Chaos and Organization in Health Care
Thomas H. Lee and James J. Mongan
The MIT Press
It is no secret that the United States healthcare system is in crisis, and as the ongoing debates in Congress have shown, reforming it is no small task. In Chaos and Organization in Health Care, Thomas Lee, HMS professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and James Mongan, HMS professor of health care policy and of social medicine, discuss what they see as the crux of the situation: chaos. It is not greedy insurance companies or incompetent doctors that are causing healthcare costs to soar, but a chaotic system born out of the explosion of medical advances imposed upon a fragmented system of providers. Lee and Mongan identify strategies such as electronic medical records and team-based care that can rein in the chaos and help provide safer, better and less costly care.
The Deadly Dinner Party & Other Medical Detective Stories
Jonathan A. Edlow
Yale University Press
In this collection of 15 whodunits, Jonathan Edlow, an HMS associate professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, unwinds each story to prolong the suspense, just like in any classic detective novel. Instead of murders and missing persons, however, Edlow describes real-life medical mysteries, in which the culprit of the crime could be as innocuous as your daily vitamin supplement, a glass of orange juice, or your neighbor’s fish tank. The stories delve into the history of each medical malady, leaving a trail of clues that ultimately leads to the bad guy. Like a true-life version of the television show House, M.D., Edlow’s page-turner offers readers a peek into the intricacies of diagnostic medicine.
Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives
Nicholas A. Christakis and James Fowler
Little, Brown
Trained as a palliative care physician, Nicholas Christakis, HMS professor of medical sociology in the Department of Health Care Policy and professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, first became interested in social connectivity when he observed the “widow effect,” or the increased risk of death for a person whose spouse has recently died. Teaming up with James Fowler, now at the University of California, San Diego, the pair began thinking about social influence and how far it can spread. Connected describes some of their surprising findings, including obesity’s spread through social networks and the influence your friend’s friend’s friend has over your life, even if you don’t know that person. While much of their research focuses on the “real world,” Christakis and Fowler also include a chapter on the changing face of social networks in the era of websites like Facebook and Second Life.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy with Couples and Families: A Comprehensive Guide for Clinicians
Frank M. Dattilio
The Guilford Press
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), an approach that focuses on helping a patient learn and use new thinking skills to modify negative behaviors, has evolved over the past several decades for use in couples and family therapy in addition to individuals. Frank Dattilio, HMS clinical instructor in psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Massachusetts Mental Health Center, an early adopter of CBT for couples and family therapy, presents the latest findings on CBT and family dynamics, illustrated with case examples from his own practice. The guide includes information on the role of neurobiological processes, assessment methods, CBT techniques and the use of CBT in the case of special situations such as mental illness or domestic abuse.
Biopsy Interpretation of the Breast
Stuart J. Schnitt and Laura C. Collins
Wolters Kluwer/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
Despite major advances in molecular biology, biopsy is still the standard for examining and diagnosing lesions in breast tissue. Stuart Schnitt, HMS professor of pathology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Laura Collins, HMS associate professor of pathology at BID, have created a concise handbook for pathologists, trainees and any other clinicians involved in the examination of breast biopsies. The book contains hundreds of full-color images grouped together by histologic patterns, presented in a way that mirrors a pathologist's approach to evaluating slides. In addition, a companion website provides the entire text in a searchable format, hundreds of additional images and tools for pathologists-in-training.
