Traces the history of the British General Medical Council to reveal the persistence of hierarchies of gender, national identity, and race in determining who was fit to practice British medicine.

Medical sociology has long been concerned with the role played by specialist forms of expertise in enabling the governance of ‘troublesome’ social groups – including those who are unwell, ‘deviant’ and criminally insane. However, only recently has it begun to explore how the state ensures the public is protected from acts of medical malpractice, negligence and criminality. Against the background of a series of high-profile scandals, including the case of Dr Harold Shipman who murdered over 200 of his patients, this topical and authoritative book examines how the regulation of doctors has been modernised by reforms to the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service and the introduction of the quality assurance process of medical revalidation. In doing so, it questions whether there is evidence to support the argument that revalidation serves the public interest by ensuring that individual doctors are fit to practise. Highlighting areas of good practice and areas for further research and development, the book is ideal for academics and postgraduates interested in medical sociology, socio-legal studies, medical law, medical education, health policy and related subjects

How did American doctors come to be licensed on the terms we now take for granted? Licensed to Practice begins with an 1891 shooting in Wheeling, West Virginia, that left one doctor dead and another on trial for his life. Formerly close friends, the doctors had fallen out over the issue of medical licensing. Historian James C. Mohr calls the murder “a sorry personal consequence of the far larger and historically significant battle among West Virginia’s physicians over the future of their profession.” Through most of the nineteenth century, anyone could call themselves a doctor and could practice medicine on whatever basis they wished. But an 1889 U.S. Supreme Court case, Dent v. West Virginia, effectively transformed medical practice from an unregulated occupation to a legally recognized profession. The political and legal battles that led up to the decision were unusually bitter—especially among physicians themselves—and the outcome was far from a foregone conclusion. So-called Regular physicians wanted to impose their own standards on the wide-open medical marketplace in which they and such non-Regulars as Thomsonians, Botanics, Hydropaths, Homeopaths, and Eclectics competed. The Regulars achieved their goal by persuading the state legislature to make it a crime for anyone to practice without a license from the Board of Health, which they controlled. When the high court approved that arrangement—despite constitutional challenges—the licensing precedents established in West Virginia became the bedrock on which the modern American medical structure was built. And those precedents would have profound implications. Thus does Dent, a little-known Supreme Court case, influence how Americans receive health care more than a hundred years after the fact.

The use of evidence-based guidelines and algorithms is widely encouraged in modern psychiatric settings, yet many practitioners find it challenging to apply and incorporate the latest evidence-based psychosocial and biological interventions. Now, practitioners have an outstanding new resource at their fingertips. How to Practice Evidence-Based Psychiatry: Basic Principles and Case Studies accomplishes two goals: it explains the methods and philosophy of evidence-based psychiatry, and it describes ways in which psychiatrists and other mental health specialists can incorporate evidence-based psychiatry into their clinical practices. Uniquely relevant to psychiatric clinicians, this is the only book on evidence-based medicine specific to the field of psychiatry that addresses integrated psychopharmacology and psychotherapies. This new book first provides an expansion on the popular text the Concise Guide to Evidence-Based Psychiatry, updating the sections on clinical trials, the teaching of evidence-based medicine, and the effective treatment of patients with complex comorbid conditions. It then allows experts from a variety of specialty areas and practice settings to describe how they incorporate the latest evidence and outcome studies into interesting and inspiring cases of their own. The book starts with the assumption that clinicians must adapt guidelines, algorithms, other sources of evidence, and the interpretation of this evidence to each individual patient. It describes basic statistical concepts in an easily understood format and offers separate chapters devoted to systematic reviews and meta-analyses, clinical practice guidelines, diagnostic tests, surveys of disease frequency, and prognosis and psychometric measurement. It also presents an easily relatable discussion of many of the major issues of evidence-based psychiatry, such as use of the "Five-Step" evidence-based medicine model. The first section can be used both as an introduction to the topic and a ready reference for researching the literature and appraising evidence. The second section includes relevant case examples of major psychiatric disorders, and the third presents case examples from diverse treatment settings. In these sections, 24 contributing clinicians from a variety of practice settings discuss situations in which they followed aspects of evidence-based care. The text includes tables and charts throughout the text, including algorithms, guidelines, and examples of simple, therapist-devised measures of progress, further enhance learning, retention, and clinical practice. How to Practice Evidence-Based Psychiatry: Basic Principles and Case Studies is a valuable new tool that will help residents, practicing psychiatrists, and other mental health workers find the most useful and relevant information to inform and improve their everyday practices.

Assistive Technology (AT) is an umbrella term indicating any product or technology-based service that enables people of all ages with activity limitations in their daily life, education, work or leisure. It is a highly interdisciplinary field, encompassing research, development, manufacture, supply, provision and policy. This book presents the proceedings of the 12th biennial European conference of the Association for the Advancement of Assistive Technology in Europe, AAATE 2013, held in Vilamoura, Portugal, in September 2013. The full papers included here cover a diverse range of subjects, including: ageing, disability and technology; accessibility in Europe; ambient assisted living; AT and Cloud computing; communication access for all; monitoring and telecare; and user perspective, to name but a few. The aim of the AAATE conference is to promote a more effective dialogue between manufacturers, researchers, developers, professionals and end users, and this book will be of interest to all those directly or indirectly involved in the field of AT.

This book covers comprehensively the theories and practical design of magnetic communications. It emphasizes the differences between it and RF communications. It first provides the models and signal propagation principles of magnetic communication systems. Then it describes the hardware architecture of the system, including transmitter, MODEM, inductors, coils, etc. Then, it discusses the corresponding communication software design principles and cases. Finally, it presents several types of practical implementations and applications.

General Practice Today explores the GP consultation in the context of external 'stressors' and 'helpers' that doctors use to make best clinical decisions. Over the last 30 years there has been a move towards mandatory training on legal aspects, risk scores and guidance. Additionally, with widespread access to IT there has been a huge growth in the information doctors need to know and manage. Yet today’s GP has never been more time-poor or under so much pressure. All these outside considerations can seem challenging and remote for the doctor sat with their patient; yet in today’s reality they have never been more important. This book offers insight into the practical impact and importance of these external factors. It offers advice on everything from law, technology and time management to mental health issues, ethics, religion and culture, exploring how to determine which issues are relevant to each individual consultation. Packing each chapter with realistic examples, author Jane Wilcock draws on her own extensive experience to help GPs make considered, contextual decisions that enhance the health and well-being of their patients. This book is essential reading for any General Practitioner, allied health care practitioner or trainee preparing to practice in our complex modern world.

Effective remediation of polluted environments is a priority in both Eastern and Western countries. In the U.S. and Europe, remediation costs generally exceed the net economic value of the land. As a result, scientists and engineers on both sides of the Atlantic have aggressively tried to develop novel technologies to meet regulatory standards at a fraction of the costs. In situ remediation shows considerable promise from both technical and economic perspectives. In situ technologies that deploy natural attenuating agents such as humic substances (HS) may be even more cost effective. Numerous studies have shown humics capable of altering both the chemical and the physical speciation of the ecotoxicants and in turn attenuate potential adverse environmental repercussions. Furthermore, the reserves of inexpensive humic materials are immense. Which suggests HS portend great promise as inexpensive amendments to mitigate the environmental impacts of ecotoxicants and as active agents in remediation. To elucidate emerging concepts of humics-based remediation technologies, we organized the NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW), entitled "Use of humates to remediate polluted environments: from theory to practice", held on September 23-29, 2002 in Zvenigorod, Russia (see the web-site http://www.mgumus.chem.msu.ru/arw).

In The Musician's Way, veteran performer and educator Gerald Klickstein combines the latest research with his 30 years of professional experience to provide aspiring musicians with a roadmap to artistic excellence. Part I, Artful Practice, describes strategies to interpret and memorize compositions, fuel motivation, collaborate, and more. Part II, Fearless Performance, lifts the lid on the hidden causes of nervousness and shows how musicians can become confident performers. Part III, Lifelong Creativity, surveys tactics to prevent music-related injuries and equips musicians to tap their own innate creativity. Written in a conversational style, The Musician's Way presents an inclusive system for all instrumentalists and vocalists to advance their musical abilities and succeed as performing artists.