Nurse led care

What's the difference between medical and nursing care? The answer is not straightforward, but shortages in the medical workforce mean that nurses are increasingly called on to undertake work that was previously done by doctors (such as undertaking surgery,1 prescribing drugs, performing triage in emergency departments), whereas shortages in the nursing workforce mean that healthcare assistants now do many tasks that nurses are trained to do. This fluidity in professional roles and competencies enables the health workforce to respond to need, but are outcomes for patients being improved? Do these benefits come at an additional cost, and if so, are they worth paying for

Effect of a 6-week yoga intervention on swing mechanics during the golf swing:a feasibility study

Recent evidence suggests that participating in physical conditioning programmes can improve golf performance, however, the effectiveness of a yoga intervention has yet to be investigated. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effectiveness of a six-week yoga intervention on golf swing mechanics. Ten male golfers participated in the laboratory-based-study. Golf swing mechanics were collected from two testing sessions, before and after the six-week yoga intervention, using the Vicon motion capture system. Following the six-week yoga intervention, significant changes were observed between the yoga and control group in X-Factor (P ≤ 0.05) and a medium effect (d ≥ 0.50) observed. No significant changes (P > 0.05) and no effect (d < 0.20) were observed in the X-Factor stretch. Significant changes (P ≤ 0.05) and a medium effect (d > 0.50) were observed for the pelvis rotations following the yoga intervention, however, no differences were observed in torso rotations or hand velocities (P > 0.05). The findings of this feasibility study suggest that yoga may be a promising intervention in helping to improve golf swing mechanics, however, future research is required to confirm the effect of the use of yoga during the golf swing due to the sample size

The disappearing women: North West ICT project final report

Project Context The Disappearing Women: Northwest ICT project was embarked upon to further understand why more women leave the sector than are being recruited, 36% of new ICT recruits in the UK (in the first quarter of 2002) were women, yet in the same period, women accounted for 46% of all leavers or ‘disappearing’ women (The DTI Women in IT Champions report 2003, Grey and Healy 2004). This continuing trend shows a decline from 27% of women making up the ICT workforce in 1997 with a drop to 21% in 2004 (The DTI Women in IT Industry report 2005b). The number of women in the ICT sector remains disappointingly small considering that women make up around 50% of the total UK workforce and significantly this figure has gradually continued to fall despite numerous initiatives to attract more women into the sector (see Griffiths and Moore 2006 for a list of high profile ‘women in ICT’ initiatives). The research team’s first gender research project - Women in IT (WINIT) - ran for two years from January 2004 until March 2006 at the Information Systems Institute at The University of Salford and dealt solely with women who worked in the ICT sector in England. The WINIT Project via an online questionnaire and in-depth interviews gathered the stories and experiences of up to 500 participants and 19 interviewees respectively. The project enabled these women’s voices to be heard but the research team were constantly aware that a certain part of the female ICT workforce - the ‘disappearing’ women who had left ICT vowing never to return - had been overlooked and effectively silenced. It was these women who once found, may be able to facilitate a more in-depth understanding of why women were leaving the ICT sector. Having amassed skills and expertise, qualifications in ICT and crossed ICT recruitment barriers (DTI 2005a) the ‘disappearing’ women for whatever reasons decided to change their career trajectories and leave the sector. What ‘chilly’ (Falkner 2004) workplaces, disinterested organisational cultures and indifferent working conditions had these women encountered that became determining factors in leaving the ICT sector? There has been little (if any) research conducted involving this specific cohort of women and The Disappearing Women: North West ICT (DW: NW ICT) project seeks to make a research contribution to what is a continuing statistical and symbolic under-representation of women in the ICT labour market. The DW: NW ICT project was partly funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) from April 2006 until December 2006 under ESF Objective 3, Policy Field 5.1: Improving the Participation of Women. The DW: NW ICT project contributes research to priority 5 and its strategic objective to reduce the level of disadvantage faced by women in the labour market. The project was run in the Information Systems Group, Salford Business School of The University of Salford, Greater Manchester, UK. The report is structured as follows. The first section presents the backdrop for the research, looking in general at women in the ICT labour market in England and then women leaving the ICT sector focussing on the North West of England and more explicitly women leaving ICT employment in the North West of England. The research aims of the project form the following section; they have been loosely classified in to two groupings, the push and pull factors that are contributing to the high attrition rate of women leaving ICT. The methodology follows with the route taken in how this ‘hard to reach’ target sample were finally located, once contacted the life history interview process and procedures adopted is explained in full. The vignettes of the ‘disappearing’ women are included to allow the reader an opportunity to ‘get to know’ these women a little more closely. Key themes that have naturally emerged throughout the interview data analysis process are presented, including hostilities in the ICT workplace, significant events and the process of leaving ICT workplaces and finally stories of the ‘appearing’ women and their current situations are heard. A discussion regarding the findings of the DW: NW ICT project concludes this report

The effect of movement variability on putting proficiency during the golf putting stroke

Movement variability has been considered important to execute an effective golf swing yet is comparatively unexplored regarding the golf putt. Movement variability could potentially be important considering the small margins of error between a successful and a missed putt. The aim of this study was to assess whether variability of body segment rotations influence putting performance (ball kinematic measures). Eight golfers (handicap range 0–10) performed a 3.2 m level putt wearing retro-reflective markers which were tracked using a three-dimensional motion analysis system sampling at 120 Hz. Ball roll kinematics were recorded using Quintic Ball Roll launch monitor. Movement (segment) variability was calculated based on a scalene ellipsoid volume concept and correlated with the coefficient of variation of ball kinematics. Statistical analysis showed no significant relationships between segment variability and putting proficiency. One significant relationship was identified between left forearm variability and horizontal launch angle, but this did not result in deficits in putting success. Results show that performance variability in the backswing and downswing is not related to putting proficiency or the majority of ball roll measures. Differing strategies may exist where certain golfers may have more fluid movement patterns thereby effectively utilising variability of movement. Therefore, golf instructors should consider movement variability when coaching the golf putt

Reliability of an experimental method to analyse the impact point on a golf ball during putting

This study aimed to examine the reliability of an experimental method identifying the location of the impact point on a golf ball during putting. Forty trials were completed using a mechanical putting robot set to reproduce a putt of 3.2 m, with four different putter-ball combinations. After locating the centre of the dimple pattern (centroid) the following variables were tested; distance of the impact point from the centroid, angle of the impact point from the centroid and distance of the impact point from the centroid derived from the X, Y coordinates. Good to excellent reliability was demonstrated in all impact variables reflected in very strong relative (ICC = 0.98–1.00) and absolute reliability (SEM% = 0.9–4.3%). The highest SEM% observed was 7% for the angle of the impact point from the centroid. In conclusion, the experimental method was shown to be reliable at locating the centroid location of a golf ball, therefore allowing for the identification of the point of impact with the putter head and is suitable for use in subsequent studies

A high resolution millimetre and submillimetre study of W3

The continuum bolometer receiver on the James Clerk Maxwell telescope has been used to map the dense core of the star formation region W3 with a spatial resolution of 15-20 arcsec. At 350 and 800 μm, the region appears as two principal peaks around the known IR sources IRS4 and IRS5, while at 1100 μm, a further peak is noted which is interpreted as being due to free-free emission around IRS2. Taking into account the free-free contribution to the intensity, the continuum dust emission from the region is found to be consistent with optically thin emission at all of the three wavelengths considered. Values for the dust optical depth, hydrogen column density, mass, and central density have been obtained for each of the main peaks

Perceptions of placement experiences of Early Childhood Studies students: the fluency of knowledge and skills

This paper discusses how academic support prepares undergraduate students for their workplace experience, involving cohorts of students from two universities in England, who offer an undergraduate level, three-year, Early Childhood Studies (ECS) degree. By adopting an interpretive approach, questionnaires were administered to the students concerned (n = 65), to seek their views and opinions on the placement experience. These were administered prior to them attending their first placement and then again on their return. The study found that students were more prepared than they originally perceived themselves to be when undertaking placement, and that a lack of confidence derived from fearing the unknown. The findings indicated that tutor and peer support were most valued as preparation tools and it is suggested that this support is a major factor in the confidence levels of students. This paper argues that the explicit knowledge gained from studying a degree course, and the tacit knowledge and skills that are gained through placement should be viewed as a combined approach rather than two separate entities which should, in turn, aid in confidence building. This is of significance both nationally and internationally for those who may be considering including a workplace experience within their programme