Chronic Illness Care: Principles and Practice

The second edition of this popular textbook provides a comprehensive overview to chronic illness care, which is the coordinated, comprehensive and sustained response to chronic diseases and conditions by health care providers, formal and informal caregivers, healthcare systems, and community-based resources. This unique resource uses an ecological framework to frame chronic illness care at multiple levels, and includes sections on individual influences, the role of family and community networks, social and environmental determinants, and health policy. The book also orients how chronic care is provided across the spectrum of health care settings, from home to clinic, from the emergency department to the hospital and from hospitals to residential care facilities.   

The fully revised and expanded edition of Chronic Illness Care describes the operational frameworks and strategies that are needed to meet the care needsof chronically ill patients, including behavioral health, care management, transitions of care, and health information technology. It also addresses the changing workforce needs in health care and the fiscal models and policies that are associated with chronic care.

Several new chapters are included in the second edition and reflect the significant changes that have occurred in health care due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Chapters covering vaccinations, virtual care, and care of COVID-19 associated chronic conditions have been added. The revised textbook builds on the first edition’s content that covered providing care to special population groups, such as children and adolescents, older adults, and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, by including care approaches to adults with severe and persistent mental health disorders, the LGBTQ+ community, incarcerated persons, immigrants and refugees, and military veterans. Finally, chapters on important and emerging topics, such as natural language processing and health inequities and structural racism have also been added.

Timothy P. Daaleman, DO, MPH, Professor, Department of Family Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

Margaret R. Helton, MD, Professor, Department of Family Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA