Considering counsellor education in Aotearoa New Zealand. Part 2: How might we practise?

The registration environment offers particular challenges for the identity of counselling in 21st-century Aotearoa New Zealand. Counsellor education cannot hold itself apart from such challenges as it enters what the authors suggest is a third phase in its development (see Part 1, the companion to this article, earlier in this volume). Counselling in New Zealand has spent many years investigating and debating statutory regulation, and professional associations have implemented various internal regulatory practices that have had implications for counsellor education. Counselling and counsellor education in other parts of the world, and related professions in New Zealand, have engaged more actively with registration in a variety of forms. This article describes these various regulatory activities with the intention of making visible some possible directions for counsellor education in New Zealand. While we cannot predict with any accuracy what these possible directions would each offer to counselling, our review of various forms of registration leads us to make a case for pluralism and partnership. Advocating for pluralism in counselling, Cooper and McLeod (2010) suggest that it involves both sensibility and practice. The authors of the current article explore a pluralistic sensibility, emphasising its potential to produce a professional landscape in which practices of pluralism and partnership may emerge

Investigating Voting Rights in Missouri: An Assessment of Compliance with the National Voter Registration Act in Public Assistance Agencies

The number of citizens registered to vote by Missouri's public assistance agencies, a service required by the federal National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and state law, has plummeted to one-tenth the number from 12 years ago. Visits to agency offices by Project Vote staff and Project Vote's analysis of demographic and voter registration data indicate that the decline in registration is a consequence of the failure to comply with federal and state law by the the Department of Social Services, Department of Health and Senior Services and Department of Labor.This report details the following findings: The number of voter registration applications coming from public assistance agencies across the state has dropped to one-tenth what it once was.While one county registered nearly 2,000 citizens in Department of Labor offices in 2005 and 2006, all but two other counties registered less than a hundred citizens over the same time period in the department's ofices, even in some of the most populous counties.Hundreds of thousands of Missourians remained unregistered during the decline in performance at public assistance agencies.Voter registration performance at public assistance agencies varies enormously from county to county, with some of the largest counties registering fewer citizens at public assistance agencies than much smaller counties.Participation in public assistance agency programs has not waned and thus does not explain why voter registration has declined at these agencies. The success of voter registration services at DMV offices ("motor voter") also does not explain the decline in voter registration at public assistance offices as some counties demonstrate by registering signiicant numbers in both DMV and public assistance agencies.Neither the timing nor geographic location of voter registration efforts by non-profit organizations and campaigns in the state explain the drop off in agency performance.Visits by Project Vote staff to agency sites in four counties in 2007 found numerous instances of non-compliance with the NVRA. We conclude that poor compliance and non-compliance with the National Voter Registration Act is evident in many agency offices throughout Missouri. We call upon Missouri to review NVRA performance in public assistance agencies and we make some general recommendations for improvement based on effective practices in other states

General practice organisation and healthcare reform : what do Maltese general practitioners think?

In Malta, two-thirds of primary healthcare is delivered by private general practitioners (GPs), mostly working single-handed without supporting staff. The combined lack of patient registration and transferable medical records lead to fragmentation of care, duplication of resources and suboptimal disease prevention and management. In 2009, the government proposed a reform to encourage partnerships which was shelved. The aim of this article is to explore the opinions of GPs about how practice organisation might influence them and their patients and to seek GPs’ views about possible healthcare reform initiatives. A postal cross-sectional survey of all specialists in family medicine resident in Malta. An instrument was designed, piloted and validated. SPSS® (v. 20) was used for analysis. One hundred and fifty (44%) questionnaires were returned. Respondents were representative of the sample as regards demographic and employment characteristics. Only 26% of GPs are female, but most work in partnerships or the public service. Seventy-seven per cent of private GPs work single-handed. Group practitioners are more likely to utilise electronic medical records and appointments, and to employ secretaries. Doctors acknowledge that although patients prefer one GP, partnerships can deliver better patient care. GPs believe that partnerships are beneficial for themselves, and would consider joining one. Females and young doctors favour partnerships. Respondents, particularly young doctors, favour patient registration and reform. Public doctors who work part-time privately oppose reform. Most GPs favour group practices and health reform, especially females and young doctors (whose proportions are increasing). Primary care should be urgently reformed and patient registration introduced. Public-private agreements would stimulate partnership formation. Public group practices could cater for means-tested citizens.peer-reviewe

Voter Registration: Past, Present, and Future

The Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project identified problems with voter registration as a pressing problem in the 2000 presidential election; between 1.5 and 3 million votes were lost due to voter registration problems in that election. Voter registration is a central component of the election management process in the United States, and is an important foundation for how elections are administered. There have been two major efforts to reform voter registration practices at the federal level in recent decades, and despite those reforms there are still significant short and long term issues regarding voter registration practices in the United States. These issues include: Continuing to find new ways to make the voter registration process easier for eligible citizens while also making the process more secure; Fixing provisional balloting; Scrutinizing computerized statewide voter registration files; Carefully studying HAVA voter registration requirements and how they work. These issues are discussed in more detail in the remainder of this written testimony

Screening versus routine practice in detection of atrial fibrillation in patients aged 65 or over: Screening versus routine practice in detection cluster randomised controlled trial

Objectives : To assess whether screening improves the detection of atrial fibrillation (cluster randomisation) and to compare systematic and opportunistic screening. Design : Multicentred cluster randomised controlled trial, with subsidiary trial embedded within the intervention arm. Setting : 50 primary care centres in England, with further individual randomisation of patients in the intervention practices. Participants : 14,802 patients aged 65 or over in 25 intervention and 25 control practices. Interventions : Patients in intervention practices were randomly allocated to systematic screening (invitation for electrocardiography) or opportunistic screening (pulse taking and invitation for electrocardiography if the pulse was irregular). Screening took place over 12 months in each practice from October 2001 to February 2003. No active screening took place in control practices. Main outcome measure : Newly identified atrial fibrillation. Results : The detection rate of new cases of atrial fibrillation was 1.63% a year in the intervention practices and 1.04% in control practices (difference 0.59%, 95% confidence interval 0.20% to 0.98%). Systematic and opportunistic screening detected similar numbers of new cases (1.62% v 1.64%, difference 0.02%, −0.5% to 0.5%). Conclusion : Active screening for atrial fibrillation detects additional cases over current practice. The preferred method of screening in patients aged 65 or over in primary care is opportunistic pulse taking with follow-up electrocardiography. Trial registration Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN19633732

The South African Medicines Control Council: Comparison of Its Registration Process With Australia, Canada, Singapore, and Switzerland

© 2019 Keyter, Salek, Banoo and Walker.Introduction: Comparisons between regulatory authorities of similar size and regulatory characteristics facilitate value-added benchmarking and provide insight into regulatory performance. Such comparisons highlight areas for improvement as authorities move toward achieving their regulatory goals and stakeholders’ demands. The aims of this study were to compare the registration process and the regulatory review model of the South African Medicines Control Council (MCC) to that of four other similar-sized regulatory authorities and to identify areas for improvement that may inform recommendations to the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) as it looks to re-engineer and enhance the registration process in South Africa. Methods: A questionnaire describing the organisational structure, the registration process, good review and decision-making practices of the MCC was completed by the author (AK) for the purpose of this study and validated by the Registrar of the MCC. Similar questionnaires were also completed and validated by Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), Canada’s Health Canada, Singapore’s Health Science Authority (HSA) and Switzerland’s Swissmedic. Results: A comparison of the MCC regulatory process with the four comparative agencies indicated that they all have similar requirements and employ a full-review model although the timelines for the MCC were considerably longer. However, similar quality measures were implemented by all authorities as part of their good review practices (GRevP) including prioritising transparency, communication, continuous improvement initiatives and training. Conclusion: Comparisons made through this study provided insight into the areas of the MCC registration process that may be improved and have informed recommendations to SAHPRA including the implementation of facilitated regulatory pathways, definition of targets for key milestones in regulatory review and formal implementation and monitoring of GRevP. In order to build quality into the review process the application of a standardised template for the clinical assessment of medicines such as the Universal Methodology for Benefit-Risk Assessment (UMBRA) could be considered as well as enhancing transparency and communication through the application of an electronic management system and the development of publicly available summaries for the basis of approval.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Prevalence of disorders recorded in Cavalier King Charles Spaniels attending primary-care veterinary practices in England

Concerns have been raised over breed-related health issues in purebred dogs, but reliable prevalence estimates for disorders within specific breeds are sparse. Electronically stored patient health records from primary-care practice are emerging as a useful source of epidemiological data in companion animals. This study used large volumes of health data from UK primary-care practices participating in the VetCompass animal health surveillance project to evaluate in detail the disorders diagnosed in a random selection of over 50% of dogs recorded as Cavalier King Charles Spaniels (CKCSs). Confirmation of breed using available microchip and Kennel Club (KC) registration data was attempted

Now what? First year student teachers' reflective journal writing.

With the increasing focus for New Zealand teachers on reflective practice, initial teacher educators must take increasing responsibility in scaffolding students' critical writing, developing reflection skills for working in schools, the teacher registration process and ongoing professional learning. This article reports a study of journal writing practices of a sample of student teachers in their first year of an undergraduate degree at the University of Waikato. Of particular interest in the findings are the sophistication of the students' writing, choice of topic for each entry and the impact of feedback and support provided

American Elections: A Critical Moment for Research and Reform

The 2004 election provided important lessons regarding the performance of voting technology, about continuing problems with voter registration and provisional balloting, issues with procedures and poll site voting practices, and raised questions about the liberalization of early and absentee voting. There are a series of important issues that should be the focus of the election research and reform agenda in coming years: Developing and implementing statewide voter registration databases; Improving poll site practices; Should ballot casting be tied to geography?; Electronic voting security, integrity, and reliability; Internet registration and voting; Achieving a more open and auditable election administration process; Understanding the preferences and perceptions of the consumers of election administration products -- citizens and voters

Nursing knowledge and the expansion of day surgery in the United Kingdom

Background: The amount of surgery undertaken within United Kingdom Day Surgery Units has risen considerably over the past 15–20 years. Throughout this pioneering era, nursing roles and responsibilities within the modern surgical environment have developed although have largely shadowed medical advances. Evidence based nursing knowledge appears to have contributed very little to the recent success of day surgery. This may be due, in part, to the lack of attention given to modern surgical practices within current pre-registration nurse education programmes of study. Aim: The aim of this educational audit was to evaluate the consideration given to modern surgical practices in the programmes of study of recently qualified staff nurses employed within Day Surgery Units in the United Kingdom in order to gauge the extent of the challenge. Method: A postal audit was designed and sent to n = 247 Day Surgery Units. The audit was intended to elicit information from the staff nurses regarding their experiences of modern, elective day surgery during their nurse education programmes of study. Results: Two hundred and seventy seven staff nurses responded revealing that the level of attention to day surgery practices within pre-registration programmes was extremely low. The professions’ actual and potential theoretical contribution to modern surgical practices was virtually nil. Their experience of pre-operative nursing intervention appeared mainly to involve the teaching of traditional surgical in-patients nursing skills. The inclusion of modern surgical practices into the theoretical assignments within the programmes of study was very limited. Once qualified, the vast majority of staff nurses experienced no additional formal education for their new role. Conclusions: The results are discussed in relation to the re-focusing of pre-registration nurse education, changing clinical roles and the future of nursing within the modern surgical arena