A test of a multilevel model of personnel selection in a customer service organization

The objective of the current study was to provide an initial empirical test of the Schneider, Smith, and Sipe (2000) multilevel model of personnel selection. The Schneider et al. (2000) model expanded the traditional approach to validating selection systems to include the impact that selection systems have on the broader organizational system. The current project provided an empirical test of this model by extending the traditional individual-differences approach to validation research and including group- and organization-criteria (e.g., unit-level performance and customer satisfaction). Using a quasi-experimental design, archival data from a managerial development and selection program were analyzed to examine several relationships proposed in the Schneider et al. (2000) model. The current study provided limited support for the Schneider et al. (2000) model. There were several limitations in the current study associated with the use of archival data, but the current study provides an initial indication of practical problems associated with empirically testing the model. While intuitively appealing, testing the Schneider et al. model in applied settings may prove to be a practical challenge because of the nature and complexity of the data required to do so. Although the current study provided limited support for the model, there were some interesting findings that warranted additional examination. Findings from the current study may be informative for both researchers and practitioners. Ideas for future research related to the Schneider et al. (2000) multilevel model of personnel selection are also offered

Engendering Empathy in Baccalaureate Nursing Students

Background: Recent nursing research suggests that empathy in nursing students actually declines as students progress through their nursing program of study; with the lowest levels of empathy observed in nursing students with the most clinical experience. Objective: This study explored the effect of an elective nursing course about the many dimensions of human suffering on empathy in baccalaureate nursing students. Methods: The pre-test/posttest design was repeated five times over five years. Results: Despite previous evidence that suggests that empathy declines during nursing education, in this study undergraduate nursing students scored higher on the Jefferson Scale of Empathy, Nursing Student Version R after completing the course. In addition these positive findings were replicated consistently over a five year period. Collectively students scored about seven points higher after completing the course (p < 0.001). Conclusions: In an era when communication is technologically driven, nursing curricula requirements abound, and nursing students are focused on high stakes testing, the need for nurse educators to focus on engendering empathy may be more important than ever. Excerpts and exercises from the course that may have contributed to the study findings are included

Multiple novel prostate cancer susceptibility signals identified by fine-mapping of known risk loci among Europeans

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous common prostate cancer (PrCa) susceptibility loci. We have fine-mapped 64 GWAS regions known at the conclusion of the iCOGS study using large-scale genotyping and imputation in 25 723 PrCa cases and 26 274 controls of European ancestry. We detected evidence for multiple independent signals at 16 regions, 12 of which contained additional newly identified significant associations. A single signal comprising a spectrum of correlated variation was observed at 39 regions; 35 of which are now described by a novel more significantly associated lead SNP, while the originally reported variant remained as the lead SNP only in 4 regions. We also confirmed two association signals in Europeans that had been previously reported only in East-Asian GWAS. Based on statistical evidence and linkage disequilibrium (LD) structure, we have curated and narrowed down the list of the most likely candidate causal variants for each region. Functional annotation using data from ENCODE filtered for PrCa cell lines and eQTL analysis demonstrated significant enrichment for overlap with bio-features within this set. By incorporating the novel risk variants identified here alongside the refined data for existing association signals, we estimate that these loci now explain ∼38.9% of the familial relative risk of PrCa, an 8.9% improvement over the previously reported GWAS tag SNPs. This suggests that a significant fraction of the heritability of PrCa may have been hidden during the discovery phase of GWAS, in particular due to the presence of multiple independent signals within the same regio

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Correction to: Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

An assessment of the measurement equivalence of rating sources in a multisource feedback system

Due to the character of the original source materials and the nature of batch digitization, quality control issues may be present in this document. Please report any quality issues you encounter to [email protected], referencing the URI of the item.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 61-67).Issued also on microfiche from Lange Micrographics.The present study used confirmatory factor analysis to evaluate a series of models representing the relations among performance ratings from multiple sources across multiple performance dimensions. The results suggest that the variance in performance ratings can be attributed to three distinct sources. First, there is common variance attributable to performance dimensions or factor loadings. Second, there is variance that can be attributed to the rating source (peer, self, or supervisor). Third, there is unique variance beyond that explained by the performance dimensions and source effects. Further, these results suggest that the rating sources appear to be rating the same performance dimensions, and even tapping the performance constructs to the same extent in some cases. The source effects do account for some variance, but these effects are smaller than the performance dimensions. Additionally, the unique variance accounted for a large component of the variance associated with the performance ratings in the present study