Today we face the painful reality of the prevalence of chronic, rather than acute, diseases. The technologies developed to manager long-term, incurable illnesses have radically and irrevocably altered the organizational structure of health care, presenting us with a frequently bewildering array of medical specialties. Social Organization of Medical Work offers essential insight into this new era of health care. Through richly documented, often gripping case studies, Anselm Strauss and his co-authors show us exactly how health workers are confronting the problems created by chronic disease and coping with today's highly technologized hospitals. They guide us through the various hospital work sites, describing in detail the kinds of tasks performed by medical personnel, the interactions of staff members with each other and with patients, and the overall resulting patient treatment and response. Focusing on the concept of illness trajectory, the authors vividly illustrate the complex, contingent nature of modern medical work. For example, open heart surgery keeps ill persons alive and may even improve them symptomatically, but those who do survive must face an uncertain future in terms of the physiological consequences of the surgery and the drugs required. They also have to adjust t altered lifestyles. In the new introduction, Anselm Strauss discusses the continuing importance of this work to sociologists, medical scholars, and medical professionals.

Today we face the painful reality of the prevalence of chronic, rather than acute, diseases. The technologies developed to manager long-term, incurable illnesses have radically and irrevocably altered the organizational structure of health care, presenting us with a frequently bewildering array of medical specialties. Social Organization of Medical Work offers essential insight into this new era of health care.Through richly documented, often gripping case studies, Anselm Strauss and his co-authors show us exactly how health workers are confronting the problems created by chronic disease and coping with today's highly technologized hospitals. They guide us through the various hospital work sites, describing in detail the kinds of tasks performed by medical personnel, the interactions of staff members with each other and with patients, and the overall resulting patient treatment and response.Focusing on the concept of illness trajectory, the authors vividly illustrate the complex, contingent nature of modern medical work. For example, open heart surgery keeps ill persons alive and may even improve them symptomatically, but those who do survive must face an uncertain future in terms of the physiological consequences of the surgery and the drugs required. They also have to adjust t altered lifestyles. In the new introduction, Anselm Strauss discusses the continuing importance of this work to sociologists, medical scholars, and medical professionals.

Eminent international authors - medical and social scientists Addresses topical areas of political debate on health, welfare and the NHS Inter-disciplinary approach with evidence from Europe and North America Stresses the pressing need for greater investments to combat low educational standards and high unemployment which cause poor health

Integrating Social Care into the Delivery of Health Care: Moving Upstream to Improve the Nation's Health was released in September 2019, before the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic in March 2020. Improving social conditions remains critical to improving health outcomes, and integrating social care into health care delivery is more relevant than ever in the context of the pandemic and increased strains placed on the U.S. health care system. The report and its related products ultimately aim to help improve health and health equity, during COVID-19 and beyond. The consistent and compelling evidence on how social determinants shape health has led to a growing recognition throughout the health care sector that improving health and health equity is likely to depend â€" at least in part â€" on mitigating adverse social determinants. This recognition has been bolstered by a shift in the health care sector towards value-based payment, which incentivizes improved health outcomes for persons and populations rather than service delivery alone. The combined result of these changes has been a growing emphasis on health care systems addressing patients' social risk factors and social needs with the aim of improving health outcomes. This may involve health care systems linking individual patients with government and community social services, but important questions need to be answered about when and how health care systems should integrate social care into their practices and what kinds of infrastructure are required to facilitate such activities. Integrating Social Care into the Delivery of Health Care: Moving Upstream to Improve the Nation's Health examines the potential for integrating services addressing social needs and the social determinants of health into the delivery of health care to achieve better health outcomes. This report assesses approaches to social care integration currently being taken by health care providers and systems, and new or emerging approaches and opportunities; current roles in such integration by different disciplines and organizations, and new or emerging roles and types of providers; and current and emerging efforts to design health care systems to improve the nation's health and reduce health inequities.

This volume charts changing perceptions of sport within medical discourse, attempts by sports medicine providers to forge professional identities in response to these processes, the day-to-day experiences of deliverers of sports medicine and the reactions of recipients of that healthcare.

This thought-provoking book examines the organization of medical and social services for people with serious psychiatric disorders. It focuses on the current transition from hospital-centred to community-centred services. The first part of the book concentrates on the changes which have occurred in the theory and practice of key groups of professionals, including psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, occupational therapists and psychologists. The second part describes how those changes have directly impinged on the everyday lives of people affected by psychiatric disorders. Prior demonstrates how sociological insights can be gained from an examination of the multiple ways in which disorders have been represented in and thr