Green IS Research: A Modernity Perspective

Over the past two decades, the information systems community has become engaged in improving the environmental effects of information systems and technologies, which has given rise to the green IS field. Despite increasing interest, some have suggested that progress toward meaningful solutions for sustainability has been too slow. Responding to these concerns, we examine the development of green IS research using the modernity perspective to understand green IS’s evolution and to present alternative perspectives to motivate future research. From a sample of over 80 green IS papers published over a 15-year period, we identify four main patterns of modernity that are manifest in green IS research. These patterns include the importance of the individual in solving environmental problems; science as the main source of solutions; and the emergence of an artificial science approach, reliance on technology, and growth as businesses’ ultimate goals. Further, our analysis reveals that green IS research has started to demonstrate elements of a hyper-modernity perspective that emphasizes reflexivity. We argue that future green IS research should continue on this path and propose a conceptual framework inspired by hyper-modernity and centered on reflexivity that could serve as a guide for future research

An Action Design Research Study on Responsible Innovation Teaching and Training for Information Systems Students

While information systems organizations recognize the importance of incorporating responsible innovation into their activities, they often face difficulty implementing this practice because employees lack the required knowledge and skills, particularly the capacity for reflexivity and reflection. This paper aims to accelerate responsible innovation teaching and training for information systems students to expedite the process of positive change for sustainability. Using the action design research methodology and the responsible innovation lens, we developed a workshop enabling information systems students to form measurable reflection skills. The workshop evaluation suggests that learning took place and that students are willing to adopt responsible innovation in their future workplaces. A set of design guidelines is proposed to guide further training programs to enhance students’ ability to address complex challenges responsibly. This paper answers the call for more impactful information systems research to address societal and environmental challenges and enriches the literature on sustainable social development and business practices

Exploratory study of Responsible Innovation: Toward a Holistic Approach to Sustainability

The Information Systems (IS) community has been called to address the important challenge of sustainable development, but progress continues to be slow. Elsewhere, responsible innovation (RI) has emerged as a framework to support the integration of sustainability considerations into the innovation process. The aim of this paper is to explore how organizations operationalize the main RI principles – anticipation, inclusion, responsiveness, and reflexivity. Based on a qualitative exploratory study, this paper develops insights into practices taken by organizations to address sustainability issues through their IS innovation processes. Our findings suggest that organizations operationalize RI principles highly or partially under the influence of five factors. A new understanding of the RI principles operationalization and its applicability to IS innovations is developed, which can serve to direct further research and guide organizations aiming to enhance their sustainability performance

Medical Student POCUS Peer-to-Peer Teaching: Ready for Mainstream

Background: Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) is changing the face of clinical practice and medical education. Worldwide consensus based on expert opinion has advocated for POCUS teaching in undergraduate medical school curricula. Significant barriers, including lack of available instructors and limited resources, prevents medical learners from acquiring core competencies at most institutions. Here, we describe a peer-to-peer learning POCUS workshop and advocate for the use of this type of training to meet the demands of POCUS learning. Methods: A two-day POCUS workshop was held in Toronto, Ontario with twenty-six medical student participants. The workshop was structured according to a graduated model of POCUS skill development, beginning with didactic teaching, then progressing to hands-on peer-to-peer teaching, and finishing with competency evaluation by POCUS experts. Participants completed pre-and post-workshop surveys regarding prior POCUS teaching and exposure, self-reported skill development, and feedback on the workshop itself. Results: Of the 20 respondents to the questionnaire, 70% had prior POCUS exposure, with 85% of these individuals having less than 5 hours of prior POCUS education. Eighty-five percent of students reported that the organization of the course allowed them to participate fully, and 95% of participants indicated that peer-to-peer learning was effective. Conclusion: These findings suggest that peer-to-peer POCUS teaching is an effective learning method to acquire and consolidate well-established POCUS competencies. This initiative is scalable and could be applied to all learners in various disciplines. As such, we recommend medical schools consider integration of peer-to-peer POCUS teaching into longitudinal clerkship training programs, and transition-to-residency courses

Factors affecting tuberculosis health message recall 2 years after active case finding in Blantyre, Malawi.

SETTING: Urban slums, Blantyre, Malawi. OBJECTIVE: To explore tuberculosis (TB) community-wide active case finding (cwACF) recall and accompanying messaging 2 years after the intervention. DESIGN: This mixed-methods study used population-weighted random cluster sampling to select three cwACF-receiving and three non-cwACF-receiving neighbourhoods in Blantyre. Qualitative data were collected using 12 focus group discussions (community peer-group members) and five in-depth interviews (TB officers) with script guides based on the concepts of the Health Belief Model (HBM). Thematic analysis was used to explore transcripts employing deductive coding. Questionnaires completed by focus group participants were used to collect quantitative data, providing a 'knowledge score' evaluated through univariate/multivariate analysis, analysis of variance and multiple linear regression. RESULTS: Community peer-group participants (n = 118) retained high awareness and positive opinions of cwACF and recognised the relationship between early diagnosis and reduced transmission, considering cwACF to have prompted subsequent health-seeking behaviour. TB-affected individuals (personal/family: 47.5%) had significantly higher knowledge scores than unaffected individuals (P = 0.039), but only if resident in cwACF-receiving neighbourhoods (P = 0.005 vs. P = 0.582), implying effect modification between exposures, albeit statistically under-powered (P = 0.229). CONCLUSION: Consistent with epidemiological evidence and HBM theory, cwACF may have a permanent impact on knowledge and behaviour, particularly in communities with a high prevalence of TB-affected individuals. Behaviour change strategies should be explicitly included in cwACF planning and evaluation

Tuberculosis screening in high human immunodeficiency virus prevalence settings: turning promise into reality.

Twenty years of sky-high tuberculosis (TB) incidence rates and high TB mortality in high human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevalence countries have so far not been matched by the same magnitude or breadth of responses as seen in malaria or HIV programmes. Instead, recommendations have been narrowly focused on people presenting to health facilities for investigation of TB symptoms, or for HIV testing and care. However, despite the recent major investment and scale-up of TB and HIV services, undiagnosed TB remains highly prevalent at community level, implying that diagnosis of TB remains slow and incomplete. This maintains high transmission rates and exposes people living with HIV to high rates of morbidity and mortality. More intensive use of TB screening, with broader definitions of target populations, expanded indications for screening both inside and outside of health facilities, and appropriate selection of new diagnostic tools, offers the prospect of rapidly improving population-level control of TB. Diagnostic accuracy of suitable (high throughput) algorithms remains the major barrier to realising this goal. In the present study, we review the evidence available to guide expanded TB screening in HIV-prevalent settings, ideally through combined TB-HIV interventions that provide screening for both TB and HIV, and maximise entry to HIV and TB care and prevention. Ideally, we would systematically test, treat and prevent TB and HIV comprehensively, offering both TB and HIV screening to all health facility attendees, TB households and all adults in the highest risk communities. However, we are still held back by inadequate diagnostics, financing and paucity of population-impact data. Relevant contemporary research showing the high need for potential gains, and pitfalls from expanded and intensified TB screening in high HIV prevalence settings are discussed in this review

Keeping health facilities safe: one way of strengthening the interaction between disease-specific programmes and health systems.

The debate on the interaction between disease-specific programmes and health system strengthening in the last few years has intensified as experts seek to tease out common ground and find solutions and synergies to bridge the divide. Unfortunately, the debate continues to be largely academic and devoid of specificity, resulting in the issues being irrelevant to health care workers on the ground. Taking the theme 'What would entice HIV- and tuberculosis (TB)-programme managers to sit around the table on a Monday morning with health system experts', this viewpoint focuses on infection control and health facility safety as an important and highly relevant practical topic for both disease-specific programmes and health system strengthening. Our attentions, and the examples and lessons we draw on, are largely aimed at sub-Saharan Africa where the great burden of TB and HIV ⁄ AIDS resides, although the principles we outline would apply to other parts of the world as well. Health care infections, caused for example by poor hand hygiene, inadequate testing of donated blood, unsafe disposal of needles and syringes, poorly sterilized medical and surgical equipment and lack of adequate airborne infection control procedures, are responsible for a considerable burden of illness amongst patients and health care personnel, especially in resource-poor countries. Effective infection control in a district hospital requires that all the components of a health system function well: governance and stewardship, financing,infrastructure, procurement and supply chain management, human resources, health information systems, service delivery and finally supervision. We argue in this article that proper attention to infection control and an emphasis on safe health facilities is a concrete first step towards strengthening the interaction between disease-specific programmes and health systems where it really matters – for patients who are sick and for the health care workforce who provide the care and treatment

Dor musculoesquelética na atenção primária à saúde em uma cidade do Vale do Mucuri, nordeste de Minas Gerais

Musculoskeletal pain is a public health problem due to its high prevalence, high cost and negative impact on the quality of life of patients and their relatives. Musculoskeletal pain is an important clinical feature in the context of the primary health care. Thus, the aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain as the reason for seeking medical assistance in primary health care in the town of Serra dos Aimores, located in the Northeastern region of the state of Minas Gerais, in the Mucuri Valley, Brazil in an attempt to correlate such clinical picture to gender and age variables. Among all the clinical diagnoses, musculoskeletal pain was the most prevalent reason for seeking medical assistance in a total of 1,306 investigated patients, being found in 139 of them (10.64%). The statistical analysis of the data found a significant association between male gender and the presence of musculoskeletal pain. Regarding the age variable, the frequency of musculoskeletal pain increased with age. However, there was no statistically significant difference when the groups, divided according to age range, were compared. Such findings reinforce the importance of the evaluation and treatment of musculoskeletal pain by the primary health care staff. Special importance must be given to specific populations such as the elderly. Moreover, the differences related to gender must also be taken into account.A dor musculoesquelética é um problema de saúde pública, devido à sua alta prevalência, alto custo e impacto negativo que pode causar na qualidade de vida dos pacientes e também de seus familiares. A dor musculoesquelética é um quadro clínico importante no atendimento aos pacientes da atenção primária à saúde. Assim, o objetivo do presente estudo foi investigar a freqüência de dor musculoesquelética como razão para consulta médica na atenção primária à saúde, na cidade de Serra dos Aimorés, localizada na região nordeste do estado de Minas Gerais, no Vale do Mucuri, Brasil, e tentar correlacionar tal quadro clínico às variáveis de gênero e idade. Dentre todas as queixas clínicas referidas como razão para consulta médica, a dor musculoesquelética foi a mais prevalente entre os 1.306 pacientes investigados, sendo encontrada em 139 deles (10,64%). A análise estatística dos dados encontrou associação significante entre gênero masculino e presença de queixa de dor musculoesquelética. Em relação à faixa etária, pôde-se observar um aumento na freqüência de queixa de dor musculoesquelética, conforme a idade avançava. No entanto, não foi encontrada diferença estatisticamente significante, quando a população, dividida por faixa etária, foi analisada. Tais achados reforçam a importância de adequada avaliação e tratamento dos quadros de dor musculoesquelética pelas equipes da atenção primária à saúde. Importância especial deve ser dada a algumas populações específicas, como os idosos. Ademais, há que se atentar também para a diferença existente entre pacientes do sexo masculino e feminino

Early empirical TB treatment in HIV-positive patients admitted to hospital in South Africa: an observational cohort study

Background: Empirical TB treatment in HIV-positive inpatients is common and may undermine the impact of new diagnostics. We sought to describe empirical TB treatment and compare characteristics and outcomes with patients treated for TB after screening. Methods: Retrospective observational cohort study of HIV-positive inpatients treated empirically for TB prior to TB screening. Data on clinical characteristics, investigations and outcomes were collected from medical records. Comparison cohorts with microbiologically-confirmed or empirical TB treatment after TB screening with Xpert MTB/RIF and urine lipoarabinomannan assays were taken from South African STAMP trial site. In-hospital mortality was compared using a competing-risks analysis adjusted for age, sex and CD4 count. Results: Between January 2016 and September 2017, 100 patients excluded from STAMP were treated for TB empirically prior to TB screening. After enrolment in STAMP and TB screening, 240/1177 (20.4%) patients received TB treatment, of whom 123 had positive TB tests and 117 were treated empirically. Characteristics were similar among early empirically treated patients and those treated after TB screening. 50% of early empirical TB treatment was based on radiological investigations, 22% on cerebrospinal or pleural fluid testing, and 28% on clinical features alone. Only 11/100 empirically treated patients had subsequent microbiological confirmation. In-hospital mortality was lower in patients with microbiologically-confirmed TB compared to those treated empirically (adjusted sub-distribution HR 0.5, 95% CI 0.3-0.9). Conclusions: Empirical TB treatment remains common in severely ill HIV-positive inpatients. These patients may benefit from TB screening using existing rapid diagnostics, both to improve confirmation of TB disease and reduce over-treatment for TB