Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide [Paperback]

Harvard Medical School (Author), Anthony L. Komaroff (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide | Publication Date: December 28, 2004

The first health guide for the era of managed care is also the only one that will never go out of date. www.health.harvard.edu/fhg offers page and index searches for updated information on every entry.

Today we all have a better chance of living a longer, healthier life than ever before -- but only if we know how to utilize the advances in medicine science has given us. Whether you depend on traditional fee-for-service health care or some form of managed care, you must make health decisions in partnership with doctors...doctors with whom you may only spend a few minutes. How can you sort out the confusing, often contradictory health information that is bombarding you daily and communicate clearly and effectively with your doctor? How can you gain access to the best care and evaluate the care you are getting?

The "Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide" answers these essential questions and many more. The first health guide written specifically to empower readers in the era of managed care, it is the culmination of 200 years of clinical care, health education, and medical research -- bringing you the expertise of more than 7,000 health professionals from some of the nation's most esteemed hospitals and research centers. In this book, they have gathered the most authoritative, comprehensive, easy-to-understand, up-to-the-minute information about the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease in every stage of life to help you:

Make the most of the time you spend with your doctor.

Decide when and if you need to see a doctor.

Avoid dangerous drug interactions.

Explore alternative treatments safely.

Choose wisely among treatmentoptions.

Access emergency and other important information easily.

Learn the most effective ways to prevent disease.

Consult with the most renowned doctors in America, including Herbert Benson, T. Berry Brazelton, Robert Coles, and Richard Ferber.

Receive the most current information from our Web site, which gives you free online updates.

Harvard Medical School consists of world-renowned affiliated hospitals, clinics, and research foundations, which include:

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center - Brigham and Women's Hospital* - Cambridge Hospital - Center for Blood Research - Children's Hospital* - Dana Farber Cancer Institute - Harvard Pilgrim Health Care - Joslin Diabetes Center* - Judge Baker Children's Center - Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary - Massachusetts General Hospital* - Massachusetts Mental Health Center - McLean Hospital - Mount Auburn Hospital - Schepens Eye Research Institute - Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital - VA Boston Healthcare System

(*CONSISTENTLY RANKED AMONG THE 10 BEST HEALTH INSTITUTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES)

Throughout its history, Harvard's doctors have made important medical breakthroughs, including: the discovery of anesthesia - the birth of brain surgery - the first human organ transplantation (Nobel Prize) - the discovery of the polio virus (Nobel Prize) - the discovery of vitamin B12 as the cure for pernicious anemia (Nobel Prize) - the discovery of how the human eye sees (Nobel Prize) - the discovery of the aspirin-a-day prevention strategy for heart disease

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

These days, when you only get to see your physician for 10 minutes after waiting several weeks for an appointment, you're often forced to get your information somewhere else. Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide will do what your doctor can't: answer your questions for hours on end. This richly packed compendium offers more than a thousand pages of health information compiled from the expertise of 7,000 physicians and researchers. Whether you're figuring out what your symptoms might mean, researching a disease, looking up a medication, learning about a body part or function, or formulating questions to ask your doctor, you can find the medical knowledge here--and in simple, layperson's language.

You'll undoubtedly make the most use of the diagnosis section, in flow-chart form. You identify a symptom, then answer a series of "yes" or "no" questions--where the pain is located, when it occurs, what makes it worse, and other related symptoms, for example. Each answer leads you to another question and/or to an action you should take, with page numbers where you can find more information about the condition you may have. Very clear and well organized! The Color Guide to Visual Diagnosis lets you match your symptom with close-up color photos of various skin infections, cancerous growths, fungal infections, insect infestations, and other conditions. The book also has chapters on lifestyle changes that will enhance health, such as nutrition, exercise, smoking cessation, and safe sex. Added bonuses are sections on eldercare, death and dying, drug interactions, and emergency care. This book is a treasure and a bargain! --Joan Price --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The linking of a web site to the text of this exhaustive compendium of consumer health information assures readers that it will never go out of date. Though the publisher promises that the site will be free, it will only "make sense" when used in conjunction with the printed version. The topics covered are not substantially different from those found in any other quality consumer health encyclopedia (e.g., Mayo Clinic Family Health Book, LJ 12/90), but the format differs substantially, and the treatment of all topics is more in-depth. Divided into ten parts, the text begins with a discussion on how to navigate current healthcare systems; the major areas then covered include health maintenance, how diseases are diagnosed, symptom management illustrated by numerous decision trees, and diseases and disorders. There are also sections on the management of health problems specific to men and women, adolescents, children, and the aged, with a profusion of line drawings and exceptionally understandable explanations of the benefits and risks of a variety of treatments, both surgical and nonsurgical. "Home remedies" for a variety of ailments are included, as are current opinions from Harvard physicians. Appendixes consist of medical terminology, information resources (including web sites), and medical forms. This low-priced, content-heavy work is highly recommended for all public and consumer health libraries.
-AMartha Stone, Massachusetts General Hosp. Lib., Boston
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 1272 pages
• Publisher: Free Press (December 28, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684863731
• ISBN-13: 978-0684863733
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.3 x 2.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #73,926 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #10 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Disorders & Diseases > Reference

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

191 of 199 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a must-have for every family, October 28, 1999

By 

"donalyn1" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide (Hardcover)

This guide is the only general medical guide you will need for your family. It has great symptom charts, pictures, explanations, information, & instructions for thousands of situations. It is an emergency medical guide, a compilation of articles by medical experts, & an all-round great source of medical information. I love this book! We're buying more for presents.

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A most useful book to have and use in every home, July 4, 2001

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide (Hardcover)

A visit to the doctor always makes us very conscious of how much time is wasted. The time you take off from work, the time you spend in the waiting room the time you spend waiting for the doctor to come and actually talk to you for a few minutes. Then we find ourselves sudden incapable of describing accurately our aches and pains. This all happens after we finally decide to go see a doctor because we are not sure if we know enough to deal with the problem on our own. Calling your mother to find out what to do is not always an option. The "Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide" is a great help for dealing with health concerns in this Era of Managed Care. The volume deals with information about diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease in all stages of life. The information is presented in a very user-friendly manner, with over 900 illustrations, covering: (1) questions to discuss with your doctor; (2) first-aid and emergency advice; (3) symptom charts to determine if and when to call the doctor; (4) home remedies and alternative medicine; and (5) drug-interaction charts to prevent dangerous drug-drug, drug-food, and drug-herb interactions.

I have used this book to save myself from a trip to the doctor, to identify a rash on one of my children, and to better understand my father's hearing problems. This "Family Health Guide" has proven itself both useful and easy to use, and I am someone who never took even biology in school and who therefore finds medicine to be as mysterious as any other science. Every household should have this book, or something very much like it. One final advantage of this particular volume is that this "book" never goes out of date because you can get page and index searched for updated information on every entry from a website.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BUY THIS BOOK!, September 8, 2004

By 

Slater Rockafeller (Portland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide (Hardcover)

This is an incredible anthology of illnesses. When my mom was diagnosed with leukemia, I read the entire section on the subject. It helped me to understand the type of leukemia she had, what other forms were, what questions to ask her doctor, and what her likely prognosis would be. I discovered she had a 1:5 chance of survival, and I used that information to make my last days with her really count.

I also appreciate the guide to diagnosising your own illnesses. It helps to understand what different symptoms MIGHT mean, and what to ask your doctor.

I can't emphasize enough the value this volume has. Understanding illnesses your loved ones may be experiencing is invaluable.