In these two volumes, he analyzes doctor-patient communication and shows how doctors can use language for the maximum benefit of their patients.

Spoken language is the most important diagnostic and therapeutic tool in medicine, and, according to Dr. Cassell, "we must be as precise with it as a surgeon with a scalpel." In these two volumes, he analyzes doctor-patient communication and shows how doctors can use language for the maximum benefit of their patients. Throughout, Dr. Cassell stresses that patients are complex, changing, psychological, social and physical beings whose illnesses are well represented by their own communication. He proposes that both listening and speaking are arts that can be learned best when they are based on the way that spoken language functions in medicine. Accordingly, Volume I focuses on the workings of spoken language in the clinical setting. It analyzes such important aspects of speech as paralanguage (non-word phenomenon like pause, pitch, and speech rate), how patients describe themselves and their illnesses, the logic of conversation, and the levels of meanings of words. Volume II is a practical, detailed, how to guide that demonstrates the process of history taking and how the doctor can learn the most from the information that the patient has to offer. His arguments are amply illustrated in both volumes by transcripts of real interactions between patients and their doctors.

Primary care medicine is the new frontier in medicine. Every nation in the world has recognized the necessity to deliver personal and primary care to its people. This includes first-contact care, care based in a posi tive and caring personal relationship, care by a single healthcare pro vider for the majority of the patient's problems, coordination of all care by the patient's personal provider, advocacy for the patient by the pro vider, the provision of preventive care and psychosocial care, as well as care for episodes of acute and chronic illness. These facets of care work most effectively when they are embedded in a coherent integrated approach. The support for primary care derives from several significant trends. First, technologically based care costs have rocketed beyond reason or availability, occurring in the face of exploding populations and diminish ing real resources in many parts of the world, even in the wealthier nations. Simultaneously, the primary care disciplines-general internal medicine and pediatrics and family medicine-have matured significantly.

For patients and their loved ones, no care decisions are more profound than those made near the end of life. Unfortunately, the experience of dying in the United States is often characterized by fragmented care, inadequate treatment of distressing symptoms, frequent transitions among care settings, and enormous care responsibilities for families. According to this report, the current health care system of rendering more intensive services than are necessary and desired by patients, and the lack of coordination among programs increases risks to patients and creates avoidable burdens on them and their families. Dying in America is a study of the current state of health care for persons of all ages who are nearing the end of life. Death is not a strictly medical event. Ideally, health care for those nearing the end of life harmonizes with social, psychological, and spiritual support. All people with advanced illnesses who may be approaching the end of life are entitled to access to high-quality, compassionate, evidence-based care, consistent with their wishes. Dying in America evaluates strategies to integrate care into a person- and family-centered, team-based framework, and makes recommendations to create a system that coordinates care and supports and respects the choices of patients and their families. The findings and recommendations of this report will address the needs of patients and their families and assist policy makers, clinicians and their educational and credentialing bodies, leaders of health care delivery and financing organizations, researchers, public and private funders, religious and community leaders, advocates of better care, journalists, and the public to provide the best care possible for people nearing the end of life.

Known for its clear, comprehensive coverage of over 200 evidence-based skills, Clinical Nursing Skills & Techniques is today's leading nursing skills reference. It features nearly 1,000 full-color photographs and drawings, a nursing process framework, step-by-step instructions with rationales, and a focus on critical thinking and evidence-based practice. This edition includes new coverage of patient-centered care and safety guidelines, an emphasis on QSEN core competencies, and links to valuable online resources. Written by the trusted author team of Anne Griffin Perry and Patricia A. Potter, and now joined by new author Wendy Ostendorf, this reference helps you perform nursing skills with confidence. Coverage of QSEN core competencies includes delegation and collaboration, guidelines for reporting and recording, and pediatric, geriatric, home care, and teaching considerations. Unique! Using Evidence in Nursing Practice chapter covers the entire process of conducting research, including collecting, evaluating, and applying evidence from published research. Comprehensive coverage includes 212 basic, intermediate, and advanced nursing skills. Clinical Decision Points within skills address key safety issues or possible skill modifications for specific patient needs. Icons indicate video clips related to skills and procedures in the book and related lessons in Nursing Skills Online. Rationales for each skill step explain why steps are performed in a specific way, including their clinical significance and benefit, and incorporate the latest research findings. The five-step nursing process provides a framework for the description of skills within overall client care. Unique! Unexpected outcomes and related interventions alert you to what might go wrong and how to appropriately intervene. Online checklists and video clips may be downloaded to mobile devices. NEW Patient-Centered Care sections address issues unique to people of specific cultural, ethnic, and demographic backgrounds - a QSEN core competency. NEW Safety Guidelines sections cover the global recommendations on the safe execution of skill sets - also a QSEN core competency. UPDATED Adverse Event Reporting (AER) procedural guideline covers the correct response to Serious Event Reporting within the healthcare facility. NEW! Safe Transfer to a Wheel Chair procedural guideline focuses on the safety aspect of this common maneuver. NEW! Communicating with the Cognitively Impaired Patient skill provides the understanding and protocol for dealing with patients who are unable to communicate in a typical manner. NEW! Assessing the Genitalia and Rectum skill includes complete information and rationales. NEW! Caring for Patients with Multi-Drug Resistant Organisms (MDRO) and C. difficili skill covers this growing challenge to patient welfare and to healthcare providers.

This 2006 volume provides a comprehensive discussion of communication between doctors and patients in primary care consultations. It brings together a team of leading contributors from the fields of linguistics, sociology and medicine to describe each phase of the primary care consultation, identifying the distinctive tasks, goals and activities that make up each phase of primary care as social interaction. Using conversation analysis techniques, the authors analyze the sequential unfolding of a visit, and describe the dilemmas and conflicts faced by physicians and patients as they work through each of these activities. The result is a view of the medical encounter that takes the perspective of both physicians and patients in a way that is both rigorous and humane. Clear and comprehensive, this book will be essential reading for students and researchers in sociolinguistics, communication studies, sociology, and medicine.