Medical Reasoning

Medical Reasoning PDF Author: Erwin B. Montgomery
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0190912928
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
Modern medicine is one of humankind's greatest achievements.Yet today, frequent medical errors and irreproducibility in biomedical research suggest that tremendous challenges beset it. Understanding these challenges and trying to remedy them have driven considerable and thoughtful critical analyses, but the apparent intransigence of these problems suggests a different perspective is needed. Now more than ever, when we see options and opportunities for healthcare expanding while resources are diminishing, it is extremely important that healthcare professionals practice medicine wisely. In Medical Reasoning, neurologist Erwin B. Montgomery, Jr. offers a new and vital perspective. He begins with the idea that the need for certainty in medical decision-making has been the primary driving force in medical reasoning. Doctors must routinely confront countless manifestations of symptoms, diseases, or behaviors in their patients. Therefore, either there are as many different "diseases" as there are patients or some economical set of principles and facts can be combined to explain each patient's disease. The response to this epistemic conundrum has driven medicine throughout history: the challenge is to discover principles and facts and then to develop means to apply them to each unique patient in a manner that provides certainty. This book studies the nature of medical decision making systematically and rigorously in both an analytic and historical context, addressing medicine's unique need for certainty in the face of the enormous variety of diseases and in the manifestations of the same disease in different patients. The book also examines how the social, legal, and economic circumstances in which medical decision-making occurs greatly influence the nature of medical reasoning. Medical Reasoning is essential for those at the intersection of healthcare and philosophy.

Medical Reasoning

Medical Reasoning PDF Author: Erwin B. Montgomery
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0190912928
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 297

Get Book

Book Description
Modern medicine is one of humankind's greatest achievements.Yet today, frequent medical errors and irreproducibility in biomedical research suggest that tremendous challenges beset it. Understanding these challenges and trying to remedy them have driven considerable and thoughtful critical analyses, but the apparent intransigence of these problems suggests a different perspective is needed. Now more than ever, when we see options and opportunities for healthcare expanding while resources are diminishing, it is extremely important that healthcare professionals practice medicine wisely. In Medical Reasoning, neurologist Erwin B. Montgomery, Jr. offers a new and vital perspective. He begins with the idea that the need for certainty in medical decision-making has been the primary driving force in medical reasoning. Doctors must routinely confront countless manifestations of symptoms, diseases, or behaviors in their patients. Therefore, either there are as many different "diseases" as there are patients or some economical set of principles and facts can be combined to explain each patient's disease. The response to this epistemic conundrum has driven medicine throughout history: the challenge is to discover principles and facts and then to develop means to apply them to each unique patient in a manner that provides certainty. This book studies the nature of medical decision making systematically and rigorously in both an analytic and historical context, addressing medicine's unique need for certainty in the face of the enormous variety of diseases and in the manifestations of the same disease in different patients. The book also examines how the social, legal, and economic circumstances in which medical decision-making occurs greatly influence the nature of medical reasoning. Medical Reasoning is essential for those at the intersection of healthcare and philosophy.

How to Think in Medicine

How to Think in Medicine PDF Author: Milos Jenicek
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1351684027
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 550

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Book Description
Mastery of quality health care and patient safety begins as soon as we open the hospital doors for the first time and start acquiring practical experience. The acquisition of such experience includes much more than the development of sensorimotor skills and basic knowledge of sciences. It relies on effective reason, decision making, and communication shared by all health professionals, including physicians, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, and administrators. How to Think in Medicine, Reasoning, Decision Making, and Communications in Health Sciences is about these essential skills. It describes how physicians and health professionals reason, make decision, and practice medicine. Covering the basic considerations related to clinical and caregiver reasoning, it lays out a roadmap to help those new to health care as well as seasoned veterans overcome the complexities of working for the well-being of those who trust us with their physical and mental health. This book provides a step-by-step breakdown of the reasoning process for clinical work and clinical care. It examines both the general and medical ways of thinking, reasoning, argumentation, fact finding, and using evidence. It explores the principles of formal logic as applied to clinical problems and the use of evidence in logical reasoning. In addition to outline the fundamentals of decision making, it integrates coverage of clinical reasoning risk assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis in evidence-based medicine. Presented in four sections, this book discusses the history and position of the problem and the challenge of medical thinking; provides the philosophy interfacing topics of interest for health sciences professionals including the probabilities, uncertainties, risks, and other quantifications in health by steps of clinical work; decision making in clinical and community health care, research, and practice; Communication in clinical and community care including how to write medical articles, clinical case studies and case reporting, and oral and written communication in clinical and community practice and care.

To Err Is Human

To Err Is Human PDF Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309068371
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
Experts estimate that as many as 98,000 people die in any given year from medical errors that occur in hospitals. That's more than die from motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer, or AIDSâ€"three causes that receive far more public attention. Indeed, more people die annually from medication errors than from workplace injuries. Add the financial cost to the human tragedy, and medical error easily rises to the top ranks of urgent, widespread public problems. To Err Is Human breaks the silence that has surrounded medical errors and their consequenceâ€"but not by pointing fingers at caring health care professionals who make honest mistakes. After all, to err is human. Instead, this book sets forth a national agendaâ€"with state and local implicationsâ€"for reducing medical errors and improving patient safety through the design of a safer health system. This volume reveals the often startling statistics of medical error and the disparity between the incidence of error and public perception of it, given many patients' expectations that the medical profession always performs perfectly. A careful examination is made of how the surrounding forces of legislation, regulation, and market activity influence the quality of care provided by health care organizations and then looks at their handling of medical mistakes. Using a detailed case study, the book reviews the current understanding of why these mistakes happen. A key theme is that legitimate liability concerns discourage reporting of errorsâ€"which begs the question, "How can we learn from our mistakes?" Balancing regulatory versus market-based initiatives and public versus private efforts, the Institute of Medicine presents wide-ranging recommendations for improving patient safety, in the areas of leadership, improved data collection and analysis, and development of effective systems at the level of direct patient care. To Err Is Human asserts that the problem is not bad people in health careâ€"it is that good people are working in bad systems that need to be made safer. Comprehensive and straightforward, this book offers a clear prescription for raising the level of patient safety in American health care. It also explains how patients themselves can influence the quality of care that they receive once they check into the hospital. This book will be vitally important to federal, state, and local health policy makers and regulators, health professional licensing officials, hospital administrators, medical educators and students, health caregivers, health journalists, patient advocatesâ€"as well as patients themselves. First in a series of publications from the Quality of Health Care in America, a project initiated by the Institute of Medicine

Gentle Medicine

Gentle Medicine PDF Author: Joachim-F Grätz
Publisher: Balboa Press
ISBN: 9781982253783
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 652

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Book Description
Gentle Medicine creates a comprehensive awareness for a new dimension in medicine, a medicine of the future that can be a reality today. After reading it, you will be able to clearly recognize the correlations and natural laws of health and disease and be able to use them for yourself to achieve absolute health. Joachim -F. Grätz, a classical homeopath for more than thirty years, walks you through how to use natural laws to: - cure degenerative and chronic diseases; - prevent diseases from ever occurring in the first place; - survive and thrive in today's fast-paced world. The author also examines the general decline of human health, our understanding of diseases and how they are diagnosed, how the media manipulates the public, the controversy surrounding vaccinations, and more. Whether you're a physician, a caregiver, someone battling a degenerative and/or chronic condition, or simply want to be proactive about staying healthy, you'll find information and insights you can use with this guide to healing. This work addresses the natural laws and correlations affecting illness and health in a generally understandable way -that most are unfamiliar with. -Indeed, very few have even an inkling of them, because othey are diametrically opposed to their previous knowledge othey have never been revealed before and anywhere else. -Nevertheless, everyone should be familiar with them from the bottom up, both for themselves and their families, since they are the key to the health of the individual as well as that of the general public and the entire planet.

A Primer on Clinical Experience in Medicine

A Primer on Clinical Experience in Medicine PDF Author: Milos Jenicek, MD
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1466515589
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
Mastery of quality health care and patient safety begins as soon as we open the hospital doors for the first time and start acquiring practical experience. The acquisition of such experience includes much more than the development of sensorimotor skills and basic knowledge of the sciences. It relies on effective reasoning, decision making, and communication shared by all health professionals, including physicians, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, physiotherapists, and administrators. A Primer on Clinical Experience in Medicine: Reasoning, Decision Making, and Communication in Health Sciences is about these essential skills. It describes how physicians and health professionals reason, make decisions, and practice medicine. Covering the basic considerations related to clinical and caregiver reasoning, it lays out a roadmap to help those new to health care as well as seasoned veterans overcome the complexities of working for the well-being of those who trust us with their physical, mental, and spiritual health. The book provides a step-by-step breakdown of the reasoning process for clinical work and clinical care. It examines both general and medical ways of thinking, reasoning, argumentation, fact finding, and using evidence. Outlining the fundamentals of decision making, it integrates coverage of clinical reasoning, risk assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis in evidence-based medicine. It also: Describes how to evaluate the success (effectiveness and cure) and failure (error and harm) of clinical and community actions Considers communication with patients and outlines strategies, successes, failures, and possible remedies—including offices, bedside, intervention, and care settings Examines strategies, successes, failures, and possible remedies for communication with peers—including interpersonal communication, morning reports, rounds, and research gatherings The book describes vehicles, opportunities, and environments for enhanced professional communication, including patient interviews, clinical case reports, and morning reports. It includes numerous examples that demonstrate the importance of sound reasoning, decision making, and communication and also considers future implications for research, management, planning, and evaluation.

The Hands-on Guide to Clinical Reasoning in Medicine

The Hands-on Guide to Clinical Reasoning in Medicine PDF Author: Mujammil Irfan
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 111924403X
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
The Hands-on Guide to Clinical Reasoning in Medicine is the perfect companion to your time on clinical placements, providing an easy-to-read, highly visual guide to help develop your clinical decision making skills, and transfer your knowledge into practice. Packed full of useful tips, key boxes, exercises and summaries that are designed to help you apply the knowledge gained in clinical practice. Divided into the common clinical placements that you would find yourself in: Respiratory, Cardiovascular, Neurology, Geriatrics, Gastroenterology, Nephrology, Endocrinology and Rheumatology, each chapter covers the diagnosis of common clinical conditions, as well as decision-making in their investigation and management. Written for medical students in their clinical years, as well as new doctors and advanced nurse practitioners, The Hands-on Guide to Clinical Reasoning in Medicine provides students with an accessible resource for honing their clinical reasoning skills. Take the stress out of clinical decision making with The Hands-on Guide!

Radical Medicine

Radical Medicine PDF Author: Louisa L. Williams
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 159477935X
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 712

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Book Description
A “radical” approach to holistic healing that examines the root causes and cures for ailments such as Alzheimer’s disease, breast cancer, and heart attacks • Offers cutting-edge detoxification and draining therapies to address the tremendous chemical onslaught of modern life • Explains the profound health problems caused by dental amalgams, vaccinations, antibiotics, cosmetics With the historic use of toxic mercury amalgam fillings, excessive courses of antibiotics, damaging childhood vaccines, and the many industrial pollutants and chemicals that have been spread into our air, water, and food over the past century, general holistic health guidelines are simply no longer adequate for most people. Only through radical measures--that is, getting to the true root or underlying cause of disease--can effective healing occur. In Radical Medicine, naturopathic physician Louisa Williams describes how to treat these and other modern-day “obstacles to cure,” in order to ensure against future degenerative disease and achieve the optimal health that is our birthright. Examining the many health problems triggered by dental amalgams and poor dentistry, Dr. Williams explains that our teeth are focal points for health issues that arise elsewhere in the body. She explores the impact of vaccinations, the excessive use of antibiotics, and the chemical-laden products used as health and beauty aids--which are linked to Alzheimer’s disease, heart attacks, and breast and other cancers--and provides information on cutting-edge detoxification treatments as well as drainage and nutritional therapies. A practical guide for practitioners and patients alike, Radical Medicine offers a wealth of holistic, natural therapies for overcoming what is poisoning us and our world so we can achieve optimal health and well-being.

Overtreated

Overtreated PDF Author: Shannon Brownlee
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1596917296
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 363

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Book Description
Our health care is staggeringly expensive, yet one in six Americans has no health insurance. We have some of the most skilled physicians in the world, yet one hundred thousand patients die each year from medical errors. In this gripping, eye-opening book, award-winning journalist Shannon Brownlee takes readers inside the hospital to dismantle some of our most venerated myths about American medicine. Brownlee dissects what she calls "the medical-industrial complex" and lays bare the backward economic incentives embedded in our system, revealing a stunning portrait of the care we now receive. Nevertheless, Overtreated ultimately conveys a message of hope by reframing the debate over health care reform. It offers a way to control costs and cover the uninsured, while simultaneously improving the quality of American medicine. Shannon Brownlee's humane, intelligent, and penetrating analysis empowers readers to avoid the perils of overtreatment, as well as pointing the way to better health care for everyone.

Social Causes of Health and Disease

Social Causes of Health and Disease PDF Author: William C. Cockerham
Publisher: Polity
ISBN: 0745635881
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 481

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Book Description
In this exciting new book, William Cockerham, a leading medical sociologist, assesses the evidence that social factors have direct causal effects on health and many diseases. He argues that stress, poverty, unhealthy lifestyles, and unpleasant living and work conditions can all be directly associated with illness. Noting a new emphasis upon social structure in both theory and multi-level research techniques, he argues that a paradigm shift is now emerging in 21st century medical sociology, which looks beyond individual explanations for health and disease. As the old gives way to the new in medical sociology, the field is headed toward a fundamentally different orientation. William Cockerham's clear and compelling account is at the forefront of these changes. This lively and accessible book offers a coherent introduction to social epidemiology, as well as challenging aspects of the existing literature. It will be indispensable reading for all students and scholars of medical sociology, especially those with the courage to confront the possibility that society really does make people sick.

Improving Diagnosis in Health Care

Improving Diagnosis in Health Care PDF Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309377722
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 473

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