The Contribution Of Family Medicine To Improving Health Systems

"This guidebook systematically analyses the contribution of family medicine to highquality primary health care in addressing the challenges faced by current health systems, and provides options for moving forward. It serves as a pragmatic guide to potential strategies for putting in place family care teams which effectively contribute to health sec

This guidebook reveals ways in which family medicine can help countries throughout the world maintain and improve health and well-being by developing a more productive, coordinated and cost-effective approach to health care. It describes the rationale for structuring health systems to be more responsive to the needs of people, a vision of optimal health services delivery based on primary health care, and the challenges to achieving this vision.

Containing papers carefully compiled for both their historical importance and contemporary relevance, Family Medicine: The Classic Papers brings together a team of experts, led by global family medicine leaders Michael Kidd, Iona Heath and Amanda Howe, who explain the importance of each selected paper and how it contributes to international health care, current practice and research. The papers demonstrate the broad scope of primary health care delivered by family doctors around the world, showcasing some of the most important research ever carried out in family medicine and primary care. This unique volume will serve as an inspiration to current family doctors and family medicine researchers and educators, as well as to doctors in training, medical students and emerging researchers in family medicine.

This joint publication from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA) provides a concise analysis of the state of family practice in the 22 countries spread over North Africa, the Middle East and Western Asia, i.e. the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) in both English and Arabic. It shares perspectives and advice from global and regional leaders on how family practice can be introduced and strengthened in high-, middle- and low-income countries.

This is the first book to analyze in depth the current causes of shortage of family physicians and the relative weakness of the family practice model in many countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. Focusing on engagement with the private health sector in scaling up family practice, the book explores why primary health care can make the difference and how it can be introduced and strengthened. Comparative experiences from around the world put the EMR in context, while the book also highlights where the EMR is special – in particular, the burden for health care of refugees and displaced persons, and the need of public-private partnerships.

In the United States, family medicine and primary care are on the verge of extinction. The biggest problem that has defined this issue is the lack of time physicians must spend with their patients, which, on the average, is only seven minutes. Since the resources and reimbursement for primary care doctors are so razor thin these physicians must build up panels of patients reaching into the thousands so they can run 30 or more patients through their office daily. This is an unsustainable vicious cycle, as more resources are required for these large numbers of patients, dramatically increasing the doctor's overhead. In Membership Primary Care: Transforming Family Medicine is Key to Healthcare Reform, Robert T. Bailey, PharmD, MD, shares revelatory wisdom that offers solutions for our dysfunctional and expensive healthcare system. Dr. Bailey explores a successful model to restore family medicine to its former days of glory and prominence, so it can play a primary role in reforming our healthcare system, improving the wellness of US citizens, and substantially reducing the high cost of healthcare. Written to both patients and healthcare thought leaders, Membership Primary Care clearly identifies the major problems in the medical field and provides a blueprint for improving family medicine. Putting into practice Dr. Bailey's teaching can result in a win-win-win situation for the patient, the doctor, and the healthcare system. With more universal acceptance of Dr. Bailey's model of care, primary care will draw more of our brightest medical students into this incredibly important field, while greatly improving patient care and decreasing utilization of the most expensive doorways into healthcare. The practical methods Dr. Bailey shares will reform our current system of sick care to one of wellness and prevention. The powerful truths within Membership Primary Care will change your understanding of all that healthcare can be. Dr. Bailey is a recognized thought leader in family medicine, primary care, and clinical pharmacy. He was inspired to write this book to offer an effective solution to reform family medicine and healthcare in general for the sake of the health of our citizens and to dramatically reduce our healthcare expenses as a country. Dr. Bailey is founder and president of Bailey Family Medical Care, in Scottsdale, Arizona, since 2003 (www.baileyfamilymedicalcare.com) and is a specialist in the BaleDoneen Heart Attack and Stroke Prevention Method. He is an expert in the integration of pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals. He has received numerous patient awards, including Patient Choice Physician Awards, America's Most Compassionate Doctor Awards, Phoenix Magazine Top Doctor Award, Top 10 Family Doctor and Medical Practice in Scottsdale, Arizona, and the NCQA/ADA Physician Diabetic Recognition Program Award. Dr. Bailey is a board-certified family medicine physician and a fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians. His background is broad and diverse. He has served as a tenured associate professor of surgery, family medicine, and pharmacy at Creighton University and an associate professor of family medicine and Director of Family Medicine Research at Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale. Dr. Bailey has an illustrious academic career spanning more than forty years and has been awarded numerous large research grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Health Futures Foundation in esophageal disease, pharmacology, and left ventricular heart assist devices as a bridge to heart transplant. Dr. Bailey is a Christian physician and minister and was ordained as a full-time Christian minister of medicine by William Standish Reed, MD, who pioneered the healing of the whole person through the spirit, mind, and body. Dr. Bailey serves as president of a nonprofit organization, Prophet's Reward, Inc., (www.prophetsreward.org) to further positive health care reform in primary care and to advance whole person medicine.

Textbook of Family Medicine, 3/e has been thoroughly revised and updated as per the requirement of general practitioners. Chapters contributed from a number of national and international experts in their respective fields makes this an authoritative text. The chapters have been thoroughly revised not only to incorporate symptomatic approach and management at primary care level but also the advanced treatment options available in tertiary care centres. With its contemporary approach and lucid presentation, the text would be of immense value to the general practitioners as well as students pursuing courses in Family medicine.

Ensuring that members of society are healthy and reaching their full potential requires the prevention of disease and injury; the promotion of health and well-being; the assurance of conditions in which people can be healthy; and the provision of timely, effective, and coordinated health care. Achieving substantial and lasting improvements in population health will require a concerted effort from all these entities, aligned with a common goal. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) requested that the Institute of Medicine (IOM) examine the integration of primary care and public health. Primary Care and Public Health identifies the best examples of effective public health and primary care integration and the factors that promote and sustain these efforts, examines ways by which HRSA and CDC can use provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to promote the integration of primary care and public health, and discusses how HRSA-supported primary care systems and state and local public health departments can effectively integrate and coordinate to improve efforts directed at disease prevention. This report is essential for all health care centers and providers, state and local policy makers, educators, government agencies, and the public for learning how to integrate and improve population health.