Supporting work practices through telehealth: impact on nurses in peripheral regions

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In Canada, workforce shortages in the health care sector constrain the ability of the health care system to meet the needs of its population and of its health care professionals. This issue is of particular importance in peripheral regions of Quebec, where significant inequalities in workforce distribution between regions has lead to acute nursing shortages and increased workloads. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are innovative solutions that can be used to develop strategies to optimise the use of available resources and to design new nursing work practices. However, current knowledge is still limited about the real impact of ICTs on nursing recruitment and retention. Our aim is to better understand how work practice reorganization, supported by ICTs, and particularly by telehealth, may influence professional, educational, and organizational factors relating to Quebec nurses, notably those working in peripheral regions.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>First, we will conduct a descriptive study on the issue of nursing recruitment. Stratified sampling will be used to select approximately twenty innovative projects relating to the reorganization of work practices based upon ICTs. Semi-structured interviews with key informants will determine professional, educational, and organizational recruitment factors. The results will be used to create a questionnaire which, using a convenience sampling method, will be mailed to 600 third year students and recent graduates of two Quebec university nursing faculties. Descriptive, correlation, and hierarchical regression analyses will be performed to identify factors influencing nursing graduates' intentions to practice in peripheral regions. Secondly, we will conduct five case studies pertaining to the issue of nursing retention. Five ICT projects in semi-urban, rural, and isolated regions have been identified. Qualitative data will be collected through field observation and approximately fifty semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>Data from both parts of this research project will be jointly analysed using triangulation of researchers, theoretical approaches, methods, and results. Continuous exchanges with decision makers and periodic knowledge transfer activities are planned to facilitate the dissemination and utilization of research results in policies regarding the nursing recruitment and retention.</p

Fundulus as the premier teleost model in environmental biology : opportunities for new insights using genomics

Author Posting. © Elsevier B.V., 2007. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part D: Genomics and Proteomics 2 (2007): 257-286, doi:10.1016/j.cbd.2007.09.001.A strong foundation of basic and applied research documents that the estuarine fish Fundulus heteroclitus and related species are unique laboratory and field models for understanding how individuals and populations interact with their environment. In this paper we summarize an extensive body of work examining the adaptive responses of Fundulus species to environmental conditions, and describe how this research has contributed importantly to our understanding of physiology, gene regulation, toxicology, and ecological and evolutionary genetics of teleosts and other vertebrates. These explorations have reached a critical juncture at which advancement is hindered by the lack of genomic resources for these species. We suggest that a more complete genomics toolbox for F. heteroclitus and related species will permit researchers to exploit the power of this model organism to rapidly advance our understanding of fundamental biological and pathological mechanisms among vertebrates, as well as ecological strategies and evolutionary processes common to all living organisms.This material is based on work supported by grants from the National Science Foundation DBI-0420504 (LJB), OCE 0308777 (DLC, RNW, BBR), BES-0553523 (AW), IBN 0236494 (BBR), IOB-0519579 (DHE), IOB-0543860 (DWT), FSML-0533189 (SC); National Institute of Health NIEHS P42-ES007381(GVC, MEH), P42-ES10356 (RTD), ES011588 (MFO); and NCRR P20 RR-016463 (DWT); Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery (DLM, TDS, WSM) and Collaborative Research and Development Programs (DLM); NOAA/National Sea Grant NA86RG0052 (LJB), NA16RG2273 (SIK, MEH,GVC, JJS); Environmental Protection Agency U91620701 (WSB), R82902201(SC) and EPA’s Office of Research and Development (DEN)

Bedrock geology of DFDP-2B, central Alpine Fault, New Zealand

<p>During the second phase of the Alpine Fault, Deep Fault Drilling Project (DFDP) in the Whataroa River, South Westland, New Zealand, bedrock was encountered in the DFDP-2B borehole from 238.5–893.2 m Measured Depth (MD). Continuous sampling and meso- to microscale characterisation of whole rock cuttings established that, in sequence, the borehole sampled amphibolite facies, Torlesse Composite Terrane-derived schists, protomylonites and mylonites, terminating 200–400 m above an Alpine Fault Principal Slip Zone (PSZ) with a maximum dip of 62°. The most diagnostic structural features of increasing PSZ proximity were the occurrence of shear bands and reduction in mean quartz grain sizes. A change in composition to greater mica:quartz + feldspar, most markedly below c. 700 m MD, is inferred to result from either heterogeneous sampling or a change in lithology related to alteration. Major oxide variations suggest the fault-proximal Alpine Fault alteration zone, as previously defined in DFDP-1 core, was not sampled.</p

Petrophysical, Geochemical, and Hydrological Evidence for Extensive Fracture-Mediated Fluid and Heat Transport in the Alpine Fault's Hanging-Wall Damage Zone

International audienceFault rock assemblages reflect interaction between deformation, stress, temperature, fluid, and chemical regimes on distinct spatial and temporal scales at various positions in the crust. Here we interpret measurements made in the hanging‐wall of the Alpine Fault during the second stage of the Deep Fault Drilling Project (DFDP‐2). We present observational evidence for extensive fracturing and high hanging‐wall hydraulic conductivity (∼10−9 to 10−7 m/s, corresponding to permeability of ∼10−16 to 10−14 m2) extending several hundred meters from the fault's principal slip zone. Mud losses, gas chemistry anomalies, and petrophysical data indicate that a subset of fractures intersected by the borehole are capable of transmitting fluid volumes of several cubic meters on time scales of hours. DFDP‐2 observations and other data suggest that this hydrogeologically active portion of the fault zone in the hanging‐wall is several kilometers wide in the uppermost crust. This finding is consistent with numerical models of earthquake rupture and off‐fault damage. We conclude that the mechanically and hydrogeologically active part of the Alpine Fault is a more dynamic and extensive feature than commonly described in models based on exhumed faults. We propose that the hydrogeologically active damage zone of the Alpine Fault and other large active faults in areas of high topographic relief can be subdivided into an inner zone in which damage is controlled principally by earthquake rupture processes and an outer zone in which damage reflects coseismic shaking, strain accumulation and release on interseismic timescales, and inherited fracturing related to exhumation

From Business Games to Simulations - Simuworlds and Microworlds

This paper will designate the difference between a business simulation--a fully case-based experience, with years of living history and a business game. Additionally it will demonstrate how simuworlds and microworlds result. The simulation described is based on a living case of Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Compaq Computer (CQ). Global Strategy Simulation (GSS) provides an introduction to a com-pany and a history so realistic that managers in specialty areas can learn not only how to conduct global strategic planning, but also the peculiarities and history of the mi-crocomputer industry, its competing firms, its suppliers and its R and D, manufacturing, and marketing to overseas employees or contract workers. GSS is designed primarily mature participants in industry or graduate schools. There are no chapters, only seminar sessions, and all wording is at the mid-management to executive level. All learning is experience--simulations provide living historically based complex and enriched experiential learning-- games pro-vide more generic, but often complex experiential learning

Total Enterprise Business Games An Evaluation

This paper reviews ten total enterprise business games currently published by major publishers and available in college classroom formats. Unique features of games are reviewed by functional area covered such as the economy and the industry simulated, marketing variables, production variables, and finance variables. A comparative evaluation of the teaching learning aspects of each game is included. Tables are provided summarizing decision inputs possible in the ten games. ++++

Panel - The Delivery, Administration, and Evaluation of an Executive Development Program Using a Total Enterprise Business Game

This paper will include a review of a system of training for executives utilizing a simulation which has been developed with several corporations. After the presentation of the paper, several respondents will reply to the paper by suggesting modifications they may have used to this approach

Review of Learning Research in Business Gaming

The purpose of this review of learning research in business gaming is to clarify some of the existing incongruencies that exist in the literature. Rather than dealing with very dissimilar learning research studies, this writer has chosen to examine what he considers to be a main-stream of research thrust in business simulation games. Only articles which utilize definite criteria for the measurement of learning and professionally acceptable research techniques are included in the study. This necessarily eliminates articles dealing with such things as the evaluation of performance, attitudes, morale, organizational behavior, and other similar studies which may be of great interest in certain cases

Three Applications of the Management of Learning Grid

"Three factors seem to be prerequisite to effective learning in experiential environments: 1. The dissemination of new ideas, principles, or concepts, which will be captioned CONTENT. 2. An opportunity to apply CONTENT in an experiential environment, which will be defined as EXPERIENCE. 3. FEEDBACK as to the results of actions taken and the relationship between performance at each chronological phase in EXPERIENCE and the subsequent result. An effective instructional style is created when a proper balance is obtained between these three factors much in the same way that an effective leadership style is obtained when the proper balance between task orientation and people orientation is obtained ( 1 ) Consequently, this paper will present a three dimensional model entitled, “The Management of Learning Grid.” The grid is a descriptive model, rather than a normative one, based on an extensive study of empirical literature of learning in experiential environments (See Figure 1) (6). This paper will briefly describe the grid and present three developmental projects which incorporate balanced dimensions of “The Management of Learning Grid.”