Public Health and Safety Books

This book was quite helpful for my the National Servsafe test. It was a good reference, and it had excellent chapter of the microbiology of food. If you really want to know the type of questions asked on the National Servsafe Test get the following which is on amazon.com:
Study Guide for the National Servsafe Exam: Key Review Questions and Answers with Explanations
ISBN: 0971999678
I used both these books and passed with ease. Not to mention both these books helped me to get an "A" in my sanitation class.
Both books are must buys.

Not as informative as ServSafe Coursebook..Be careful which book you really need! Diffent ISPN numbers only by last two. Still informative and useful for taking ServSafe exam for certificate if working in food service sector.

This book takes a survey-like look at the state of vaccines at the beginning of the 21st century, with each chapter focusing on one disease and the vaccines available for it. Each chapter is short, from 3 - 10 pages in length, and covers the history and science of that illness, and the history and science of the vaccines for it. The history portions of each chapter includes the source of the illness, its affect on human history, how it spreads, its symptoms, and biology. The vaccine portion includes a famous trials, and the names of the individuals, scientists and patients involved in making the vaccine(s). Most of the major infectious diseases are covered, such as polio, smallpox, chickenpox, and whooping cough. There are few exclusions, these primarily being the more recent ones, like the vaccine against cervical cancer. Another nice feature of the book are the appendices, which cover the legal aspects of vaccine usage, and how vaccines are tested in clinical trials. Overall, the book is quite complete, and quite readable for anyone with some science background. The only thing missing is a comprehensive timeline of events.

Dr. Link gives an overview of the history of vaccination and immunization, and ethical issues raised by this. He also has a chapter devoted to known vaccine failures and worse; the best known was the Bundaberg disaster in Australia in the 1920s, involving a batch of bacteria-contaminated vaccine. There were also examples of polio vaccine that gave people polio, and hepatitis spread by smallpox vaccination.

He describes the diseases they prevent and what they did to people, since most of us have never known anyone who had some of them, and why people should or should not take the vaccine. He also debunks the vaccines-cause-autism thing, but does admit that the P component of the DPT vaccine does cause neurological damage in a small percentage of people who take it. This is well known in medical circles. There was considerable skepticism raised about the chicken pox vaccine; he saw no indication in giving it to healthy children, and I have to agree. There are also chapters about anthrax and smallpox vaccination and the problems that have arisen from them.

The back of the book has the suggested vaccine schedule; he also gives provisions for spreading them out should the parents wish to do so.

Some people may not agree with what he says, but he's old enough to have encountered many of the diseases nobody gets nowadays and that is his only agenda.

The recent history associated with the name "Arthur Andersen" might cause one to steer clear of this resource, but that would be a big mistake.

The Internal Revenue Service has made significant changes to regulations affecting nonprofits, shifting responsibility for compliance from the organization itself to the directors, staffs, and major donors as individuals. Most nonprofit board members and executives are only dimly aware of these changes, and fewer still are prepared with the documentation necessary to address issues of conflict of interest, private inurement, and disqualified persons.

One sentence from the book's introduction sums up the need for action: "The most important aspect of this legislation is that it empowers the IRS to impose punishment on individuals who violate the tax code by levying significant excise taxes initially and then more than quadrupling the penalty amount if remedy is not made to the [nonprofit] organization."

The solution, and the purpose of the book, is also summed up in one sentence in the introduction: "The key to protecting these organizations' officers and other interested parties from excise taxes is proper documentation."

The book is 3-ring bound and well-tabbed for easy reference and for copying of template forms and sheets that are included. In addition, the book ships with a companion PC diskette with forms in Microsoft Word 6.0/Word 95 format that should be usable by most current word processing programs.

This book is a valuable resource for nonprofit executives, consultants, attorneys, and others providing organizational development and counseling to nonprofits and charities.

The book does include examples and references to the health care field, but its content is equally applicable to all nonprofits.

The book's Table of Contents is as follows:

1. Overview of the Intermediate Sanctions Law 2. Establishing an Intermediate Sanctions Review Process 3. Disqualified Persons Determination 4. Diagnostic Review for Disqualified Persons 5. Diagnostic Review for Organization Manager Liability 6. Examining Revenue-Sharing Transactions 7. Rebuttable Presumption of Reasonableness

Appendices

-- Intermediate Sanctions Law -- Excerpt from House Ways and Means Committee Report on Taxpayer Bill of Rights 2 -- Intermediate Sanctions Proposed Regulations -- IRS Model Conflicts of Interest Policy

The book gives a nice variety of different viewpoints and opinions on aspects of Health, Migration and Return. It is interesting to see pros and cons on the same issue. The debates are introduced and presented in a straight-forward and clear manner. The book however, is difficult to read at times due to the vocabulary used. It is useful when studying the subject of Human Rights. It has broadenned our views on the subjects that the book has touched upon. It is not a book for beginners, but it is an excellent addition to your human rights library.

Risk communication used to mean one way messages from experts to non-experts. But today's issues are not only technically complex, they are politically charged. Experts are often seen as advocates for a particular position, eroding credibility. There is a better way. This book is the result of the National Research Council's report on "Risk Assessment in the Federal Government: Managing the Process."

The function of an IAQ primer is to give a reader a sense of the field, without losing any of the depth of the various topic areas. This book does that. Only reason that it does not rate a 5 star rating is that it is now 12 years old, and some of the data is now, well, dated.
The contributors include a few of the current well-respected researchers (besides the editiors Samet and Spengler) including Harriet Burge in Chapter 12 (Indoor Air Pollution and Infectious Diseases) and Bill Cain in Chapter 6(Environmental Tobacco Smoke).
This is still a valuable basic text that helps to give one a nice overview of the complexities of indoor air quality investigation, without as I mentioned above, sacrificing the detail.

Provides social workers and lay people with a basis or basic foundation as an introducation to the "process" of law. The book is well written --easy to read. It provides a snapshot to serveral important areas of health and human services. Only draw back is it is dated. Several key cases since written effect the profession and should be revised or updated.

Canadian authors Powell and Leiss provide a structured and interesting look at significant case studies, both Canadian and American, of issues and crisis management communications, or as they call it, "risk communications". The book provides an excellent background into risk communications. From dioxins among Canadian natives to silicone breast implants and cow's milk,excellent and recent case studies are deconstructed to identify the key successes and failures of the risk communications process. Finally, the book ends with 10 "lessons" for risk communicators--providing not so much the "how" answers, as the "why" and "what" answers. Easy to read, but scholarly in nature, an excellent addition to any public relations practitioners' library, and particularly Canadian practitioners, who have little to choose from in the way of good and recent Canadian case study analysis.

Rachel Roth sheds intellectual and logical light on some highly emotional issues. Her book covers topics such as women's employment, citizenship, and individual rights. This book does not ponder the moral question of abortion, but rather it points out the price women must pay and the burdon they bear during pregnacy. Women no loger have control over their bodies and in some cases are forced into unwanted medical procedures. This book should be read by all because it well documented and shows how society puts more importance on the fetus and less on the woman. However, I sometimes found this book to get a little repetative in the message it was conveying.

I purchased this book as a required textbook for one of my classes in Medical Assisting. The pricing and availability is the best I've come across. In fact, our own school book store has not been able to get this title in stock yet.

As far as the book itself goes it is very detailed and nicely written. However, if you are not law minded or familar with judicial terms it can be a hard read. Definitions are given for most terms but putting it all together while your reading it for the first time can be a little tedious. I definitly recommend if you are getting this for a class taking the time to read over a chapter twice and doing the learning objectives to fully get a good grasp on the subject.

If you are a teacher looking at this book for an expedited course or course that meets once a week I would not recommend this book. Simply, that from a students point of view and experience, this book requires a class that can take the time to go over questions or confusions that might arise. But, if your looking simply due to material and adequate coverage of the subject I would recommend it since it does cover what needs to be learned.