Today we are in a healthcare crisis. All around the industrialized world people are struggling with declining health. From childhood obesity to the multiple health-related needs and concerns of an aging population, millions need help understanding, managing, or even reversing their maladies. Hospitals are essential of course, but most are set up for episodic care, not long-term disease management or continuous health improvement. So healthcare organizations, civic leaders, church leaders, and philanthropic groups wonder what can be done to help. In this timely publication, authors Stephanie Lind of Florida Hospital and Dr. Susan Chase of the University of Central Florida share important insights and ideas based on a three-year pilot project involving Faith Community Nurses. Conducted in five Central Florida churches, the pilot sought to help congregations establish or grow an existing health ministry team. The work was accomplished through a partnership between Florida Hospital and the Winter Park Health Foundation. In these pages you’ll discover the project goals, the methodology and processes used, and how others can take what was learned and do something similar—or better. The project described in this report was one among many of Florida Hospital’s ongoing efforts to help people understand how practicing the fundamentals of whole-person health aids in the prevention of disease and in recovery following an illness. I believe the authors have done a remarkable job of demonstrating how hospitals, churches, and Faith Community Nurses can positively affect the health of entire communities, playing a part in transforming our healthcare crisis into a health caring opportunity.

The Institute of Medicine study Crossing the Quality Chasm (2001) recommended that an interdisciplinary summit be held to further reform of health professions education in order to enhance quality and patient safety. Health Professions Education: A Bridge to Quality is the follow up to that summit, held in June 2002, where 150 participants across disciplines and occupations developed ideas about how to integrate a core set of competencies into health professions education. These core competencies include patient-centered care, interdisciplinary teams, evidence-based practice, quality improvement, and informatics. This book recommends a mix of approaches to health education improvement, including those related to oversight processes, the training environment, research, public reporting, and leadership. Educators, administrators, and health professionals can use this book to help achieve an approach to education that better prepares clinicians to meet both the needs of patients and the requirements of a changing health care system.

In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.

It may not be a quick fix, but this concrete action plan for reform can create a less costly and healthier system for all. Beyond the outrageous expense, the quality of care varies wildly, and millions of Americans can’t get care when they need it. This is bad for patients, bad for doctors, and bad for business. In The Long Fix, physician and health care CEO Vivian S. Lee, MD, cuts to the heart of the health care crisis. The problem with the way medicine is practiced, she explains, is not so much who’s paying, it’s what we are paying for. Insurers, employers, the government, and individuals pay for every procedure, prescription, and lab test, whether or not it makes us better—and that is both backward and dangerous. Dr. Lee proposes turning the way we receive care completely inside out. When doctors, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies are paid to keep people healthy, care improves and costs decrease. Lee shares inspiring examples of how this has been done, from physicians’ practices that prioritize preventative care, to hospitals that adapt lessons from manufacturing plants to make them safer, to health care organizations that share online how much care costs and how well each physician is caring for patients. Using clear and compelling language, Dr. Lee paints a picture that is both realistic and optimistic. It may not be a quick fix, but her concrete action plan for reform—for employers and other payers, patients, clinicians, and policy makers—can reinvent health care, and create a less costly, more efficient, and healthier system for all.

America’s Health Care Crisis Solved highlights the major pitfalls of our current health care system and shows why, without changes, health care costs will soon demolish the American economy as well as the opportunity to receive quality care. However, contrary to the increasingly popular idea of a government health plan, the alternative presented by authors J. Patrick Rooney and Dan Perrin brings the self-interest of you, the American consumer, into the equation.

The decade ahead will test the nation's nearly 4 million nurses in new and complex ways. Nurses live and work at the intersection of health, education, and communities. Nurses work in a wide array of settings and practice at a range of professional levels. They are often the first and most frequent line of contact with people of all backgrounds and experiences seeking care and they represent the largest of the health care professions. A nation cannot fully thrive until everyone - no matter who they are, where they live, or how much money they make - can live their healthiest possible life, and helping people live their healthiest life is and has always been the essential role of nurses. Nurses have a critical role to play in achieving the goal of health equity, but they need robust education, supportive work environments, and autonomy. Accordingly, at the request of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, on behalf of the National Academy of Medicine, an ad hoc committee under the auspices of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine conducted a study aimed at envisioning and charting a path forward for the nursing profession to help reduce inequities in people's ability to achieve their full health potential. The ultimate goal is the achievement of health equity in the United States built on strengthened nursing capacity and expertise. By leveraging these attributes, nursing will help to create and contribute comprehensively to equitable public health and health care systems that are designed to work for everyone. The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity explores how nurses can work to reduce health disparities and promote equity, while keeping costs at bay, utilizing technology, and maintaining patient and family-focused care into 2030. This work builds on the foundation set out by The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health (2011) report.

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented unprecedented challenges for individuals, societies, and economies around the world. But it has also presented opportunities for growth and improvement in various domains. In this book, Dr. Saeed Siyal, an expert in management science, provides a comprehensive explanation for why pandemics and similar crises are both detrimental and simultaneously prompt long-needed change. Through a thorough analysis of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Saeed Siyal explores the ways in which it has forced individuals, organizations, and governments to adapt and find new solutions to the problems we face, many of which were exacerbated by the crisis. Using Crises and Disasters as Opportunities for Innovation and Improvement covers a range of topics, including healthcare, remote work, education, environment, and social connections, and provides evidence-based insights and practical solutions for adapting to the challenges and opportunities of COVID-19. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in advancing the standards of their organizations and making a positive impact on society. It is designed for managers, leaders, corporate sectors, MNCs, SMEs, academicians, and policymakers.