Managerial and Administrative Competencies for Dental Hygiene Program Administrators

The purposes of this descriptive study was to validate a list of managerial competencies that may guide administrative/management curricula within master of science in dental hygiene programs nationwide, and compile strategies for the development and implementation of the administrative and managerial competencies for future dental hygiene program administrators. Of the entire population of directors and chairpersons from accredited and accreditation eligible dental hygiene programs nationwide (N=262), 10 were randomly selected and used in a pilot survey. After establishing validity and test-retest reliability, a self-designed instrument, the Managerial and Administrative Competencies for Dental Hygiene Program Administrators Questionnaire, was mailed to the remaining 252 dental hygiene program administrators in the fall 2001 academic semester. This instrument asked participants to provide information concerning personal demographics, educational background, highest education level, academic preparation and experiences, the highest degree in dental hygiene offered at the college or university, extent of agreement on management and administrative competencies, and their recommendations on the implementation of administrative and managerial competencies for future dental hygiene program administrators. Frequencies, percentages, and means were used for data analysis. Based on a response rate of 64.3% (n=162) results indicated that 96.91 % of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the human skill, conceptual skill, and technical skills competencies were important for program administrators. The three highest rated competencies within each domain were: maintains confidentiality of others , maintains professional dental hygiene standards of practice , and \u27\u27plans and participates in budget development, implementation, and monitoring . Only 3.1 % of the program administrators rated neither agree nor disagree with some of the competencies. The three lowest rated competencies were: \u27\u27understands healthcare economics and its application to human resource planning , \u27\u27promotes research and other areas of scholarship , and \u27\u27utilizes current technology . The majority believed that the competencies were achievable via coursework, mentoring, use of internships, educational programs at American Dental Education Association or online symposiums. A smaller percentage (10%) of the program directors made comments regarding the importance of collaboration and agreement on the competencies among the master of science in dental hygiene programs, and pre-graduation evaluation of competencies. Implementation of competencies within a master of science in dental hygiene program may help prepare future dental hygiene program administrators for their positions, and empower aspiring managers, administrators, and leaders in dental hygiene education to strengthen the future of the profession

Effects of a Universal Positive Behavior Intervention on School-wide Behavior

This study examines the effects of a positive behavior intervention on the behavior of students in a single elementary school located in a rural area of West Virgina. A Single Group Pretest-Treatment-Posttest Design was utilized with the frequency of Office Discipline Referrals (ODR’s) as the dependent variable. Data were analyzed using the Chi Square statistic. Results showed no significant difference in pre-treatment and post-treatment conditions

Diverse learners

This chapter explores student populations in terms of their diversity and special needs and is designed to provide you with a broad grounding in this topic. Beginning with an overview of commonly used terminology in this field, the chapter moves to the learners themselves, providing key statistics and insights into various VET equity cohorts, including an understanding of how learners are \u27officially\u27 categorised and defined. The focus then changes to an analysis of key Commonwealth legislation and related policies in the area and an example of a State response. The final sections of the chapter are aimed at providing practical insight into how you, as a VET practitioner, might accommodate and support different learners

Participatory research meets validated outcome measures:tensions in the co-production of social care evaluation

Funding for care service research is increasingly subject to the satisfaction of two requirements: public involvement; and adoption of validated outcome tools. This study identifies competing paradigms within these requirements and reveals significant challenges faced by researchers who seek to satisfy them. The focus here is on a study co-produced between academic researchers and people with experience of adult social care services. It examines to what extent research studies can conduct high quality public involvement and genuine co-production of knowledge, whilst attempting to produce quantifiable outcome scores. Findings add to debate around how to incorporate diverse perspectives in research which may draw on incommensurate accounts of validity and reliability. Findings also highlight constructive attempts by academic and co-researchers to make the combination of approaches work in the field. These small scale acts of researcher agency indicate some scope to combine the two approaches in future research studies. However conclusions foreground the importance of broader awareness of how tensions and power imbalances related to this combination of approaches play out in social policy research practice

Young peoples' views of online historical archives

Digitized collections are ‘a rich source of instructional material for history teachers’ [1 p314] but it has been noted these ‘remained largely underused’. There is ‘a growing interest in both improving the user experience and in justifying the creation of digital collections to multiple stakeholders’ [2 p339]. Within the UK an estimated £130m has been invested in digitisation projects [3]. Re-cent changes to the UK National Curriculum for history have placed greater emphasis upon the importance of understanding methods of historical enquiry and the use of evidence. Therefore, the digitized collections created by this investment should be a vital classroom tool. This study set out to investigate within the UK the level of awareness of these resources and their value to young learners aged 8-16 years. There were two stages to this qualitative study. Stage one was the delivery of a workshop which introduced young learners to a range of digital archives. After this the young people were given a period of time to use the online archives and explore the difference forms of historical evidence. Stage two involved focus groups with a sample of the young people during which participants were asked to discuss their end-user experience. Key findings included enhanced personal learning experience, development of a personal connection to the past, and identification of issues related to usability and practical application in a classroom learning context

Testing and Developing DIY Masks

ME450 Capstone Design and Manufacturing Experience: Fall 2020The purpose of this design project is to develop a DIY mask to combat the shortage of N95 respirators and medical masks in low resource settings. In the preliminary stages of the project, meetings with stakeholders, mostly in the form of experts in the area of study, were conducted. Research was also done on literature in the area, which led to the development of engineering specifications. The mask should have a low cost of fewer than 2 cedis or 0.34 USD. The mask should be made in less than 30 minutes with fewer than 12 steps of instructions. The mask should filter over 50% of particles over 50 nm in size. The mask should fit well to the face and minimize airflow around the edge with a fit factor greater than or equal to 2. The mask should also be comfortable to wear with average scores greater than 4 on a 6 point Likert scale. Finally, the mask should sustain a long lifespan, supporting over 20 uses with a decontamination cycle in between each use. Using a combination of design heuristics and a morphological matrix, several designs were brainstormed to meet the project requirements. These designs were then filtered using a decision matrix, resulting in the three best designs. Engineering analyses were then developed to further evaluate the mask designs and answer some key design drivers. The first and simplest test was the Mask Fabrication Test, which simply recorded the time it took to create the masks. The test indicated that the three designs had a comparable fabrication time. The next substantial test that was conducted was the Mask Fit Test, which measured airflow around the masks. From this test, various factors of the best performing masks were determined. To help ensure the mask was comfortable, several steps were taken. First, a Comfort Priority Survey was conducted, which helped provide context for the results of the Mask Comfort Test. Then, prototypes of the three mask designs were tried on and rated for various aspects of comfort by people close to team members. From these tests, the nylon design was chosen as the final design, with a few modifications. The final design uses three layers of material -cotton, silk, and nylon- to filter out particles. The nylon layer also acts as the ear straps for comfortability. Wires are sewn inside the top and bottom of the mask to improve fit, and pleats are sewn on the side for flexibility. One final comfort test was conducted with the design, which verified the requirement. The low-cost requirement was verified through calculations, and the “uses available materials requirement” was verified from research. The “is easy to create” requirement was verified with a use test. To verify the lifetime and filtration efficiency requirements, a Mask Filtration Efficiency Test was performed. However, due to a lack of testing time, no conclusive results were obtained from the test, and the lifetime and filtration efficiency requirements were left unverified. An inability to test also left the fit requirement unverified. By the end of the project, a design and instructions on creating the design were created. This design has been verified to fulfill 4 out of 7 requirements. The filtration efficiency, lifetime, and fit requirements all require further testing for verification.Caroline Soyars, U-M Mechanical Engineeringhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/164436/1/Testing_and_Developing_DIY_Masks.pd

What matters most? Students' rankings of simulation components which contribute to clinical judgement

As the pedagogy of health care simulation matures, the level of guidance provided and types of simulation components included increasingly vary. To prepare students for professional practice, one university embedded Tanner’s model of clinical judgment within the nursing curricula and integrated simulations. There was interest in seeking students’ opinions of “what matters most” in the design and delivery of simulations, which may vary from the academic’s viewpoint. Senior undergraduate nursing students (N = 150) from three types of study programs rated 11 simulation components in relation to clinical judgment. The three student groups rated all components above 2.9 on a 5-point Likert scale, with some variation across groups for component rankings. The highest ranking components for applying clinical judgment were facilitated debriefing, postsimulation reflection, and guidance by the academic. The lowest ranked components were patient case notes and briefing and orientation to the simulation area. Age and previous nursing experience did not influence the study variables

Co-research with older people:perspectives on impact

Although research in partnership with older people has been slower to develop than that with some other service user ‘groups’, there are a growing number of health and social care studies that have involved older people as co-researchers. We build on this existing evidence by addressing two key areas. First, despite the growth of participatory research with older people generally, some groups tend to be excluded. We focus particularly on a project in which older people with dementia and older people from a black and minority ethnic community were involved as co-researchers. They worked with academic researchers in all stages of the research process, exploring other older people’s experiences of transitions between care services. Second, recent literature suggests a lack of critical evaluation of involvement, arguing that researchers tend to emphasise the positives on the basis of retrospective narrative accounts of the process, rather than critically appraising the impact of involvement. This article offers a critical account of the impact of a participatory approach at different stages of a research project, evaluating this from the perspective of different stakeholders. In so doing, we engage with incisive critiques which claim that, far from empowering service users, much service user involvement activity contributes to their oppression. We conclude that participatory research with marginalised older people has the potential to achieve meaningful change at both individual and social levels. However, in view of its dangers and limitations, we argue the need for the impact of participatory research to be carefully evaluated from the perspectives of all parties in the process. </jats:p

Rapid Implementation of Telerehabilitation for Pediatric Patients During COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a sudden limitation of in-person outpatient occupational and physical therapy services for most patients at a large, multisite pediatric hospital located in the Midwest, United States. &nbsp;To ensure patient and staff safety, the hospital rapidly shifted to deliver most of these services via telerehabilitation. The purposes of this study were to (1) describe the rapid implementation of telerehabilitation during the COVID-19 pandemic, (2) describe the demographic characteristics of patients who continued in-person services and those who received telerehabilitation, and (3) evaluate the therapists’ perceptions of telerehabilitation for physical and occupational therapy. Most of the children (83.4% of n=1352) received telerehabilitation services. A family was more likely to choose to continue in-person visits if their child was &lt;1-year-old, had a diagnosis of torticollis, received serial casting, or was post-surgical. Occupational and physical therapy therapists (n=9) completed surveys to discern their perceptions of the acceptability of telerehabilitation, with most reporting that telerehabilitation was as effective as in-person care. &nbsp

Profile of time-dependent VEGF upregulation in human pulmonary endothelial cells, HPMEC-ST1.6R infected with DENV-1, -2, -3, and -4 viruses

In this study, the upregulated expression level of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in a pulmonary endothelial cell line (HPMEC-ST1.6R) infected with dengue virus serotypes 1, 2, 3, and 4 (DENV-1, -2, -3 and -4), was investigated. This cell line exhibits the major constitutive and inducible endothelial cell characteristics, as well as angiogenic response. Infection by all four DENV serotypes was confirmed by an observed cytopathic effect (CPE), as well as RT-PCR (reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction) assays. As we had previously reported, the DENV-infected HPMEC-ST1.6R cells exhibited an elongated cytoplasmic morphology, possibly representing a response to VEGF and activation of angiogenesis. In this study, increase in VEGF expression level at designated time points of 0, 8, 24, 96 and 192 hours post-infection was investigated, using a microbead-based Bio-Plex immunoassay. Increased level of VEGF expression in infected-HPMEC-ST1.6R was detected at 8 hours post-infection. Interestingly, VEGF expression level began to decrease up to 96 hours post-infection, after which an upsurge of increased VEGF expression was detected at 192 hours post-infection. This profile of VEGF upregulated expression pattern associated with DENV infection appeared to be consistent among all four DENV-serotypes, and was not observed in mock-infected cells. In this study, the expression level of VEGF, a well-established vascular permeabilizing agent was shown to be elevated in a time-dependent manner, and exhibited a unique dual-response profile, in a DENV-infected endothelial cell. The experimental observation described here provided additional insights into potential mechanism for VEGF-mediated vascular leakage associated with DENV, and support the idea that there are potential applications of anti-VEGF therapeutic interventions for prevention of severe DENV infections