The Johns Hopkins Family Health Book: The Essential Home Medical Reference to Help You and Your Family Promote Good Health and Manage Illness - Hardcover

Johns Hopkins University

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0062701495 ISBN 13: 9780062701497

Publisher: William Morrow, 1998

Synopsis

America's #1 Medical Authority on Call at your Fingertips

When you need the absolute best in health care, John Hopkins is the institute ranked #1 year after year. And when you want answers fast, turn to the Johns Hopkins Family Health Book for the knowledge you need from a name you know. Developed in consultation with an advisory board of more than 100 Johns Hopkins physicians, nurses, and health professionals, this indispensable home and medical resource covers a broad range of family health issues and focuses on maintaining good health and preventing diseases.

Read "How to Use this Book" first to learn how the book is organized and to find out where to look for information you need, whether you are trying to interpret symptoms, wish to know more about a medication, or are looking for general health and nutrition facts.

Part 1. Staying Healthy provides the underpinnings of a healthy lifestyle, including recommendations on nutrition, exercise, everyday safety, smoking, alcohol, and addiction.

Part 2. Health Over the Life Course details what you need to know about genetics and your family health history, and the special health concerns of pregnancy and childbirth, infancy, the preschool to preteen years, the teen years, adulthood, and the senior years.

Part 3. First Aid and Emergency Care gives you the tools to evaluate health emergencies, from everyday cuts and bruises to life-threatening crises.

Part 4. Body Systems and Disorders describes the functions of the body systems from head to toe and the most common problems related to them. You will learn what your symptoms mean, what signs a doctor looks for and the tests used during diagnosis, how a problem develops, and what can be done to treat or prevent it. Each chapter also discusses self-care measures and advises you on when to call a doctor.

Part 5. Becoming a Partner in Your Health Care offers strategies for negotiating today's difficult health care environment, including finding the right doctor and health care plan.

The Appendices include a comprehensive directory of the 80 most prescribed medications; glossary; growth chart; living wills and advance directives; measurement conversions and laboratory tests. Designed for instant access, the index highlights symptoms in red and primary entries in bold. A 48-page full-color insert of anatomy, disorders, and diseases, over 500 black-and-white and two-color illustrations, and endpapers featuring emergency first aid procedures--prepared by Johns Hopkins' renowned Art as Applied to Medicine department--complete this invaluable family reference.

About this title

Review:

In this age of managed care, it's likely that you have more questions when you leave the doctor's office than when you walk in the door. Who better to turn to for a remedy for that than the folks from Johns Hopkins, the hospital ranked at the top of U.S. News & World Report's list for eight years running. A joint effort of the university's schools of Medicine, Hygiene & Public Health, and Nursing, the Family Health Book includes more than 1,600 pages of medical guidance, from basic first aid and emergency care to the intricate (but clearly explained) workings of the body's systems and organs, to--possibly most importantly--ways to prevent illness in the first place.

While many of the 500 illustrations are not for the squeamish, this reference is incredibly useful, especially for the elderly or couples who are expecting or have small children. For each disorder and illness, the editors have included information on typical and rare symptoms, tests a doctor may request for diagnosis, what you can do for home treatment, when to call the doctor, and prognoses. The "Preparing for Surgery" section should calm the worries of anyone about to go under anesthesia. The only gripe? A pronunciation guide would have been nice (leishmaniasis and paronychia don't exactly roll off the tongue), especially given that one of the best chapters is called "Becoming a Partner in Your Health Care" and focuses on doctor-patient communication.

From the Inside Flap:

This book contains diagrams, charts, sidebars, graphs, lists: There are over 500 2-color line drawings; 550 sidebars, charts, lists and graphs; and a 48 page color insert with 50 full-color illustrations and 130 full-color photographs. Ours is the only book of it's kind with illustrated endpapers and illustrated chapter openers.

Unique entries: The Family Health Book covers all the latest advances not found in Mayo or Merck, including an entire chapter on the emerging role of genetics in preventative health care; and full information on Viagra, the latest advances in breast cancer research, the new government index for body-mass, and breakthroughs in HIV treatment.

Contributors: The book was developed in consultation with an editorial board of 103 Johns Hopkins physicians, nurses, and health professionals; plus 21 additional consulting editors.

About this edition

• Publisher: William Morrow
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0062701495
• ISBN 13: 9780062701497
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 1680