Institutional innovation: synthesis of programme outcomes

Report of the work of the Projects funded by the JISC Institutional change/innovation Programme 2008-2010. Report produced by the Synthesis and Benefits Realisation Team linked to the Programme

ACCCN Workforce Standards for Intensive Care Nursing: Systematic and evidence review, development, and appraisal

Background: The intensive care nursing workforce plays an essential role in the achievement of positive healthcare outcomes. A growing body of evidence indicates that inadequate nurse staffing and poor skill mix are associated with negative outcomes for patients, and potentially compromises nurses’ ability to maintain the safety of those in their care. In Australia, the Australian College of Critical Care Nurses (ACCCN) has previously published a position statement on intensive care staffing. There was a need for a stronger more evidence based document to support the intensive nursing workforce. Objectives: To undertake a systematic and evidence review of the evidence related to intensive care nurse staffing and quality of care, and determine evidence-based professional standards for the intensive care nursing workforce in Australia. Methods: The National Health and Medical Research Council standard for clinical practice guidelines methodology was employed. The English language literature, for the years 2000-2015 was searched. Draft standards were developed and then peer- and consumer-reviewed. Results: A total of 553 articles was retrieved from the initial searches. Following evaluation, 231 articles met the inclusion criteria and were assessed for quality using established criteria. This evidence was used as the basis for the development of ten workforce standards, and to establish the overall level of evidence in support of each standard. All draft standards and their subsections were supported multi-professionally (median score >6) and by consumers (85–100% agreement). Following minor revisions, independent appraisal using the AGREE II tool indicated that the standards were developed with a high degree of rigour. Conclusion: The ACCCN intensive care nursing nurse workforce standards are the first to be developed using a robust, evidence-based process. The standards represent the optimal nurse workforce to achieve the best patient outcomes and to maintain a sustainable intensive care nursing workforce for Australia

A unified framework for building ontological theories with application and testing in the field of clinical trials

The objective of this research programme is to contribute to the establishment of the emerging science of Formal Ontology in Information Systems via a collaborative project involving researchers from a range of disciplines including philosophy, logic, computer science, linguistics, and the medical sciences. The re­searchers will work together on the construction of a unified formal ontology, which means: a general framework for the construction of ontological theories in specific domains. The framework will be constructed using the axiomatic-deductive method of modern formal ontology. It will be tested via a series of applications relating to on-going work in Leipzig on medical taxonomies and data dictionaries in the context of clinical trials. This will lead to the production of a domain-specific ontology which is designed to serve as a basis for applications in the medical field

TechNews digests: Autumn 2004

TechNews is a technology, news and analysis service aimed at anyone in the education sector keen to stay informed about technology developments, trends and issues. TechNews focuses on emerging technologies and other technology news. TechNews service : digests september 2004 till May 2010 Analysis pieces and News combined publish every 2 to 3 month

China's new corporate rescue laws: perspectives and principles

This article considers the new corporate insolvency legislation that came into force in China in June 2007. This law is part of a remarkable transformation in the Chinese economy in recent years. Significant numbers of ailing state owned enterprises have been reformed and subjected to hard budgetary constraints, while the private sector has grown dramatically. Market forces play a greater role, whereas the economy was previously tightly controlled by the state. These changes, together with pressures arising from external bodies such as the European Union, led to an urgent need for the adoption of the revised insolvency law, which has at its heart corporate rescue procedures. This article considers the content of this new law, the background to it, and also assesses the prospects for its operation. In particular attention is paid to the level of scope for state interference in the operation of the law