This book is the 4th in a series of Acute Care books written with the aim to address the NEEDS of health care providers when handling the acutely ill patients. Globally it has become apparent that the study of pharmacology and subsequent clinical training has not always adequately equipped young doctors with the ability to administer drugs to their patients safely and confidently, particularly in the critically ill patient. Compounding this issue is the lack of resource material related to these pharmacological concepts contained in one book that can help health care providers to understand and manage drug therapy in the acute situation. In spite of progressively newer and more developed protocols, guidelines, algorithms and many other books addressing the technical aspects of what needs to be done, most health care providers still find it difficult to grasp the basic pharmacological knowledge and rationally deliver the CARE that is required in the acute phase of patient management. The editors/authors have therefore aimed for a book that highlights topics and pharmacological issues pertinent to management of patients in their hour of need. This is a multi-author book but the style has been guided by 3 editors. The editors have used a different perspective – that of normalizing abnormal physiological processes with pharmacological agents – to address the GAPS in a bedside to bench approach. The details are pared down but important principles/concepts are emphasized.

The global obesity epidemic is growing in severity, affecting people of every age and costing healthcare providers millions of dollars every year. Every day, anesthesiologists are presented with obese and morbidly obese patients undergoing every type of surgical procedure; the management of these patients differs significantly from that of normal weight patients undergoing the same procedure. Anesthetic Management of the Obese Surgical Patient discusses these specific management issues within each surgical specialty area. Initial chapters describe pre-operative assessment and pharmacology; these are followed by detailed chapters on the anesthetic management of a wide variety of surgical procedures, from joint replacement to open heart surgery. Essential reading for anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists worldwide, Anesthetic Management of the Obese Surgical Patient and its companion work by the same authors, Morbid Obesity: Peri-operative Management, enable both trainees and practised professionals to manage this complex patient group effectively.

The book explores the underlying beliefs and behaviours that may contribute to obesity, including psychological needs, addiction, fear of deprivation, parental influences and sexual fears. The author draws a useful distinction between the need to eat and the need to maintain a large body size, and addresses both LT obesity and ST weight gain.

The aim of this book is to inform clinicians of recent advances in obesity research and provide a review of current treatment issues and strategies. Part 1 covers new discoveries in the physiological control of body weight, as well as the pathophysiology of obesity. Part 2 covers a range of issues that are central to the clinical management of obese patients. This illustrated volume will stimulate and engage clinicians.

This book has a unique focus on physiotherapy techniques and training methods that are ideally suited for the obese patient. Despite its related comorbidities and disability, not to mention its pandemic proportions, the impact of obesity on individual capacities and rehabilitative outcomes is often neglected by physiotherapists and physical trainers alike. The number of disabled subjects who are also obese is now increasing worldwide, as is the rate of obese patients admitted to post-acute rehabilitation units. The effective rehabilitative treatment of these patients involves special multidisciplinary considerations. This book fills that gap, by gathering evidence-based chapters addressing not only the physiological limitations of obese subjects but also state-of-the-art, novel and specific treatment and training modalities suited for these patients. Though the content is primarily intended for rehabilitation practitioners (physiotherapists, nutritionists, dieticians, psychologists, PRM specialists), it will also benefit students and researchers engaged in this particular multidisciplinary field. The book’s ultimate goal is to increase professionals’ awareness of this multidisciplinary area, and to provide a pragmatic guidebook for those who want to engage in the rehabilitation of patients who are also obese.

Patients with extreme obesity undergoing surgical procedures need specific perioperative management. This new edition gives clear guidance on clinical management.

The diet and weight-loss industry is worth $66 billion – billion!! The estimated annual health care costs of obesity-related illness are 190 billion or nearly 21% of annual medical spending in the United States. But how did we get here? Is this a battle we can’t win? What changes need to be made in order to scale back the incidence of obesity in the US, and, indeed, around the world? Here, Jonathan Engel reviews the sources of the problem and offers the science behind our modern propensity toward obesity. He offers a plan for helping address the problem, but admits that it is, indeed, an uphill battle. Nevertheless, given the magnitude of the costs in years of life and vigor lost, it is a battle worth fighting. Fat Nation is a social history of obesity in the United States since the second World War. In confronting this familiar topic from a historical perspective, Jonathan Engel attempts to show that obesity is a symptom of complex changes that have transpired over the past half century to our food, our living habits, our life patterns, our built environments, and our social interactions. He offers readers solid grounding in the known science underlying obesity (genetic set points, complex endocrine feedback loops, neurochemical messengering) but then makes the novel argument that obesity is a result of the interaction of our genes with our environment. That is, our bodies have always been programmed to become obese, but until recently never had the opportunity to do so. Now, with cheap calories ubiquitous (particularly in the form of sucrose), unwalkable physical spaces, deteriorating rituals and norms surrounding eating, and the withering of cooking skills, nearly every American daily confronts the challenge of not putting on weight. Given the outcomes, though, for those who are obese, Engel encourages us to address the problems and offers suggestions to help remedy the problem.