Thoughts of a palliative care nurse in times of pandemic

This narrative presents a series of stories (interactions) lived by a palliative care nurse during the time of COVID-19, a time when we tirelessly prepare to help the services that need us, but we have little preparation of ourselves for the changes that we will have to face in the care of our patients and families. It shares the lived experiences, difficulties, emotions lived by me but shared by so many around the world. It also tries to show that despite the scarcity of physical presence, creativity and commitment to patients and families make us go beyond ourselves and continue to make a difference by saying we are here! Experience Framework This article is associated with the Quality & Clinical Excellence lens of The Beryl Institute Experience Framework. (http://bit.ly/ExperienceFramework) Access other PXJ articles related to this lens. Access other resources related to this lens

A Serious Complication of Uterine Artery Embolisation

Uterine artery embolisation has been used as a therapeutic alternative for symptomatic uterine myomas. It is considered a safe and effective procedure, with very few cases published involving complications. The authors present a case of a 35-year-old nulliparous woman with an intramural myoma with 161x143x85mm, submitted to an uterine artery embolisation complicated by uterine necrosis. A hysterectomy was performed. This casereport reinforces the idea that artery embolization is not a riskfree procedure and serious complications may occur. Therefore, patients should be carefully selected

Changing a school organization: A private school case study

Due to contextual demands, organizations face the constant need to adjust and adapt in order to maintain their stability. School organizations are not an exception and have to answer to these demands to guarantee their quality, efficacy and sustainability. Very little literature has addressed the school as organizations. However, analysing the educational environment from an organizational point of view could allow a better understanding on why school organizations change and how they strive for educational efficiency. This paper focuses on the main results of an organizational diagnosis aimed to identify the needs for a planned change intervention in a school based on a private charitable organization. Because an organizational diagnosis is a complex process, the choice of a theoretical model is critical, as it determines the type of information to be collected, it guides the interpretation of that information, and defines the course of action. In this project, we have taken Nadler and Tushman’s Organizational Congruence Model (1980) as a basic guideline. This model assumes the organization as a whole system, whose performance is contingent on the congruent adjustment level between their primary components. Therefore, we searched for incongruent sources, with special focus on the strategy and the fitness of the processes under internal and external environment pressure and demands. In order to get a wider vision of the organization, we carried out an organizational diagnosis using methodological triangulation, with qualitative and quantitative procedures. Following an action-research methodological framework, results of data analysis were debated with the participants and the school director. Data collection started by analyzing the school documentation, followed by individual interviews with the school director and general director. Subsequently, questionnaires intended to assess the organizational culture were applied to the school staff. A focus group was also carried out to understand the way the individuals respond to each others perceptions and how they construct shared meaning. The use of this method also served to involve the organizational members in the change process. Finally, an adapted force-field analysis has been conducted to enhance the participants’ willingness and commitment to the change process and to mitigate the resistance associated to it. Results show that a perceived need for change exists. Specifically, participants’ wish for a clearer school strategy aligned with the mission of the organization in which it is integrated. Moreover, results indicate the need for organizational changes towards a more appropriate resource distribution, a non-bureaucratic culture that may foster potential innovation, the implementation of a regular practice of feedback on work practices, and the enhancement of the organizational communication between departments. As orientation for change, we recommend an incremental change process, based on a cooperative thinking approach on the strategy and objectives of the school, and using the current review of the school main documents as a chance to redefine the management strategy. Furthermore, effective ways to assess and publicize school outcomes, and a systematic practice of performance assessment are also needed.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Photo and electroluminescence behavior of Tb(ACAC)3phen complex used as emissive layer on organic light emitting diodes

This work shows the luminescence properties of a rare-earth organic complex, the Tb(ACAC)3phen. The results show the 5D4 -> 7F3,4,5,6 transitions with no influence of any ligand emission. The photoluminescence excitation spectrum is tentatively interpreted by the ligands absorption. An OLED was made by thermal evaporation (total thickness of 1200 Å) using TPD and Alq3 as hole and electron transport layers, respectively. The light emission reproduces the photoluminescence spectrum of the terbium complex at room temperature, with CIE (x,y) color coordinates of (0.28, 0.55). No presence of any bands from the ligands was observed. The potential use of this compound in efficient devices is discussed

Pilot study into milk haptoglobin as an indicator of udder health in heifers after calving

Mastitis, inflammation of the mammary gland, is often caused by intramammary infection with bacterial organisms. It impacts on dairy cattle welfare, production, udder health and longevity in the herd. Current detection methods for mammary inflammation and infection all have limitations, particularly for on-farm diagnosis of non-clinical mastitis after calving. Acute phase proteins have been suggested as alternative early indicators of the disease and can potentially be used as cow-side test with results in real time. In this study, milk haptoglobin concentrations were investigated over the first week postpartum to explore haptoglobin's potential as indicator of udder health in dairy heifers. Haptoglobin concentration was highest on day 3 of lactation, and was positively correlated with somatic cell count, a commonly used marker of inflammation (rs=0.68). Haptoglobin level was also associated with bacteriological culture results, a key indicator of infection status, whereby median haptoglobin concentration on days 3 and 5 was higher in quarters that were infected at calving than quarters that were non infected at calving. Sensitivity and specificity of haptoglobin concentration as indicator of infection were low, both for lenient and strict culture-based definitions of intramammary infection (57 or 60% and 61 or 63%, respectively). Although haptoglobin was a poor biomarker for intramammary infection with coagulase negative staphylococci in heifers during the first week after calving, it may have value as an indicator of major pathogen infections, particularly in large scale dairy herds where pre-partum heifers are managed off-site

The relationship between responsible leadership and individual work behaviors: The mediating role of affective commitment

Aims: Recent scandals within the organizational world have bring to light ethical lapses which have discredit organizations, namely in the way they operate in the market, in the type of leaders they have, leading to a strain in the relationship and trust of their stakeholders (Voegtlin et al., 2012; Waldman & Siegel, 2008). With this in mind, a new type of leadership has been called to respond to the challenges organizations are facing - responsible leadership. This leadership type has been related to different consequents (Miska & Mendenhall, 2018), including employees’ attitudes and behaviors at work (Haque et al., 2017; Voegtlin, 2011). Focusing in this relevant stakeholder group, this study aims to further analyze the relationship between responsible leadership and individual behaviors at work (individual performance and organizational citizenship behaviors) and whether employees’ affective commitment to the organization mediates the former relationship. Methodology / Approach: In order to empirically analyze the research model, a quantitative correlational approach was used. The data were collected through an online survey. 298 Portuguese employees from different organizations have answered, voluntarily and anonymously, to the survey. This included previously validated measures selected from the relevant literature (e.g. Voegtlin, 2011) and socio-professional questions. Conclusions / Results: The data were analyzed using PROCESS macro for IBM SPSS 26. The results indicated that there is significant direct relationship between employees’ perceptions of responsible leadership and their individual behaviors. In addition, affective commitment significantly mediates the relationship between responsible leadership and individual work behaviors, both individual performance and organizational citizenship behaviors. Therefore, the findings, suggest that responsible leaders promote employee’s affective bond to the organization, which reinforces individual performance and organizational citizenship behaviors. Research implications: By having responsible leadership, organizations will be able to increase their employee’s affective commitment, and consequently, increase their individual performance and organizational citizenship behaviors. These behaviors are important to improve overall company’s performance and organizational success. Originality: In this investigation, an employee-centered approach to their perspective on responsible leadership and how it influences their affective commitment and their individual work behaviors was used. With this approach, the study has answered to calls for further analysis of responsible leadership’s consequents at the individual level of analysis (Haque et al., 2017; Miska & Mendenhall, 2018).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio