Lifeline of New Products- Destination: The Patient\u27s Bedside

The lifeline of a new product begins with an innovative process driven by an on-line request through our academic medical center’s intranet system. The individual championing the new product completes the request. Staff nurses have a voice in the decision making process of the acceptance or the rejection of new product(s) being used in a hospital setting. All requested products are thoroughly investigated as the item relates to new technology, cost, reimbursement, medical evidence and evidence-based practice. These critical factors assist in the decision making process to improve the quality of patient care while ensuring cost-containment and standardization, thereby, translating into positive patient outcomes. A nurse educator is intimately involved in the Product Evaluation and Implementation Process. As the nurse coordinating the evaluation of a product, there is opportunity to work in concert with supply chain/contract buyers, inventory control/distribution managers, requestors and the sales representatives to produce an efficient evaluation. Clinical effectiveness, quality and acceptance are criteria used to evaluate the product. Once the evaluation period is complete, data is collected and analyzed. A summary report is generated and shared electronically with the appropriate organizational representatives. Based upon the results the product is either accepted or rejected. If a product is accepted, the process moves onto the implementation phase. The nursing website and the hospital intranet is used to provide the nursing staff with Product Announcements, Product Information, Summary of Committee Actions and communicates in what phase the product rests. Presented at: National Conference: National Nursing Staff Development Organization 2009 Conference, July 8-12, 2009, Philadelphia, PA

Offshore petroleum and minerals: Plugging gaps in the present framework

For twenty years, it has been realized that there is a gap in New Zealand’s environmental law in that there is no general environmental legislation for the exclusive economic zone, and now for the extended continental shelf that includes areas more than 200 nautical miles offshore. The jurisdiction of regional councils under the Resource Management Act 1991 does not extend beyond the 12-mile limit, about 22 km offshore. (The jurisdiction of territorial authorities extends only to the mean low water mark.) That has meant that oil and gas operations beyond the 12-mile limit have not had proper environmental scrutiny. Public concern about such matters has sharpened in the light of petroleum exploration in the Raukumara Basin off the East Cape, although so far it has only reached the stage of seismic exploration. The Deepwater Horizon blowout on the Macondo prospect in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010 also looms large in public debate. With a lower profile but with a similar potential to cause environmental harm is the possibility of seabed mining operations. A company is gearing up for deep seabed mining off New Britain in Papua New Guinea. Globally, the main targets are cobalt-rich crusts, polymetallic nodules (on the abyssal plain), and massive sulphide deposits (near hydrothermal vents). In New Zealand iron sands are also attractive. Other possible future uses of the offshore are carbon capture and storage and the extraction of gas hydrates. Existing operations such as fishing by bottom trawling present risks of environmental harm to the benthic environment, especially to features such as seamounts. The Minister for the Environment has now announced his intention to introduce a bill to plug this legal gap, at least in relation to petroleum development and seabed mining. Action on this is most welcome. It is desirable to consider the strengths and weaknesses of the proposal, and of the legal framework for oil and gas well drilling in general. Some surprising gaps remain even if the Minister’s proposal is enacted

New Imported Inputs, New Domestic Products

We study the effects of new imported inputs on the entry of new domestic products and their characteristics. To this purpose, we construct a novel, comprehensive and extremely detailed dataset, which contains product-level information on foreign trade and domestic production for 25 EU countries over 1995-2007. Using these data, we identify new domestic goods and new imported inputs, controlling for all changes in commodity classifications over time. We then show that new imported inputs substantially boost the introduction of new domestic products. We also show that this effect is directly proportional to the quality of new imported inputs and inversely related to their price (conditional on quality). Finally, we document that new products are characterized by higher prices and higher quality relative to existing goods, and that such premia are larger the greater is the use of new imported inputs in production.New Intermediate Inputs; Product Innovation; Input and Output Prices; Input

Market Opportunities for New Sauerkraut Products

Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing,

New Processes and New Products in Europe and Italy

This article investigates the differences in the mechanisms and strategies conducing to the introduction of new processes and products in Italy and Europe. Three models are proposed in order to identify the different business strategies and innovation inputs associated with new products and new processes. The empirical analysis uses innovation surveys data at the industry level for 8 European countries, with a specific focus on the Italian case. The analysis shows that while the two types of innovation have a strong complementarity, product and process innovations are the results of different innovative inputs and different strategies pursued by firms.product innovation, process innovation, Italian national innovation system.