11 research outputs found
Professional Learning Communities: Are Schools Ready to Collaborate to Educate?
Every school in Texas has a common goal: students must pass the state-mandated test called the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS). With pressure from the state and federal government to raise achievement scores, schools are frantically searching for a program that will guarantee student success. Unfortunately, no program will be found because it is people, not programs, who make a difference in education
The Principals We Hire for Today’s Schools: Voices of Superintendents
The purpose of this study was to identify superintendents’ perceptions of the characteristics of and abilities needed by successful principals in today’s schools. In addition, identification of superintendents’ concerns relative to the principals they hire was solicited
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Design of MARQUIS2: study protocol for a mentored implementation study of an evidence-based toolkit to improve patient safety through medication reconciliation.
BackgroundThe first Multi-center Medication Reconciliation Quality Improvement Study (MARQUIS1) demonstrated that implementation of a medication reconciliation best practices toolkit decreased total unintentional medication discrepancies in five hospitals. We sought to implement the MARQUIS toolkit in more diverse hospitals, incorporating lessons learned from MARQUIS1.MethodsMARQUIS2 is a pragmatic, mentored implementation QI study which collected clinical and implementation outcomes. Sites implemented a revised toolkit, which included interventions from these domains: 1) best possible medication history (BPMH)-taking; 2) discharge medication reconciliation and patient/caregiver counseling; 3) identifying and defining clinician roles and responsibilities; 4) risk stratification; 5) health information technology improvements; 6) improved access to medication sources; 7) identification and correction of real-time discrepancies; and, 8) stakeholder engagement. Eight hospitalists mentored the sites via one site visit and monthly phone calls over the 18-month intervention period. Each site's local QI team assessed opportunities to improve, implemented at least one of the 17 toolkit components, and accessed a variety of resources (e.g. implementation manual, webinars, and workshops). Outcomes to be assessed will include unintentional medication discrepancies per patient.DiscussionA mentored multi-center medication reconciliation QI initiative using a best practices toolkit was successfully implemented across 18 medical centers. The 18 participating sites varied in size, teaching status, location, and electronic health record (EHR) platform. We introduce barriers to implementation and lessons learned from MARQUIS1, such as the importance of utilizing dedicated, trained medication history takers, simple EHR solutions, clarifying roles and responsibilities, and the input of patients and families when improving medication reconciliation
Recommended from our members
Design of MARQUIS2: study protocol for a mentored implementation study of an evidence-based toolkit to improve patient safety through medication reconciliation.
BackgroundThe first Multi-center Medication Reconciliation Quality Improvement Study (MARQUIS1) demonstrated that implementation of a medication reconciliation best practices toolkit decreased total unintentional medication discrepancies in five hospitals. We sought to implement the MARQUIS toolkit in more diverse hospitals, incorporating lessons learned from MARQUIS1.MethodsMARQUIS2 is a pragmatic, mentored implementation QI study which collected clinical and implementation outcomes. Sites implemented a revised toolkit, which included interventions from these domains: 1) best possible medication history (BPMH)-taking; 2) discharge medication reconciliation and patient/caregiver counseling; 3) identifying and defining clinician roles and responsibilities; 4) risk stratification; 5) health information technology improvements; 6) improved access to medication sources; 7) identification and correction of real-time discrepancies; and, 8) stakeholder engagement. Eight hospitalists mentored the sites via one site visit and monthly phone calls over the 18-month intervention period. Each site's local QI team assessed opportunities to improve, implemented at least one of the 17 toolkit components, and accessed a variety of resources (e.g. implementation manual, webinars, and workshops). Outcomes to be assessed will include unintentional medication discrepancies per patient.DiscussionA mentored multi-center medication reconciliation QI initiative using a best practices toolkit was successfully implemented across 18 medical centers. The 18 participating sites varied in size, teaching status, location, and electronic health record (EHR) platform. We introduce barriers to implementation and lessons learned from MARQUIS1, such as the importance of utilizing dedicated, trained medication history takers, simple EHR solutions, clarifying roles and responsibilities, and the input of patients and families when improving medication reconciliation
Structural Determinants Underlying the Temperature-sensitive Nature of a Gα Mutant in Asymmetric Cell Division of Caenorhabditis elegans*S⃞
Heterotrimeric G-proteins are integral to a conserved regulatory module
that influences metazoan asymmetric cell division (ACD). In the
Caenorhabditis elegans zygote, GOA-1 (Gαo) and
GPA-16 (Gαi) are involved in generating forces that pull on
astral microtubules and position the spindle asymmetrically. GPA-16 function
has been analyzed in vivo owing notably to a temperature-sensitive
allele gpa-16(it143), which, at the restrictive temperature,
results in spindle orientation defects in early embryos. Here we identify the
structural basis of gpa-16(it143), which encodes a point
mutation (G202D) in the switch II region of GPA-16. Using
Gαi1(G202D) as a model in biochemical analyses, we
demonstrate that high temperature induces instability of the mutant Gα.
At the permissive temperature, the mutant Gα was stable upon GTP
binding, but switch II rearrangement was compromised, as were activation
state-selective interactions with regulators involved in ACD, including GoLoco
motifs, RGS proteins, and RIC-8. We solved the crystal structure of the mutant
Gα bound to GDP, which indicates a unique switch II conformation as well
as steric constraints that suggest activated GPA-16(it143) is destabilized
relative to wild type. Spindle severing in gpa-16(it143)
embryos revealed that pulling forces are symmetric and markedly diminished at
the restrictive temperature. Interestingly, pulling forces are asymmetric and
generally similar in magnitude to wild type at the permissive temperature
despite defects in the structure of GPA-16(it143). These normal pulling forces
in gpa-16(it143) embryos at the permissive temperature were
attributable to GOA-1 function, underscoring a complex interplay of Gα
subunit function in ACD