How to enhance communication among healthcare providers and improve patient safety

In 2010, the Provincial Health Funder (PHF) mandated the reporting of unintentional adverse events that occur in the process of healthcare delivery, which result in disability, death, or prolong treatments. The results of reporting are available to the public on the Health Quality website, providing transparency for the public and accountability for Advanced Healthcare System (AHS)[1], which has made patient safety its organizational strategic priority (AHS, 2018). This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) seeks to improve communication and positive change among healthcare providers by maximizing the use of error prevention tools to improve patient safety. The principles of distributive and transformational leadership are applied to enhance collaboration, build capacity, empower people to speak up for safety, and enhance team decision making. The organizational plan aligns with my leadership philosophy to develop others, as well as abide by the Social Work regulatory body’s ethical standards, which guides my work as a change agent to support the best interest of others. Systems theory guides the plan and Bolman and Deal’s (2013) four frame conceptual framework is used to enhance the understanding of the existing state of the organization, which currently includes challenges in communication, a culture of “blame and shame”, insufficient use of error prevention tools, and patient harm. The Murray and Richardson (2002) framework is utilized to guide the OIP and identify ten “winning conditions” to address the problem from a holistic standpoint, while encompassing speed and momentum. Keywords: patient safety, error prevention tools, culture of blame and shame, capacity building, organization culture [1] Advanced Healthcare System (AHS) is a pseudonym to protect the identity of the facility

Agricultural marketing in developing countries: The role of NGOs and CBOs

This publication reviews the experiences of non-governmental and community-based organizations (NGOs and CBOs, respectively) in agricultural marketing initiatives. Many NGOs target the rural poor, whose ability to access remunerative markets is a critical determinant of incomes and well-being. Evidence on NGO or CBO agricultural marketing interventions in sub-Saharan Africa and, to a lesser extent, other developing regions, is reviewed, concentrating principally on access to domestic markets. The authors highlight examples of best practice, explore the policy implications of those intervention strategies, and signal particular dilemmas or areas where further research is needed

Self-determination, sustainability, and wellbeing in the Alaska Native community of Ninilchik

Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2019Alaska Natives are a diverse group of people with different language groups and over 200 tribes. We have a history of colonization and are still a colonized people, but through all this, we strive for wellness for our people. This paper begins with an explanation of historical trauma, development, and the lack of fate control Alaska Native people experience. The literature review explains how colonization can negatively impact the colonized and details international, federal, and Alaska state law and court cases having to do with Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination. In this project the researcher works with the Ninilchik Village Tribe of Ninilchik, Alaska, to explore how community members utilize self-determination, either individually and/or as a group, to achieve individual, community, and tribal sustainability and wellbeing. This project uses the method of ethnographic futures research to conduct scenarios about the future. The researcher conducted 30 interviews about three possible futures: the optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely, and followed the interviews with four focus groups to discuss the interview results. The results were coded through grounded theory in NVivo analysis software and compared with: (a) the Capabilities Approach, (b) Self-Determination Theory, (c) social science development theories of Dependency and World Systems, and (d) the Elements of Development Model. The Capabilities Approach and Self-Development Theory explain the links between self-determination and wellbeing. Dependency and World Systems Theories explain the importance of local self-determination for development. Finally, the Elements of Development Model provides an outline for different types of self-determining actions. The project analyzes Arctic wellbeing indicators and developed indicators of sustainability and wellbeing. The project results demonstrate what community members think that individuals, the community, and the tribe can do to improve sustainability and wellbeing in Ninilchik, and how to achieve those goals through self-determining actions. The dissemination document serves as the start to a 20-year strategic plan. This type of research demonstrates how tribes can address the results of historical trauma and take control of their fate through self-determination. The next steps in research would be asset mapping and capacity-building projects to work with the data and benefit the community.Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship and the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs Arctic Social Sciences Program #175913

Match loads of university rugby union players between the 2016 and 2018 Varsity Cup competitions

Background: Rugby union is a popular and continuously growing sport globally. With the advance of technology, practices have been implemented to quantify the match running demands of rugby union players. The aim of this study was to analyse the match loads of rugby union players between the 2016 and 2018 Varsity Cup competitions. Methods: The sample consisted of 562 match observations of male university rugby union players competing in the Varsity Cup tournaments. Results: The backline players ran significantly longer total distances (5105 m; p = 0.001; ES = 0.49); have greater high- speed running (496 m; p = 0.001; ES = 1.03), very high-speed running (260 m; p = 0.001; ES = 1.50) and sprint distances (117 m; p = 0.001; ES = 1.32) than forward players. Backline players also accumulated a high number of metres per minute (238 ± 94; p = 0.001; ES = 0.46), total Player Load (488 ± 203; p = 0.001; ES = 0.31), RHIE (9 ± 8; p = 0.001; ES = 0.75) and number of accelerations (4 ± 5; p = 0.001; ES = 0.49). Conclusion: These findings may assist coaches to develop player position specific training programmes to meet the physical demands of rugby. Keywords: rugby union, match loads, physical demands, positio

Effective curriculum research development in FE ITE: Linking the theoretic to the practical in education programmes

This presentation explores the structure of curriculum development programmes in FE ITE to see the extent to which they help to promote curriculum research. Given the desire to promote research informed teaching, it argues that trainee teachers need to be equipped with the skills required for carrying out research on specific issues. Using the existing paradigm of the theoretric and the practical, it suggests that the current programmes are more theoretically orientated. It then draws on elements of the programmes to demonstrate how the existing focus can be made more practical

Synthesis of Novel [3, 2-b] Indole Fused Oleanolic Acids as Potential Inhibitors of Cell Proliferation

Seven new indole-fused oleanolic acid derivatives were synthesized from oleanolic acid for their ability to inhibit cell proliferation in NRP. 152 cells

Plant Collecting for the Ecological Garden and the Scottish Heath Garden at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

The Ecological and Heath Gardens at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh were created in 1991 and 1997 respectively. The Ecological Garden started as a naturalistic area of native woodland plants where cryptogams were encouraged to grow. Building on its success other habitat types were created nearby. The Heath Garden replaced an older heather garden and sought to recreate the ‘feel’ of a Scottish upland heathland. In recent years additional wild origin material of conservation concern has been added to each Garden and this paper describes the process along with some of the plants selected