Introduction to Health Care

INTRODUCTION TO HEALTH CARE, 3E provides learners with an easy-to-read foundation in the profession of health care. This redesigned and updated new edition offers a comprehensive introductory survey of basic clinical health care skills for learners entering health care programs or for those that think they may be interested in pursuing a career in health care. Core competencies shared by all health care professions such as communication, infection control, and professionalism are provided to expose you to the reality of practice. This book emphasizes developing critical thinking skills through a five-step problem solving model that teaches you to assess a situation, consider alternatives, choose an appropriate alternative, evaluate the results, and revise as needed. This resource demonstrates how to think like a health care professional and is a terrific first step towards a rewarding career.

Dakota Mitchell, R.N., earned her Master of Science in Nursing from the University of California, San Francisco, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Santa Clara. The combination of these advanced degrees provides a valuable perspective for understanding and functioning within today's rapidly evolving world of health care. Her 35-plus years of experience in health care includes education, management and curriculum consultation. In addition to devoting many years to classroom and clinical teaching, she has developed and implemented innovative health care programs at both the vocational and associate degree levels. She also has written and/or served as a content expert on numerous health care instructional projects for Cengage.

Lee Haroun, M.A., MBA, Ed.D., has over 45 years of experience in education as a teacher, administrator and writer. She has worked with hundreds of health care students and has a special interest in helping them become successful professionals. Dr. Haroun has coordinated curriculum development for a variety of programs, including occupational therapy assistant, patient care technician, health information technician and insurance coder. She also has focused on empowering health care instructors to succeed, and her doctoral dissertation explored the transition of health care professionals from the field to the classroom. Dr. Haroun is the author of CAREER DEVELOPMENT FOR HEALTH PROFESSIONALS (Elsevier Science), a co-author of OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY FIELDWORK SURVIVAL GUIDE with Bonnie Napier-Tibere (F.A. Davis) and TEACHING IDEAS AND CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES FOR HEALTH CARE with Susan Royce (Cengage), as well as a technical writer for ESSENTIALS OF HEALTH & WELLNESS by James Robinson and Deborah McCormick (Cengage). In addition, she developed video content and scripts for Delmar's CAREER SUCCESS FOR HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS DVD Series, content for health care career exploration software published by Cengage and numerous instructional materials for a variety of publishers.