Environmental Issues In Primary Care

Provides current information on environmental health issues related to air, land and water quality. Offers accessible information on human exposures, health effects, intervention for specific environmental contaminants, case studies and suggested readings. Written and reviewed by experts, this report can help put the puzzling pieces of environmentally-related disease into place. Charts, tables, graphs and drawings.

Green Healthcare Institutions : Health, Environment, and Economics, Workshop Summary is based on the ninth workshop in a series of workshops sponsored by the Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine since the roundtable began meeting in 1998. When choosing workshops and activities, the roundtable looks for areas of mutual concern and also areas that need further research to develop a strong environmental science background. This workshop focused on the environmental and health impacts related to the design, construction, and operations of healthcare facilities, which are part of one of the largest service industries in the United States. Healthcare institutions are major employers with a considerable role in the community, and it is important to analyze this significant industry. The environment of healthcare facilities is unique; it has multiple stakeholders on both sides, as the givers and the receivers of care. In order to provide optimal care, more research is needed to determine the impacts of the built environment on human health. The scientific evidence for embarking on a green building agenda is not complete, and at present, scientists have limited information. Green Healthcare Institutions : Health, Environment, and Economics, Workshop Summary captures the discussions and presentations by the speakers and participants; they identified the areas in which additional research is needed, the processes by which change can occur, and the gaps in knowledge.

People are increasingly concerned about potential environmental health hazards and often ask their physicians questions such as: "Is the tap water safe to drink?" "Is it safe to live near power lines?" Unfortunately, physicians often lack the information and training related to environmental health risks needed to answer such questions. This book discusses six competency based learning objectives for all medical school students, discusses the relevance of environmental health to specific courses and clerkships, and demonstrates how to integrate environmental health into the curriculum through published case studies, some of which are included in one of the book's three appendices. Also included is a guide on where to obtain additional information for treatment, referral, and follow-up for diseases with possible environmental and/or occupational origins.

The rapid growth of home health care has raised many unsolved issues and will have consequences that are far too broad for any one group to analyze in their entirety. Yet a major influence on the safety, quality, and effectiveness of home health care will be the set of issues encompassed by the field of human factors research-the discipline of applying what is known about human capabilities and limitations to the design of products, processes, systems, and work environments. To address these challenges, the National Research Council began a multidisciplinary study to examine a diverse range of behavioral and human factors issues resulting from the increasing migration of medical devices, technologies, and care practices into the home. Its goal is to lay the groundwork for a thorough integration of human factors research with the design and implementation of home health care devices, technologies, and practices. On October 1 and 2, 2009, a group of human factors and other experts met to consider a diverse range of behavioral and human factors issues associated with the increasing migration of medical devices, technologies, and care practices into the home. This book is a summary of that workshop, representing the culmination of the first phase of the study.

The United States is among the wealthiest nations in the world, but it is far from the healthiest. Although life expectancy and survival rates in the United States have improved dramatically over the past century, Americans live shorter lives and experience more injuries and illnesses than people in other high-income countries. The U.S. health disadvantage cannot be attributed solely to the adverse health status of racial or ethnic minorities or poor people: even highly advantaged Americans are in worse health than their counterparts in other, "peer" countries. In light of the new and growing evidence about the U.S. health disadvantage, the National Institutes of Health asked the National Research Council (NRC) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to convene a panel of experts to study the issue. The Panel on Understanding Cross-National Health Differences Among High-Income Countries examined whether the U.S. health disadvantage exists across the life span, considered potential explanations, and assessed the larger implications of the findings. U.S. Health in International Perspective presents detailed evidence on the issue, explores the possible explanations for the shorter and less healthy lives of Americans than those of people in comparable countries, and recommends actions by both government and nongovernment agencies and organizations to address the U.S. health disadvantage.

This practical guide, for primary care, provides a context-specific introduction to the sustainability challenges associated with good healthcare delivery and provides easy-to-implement yet impactful actions that can be taken to reduce and mitigate the impact of primary care on the living world whilst also looking at the impact of the changing planet on healthcare that people will encounter. The chapters address the following key questions - What is the issue? What can I do/what can my practice do? How do my actions help patients, practice and planet? Included throughout are case studies, vignettes and anecdotes of previous successful interventions, while a check list of the most impactful actions for others to follow, as supported by the current evidence base, provides a convenient summary. References and additional resource recommendations give directions to further guidance. The book looks at the four pillars of primary care, Dentistry, General Practice, Optometry and Pharmacy, and includes international contributions. Key Features: - Specific to primary care and highly practical - Covers a broad spectrum of environmental topics directly relevant to primary care - Illustrated with examples from real-life experience supported by published evidence Providing invaluable direction to turn good intentions into meaningful action, the book will be invaluable to health professionals and practice managers across all primary care disciplines and to students preparing to enter practice in those fields. It will also be of interest to integrated care system administrators and to health policy makers. The Editors: Dr Matt Sawyer is a former GP, current Director of SEE Sustainability and a Carbon Literacy trainer, UK Dr Mike Tomson is a former GP (clinically retired), a medical educator coach and a Trustee for Centre for Sustainable Healthcare, previously Director of Greener Practice CIC, UK.

This issue of Physician Assistant Clinics, guest edited by Drs. Vincent Morelli, Roger Zoorob, and Joel J. Heidelbaugh, is devoted to Primary Care of the Medically Underserved. Articles in this issue include Primary Care Issues in Rural Populations; Primary Care Issues in Inner City America and Internationally; Medical Care for Undocumented Immigrants: National and International Issues; Pediatric and Adolescent Issues in Underserved Populations; Women’s Select Health Issues in Underserved Populations; Medical Care of the Homeless: An American and International Issue; Occupational Health and Sleep Issues in Underserved Populations; Infectious Disease Issues in Underserved Populations; Psychological Issues in Medically Underserved Patients; Substance Use Issues Among the Underserved: United States and International Perspectives; Diet and Obesity Issues in the Underserved; Exercise and Sports Medicine Issues in Underserved Populations; Environmental Justice and Underserved Communities; Climate Change and Underserved Communities; Geriatric Care Issues - An American and an International Perspective; Cardiovascular Health Disparities in Underserved Populations; Cancer in the Medically Underserved Population; and International Comparisons in Underserved Health - Issues, Policies, Needs and Projections. CME credits are also available to subscribers of this series.