Changing me to we: Developing teambuilding in radiation therapy

Background There has been a causal link identified within the literature between poor team function and errors, patient outcomes, staff satisfaction and performance. Lacking is supporting evidence on teambuilding and its impact on overall team performance and team dynamics. Within radiation therapy, there is difficulty in understanding the inner workings of team dynamics due to the unique complex nature of teams and with very little evidence on the impact of team building specific to radiation therapy. The focus of this research is to form a better understanding of the effects of teambuilding before and after a teambuilding education session.The knowledge gained can help in future trainings to promote and facilitate teambuilding to develop team dynamics and lead a change in culture. Methods Team building sessions were booked and scheduled for 148 radiation therapists. Pre and post session evaluations were distributed to all participants and collected at the end of each team building session. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze Likert scale responses. Open-ended question responses were coded and analyzed for emerging themes using thematic analysis. Results 110 of 148 radiation therapists attended one of the scheduled team building sessions. Pre-session evaluations indicated radiation therapists have a good understanding of factors that affect teamwork (88% agree); are aware of the multi-generational impact (78% agree); have the skill set to build a respectful team (86% agree); and are comfortable dealing with conflict (67% agree). Post-session evaluations indicated that participants had gained increased knowledge on teamwork (66.3% agree; 30.7% strongly agree); are more aware of the generational impact within teams (59% agree); new strategiesdeveloped to help improve team dynamics and the ability to use the lessons learnt immediately (67% and 71% respectively agree). Open ended comments indicated an interest in additional teambuilding sessions and further education on conflict resolution. Conclusion Results showed an increased awareness of the factors that impact team dynamics amongst radiation therapists and an interest in receiving further education in teambuilding. Findings will be utilized to better inform debate in future development of teambuilding educational sessions to improve overall team dynamics in radiation therapy

Detection of fish by larval and adult Zygoptera, the use of visual and chemical cues to assess predation risk

grantor: University of TorontoThe indirect effects of predation have been the focus of many studies on predator-prey interactions. One way in which predators can indirectly affect prey life history is by altering habitat selection. For prey that occupy different habitats as adults than as larvae, it is likely important for adults to consider potential predators of their offspring when selecting a suitable place to lay their eggs. I studied the ability of adult 'Enallagma' damselflies to detect fish, which, for some species, are important predators of damselfly larvae. I found that adult 'Enallagma ebrium' could detect and avoid fish during visits to a site, but that oviposition frequency and duration were unaffected by fish presence. Subsequently, I attempted to establish how adults of three 'Enallagma' species detect fish, but was unsuccessful in determining whether visual presence or chemical cues were used in predator detection. As well, I performed additional experiments on these three species to determine whether fish chemical cues would affect the number of eggs released by females during oviposition. For each species, I found that the number of eggs released was not affected by the presence of fish chemical cues. Other researchers have established that larval damselflies are capable of visual predator detection, but there is also evidence that damselfly larvae can detect predator chemical cues if they are paired with the cues of dead conspecifics. Therefore, I designed a study to determine the relative importance of visual and chemical cues to predator detection by larvae. Frequency and duration of larval behaviours were reduced by visual fish presence and by fish chemical cues. As well, the season in which the experiment was performed produced a significant difference in the frequency of behaviours, with a higher frequency in the spring than the fall when the larvae are in diapause.M.Sc

Detection and avoidance of fish predators by adult Enallagma damselflies

Reproductive success of iteroparous insects depends on their own survival as well as that of their offspring and thus adults should consider risk of predation to both themselves and their offspring when selecting a suitable place to lay eggs. We surveyed species composition of Enallagma damselflies from sites in eastern Ontario and found that, similar to studies in Michigan, USA, Enallagma boreale does not co-exist with fish, whereas E. signatum is apparently restricted to sites with fish. E. ebrium is found at fish and fishless sites. Laboratory experiments on these species showed no effect of chemical cues of fish presence on propensity to oviposit or number of eggs released. By using field enclosures, we found adult E. ebrium could detect and avoid fish during visits to a site, but females visiting fish sites did not significantly reduce oviposition duration