For Those in
Academic Health Informatics
 

Are you a teacher in a Health and Biomedical Informatics program? If you’re a physician, nurse or other clinical professional, then teaching the “health” part is much easier. If not, your personal knowledge about and experience with health care may not be sufficient to enable you to provide comprehensive information about clinical Medicine. Either way, your students may need a comprehensive text.

 

We have taught health care to Informatics students. We noticed the need for a compendium that addresses their needed healthcare knowledge. Our response to this is a set of books, “The Nature of Clinical Care.” We spent 7 years distilling the essence of health care into a consumable form. The books focus on your needs and explain all terminology. In their electronic version, the books are reasonably priced, and cite about 1,000 references to enhance their academic value.

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The purpose of the health care is to keep people healthy; The Nature of Clinical Care describes how that’s done and how results are measured.

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We have introduced the material in three highly-accessible segments. Volume 1 deals with Physical Medicine and the diagnosis and treatment of illnesses. Volume 2 addresses the care of the mind. It also broadens the care of the individual body and mind into the care of the population as a whole – the objective of Public Health. Volume 3 describes issues people need to consider in interacting with healthcare workers and clinical providers.

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Most recognize that the health system is one of our most complex organizations, not surprising as it must address the complex nature of human beings and their health. It has many somewhat independent but interacting parts, each working in different ways, all meant to improve health. To make the material manageable, we parsed it into easy-to-understand but concise chapters. What’s neat is that readers can pretty much start anywhere and hop around, according to their interests, study or work requirements.

 

The material focuses on grasping concepts, rather than memorizing details. In addition, the books incorporate interesting stories, a bit of weird humour, and examples from real life clinical care that make them more engaging. Together, all of this makes The Nature of Clinical Care a comprehensive, lucid, absorbing, and an excellent foundation for learning.