A Case Study Exploring the Role of Faculty in Providing Academic Support to First- and Second-Year Medical Students

The purpose of this instrumental case study is to understand what role faculty play in providing academic support to first- and second-year medical students at an osteopathic medical college in the United States. Academic support is defined as instructional methods or educational services provided to students in an effort to help them meet learning standards, The theory guiding this study is andragogy, developed by Malcolm Knowles (1913- 1997), as faculty’s beliefs about the needs of adult learners may affect how they provide academic support to students demonstrating poor academic performance. One central question and three sub-questions guided this study. The central research question for this study is: How do faculty provide academic support to first- and second-year medical students? Participants included six faculty and six students from the research site who met selection criteria. The researcher explored the phenomenon of interest using individual interviews, a group interview, and observations. Data analysis included reading and memoing, detailed descriptions, emergent coding, classification and development of themes, interpretation, naturalistic generalizations, representation of data, and member checking. An analysis of the data revealed three themes: responsibility, willingness, and effectiveness. The major finding of this study was that the academic support provided by faculty to first- and second-year medical students was extremely complex. A multitude of factors influenced the provision and access to academic support, some which were previously found by research and others not. Further research is recommended on the academic supports provided in medical education to aid policymakers, administrators and faculty in designing effective academic support initiatives

Living Values through the Center for Social Justice and Public Service

According to a 2012 American Bar Association study, at least 40 percent of low- and moderate-income households experience a legal problem each year. Yet studies show that the collective legal aid effort is meeting only about 20 percent of the legal needs of low-income people.1 Unlike defendants in criminal cases, low-income parties in most civil proceedings have no right to appointed counsel.2Low-income parties’ legal needs often go unmet when potential litigants are without resources to hire an attorney. The Santa Clara Law Center for Social Justice and Public Service tries to address this justice gap in many ways, but especially by educating students to work with underserved communities and facilitating avenues for students to engage in public service work, thus increasing available representation to marginalized, subordinated, and underrepresented clients and causes. Although the responsibility to help others is universal, the call has a meaning that is inextricably tied to the admonishment in Leviticus 25:35, “uphold him”—we are to help others. Santa Clara School of Law’s commitment to educating lawyers of “conscience, competence, and compassion” highlights Jesuit, Christian values, which are also Jewish values.

Developing Urban Deer Management Plans: The Need for Public Education

Independent public opinion surveys concerning urban deer (Odocoileus virginianus) management were conducted in two Virginia communities. A total of 346 citizens were interviewed in two Random Digit Dial telephone surveys. In addition to questions concerning management techniques and their administration, participants were asked about their experience with deer, their awareness of problems with deer in the area, and their enjoyment of deer. In both localities, non-lethal controls were preferred over lethal controls; trapping and relocation, fencing, repellents, and birth control measures were favored by a majority of residents. The only lethal control acceptable to residents in both communities was the use of controlled hunts. There was no consensus about who should administer deer management or who should be fiscally responsible. Those aware of deer problems are less likely to report enjoying having deer in the area. Preferences for non-lethal controls and lack of consensus on responsibility for deer management demonstrate the need for public education concerning the costs, consequences, and accountability for deer control. Survey results regarding citizens’ preferences for various management practices demonstrate the challenges wildlife professionals face in assisting communities in developing deer management plans. Wildlife professionals saddled with managing human-wildlife conflicts need to recognize that part of their role is educating the public about the ecology of the animal(s), management techniques, and their implications. As experience with deer problem increases, citizens are likely to enjoy deer less and become increasingly interested in deer management

Eudaimonic flourishment through healthcare system participation in annotating electronic health records

We have suggested elsewhere that technology, systems, and services designed for human use in pursuing the “good life” should consider states of eudaimonic flourishing as well as hedonic pleasure as design goals, along with traditional ergonomic factors. Here we consider how eudaimonic systemic design principles can be applied to the design challenge of creating a personal health record (PHR) system that can be owned and managed by the person the record is about. We develop an idea of a record that links the person's self‐reported experience of eudaimonic flourishing to electronic medical records of a system's perspective on that person's health. The idea is to create a record for guiding salutogenesis despite a complex chronic care condition that is episodically disabling like incurable chronic pain. Using the concept of nourishment as an analogy, we advance the concept of flourishment. We define a systemic design framework for a PHR domain that can host a personal record of eudaimonic flourishment and engaged resilience (a PREFER domain). That domain needs to track personally experienced consequences of the outputs of specific healthcare system services in terms of their impact in driving a virtuous cycle of flourishment. We take the position that eudaimonic flourishing is essentially a sense‐making process, and discuss the overlap between the concepts of well‐being and of eudaimonic flourishing. (217)

Creating Interactive Facilities Management Capabilities through Building Information Modelling as a tool for Managing the Irish Public Sector Estates

The Irish Government manages estates that are faced with increased pressure on their greenhouse gas emissions, as well as, poorly managed assets that leave it increasingly difficult for an effective Facilities Management (FM) process to be operated. The FM processes represents the most costly stage in the life-cycle of a building and must now take priority in the design process, as the operating and maintenance costs can be up to five times the capital costs, with the business operating costs reaching up to two hundred times the capital costs over the life of the building. In order for Ireland to realise a smarter and better equipped public estate that can respond to increased staffing demands, it is critical that a new dimension of FM be explored through Building Information Modelling (BIM). BIM could benefit decision-making in FM task by task and can be used as an FM tool specifically in relation to public estates to integrate digital descriptions of a built asset. BIM can increase performance, utilisation and financial information in the maintenance phase, as all the design and built asset information is still present in a single BIM model. The data collation methodology adopted by the authors in this paper included the use of a questionnaire survey that was designed and distributed in collaboration with the Irish Facilities Property Management sector. In addition the UK Government’s BIM and Soft Landings Policy will be investigated together with its applicability in the Irish AEC / FM sector. The research findings will strongly advocate that BIM can ensure a unique FM approach which can reduce life cycle costs and provide the Irish Government with a more enhanced estate