The performance management of education services staff in Scottish local authorities: an evaluation

Investigates the extent to which Scottish local authorities measured the performance of education services staff

Virtual outreach: economic evaluation of joint teleconsultations for patients referred by their general practitioner for a specialist opinion

Objectives To test the hypotheses that, compared with conventional outpatient consultations, joint teleconsultation (virtual outreach) would incur no increased costs to the NHS, reduce costs to patients, and reduce absences from work by patients and their carers.Design Cost consequences study alongside randomised controlled trial.Setting Two hospitals in London and Shrewsbury and 29 general practices in inner London and Wales.Participants 3170 patients identified; 2094 eligible for inclusion and willing to participate. 1051 randomised to virtual outreach and 1043 to standard outpatient appointments.Main outcome measures NHS costs, patient costs, health status (SF-12), time spent attending index consultation, patient satisfaction.Results Overall six month costs were greater for the virtual outreach consultations (pound724 per patient) than for conventional outpatient appointments (pound625): difference in means pound99 ($162; is not an element of138) (95% confidence interval pound10 to pound187, P=0.03). if the analysis is restricted to resource items deemed "attributable" to the index consultation, six month costs were still greater for virtual outreach: difference in means pound108 (pound73 to pound142, P < 0.0001). In both analyses the index consultation accounted for the excess cost. Savings to patients in terms of costs and time occurred in both centres: difference in mean total patient cost 8 pound (5 pound to 10 pound, P < 0.0001). Loss of productive time was less in the virtual outreach group: difference in mean cost pound11 (pound10 to pound12, P < 0.0001).Condusion The main hypothesis that virtual outreach would be cost neutral is rejected, but the hypotheses that costs to patients and losses in productivity would be lower are supported

Estudio comparativo de la calidad de la información ofrecida sobre los servicios en las webs de las bibliotecas virtuales de universidades a distancia

Exponemos el resultado de un estudio comparativo sobre la comunicación web de los servicios de las bibliotecas virtuales universitarias de una selección de universidades a distancia entre las que se encuentran la UNED, la UOC y la Open University. Este estudio se hace observando las diferencias cualitativas de diversos aspectos, tales como la organización, la accesibilidad, los formatos, el redactado, la utilidad y la presentación de la información sobre los servicios de la biblioteca ofrecida en la web a los usuarios de aquellas universidades y/o Bibliotecas que han realizado el proceso de gestión de calidad o han confeccionado la carta de servicios y las que no. Entre varias recomendaciones y ejemplos de buenas prácticas, el estudio concluye que aquellas universidades y bibliotecas que no muestran ningún tipo de proceso de calidad en su institución podemos ver que son las que olvidan algunos elementos esenciales y muchos detalles por lo que a la descripción de la oferta de servicios se refiere. Conclusión y recomendaciones extensibles a cualquier biblioteca universitaria que ofrezca información en línea sobre sus servicios. A partir de la elaboración de fichas que recogen los diversos aspectos a observar de cada una de las bibliotecas hemos ponderado, en base a la diversa bibliografía consultada, cada uno como desaconsejable, recomendable y excelente resultando un informe que muestra todas las recomendaciones para cada uno de los elementos.Ebsco, Libera, Elsevier, Emerald, Asociación Andaluza de Bibliotecarios, Springer, Cambridge University Press, RSC Publishing, ISOTool

Predicting long-term outcome after acute ischemic stroke: a simple index works in patients from controlled clinical trials

Background and Purpose—An early and reliable prognosis for recovery in stroke patients is important for initiation of individual treatment and for informing patients and relatives. We recently developed and validated models for predicting survival and functional independence within 3 months after acute stroke, based on age and the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score assessed within 6 hours after stroke. Herein we demonstrate the applicability of our models in an independent sample of patients from controlled clinical trials. Methods—The prognostic models were used to predict survival and functional recovery in 5419 patients from the Virtual International Stroke Trials Archive (VISTA). Furthermore, we tried to improve the accuracy by adapting intercepts and estimating new model parameters. Results—The original models were able to correctly classify 70.4% (survival) and 72.9% (functional recovery) of patients. Because the prediction was slightly pessimistic for patients in the controlled trials, adapting the intercept improved the accuracy to 74.8% (survival) and 74.0% (functional recovery). Novel estimation of parameters, however, yielded no relevant further improvement. Conclusions—For acute ischemic stroke patients included in controlled trials, our easy-to-apply prognostic models based on age and National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score correctly predicted survival and functional recovery after 3 months. Furthermore, a simple adaptation helps to adjust for a different prognosis and is recommended if a large data set is available. (Stroke. 2008;39:000-000.

Seven Themes of Successful Associations -- A Holistic Perspective

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aicpa_guides/2882/thumbnail.jp