The Nature of Clinical Care - Volume 1
A Gentle Introduction
by David Zitner and H. Dominic J. Covvey

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Physicians diagnose and treat a host of conditions. Everyone who understands the nature of health care will be better able to participate in their own and their family's care. The Nature of Clinical Care explains the concepts underlying medical care. It provides everybody, including students, professionals and patients, with the know-how to participate in their own care. Approachable, straightforward, and insightful, it fills a crucial gap by addressing the patient-doctor relationship, how people make diagnoses, the purposes, benefits and risks of interventions, and the art and science of Medicine. It is a vast collection of helpful resources. As such, this compendium augments our knowledge base enabling and empowering everyone who must interact with the care system and its professionals.

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Recognized experts in Medicine, professional education, and healthcare-related research with decades of experience in the healthcare system going back to the late 1960s, David Zitner and H. Dominic J. Covvey have widely published in both the popular and professional press, have spoken at hundreds of conferences and symposia, and have worked in or consulted with many hospitals in North America. Together, they coauthored Pointing the Way: Competencies and Curricula in Health Informatics with Robert M. Bernstein, published by NIHI Canada in 2001. Dr. David Zitner, a retired family physician, was a full professor and founding Director of the Graduate Program in Health Informatics, Dalhousie University. His work, including publications in the academic and popular press and with community organizations has been aimed at increasing citizen knowledge and engagement in health care. He has served on boards and been the chair of committees for organizations that evaluate health care and promote citizen education and engagement. Dominic Covvey has worked in health care for over fifty-five years and has published books and many articles on Health Informatics. He started as a senior research fellow at Toronto General Hospital. Later, he founded a consultancy to serve North American hospitals. More recently, he established the National Institutes of Health Informatics, which he still directs. He retired from the University of Waterloo as a full professor, and haunts Mayne Island in British Columbia. Interested in getting in touch? The authors can be reached at we.inform.people@gmail.com

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Contributors

Author

David Zitner

Author

H. Dominic J. Covvey