Budgets of governments and private insurances are limited. Not all drugs and services that appear beneficial to patients or physicians can be covered. Is there a core set of benefits that everyone should be entitled to? If so, how should this set be determined? Are fair decisions just impossible, if we know from the outset than not all needs can be met? While early work in bioethics has focused on clinical issues and a narrow set of principles, in recent years there has been a marked shift towards addressing broader population-level issues, requiring consideration of more demanding theories in philosophy, political science, and economics. At the heart of bioethics' new orientation is the goal of clarity on a complex set of questions in rationing and resource allocation. Rationing and Resource Allocation in Healthcare: Essential Readings provides key excerpts from seminal and pertinent texts and case studies about these topics, contextualized by original introductions. The volume is divided into three broad sections: Conceptual Distinctions and Ethical Theory; Rationing; and Resource Allocation. Containing the most important and classic articles surrounding the theoretical and practical issues related to rationing and how to allocate scare medical resources, this collection aims to assist and inform those who wish to be a part of bioethics' 21st century shift including practitioners and policy-makers, and students and scholars in the health sciences, philosophy, law, and medical ethics.

Helps readers understand the principles of health care and management for diverse types of delivery systems and the role of ob-gyns and other providers in hospital and office practice.

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.

"This hands-on reference helps school nurses, teachers, parents, school administrators, and health aides provide crucial care and support. Education-specific chapters cover every aspect of planning for classrooms, including information on personnel roles, transitions from early childhood care to school and from school to adulthood, legal requirements, transportation issues, allergy and infection control considerations, and working with diverse families. Comprehensive daily care guidelines and emergency-response techniques are then included for specific health conditions and medical technologies, complete with extensive illustrations, as well as forms and checklists for organized record keeping, training, and program planning. All content has been reviewed by experts across the country. This groundbreaking book has been used as a reference tool in schools and school nurses' offices, and even as a curriculum for universities. It is a must for anyone who works with children with special health care needs"--Provided by publisher.

Spirituality, economics, politics, and kinship are among the cultural factors considered in this guide to transcultural nursing, an area of healthcare that incorporates the values, beliefs, and lifestyle choices of a patient in order to provide culturally congruent, competent, and compassionate care.