson - 2015
    It is possible to do great in school while still having a rich and well-rounded life. Whether your dream is having time for international volunteer work, having time to do cutting edge research, having time to be the parent and spouse you want to be, having time to exercise relax and unwind, or just HAVING TIME to live more and work less, Medical School 2.0 is your blue print to thrive as a medical student.This step-by-step guide to medical school teaches: • How Dave, a medical student with below-average SAT and MCAT scores used these techniques to go from spending 16 hours a day on medical school and getting a “C” average to spending 1-3 hours a day on medical school and getting the top academic honors, 99.7th percentile on USMLE Steps 1 and 2, induction into the AOA honor society, and getting into his top choice residency in his top choice location, all the while enjoying the process of learning and having plenty of free time to enjoy life outside of medical school. • How to clarify your personal goals for your life in medicine and in medical school and use those to reverse-engineer a personalized and customized curriculum for yourself.• How to sift through seemingly infinite study sources and choose the highest yield information for your own unique goals.• How to apply the latest research findings in the neuroscience of learning and memory to supercharge your brain’s learning potential, maximizing your per-hour learning output.• How to structure and schedule your study sessions and your “work days” to maximize your learning potential.• What to eat and drink to fuel your brain to form and maintain sold long term memories of what you’re learning. This book is the result of hundreds of hours of research interviewing top-performing medical students across the USA to deconstruct the strategies behind their success, researching and integrating the latest science of how our brain’s learn, and then distilling the final product into a group of practical, simple, and extremely high yield tools and tricks to both maximize your mind’s learning output, to enjoy the process of learning, and to have the time to follow your dreams in medical school and beyond. These are the same strategies that the author used in medical school, continues to use now, and has taught to hundreds of other students who have achieved even better results.

Bandaging the Blitz


Phyll Macdonald-Ross - 2015
    At first, it is a whirlwind of long days, hard work, new friends and plenty of mischief, but just 10 months later Britain declares war on Germany and life at the hospital is transformed. Phyll's days become an endless cycle of air-raid sirens, injured servicemen, and anxiously waiting for news of loved ones. And when she falls in love with a handsome young soldier, Alistair, Phyll's work provides the only distraction from worrying about his safety. Bandaging the Blitz is a true story of coming-of-age in terrible times, of the blossoming of first romance into a life-long love affair, and of a young woman whose eagerness to do good in the world brought her suddenly face-to-face with death and drama in all its many guises.

Pandemic: Tracking Contagions, from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond


Sonia Shah - 2015
    But which one? And how?Over the past fifty years, more than three hundred infectious diseases have either newly emerged or reemerged, appearing in territories where they’ve never been seen before. Ninety percent of epidemiologists expect that one of them will cause a deadly pandemic sometime in the next two generations. It could be Ebola, avian flu, a drug-resistant superbug, or something completely new. While we can’t know which pathogen will cause the next pandemic, by unraveling the story of how pathogens have caused pandemics in the past, we can make predictions about the future. In Pandemic: Tracking Contagions, from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond, the prizewinning journalist Sonia Shah—whose book on malaria, The Fever, was called a “tour-de-force history” (The New York Times) and “revelatory” (The New Republic)—interweaves history, original reportage, and personal narrative to explore the origins of contagions, drawing parallels between cholera, one of history’s most deadly and disruptive pandemic-causing pathogens, and the new diseases that stalk humankind today.To reveal how a new pandemic might develop, Sonia Shah tracks each stage of cholera’s dramatic journey, from its emergence in the South Asian hinterlands as a harmless microbe to its rapid dispersal across the nineteenth-century world, all the way to its latest beachhead in Haiti. Along the way she reports on the pathogens now following in cholera’s footsteps, from the MRSA bacterium that besieges her own family to the never-before-seen killers coming out of China’s wet markets, the surgical wards of New Delhi, and the suburban backyards of the East Coast.By delving into the convoluted science, strange politics, and checkered history of one of the world’s deadliest diseases, Pandemic reveals what the next global contagion might look like— and what we can do to prevent it.

Bad Faith: When Religious Belief Undermines Modern Medicine


Paul A. Offit - 2015
    Although America is the most medically advanced place in the world, many people disregard modern medicine in favor of using their faith to fight life threatening illnesses. Christian Scientists pray for healing instead of going to the doctor, Jehovah's Witnesses refuse blood transfusions, and ultra-Orthodox Jewish mohels spread herpes by using a primitive ritual to clean the wound. Tragically, children suffer and die every year from treatable diseases, and in most states it is legal for parents to deny their children care for religious reasons. In twenty-first century America, how could this be happening? In Bad Faith, acclaimed physician and author Dr. Paul Offit gives readers a never-before-seen look into the minds of those who choose to medically martyr themselves, or their children, in the name of religion. Offit chronicles the stories of these faithful and their children, whose devastating experiences highlight the tangled relationship between religion and medicine in America. Religious or not, this issue reaches everyone -- whether you are seeking treatment at a Catholic hospital or trying to keep your kids safe from diseases spread by their unvaccinated peers. Replete with vivid storytelling and complex, compelling characters, Bad Faith makes a strenuous case that denying medicine to children in the name of religion isn't't just unwise and immoral, but a rejection of the very best aspects of what belief itself has to offer.

The Naked Surgeon: the power and peril of transparency in medicine


Samer Nashef - 2015
    We all have one, but most of us will never see one. The heart surgeon now has that privilege but, for centuries, the heart was out of reach even for surgeons. So when a surgeon nowadays opens up a ribcage and mends a heart, it remains something of a miracle, even if, to some, it is merely plumbing. As with plumbers, the quality of surgeons’ work varies. As with plumbers, surgeons’ opinion of their own prowess and their own attitude to risk are not always reliable. Measurement is key. We’ve had a century of effective evidence-based medicine. We’ve had barely a decade of thorough monitoring of clinical outcomes. Thanks to the ground-breaking risk modelling of pioneering surgeons like Samer Nashef, we at last know how to judge whether an operation is in a patient’s best interest, which hospital and surgeon would be best for that operation, when it might best be performed and what the exact level of risk is. We have at last made what is important in surgery measurable. But how should surgeons, and their patients, use these newfound insights? Ever since his days as a medical student, Samer Nashef has challenged the medical profession to be more open and more accurate about the success of surgical procedures, for the sake of the patients. In The Naked Surgeon, he unclothes his own profession to demonstrate to his reader (and prospective patient) many revelations, such as the paradox at the heart of the cardiac surgeon’s craft: the more an operation is likely to kill you, the better it is for you. And he does so with absolute clarity, fluency and not a little wit.

The Laws of Medicine: Field Notes from an Uncertain Science


Siddhartha Mukherjee - 2015
    The book, The Youngest Science, forced Dr. Mukherjee to ask himself an urgent, fundamental question: Is medicine a “science”? Sciences must have laws—statements of truth based on repeated experiments that describe some universal attribute of nature. But does medicine have laws like other sciences?Dr. Mukherjee has spent his career pondering this question—a question that would ultimately produce some of most serious thinking he would do around the tenets of his discipline—culminating in The Laws of Medicine. In this important treatise, he investigates the most perplexing and illuminating cases of his career that ultimately led him to identify the three key principles that govern medicine.Brimming with fascinating historical details and modern medical wonders, this important book is a fascinating glimpse into the struggles and Eureka! moments that people outside of the medical profession rarely see. Written with Dr. Mukherjee’s signature eloquence and passionate prose, The Laws of Medicine is a critical read, not just for those in the medical profession, but for everyone who is moved to better understand how their health and well-being is being treated. Ultimately, this book lays the groundwork for a new way of understanding medicine, now and into the future.

Concussion


Jeanne Marie Laskas - 2015
    Bennet Omalu, the pathologist who made one of the most significant medical discoveries of the twenty-first century, a discovery that challenges the existence of America’s favorite sport and puts Omalu in the crosshairs of football’s most powerful corporation: the NFL. Jeanne Marie Laskas first met the young forensic pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu in 2009, while reporting a story for GQ that would go on to inspire the movie Concussion. Omalu told her about a day in September 2002, when, in a dingy morgue in downtown Pittsburgh, he picked up a scalpel and made a discovery that would rattle America in ways he’d never intended. Omalu was new to America, chasing the dream, a deeply spiritual man escaping the wounds of civil war in Nigeria. The body on the slab in front of him belonged to a fifty-year-old named Mike Webster, aka “Iron Mike,” a Hall of Fame center for the Pittsburgh Steelers, one of the greatest ever to play the game. After retiring in 1990, Webster had suffered a dizzyingly steep decline. Toward the end of his life, he was living out of his van, tasering himself to relieve his chronic pain, and fixing his rotting teeth with Super Glue. How did this happen?, Omalu asked himself. How did a young man like Mike Webster end up like this? The search for answers would change Omalu’s life forever and put him in the crosshairs of one of the most powerful corporations in America: the National Football League. What Omalu discovered in Webster’s brain—proof that Iron Mike’s mental deterioration was no accident but a disease caused by blows to the head that could affect everyone playing the game—was the one truth the NFL wanted to ignore.   Taut, gripping, and gorgeously told, Concussion is the stirring story of one unlikely man’s decision to stand up to a multibillion-dollar colossus, and to tell the world the truth.  Advance praise for Concussion “A gripping medical mystery and a dazzling portrait of the young scientist no one wanted to listen to . . . a fabulous, essential read.”—Rebecca Skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks“The story of Dr. Bennet Omalu’s battle against the NFL is classic David and Goliath stuff, and Jeanne Marie Laskas—one of my favorite writers on earth—makes it as exciting as any great courtroom or gridiron drama. A riveting, powerful human tale—and a master class on how to tell a story.”—Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit   “Bennet Omalu forced football to reckon with head trauma. The NFL doesn’t want you to hear his story, but Jeanne Marie Laskas makes it unforgettable. This book is gripping, eye-opening, and full of heart.”—Emily Bazelon, author of Sticks and Stones

Dead Babies and Seaside Towns


Alice Jolly - 2015
    You do not know it exists until you find yourself there.When Alice Jolly's second child was stillborn and all subsequent attempts to have another baby failed, she began to consider every possible option, no matter how unorthodox.Dead Babies and Seaside Towns is a savagely personal account of the search for an alternative way to create a family. As she battles through miscarriage, IVF and failed adoption attempts, Alice's only solace from the pain is the faded charm of Britain's crumbling seaside towns. Finally, this search leads her and her husband to a small town in Minnesota, and two remarkable women who offer to make the impossible possible.In this beautiful book, shot through with humour and full of hope, Alice Jolly describes with a novelist's skill events that woman live through every day – even if many feel compelled to keep them hidden. Her decision not to hide but to share them, without a trace of sentiment or self-pity, turns Dead Babies and Seaside Towns into a universal story: one that begins in tragedy but ends in joy.

Near Death in the ICU


Laurin Bellg - 2015
    But do we have to fully understand these events to honor the transformative role they often play in the lives of those who experience them? Do we need to prove they are something more than the result of illness, medication or a dying brain to acknowledge their power to impact lives in a positive way?

The Patient's Playbook: How to Save Your Life and the Lives of Those You Love


Leslie D. Michelson - 2015
    And many more of us are not receiving the best care possible, even though it’s readily available and we’re entitled to it. The key is knowing how to access it.The Patient’s Playbook is a call to action. It will change the way you manage your health and the health of your family, and it will show you how to choose the right doctor, coordinate the best care, and get to the No-Mistake Zone in medical decision making. Leslie D. Michelson has devoted his life’s work to helping people achieve superior medical outcomes at every stage of their lives. Michelson presents real-life stories that impart lessons and illuminate his easy-to-follow strategies for navigating complex situations and cases.   The Patient’s Playbook is an essential guide to the most effective techniques for getting the best from a broken system: sourcing excellent physicians, selecting the right treatment protocols, researching with precision, and structuring the ideal support team. Along the way you will learn: Why having the right primary care physician will change your lifeThree things you can do right now to be better prepared when illness strikesThe ten must-ask questions at the end of a hospital stayHow to protect yourself from unnecessary and dangerous treatmentsWays to avoid the four most common mistakes in the first twenty-four hours of a medical emergency This book will enable you to become a smarter health care consumer—and to replace anxiety with confidence.

Dragon's Blood & Willow Bark: The Mysteries of Medieval Medicine


Toni Mount - 2015
    Although no one could allay the dread of plague, the medical profession provided cosmetic procedures, women's sanitary products, dietary advice and horoscopes predicting the sex of unborn babies or the best day to begin a journey. Surgeons performed life-saving procedures, sometimes using anaesthetics, with post-operative antibiotic and antiseptic treatments to reduce the chances of infection. They knew a few tricks to lessen the scarring, too. Yet alongside such expertise, some still believed that unicorns, dragons and elephants supplied vital medical ingredients and the caladrius bird could diagnose recovery or death. This is the weird, wonderful and occasionally beneficial world of medieval medicine. In her new book, popular historian Toni Mount guides the reader through this labyrinth of strange ideas and such unlikely remedies as leeches, meadowsweet, roasted cat and red bed curtains - some of which modern medicine is now coming to value - but without the nasty smells or any threat to personal wellbeing and safety. N.B. No animals, large, furry or mythological, were harmed during research for this book.

Anesthesia Made Easy: The Survival Guide to Make Your First Anesthesia Rotation a Success


Jeff Steiner DO - 2015
    Where do you begin learning about anesthesia when the basic books are over 800 pages long and weigh four pounds? Even when you do read these books, how will you translate the information into something you can use in the operating room when you are first starting out? Welcome to Anesthesia Made Easy. I wrote this book to introduce you to anesthesiology. It is part education guide (to teach you the basics of anesthesia) and part survival guide (to teach you how to apply these basics while in the operating room). It includes the basics of anesthesia without getting too far into the weeds and also gives you a practical approach that will get you started moving in the right direction. New anesthesiology students struggle with which book to read and where to start. This book will give you not only a solid foundation upon which to start your career but also organize the information in such a way that you can actually use it. At under 200 pages, it is the one basic anesthesia book that you can reasonable read cover to cover quickly. If you are doing anesthesia observations or shadowing to see if anesthesia is a good fit for you, you should start with chapter 1, “How to Get the Most from Your Anesthesiology Observation.” Then read chapter 4, “Anesthesiology Basic Concepts,” and chapter 5, “Getting Around in the OR,” to learn the culture of the OR—they will bring you a long way. If you are applying to AA or CRNA school , then read this book cover to cover before you interview. It will give you a working knowledge of the type of training you will receive. It may also help you in your interview process to give you answers to simple questions about anesthesia care. If you are an airway rotator, concentrate on chapter 19, “Airway Exam and Evaluation,” chapter 7, “Basic Anesthesia Pharmacology: Medications,” and chapter 24 “Adult Airway Management,” chapter 25 “Pediatric Airway Management,” and chapter 27 “Rapid Sequence Induction (RSI).” If you are on your first anesthesia rotation, start at the front of Anesthesia Made Easy and work your way through before you start your rotation. This book is meant to be a quick read. Bring the book with you to the operating room and take notes in the notes section. Praise for Anesthesia Made Easy “A concise review of the basic fundamentals of anesthesiology. Written in outline form, this book provides the essentials for anyone interested in anesthesiology. I would highly recommend for medical students, beginning anesthesia residents, AAs and CRNAs.” Eugene Chung, D.O. - CA-1 Resident “Providing an introductory approach on a topic as broad and in depth as anesthesia is nearly impossible, and therefore many novices find themselves up to their elbows in thousand page textbooks not knowing where to start. Dr Steiner has successfully compiled a basic guide that provides a starting point for providers just beginning their journey into the world of anesthesia." Ryan A Sexton, RN, MSN, CRNA - Practicing CRNA "A great book for medical students and residents looking to get the most out of their anesthesia rotation! It provides useful information on airways, common anesthetic medications, and basic anesthesi

A Country Doctor


John Tracy - 2015
    The patient case files range from funny stories to life and death dramas. Meanwhile, the doctor discovers the value of the old timey house call and how much is left to learn in treating even common illnesses. He discovers the pitfalls inherent in the business of medicine and the dangers hidden in the use of information technology. This is a valuable and enjoyable book for anyone who has ever experienced health care in the United States.

The Royal Marsden Manual of Clinical Nursing Procedures


Lisa Dougherty - 2015
    Now in its 9th edition, this full-colour manual provides the underlying theory and evidence for procedures enabling nurses to gain the confidence they need to become fully informed, skilled practitioners.Written with the qualified nurse in mind, this manual provides up-to-date, detailed, evidence-based guidelines for over 200 procedures related to every aspect of a person′s care including key information on equipment, the procedure and post-procedure guidance, along with full colour illustrations and photos.Following extensive market research, this ninth edition: contains the procedures and changes in practice that reflect modern acute nursing care includes thoroughly reviewed and updated evidence underpinning all procedures is organised and structured to represent the needs of a patient along their care pathway integrates risk-management into relevant chapters to ensure it is central to care contains revised procedures following 'hands-on' testing by staff and students at Kingston University is also available as an online edition

A Double Shot of Happiness: Tim Sharp's Extraordinary Journey from Being Diagnosed with Autism to Becoming an Internationally Renowned Artist


Judy Sharp - 2015
    But the journey to this point has been an extraordinary one. When Judy Sharp took her three-year-old son Tim to a paediatric specialist, he was diagnosed with autism so severe that she was told he would never be able to talk or learn to live in a normal household, and that he was incapable of love, even towards his own mother. The advice at the time was that he would be better off in an institution.Just over twenty years later, Tim's joyful artworks and drawings involving his superhero, Laser Beak Man, have been exhibited around the world. From the Powerhouse in Brisbane to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney to the Museum of Modern Art in New York, some of the world's greatest galleries have showcased Tim and his amazing career. Laser Beak Man's appeal is so widespread it's gone on to inspire, among other things, an eight-part animated children's TV series and a Broadway play in New York.A Double Shot of Happiness (from the title of one of Tim's favourite artworks) is Judy's beautiful and heartfelt account of Tim's odyssey from that terrible diagnosis to his emergence as an acclaimed artist and a fulfilled, loving and loved young man. It's a story that has involved many hurdles, moments of despair and incredible hard work from Tim, Judy, his brother Sam and all those who have helped them, but that is ultimately moving, inspiring and triumphant.

How to Dismantle the NHS in 10 Easy Steps


Youssef El-Gingihy - 2015
    This process is accelerating under the Coalition government and the very existence of a National Health Service is in danger. He fears that there will not be an NHS as our generation grows old and certainly not for our children. Yet the British public remains largely unawares of this and the media, with few exceptions, have failed in their duty to inform them. The NHS is being broken up into an universal insurance system based on the American model. This book matters to all who use the NHS or are concerned by the privatisation of public services and the dismantling of equitable healthcare and welfare. If you want to understand the real story behind the headlines and find out how you can preserve the NHS for the future then this book is essential reading.

Breaking the Silence: My journey of discovery as transformative surgery allowed me to hear for the first time


Jo Milne - 2015
    Now imagine that the lips that you have watched moving, the faces that you have smiled at, the words that you read in front of you all slowly start to disappear too. It's hard to comprehend isn't it? Jo Milne had already lived a lifetime surrounded by silence, profoundly deaf from birth, when she began to lose her sight. Just before turning thirty, Jo was diagnosed with Usher Syndrome, a rare genetic and progressive condition that will one day rob her of her sight altogether. Although at this lowest ebb, Jo suffered from deep depression, she has always been determined to live her life to the full. Jo has never let her disabilities affect the way she embraces life however there was always so much that she was missing. In 2014 she made a life-changing decision to undergo major surgery. She had cochlear implants fitted allowing her to hear for the first time. Every moment of Jo's days since the operation has become a journey of discovery. She has been able to hear the voice of her own mother who has stood by her and helped her through some of her darkest moments. She has heard birds sing, people chatting and the sound of children laughing. She is embarking on an incredible journey through four missed generations of music - from the hymns she missed in school assembly to sweeping orchestral performances, from the Beatles and Rolling Stones to the music of this very moment and everything in between. Breaking the Silence is a remarkable and beautifully written memoir that will serve as an inspiration to everyone who reads it. By turns, heart-breaking and heart-warming, it is the incredibly uplifting life-story of a woman who refused to give up hope and always lives life with a smile upon her face.

How to Be a Rock Star Doctor: The Complete Guide to Taking Back Control of Your Life and Your Profession


Rebekah Bernard - 2015
    The key is to follow the Rebekah Bernard’s Rock Star rules for running a successful practice that delights patients and delivers financial and emotional rewards to the physician. The Rock Star rules teach the physician to: • Convey the qualities that are the most important to patients, leading to clinical success • Organize and control the office visit to maximize the patient and physician agendas • Optimize time management by the use of clinical tools such as the “Problem List” and Evidence-Based-Medicine (EBM) • Focus on physician-patient “face-to-face” time to maximize profitability • Overcome the challenges of the Electronic Health Record (EHR) on the physician-patient relationship with time-saving methods such as customizable forms • Cope with emotionally challenging patients by learning to show empathy, even when you don’t feel it • Use psychology to maintain your mental health and find work-life balance

What Doctors Fail to Tell Your About Iodine and Your Thyroid


Robert Thompson - 2015
     What Doctors Fail to Tell You About Iodine & Your Thyroid is your guide to strategies to get the iodine your body needs in its correct and more absorbable form to prevent thyroid disease.

Psychiatry Under the Influence: Institutional Corruption, Social Injury, and Prescriptions for Reform


Robert Whitaker - 2015
    The book documents how the psychiatric establishment regularly misled the American public about what was known about the biology of mental disorders, the validity of psychiatric diagnoses, and the safety and efficacy of its drugs. It also looks at how these two corrupting influences encouraged the expansion of diagnostic boundaries and the creation of biased clinical practice guidelines. This corruption has led to significant social injury, and in particular, a societal lack of informed consent regarding the use of psychiatric drugs, and the pathologizing of normal behaviors in children and adults. The authors argues that reforming psychiatry will require the neutralization of these two corrupting influences—pharmaceutical money and guild interests—and the establishment of multidisciplinary authority over the field of mental health.

Skill: 40 Principles that Surgeons, Athletes, and Other Elite Performers Use to Achieve Mastery


Christopher S. Ahmad - 2015
    It feeds our success and fuels our failures (which is a good thing). However, too few of us embrace the notion that acquiring skill is a skill in itself.How we develop skill; the effort we put in; our attitudes even, as we work to improve, requires specific attributes of its own. In his book, SKILL, Christopher Ahmad, MD, provides 40 clear and compelling tips on how to achieve mastery — regardless of your pursuits.Dr. Ahmad is the Head Team Physician for the New York Yankees, a Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, as well as an internationally recognized Orthopaedic Surgeon — he is also an aspiring competitive chess player, skier, chef, oenophile, soccer player, coach, friend, husband, son, brother and parent. To excel in each of these endeavors, he has dedicated his life to skill acquisition — from the hard skills required to save a multimillionaire athlete’s career to the soft skills of parenting. Dr. Ahmad consciously strives to be better at everything at all times. He will tell you he is not naturally gifted; that practice, patience and persistence have led him through this journey.Based on the life lessons he absorbed reading NY Times best-selling author Daniel Coyle’s The Talent Code, Chris fashioned his own take on how to achieve excellence by focusing on the best ways to acquire and master skills as much as the skills themselves.

The Endo Patient's Survival Guide: A Patient S Guide to Endometriosis & Chronic Pelvic Pain


Andrew S. Cook - 2015
    The Endo Survival Guide is the patient s essential companion to living with and overcoming endometriosis and pelvic pain: from seeking help and getting an initial diagnosis, to navigating treatment options, and achieving optimal relief and wellness."

Whole-Pet Healing: A Heart-to-Heart Guide to Connecting with and Caring for Your Animal Companion


Dennis W. Thomas - 2015
         In Whole-Pet Healing, 30-year veterinarian Dr. Dennis Thomas delves into the heart-to-heart link we share with our cherished animal companions, and how we can influence their healing—and they, ours—in remarkable ways. Presenting a case for holistic pet care backed by quantum science, Dr. Thomas explains the nature of the energetic body and the ways we can tap into its extraordinary curative abilities, using techniques ranging from Traditional Chinese Medicine and acupuncture to intention and intuition. He sheds light on our power to deliver love and healing to our dogs, cats, birds, and other pets via an enhanced human-animal connection—and how this benefit flows in both directions, helping us experience radiant love and well-being ourselves.     Empowered by this holistic, energetic perspective, you will be guided in making optimal choices with ease and confidence, with chapters covering topics such as:Finding the right veterinarianCreating the best natural diet for your petKnowing what to do in times of health challengesIntuitively connecting with your animal companion     This groundbreaking book promises to be one you’ll turn to time and again at each stage of your pet’s life.

Emergency Laughter: Stories of Humor Inside Ambulances and Operating Rooms


Mike Cyra - 2015
    Whether he's assisting trauma surgeons who are singing “Take me out to the ballgame” while removing a well-placed iconic symbol of America’s greatest past time, learning how fast he can run after being shot at by an angry couple who called for an ambulance, working with a prankster-loving urologist who demonstrates how bladder problems were diagnosed before modern urinalysis, or screaming like a little girl while doing night rounds with a dead flashlight on a psychiatric ward, Cyra’s comedic style of storytelling will make your cheeks sore. Emergency Laughter: Stories of Humor Inside Ambulances and Operating Rooms shows why most health care professionals have such a twisted sense of humor and how critical laughter is to the survival of both patient and care giver.

The Radiology Report: A Guide to Thoughtful Communication for Radiologists and Other Medical Professionals


Curtis P. Langlotz - 2015
    In an accessible and informal style, one of the foremost experts on radiology reporting gives you practical tips for precise image interpretation and clear communication. This book should be required reading for radiologists in training, and is destined to become an indispensable part of every radiologist’s library. Topics include:•The virtues of “normal”•How to say “I don’t know”•Building a rhetorical foundation•Spatial relationships•Making recommendations•Suggesting clinical correlation•The hedge•Severity straddling•Size matters•Eponyms in radiology•A summary of reporting best practices•How speech recognition works•Optimizing your speech recognition•Templates and macros•The history of radiology reporting•Structured reporting case study•Structured reporting: what you can do today•Standard terminology for the radiology report•How to think about imaging information•Logic, probability, and the radiology report•Decision making in radiology•The radiology report in 2025

Patient Zero: Three Years to Live


Margaret Kane - 2015
    She grew up in Glasgow, Scotland, where she lived with her two brothers and parents. Disenchanted with failed attempts to make a living, her father moved the family to the United States, with hopes of finding work. Financial ruin, alcoholism and lack of legal status force the family to go back to Great Britain. After selling everything they owned and purchasing plane tickets, Margaret becomes gravely ill, and the move is cancelled. A former gymnast, she quickly and suddenly loses the ability to speak, chew and swallow food, exercise, and ultimately, breathe. She suffers misdiagnoses, multiple hospitalizations, and unnecessary surgery, eventually landing in intensive care and on life support. She undergoes years of treatments, including total body irradiation therapy and chemotherapy. Countless medications fail to alleviate her symptoms, and cause life-threatening side effects. At the same time, she manages to complete high school and go to college. After graduating with a Master’s degree, Margaret was accepted in to a doctoral program, along with her father. Knowing that she was physically weakened and mentally destroyed, her father gives up his job, and joins the doctoral program to support her. While going to school, and still in her twenties, she receives a terminal diagnosis, and told that she has approximately three years to live. Promising never to tell a soul about her prognosis, Margaret continues onwards as best she can. Find out how a unique approach to treatment changed her life forever, as well as the lives of thousands of people living with Myasthenia Gravis. A truly remarkable and inspirational story of survival and resilience.

Backyard Pharmacy: Growing Medicinal Plants in Your Own Yard


Elizabeth Millard - 2015
    All the plants can easily be grown throughout North America by any home gardener, and used for their healing and natural-remedy properties! Author Elizabeth Millard shares her deep knowledge of what to add to your garden to grow your own medicine cabinet to enhance your health.Each featured plant profile includes:- A detailed full-color photograph of the plant and key preparation steps. ​- Brief histories and descriptions the plants (including recommended varieties).- The most efficient way to cultivate, care for, and harvest your plant.- Which parts are the most medicinal.- A profile of your plant’s health and nutritional properties.- The current state of scientific research on the plant.- The best practices for any plants requiring special harvesting, storing, or preparation.- The most effective use of the plant as a remedy, and any precautions you should take.Richly illustrated with 200 photographs, Backyard Pharmacy not only includes photography of the plants, but also images demonstrating step-by-step preparation, harvest, and storage methods to get the best results from your gardening efforts.Take control of your health. Learn about the benefits of herbs and "backyard friends" and natural health remedies for yourself and your family, and even grow them right in your own backyard.

Do No Harm by Henry Marsh | Summary & Analysis


Instaread Summaries - 2015
    He began his college career studying English, but quit school due to an unrequited love. He took a job working in a mining town hospital, an experience that inspired him to become a surgeon. He returned to Oxford to finish his degree and then attended the Royal Free Medical School in London, the only medical school at the time that did not require him to have any scientific qualifications.  As a medical student, Marsh worked as a nursing assistant on the psycho-geriatric ward of a long term psychiatric hospital. There he saw many patients who had been given lobectomies at the hospital where he would later train. Lobectomies were an accepted method of treating severe mental disorders, but would often leave the patient worse off than they were before…  PLEASE NOTE: This is a summary and analysis of the book and NOT the original book.    Inside this Instaread Summary & Analysis of Do No Harm • Summary of book • Introduction to the Important People in the book • Analysis of the Themes and Author’s Style   About the Author With Instaread, you can get the summary and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, summarize and analyze it for your convenience.

Both Sides of the Bedside: From Oncology Nurse to Patient, an RN's Journey with Cancer


Christine Magnus Moore - 2015
    They fought a battle with an enemy in their bodies: cancer. Some triumphed and some did not. Fighting for her patients’ health, she thought of herself as a soldier on the battlefield and was amazed at how they dealt with their difficult road and that they often thanked her with a smile. As connected as she felt to her patients, she didn’t fully comprehend the courage it took to confront cancer every day until she became one of them. Christine navigates the rough road involved with cancer treatment, experiencing exhaustion beyond belief, debilitating nausea and pain, and other side effects which are overwhelmingly more difficult than she’d ever imagined. Her road is arduous and humbling and she is taxed to her core in every way: emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Living on the other side of the bedside, she feels vulnerable when some of the doctors and nurses she’s worked with become her caregivers…on top of all that her love life begins to present challenges as well. Christine emerges a cancer survivor and gains a profound understanding of the suffering her patients had weathered, discovering that her life has been re-calibrated. She embraces her higher purpose with an amplified vigor and empathy to help others dealing with the disease. Through the darkest of times, she finds the deepest grief and tears can produce the greatest strength and passion.

Humanly


Stevie Edwards - 2015
    Through a gorgeous and gorge-filled landscape, these poems struggle with dislocation, past sexual trauma, grief, the chronic looming of psychiatric wards, and a constant attempt to redirect patterns of suicidal ideation."Advance Praise for Humanly: “In Humanly, Stevie Edwards wakes us into our own bodies with her fierce honesty:The first time I tried to slip my outsides/I failed. This is a courageous book of startling images and original voice that surges beyond the difficult questions: If I string the night between two fence posts, /one side heaven and one side hell… Or: I was/watching myself in the hotel mirror to make sure/my body was still happening… Edwards blows the doors off the outer body, delivering us to the beating heart and the inner doors of human mercy. Humanly burns need and desire into the sound of survival: a prayer/in praise of the groaning in the backroom:/Let each body be loved until its end.”—Jan Beatty"With an unpredictability that alternately jolts and mesmerizes, Stevie Edwards has crafted an intricate exploration of life as we'd rather not know it. There is much in these stanzas to jolt and unsettle--stark crafting and a relentless respect for the possibilities of word create a tension only felt in the presence of revelation." —Patricia Smith "If I had never before heard anyone say 'Art Saves Lives,' I swear on the bullseye of my own wrist, I would have run through the streets screaming it the moment I finished this book. I want everyone who has never believed in the possibility of being given back Time, to read these poems. Not a moment of grief denied, and still, each turn of the page, a vaulted ceiling in my heavy heart. What a generous and intensely vulnerable offering to our survival this book is.—Andrea Gibson

The Complete Confessions of a GP (The Confessions Series)


Benjamin Daniels - 2015
    He is frustrated, confused, baffled and, quite frequently, very funny. He is also a GP. These are his confessions.

Survival Medicine


Joseph Alton - 2015
    Bones and Nurse Amy Survival Medicine is the ultimate handbook for situations that require creativity when it comes to administering first aid. It assumes that no hospital or doctor is available in the aftermath of a catastrophic event. This book will give you the tools to handle injuries and illness in any circumstance and is an essential part of any reference library.Included are topics like:•natural remedies: essential oils, the medicinal garden•hygiene-related medical issues: lice, ticks, and worms•wildfire preparedness, tornado preparedness, hurricane preparedness, earthquake preparedness•allergic reactions: asthma, poison ivy, oak, and sumac•radiation sickness•dislocations, fractures, amputation•heart disease and chest pain

A Cree Healer and His Medicine Bundle: Revelations of Indigenous Wisdom--Healing Plants, Practices, and Stories


David E. Young - 2015
    Providing information on and photos of medicinal plants and where to harvest them, anthropologist David E. Young and botanist Robert D. Rogers chronicle the life, beliefs, and healing practices of Medicine Man Russell Willier in his native Alberta, Canada. Despite being criticized for sharing his knowledge, Willier later found support in other healers as they began to realize the danger that much of their traditional practices could die out with them. With Young and Rogers, Willier offers his practices here for future generations. At once a study and a guide, A Cree Healer and His Medicine Bundle touches on how indigenous healing practices can be used to complement mainstream medicine, improve the treatment of chronic diseases, and lower the cost of healthcare. The authors discuss how mining, agriculture, and forestry are threatening the continued existence of valuable wild medicinal plants and the role of alternative healers in a modern health care system. Sure to be of interest to ethnobotanists, medicine hunters, naturopaths, complementary and alternative health practitioners, ethnologists, anthropologists, and academics, this book will also find an audience with those interested in indigenous cultures and traditions.

Prognosis: Poor: One Doctor's Personal Account of the Beauty and the Perils of Modern Medical Training


Frances Southwick - 2015
    Frances Southwick, D.O. explores the highs and lows (more often the lows) of the process of becoming a doctor. She delivers colorful detail inside the mind of one trainee, herself, through undergraduate school, medical school and residency. The book focuses most heavily on the capstone of family medicine training: three years of residency in a well-respected Pittsburgh hospital. Dr. Southwick courageously explores her most difficult moments of self-doubt and hopelessness, but wraps the text up with a chapter cataloguing current problems in the training process and how they might be remedied. This memoir highlights the problem of depression in physicians and physicians-in-training as a looming, large, current problem. Greg Gallik, D.O., Dr. Southwick's mentor and the medical director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Family Health Center states: "Prognosis Poor shines a much needed light on medical training in the U.S. Frances Southwick somberly illustrates the intense demands placed on those who choose to devote their lives to improve the health of others while simultaneously forcing them to ignore their own. Dr. Southwick's memoir has triggered many similar memories of my own medical training and pointedly shows how little we have learned. She has succeeded in describing the idealistic driving force behind a student's desire to become a physician contrasted with the often painful reality of the process itself. It is my hope that this book will contribute to creating a more humane and supportive medical training experience for the next generation of young doctors."

St. John Ambulance First Aid Reference Guide


St. John Ambulance Association - 2015
    Developed by St. John Ambulance, a leader in first aid training, this book teaches thousands each year how to help in a wide range of emergencies. Become familiar with signs and symptoms of heart attack and stroke, choking, allergic reactions, bleeding, and injuries to bones and muscles, and be prepared to take action. This guide was built on scientific recommendations from leading authorities in first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and the deep understanding of first aid training by St. John Ambulance experts. Get prepared for emergencies that come your way at work, home and play.

The Cancer Whisperer: How to let cancer heal your life


Sophie Sabbage - 2015
    Cancer does not have me.' Sophie Sabbage was diagnosed with late stage 'incurable' lung cancer in October 2014. She was 48 years old, happily married with a 4-year-old daughter. Since that day - when doctors told Sophie that her prognosis was poor - she has been on a remarkable journey of healing and transformation that has reshaped her vocation as well as changed her life for the better. The Cancer Whisperer chronicles Sophie's extraordinary relationship with cancer and the methods that she has used for dealing with fear, anger, denial and grief. The essence of 'cancer whispering' was born of Sophie's determination to take cancer off the battlefield and into the classroom. Instead of going to war with it, Sophie has chosen to listen to it, learn from it and choose her own response to it.Sophie offers a radically different way of relating to this disease both mentally and practically: she shares the research she has done, the treatments she has chosen, the diet she follows and the resources that she feels have made the biggest differences in the hope that they will help others cut through the mass of information out there.Sophie says: 'This book is for the cancer patient who wants to remain a dignified, empowered human being even when your doctors and diagnosis are scaring the hell out of you. It is also for the cancer patient who has a hunch that there is something for them to learn, gain or even be transformed by - if they just knew how to relate to this disease differently to the way most of society does. It is for the cancer patient, perhaps any patient.'

Graphic Medicine Manifesto


M.K. Czerwiec - 2015
    The volume combines scholarly essays by members of the editorial team with previously unpublished visual narratives by Ian Williams and MK Czerwiec, and it includes arresting visual work from a wide range of graphic medicine practitioners. The book’s first section, featuring essays by Scott Smith and Susan Squier, argues that as a new area of scholarship, research on graphic medicine has the potential to challenge the conventional boundaries of academic disciplines, raise questions about their foundations, and reinvigorate literary scholarship—and the notion of the literary text—for a broader audience. The second section, incorporating essays by Michael Green and Kimberly Myers, demonstrates that graphic medicine narratives can engage members of the health professions with literary and visual representations and symbolic practices that offer patients, family members, physicians, and other caregivers new ways to experience and work with the complex challenges of the medical experience. The final section, by Ian Williams and MK Czerwiec, focuses on the practice of creating graphic narratives, iconography, drawing as a social practice, and the nature of comics as visual rhetoric. A conclusion (in comics form) testifies to the diverse and growing graphic medicine community. Two valuable bibliographies guide readers to comics and scholarly works relevant to the field.

Cat Facts: The Pet Parents A-To-Z Home Care Encyclopedia: Kitten to Adult, Disease & Prevention, Cat Behavior Veterinary Care, First Aid, Holistic Medicine


Amy Shojai - 2015
    households. Now, from one of the most trusted cat care authors of the last twenty-five years comes the definitive reference for adopting, keeping, and maintaining a healthy, happy cat. CAT FACTS: The Pet Parent's A-to-Z Home Care Encyclopedia is designed to answer all your questions. How do I choose the right cat? What holistic help and preventive care should I give? Why do cats act the way they do, and what cat behavior indicates illness? What constitutes an emergency, and how/when can I safely treat my cat with home care and first aid? Inside you'll find: An alphabetical A-to-Z listing, with more than 200 entries, covering everything from abscesses and hairballs to whiskers and zoonosis Charts that list symptoms for a particular condition, the corresponding home care or first aid, the comparative veterinarian and holistic treatments, and preventive advice A poison first aid chart to save your cat's life A symptoms/conditions table that helps you identify what ailments might be bothering your cat Breed-At-A-Glance chart to compare personality, looks, care challenges and other issues when choosing your pedigreed cat A comprehensive, easy-to-use index that makes quick reference a snap Contact information for dozens of cat organizations and veterinary resources Accessible, yet comprehensive, CAT FACTS can be used with ease and trust. And doesn't your cat deserve the very best?

Psychopharmacology: Straight Talk on Mental Health Medications


Joseph Wegmann - 2015
    New to the third edition: -DSM-5(R) and psychotropic medication prescribing -New risk factors with antidepressants -Anxiety treatment -- what should not be medicated -Herbal and other alternative treatments -Latest in geriatric psychopharmacology -Psychotropic medication discontinuation-safe strategies that work -Additive and combination medication protocols -Newly released psychiatric medications -Dosage Range Charts

Pharmacotherapy: Improving Medical Education Through Clinical Pharmacy Pearls, Case Studies, and Common Sense


Eric Christianson - 2015
    Learn from someone who’s been there. In this book, I share my real world experiences and scenarios as a clinical pharmacist to help you get a better grasp on medication management. I’ve been acknowledged in the Wall Street Journal, American Journal of Nursing, National Association Directors of Nursing, Pharmacy Times, and Pharmacy Today. My goal is to teach you clinical common sense when it comes to medications. If you are a healthcare professional (pharmacist, nurse, primary provider etc.) involved in medication management, this is a book full of clinical pearls, case studies, and medication mistakes that every healthcare professional should know. If you’re passionate about learning more about polypharmacy, drug interactions, medication therapy management and common medication mistakes, you’re going to love this book. Eric Christianson, PharmD, BCPS, CGP – Founder of meded101.com

A History of Surgery at Cook County Hospital


Patrick D. Guinan - 2015
    In all large public teaching hospitals, like CCH, appointment to the staff was both an honor and public recognition of the appointee’s status, his or her reputation among his or her peers. Prior to the advent of all-fulltime salaried positions in the 1970s and 1980s, nearly all of the attending staff were non-paid volunteers. Consequently, for all of CCH history up to that point, the list of surgical faculty is a virtual “Who’s Who” of Chicago surgeons. This book examines the development of the medical disciplines that historically fell under the aegis of the department of surgery at CCH and other similar institutions. The individuals who taught successive new generations of surgeons were not necessarily famed in their time. Already respected, however, they gained legendary status as their former students realized just how effectively these men had taught them. From relevant anecdotes about individual interactions with these instructors to a collection of “quotable quotes” and historical vignettes and personal experiences from physicians and nurses, this books looks at a unique time and collection of individuals who conspired to achieve something remarkable. It is more than a history of a building on Chicago’s west side—it is an inside look at the people who made Cook County Hospital a center of top-flight medical education and world-class care through the years.

Andreoli and Carpenter's Cecil Essentials of Medicine E-Book (Cecil Medicine)


Ivor Benjamin - 2015
    This updated edition has been revised to provide the most current, easy-to-digest review of internal medicine. Comprehensive yet concise, it focuses on the high-yield core knowledge important to those established in or just entering the field. Excellent images and photographs vividly illustrate the appearance and clinical features of disease. Full-color design makes absorbing and retaining information as effortless as possible. Highlights the core principles of medicine and how they apply to patient care. Focused revision reduces the number of pages from the previous edition, providing more high-yield core information in an accessible format. Clear, concise writing style facilitates comprehension, while new figures, tables, and end-of-chapter references enhance readability and retention. Consistent format provides clarity. Each section describes key physiology and biochemistry, followed by comprehensive accounts of the diseases of the organ system or field covered in the chapters. Brand-new chapters on Thrombosis and Head and Neck Infections ensure coverage of the topics most relevant to each reader’s needs.

Recovery's Edge: An Ethnography of Mental Health Care and Moral Agency


Neely Laurenzo Myers - 2015
    Recovery's Edge sends us to urban America to view the inner workings of a mental health clinic run, in part, by people who are themselves in recovery from mental illness.In this provocative narrative, Neely Myers sweeps us up in her own journey through three years of ethnographic research at this unusual site, providing a nuanced account of different approaches to mental health care. Recovery's Edge critically examines the high bar we set for people in recovery through intimate stories of people struggling to find meaningful work, satisfying relationships, and independent living.This book is a recipient of the Norman L. and Roselea J. Goldberg Prize from Vanderbilt University Press for the best book in the area of medicine.

Being a Woman Surgeon: Sixty Women Share Their Stories


Preeti R. John - 2015
    The story of the courage, physical strength, stamina and, most of all, the mental fortitude required to complete surgical training is beautifully conveyed here. This collection will hopefully both inspire and make the path easier for the next generation of surgeons, both women and men." - Abraham Verghese, MD; best-selling author of Cutting for Stone, The Tennis Partner, and My Own Country "This book is an enthralling read. It is all too rare to hear the stories of surgeons, and even rarer to hear those of women surgeons. Yet here they are, told straight out, fearlessly, by residents and retirees alike. The stories are by turns funny, heartbreaking, flabbergasting, infuriating, inspiring-and at times all of these at once. Each voice here is singular and fascinating. But the collective effect is overwhelmingly moving. You want to hear more." - Atul Gawande, MD; staff writer for The New Yorker; surgeon; researcher; best-selling author of Complications, The Checklist Manifesto, and Better "An inspiring compendium of stories that challenged a generation and defined an era. Being a Woman Surgeon will be the archival account of the women who dared to radically advance the world's greatest profession." - Marty Makary, MD, MPH; Johns Hopkins surgeon; New York Times best-selling author of Unaccountable "An extraordinary collection of essays written by an even more extraordinary group of women, this book offers an unparalleled view of what it is like to be a woman surgeon. It is the book that I wish I had as a medical student and that even now I find inspiring." - Pauline Chen, New York Times columnist; surgeon; author of Final Exam-A Surgeon's Reflections on Mortality "Dr. John has carefully collected an illuminating anthology of experiential writings from women surgeons. Her contributors vary in surgical specialty, years of experience, and personal situation. This rich and literate collection will prove fascinating reading for anyone interested in the world of medicine." - Carol Scott-Conner, MD, FACS; surgeon; author of A Few Small Moments Dr. Preeti R. John is a critical care surgeon who works in Baltimore, Maryland. She is triple board certified in General Surgery, Surgical Critical Care and Hospice and Palliative Medicine.

Carrying the Black Bag: A Neurologist's Bedside Tales


Tom Hutton - 2015
    From these (extra)ordinary individuals, he gained a whole-hearted respect for the resourcefulness, courage, and resilience of the human spirit.             Part memoir and part homage to those patients who faced major illness with grace, grit, and dignity, Carrying the Black Bag invites readers to experience what it is like to be a doctor’s hands, eyes, and heart. Imagine the joy of witnessing a critically ill five-year-old who, against all odds, claws her way back from a coma and near certain death. Meet a lonely Texas widower with Parkinson’s disease who hosts elaborate pinochle parties for a pack of imaginary canines. Step into the surgical booties of the author when he attempts to deliver his own child amid heart-stopping obstetrical complications.             Through real-life patient narratives, Hutton shines light on ordinary people facing extraordinary challenges. Moreover, this captivating tale captures the drama of medicine—its mystery, pathos, heroism, sacrifice, and humor.             For more than just those working in the healthcare profession, Carrying the Black Bag also shares a behind-the-curtain peek at the rapidly changing American health care system.

After You Hear It's Cancer: A Guide to Navigating the Difficult Journey Ahead


John Leifer - 2015
    They will join a pool of 13.7 million Americans already living with a history of cancer. Almost 600,000 Americans will die from cancer. For some, cancer will be only a short divergence. For others, however, it will be a dramatic fork in the road. And for still others, the beginning of the end of the line. This book guides cancer patients along their journey where no one knows the duration or the destination. Divided into the three parts of being a cancer patient—the diagnosis, initial treatment, and on to survivorship—the book will help the newly diagnosed cancer patient navigate a complex health care system, make astute decisions at difficult junctures, and manage the emotional turbulence that can rock his or her world. Lastly, it shares the story of how the author and his wife, as well as other cancer patients, have confronted their disease."John and Lori Leifer have provided an insightful and compassionate navigation path from diagnosis to closure after you hear it’s cancer. Take the journey with them, it’s well worth it." (Richard Carmona, MD,MPH,FACS, 17th Surgeon General of The United States; Distinguished Professor University of Arizona)"If you are a cancer patient, caregiver, or a cancer care provider, this is one book you must read! This is an excellent, comprehensive discussion of the journey a cancer patient takes once they hear “It’s Cancer”." (Daniel P. McKellar, MD, FACS, Chair, Commission on Cancer)"After You Hear It’s Cancer provides a wealth of information to assist patients and their families navigate the complicated cancer care system and to participate in the decision making process for their own care. The patient stories interwoven throughout the book make the experience personnel, real, and understandable." (Robert W. Carlson, Professor Emeritus of Medicine, Stanford University Medical Center Chief Executive Officer, National Comprehensive Cancer Network)

War Stories: 50 Years in Medicine


Michael T. Kennedy - 2015
    The memoir is chiefly about patients and their stories. What we did then and what we know now.

EMERGENCY: real stories from Australia's emergency department doctors


Simon Judkins - 2015
    The stakes are high; everyone gets pushed to the limit. Lives are saved, patients die. Some staff manage the stress, others burn out. The ED demands a lot of its practitioners. They have to work through whatever medical emergency they encounter: a man who has been trapped in a rubbish compactor, a teenage girl in anaphylactic shock, a woman howling in labour while behind the curtain another life is coming quietly to an end. The doctors must deal with high emotions, battle the constant patient backlog and make clear, considered, life-or-death decisions in an often chaotic environment.These are the doctors' stories from the front line.

Anatomy: A Photographic Atlas (Color Atlas of Anatomy a Photographic Study of the Human Body)


Johannes W. Rohen - 2015
    Depicting anatomic structures more realistically than illustrations in traditional atlases, this proven resource shows students exactly what they will see in the dissection lab. Chapters are organized by region in the order of a typical dissection with each chapter presenting topographical anatomical structures in a systemic manner. The eighth edition features additional clinical imaging such as MRIs, CTs, and endoscopic techniques, as well as new graphics, including clinically relevant nerve and vessel varieties and antagonistic muscle functions. Many older images have been replaced with new, high-resolution images and black-and-white dissection photographs have been replaced with color photography.

The Stem Cell Revolution


Mark Berman - 2015
     Your fat is loaded with stem cells that can be used now to treat and reverse a large number of inflammatory and degenerative conditions. Most people have no idea that these magical cells actually exist right within our bodies. They think that they must wait until Big Pharma or a university PhD manufactures them from embryos. Yet the Cell Surgical Network, under the guidance of Drs. Berman and Lander, has been gathering investigational data that shows your cells are safe and effective in a large variety of clinical conditions. Almost any condition caused by damage or degradation of your own body cells has the potential for being improved using stem cells. And the potential actually exists to use your own cells to extend your life in a healthy, functional manner. The stem cell revolution train has left the station."

We Get It: Voices of Grieving College Students and Young Adults


Heather L. Servaty-Seib - 2015
    From developing a sense of identity to living away from family and adjusting to life on and off campus, college students and young adults face a unique set of issues. These issues often make it difficult for young adults to talk about their loss, leading to a sense of isolation, different-ness and a pressure to pretend that everything is OK. The narratives included in this book are honest, engaging and heartfelt, and they help other students and young people know that they are not alone and that there are others who 'get' what they are going through. The narratives are usefully divided by themes, such as isolation, forced maturity and life transition challenges, and include commentary by the authors on grief responses and coping strategies. Each section also ends with helpful questions for reflection.Inspired by the experiences of Dr. Fajgenbaum losing his mother during college and Dr. Servaty-Seib dedicating her career to college student bereavement, this book will be a lifeline for students and young adults who have lost a loved one. It will also be of immeasurable value to counselors, college administrators, grief professionals and parents.

Cardiac Catheterization Handbook E-Book


Morton J Kern - 2015
    Ideal for cardiologists who need a quick clinical primer on cardiac catheterization, it offers easy access to information on the latest diagnostic and treatment advances necessary for optimal patient care. Straightforward, easy-to-understand approach for an ideal reference on the go. Covers vascular closure devices, radial artery catheterization, congenital heart disease, and drug-coated, carotid, and renal stenting. Focused update covers treatment protocols for every procedure you'll encounter, as well as the latest knowledge and clinical trials regarding recent scientific breakthroughs. Highlights the newest catheterization techniques, including new-generation stents, guidance devices, and closure devices, to ensure you're completely up to date. Discusses the management of common patient problems, focusing on cautions and outcomes to help you make informed decisions. Includes discussions on structural heart disease and new developments in heart valve disease. Brand-new illustrations – 40 in total – enhance your visual understanding of the material. Medicine eBook is accessible on a variety of devices.

The New Chinese Medicine Handbook: An Innovative Guide to Integrating Eastern Wisdom with Western Practice for Modern Healing


Misha Ruth Cohen - 2015
    Explore the powerful benefits of Chinese medicine--particularly acupuncture, massage,nutrition, meditation and herbs--along with other Eastern healing arts. This practical guide totraditional Chinese medicine can help you take control of your healing process and maintain orrestore wholeness and harmony in all aspects of your life.Dr. Misha Ruth Cohen, an internationallyâ??recognized practitioner, lecturer, leader and mentorin the field of Chinese medicine, offers comprehensive healing plans for a wide range of ailmentsincluding digestive problems, stress, anxiety, depression, cancer support, liver health, gynecological problems, PMS, fertilitymenopause, and more.This comprehensive guidebook combines Chinese dietary guidelines with Western medicine, plus various other Eastern and Western healing therapies including:Basics of Chinese medicineAcupuncture and moxibustionQi Gong: Chinese exercise and meditationDietary practicesChinese herbal therapyThe New Chinese Medicine Handbook keeps esoteric information to "need to know" basics andshows you how to use Chinese medicine for different conditions from pain to infertility to various illnesseslike cancer and diabetes. Take the first steps to natural healing remedies and a longer, healthier life.

Introductory Human Physiology


Emma Jakoi - 2015
    This book is designed to provide the foundation for understanding the normal function of the human body. Each chapter emphasizes the basic concepts that apply to each organ and organ system as well as their integration to maintain homeostasis and proper responses to perturbations such as exercise, illness, and trauma. The organ systems covered include: nervous, muscle, cardiovascular, respiratory, endocrine, reproductive, gastrointestinal, and urinary. Examples from daily life activities and clinical scenarios as well as review questions are presented to illustrate basic science principles, to facilitate integration of the course content and to foster problem solving skills.

Empty Sleeves: Amputation in the Civil War South


Brian Craig Miller - 2015
    Despite popular perception that doctors recklessly erred on the side of amputation, surgeons labored mightily to adjust to the medical quagmire of war. And as Brian Craig Miller shows in Empty Sleeves, the hospital emerged as the first arena where southerners faced the stark reality of what amputation would mean for men and women and their respective positions in southern society after the war. Thus, southern women, through nursing and benevolent care, prepared men for the challenges of returning home defeated and disabled. Still, amputation was a stark fact for many soldiers. On their return, southern amputees remained dependent on their spouses, peers, and dilapidated state governments to reconstruct their shattered manhood and meet the challenges brought on by their newfound disabilities. It was in this context that Confederate patients based their medical care decisions on how comrades, families, and society would view the empty sleeve. In this highly original and deeply researched work, Miller explores the ramifications of amputation on the Confederacy both during and after the Civil War and sheds light on how dependency and disability reshaped southern society.

Voices in the Band: A Doctor, Her Patients, and How the Outlook on AIDS Care Changed from Doomed to Hopeful


Susan C. Ball - 2015
    When I began that work in 1992, we knew what caused AIDS, how it spread, and how to avoid getting it, but we didn't know how to treat it or how to prevent our patients' seemingly inevitable progression toward death. The stigma that surrounded AIDS patients from the very beginning of the epidemic in the early 1980s continued to be harsh and isolating. People looked askance at me: What was it like to work in that kind of environment with those kinds of people? My patients are 'those kinds of people. They are an array and a combination of brave, depraved, strong, entitled, admirable, self-centered, amazing, strange, funny, daring, gifted, exasperating, wonderful, and sad. And more. At my clinic most of the patients are indigent and few have had an education beyond high school, if that. Many are gay men and many of the patients use or have used drugs. They all have HIV, and in the early days far too many of them died. Every day they brought us the stories of their lives. We listened to them and we took care of them as best we could." from the IntroductionIn 1992, Dr. Susan C. Ball began her medical career taking care of patients with HIV in the Center for Special Studies, a designated AIDS care center at a large academic medical center in New York City. Her unsentimental but moving memoir of her experiences bridges two distinct periods in the history of the epidemic: the terrifying early years in which a diagnosis was a death sentence and ignorance too often eclipsed compassion, and the introduction of antiviral therapies that transformed AIDS into a chronic, though potentially manageable, disease. Voices in the Band also provides a new perspective on how we understand disease and its treatment within the context of teamwork among medical personnel, government agencies and other sources of support, and patients.Deftly bringing back both the fear and confusion that surrounded the disease in the early 1990s and the guarded hope that emerged at the end of the decade, Dr. Ball effectively portrays the grief and isolation felt by both the patients and those who cared for them using a sharp eye for detail and sensitivity to each patient s story. She also recounts the friendships, humor, and camaraderie that she and her colleagues shared working together to provide the best care possible, despite repeated frustrations and setbacks. As Dr. Ball and the team at CSS struggled to care for an underserved population even after game-changing medication was available, it became clear to them that medicine alone could not ensure a transition from illness to health when patients were suffering from terrible circumstances as well as a terrible disease."

Arterial Blood Gases Made Easy E-Book: With STUDENT CONSULT Online Access


Iain A.M. Hennessey - 2015
    This book provides readers with the core background knowledge required to understand the ABG, explains how it is used in clinical practice and provides a unique system for interpreting results. Over half of the book is devoted to thirty clinical case scenarios involving analysis of arterial blood gases, allowing the reader to gain both proficiency in interpretation and an appreciation of the role of an ABG in guiding clinical diagnosis and management. A practical guide written for all those who use this test and have to interpret the results. Utilises worked examples to allow the reader to gain confidence in interpreting ABGs and appreciate the usefulness of the test in a variety of different clinical settings. Written in a simple style and presents the concepts in a straightforward manner. Additional clinical case scenarios put the ABG into practice.

Miscellaneous Records of a Female Doctor


Tan Yunxian - 2015
    It consists of one volume with 31 cases surrounded by two prefaces and three postscripts. Tan Yunxian primarily treated women in her practice, and these records reflect insights into the pathology of female patients that male practitioners might not have been privy to. At this time, a wealthy woman could not see a male doctor without having a male relative such as her father, husband, or son present. Modesty was the utmost female virtue. The male doctor questioned the husband, not the woman herself. He might not be allowed to see her face. He needed to ask for permission to feel her pulse. Therefore, because Tan was a woman, she was allowed by her female patients to do things that a male doctor could not, and this intimacy in turn led to a better diagnosis of the patient's problems. Lorraine Wilcox has annotated and explained Tan's original cases by both telling us the source text of the formulas Tan used, and what the probable diagnosis was from both Western and Eastern viewpoints. The complete formulas used by Tan have been added, and have been compared to the original formulas with a complete explanation of Tan's modifications. Wilcox, then discusses the reasons for such a diagnosis, and illustrates a number of other details that help us better understand each case. There were undoubtedly many other women doctors in ancient China but they left no record or the record was not preserved. Women doctors are occasionally mentioned in case studies written by men or in other types of literature. Therefore, we are lucky that Dr. Tan Yunxian's manuscript survived through the ages, as it helps us to understand the challenges and illnesses that women of the Ming faced.

Amazing Health Benefits of Coconut oil and Spices


Richard Jones - 2015
    At the same time, many people are putting a great effort into improving their general health using various multivitamin supplements that claim to help them achieve balance among several functions of their bodies. Dieting has quickly grown to become an efficient solution for both problems, yet many people fail to understand the importance of eating healthily. Of all super foods available, coconut oil is probably one of the best, especially since there is a lot of evidence to back up its efficiency at helping one lose weight, reduce belly fat, and restore his health – all of them by simply including this super food to their day-to-day nutrition habits. Read on to find out how coconut oil works, and how it can help you achieve these goals. Richard Jones

Surgeon With the Kaiser's Army


Stephen Kurt Westmann - 2015
    He was soon involved in bloody hand-to-hand fighting against the French before moving to the Russian front.Promoted to medical officer, despite being unqualified and barely into his twenties, he is given command of an ambulance train on the Western Front. He treats and operates on wounded of all nationalities and ranks and rescues British and German soldiers after gas attacks on the trenches of the Somme. As medical officer to the Imperial German Air Service (on attachment to Jagdgeschwader 1 - the "Von Richthofen Circus") Westmann sees the dangers and effects of aerial combat at first hand. He witnesses the British tank attacks at Cambrai.Westmann's writing graphically illustrates life and death in the front line, the carnage and humor that sustained soldiers of all nationalities. His insights into the social, political, religious, economic and medical aspects of war time life are also particularly revealing.The text is enhanced by contemporary photographs.

One Smart Pooch's Pet CPR & First-Aid for Canine and Feline


Dana Ortiz - 2015
    Canine and Feline CPR & First-Aid

Bacterionomicon: The Creatures of the Healing Blade


Raúl Gonzalez III - 2015
    

Textbook of Pathology with Pathology Quick Review and MCQs


Harsh Mohan - 2015
    Immunophenotyping and cytogenetics have been recommended as defining criteria for classification, diagnosis and prognostication of growing number of cancers. Basic morphologic pathology including recent knowledge of etiology and pathogenesis of diseases, and simultaneously the contribution of modern diagnostic techniques are explained in detail. Most of the topics include various aspects of diseases including their newer causes and recent mechanisms by insertion of latest information between the lines. Morphologic pathology is discussed with newer illustrations, while some old ones have been replaced with better quality images or improved after eliminating their shortcomings. One or more clinical cases with history and findings of examination have been given based on a common or an important disease pertaining to the respective systems.

Dying Words: The AIDS Reporting of Jeff Schmalz and How It Transformed the New York Times


Samuel G. Freedman - 2015
    A rising star at The New York Times, Jeff had carefully kept his identity as a gay man hidden from his superiors to protect his career.But everything changed on December 21, 1990 when he collapsed in the newsroom and was then diagnosed with full-blown AIDS. Courageously, Jeff chose to report on the disease that was killing him and countless others.Dying Words is based on original interviews with Anna Quindlen, Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. and Adam Moss, among other leading journalists, and it draws on Jeff’s own interviews with such figures as Bill Clinton, Magic Johnson, Mary Fisher, Larry Kramer, and Randy Shilts.This book—and a companion radio documentary available through PRX—preserve Jeff Schmalz’s legacy and confirm his profound effect on American journalism.- See more at: http://press.journalism.cuny.edu/book...

Mobilizing New York: AIDS, Antipoverty, and Feminist Activism


Tamar W. Carroll - 2015
    Drawing on a rich array of oral histories, archival records, newspapers, films, and photographs from post-World War II New York City, Carroll shows how poor people transformed the antipoverty organization Mobilization for Youth and shaped the subsequent War on Poverty. Highlighting the little-known National Congress of Neighborhood Women, she reveals the significant participation of working-class white ethnic women and women of color in New York City's feminist activism. Finally, Carroll traces the partnership between the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) and Women's Health Action Mobilization (WHAM!), showing how gay men and feminists collaborated to create a supportive community for those affected by the AIDS epidemic, to improve health care, and to oppose homophobia and misogyny during the culture wars of the 1980s and 1990s. Carroll contends that social policies that encourage the political mobilization of marginalized groups and foster coalitions across identity differences are the most effective means of solving social problems and realizing democracy.

Multiple Mini Interview: Winning Strategies From Admissions Faculty


Samir P. Desai - 2015
    

Testosterone Replacement Therapy: A Recipe for Success


John Crisler - 2015
    He has distinguished himself in the field of Age Management Medicine by developing new treatment protocols for hormonal evaluation and optimization which have influenced the way physicians all over the world treat their patients. In layman's terms, he shares what he has learned in over 15 years of experience improving men's lives. This is the "recipe" men can use to get the Testosterone Replacement Therapy they need--and deserve. If you think you may suffer from "Low T", get this book. If you are a physician, and a patient hands you this book, by all means read it. Your patients (and their partners) will love you for it!

Ordinary Medicine: Extraordinary Treatments, Longer Lives, and Where to Draw the Line


Sharon R. Kaufman - 2015
    In today’s aging society, however, the line between life-giving therapies and too much treatment is hard to see—it’s being obscured by a perfect storm created by the pharmaceutical and biomedical industries, along with insurance companies. In Ordinary Medicine Sharon R. Kaufman investigates what drives that storm’s “more is better” approach to medicine: a nearly invisible chain of social, economic, and bureaucratic forces that has made once-extraordinary treatments seem ordinary, necessary, and desirable. Since 2002 Kaufman has listened to hundreds of older patients, their physicians and family members express their hopes, fears, and reasoning as they faced the line between enough and too much intervention. Their stories anchor Ordinary Medicine. Today’s medicine, Kaufman contends, shapes nearly every American’s experience of growing older, and ultimately medicine is undermining its own ability to function as a social good. Kaufman’s careful mapping of the sources of our health care dilemmas should make it far easier to rethink and renew medicine’s goals.