An audit of documented preoperative evaluation of surgery patients at Universitas Academic Hospital, Bloemfontein

Background: The anaesthetic preoperative evaluation of a patient is the clinical foundation of  perioperative patient management, and can potentially reduce operative morbidity and enhance patient outcomes. Generally, anaesthetists complete a standardised preoperative anaesthetic record (PAR) form to improve the quality of the information obtained during their pre-anaesthetic visit. Previous studies reported an unacceptable standard of preoperative assessment recordkeeping. The aim of the study was to audit the documented preoperative anaesthetic evaluations of surgery patients at Universitas  Academic Hospital, Bloemfontein.Methods: For this retrospective study a sample of 81 patients, who underwent surgery during May 2013, was randomly selected. The information obtained from the standardised PAR form in each patient’s file was audited using a self-generated checklist, based on the measures and criteria incorporated in the Global Quality Index.Results: Although 100% of files retrieved contained the PAR form, none of these forms were fully completed according to the study checklist used. Criteria where less than 50% were completed correctly included: ‘per os’ status (1.2%), current medication (37.0%), preoperative diagnosis (38.3%),  preoperative vital signs (43.2%), American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Classification (44.4%), airway assessment (45.7%), anaesthetic history and complications (48.2%) and special investigation  results (49.4%).Conclusions: The documented preoperative evaluations were incomplete with regard to a number of criteria, as also found in studies conducted at two other national institutions. Training and evaluation regarding completion of preoperative assessment of patients by anaesthetists is needed at Universitas Academic Hospital.Keywords: academic hospital, audit, preoperative anaesthetic record, surger

Implementation of a GNU Radio and Python FMCW radar toolkit

Abstract: The use of GNU Radio in order to explore FMCW radar is growing rapidly, where it is used for radar signal processing. In this paper we implement FMCW surveillance radar for drone detection on SDR using GNU Radio and the USRP B210. The requirement was to design and implement an FMCW surveillance radar to detect a drone with a radar cross-section of 0.1 m2 and a maximum range of 150 m for the purpose of point detection..

Angle-dependent normalization of neutron-proton differential cross sections

Systematic errors in the database of $np$ differential cross sections below 350 MeV are studied. By applying angle-dependent normalizations with the help of the energy-dependent Nijmegen partial-wave analysis PWA93 the $\chi^2$-values of some seriously flawed data sets can be reduced significantly at the expense of a few degrees of freedom. It turns out that in these special cases the renormalized data sets can be made statistically acceptable such that they do not have to be discarded any longer in partial-wave analyses of the two-nucleon scattering data.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure; expanded versio

Perceptions of Job Competencies and Mentoring Program Development for Extension Administrative Assistants: A Focus Group Study of Multiple Extension Employee Groups

Extension workplace mentoring programs may produce increased Extension programming competence, organizational commitment, job satisfaction (Denny, 2016), and leadership effectiveness (Kutilek & Earnest, 2001). The study described in this article aimed to gather information for a proposed mentoring program for Extension administrative assistants. A total of 12 focus groups were conducted with 78 participants representing five employee groups: administrative assistants, Extension agents, county directors, state specialists, and department heads. Employee groups were separately interviewed. Findings indicated that respondents perceive the role of an administrative assistant as critically important, and major competencies required by the administrative assistant role are people skills/customer service, bookkeeping, technology, and a willingness to learn/adaptability to change. Respondents perceived that workplace mentoring is important, and it should be required of all newly-hired administrative assistants. Regarding incentives, administrative assistants felt that counting mentoring time as part of their University’s annual professional learning requirement of 32 hours would encourage participation. Major recommendations include the establishment of an e-mentoring program that incorporates the administrative assistants’ academic, career, and personal goals in addition to organizational policies and procedures

Robust zero-energy modes in an electronic higher-order topological insulator: the dimerized Kagome lattice

Quantum simulators are an essential tool for understanding complex quantum materials. Platforms based on ultracold atoms in optical lattices and photonic devices led the field so far, but electronic quantum simulators are proving to be equally relevant. Simulating topological states of matter is one of the holy grails in the field. Here, we experimentally realize a higher-order electronic topological insulator (HOTI). Specifically, we create a dimerized Kagome lattice by manipulating carbon-monoxide (CO) molecules on a Cu(111) surface using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM). We engineer alternating weak and strong bonds to show that a topological state emerges at the corner of the non-trivial configuration, while it is absent in the trivial one. Contrarily to conventional topological insulators (TIs), the topological state has two dimensions less than the bulk, denoting a HOTI. The corner mode is protected by a generalized chiral symmetry, which leads to a particular robustness against perturbations. Our versatile approach to quantum simulation with artificial lattices holds promises of revealing unexpected quantum phases of matter