Family-Oriented Primary Care

§Despite a well publicized shift away from the traditional family structure, the family remains the most basic relational unit in society and the physician's most potent ally. A family orientation in health care can provide a wider understanding of illness and broader range of solutions than the classic biomedical model. Family-Oriented Primary Care: A Manual for Medical Providers offers practical guidance for the physician who would like to take greater advantage of this resource. The result is a readable guide, structured around step by step protocols that are vividly illustrated with case studies drawn from the authors' extensive collaboration at the University of Rochester School of Medicine. The preliminary chapters give a common sense grounding to family systems theory, family research, and family assessment. The family conference is carefully examined with step-by-step instructions on when and how to call and conduct one. §The majority of the book offers practical guidelines for family oriented approaches to transitional events in the life cycle, such as pregnancy or nursing home placement, as well as specific medical problems, such as chronic illness and somatization of the family systems approach in the office or in the hospital. This manual is an indispensable and unique resource for all primary care physicians and residents as well as nurses, family therapists, social workers and other members of the "helping professions."