Healing the Schism: Epidemiology, Medicine, and the Public's Health

ISBN-13: 9781461278207 / Angielski / Miękka / 2011 / 278 str.

Kerr L. White; Halfdan Mahler

Opis

My conviction is that the matters addressed in this volume are of transcendental importance if we are to face up to the challenges of the 1990s and beyond. How, for instance, are we to cope with a truly ecological approach to public health and all its concomitant changes of risk groups worldwide unless there is a full appre ciation of the popUlation perspective throughout the health establishment? The global village has achieved a measure of interdependence requiring recognition by all concerned with the health of both individuals and communities that there is an urgent need to share our knowledge and deploy our resources in the best interests of people everywhere. The history of public health initiatives, the origins of epidemiology, and the tragic separation-virtually a divorce--of public health from medicine recounted in the chapters that follow argue strongly for an early rapprochement. Health professionals who complement each other's knowledge and skills can be reunited through their common reliance on epidemiology as a major fundamental science for the entire health enterprise. Henceforth, epidemiology should be ranked in importance with cellular and molecular biology, immunology, and the social and systems sciences; all are essential if we are to cope with the vast array of diseases and disorders that face us in both the developed and developing worlds. We need more first-rate laboratory scientists, clinicians, nurses, aides, village health work ers, and managers committed to serving the public."

Spis treści

1 The Unexpected Legacy.- 2 Redefining the Unacceptable.- 3 Changing Paradigms.- 4 Institutionalizing the Schism.- 5 Miscellaneous Medicine.- 6 Factor “X”.- 7 To Heal the Schism.- 8 The Healing Continues.- 9 Back to the Future.- Author Index.

O autorze

As Deputy Director for Health Sciences, The Rockefeller Foundation, the author had the opportunity to test his hypothesis that the separation of public health and medicine diminishes their potentials by training estab- lished clinical faculty members in epidemiology, health economics, health statistics, and the social sciences. This project is explored in his book.