ImprovingLaboratory Performance in Healthcare Delivery Systems through Optimal Stage Selection: The Analytic Network Process Approach

Laboratory services in healthcare delivery systems play a vital role in inpatient care. Laboratory testing alone accounts for approximately 10% of hospital billing. A goal for the U.S managed healthcare delivery system is to considerably reduce laboratory costs. To aid in achieving this goal, a research study is performed that focuses on the optimization of a clinical laboratory in a local hospital system. This paper shows how the analytic network process (ANP) model can be applied in assessing and ranking the three stages of the laboratory process to determine the stage that is most critical for optimization purposes. Once the most critical stage is identified and optimized significant cost savings can be achieved. The final results of the ANP model in this study indicate the preanalytical stage is the most critical among the three stages in the laboratory process

Protecting the image of a nation: Jim Crow propaganda

This project investigates how the United States Information Agency (USIA) functioned as a propaganda machine on behalf of the United States government at the dawn of the Cold War and the Civil Rights Movement. Drawing from literature on propaganda, public relations, and public diplomacy, this thesis connects 20th century American propaganda to its roots in public relations, communication studies, and psychology. The Civil Rights movement exposed the cultural inertia of white supremacy in America for the world to see while American foreign policy makers sought to crystallize a cultural hegemony fashioned after American political, cultural, and economic systems. Although the cultural and political systems in America were in a state of radical flux as the Cold War and the Civil Rights movements affected one another. Thus, as the voice of America abroad, USIA was pushed to negotiate the psychological and cultural tensions experienced in America for foreign audiences. Using a discursive constructivist methodology, this study explores how American Cold War propaganda was developed by USIA to tell America’s story abroad. By critically examining USIA’s actions between 1953-1965 this study explores how USIA framed the image of the American race relations at the nexus of the Cold War and the US Civil Rights Movement. By analyzing propaganda disseminated by USIA regarding civil rights, examining US national security reports, US State Department memos, and supporting national intelligence community documents this project aims to answer the following research questions: RQ 1: How did the USIA frame the American race relations throughout the Campaign for Truth?, RQ 2: How did USIA bolster US prestige/soft power from 1953-1963?. RQ 3: How did USIA use communication and public relations to effectively mask the ugliness of the Civil Rights Movement? American propaganda integrated new forms of mass media communications technology with a sophisticated variety of strategies and tactics to manipulate public opinion around the world. Blending traditional message broadcasting with interpersonal forms of advocacy (cultural exchanges) in imaginative campaigns which coopted the Civil Rights Movement to affirm America’s strength as a political, moral, and economic leader

Becoming a good host: A beginner’s guide to learning deliberative civic engagement

This article examines how Deliberative Civic Engagement (DCE) is used as a public engagement process to invite disjointed cultural communities into a shared space to engage in democratically inspired dialogue. Dialogue is sought in DCE events because it encourages reflexivity and allows for collaborative ideation processes. Collaboration among differing groups demands that DCE events are open enough to be influenced by the immediate concerns of the participants involved. In addition, openness and vulnerability are required to support deep level thinking and connection between heterogeneous identities represented. Kevin L.D. Leaven is a recent graduate of the James Madison University’s graduate program in Communication and Advocacy. Author\u27s note As the COVID-19 crisis continues, social distancing is being encouraged to minimize the spread of the coronavirus. Consequently, many conversations between colleagues, friends, and family have moved online using platforms like Zoom and Google Hangouts. Digital technologies have enabled people to overcome some of the obstacles posed by this unprecedented viral event. However, merely having the technology to talk to our peers does not automatically make conversations easier. Nor does COVID-19 erase the social barriers that previously complicated our relationships. However, I believe that people are resilient and that there are ample tools available to spark meaningful discussions amongst our associates. Thus, this article serves as a primer for deliberative civic engagement, which provides one approach to facilitating constructive, informed, and decisive dialogue with others. I argue that cultivating constructive dialogue is a skill with multiple avenues for improvement. So I hope that this article will provide helpful ideas to strengthen your communication skills while encouraging you to engage in fruitful dialogue with others in your life

A Mathematical Modeling Framework For Phlebotomist Scheduling And Blood Draw Assignments In Laboratory Medicine

Laboratory services in healthcare delivery systems play a vital role in inpatient care. Studies have shown that laboratory data affects approximately 65% of the most critical decisions on admission, discharge, and medication. Laboratory testing accounts for approximately 10% of hospital billing. Reducing laboratory costs would contribute to reducing total healthcare cost, which is one of the major goals for the U.S. healthcare delivery system. This research focuses on improving the performance of the hospital laboratory in a large hospital system. The intention of this study is to identify and then optimize the most critical stage to improve the entire laboratory testing process. Using analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and analytic network process (ANP) modeling, the preanalytical stage was identified as most critical. Then, a two-stage stochastic integer linear programming (SILP) model was formulated to determine better weekly phlebotomist schedules and blood collection assignments in the preanalytical stage. The objective of the two-stage SILP is to balance the workload of the phlebotomists within and between shifts, as reducing workload imbalance would result in improved patient care. Due to the size of the two-stage SILP problem, a scenario reduction model and a heuristic algorithm were proposed to solve the problem. The performance evaluation results show that for practical cases the heuristic algorithm proposed could find near optimal solutions with a relative gap less than 3.5% within 20 minutes. The two-stage SILP model and the heuristic algorithm proposed will assist laboratory management in balancing phlebotomist workload, which could reduce the risk of poor phlebotomist performance and patient neglect caused by work overload. By implementing the recommendations of this study, hospital laboratories should see significant improvements in workload balance and resource utilization, which are both considered cost savings strategies

A Study of--The Vocational Status of Graduates of Charlton Pollard High School 1932--1935 Beaumont, Texas

The main purposes for this study are as follows: 1. To determine the factors that prevent Charlton Pollard High School graduates from attending college. 2. To determine the occupational status of the graduates of Charlton Pollard High School. 3. To reveal the extent of participation in community activities by graduates of Charlton Pollard High school. The questionnaires were given to graduates that resided in the districts of north end, south end, west end, and a few parts that were considered out of the city limit of Beaumont, Texas. There were 160 graduates interviewed from the year 1932 through 1935 which were not in college, or had attended and were not able to continnue

Applying Scenario Reduction Heuristics in Stochastic Programming for Phlebotomist Scheduling

Laboratory services in healthcare play a vital role in inpatient care. Studies have indicated laboratory data affect approximately 65% of the most critical decisions on admission, discharge, and medication. This research focuses on improving phlebotomist performance in laboratory facilities of large hospital systems. A two-stage stochastic integer linear programming (SILP) model is formulated to determine better weekly phlebotomist schedules and blood collection assignments. The objective of the two-stage SILP model is to balance the workload of the phlebotomists within and between shifts, as reducing workload imbalance will result in improved patient care. Due to the size of the two-stage SILP model, a scenario reduction model has been proposed as a solution approach. The scenario reduction heuristic is formulated as a linear programming model and the results indicate the scenarios with the largest likelihood of occurrence. These selected scenarios will be tested in the two-stage SILP model to determine weekly scheduling policies and blood draw assignments that will balance phlebotomist workload and improve overall performance

Inventory Management Applications for Healthcare Supply Chains

Recently, the healthcare industry has started using inventory management applications to achieve efficiency and effectiveness in its supply chains. There is a rapid growth in the demand of drugs and diagnostic systems within the healthcare industry. The biggest challenge for health care supply chains is to manage inventory efficiently and keep up the satisfactory service level at the same time. In order to meet the increased demand of healthcare products, healthcare supply chain professionals must find efficient and effective ways to improve and optimize inventory. Moreover, perishability and disposability of many medical products have been major problems in healthcare supply chain management. The current managerial practices and conflicts among different stakeholders in health care supply chains are directly associated with the issue of inventory management. This literature review will introduce various inventory management applications that are mainly focused on minimizing inventory costs and increasing overall efficiency in healthcare supply chains. The uses of simulation, new technologies to track healthcare products, new managerial practices, optimization, and information sharing techniques have been discussed throughout this literature review. We have also discussed pharmaceutical inventory management strategies in great detail, as pharmaceuticals are one of the main products of healthcare supply chains