Weighing the Evidence: How is Birthweight Determined?

by Nick Spencer

Overview

Rationalization is concerned with making the most effective use of the resources available. In many places where this process is taking place it is plagued with public opposition and misunderstanding. Hitherto rationalization in the acute care sector has primarily been concerned with closing sites closing beds moving beds between services and moving beds from one site to another. This book discusses the need for rationalization in the context of health service reforms and future strategy. It considers recent changes in the health service the case for rationalization health care needs the role of public relations the future of the acute care hospital site and facilities appraisal and the costs of rationalization. The text is essential reading for managers and clinicians involved in acute care services non-executive members of boards and trusts and students of health services management.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781315347936
Publisher:	CRC Press
Publication date:	01/31/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	144
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Nick Spencer

Table of Contents

The importance of birthweight. Birthweight and health in childhood. Birthweight and health in adulthood. The public health importance of birthweight. The determinants of birthweight. Biomedical determinants of birthweight. Making sense of the evidence: modelling biopsychosocial pathways to birthweight. Implications for promotion of optional birthweight, research and policy. Approaches to promoting optimal birthweight. Implications of the biopsychosocial model for research, clinical practice and health policy.

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Marie McGettigan, MD (Ochsner Clinic Foundation)
Description: This is a complete treatise on the importance of birth weight and its many determinants.
Purpose: The author describes the importance of birth weight and aims to construct theoretical models of birth weight determination incorporating social, biological, and psychological factors acting across generations and over time that can be tested in empirical research. For those interested in birth weight and its determinants, he also valiantly and successfully refocuses the debate on the prevention of low birth weight and preterm birth.
Audience: Medical students, pediatric residents, and pediatricians as well as social scientists will find this book interesting and valuable. The author has researched his subject very well.
Features: The author describes the importance of birth weight to health in childhood and adulthood. He also discusses the biomedical, social, and environmental determinants of birth weight. He provides biopsychosocial models to promote optimal birth weight and the implications of these models for research, clinical practice, and health policy. Just about every chapter includes a review: an outlined, bulleted chapter summary. In an addendum, the author also includes a discussion of a paper that challenges his main thesis. This book would be exhausting if the reader was not interested in the subject matter.
Assessment: This is a comprehensive and interesting treatise on birth weight that will provide plenty of material for discussion by students with this specialized interest.

Doody's Review Service