Employer image in the public health care sector:how to attract potential employees?

Abstract. Employees are one of the key resources of an organization, emphasizing the role of employer branding. Health care sector is one of the fields in Finland having lack of employees, such as doctors. Therefore, the public health care sector can gain benefits of branding to attract employees. However, employer branding and employer image in the public sector have hardly studied, and even less in the public health care sector. This creates a need for examining the external employer branding in the sector. Hence, this thesis aims to study how potential employees perceive the public health care sector as an employer. Also, the purpose of this thesis is to gain knowledge of which attributes potential applicants consider desirable. Furthermore, the thesis aims to study how the employer brand appears. The theoretical framework is based on branding in the public sector and external employer branding. The existing literature suggests external employer branding is built on three parts: employer brand associations, employer image, and employer attractiveness. Employer brand associations can be divided into symbolic and functional attributes affecting formulation of employer image. All together the factors have connection to the employer attractiveness. However, researchers also suggest, reputation affects employer attractiveness in addition to employer image in the public sector. Thus, a theoretical model is created based on the theory to study the relationships between the factors. In order to collect data for empirical analysis, a survey was designed incorporating closed and open questions. The survey was targeted to the medical students in the university of Oulu, receiving 93 responses. To analyse the data, statistical analysis but also qualitative content analysis was used. The results of data analysis showed, the respondents considered tasks, working atmosphere, opportunities for education and development, and opportunities for specialization as desired employer attributes in general. Further, the employer image of the public health care sector is not unambiguous. For instance, the sector was viewed as reliable and stable employer. At the same time, shortage of resources and rush casted a shadow over the employer image of the public health care sector. Moreover, extensive variety between different employers, such as hospital districts and municipals were pointed out, emphasizing the public sector does not have truly unified employer brand. The thesis provided also theoretical contributions and managerial implications. The theoretical contributions are related mostly to symbolic and functional employer attributes and their categorization, but also to sector branding. As sector branding is rather new concept, definition for sector branding was provided. Moreover, managers of public health care organizations can benefit of the results of this thesis. Especially the organizations that are having lack of doctors can utilize the results in order to start building employer branding activities. Lastly, validity, reliability and generalizability of the study was dealt with, but also limitations of the research and some future research suggestions were discussed

Equilibrium Shape and Size of Supported Heteroepitaxial Nanoislands

We study the equilibrium shape, shape transitions and optimal size of strained heteroepitaxial nanoislands with a two-dimensional atomistic model using simply adjustable interatomic pair potentials. We map out the global phase diagram as a function of substrate-adsorbate misfit and interaction. This phase diagram reveals all the phases corresponding to different well-known growth modes. In particular, for large enough misfits and attractive substrate there is a Stranski-Krastanow regime, where nano-sized islands grow on top of wetting films. We analyze the various terms contributing to the total island energy in detail, and show how the competition between them leads to the optimal shape and size of the islands. Finally, we also develop an analytic interpolation formula for the various contributions to the total energy of strained nanoislands.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

Equilibrium shape and dislocation nucleation in strained epitaxial nanoislands

We study numerically the equilibrium shapes, shape transitions and dislocation nucleation of small strained epitaxial islands with a two-dimensional atomistic model, using simple interatomic pair potentials. We first map out the phase diagram for the equilibrium island shapes as a function of island size (up to N = 105 atoms) and lattice misfit with the substrate and show that nanoscopic islands have four generic equilibrium shapes, in contrast with predictions from the continuum theory of elasticity. For increasing substrate-adsorbate attraction, we find islands that form on top of a finite wetting layer as observed in Stranski-Krastanow growth. We also investigate energy barriers and transition paths for transitions between different shapes of the islands and for dislocation nucleation in initially coherent islands. In particular, we find that dislocations nucleate spontaneously at the edges of the adsorbate-substrate interface above a critical size or lattice misfit.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, uses wrapfig.sty and epsfig.st

Stress release mechanisms for Cu on Pd(111) in the submonolayer and monolayer regimes

We study the strain relaxation mechanisms of Cu on Pd(111) up to the monolayer regime using two different computational methodologies, basin-hopping global optimization and energy minimization with a repulsive bias potential. Our numerical results are consistent with experimentally observed layer-by-layer growth mode. However, we find that the structure of the Cu layer is not fully pseudomorphic even at low coverages. Instead, the Cu adsorbates forms fcc and hcp stacking domains, separated by partial misfit dislocations. We also estimate the minimum energy path and energy barriers for transitions from the ideal epitaxial state to the fcc-hcp domain pattern.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Tibial Fractures in Alpine Skiing and Snowboarding in Finland : A Retrospective Study on Fracture Types and Injury Mechanisms in 363 Patients

Background and Aim: Alpine skiing and snowboarding share the hazards of accidents accounting for tibial fractures. The aim of this study was to evaluate the fracture patterns and mechanisms of injury of tibial fractures taking place in downhill skiing and snowboarding. Materials and methods: All patients with tibial fracture due to alpine skiing or snowboarding accident treated in four trauma centers next to the largest ski resorts in Finland were analyzed between 2006 and 2012. The hospital records were retrospectively reviewed for data collection: equipment used (skis or snowboard), age, gender, and mechanism of injury. Fractures were classified according to AO-classification. Results: There were 342 skiing and 30 snowboarding related tibial fractures in 363 patients. Tibial shaft fracture was the most common fracture among skiers (n=215, 63%), followed by proximal tibial fractures (n=92, 27%). Snowboarders were most likely to suffer from proximal tibial fracture (13, 43%) or tibial shaft fracture (11, 37%). Snowboarders were also more likely than skiers to suffer complex AO type C fractures (23% vs 9%, p Conclusion: The most important finding was the relatively high number of the tibial plateau fractures among adult skiers. The fracture patterns between snowboarding and skiing were different; the most common fracture type in skiers was spiral tibial shaft fracture compared to proximal tibial fractures in snowboarders. Children had more simple fractures than adults.Peer reviewe

One in Three of Pediatric Tibia Shaft Fractures is Currently Treated Operatively : A 6-Year Epidemiological Study in two University Hospitals in Finland Treatment of Pediatric Tibia Shaft Fractures

Background: Internal fixation of pediatric tibia shaft fractures has become increasingly popular despite the fact that non-operative treatment results in satisfactory outcome with few exceptions. Indications for surgery and benefits of internal fixation are however still debatable. Materials and Methods: All 296 less than 16-year-old patients treated for a tibia shaft fracture between 2010 and 2015 in two of the five university hospitals in Finland were included in the study. Patient data were analyzed in three treatment groups: cast immobilization in emergency department, manipulation under anesthesia, and operative treatment. Incidence of operative treatment of pediatric tibia shaft fractures was calculated in the cities of Helsinki and Kuopio. Results: A total of 143 (47.3%) children's tibia shaft fractures were treated with casting in emergency department, 71 (22.3%) with manipulation under anesthesia, and 82 (30.4%) with surgery. Mean age of the patients in these treatment groups was 6.2, 8.7, and 12.7 years. Fibula was intact in 89%, 51%, and 27% of the patients, respectively. All 6 patients with multiple fractures and 16 of 18 patients with open fractures were treated operatively. In eight patients, primary non-operative treatment was converted to internal fixation. Operatively treated patients with isolated closed fractures were more likely to have a fibula fracture (46/66 vs 52/214, p <0.001), be older in age (13.08 2.4 vs 6.4 +/- 3.7, p <0.001), and have more primary angulation (6.9 +/- 5.8 vs 0.48 +/- 3.1, p <0.001). Re-operations were done to eight and corrective osteotomy to two operatively treated children. Conclusion: Operative treatment of a pediatric tibia shaft fracture is currently nearly a rule in patients with open or multiple fractures. Surgical treatment of closed tibia shaft fractures is based on surgeon's personal preference, type of fracture and age of the patient.Peer reviewe

Two Approaches to Dislocation Nucleation in the Supported Heteroepitaxial Equilibrium Islanding Phenomenon

We study the dislocation formation in 2D nanoscopic islands with two methods, the Molecular Static method and the Phase Field Crystal method. It is found that both methods indicate the same qualitative stages of the nucleation process. The dislocations nucleate at the film-substrate contact point and the energy decreases monotonously when the dislocations are farther away from the island-wetting film contact points than the distance of the highest energy barrier.Comment: 4 page

Conventional Nanoindentation in Self-Assembled Monolayers Deposited on Gold and Silver Substrates

Peer reviewe