The Future of Medicine: Megatrends in Health Care That Will Improve Your Quality of Life

One of the greatest problems in medicine in the United States is understanding it. As consumers we are awash in information about what medicine can do for us but the inforamtion is sometimes wrong (Wikipedia, blogs) or biased (Drug company commercials) or just too complex for lay people to grasp. Also, medicine is so divided up into silos and information is developing so quickly from science that physicians have trouble keeping up with it, too. This means that we consumers have to be even more responsible for own health care choices. We have to do more research and learn things we never imagined having to learn. When one goes to look up symptoms on the web or talk with a physician about a specific problem, it's hard to follow the conversation because few of us have a sense of the landscape--a framework for understanding what they're talking about and ways to put it all in perspective. Dr. Schimpff has made medicine understandable with this expceptionally literate new book. His conversational style and use of normal English instead of jargon makes this book immensely useful for any of us as a way to understand medicine today and for what will happen over the coming years. So, I recommend reading this book and keeping it handy. You won't be able to learn what to do about specific symptoms--there are plenty of sources for that. But, you will be able to put the information in perspective and to have greater understanding of the decisions you have to make for yourself or with your loved ones.

I want to congratulate Dr. Schimpff on an incredible book that details the future of medicine. Our healthcare system has been focused for way too long on treating those who are sick rather than attempting to prevent disease. The Future of Medicine allows readers to envision the future of our system and the medical world. This book should be a must read for future physicians and healthcare professionals.

As a lifelong bibliophile,I frequently haunt bookstores and seldom leave them empty-handed.While my choice of reading material is eclectic,I tend to focus on on history,biography and books related to my hobbies. However,every so often I run across something out of the ordinary. " The Future of Medicine - Megatrends in Health Care That Will Improve Your Life" is definetly in this category. As a layman with no medical background, I found Dr. Schimpff's book about the latest advances in medicine to be most informative.Dr. Schimpff has that rare ability of taking a weighty topic such as genomics and presenting it in such a way that the layman can easily comprehend.His explanation of the controversial subject of stem cells gave me a much better understanding of the subject. I also found the chapters covering complementary medicine and the operating room of the future fascinating. I liked the way in which the material was presented,especially the reinforcement of the salient points throughout and at the conclusion of each chapter. It was encouraging to read about all the technical advances currently available that are improving our health and extending our lives. Dr. Schimff believes that the medical profession is rapidly changing from diagnosis and treatment to the prediction and prevention of disease. Sooner or later, all of us will become patients and it is important to keep up to date with what is happening in medicine so that we can take more responsibility for the quality of health care we receive. Of course the "$64,000 Question" is how we are going to afford these wonderful benefits derived from medical research and technology. Perhaps Dr. Schimpff can explore that subject in a future offering. I highly recommend " The Future of Medicine" and hope that others will enjoy reading this book. It is well worth the time. Richard D. Adams,Severna Park,Maryland

I found The Future of Medicine to be exceptionally informative. The book covers a wide spectrum of topics currently at the forefront of medical research. I am unaware of a comparable work dealing with the nuts and bolts of the `hot topics' in medicine for the lay reader. This book should enable any reader to better understand the scientific basis for the discoveries and advances we hear about in the media every day. The author describes the advances in genomics, stem cell research, diagnostic imaging and complimentary medicine that will affect all of us either directly or through a family member. The author has an excellent way of describing complex technologies in plain language that a lay person can understand. At the same time, those who have a scientific background should not be disappointed: the book contains sufficient detail for the non specialist to benefit. The introduction to the book describes how the author's grandfather - also a physician - practiced a distinctly different discipline than those practicing medicine today. This was one of the things for me that made the book more than simply a dry summary of medical technology. The stories of individuals which illustrate the topics are quite fascinating. I recommend this book to anyone interested in medical science trends. Both high school and college students considering a career in medicine would benefit greatly by reading The Future of Medicine.

Written by a physician who ran a large city hospital "The Future of Medicine" is for the layperson, for health care providers, for those interested in entering the health care professions and for policy makers interested in cleaning up our health care mess. I gave a second copy of the book to my grandson who is interested in a medical career. As a layperson and sometime patient the book gave me a clear picture of the many innovative non-invasive treatment options that are currently available and so many more options that are on the horizon. The book is also a guide for patients and their family/friend caregivers how to deal with physicians, hospitals, and other health care providers, and how to be advocates for their own health care. Stories of real patients give a very human touch to many chapters. For those current and future health care providers the book is a clear vision, often very detailed, of how technology must change the culture and practice of medicine along with rational planning. For the policy maker the book describes the serious health care mess we are in that directly affect patients while providing practical solutions. The book details real life examples how technology and rational planning can and must change how physicians and hospitals provide service to patients.