Work-Life Balance Best Practices

Poor balance between workplace and family life has been shown to increase stress and impact emotional well-being. Nurses continue to report burnout and high stress levels from time spent in the workplace which contributes to an inability to balance work with life. The gap in nursing practice leadership is the lack of knowledge and tools for supporting the emotional well-being of managers and direct care nursing staff. The purpose of this systematic review was to compile a summary of rigorous evidence-based literature on programs and strategies that nursing leaders can use to provide support in achieving work-life balance for nursing staff. Guided by Cooper’s seven step process for research synthesis, a total of 18 articles were chosen that pertained to key elements of sustaining balance between the workplace and personal life. Evidence-based options that make a difference include flexible staffing, stress management programs, and personal health and wellness programs. There is evidence these activities are valuable in maintaining optimal productivity and retention. Improving the autonomy and support perceived by nurses while eliminating pressures such as increased productivity and higher workloads can improve the nursing experience, ultimately improving patient experience and outcomes. This information can be used by nurse leaders to create and implement strategies to support the nursing workforce and ultimately decrease the turnover and the loss of experienced nurses from the profession. This project facilitates positive social change by contributing to a supportive work environment that allows nurses to provide quality patient care

Electrochemical AFM : understanding the electromaterial-cellular interface

Organic conducting polymers are emerging as an exciting new class of biomaterial that can be used to enhance and control the growth of mammalian cells for tissue regeneration and engineering application

Examining organizational learning in schools: The role of psychological safety, experimentation, and leadership that reinforces learning

This study draws upon theory and methods from the field of organizational behavior to examine organizational learning (OL) in the context of a large urban U.S. school district. We build upon prior literature on OL from the field of organizational behavior to introduce and validate three subscales that assess key dimensions of organizational learning that build upon and extend prior education research: psychological safety, experimentation, and leadership that reinforces learning. Data from 941 teachers across 60 schools in this urban district suggest that organizational learning is an underlying condition which is expressed by teacher perceptions of subfactors of psychological safety, experimentation, and leadership that reinforces learning. Implications for adopting the conceptual framework and methods employed in this research for studying organizational learning and school change are discussed

Health care disparities for incarcerated adults after a suicide attempt

OBJECTIVE: Incarcerated adults have high rates of fatal and nonfatal suicidal behaviors. Suicide prevention recommendations stress the need for the provision of health care for incarcerated adults after suicide attempts, yet prison policies and practices often focus instead on punitive responses to suicidal behaviors. Existing research is limited regarding factors that predict the provision of health care to incarcerated adults post-suicide attempt. The current study examined individual, incident, and institutional factors as predictors of health care to incarcerated adults post-suicide attempt. METHOD: We used data from critical incidents reports for suicide attempts (NÂ =Â 495) to conduct mixed-effects logistical regression models. RESULTS: Staff responded to suicide attempts by placing incarcerated adults under direct observation (with no care) or in segregation at odds two and three times higher than of providing health care, particularly in prisons for men. Race was a significant factor; incidents involving Black men were less likely than incidents involving white men to include staff requesting health care, and incidents involving Black women were less likely than incidents involving white women to include requesting and providing health care. CONCLUSIONS: This study's findings highlight factors predicting health care responses to suicide attempts and the need to address and prevent health care disparities in prisons

The Transfer of Knowledge from Large Organizations to Small: Experiences from a Research Project on Digitization in Wales

Περιέχει το πλήρες κείμενοThis paper describes a research project being undertaken for a Masters of Philosophy degree which investigates how knowledge can be transferred from large organizations to small ones. The area being investigated involves the digitization of photographic collections held by cultural memory institutions in Wales. The researcher has spent time learning about digitization and digitizing two collections at the National Library of Wales. From this a toolkit has been developed and is being tested by digitizing a small archive of photographs at the Centre for Performance Research at Aberystwyth University. The research is being funded by the Knowledge Economy Skills Scholarship (KESS) programme, which aims to build knowledge and skills in the ‘convergence’ area of Wales. Supervision is being carried out by academic staff at Aberystwyth University

Threshold values for the protection of marine ecosystems from NORM in subsea oil and gas infrastructure

Acknowledgements The authors thank Professor Claus Otto (Curtin University) and Professor Richard Neilson (National Decommissioning Centre, Aberdeen, UK.) for comments and support to the project team; and, Sam Jarvis (National Environment Resources Australia), Professor Peter Macreadie, Dr Rick Tinker, and the industry partners of the National Decommissioning Research Initiative for helpful comments to this project. Funding This research was funded by the Australian Government’s Industry Growth Centre National Energy Resources Australia (NERA) through a National Decommissioning Research Initiative (NDRI) grant to Curtin University. The NDRI project was funded by eight industry partners including Shell Australia, Esso Australia, Chevron Australia, BHP Petroleum, Woodside Energy, Santos Limited, ConocoPhillips Pipeline Australia, and Vermilion Oil and Gas Australia. AH is partly funded by the National Decommissioning Centre, Scotland, and the University of Aberdeen.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Estimating the Population Benefits of Blood Pressure Lowering: A Wide-Angled Mendelian Randomization Study in UK Biobank.

Background The causal relevance of elevated blood pressure for several cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) is uncertain, as is the population impact of blood pressure lowering. This study systematically assesses evidence of causality for various CVDs in a 2-sample Mendelian randomization framework, and estimates the potential reduction in the prevalence of these diseases attributable to long-term population shifts in the distribution of systolic blood pressure (SBP). Methods and Results We investigated associations of genetically predicted SBP as predicted by 256 genetic variants with 21 CVDs in UK Biobank, a population-based cohort of UK residents. The sample consisted of 376 703 participants of European ancestry, aged 40 to 69 years at recruitment. Genetically predicted SBP was positively associated with 14 of the outcomes (P<0.002), including dilated cardiomyopathy, endocarditis, peripheral vascular disease, and rheumatic heart disease. Using genetic variation to estimate the long-term impact of blood pressure lowering on disease in a middle-aged to early late-aged UK-based population, population reductions in SBP were predicted to result in an overall 16.9% (95% CI, 12.2%-21.3%) decrease in morbidity for a 5-mm Hg decrease from a population mean of 137.7 mm Hg, 30.8% (95% CI, 22.8%-38.0%) decrease for a 10-mm Hg decrease, and 56.2% (95% CI, 43.7%-65.9%) decrease for a 22.7-mm Hg decrease in SBP (22.7 mm Hg represents a shift from the current mean SBP to 115 mm Hg). Conclusions Risk of many CVDs is influenced by long-term differences in SBP. The burden of a broad range of CVDs could be substantially reduced by long-term population-wide reductions in the distribution of blood pressure