77 research outputs found
The PHENIX Experiment at RHIC
The physics emphases of the PHENIX collaboration and the design and current
status of the PHENIX detector are discussed. The plan of the collaboration for
making the most effective use of the available luminosity in the first years of
RHIC operation is also presented.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure. Further details of the PHENIX physics program
available at http://www.rhic.bnl.gov/phenix
Development of the Medical Intensive Care Unit Shift Report Communication Scale as a measure of nurses' perception of communication
David James,1 Angela Jukkala,2 Andres Azuero,2 Pamela Autrey,3 Lynne Vining,4 Rebecca Miltner2 1Center for Nursing Excellence, University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital, 2School of Nursing, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 3Nursing Administration, University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital, 4Medical Intensive Care Unit, University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital, Birmingham, Alabama, USA Objective: Evidence documenting the negative impact of poor communication on patient safety during intra-hospital transfer is prevalent and attributed to 80% of serious medical errors. An event particularly vulnerable to communication error is the patient "handoff." One of the more common handoffs occurring in health care settings is the report provided between nurses at the change of shift. The objective of this article is to report the process used to develop and examine the reliability and validity of a Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) Shift Report Communication Scale to measure nurses' perception of the quality and quantity of communication during shift report. Design and participants: This was a scale development and descriptive study undertaken at the Medical Intensive Care Unit within an Academic Health Center. Forty-three medical intensive care nurses took part. Results: An exploratory factor analysis revealed three domains: communication openness, quality of information, and shift report. Medical Intensive Care Unit Shift Report Communication Scale scores ranged from 12 to 27 (mean = 18.78; standard deviation = 3.28). Perception of communication did not vary between nurses based on years of nursing experience or age. Scale reliability was good (Cronbach's alpha = 0.079). Nurses were likely to have had a positive perception of the openness of communication on the unit. However, they had a less favorable perception of peer ability to fully understand information shared during shift report and identified as a common problem the frequent need to review the chart to verify reported information. Conclusion: The MICU Shift Report Communication Scale may be used to provide useful information to support health care organizations and nurse leaders in the evaluation of nurse communication during shift report. Initial testing indicates that the MICU Shift Report Communication Scale is easy to use; however, additional testing with larger groups of nurses is needed. Keywords: medical error, patient handoff, patient safet
Recommended from our members
Sampling and analysis of the inactive waste tanks TH-2, WC-1, and WC-15
Thirty-eight inactive liquid low-level radioactive waste tanks are currently managed by the Environmental Restoration Program of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The contents of these tanks are to be characterized in preparation for future corrective actions and remediation activities as part of compliance with the pending Federal Facility Agreement for the Oak Ridge Reservation. Twenty-nine of these tanks were sampled and analyzed in 1989. Three of the tanks (TH-2, WC-1, and WC-15) were not accessible from the surface and thus were not sampled until 1990. This report presents the sampling and analytical results of that campaign. All three tanks in this report had negligible regulatory organic compounds in the samples that were collected. There were no US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Target Compound List (TCL) constituents for volatile organics detected in any of the aqueous samples. The only semivolatile organics detected were 2-chlorophenol (52 {mu}g/L) in tank TH-2 and dichloroethane (14--15 {mu}g/L) and diethyl either (15--17 {mu}g/L) in tank WC-15. A thin oil layer was discovered floating on top of the aqueous contents in tank WC-15. The analysis of the oil layer detected no volatile organics and showed only one EPA TCL constituent, di-n-butylphthalate, at 1900 {mu}g/L. Low levels of Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) metals were observed in the samples from tank TH-2, but only the mercury level exceeded the RCRA limit. Samples from tank WC-1 had elevated levels of the RCRA metals barium, chromium, and lead. There were also finely suspended particles in one of the samples from tank WC-1, which was filtered and analyzed separately. This solid fines have levels of transuranium elements {sup 238}Pu and {sup 241}Am high enough to classified as transuranic waste
- …