Medical Science In The 21st Century

Extending beyond the human minds resources, 21st Century Science and Health reveals an ongoing supply of forward movement, satisfaction, and healing power.

This book sets out the unique and paradoxical position biomedical science finds itself in, in the early 21st (superscript st) century. Science has never been stronger in shaping the world we live in; progress in medical science during most of the last century has helped to transform health care and prolong our lives; almost daily advances in biological science promise hope for the future and yet medical science has been in serious decline for the past three decades. Biomedical Science in the 21st (superscript st) Century: Sunset or New Dawn? sets out the recent decline in the context of medical science's stunning past successes. Professor Sheridan discusses the failure to translate new discoveries in biological science into medical advances; the dramatic decline in research productivity in the pharmaceutical industry in the context of falling numbers of clinical scientists; the disruption of medical science during prolonged and repeated reforms of health care delivery; changing social and political attitudes towards health care and science; the loss of trust in big pharmaceutical companies and recent revelations of fraud in science. The book deals with the creative nature of original science, how it is driven by curiosity and self-motivation and how these can be stifled by pettifogging managerialism. The book presents a vision of what medical science can deliver during the coming half century and what is needed to overcome the present challenges. It questions the assumptions that big is best in the organisation of science and suggests a new model for drug development based on a restoration of trust and a more constructive relationship between regulators and industry.

The anthrax incidents following the 9/11 terrorist attacks put the spotlight on the nation's public health agencies, placing it under an unprecedented scrutiny that added new dimensions to the complex issues considered in this report. The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century reaffirms the vision of Healthy People 2010, and outlines a systems approach to assuring the nation's health in practice, research, and policy. This approach focuses on joining the unique resources and perspectives of diverse sectors and entities and challenges these groups to work in a concerted, strategic way to promote and protect the public's health. Focusing on diverse partnerships as the framework for public health, the book discusses: The need for a shift from an individual to a population-based approach in practice, research, policy, and community engagement. The status of the governmental public health infrastructure and what needs to be improved, including its interface with the health care delivery system. The roles nongovernment actors, such as academia, business, local communities and the media can play in creating a healthy nation. Providing an accessible analysis, this book will be important to public health policy-makers and practitioners, business and community leaders, health advocates, educators and journalists.

Drawing on key international reports and input from leading healthcare practitioners and educators worldwide, this ground-breaking book closely examines the real issues facing medicine and medical education. With a wide-ranging, evidence-based approach, the author identifies key drivers of change in both the developing and developed world. He examines national and international medical education priorities, suggests practical educational development and change management strategies to translate reforms into reality, and reviews the role of the medical profession as part of the wider healthcare community. This highly detailed, full-colour text offers thought-provoking reading for all healthcare educators and professionals. Healthcare managers and policy makers will find invaluable the practical, specific guidance for change. Healthcare students too, will find the accessible advice for personal direction and development both eye-opening and inspirational. With commentaries by experts who participated as members of The Lancet Commission on Education of 'Health Professionals for a New Century: Transforming Education to Strengthen Health Systems in an Interdependent World' Lord Nigel Crisp, House of Lords, London, United Kingdom Professor Patricia J. Garcia, Dean, School of Public Health and Administration, Cayetano Heredia University, Lima, Peru Professor Afaf I. Meleis, Margaret Bond Simon Dean of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania, United States and an epilogue on 'Leadership in Medicine and Healthcare for the 21st century' by Dr Ruth Collins-Nakai, former president of the Canadian Medical Association and chair of the Canadian Medical Foundation, Ontario, Canada

Second in a series of publications from the Institute of Medicine's Quality of Health Care in America project Today's health care providers have more research findings and more technology available to them than ever before. Yet recent reports have raised serious doubts about the quality of health care in America. Crossing the Quality Chasm makes an urgent call for fundamental change to close the quality gap. This book recommends a sweeping redesign of the American health care system and provides overarching principles for specific direction for policymakers, health care leaders, clinicians, regulators, purchasers, and others. In this comprehensive volume the committee offers: A set of performance expectations for the 21st century health care system. A set of 10 new rules to guide patient-clinician relationships. A suggested organizing framework to better align the incentives inherent in payment and accountability with improvements in quality. Key steps to promote evidence-based practice and strengthen clinical information systems. Analyzing health care organizations as complex systems, Crossing the Quality Chasm also documents the causes of the quality gap, identifies current practices that impede quality care, and explores how systems approaches can be used to implement change.

From the use of personal products to our consumption of food, water, and air, people are exposed to a wide array of agents each day-many with the potential to affect health. Exposure Science in the 21st Century: A Vision and A Strategy investigates the contact of humans or other organisms with those agents (that is, chemical, physical, and biologic stressors) and their fate in living systems. The concept of exposure science has been instrumental in helping us understand how stressors affect human and ecosystem health, and in efforts to prevent or reduce contact with harmful stressors. In this way exposure science has played an integral role in many areas of environmental health, and can help meet growing needs in environmental regulation, urban and ecosystem planning, and disaster management. Exposure Science in the 21st Century: A Vision and A Strategy explains that there are increasing demands for exposure science information, for example to meet needs for data on the thousands of chemicals introduced into the market each year, and to better understand the health effects of prolonged low-level exposure to stressors. Recent advances in tools and technologies-including sensor systems, analytic methods, molecular technologies, computational tools, and bioinformatics-have provided the potential for more accurate and comprehensive exposure science data than ever before. This report also provides a roadmap to take advantage of the technologic innovations and strategic collaborations to move exposure science into the future.

Perhaps no other public policy issue has greater potential to affect some of the most significant economic, political, social, and ethical changes of the 21st century than global health. In this book, a scholar/physician team authors a comprehensive introduction to global health issues and emphasises the potential of public health intervention to improve the longevity and quality of human life across the globe. The authors have lived and worked in Africa as well as in medically underserved areas of the United States, so they write with firsthand experience and authority. Using themes of interconnectedness, globalisation, and united concern from citizens, this book encourages readers to consider the role that they might play as engaged citizens in taking on the global public health challenges of the 21st century including everything from AIDs and flu to tobacco, obesity, and threats in conflict zones.

Public health has moved to the forefront of national interest and scrutiny in the light of present day events. Public health professionals are now regulars in all forms of media, something unheard of just a few years ago. The issues are well known - bioterrorism, SARS, West Nile Virus - and they are enough to panic a population without skillful leadership. Public Health for the 21st Century: The Prepared Leader examines public health leadership in terms of emergency preparedness and specific skills and tools. As modern-day threats force leaders to look at how they address disasters and drive communities to prepare themselves, this book provides tools and real life cases to hone management skills to prepare agencies to deal with large scale events.