Chronic Illness Care (PDF)

This book offers a comprehensive overview to chronic illness care, which is the coordinated, comprehensive, and sustained response to chronic diseases and conditions by a range of health care providers, formal and informal caregivers, healthcare systems, and community-based resources. Using an ecological framework, which looks at the interdependent influences between individuals and their larger environment, this unique text examines chronic illness care at multiple levels and includes  sections on the individual influences on chronic illness, the role of family and social networks, and how chronic care is provided across the spectrum of health care settings; from home to clinic to the emergency department to hospital and residential care facilities.  The book describes the organizational frameworks and strategies that are needed to provide quality care for chronically ill patients, including behavioral health, care management, transitions of care, and health information technology. The book also addresses the changing workforce needs in health care, and the fiscal models and policies that will be required to meet the needs of this population, with a focus on sustaining the ongoing transformation in health care.  This book acts as a major reference for practitioners and students in medicine, nursing, social work, allied health, and behavioral medicine, as well as stakeholders in public health, health policy, and population health.