This title is directed primarily towards health care professionals outside of the United States. This book presents a holistic approach to the complete, long-term, day-to-day care of patients disabled by neurological conditions, emphasizing practices that promote physical well-being and minimize secondary complications. It focuses on physical management within the context of the lifestyle of the disabled person and primary caregiver. In addition, it highlights the difficulties commonly encountered when implementing a physical management regime, and discusses the importance of compromise. The complete physical management and day-to-day care is described in a practical and applicable way. Best practices are presented in relation to caring for a person with profound impairment and residual disability. Holistic and detailed long-term physical management strategies are described, related to the more severe and complex neurological conditions. Real-life examples help readers understand the applications of theory in practice. Case studies strengthen readers' critical thinking and decision making skills. Social considerations and the importance of therapeutic leisure activities are included.

An expert physician empowers parents to make informed decisions about their child’s care. Global impairment of the central nervous system, whether stable or progressive, is often called severe neurological impairment (SNI). A child who has SNI will be cared for both by specialist clinicians and by parents at home. A parent is a child’s best expert and advocate, and many parents become highly skilled in managing their child's care. This guide provides information to help parents increase their knowledge and improve their caregiving skills. In Caring for Children Who Have Severe Neurological Impairment, Dr. Julie M. Hauer advocates shared decision making between family caregivers and healthcare providers. She details aspects of medical care such as pain, sleep, feeding, and respiratory problems that will be particularly useful to parents. Tables and key points summarize discussions for clear, quick reference, while case studies and stories illustrate how different families approach decision making, communication, care plans, and informed consent. Parents and other caregivers will find this book to be indispensable—as will bioethicists and clinicians in pediatrics, neurology, physical and rehabilitative medicine, palliative care, and others who care for children with neurological and neuromuscular disorders. Dr. Hauer offers hope and practical coping strategies in equal measure.

The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) provides disability compensation to veterans with a service-connected injury, and to receive disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), a veteran must submit a claim or have a claim submitted on his or her behalf. Evaluation of the Disability Determination Process for Traumatic Brain Injury in Veterans reviews the process by which the VA assesses impairments resulting from traumatic brain injury for purposes of awarding disability compensation. This report also provides recommendations for legislative or administrative action for improving the adjudication of veterans' claims seeking entitlement to compensation for all impairments arising from a traumatic brain injury.

Brain disordersâ€"neurological, psychiatric, and developmentalâ€"now affect at least 250 million people in the developing world, and this number is expected to rise as life expectancy increases. Yet public and private health systems in developing countries have paid relatively little attention to brain disorders. The negative attitudes, prejudice, and stigma that often surround many of these disorders have contributed to this neglect. Lacking proper diagnosis and treatment, millions of individual lives are lost to disability and death. Such conditions exact both personal and economic costs on families, communities, and nations. The report describes the causes and risk factors associated with brain disorders. It focuses on six representative brain disorders that are prevalent in developing countries: developmental disabilities, epilepsy, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, and stroke. The report makes detailed recommendations of ways to reduce the toll exacted by these six disorders. In broader strokes, the report also proposes six major strategies toward reducing the overall burden of brain disorders in the developing world.

Mental, neurological, and substance use disorders are common, highly disabling, and associated with significant premature mortality. The impact of these disorders on the social and economic well-being of individuals, families, and societies is large, growing, and underestimated. Despite this burden, these disorders have been systematically neglected, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, with pitifully small contributions to scaling up cost-effective prevention and treatment strategies. Systematically compiling the substantial existing knowledge to address this inequity is the central goal of this volume. This evidence-base can help policy makers in resource-constrained settings as they prioritize programs and interventions to address these disorders.

In response to a request by the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), the Institute of Medicine proposed a study to examine definitions of serious or complex medical conditions and related issues. A seven-member committee was appointed to address these issues. Throughout the course of this study, the committee has been aware of the fact that the topic addressed by this report concerns one of the most critical issues confronting HCFA, health care plans and providers, and patients today. The Medicare+Choice regulations focus on the most vulnerable populations in need of medical care and other services-those with serious or complex medical conditions. Caring for these highly vulnerable populations poses a number of challenges. The committee believes, however, that the current state of clinical and research literature does not adequately address all of the challenges and issues relevant to the identification and care of these patients.

Functional Neurologic Disorders, the latest volume in the Handbook of Clinical Neurology series, summarizes state-of-the-art research findings and clinical practice on this class of disorders at the interface between neurology and psychiatry. This 51-chapter volume offers an historical introduction, chapters on epidemiology and pathophysiolology, a large section on the clinical features of different type of functional neurologic symptoms and disorders (including functional movement disorders, non-epileptic seizures, dizziness, vision, hearing, speech and cognitive symptoms), and then concluding with approaches to therapy. This group of internationally acclaimed experts in neurology, psychiatry, and neuroscience represent a broad spectrum of areas of expertise, chosen for their ability to write clearly and concisely with an eye toward a clinical audience. This HCN volume sets a new landmark standard for a comprehensive, multi-authored work dealing with functional neurologic disorders (also described as psychogenic, dissociative or conversion disorders). - Offers a comprehensive interdisciplinary approach for the care of patients with functional disorders seen in neurologic practice, leading to more efficient prevention, management, and treatment - Provides a synthesis of research efforts incorporating clinical, brain imaging and neurophysiological studies - Fills an existing gap between traditional neurology and traditional psychiatry - Contents include coverage of history, epidemiology, clinical presentations, and therapy - Edited work with chapters authored by leaders in the field, the broadest, most expert coverage available