An exploratory study into the factors that influence patients' perceptions of cleanliness in an acute NHS trust hospital

Purpose – If NHS hospitals wish to influence patients to choose them and, as the literature review suggests, cleanliness will be a key-influencing factor in making that choice, it would seem important for hospitals to understand what factors lead people to decide whether a hospital is clean or dirty. The research aims to identify what the key factors are that influence patients' perceptions of cleanliness and to rank these factors in order of importance. Design/methodology/approach – The project utilised a mixed methodology to collect the data. The hospital staff and people who had been recent patients took part in focus groups in order to gather their views. The current hospital in-patients were surveyed through the use of a paper questionnaire. Findings – The main themes that influence the perceptions of cleanliness emerging from the analysis can be summarised under three broad headings – appearance of the environment, physical cleanliness and staff behaviour. The findings suggest that this subject is much more complex than the production of a list. The appearance of the environment is a complex set of perceptions based on what individuals believe to be important, what they observe and what they expect. The research suggests that the appearance of the environment is the most important factor. Originality/value – The paper starts to explore the factors that influence patient perception of cleanliness and provides practical information to NHS estates and facilities managers.</p

Non-Measles Hemadsorption in a Cell Line Persistently Infected with Measles Virus (BGM/MV)

Adsorption of Rhesus monkey erythrocytes to the plasma membranes of measles virus infected cells is frequently carried out to detect the presence of plasma membrane-associated measles virus hemagglutinin. The hemagglutinin is a viral genome-coded structural glycoprotein of the measles virion that is associated with the plasma membrane of the host cell during measles virus replication. BGM/MV, anon-virogenic line of African green monkey kidney cells persistently-infected with measles virus, adsorbed Rhesus monkey erythrocytes in an inverse fashion relative to the number of cells present in the culture and the time post-seeding. Serological studies employing the hemadsorption-inhibition and membrane immunofluorescence assay procedures, suggested that this phenomenon was not mediated by the viral hemagglutinin. Assays for Simian virus-5 and mycoplasma, contaminating agents that induce erythrocyte adsorption, were negative. Incubation of BGM/MV cells at 33°C or with graded concentrations of fetal calf serum, to stimulate the metabolism of resting (Go) cells, suggested that adsorption was related to a phase(s) of the cell growth cycle other than Go₁, for adsorption was prolonged and stimulated in a dose-response fashion, respectively. Comparative adsorption studies employing the parent cell line (BGM), not infected with measles virus, were performed using various species of erythrocytes. While both cell lines adsorbed Rhesus monkey erythrocytes in an inverse fashion relative to cell density, differences were noted in the adsorption of some of the other species of erythrocytes. These data suggest that Rhesus monkey erythrocyte adsorption to BGM/MV cells was mediated by a receptor(s) of cellular origin

A simulation comparison of methods for new product location

Includes bibliographical references (p. 29-31)

Agenda for Change: views and experiences from estates and facilities staff

Purpose – Agenda for Change is the biggest reform of staff pay in the UK National Health Service NHS) since it began in 1948. As well as introducing a standardised pay structure; it also aims to improve recruitment, retention and staff morale. The aim of this study is to look in-depth at the experiences and opinions of a range of estates and facilities staff surrounding Agenda for Change during the implementation period. Design/methodology/approach – Focus groups were used as the primary method of data collection in an attempt to tap into the views and opinions of staff working at operational positions in a wide range of trusts. Findings – One of the most important and common themes, which reoccurred throughout the focus groups, was the view that the Agenda for Change framework was designed around the needs of nursing staff. Therefore, the framework did not adequately cater for the needs of estates and facilities staff. Specific concerns related to this included; the role or contribution of estates and facilities staff during patient care was not fairly reflected; trade qualifications were not recognised, particularly in comparison to academic qualifications; members of the job matching panels did not have the appropriate knowledge to make decisions surrounding estates and facilities jobs; nurses were more likely to make progress through the bands than estates and facilities staff.</p

Evaluation of a refurbishment scheme incorporating the King's Fund “Enhancing the healing environment” design principles

Purpose – In 2000, a national initiative “Enhancing the Healing Environment” (EHE) was launched by the King’s Fund to celebrate the millennium. This aimed to support nurse-led teams to undertake an environment improvement programme in their National Health Service (NHS) hospital. Sheffield Care Trust (SCT) decided to carry out this project in its intensive treatment suite, a psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) providing care for up to six patients. There were no known examples of an EHE project being undertaken in a PICU elsewhere in the NHS. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of EHE design principles in improving the patient experience, from the perspectives of staff and patients. Design/methodology/approach – A focus group and individual interviews were used as the primary method of data collection. Secondary data comprised sets of statistics related to pre- and post-refurbishment periods. Findings – It was found that staff and patients liked many aspects of the changed environment. Staff felt improved openness of space, natural light, fresh air, reduced noise levels and greater choice of spaces to provide care, were most important. Patients cited a high quality, comfortable and homely environment (not like a typical NHS ward) as important; they also valued high standards of cleanliness, tidiness, choice and being able to view the outside, open windows and let in fresh air. Experiencing high quality clinical care was equally important. Incidence of physical assaults decreased markedly in the new environment. Practical implications – NHS mental health services trusts will understand the benefits of applying EHE principles in PICUs or similar environments. Some project management shortcomings are identified and improvements suggested. Originality/value – This paper is of value to NHS mental health trusts which need to decide on the effectiveness of different design principles for PICUs or similar environments

WavePacket: A Matlab package for numerical quantum dynamics. III: Quantum-classical simulations and surface hopping trajectories

WavePacket is an open-source program package for numerical simulations in quantum dynamics. Building on the previous Part I [Comp. Phys. Comm. 213, 223-234 (2017)] and Part II [Comp. Phys. Comm. 228, 229-244 (2018)] which dealt with quantum dynamics of closed and open systems, respectively, the present Part III adds fully classical and mixed quantum-classical propagations to WavePacket. In those simulations classical phase-space densities are sampled by trajectories which follow (diabatic or adiabatic) potential energy surfaces. In the vicinity of (genuine or avoided) intersections of those surfaces trajectories may switch between surfaces. To model these transitions, two classes of stochastic algorithms have been implemented: (1) J. C. Tully's fewest switches surface hopping and (2) Landau-Zener based single switch surface hopping. The latter one offers the advantage of being based on adiabatic energy gaps only, thus not requiring non-adiabatic coupling information any more. The present work describes the MATLAB version of WavePacket 6.0.2 which is essentially an object-oriented rewrite of previous versions, allowing to perform fully classical, quantum-classical and quantum-mechanical simulations on an equal footing, i.e., for the same physical system described by the same WavePacket input. The software package is hosted and further developed at the Sourceforge platform, where also extensive Wiki-documentation as well as numerous worked-out demonstration examples with animated graphics are available

Method of cross-linking polyvinyl alcohol and other water soluble resins

A self supporting sheet structure comprising a water soluble, noncrosslinked polymer such as polyvinyl alcohol which is capable of being crosslinked by reaction with hydrogen atom radicals and hydroxyl molecule radicals is contacted with an aqueous solution having a pH of less than 8 and containing a dissolved salt in an amount sufficient to prevent substantial dissolution of the noncrosslinked polymer in the aqueous solution. The aqueous solution is then irradiated with ionizing radiation to form hydrogen atom radicals and hydroxyl molecule radicals and the irradiation is continued for a time sufficient to effect crosslinking of the water soluble polymer to produce a water insoluble polymer sheet structure. The method has particular application in the production of battery separators and electrode envelopes for alkaline batteries

Multipartite entanglement in the Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO) pigment-protein complex

We investigate multipartite states in the Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO) pigment-protein complex of the green sulfur bacteria using a Lorentzian spectral density of the phonon reservoir fitted with typical parameter estimates of the species, P. aestuarii. The evolution of the entanglement measure of the excitonic W qubit states is evaluated in the picosecond time range, showing increased revivals in the non-Markovian regime. Similar trends are observed in the evolution dynamics of the Meyer-Wallach measure of the N-exciton multipartite state, with results showing that multipartite entanglement can last from 0.5 to 1 ps, between the Bchls of the FMO complex. The teleportation and quantum information splitting fidelities associated with the GHZ and W_A resource states of the excitonic qubit channels of the FMO complex show that revivals in fidelities increase with the degree of non-Markovian strength of the decoherent environment. Results indicate that quantum information processing tasks involving teleportation followed by the decodification process involving W_A states of the FMO complex, may play a critical role during coherent oscillations at physiological temperatures.Comment: 16 pages, new figs, typo

Equilibrium distributions in thermodynamical traffic gas

We derive the exact formula for thermal-equilibrium spacing distribution of one-dimensional particle gas with repulsive potential V(r)=r^(-a) (a>0) depending on the distance r between the neighboring particles. The calculated distribution (for a=1) is successfully compared with the highway-traffic clearance distributions, which provides a detailed view of changes in microscopical structure of traffic sample depending on traffic density. In addition to that, the observed correspondence is a strong support of studies applying the equilibrium statistical physics to traffic modelling.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, changed content, added reference