Now, more than ever, Family Medicine is alive and well in the United States. The base of this medical specialty has traditionally been in the smaller cities, suburban communities, and rural areas of this country. Over the past decade, however, there has been a resurgence of interest in primary care in our major metropolitan areas as a solution to the high tech subspecialty pace of the tertiary care environment. A rebirth of urban family medicine has accompanied these pioneering efforts. To date, the accomplishments are substantial and the prospects are bright. There is still a long way to go and there are a significant number of hurdles to cross. Although diseases are generally the same wherever you are, their effects as illness on the individual and the family are strongly influenced by the environment and social milieu. Urban families have distinctive and diverse problems-cultural, economic, and ethnic. Training pro grams situated in the large cities must recognize these issues and include special emphasis on the situations that the family physician is likely to encounter during and after his training. There is very little research literature on the background and nature of special urban problems and these areas are the subject of several chapters of this long overdue volume devoted specifically to urban family medicine. Dr. Birrer has persuaded true experts to share their knowledge with the reader.

Praise for Urban Health and Society "This is a spectacular resource for practitioners, policymakers, researchers, and students interested in improving the lives and health of individuals and families in urban settings. This book provides the most current frameworks, research, and approaches for understanding how unique features of the urban physical and social environments that shape the health of over half of the world's population that is already residing in large cities. Its interdisciplinary research and practice focus is a welcome innovation." Hortensia Amaro, associate dean, Urban Health Research; Distinguished Professor, Bouve College of Health Sciences; and director, Institute on Urban Health Research, Northeastern University "Urban Health and Society: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Research and Practice provides students in public health, urban planning, social work, and other professions with the critical knowledge and practical guidance they need to work as effective members of interdisciplinary teams aimed at studying and addressing urban health problems. Throughout the chapters, the book's attention to community participation, social justice, and equity as well as interdisciplinary research methods make it an invaluable resource." Barbara A. Israel, professor, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, School of Public Health, University of Michigan "The book will be of great interest to academics, politicians, planners, and public health professionals attempting to understand or reduce urban health risks, create safe urban environments, and deliver effective and sustainable health services and programs to urban populations." Stephen Lepore, professor and PhD program director, Department of Public Health, Temple University

Today, we know cities as shared spaces with the potential to both threaten and promote human health: while urban areas are known to amplify the transmission of epidemics like Ebola, urban residency is also associated with longer, healthier lives. Modern cities encompass a wide ecology of infrastructures, institutions and services that impact health, from access to improved sanitation and early childhood education to the design of buildings and transportation systems. So how has this centuries-long transformation in human settlement affected the mindset surrounding public health research and practice? Urban Public Health is an interdisciplinary collaboration from experts across the globe that approaches the issue of urban health research from a uniquely public health orientation. The carefully crafted and thoughtful chapters in this volume grapple with the complexity of the urban setting as a physical and social space while also providing an abundance of global and local examples of current urban health practices. Urban Public Health is divided into four pragmatic sections which cover core conceptual models of public health and their inequities, methods of urban health research assessment, methods of urban health research analysis and explanation, and ultimately, opportunities for urban health research to inform action through partnership and collaboration, including those which elevate community voices and capacities. An accessible guide for both students and researchers alike, Urban Public Health shines a light on how to understand, measure and change the urban setting so that cities grow, people thrive, and no one is left behind.

The editors are two of the most prominent researchers in this area. Both are at the Center for Urban Epidemiologic Studies. David Vlahov is particularly visible and known as the editor of the Journal of Urban Health. Sandro Galea is very prominent for his research on urban health; in particularly, research done on PTSD and children post-9/11. Thorough analysis of different populations in urban settings and specific health considerations Useful section on methods for the research audience. Applied in nature with section on prevention and interventions There are over 100 urban health centers in North America and there are no thorough, up-to-date ressources.

Whether you offer comprehensive pregnancy care in your primary care facility, or provide prenatal and postpartum care, this book delivers the guidance you need to optimize health for both mothers and their babies. It covers all aspects of birth care, from preconception counseling and prenatal care, through labor and delivery (both low-risk and complicated), to postpartum care and the first month of life. The completely revised third edition includes the most up-to- date, evidence-based standards of care. It offers information that is patient centered, prevention oriented, educational, and sensitive to the care of the whole woman and her family. Features a reader-friendly outline/narrative format for ease of use in daily clinical practice. Describes how to care for patients with a wide range of medical conditions during pregnancy as well as pregnancy-related conditions. Takes a whole-family approach to maternity care, with discussions of maternal and paternal adjustment, marital adjustment, sibling adjustment, single-parent families, and return-to-work issues. Provides patient and family education materials on a full range of topics, from nutrition in pregnancy to breastfeeding. Features a section on alternative medicine in maternity care. Provides detailed instruction for a wide array of procedures, including cesarean delivery, perineal repair of simple and complex lacerations, circumcision, assisted deliveries, and amnioinfusion. A continued strong emphasis on evidence-based medicine includes an ongoing summary of Level A recommendations throughout the text. A new chapter summarizes practical applications of how to incorporate continuous quality improvement and enhanced medical safety into the maternity care setting. A new section details which immunizations can be used safely during pregnancy. A section on "Centering Pregnancy" discusses this new model of care and how it incorporates longitudinal group.

'Urban Sprawl and Public Health' offers a survey of the impact that the built environment can have on the health of the people who inhabit our cities. The authors go on to suggest ways in which the design of cities could be improved & have a positive impact on the well-being of their citizens.

Millions of low-income African Americans in the United States lack access to health care. How do they treat their health care problems? In Health Care Off the Books, Danielle T. Raudenbush provides an answer that challenges public perceptions and prior scholarly work. Informed by three and a half years of fieldwork in a public housing development, Raudenbush shows how residents who face obstacles to health care gain access to pharmaceutical drugs, medical equipment, physician reference manuals, and insurance cards by mobilizing social networks that include not only their neighbors but also local physicians. However, membership in these social networks is not universal, and some residents are forced to turn to a robust street market to obtain medicine. For others, health problems simply go untreated. Raudenbush reconceptualizes U.S. health care as a formal-informal hybrid system and explains why many residents who do have access to health services also turn to informal strategies to treat their health problems. While the practices described in the book may at times be beneficial to people’s health, they also have the potential to do serious harm. By understanding this hybrid system, we can evaluate its effects and gain new insight into the sources of social and racial disparities in health outcomes.