Today more than 40 million people in the U.S. find themselves responsible for caring for a parent, relative, or friend. Building Better Caregivers, developed by the author team of the bestselling Living a Healthy Life with Chronic Conditions, shares the best in caregiving research and the most important lessons learned from thousands of caregivers. With a focus on reducing stress through the use of practical skills and tools, this book will help you manage your caregiving tasks so you can maintain a happy, fulfilling life while also meeting your caregiving obligations.

In a joint effort between the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine, this books attempts to bridge the knowledge/awareness divide separating health care professionals from their potential partners in systems engineering and related disciplines. The goal of this partnership is to transform the U.S. health care sector from an underperforming conglomerate of independent entities (individual practitioners, small group practices, clinics, hospitals, pharmacies, community health centers et. al.) into a high performance "system" in which every participating unit recognizes its dependence and influence on every other unit. By providing both a framework and action plan for a systems approach to health care delivery based on a partnership between engineers and health care professionals, Building a Better Delivery System describes opportunities and challenges to harness the power of systems-engineering tools, information technologies and complementary knowledge in social sciences, cognitive sciences and business/management to advance the U.S. health care system.

Building Better Health Care Leadership for Canada explains the development and implementation of the Executive Training in Research Application (EXTRA) program. Managed and funded by the Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Nurses Association, the Quebec Consortium, and the Canadian College of Health Leaders, EXTRA is a two-year national fellowship program that uses the principles of adult learning theory as well as practical projects to educate senior health care leaders in making more consistent use of research evidence in their management roles. Fellows apply the theory learned in residency sessions and educational activities to projects within their home organizations. The authors identify the imperative for better use of evidence, outline the core elements of the curriculum, and capture the real-world experience of regional leaders and fellows involved in making specific changes informed by research-based evidence within their organization. Contributors include Jean-Louis Denis (École nationale d'administration publique), Terrence Sullivan (Cancer Care Ontario), Owen Adams (Canadian Medical Association), Malcolm Anderson (Queen's University), Lynda Atack, Robert Bell (University Health Network), Sam G Campbell (Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre), Sylvie Cantin (Régie régionale de la santé et des services sociaux de la Montérégie), Ward Flemons (Calgary Health Region), Dorothy Forbes, J. Sonja Glass (Grey Bruce Health Services), Paula Goering (Centre for Addiction & Mental Health, Toronto), Karen Golden-Biddle (Boston University School of Management), Jeffrey S. Hoch (University of Toronto), Paul Lamarche (Université de Montréal), Ann Langley (École des hautes études commerciales), John N. Lavis (McMaster University), Jonathan Lomas (Canadian Health Services Research Foundation), Margo Orchard (Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, Ontario), Raynald Pineault (University of Montreal), Brian D. Postl (Winnipeg Regional Health Authority), Christine Power (Capital District Health Authority, Halifax), Trish Reay (University of Alberta), Jean Rochon (National Public Health Institute of Quebec), Denis A. Roy (Agence de la santé et des services sociaux de la Montérégie Longueuil), Andrea Seymour (Government of New Brunswick), Samuel B. Sheps (University of British Columbia), Micheline Ste-Marie (McGill University Health Centre), Nina Stipich (Canadian Health Services Research Foundation), David Streiner (Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto), Carl Taillon (Centre hospitalier universitaire de Québec), and Muriah Umoquit (Cancer Care Ontario).

Experts estimate that as many as 98,000 people die in any given year from medical errors that occur in hospitals. That's more than die from motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer, or AIDSâ€"three causes that receive far more public attention. Indeed, more people die annually from medication errors than from workplace injuries. Add the financial cost to the human tragedy, and medical error easily rises to the top ranks of urgent, widespread public problems. To Err Is Human breaks the silence that has surrounded medical errors and their consequenceâ€"but not by pointing fingers at caring health care professionals who make honest mistakes. After all, to err is human. Instead, this book sets forth a national agendaâ€"with state and local implicationsâ€"for reducing medical errors and improving patient safety through the design of a safer health system. This volume reveals the often startling statistics of medical error and the disparity between the incidence of error and public perception of it, given many patients' expectations that the medical profession always performs perfectly. A careful examination is made of how the surrounding forces of legislation, regulation, and market activity influence the quality of care provided by health care organizations and then looks at their handling of medical mistakes. Using a detailed case study, the book reviews the current understanding of why these mistakes happen. A key theme is that legitimate liability concerns discourage reporting of errorsâ€"which begs the question, "How can we learn from our mistakes?" Balancing regulatory versus market-based initiatives and public versus private efforts, the Institute of Medicine presents wide-ranging recommendations for improving patient safety, in the areas of leadership, improved data collection and analysis, and development of effective systems at the level of direct patient care. To Err Is Human asserts that the problem is not bad people in health careâ€"it is that good people are working in bad systems that need to be made safer. Comprehensive and straightforward, this book offers a clear prescription for raising the level of patient safety in American health care. It also explains how patients themselves can influence the quality of care that they receive once they check into the hospital. This book will be vitally important to federal, state, and local health policy makers and regulators, health professional licensing officials, hospital administrators, medical educators and students, health caregivers, health journalists, patient advocatesâ€"as well as patients themselves. First in a series of publications from the Quality of Health Care in America, a project initiated by the Institute of Medicine

This manual provides guidance on proven disease prevention strategies and practical behavioral science principles for health workers involved in all levels of planning and operating local and regional health programmes. Issues discussed include: basic disease prevention principles; community health intervention strategies; improving health throughout the life cycle; leading forms of death and disability including brain and behavioural disorders, cardiovascular diseases, strokes and cancers; and successful strategies for behavioural change.

Second in a series of publications from the Institute of Medicine's Quality of Health Care in America project Today's health care providers have more research findings and more technology available to them than ever before. Yet recent reports have raised serious doubts about the quality of health care in America. Crossing the Quality Chasm makes an urgent call for fundamental change to close the quality gap. This book recommends a sweeping redesign of the American health care system and provides overarching principles for specific direction for policymakers, health care leaders, clinicians, regulators, purchasers, and others. In this comprehensive volume the committee offers: A set of performance expectations for the 21st century health care system. A set of 10 new rules to guide patient-clinician relationships. A suggested organizing framework to better align the incentives inherent in payment and accountability with improvements in quality. Key steps to promote evidence-based practice and strengthen clinical information systems. Analyzing health care organizations as complex systems, Crossing the Quality Chasm also documents the causes of the quality gap, identifies current practices that impede quality care, and explores how systems approaches can be used to implement change.