Showing titles in Medicine & Health Care Industry

Professor Kevin Fong was flying with the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service, making split-second, life-or-death decisions in the most extreme circumstances. Then he was seconded to the NHS's Covid-19 Strategy Unit, tasked with leading the fight against pandemic. In this gripping blend of memoir and reportage, he confronts a disturbing truth: the quest for 'zero harm' can prevent the saving of lives. 

Founding director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy Dr. Michael T. Osterholm and acclaimed author Mark Olshaker examine the lessons of past pandemics, show how the United States and other countries failed to apply those lessons and the emerging science in confronting COVID-19, and look to the future, projecting what the next pandemics might look like and the strategies to mitigate them. The Big One is a comprehensive, compelling, and much-needed wake-up call.

Through the moving stories of real people, neurologist Suzanne O'Sullivan explores the complex world of modern diagnosis, comparing the impact of a medical label to the pain of not knowing. With scientific authority and compassionate storytelling, she opens up new possibilities for how we might approach our health and our suffering.

A History of the World in Six Plagues is a timely examination of the role that confinement has played in fostering and hindering epidemics. In a rare blend of rigorous research and truly compelling story-telling, Dr Edna Bonhomme traces the long history of viral outbreaks under conditions of social confinement - the plantation system, colonial camps, imprisonment, quarantine, factories - and reveals how these enclosed spaces fuel epidemics.

Award-winning author Dr. Carol Cooper takes you on a unique illustrated journey through the 12 objects that have come to define medicine through the ages – from the barbaric and bizarre to the inventive and impressive, this captivating listen is peppered with humorous anecdotes. In this complete history, discover how ill health has been with us for as long as humans have existed, as has the drive to treat and understand it. Over the course of centuries, the ways in which doctors have engaged with sickness has changed drastically, and so too have the tools at their disposal.

An updated and expanded edition of the top-selling consumer guide to Medicare. It explains how to choose the best plans, especially during Medicare’s annual enrollment period, how to use Medicare’s extensive health benefits, and changes to Medicare that are expanding what it will cover and moving care from hospitals into the home.

There are few visible markers of the accomplishments of public health. If epidemiologists do their jobs, nothing happens. An outbreak does not grow into an epidemic. A child does not go hungry. A would-be smoker never lights up. These achievements are rarely noticed or celebrated, but Caitlin Rivers lives for such victories. By making sure that things don’t happen, she and legions of scientists, practitioners, and policymakers change the course of history.

Revolutionizing the way we perceive and live with Alzheimer’s, Joanne Koenig Coste offers a practical approach to the emotional well-being of both patients and caregivers that emphasizes relating to patients in their own reality. Her accessible and comprehensive method, which she calls habilitation, works to enhance communication between carepartners and patients and has proven successful with thousands of people living with dementia.

The first of our organs to form and the last to die, the heart is both a simple pump and the symbol of what makes us human; as long as it continues to beat, there is hope. In The Story of a Heart, Dr. Rachel Clarke interweaves the history of medical innovations behind transplant surgery with the story of two children—one of whom desperately needs a new heart.

In On the Brink Campling takes us into the therapy room, offering unique insight into how we treat those in distress. She shows us how the progress made in a more optimistic era of psychiatry is fast being eroded; how our struggling healthcare system often fails those who need our support; and how crucial it is in today's uncertain world that we do not turn away.

We’ve all heard the phrase “it’s not brain surgery.” But what exactly is brain surgery? It’s a profession that is barely a hundred years old and profoundly connects two human beings, but few know how it works, or its history. In this warm, rigorous, and deeply insightful book, Dr. Theodore H. Schwartz explores what it’s like to hold the scalpel, wield the drill, extract a tumor, fix a bullet hole, and remove a blood clot—when every second can mean life or death.

Dr. Ala Stanford knew she wanted to be a doctor by the time she was eight years old. But role models were few and far between in her working-class North Philly neighborhood. Her teachers were dismissive, and the realities of racism, sexism, and poverty threatened to derail her at every turn. Nevertheless, thanks to her faith, family, and the sheer strength of her will, today she is one of the vanishingly small number of Black women surgeons in America—and an unrelenting force in the fight for health justice.

Kate never expected to become a home care worker. But when she left her senior role in the NHS, burnt-out and disheartened, she thought caring for people in their own homes would be a simpler job. But despite being determined not to become too involved with her 'customers', she soon found herself developing firm friendships, forging deep connections and bearing witness to the extraordinary drama to be found in ordinary lives. With energy, compassion and clarity her memoir gives an astonishing insight into this unsung profession, and into the hidden lives of the housebound and infirm.

We know the causes of death and disease among women all over the world. We have the funding and commitment from governments and philanthropists to tackle it. So why are women still dying when they don't have to? In this essential, accessible book, Professor Sophie Harman argues that women's health is being caught in the crossfires of global politics - and gives us a roadmap for how we might stop it.

magine a healthcare system that thrives and listens, instead of dismisses. Dr Rageshri Dhairyawan believes such a healthcare system can exist, and using her experience as doctor, researcher, and patient, she gives her prescription for change, showing what can happen if we just listen. In Unheard, Dr Dhairyawan takes us on a journey through history to show how not listening to patients has been ingrained in the story of medicine.

In this book, experienced paramedic Leigh Anderson shares true life-and-death stories from his career, explores the latest scientific research on mindset, stress and resilience, and reveals his secrets for maintaining poise. The result is an arsenal of clear, effective and actionable tools that will boost your ability to perform under pressure.

Will drinking orange juice help prevent kidney stones? Is it true you can get rid of bad breath by chewing parsley? Does caffeine improve or worsen a headache? Today, greater responsibility is being placed on individuals to take steps at home to stay healthy and manage and prevent everyday injuries and common illnesses. This has been triggered, in no small part, by the rising cost of medical care and limited access to healthcare professionals.

What if we didn’t consider death the worst possible outcome? What if we discussed it honestly, embraced end-of-life care and prepared for the end of our lives with hope and acceptance? In this empathetic and knowledgeable guide, TikTok star Julie McFadden – known online as ‘Hospice Nurse Julie’ – shares the valuable lessons she’s learned in her fifteen years as a palliative care nurse.

When Rachel Somerstein had an unplanned C-section with her first child, the experience was anything but the “routine” operation her doctor described. A series of errors by her clinicians led to a real-life nightmare: surgery without anesthesia. The ensuing mental and physical complications left her traumatized and desperate for answers about how things could have gone so wrong. In the United States, one in three babies is born via C-section, a rate that has grown exponentially over the past fifty years.

As the FDA medical officer charged with reviewing Merrell Pharmaceutical’s application for approval in 1960–1961, Kelsey was unconvinced that there was sufficient evidence of the drug’s efficacy and safety. Despite substantial pressure, she held her ground for nineteen months while the extent of the drug’s worldwide damage became known—thousands of stillborn babies, as well as at least 10,000 children across forty-six countries born with severe deformities such as missing limbs, arms, and legs that resembled flippers, and improperly developed eyes, ears, and other organs.