SURFACE WARFARE OFFICER SCHOOL 360-DEGREE ASSESSMENT TOOL: EVALUATION OF THE CURRENT PROGRAM FOR SURFACE WARFARE OFFICERS

The Surface Warfare Officer School Command’s (SWOSCOM) current 360-degree feedback assessment was constructed using a civilian commercial off-the-shelf product and has not undergone a rigorous review since its creation in 2008. Some of the current assessment’s focus areas are not germane to the Surface Warfare Community and have been found to be limited in fully measuring a Naval Surface Warfare Officer’s (SWO) leadership through this and previous studies. This thesis examines potential modifications to significantly improve the assessment to better measure and support the SWO community. The research identified the relevance of existing questions to provide feedback on skills and behaviors that affect leadership performance. Using data collected from SWOSCOM consisting of 100 individual redacted feedback reports, an analysis of variance to determine distinctiveness in perspectives of self, bosses, peers, and subordinates regarding early-career SWOs was conducted. Machine learning techniques were applied to identify skills that might be more effective at providing valuable feedback to young officers. This research provides SWOSCOM with specific areas to target and revise in the current assessment by removing or modifying questions that contribute relatively little to the overall assessment and replacing them with questions that are more tailored to the skills and abilities necessary for a SWO and the community to develop a competitive advantage.Surface Warfare Officer SchoolLieutenant, United States NavyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Assessment of China's evaluation standard for green building : a sustainability perspective

China is facing multiple challenges of environmental degradation, resource scarcity, and rapid urbanization. The challenges along with people's needs to improve living condition force China to value the importance of developing green buildings. In 2006 the first national green building assessment tool -­‐ Evaluation Standard for Green Building (GBS) was released and widely implemented soon after. At the same time, the notion of sustainability is increasingly discussed by green building researchers and practitioners globally. There is a trend of transformation from environmentally friendly or energy efficient building to sustainable building. However, studies on the sustainability performance of GBS are still absent. This paper strives to make a comprehensive methodological assessment of GBS from sustainability perspective, to provide a picture of GBS's distance to the principles of sustainability, its advantages and limitations. The methodological framework of PICABUE developed by Mitchell et al. (1995) is applied as the guidance of analysis. Some suggestions are offered for the standard makers at the moment GBS is being revised for the second version

Developing a culture of evaluation and research

Increasingly, organisations are expected to demonstrate, and document, the differences their services are making for children, families and communities (McCoy, Rose, & Connolly, 2013; 2014). Evaluation and research helps to respond to this demand. Evidence gained through these activities helps to identify whether programs have achieved what was intended and enables organisations to be transparent and accountable. To develop effective evaluation and research functions, organisations needs a strong culture of evaluation and research; a culture in which evidence is deliberately sought in order to better implement and deliver programs. Without such a culture any efforts to build effective evaluation and research activities will be undermined (Mayne, 2010). This paper is a guide to developing a culture of evaluation and research. It reviews what an evaluation and research culture is, and explores the actions that can be taken to develop and sustain a culture of evaluation and research

Decreasing Falls on a Locked Inpatient Psychiatric Unit

Purpose: The purpose of this project was to implement an RN nursing staff education on the fall risk assessment tool in effort to decrease falls on one adult locked inpatient psychiatric unit. The assumption was that an educational review of the fall risk variables for inpatient psychiatric patients and subsequent initiation of a fall risk care plan would lead to decreased falls. Background: A fall can be defined as a sudden unintentional change in position causing an individual to descend to a lower level or onto an object, the floor or ground, or another surface with or without injury. Review of over 24,000 fatal falls has shown a cost of over $3 billion in healthcare for medically treated nonfatal falls with injuries. Incidentally, fall rates are higher among women than men. Method: The Eight “A”s EBP model was used for this project. Unit setting: One adult locked inpatient psychiatric unit. Participants: Assigned RNs on the unit. Intervention: Education of fall risk factors and the fall risk assessment tool. This education was conducted on each of three shifts. The education included review of fall risk assessment tool and fall risk factors. Outcome measure: Number of falls on the adult locked inpatient psychiatric unit. Result: Three months post intervention, there were fewer falls after the education on fall risk factors and the fall risk assessment tool. Evaluation: Several factors may have impacted these results. The RNs were knowledgeable of the falls on their unit. During the educational time, the unit also had COVID patients and short staffing due to some RNs being out on leave. The reduction in falls may be attributed to a heightened awareness of the importance of assessing falls and subsequently implementing the fall risk plan of care after this educational program was discussed on the unit. Implications for Clinical Practice: Repeating this educational process in six months may help evaluate whether a second educational intervention on the fall risk assessment tool will continue the downward trend in falls on this locked inpatient psychiatric unit. Keywords: falls, fall risk, fall risk assessment tools, falls in psychiatr

Organizational Improvement Readiness Assessment (OIRA) Tool Evaluation

Background: Research shows that despite an increase in the number of organizational improvement initiatives there is a lack of consistent, sustained outcomes. Organizations struggle with how to reliably and accurately measure their readiness to drive and sustain outcomes. A search of the literature failed to identify a comprehensive, evidence-based tool that has been developed or evaluated to assess organizational improvement readiness. The objective of this project was to evaluate a newly developed Organizational Improvement Readiness Assessment (OIRA) Tool. Project Design: Guided by two theoretical models, Delphi-Based Systems Architecting Framework (DB-SAF) and the Rogers Diffusion of Innovation Model, a 3-round, modified Delphi nominal group method was utilized. An evaluation panel of 13 organizational improvement subject matter experts (SMEs) was recruited, with 11 SMEs completing all 3 evaluation rounds. The relevancy and clarity of the OIRA Tool competencies was evaluated using an item-level content validity index (I-CVI) and a scale-level content validity index (S-CVI). Additionally, the tool was evaluated from a usability perspective using Google Analytics. Results: The OIRA Tool was found to be clear, understandable, and relevant for organizations evaluating their readiness to drive and sustain outcomes improvements (S-CVI index of 0.92 and I-CVI indices ranging from 0.82 to 1.0). The final version of the tool included 22 competencies, modified based on expert consensus from the original 25. Usability test results confirmed the OIRA Tool, a web-based tool, is easy to use and well designed as measured by exit rates (15.44%), bounce rates (51.81%), and conversion rates (14%), all of which were significantly better than industry benchmarks. Recommendations and Conclusions: Results of this project provide evidence of the content validity and usability of the OIRA Tool. The tool has the potential to help healthcare organizations assess their readiness to sustain organizational improvements and to identify gaps in leadership and culture, processes, technologies, and standards. The OIRA Tool provides the foundation for future analytics modeling and additional studies to test the theory and the advancement of outcomes improvement science

OB GYN Posters - 2019

OB GYN Posters - 2019https://scholarlycommons.libraryinfo.bhs.org/research_education/1008/thumbnail.jp

Implementing the Timed Up and Go Test to Prevent Falls

Falls are the most reported injury within the geriatric population. Behavioral health patients have the most injurious falls, with falls impacting multiple things such as staffing, cost, injury, and quality of life for the patient (Ocker et al., 2020). Currently, the standardized fall assessment for new patients upon admission is the Morse Fall Scale (MFS). This fall assessment was intended to assess the level of fall risk for patients who are on an acute medical floor during their hospital stay. The Timed Up and Go test (TUG) is a fall assessment that has been used in geriatric patients to assess their level of fall risk but has not been specifically used in a psychiatric geriatric setting to determine if the assessment tool would be more suitable than the MFS. The purpose of this project is to determine if the TUG is a more appropriate tool to aid in identifying fall risk amongst the inpatient psychiatric geriatric population in addition to using the MFS. After the demonstration, education, and implementation of the TUG test by nurses, a survey was conducted with the nurse to determine if the TUG test would be beneficial to use in the mental health geriatric unit. The survey suggests that 20 nurses (95.24%) think that the screening tool is effective in identifying falls. There are 2 nurses (9.52%) that believe the TUG screening tool can be used independently when screening for falls. Twenty-one nurses (100%) reported that one of the benefits of the TUG screening was that it is directly aimed at the geriatric population. Sixteen nurses (80%) reported the benefit of having an extra tool to assess patients for falls upon arrival. Fifteen nurses (71.42%) reported that one of the biggest challenges is the decreased length of hospital stay, so the tool is not used often related to longer hospitalizations. Twenty nurses (95.24%) reported that the TUG screening tool is easy to follow and comprehend, and 21 nurses (100%) reported that the screening tool is time efficient while doing an admission or assessing a patient post-fall. If the nurses continue to use the TUG test on the unit, there could be data collected from the fall rates that sshowimprovement in patients’ falls

What works in work with violent offenders: An overview.

SOMEC is a two-year project running from January 2013 to January 2015 investigating current processes for information exchange and procedures to manage the harm posed by serious violent or sexual offenders travelling across the European Union. SOMEC is co-funded by the European Commission Directorate-General for Home Affairs - HOME/2011/AG/4000002521 30-CE-0519712/00-87. SOMEC Partners, Beneficiary Partners: National Offender Management Service (UK), The Home Office (UK) Association of Chief Police Officers (UK), ACPO Criminal Records Office (UK), National Crime Agency (UK), London Probation Trust (UK), De Montfort University (UK), CEP- Confederation of European Probation (EU), Department of Justice (Prison and Probation) Catalonia (ES), Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice (NL), Latvian State Probation Service (LV), Latvian State Police (LV). Associate Partners: The Ministry of Interior, Macedonia (MA), Probation Chiefs Association (UK), The Scottish Government (UK), The Police Service Northern Ireland (UK), Probation Board for Northern Ireland (UK), Europol (EU), Eurojust (EU).This short overview captures key themes and findings about the effective assessment and management of violent offenders. It is not exhaustive but has attempted to be wide ranging. The overview concentrates on recent papers after 2007, but utilises earlier work if it is seen as relevant. The review has not used a systematic literature review methodology due to constraints of time and resources. This is also a very broad field of study and the review touches on key areas but recognises that further work is needed. A key word search1 of the following data bases/search engines was used: De Montfort and Birmingham University Websites. Further literature was pursued on a thematic basis following this initial search. The review is dominated by studies from Anglophone countries although sources from Europe have also been included when published in English

Predoctoral Dental Student Evaluation of American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry’s Caries‐Risk Assessment Tool

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/153756/1/jddj002203372006703tb04085x.pd

Promoting Safety and Aging in Place in Tacoma and the Surrounding Area

The majority of older adults would like to “age in place” by continuing to live in their homes as long as possible. Barriers that can prevent aging in place include normal age-related changes and falls, which can result in injury requiring hospitalization or long-term care. However, fall risk can be reduced with home modifications that increase the safety and accessibility of the home. Unfortunately, these modifications can be costly and often are paid out of pocket. Older adults do not always have the financial means to pay for home modifications, even when they could increase the safety within their home. The purpose of this project was to provide an educational manual for staff at Rebuilding Together South Sound (RTSS), an organization that provides free home modifications and repairs to individuals in need within the local community. The manual serves as a tool by providing staff information from safety evaluations completed on homes previously served by RTSS. This manual includes sections on age-related changes, common safety hazards discovered in the home, and recommendations for adapting the home to promote aging in place. Brochures are included to be distributed to homeowners and expand their knowledge on the ability to age in place through improved home safety. RTSS staff found the manual to be an effective resource for information to better serve clientele and to identify ways to improve the safety within their homes