Evaluation of a Safe Patient Handling Program

Purpose : The purpose of this project was to evaluate the effectiveness of implementing a comprehensive Safe Patient Handling (SPH) Program system wide in a large healthcare organization relative to injury severity and organizational cost. Background : Extensive review of the literature reveals clear evidence that healthcare workers who participate in patient handling activities continue to be at a very high risk for occupational musculoskeletal injuries. Workers employed up to one year, and those employed greater than ten years within the institution studied were noted to have higher rates of injures that were more severe and more costly to the organization. Methods : Implementation of a comprehensive SPH program was implemented in 2010 and all direct patient caregivers were trained. The sample consisted of new hires (n=89) and long term hires (n=144) identified via aggregate data from data bases owned by the institution. Data were analyzed on the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) program. Mean differences in the severity of injury and cost of injury between pre and post-training periods were analyzed via independent samples t-tests. Chi-square was used to identify whether there was a significant difference in the frequency of injuries between the pre and post-training periods. Results : Results indicated that the average injury severity during the pre-test period was significantly higher compared to post-test. No significant differences were found related to cost or frequency of injury between pre and post-test. Discussion : Issues related to the practical significance of the results and challenges due to the small sample size are discussed

New wine, old wineskins: is a shortage of priests re-shaping catholic identity in Australia?

The Catholic Church globally is facing a declining number of priests, whose remaining numbers are ageing and for whom there are insufficient seminarians to provide replacements. This thesis seeks to examine the consequence of this situation for Catholic identity in the context of the Catholic Diocese of Toowoomba in regional Australia. Such circumstances necessitate new forms of day-to-day leadership in parish faith-communities, especially an increasing reliance upon laypeople to fulfil roles once the domain of clergy. In examining this phenomenon, this thesis draws together anthropological discourse on identity and theological insights into the particular importance of Catholicism’s ordained ministers in an anthropology of theology. In doing so, the liminality of the diocese’s parishioners and their experiences of communitas are identified and examined. Applying the analytical framework of the emerging anthropology of theology to the findings of fifteen months of ethnographic fieldwork, this work addresses the question ‘Is a shortage of priests re-shaping Catholic identity in Australia?’ concluding that this phenomenon is re-shaping the identity of Toowoomba’s Catholic

An analysis of visits made to the infirmary by two groups of emotionally disturbed campers

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston Universit

Peter Brook: A survey of his directorial achievement

This study seeks to describe carefully the professional accomplishments of one contemporary director, Peter Brook, in an effort to arrive at a generalized perspective through individual analysis. The first task of this study is to compile a professional biography of Brook\u27s work - to chronicle his achievements. The second objective is to separate the genre of his work in the various media and describe and analyse his treatment and philosophy of each area. This study will also examine his rehearsal technique and his work with experimental projects