The experiences of operational managers in the management of poor performance of nurses in a regional hospital in Ekurhuleni, South Africa

Abstract:The lack of management of the poor performance of nurses by operational managers at health care institutions in Gauteng is widely reported. Studies reported that dealing with the poor performance of employees should be done at the first sign of a deviation from expected behaviour, in order to avoid the “rotten apple effect.” This study therefore aimed at exploring and describing the experiences of operational managers in the management of the poor performance of nurses in a regional hospital in Ekurhuleni. A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual design was used for this study. Participants were purposively selected from the population and consisted of the individuals who voluntarily consented to participate in this study. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted. Findings demonstrated that participants lacked the knowledge and skills to manage the poor performance of nurses. Three themes emerged from the study with sub-themes, namely; Experiences of challenges in managing the poor performance of nurses, Emotional experiences and, Ineffective leadership practices. Strategies were developed to enable operational managers to manage the poor performance of nurses

The clinical and biochemical effects of riboflavin and nicotinamide supplementation upon Bantu school children using maize meal as carrier medium

A comprehensive clinical, biochemical and technological investigation was undertaken to establish the feasibility of ,enriching maize meal with riboflavin and nicotinamide. It was clear from the results that the addition of these vitamins to, maize satisfied all the prerequisites of a -scientifically sound enrichment scheme, as laid down by the NNRI. It was found that the addition of 1 mg of riboflavin and 10 mg of nicotinamide per 400 g maize ,meal was adequate to effectively reduce the incidence of .subclinical deficiency of these two vitamins among Bantu schoolchildren. Since the enrichment was found to be -effective, as well as technologically and economically jeasible, it is strongly recommended that a compulsory national maize enrichment scheme be introduced with the .least possible delay

Prevalence of serotype specific antibody to equine encephalosis virus in Thoroughbred yearlings South Africa (1999-2004)

Cohorts of yearlings were sampled over a period of 6 years in a retrospective serological survey to establish the annual prevalence of serotype specific antibody to equine encephalosis virus on Thoroughbred stud farms distributed within defined geographical regions of South Africa. Seasonal seroprevalence varied between 3.6% and 34.7%, revealing both single and multiple serotype infections in an individual yearling. During the course of this study serotypes 1 and 6 were most frequently and extensively identified while the remaining serotypes 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 were all identified as sporadic and localized in fections affecting only individual horses. This study of the seasonal prevalence of equine encephalosis virus has a corollary and serves as a useful model in the seasonal incidence of the serotypes of African horse sickness and bluetongue in regions where the respective diseases are endemic

Making Sense of Family Deaths in Urban Senegal: Diversities, Contexts, and Comparisons

Despite calls for cross-cultural research, Minority world perspectives still dominate death and bereavement studies, emphasizing individualized emotions and neglecting contextual diversities. In research concerned with contemporary African societies, on the other hand, death and loss are generally subsumed within concerns about AIDS or poverty, with little attention paid to the emotional and personal significance of a death. Here, we draw on interactionist sociology to present major themes from a qualitative study of family deaths in urban Senegal, theoretically framed through the duality of meanings-in-context. Such themes included family and community as support and motivation; religious beliefs and practices as frameworks for solace and (regulatory) meaning; and material circumstances as these are intrinsically bound up with emotions. Although we identify the experience of (embodied, emotional) pain as a common response across Minority and Majority worlds, we also explore significant divergencies, varying according to localized contexts and broader power dynamics

Plant sterols cause macrothrombocytopenia in a mouse model of sitosterolemia

Mutations in either ABCG5 or ABCG8 cause sitosterolemia, an inborn error of metabolism characterized by high plasma plant sterol concentrations. Recently, macrothrombocytopenia was described in a number of sitosterolemia patients, linking hematological dysfunction to disturbed sterol metabolism. Here, we demonstrate that macrothrombocytopenia is an intrinsic feature of murine sitosterolemia. Abcg5-deficient (Abcg5(-/-)) mice showed a 68% reduction in platelet count, and platelets were enlarged compared with wild-type controls. Macrothrombocytopenia was not due to decreased numbers of megakaryocytes or their progenitors, but defective megakaryocyte development with deterioration of the demarcation membrane system was evident. Lethally irradiated wild-type mice transplanted with bone marrow from Abcg5(-/-) mice displayed normal platelets, whereas Abcg5(-/-) mice transplanted with wild-type bone marrow still showed macrothrombocytopenia. Treatment with the sterol absorption inhibitor ezetimibe rapidly reversed macrothrombocytopenia in Abcg5(-/-) mice concomitant with a strong decrease in plasma plant sterols. Thus, accumulation of plant sterols is responsible for development of macrothrombocytopenia in sitosterolemia, and blocking intestinal plant sterol absorption provides an effective means of treatment

Added sugar, macro-and micronutrient intakes and anthropometry of children in a developing world context

Objective The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between added sugar and dietary diversity, micronutrient intakes and anthropometric status in a nationally representative study of children, 1-8.9 years of age in South Africa. METHODS: Secondary analysis of a national survey of children (weighted n = 2,200; non weighted n = 2818) was undertaken. Validated 24-hour recalls of children were collected from mothers/caregivers and stratified into quartiles of percentage energy from added sugar (% EAS). A dietary diversity score (DDS) using 9 food groups, a food variety score (FVS) of individual food items, and a mean adequacy ratio (MAR) based on 11 micronutrients were calculated. The prevalence of stunting and overweight/obesity was also determined. RESULTS: Added sugar intake varied from 7.5-10.3% of energy intake for rural and urban areas, respectively. Mean added sugar intake ranged from 1.0% of energy intake in Quartile 1 (1-3 years) (Q1) to 19.3% in Q4 (4-8 years). Main sources of added sugar were white sugar (60.1%), cool drinks (squash type) (10.4%) and carbonated cool drinks (6.0%). Added sugar intake, correlated positively with most micronutrient intakes, DDS, FVS, and MAR. Significant negative partial correlations, adjusted for energy intake, were found between added sugar intake and intakes of protein, fibre, thiamin, pantothenic acid, biotin, vitamin E, calcium (1-3 years), phosphorus, iron (4-8 years), magnesium and zinc. The prevalence of overweight/obesity was higher in children aged 4-8 years in Q4 of %EAS than in other quartiles [mean (95%CI) % prevalence overweight 23.0 (16.2-29.8)% in Q4 compared to 13.0 (8.7-17.3)% in Q1, p = 0.0063]. CONCLUSION: Although DDS, FVS, MAR and micronutrient intakes were positively correlated with added sugar intakes, overall negative associations between micronutrients and added sugar intakes, adjusted for dietary energy, indicate micronutrient dilution. Overweight/obesity was increased with higher added sugar intakes in the 4-8 year old children

Socio-Economic Instability and the Scaling of Energy Use with Population Size

The size of the human population is relevant to the development of a sustainable world, yet the forces setting growth or declines in the human population are poorly understood. Generally, population growth rates depend on whether new individuals compete for the same energy (leading to Malthusian or density-dependent growth) or help to generate new energy (leading to exponential and super-exponential growth). It has been hypothesized that exponential and super-exponential growth in humans has resulted from carrying capacity, which is in part determined by energy availability, keeping pace with or exceeding the rate of population growth. We evaluated the relationship between energy use and population size for countries with long records of both and the world as a whole to assess whether energy yields are consistent with the idea of an increasing carrying capacity. We find that on average energy use has indeed kept pace with population size over long time periods. We also show, however, that the energy-population scaling exponent plummets during, and its temporal variability increases preceding, periods of social, political, technological, and environmental change. We suggest that efforts to increase the reliability of future energy yields may be essential for stabilizing both population growth and the global socio-economic system

Multifrequency Strategies for the Identification of Gamma-Ray Sources

More than half the sources in the Third EGRET (3EG) catalog have no firmly established counterparts at other wavelengths and are unidentified. Some of these unidentified sources have remained a mystery since the first surveys of the gamma-ray sky with the COS-B satellite. The unidentified sources generally have large error circles, and finding counterparts has often been a challenging job. A multiwavelength approach, using X-ray, optical, and radio data, is often needed to understand the nature of these sources. This chapter reviews the technique of identification of EGRET sources using multiwavelength studies of the gamma-ray fields.Comment: 35 pages, 22 figures. Chapter prepared for the book "Cosmic Gamma-ray Sources", edited by K.S. Cheng and G.E. Romero, to be published by Kluwer Academic Press, 2004. For complete article and higher resolution figures, go to: http://www.astro.columbia.edu/~muk/mukherjee_multiwave.pd