This Quality Book of Tools is a unique collection of quality performance indicators for primary care in Canada. Using this book will help family doctors and other primary care providers continue to improve the quality of care in their practice. Cheryl Levitt (MBBCh CCFP FCFP) is a family physician and professor in the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University. Linda Hilts (RN BScN MEd) is a registered nurse and an assistant professor and associate member of the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University.

The Model Rules of Professional Conduct provides an up-to-date resource for information on legal ethics. Federal, state and local courts in all jurisdictions look to the Rules for guidance in solving lawyer malpractice cases, disciplinary actions, disqualification issues, sanctions questions and much more. In this volume, black-letter Rules of Professional Conduct are followed by numbered Comments that explain each Rule's purpose and provide suggestions for its practical application. The Rules will help you identify proper conduct in a variety of given situations, review those instances where discretionary action is possible, and define the nature of the relationship between you and your clients, colleagues and the courts.

Advances in medical, biomedical and health services research have reduced the level of uncertainty in clinical practice. Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) complement this progress by establishing standards of care backed by strong scientific evidence. CPGs are statements that include recommendations intended to optimize patient care. These statements are informed by a systematic review of evidence and an assessment of the benefits and costs of alternative care options. Clinical Practice Guidelines We Can Trust examines the current state of clinical practice guidelines and how they can be improved to enhance healthcare quality and patient outcomes. Clinical practice guidelines now are ubiquitous in our healthcare system. The Guidelines International Network (GIN) database currently lists more than 3,700 guidelines from 39 countries. Developing guidelines presents a number of challenges including lack of transparent methodological practices, difficulty reconciling conflicting guidelines, and conflicts of interest. Clinical Practice Guidelines We Can Trust explores questions surrounding the quality of CPG development processes and the establishment of standards. It proposes eight standards for developing trustworthy clinical practice guidelines emphasizing transparency; management of conflict of interest ; systematic review-guideline development intersection; establishing evidence foundations for and rating strength of guideline recommendations; articulation of recommendations; external review; and updating. Clinical Practice Guidelines We Can Trust shows how clinical practice guidelines can enhance clinician and patient decision-making by translating complex scientific research findings into recommendations for clinical practice that are relevant to the individual patient encounter, instead of implementing a one size fits all approach to patient care. This book contains information directly related to the work of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), as well as various Congressional staff and policymakers. It is a vital resource for medical specialty societies, disease advocacy groups, health professionals, private and international organizations that develop or use clinical practice guidelines, consumers, clinicians, and payers.

EMonCall handheld software provides on-the-spot treatment advice for the most frequently encountered problems in emergency medicine. The unique On Call format is organized for quick access to over 120 of the most common problems seen in the emergency department. For each on-call problem, users can immediately focus on the presenting problem, immediate questions, differential diagnosis, lab and other diagnostic tests, and treatment plan. Additional information on laboratory tests, procedures, fluids and electrolytes, and blood component therapy enhance the software’s value as a single-source reference. The commonly used medications section offers quick access to the most frequently used medications in the emergency department.

Offering step-by-step guidance on how to properly document patient care, this updated Second Edition presents 90 of the most common clinical problems encountered on the wards and clinics in an easy-to-read, two-page layout using the familiar "SOAP" note format. Emphasizing the patient’s clinical problem, not the diagnosis, this pocket-sized quick reference teaches both clinical reasoning and documentation skills and is ideal for use by medical students, Pas, and NPs during the Family Medicine rotation.

This book is intended as an introduction to family medicine and to the behaviors, concepts, and skills upon which the clinical practice of the discipline is based. The chapters that follow will provide a foundation for the student during the pre-doctoral years, a base upon which he or she can build during residency training and practice. Fundamentals of Family Medicine presents Part I (the first 36 chapters) of Family Medicine: Principles and Practice. Because it is intended that the student will eventually move from use of this extracted material to the full textbook, the preface to the comprehensive edition has been included and cross-references to later chapters have been retained. Why publish a student edition? Medical students in various schools partici pate in courses covering a wide range of topics including communication skills, family dynamics, medical ethics, human sexuality, disease prevention, aging and death. Departments of family medicine generally assume a leadership role in presentation of such courses, and this book is intended to integrate these eclectic topics into a single textbook.

This volume, developed by the Observatory together with OECD, provides an overall conceptual framework for understanding and applying strategies aimed at improving quality of care. Crucially, it summarizes available evidence on different quality strategies and provides recommendations for their implementation. This book is intended to help policy-makers to understand concepts of quality and to support them to evaluate single strategies and combinations of strategies.