Guidelines for the implementation of workforce planning (WFP) in project-driven environments

A core activity of human resource management, facing the huge challenge of matching the staffing needs in terms of right amount of skilled workers at the right moment, so as to make the whole organization able to deliver a project within a scope, on time, and budget

Clinical simulation in Australia and New Zealand: Through the lens of an advisory group

Across Australia, innovations in simulation to enhance learning in nursing have been occurring for three decades and nursing is, and needs to be, a leading player in simulation knowledge diffusion. However, expertise is unevenly distributed across health services and education providers. Rather than build on the expertise and achievements of others, there is a tendency for resource duplication and for trial and error problem solving, in part related to a failure to communicate achievements for the benefits of the professional collective. For nursing to become a leader in the use of simulation and drive ongoing development, as well as conducting high quality research and evaluation, academics need to collaborate, aggregate best practice in simulation learning, and disseminate that knowledge to educators working in health services and higher education sectors across the whole of Australia and New Zealand. To achieve this strategic intent, capacity development principles and committed action are necessary. In mid 2010 the opportunity to bring together nurse educators with simulation learning expertise within Australia and New Zealand became a reality. The Council of Deans of Nursing and Midwifery (CDNM) Australia and New Zealand decided to establish an expert reference group to reflect on the state of Australian nursing simulation, to pool expertise and to plan ways to share best practice knowledge on simulation more widely. This paper reflects on the achievements of the first 18 months since the group's establishment and considers future directions for the enhancement of simulation learning practice, research and development in Australian nursing

A Framework For Workforce Management An Agent Based Simulation Approach

In today\u27s advanced technology world, enterprises are in a constant state of competition. As the intensity of competition increases the need to continuously improve organizational performance has never been greater. Managers at all levels must be on a constant quest for finding ways to maximize their enterprises\u27 strategic resources. Enterprises can develop sustained competitiveness only if their activities create value in unique ways. There should be an emphasis to transfer this competitiveness to the resources it has on hand and the resources it can develop to be used in this environment. The significance of human capital is even greater now, as the intangible value and the tacit knowledge of enterprises\u27 resources should be strategically managed to achieve a greater level of continuous organizational success. This research effort seeks to provide managers with means for accurate decision making for their workforce management. A framework for modeling and managing human capital to achieve effective workforce planning strategies is built to assist enterprise in their long term strategic organizational goals

Simulation in Dietetics Education: A Scoping Review of the Literature

There are not enough dietetic internship spots to meet the growing rate of DPD graduates. Dietetics educators are looking into different alternatives to provide clinical experience and one solution is the use of simulation experiences. Simulation use has been common in fields such as medicine and nursing, but the extent of its use in dietetics is currently unknown. The purpose of this scoping review was to assess any literature available on the topic of the use of simulation in dietetics education over the last ten years. A systematic literature search was conducted across ten different academic databases. Twelve articles were included in the final analysis. The results show that standardized patients are the most utilized simulation type in dietetics education, with communication and interviewing skills being the most investigated outcome. It was also found that outcomes in included studies improved with simulation use. Future research could focus on developing specific validated tools to assess interested outcomes in dietetics students and also in how simulation use could improve the development of nutrition focused physical exam (NFPE) skills in dietetics students

Exploring the Experiences and Understanding of Clinical Judgement of IENs Transitioning to Nursing Practice in Ontario

Clinical judgment is increasingly discussed in the nursing education literature as it is critical to the development of professional knowledge, and it provides a structure for the reasoning necessary for nursing practice today. It is well indicated in the literature that a significant number of novice practitioners in health care do not meet entry-to-practice expectations for clinical judgment and have difficulty transferring knowledge and theory into practice—regardless of educational preparation and credentials. Internationally Educated Nurses (IENs) are also considered novice practitioners in the Ontario health-care environment. The purpose of the study was to explore IENs’ experience and understanding of clinical judgment when engaged in a simulated clinical environment. The research question guiding the study was, What is the experience and understanding of clinical judgment of IENs when engaged in High Fidelity Patient Simulation (HFPS) and stimulated recall and reflective practice? The research employs qualitative descriptive, open-ended exploratory and interpretive methods informed by constructivism and transformative learning theories. Qualitative research seeks to understand and explain participant meaning. The participants in this study were four IENs, aged 27–37, who were attending a university academic bridging program. They participated in a) a preliminary interview to collect data regarding their demographics and information associated with their educational, clinical, and professional background; b) three interactive simulated clinical activities comprising of high-fidelity SimMan™ manikins; and c) three stimulated recall sessions followed by three focus groups. The interactive simulated activities were videotaped and stimulated recall and focus groups were audiotaped. Tanner’s Model of Clinical Judgment was used to guide this process. The thematic analysis uncovered six themes pertaining to IEN’s experience and understanding of clinical judgment: the shift from expert to novice, the need to rethink cultural competence and culturally competent care, the acknowledgement that culture and diversity are integral to understanding clinical judgment, the role of communication as a means to understanding clinical judgment, the recognition of unlearning as a way to understanding clinical judgment, and the phenomenon of unknowing as a dimension of understanding clinical judgment. The concepts of reflection-beyond-action and intercultural fluency emerged as implications for the teaching and learning of IENs

Optimising Training for Service Delivery

We study the problem of training a roster of engineers, who are scheduled to respond to service calls that require a set of skills, and where engineers and calls have different locations. Both training an engineer in a skill and sending an engineer to respond a non-local service call incur a cost. Alternatively, a local contractor can be hired. The problem consists in training engineers in skills so that the quality of service (i.e. response time) is maximised and costs are minimised. The problem is hard to solve in practice partly because (1) the value of training an engineer in one skill depends on other training decisions, (2) evaluating training decisions means evaluating the schedules that are now made possible by the new skills, and (3) these schedules must be computed over a long time horizon, otherwise training may not pay off. We show that a monolithic approach to this problem is not practical. Instead, we decompose it into three subproblems, modelled with MiniZinc. This allows us to pick the approach that works best for each subproblem (MIP or CP) and provide good solutions to the problem. Data is provided by a multinational company

Rising to the challenge: rheumatology can lead in multi-professional education and training globally in the 21st century.

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Oxford University Press via http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/rheumatology/kev430Healthcare delivery is changing, responding to needs of an ageing population with multiple long-term conditions. Safe and effective patient care in rheumatology should be delivered by a multi-professional team who understand how their roles fit individually and collectively within the team. This requires an understanding from healthcare educators and managers as to how to equip team members with the appropriate knowledge skills and behaviours, both as students and when working in clinical practice. Educational models exist that can facilitate this, and rheumatology teams in primary, community and secondary care provide an excellent opportunity to demonstrate effective team working and its impact on patient care through research and evaluation on health systems, and educational and patient outcomes

Transformational Nursing Simulation: Bringing Life to Inanimate Objects For the Purpose of Educating and Re-Igniting Passion

A transformational nursing simulation program that incorporates a holistic approach in caring for the caregiver is the focus for a Master\u27s Field Project paper. As an alternative to the construction of a generic nursing simulation center that is limited to the education of knowledge and skills, a larger vision centered in Margaret Newman\u27s nursing theory, Health as Expanding Consciousness is proposed. Business models, an incremental approach and practical suggestions are offered in support of healthcare organizations working toward a Center for Nursing Arts and Sciences in times of economic challenge

University Reporter - Volume 12, Number 06 - February 2008

This issue of the University Reporter includes articles about the recipients of the University President\u27s Public Service Award, a National Institute of Health grant to support the establishment of the HORIZON Center at UMass Boston, the University\u27s job shadow day with students from Dorchester, the new Center for Clinical Education and Research lab, the Institute for Community Inclusion\u27s partnership with UMass Medical to improve disability coverage, and other news from UMass Boston

Spletna aplikacija za optimizacijo hierarhične organizacijske strukture

Background and Purpose: In a complex strictly hierarchical organizational structure, undesired oscillations may occur, which have not yet been adequately addressed. Therefore, parameter values, which define fluctuations and transitions from one state to another, need to be optimized to prevent oscillations and to keep parameter values between lower and upper bounds. The objective was to develop a simulation model of hierarchical organizational structure as a web application to help in solving the aforementioned problem. Design/Methodology/Approach: The hierarchical structure was modeled according to the principles of System Dynamics. The problem of the undesired oscillatory behavior was addressed with deterministic finite automata, while the flow parameter values were optimized with genetic algorithms. These principles were implemented as a web application with JavaScript/ECMAScript. Results: Genetic algorithms were tested against well-known instances of problems for which the optimal analytical values were found. Deterministic finite automata was verified and validated via a three-state hierarchical organizational model, successfully preventing the oscillatory behavior of the structure. Conclusion: The results indicate that the hierarchical organizational model, genetic algorithms and deterministic finite automata have been successfully implemented with JavaScript as a web application that can be used on mobile devices. The objective of the paper was to optimize the flow parameter values in the hierarchical organizational model with genetic algorithms and finite automata. The web application was successfully used on a three-state hierarchical organizational structure, where the optimal flow parameter values were determined and undesired oscillatory behavior was prevented. Therefore, we have provided a decision support system for determination of quality restructuring strategies.Ozadje in namen: V kompleksnih striktnih hierarhičnih organizacijskih strukturah se lahko pojavijo neželene oscilacije stanj, kar do sedaj še ni bilo zadovoljivo naslovljeno. Da preprečimo neželene oscilacije je potrebno optimirati vrednosti parametrov, ki določajo prehode med stanji strukture in fluktuacije iz stanj. Hkrati je potrebno obdržati vrednosti parametrov znotraj določenih meja. Cilj je bil razviti simulacijski model hierarhične organizacijske strukture v obliki spletne aplikacije, ki bi pomagal pri reševanju prej omenjenega problema. Metodologija: Hierarhična struktura je bila modelirana po principih sistemske dinamike. Problem neželenih oscilacij je bil naslovljen z uporabo determinističnega končnega avtomata, medtem ko smo vrednosti parametrov pretoka optimirali z genetskimi algoritmi. Vsi omenjeni pristopi so bili implementirani kot spletna aplikacija z JavaScript/ECMAScript programskim jezikom. Rezultati: Genetski algoritmi so bili testirani na znanih problemskih instancah za katere so znane optimalne analitične rešitve. Deterministični končni avtomat je bil verificiran in validiran na hierarhičnem organizacijskem modelu s tremi stanji, kjer smo z njegovo uporabo uspeli preprečiti oscilacije v organizacijski strukturi. Zaključek: Rezultati nakazujejo, da smo uspešno implementirali hierarhični organizacijski model, genetske algoritme in deterministični končni avtomat z JavaScript programskim jezikom v obliki spletne aplikacije, ki se lahko uporablja na mobilnih napravah. Razvito spletno aplikacijo smo uspešno uporabili na hierarhičnem organizacijski strukturi s tremi stanji, kjer smo določili optimalne parametre pretoka in fluktuacij ter preprečili neželene oscilacije stanj. S tem smo zagotovili sistem za podporo odločanju, ki omogoča določanje kakovostnih strategij za prestrukturiranje organizacij