Primary care medicine is the new frontier in medicine. Every nation in the world has recognized the necessity to deliver personal and primary care to its people. This includes first-contact care, care based in a positive and caring personal rela tionship, care by a single healthcare provider for the majority of the patient's prob lems, coordination of all care by the patient's personal provider, advocacy for the patient by the provider, the provision of preventive care and psychosocial care, as well as care for episodes of acute and chronic illness. These facets of care work most effectively when they are embedded in a coherent integrated approach. The support for primary care derives from several significant trends. First, technologically based care costs have rocketed beyond reason or availability, occurring in the face of exploding populations and diminishing real resources in many parts of the world, even in the wealthier nations. Simultaneously, the primary care disciplines-general internal medicine and pediatrics and family medicine-have matured significantly. They have become viable alternatives to the specialty approach to care with its potential dehumanization, coordination problems, and increased cost.

This book focuses on hot issues faced by clinicians in everyday clinical practice, and provides in-depth analyses of both met and unmet needs in the management of psychiatric disorders. It has been repeatedly shown that the needs of patients, relatives, the community at large and those of the governmental bodies only partially overlap. For instance, patients in their families are more concerned about quality of life, treatment, autonomy, and independent living; whereas governmental stakeholders are typically more concerned about relapse prevention and reduction of hospitalizations. As such, a volume bridging the gap between theoretical notions and practical understanding of patients’ untreated aspects of their psychiatric disorders is much needed. Instead of focusing on traditional descriptions of psychopathology and diagnostic criteria, the volume guides readers to core problems for each topic, taking into account new approaches in the classification of mental disorders as proposed by DSM-5. It elaborates on much-debated controversial problems such as the assessment and treatment of psychomotor agitation, and non-adherence to treatment that impacts on the psychiatric context. With its unique approach, this volume appeals to anyone with an interest in the field, including researchers, clinicians, and trainees.

This issue of Nursing Clinics of North America, Guest Edited by Mary Ellen Smith Glasgow, PhD, RN, ACNS-BC, will focus on New Developments in Nursing Education: A Focus on Contemporary Content, Pedagogies, Deans, Trends, with article topics including: Game-based E-Learning; Incorporating Evidence-Based Care of Individuals with Developmental/Cognitive Disabilities into the Curriculum; Doctor of Nursing Practice Graduate as Faculty Members; Clinical Nursing Education Evaluation and Re-Design; Transdisciplinary Simulation; New Dean of Nursing: Lessons Learned; Promoting a Healthy Workplace for Nursing Faculty; Nursing Education Trends; Learning from Business; Focusing Curricula on Primary Care, Health Promotion, and Public Health in Light of Health Care Reform; Genetics in the Nursing Curriculum; and A National Study of Doctoral Nursing Faculty.

In this issue of Medical Clinics of North America, guest editor Dr. Marie Krousel-Wood brings her considerable expertise to the topic of Current Challenges and New Directions in Preventive Medicine. Top experts in the field provide evidence-based recommendations and strategies for common preventative medicine topics, including screening and vaccinations. - Contains 13 relevant, practice-oriented topics including vaccine preventable diseases and vaccine hesitancy; substance use/opioid use disorder and clinical care; obesity-implementing evidence: strategies in clinical practice; healthcare providers and staff coping and burnout in the era of COVID-19; lifestyle medicine; and more. - Provides in-depth clinical reviews on preventive medicine, offering actionable insights for clinical practice. - Presents the latest information on this timely, focused topic under the leadership of experienced editors in the field. Authors synthesize and distill the latest research and practice guidelines to create clinically significant, topic-based reviews.

About 550 registrants from 51 different countries attended the Seventh Ottawa Conference on Medical Education and Assessment in Maastricht. We received 525 abstracts for the conference, divided in thematic poster sessions and platform presentations. Organising the conference was an honour and we tried to meet the high standards of a friendly and relaxed atmosphere which has characterized previous Ottawa conferences. During and after the conference about 250 papers were submitted for publication in the conference proceedings, leaving us little time for a post-conference depression. Despite the large number of papers, the editors have attempted to review and edit the papers as care fully as possible. Occasionally, however, correspondence exceeded reasonable deadlines, preventing careful editing of a small number of the papers. Although we felt that our editorial task was not quite finished, we nevertheless decided to include these papers. We thank the many authors for their enthusiastic and prompt response to - occasionally tedious - editorial suggestions and requests. We are sure that this collective effort has resulted in a book that will make an important contribution to the field of medical education. The editors want to thank Jocelyn Flippo-Berger whose expertise with desk top publishing and perseverance was a great help.