Turning Tyrants into Tools in Health Practice: The Integrated Practitioner

'In  order to provide integrated healthcare, we need to integrate a huge  number of...entities. Each one of these entities can be a useful tool  for our practice. To be effective practitioners, we hope to gain some  mastery of them. But sometimes we feel as if they have mastery of us.  There are days when we feel on top of our game, we keep to time, we know  instantly what's wrong, the right treatment is immediately to hand, our  colleagues are supportive and helpful, and birdsong drifts through our  open summer window. Then there are the other days...' Justin Amery This  extraordinary new series fills a void in practitioner development and  well-being. The books take a reflective step back from the tick-box,  target-driven and increasingly regulated world of 21st century health  practice; and invite us to revisit what health and health practice  actually are. Building carefully on the science and philosophy of  health, each book addresses the messy, complex and often chaotic world  of real-life health practice and offers an ancient but now almost  revolutionary understanding for students and experienced practitioners  alike: that health practice is a fundamentally creative and  compassionate activity. The series as a whole helps practitioners to  redefine and recreate their daily practice, in ways that are healthier  for both patients and practitioners. The books provide a welcome  antidote to demoralisation and burn-out amongst practitioners, reversing  cynicism and reviving our feeling of pride in, and our understanding  of, health practice. By observing practice life through different  lenses, they encourage the development of efficiency, effectiveness and,  above all, satisfaction. The third book in the series, The Integrated  Practitioner: Turning Tyrants into Tools in Health Practice explores the  relationship between practitioners and their tangible, external tools  such as time, computers, money, information, colleagues, equipment,  targets and office spaces, along with less tangible elements like  knowledge, understanding, language, values and beliefs. These tools can  be of great benefit when fully integrated and balanced but they often  end up controlling practitioners, dictating the manner in which the  practice operates and ultimately reducing efficacy. It suggests ways for  practitioners to harness the positive forces of these tools and regain  control. Brilliantly written, practitioners, students and trainees and  GP trainers will find the enlightening, witty, conversational style a  joy to read.