Health & Social Care eBooks

The purpose of this document is to address the issues around the measurement of cleaning and its impact on the control of hygiene, infections, and the quality and cost of service delivery.

As technology advances, the benefits can be seen in all different sectors. The healthcare sector, in particular, has benefited greatly from digitalisation and technology innovations. One of the key developments is the electronic health record (EHR).

Immunity can be defined as the ability of an organism to defend itself against invading microbes (bacteria, fungi and viruses) and the cells of its own origin which show abnormalities (e.g. cancerous cells).

The Canadian North is experiencing intense and rapid socio-cultural stresses resulting from various shifts in the environment, including climate change and resource extraction and development.

Professor Colin Suckling discusses drug discovery and how a linear approach is no longer relevant… Since the 1960s it’s been accepted that the way to discover new drugs is to take a well-characterised disease with a good understanding of the biological cause of the disease.

Cancer is a complex and heterogeneous disease. Despite all efforts to fight cancer, it continues to impact every segment of society. For example, many patients fail conventional cancer therapies, including chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery; and it is still difficult for physicians to predict a treatment outcome with certainty.

Neurodegenerative diseases are a growing global challenge as medical advances ensures more individuals live longer. By 2020 there will be more than 40 million individuals in the world with Alzheimer’s disease and by 2040, without the development of truly disease modifying drugs this will be more than 80 million.

Dr Stewart is is the founding Emergency Ultrasound Director and Emergency Ultrasound Fellowship Director for Riverside Medical Group.  As a practicing Emergency Physician in North Carolina, USA; Dr Stewart is also working as Assistant Professor for Eastern Virginia Medical School. Point-of-care ultrasound This educational resource is designed to provide clinicians with practical knowledge of point-of-care ultrasound that translates...

The Belgium-based Anticancer Fund (ACF) is a not-for-profit foundation established with the aim of expanding the range of options for treatment available to cancer patients. Combining support for scientific research with public engagement, the ACF has an international reach belying its small size. As well as advancing research on...

Multiple streams of change are impacting the provision of healthcare services in the United States and beyond. First is a renewed focus on the importance of addressing the social determinants of health on par with clinical care. Second is an increasing recognition of the negative consequences of failing to...

Mathematics pathology is a research branch of pathology in which mathematics and physical principals are applied to the study of diseases. In this field of cancer research, the objective of mathematical pathology is to explain the structural and functional mechanisms that control cancer. By understanding these mechanisms, we can provide...

Tying down the number of steps kids take is not a simple thing to do and poses more than just a few challenges. Yet, the measure of physical activity has the potential to be a very useful tool in countering the obesity epidemic. The ebook highlights how the University of...

Norway has more than 30,000 new cancer cases per year, and the number is rising. Advances in cancer care have led to more patients being cured or living longer with their disease. Still, the country has close to 11,000 cancer deaths per year. With the country’s first national cancer plan...

The Circumpolar North is one of the most rapidly-changing places on earth, warming at over twice the global average, and in some regions at excess of 3ºC. This has led to disruptions for the indigenous people living in the Circumpolar North, including Inuit in North Canada.

There is widespread recognition today that lifestyle behaviours play a significant role in health, accounting for upwards of 50% of many diseases. The Heart & Mind Research Unit in Behavioural and Complimentary Medicine at the Montreal Heart Institute seeks to understand what and how psychosocial and psychophysiological factors impact...

In the municipality of Esbjerg there are 2,000-3,000 people with a physical, social, mental or sensory impairment which impacts on their everyday life. Under the Danish Act on Social Services, the municipality must provide support and assistance to these individuals to enable them to lead fulfilling lives alongside their...

There are many problems with the design of existing ambulances that may impact negatively on patients’ care and frontline ambulance clinicians alike.  The Smart Ambulance European Procurers Platform (SAEPP) is comprised of ambulance services, healthcare research bodies, hospitals and other healthcare organisations who formed a consortium with the aim...

Mental health disorders are major causes of disability worldwide, ranking among the 10 major risk factors for disease. Professor Dr Chantal Martin-Soelch’s team in the Department of Psychology at the University of Fribourg specialise in the search for risk and vulnerability factors for mental illness, the development of preventive...

Disability is a crucial problem for society: it excludes individuals from full participation in society, education, and employment, and increases their dependency on social security and care. Persons with disabilities have lower participation rates in the labour force than those without. Work is important: good work keeps you healthy, good health keeps you working. Since older adults...

High content screening (HCS) is a remarkable technology that allows fully automated cellular imaging on a truly high-throughput scale. In the life and biomedical sciences it is now widely employed to solve questions in fundamental science, providing the research community with novel views on how cells function. In parallel, HCS...