Education and Training as Part of Health Practice

Education, training and permanent learning are essential for health manpower development

Applied Research Through Partnership: the Experience of the Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Research Observatory

Paper presented at a seminar on ‘Los Observatorios Regionales de Políticas Públicas como Herramientas de Gestión de Información: Una Aproximación al Estudio del Rendimiento Autonómico, at the Centro de Estudios de Gestión, Análisis y Información, Campus de Somosaguas, La Universidad Complutense, Madrid, 23-24 November, 2000 Ten years ago, a Regional Research Observatory (ReRO) was established to provide ‘clients’ in Yorkshire and Humberside with a single point access to a region-wide data and analysis service. The Observatory’s portfolio covered activities relating to applied research and consultancy, intelligence, education and training, publications and networking. The first part of the paper explains the concept of the Observatory as it was initially conceived as a form of partnership across all the universities in the region, outlines the structure of the organization that was created, explains the arrangements for operating the Observatory as a partnership initiative, and exemplifies the outputs and achievements during the first half of the decade. In order to facilitate its regional monitoring activities, ReRO constructed a Regional Intelligence Centre (RIC), a customised geographical information system in which to store key data sets and generate a range of statistical indicators for the region as a whole or its constituent parts. The second part of the paper explains the structure of the RIC and its contents. It argues that the main advantage that derives from the construction of such a centre is the value that is added to raw information through data handling and integration, through skilled interpretation and through the provision of new information, maybe in the form of forecasts of what is likely to happen in the future, as well as analyses of what has happened in the past. The third and final part of the paper explores some of the key issues and difficulties relating to the operation of the Observatory and considers some of the reasons that have accounted for its loss of momentum in the last few years. This has occurred over a period of increased political attention to regional administration and planning in the UK, exemplified by the creation of Scottish and Welsh Assemblies and the emergence of Regional Development Agencies and Regional Assemblies across England. A retrospective evaluation demonstrates a number of lessons that have been learnt and provides a number of useful guidelines to those attempting to establish similar structures elsewhere in the developed world

Designing an effective training process a case study at Sohar Development Office Sultanate of Oman

Sohar Development Office (SDO), in the Sultanate of Oman, has invested time and resources on administrative training. Seemingly, this study explores the extent to which the seven conditions for a training process are being implemented at SDO so as to make the training effective. It specifically examines the relationship between the seven conditions which represent the independent variables and the training process. This research employed both quantitative and qualitative techniques, a questionnaire and an in-depth interview employing items that attempt to identify the respondents‘ perceptions of training. The seven conditions are needs assessment analysis (NA), readiness for training (RT), the learning environment (LE), transfer of training (TT), evaluation plan (EP), training method (TM) and monitoring and evaluation of training (ME). Based on regression analysis, NA, RT, EP, and TM are significantly related to effective training process while LE, TT and ME are not significant, thus confirming an earlier assumption that a poor traditional training design tends to thwart innovation and change. The study finally recommends an improved training process, with an action plan to overcome the deficiencies, among them include an improved job description that defines the job in terms of its purposes, key functions, and required tasks and competences that are necessary to carry it out. The study equally proposes that future research should look into the socio-cultural factors that impact training processes in the designing of effective training programmes. The investigation equally highlights the importance of on-the-job training, as a less costly and more effective alternative to off-the-job training, technical training, and e-training in matching high-end information technological tools such as modelling, instructions, and repairs

Education and Training as Part of Health Practice

Education, training and permanent learning are essential for health manpower development

The extent of effectiveness of the training in Civil Service University Center for Training & Consultancy

Training is the process from which employees acquire the capabilities to perform their job and is an essential part of any successful business. Training is linked to employee performance and retention. In addition, employees will not reach their full potential and higher level of productivity unless adequately trained. This paper examines the extent of effectiveness of the training program in ECSUCTC. Who need to be trained, who will conduct the training, the alignment of the training with the organization strategy and its objectives, how the knowledge and skills learned will transferred to the job, how will the training be monitored and evaluated were problems that needs to be solved in this study. ECSUCTC has been working to offer a wide range of training programs covering skills and disciplines needed by public servants and leaders. In order to achieve this goal it is expected to have a highly organized and updated training program. To this end a descriptive survey method was employed to tackle the problem. Data were collected from both primary & secondary sources through questionnaires, key information, interview, and documentary analysis. Fairly representative sample were chosen from trainees, trainers, and other key stack holders. The findings revealed there were problems on need assessment mechanism and evaluating of training program. More over there were a gap on the participation of the trainees on the training plan and its implementation

The role of general and firm-specific training for new technology adoption and economic growth: a critical review

Aim of this article is to present an overview of the main economic literature focusing on the issue of how technology adoptionand the accumulation of technical skills by firms affects the aggregate performance of economic systems. Since the analysis is labour‐demand oriented, a differentiation between a ‘mainstream’ and a ‘non‐mainstream’ approach is supposed to be crucial, the first being consistent with the neoclassical paradigm of the firm and human capital, while the second with the Schumpeterian paradigm and the so called view of the firm as a ‘learning organization’. Going through the basic models, the paper argues that while the mainstream approach is primarily based on production costs analyses and the capacity of the maket and hierarchies to provide the specific skills in order for workers to deal with new technologies, non‐mainstream approaches are mainly oriented to the analysis of dynamic competition, entrepreneurial/managerial skills and within‐firm organizational learning processes that are necessary in order to cope with a changing environment