Tracking Internal Auditor Salaries: Information From Twenty-One Years Of Research

This research tracks from 1985 through 2006 salaries and other characteristics of the internal auditing function in the United States.   Prior to 1985, the Institute of Internal Auditors, Inc. (IIA) had no formal way of determining salary levels for internal auditors and providing such data for use in field audit offices.  A survey instrument was designed to obtain salaries and other job market information.  The IIA approved the survey instrument and sent it on a biannual basis to the more than 3000 internal auditing directors who were members of the IIA.  This paper provides tables that track mean level audit director salaries, staff level auditor salaries, and auditor salaries in selected industries and regions of the country through 2006.  Causes for differences in gender salaries are explored.  The paper comments on research findings using the 1990 and 2000 salary data.  That research indicates that overall national statistics may distort gender comparisons of salary levels because adequate attention is not usually given to type of organization, size of organization, and level of director experience.  Salaries for directors, staff level positions, and within selected industries are tracked against the consumer price index and tables indicate the extent to which the profession has maintained pace.  The research indicates that high staff turnover rates combined with more female than male graduates in accounting are currently changing the gender composition of the profession.  At the entry staff level in 2006 there were more women than men hired.   Despite all of the changes in the profession, a majority of the auditors believe their salary is fair, that they are treated as a valued consultant, and would recommend an internal auditing career.&nbsp

Anaesthesia training for interns at a metropolitan training complex: does it make the grade?

Background: Most anaesthesia-related mortality that occurs in level 1 hospitals in South Africa is avoidable. Improving training during internship, and consequently the skills of community service officers, could lead to safer anaesthesia practices.Objectives: The objectives of the study were to determine whether or not the timing of the anaesthesia rotation during internship and other factors affected the outcome of the assessment at the end of the anaesthesia rotation, and to compare the perceptions of first- and second-year interns regarding their confidence levels at the end of their rotation.Method: We conducted a retrospective study that compared 298 intern assessments over a three-year period. It included the assessment of interns by senior doctors in respect of three cases, an overall assessment of the interns’ performance, and the number of cases carried out by them. In addition, a questionnaire was used to assess the interns’ confidence levels at the end of the rotation.Results: Little variation in the results was evident across comparisons of the year of internship, gender and age. Comparison according to university showed a slight variation. A wide variation in the number of obstetric cases (range 5–58) and endotracheal intubations (range 6–54) was observed. Over 80% of interns, regardless of the year, were confident enough to administer general anaesthesia and perform an endotracheal intubation. However, this perception of confidence by interns did not relate to the assessment of their competence.Conclusion: The variance in the ability of interns to perform anaesthesia could not be accounted for by the training year, institution of undergraduate study, age or gender. It is likely that the assessment technique used did not provide a true reflection of the acquired skills or longevity of knowledge by interns. Further research in this area is recommended.Keywords: anaesthesia, interns, training, standard

PND61 Cost-Utility of Fingolimod Compared With Dimethyl Fumarate (Dmf) In Highly Active Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis (Rrms) In England: Comparison of A Markov and Discrete Event Simulation Model

Numeración errónea en el original

Practising anaesthesia as a community service doctor: a survey-based assessment

Background: Anaesthesia-related maternal mortality remains unacceptably high, especially in district hospitals. Community service doctors (CSDs) play an important role in the provision of anaesthesia in these hospitals. The purpose of this study was to understand the experience of doctors providing anaesthesia during community service. Identifying deficiencies in the performance of anaesthesia by CSDs can lead to remedial actions.Methods: A prospective, questionnaire-based study was done of doctors who had done their anaesthesia rotation during their internship in Pietermaritzburg, between 2008 and 2010. Quantitative data were collected regarding their performance of anaesthesia during community service. The data included details concerning the provision of anaesthesia, supervision and training, and whether CSDs felt adequately prepared to perform anaesthesia during community service. Qualitative data were also collected, which will be reported in another article.Results: The study response rate was 72.9%. Roughly half of the respondents performed anaesthesia during community service, of which two-thirds did more than 50 cases. Obstetric anaesthesia was the most common procedure performed. CSDs worked largely unsupervised, 63% had very little supervision and 62% received no further training in anaesthesia during community service. CSDs felt adequately prepared to administer obstetric anaesthesia, but less well prepared to perform general anaesthesia for appendicectomies and ectopic pregnancies.Discussion: CSDs perform a large proportion of the anaesthesia in rural hospitals, where they work largely unsupervised. Furthermore, CSDs feel less well prepared to perform general anaesthesia than spinal anaesthesia. To meet the needs of patients in these areas, intern training needs to be aimed at improving anaesthesia delivery in rural hospitals and guidelines need to be established regarding the performance of anaesthesia by CSDs.Conclusion: The study showed that CSDs play an important role in provision of anaesthesia services, especially in rural areas. However, they work largely unsupervised and receive little further training or support. A large proportion do not feel comfortable in administering general anaesthesia. Intern training should be adjusted to meet the needs of CSDs.Keywords: Intern training in anaesthesia, community service doctors experienc

The development of Web-enabled Knowledge­ based (WBK) systems for the South African construction industry

It is increasingly obvious that a significant proportion of international Architectural Engineering and Construction (AEC) industries are adopting Web-enabled Knowledge-based (WKB) Product Life Cycle Development (LCD) approaches to meet the needs of the global information economy. The WKB approach is fast becoming the new paradigm for designing client-orientated product development systems. This article examines the status quo of the Life Cycle Development (LCD) process in the construction industry, as well as new approaches, showing its principles, goals and benefits. It also introduces ORBIT, a WKB system, which provides a platform for the implementation of the new approaches and concludes with a presentation of a conceptual model of the system.&nbsp

Automated verification of model transformations based on visual contracts

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10515-012-0102-yModel-Driven Engineering promotes the use of models to conduct the different phases of the software development. In this way, models are transformed between different languages and notations until code is generated for the final application. Hence, the construction of correct Model-to-Model (M2M) transformations becomes a crucial aspect in this approach. Even though many languages and tools have been proposed to build and execute M2M transformations, there is scarce support to specify correctness requirements for such transformations in an implementation-independent way, i.e., irrespective of the actual transformation language used. In this paper we fill this gap by proposing a declarative language for the specification of visual contracts, enabling the verification of transformations defined with any transformation language. The verification is performed by compiling the contracts into QVT to detect disconformities of transformation results with respect to the contracts. As a proof of concept, we also report on a graphical modeling environment for the specification of contracts, and on its use for the verification of transformations in several case studies.This work has been funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) under grant P21374-N13, the Spanish Ministry of Science under grants TIN2008-02081 and TIN2011-24139, and the R&D programme of the Madrid Region under project S2009/TIC-1650

Uptake of macromolecules by cercariae during skin penetration and transformation to schistosomula (Schistosoma mansoni)

Here, we observed the uptake of membrane-impermeant molecules by cercariae as they penetrate the skin and are transformed into schistosomula. We propose that membrane-impermeant molecules, Lucifer Yellow, Propidium iodide and Hoechst 33258 enter the parasite through both thenephridiopore and the surface membrane and then diffuse throughout the body of the parasite. We present a hypothesis that the internal cells of the body of the schistosomulum represent a new host-parasite interface, at which skin-derived growth factors may stimulate receptors on internal membranes during transformation of the cercariae into the schistosomulum

2014 Crop Performance in Southeast Kansas

Crop variety testing determines the production potential of newly released crop cultivars in Southeast Kansas. The genetic potential is moderated by environmental conditions during the growing season as well as soil productive capacity