A Model For Short-Term Medical Service Trip Evaluation: Impact Of A Hand Surgery Trip To Honduras

A MODEL FOR SHORT-TERM MEDICAL SERVICE TRIP EVALUATION: IMPACT OF A HAND SURGERY TRIP TO HONDURAS. Kyle T Ragins and J Grant Thomson. Section of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, Yale University, School of Medicine, New Haven, CT. This study evaluates the impact of a hand-surgery-focused short-term medical service trip (MST) to Honduras on the upper extremity morbidity and health-related quality of life of its patients. The aim of the study is to provide a quantitative measurement of patient impact, while providing a model for how other MSTs can evaluate their outcomes to eventually determine best practices for MSTs. The 2010 Hand Help MST identified Honduran patients with indications for surgical operation on their upper extremities and conducted operations on 83 patients. Researchers administered research-validated Quick DASH and SF-12v2 surveys preoperatively and 6 months post-operatively to 70 patients to evaluate changes in patient upper extremity morbidity and overall health-related quality of life. Patients showed statistically significant improvements in the physical component summary, physical functioning, and mental health sections of their SF-12v2 scores as well as their Quick DASH scores at 6 months post-operatively. Patients had decreased upper extremity morbidity and improved health-related quality of life 6 months post-operatively. This study demonstrates that follow-up studies of patients of MSTs in developing countries are becoming increasingly feasible with the spread of mobile phones. This study provides a model for other short-term medical missions to quantitatively measure their impact and eventually determine evidence-based best practices for MSTs

Like second-hand smoke, racial discrimination at work can affect bystanders

But good mentors can buffer employees from the negative effects of workplace racism, write Belle Rose Ragins, Kyle Ehrhardt, Karen S. Lyness, Dianne Murphy and John Capma

Workplace Contextual Supports for LGBT Employees: A Review, Meta‐Analysis, and Agenda for future Research

The past decade has witnessed a rise in the visibility of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. This has resulted in some organizational researchers focusing their attention on workplace issues facing LGBT employees. While empirical research has been appropriately focused on examining the impact of workplace factors on the work lives of LGBT individuals, no research has examined these empirical relationships cumulatively. The purpose of this study was to conduct a comprehensive review and meta‐analysis of the outcomes associated with three workplace contextual supports (formal LGBT policies and practices, LGBT‐supportive climate, and supportive workplace relationships) and to compare the relative influence of these workplace supports on outcomes. Outcomes were grouped into four categories: (a) work attitudes, (b) psychological strain, (c) disclosure, and (d) perceived discrimination. Results show that supportive workplace relationships were more strongly related to work attitudes and strain, whereas LGBT supportive climate was more strongly related to disclosure and perceived discrimination compared to the other supports. Our findings also revealed a number of insights concerning the measurement, research design, and sample characteristics of the studies in the present review. Based on these results, we offer an agenda for future research

When Leaders Are Not Who They Appear: The Effects of Leader Disclosure of a Concealable Stigma on Follower Reactions

Two studies examined follower reactions to disclosure of concealable stigma (i.e., transgender identity) by a leader. Using 109 employed participants, Study 1 showed followers rated leaders disclosing a stigma less likable and effective. This effect was both direct and indirect through relational identification with the leader. Using 206 employed participants, Study 2 found when a leader\u27s stigma was involuntarily found out and disclosed later they received lower ratings of likability and effectiveness compared to leaders who voluntarily came out and disclosed earlier. Method (found out vs. came out) and timing of disclosure (later vs. earlier) had direct relationships with ratings of likability and effectiveness and method of disclosure had an indirect relationship with the outcomes via relational identification

Impressing for Success: A Gendered Analysis of a Key Social Capital Accumulation Strategy

Social capital theory assesses the career benefits that accrue to individuals from the stock of relationships they have. Such benefits can be in the form of guidance and advice, access to key projects and assignments and help with setting up business deals. However, when assessing whether such career-enhancing resources are available equally to men and women, we find that gender impacts on the access to and accumulation of social capital. The article seeks to address two key research questions. The first is whether women are aware of the need to accumulate social capital to advance their careers and the second is whether they use impression management techniques in order to assist them in doing this. Findings are reported from a study in an international consulting firm with 19 female consultants. In respect of research question one the findings indicate that women in the sample are aware of the need to accumulate social capital to advance their careers; with particular emphasis being placed on the importance of gaining access to influential sponsors. In respect of research question two, the findings confirm that women in the sample do perceive the necessity to utilise impression management techniques to help them to accumulate social capital. This is done in a defensive way and is linked to ensuring that one is seen as ambitious, likable and available. It is argued that these are key organizational norms, and it is perceived that in order to accumulate social capital, women need to actively work to dispel the negative stereotypes that attach to them because of their gender. The article calls for greater recognition of the impact that masculine organizational cultures have on the career development of women, who not only have to perform at a high level but are also required to expend additional energy conforming to masculine organizational cultures they have had little say in creating

The role of mentorship in protege performance

The role of mentorship on protege performance is a matter of importance to academic, business, and governmental organizations. While the benefits of mentorship for proteges, mentors and their organizations are apparent, the extent to which proteges mimic their mentors' career choices and acquire their mentorship skills is unclear. Here, we investigate one aspect of mentor emulation by studying mentorship fecundity---the number of proteges a mentor trains---with data from the Mathematics Genealogy Project, which tracks the mentorship record of thousands of mathematicians over several centuries. We demonstrate that fecundity among academic mathematicians is correlated with other measures of academic success. We also find that the average fecundity of mentors remains stable over 60 years of recorded mentorship. We further uncover three significant correlations in mentorship fecundity. First, mentors with small mentorship fecundity train proteges that go on to have a 37% larger than expected mentorship fecundity. Second, in the first third of their career, mentors with large fecundity train proteges that go on to have a 29% larger than expected fecundity. Finally, in the last third of their career, mentors with large fecundity train proteges that go on to have a 31% smaller than expected fecundity.Comment: 23 pages double-spaced, 4 figure

Perceptions of Support Networks During the Graduate Assistant Athletic Trainer Experience

Context: The graduate-assistant position can be a highly influential experience because it is often the first time novice athletic trainers (ATs) are practicing autonomously. Objective: To gain an understanding of how graduate-assistant ATs (GAATs) perceive professional socialization and mentorship during their assistantships. Design: Semistructured phone interviews. Setting: Graduate-assistant ATs in various clinical settings. Patients or Other Participants: Twenty-five GAATs (20 women, 5 men) studying in 1 of 3 academic tracks (postprofessional athletic training = 8, athletic training-based curriculum = 11, non-athletic training-based curriculum = 6). Median age was 24 years. Data Collection and Analysis: Phone interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data analysis used principles of the general inductive approach. Credibility was maintained using peer review, field notes, and intercoder reliability. Results: Participants identified peer support throughout their experiences, in both academic and clinical settings. The GAATs frequently relied on other GAATs for support due to shared experiences and understanding of workloads. Participants described difficulty receiving supervisor support from fulltime staff ATs due to the supervisors\u27 workload and time constraints, limiting their availability for mentoring. Guidance from academic support personnel occurred only in athletic training-centered academic programs. Communication emerged as helpful for incoming GAATs; the previous GAATs provided formal mentorship via job descriptions highlighting role responsibilities and expectations. Differences between assistantship types were noted only in terms of receiving balanced mentorship between the academic and clinical staffs, such that students studying in postprofessional athletic training programs perceived more balanced support. Conclusions: Our results confirm the literature regarding the GAAT\u27s pursuit of continued formal mentoring. The GAATs perceived less support from full-time AT staff members due to limited availability. Therefore, GAATs leaned on their peers for support during the graduate experience

Frequency, duration and predictors of bronchiolitis episodes of care among infants [greater than or equal to]32 weeks gestation in a large integrated healthcare system: a retrospective cohort study

AbstractBackgroundBronchiolitis is common in the first two years of life and is the most frequent cause of hospitalization in this age group. No previous studies have used an episode-of-care analysis to describe the frequency, duration, and predictors of bronchiolitis episodes of care during the first two years.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective cohort study of 123,264 infants ≥32 weeks gestation born at 6 Northern California Kaiser Permanente hospitals between 1996 and 2002. We used electronic medical records to concatenate hospital, emergency department and outpatient health care encounters for bronchiolitis into discrete episodes of care. We used descriptive statistics to report frequency and duration of bronchiolitis episodes and used logistic regression to assess the effect of gestational age and other clinical and demographic predictors on the outcome of bronchiolitis episodes.ResultsAmong all infants, the rate of bronchiolitis episodes was 162 per 1000 children during the first 2 years of life; approximately 40% required >1 day of medical attention with a mean duration of 7.0 ± 5.9 days. Prematurity was associated with increased risk of bronchiolitis episodes and longer duration. Bronchiolitis episodes rates per 1000 infants were 246 for 32–33 weeks gestational age, 204 for 34–36 weeks, and 148–178 for >36 weeks. Male gender, African-American and Hispanic race/ethnicity, and parental history of asthma were associated with an increased risk of having a bronchiolitis episode and/or longer duration.ConclusionsBronchiolitis episodes of care are frequent during the first two years of life and the duration ranges from 1 to 27 days. Prematurity was associated with more frequent and longer duration of bronchiolitis episodes of care, which may reflect illness severity and/or perceived vulnerability

The Paradox of Power in CSR: A Case Study on Implementation

Purpose Although current literature assumes positive outcomes for stakeholders resulting from an increase in power associated with CSR, this research suggests that this increase can lead to conflict within organizations, resulting in almost complete inactivity on CSR. Methods A single in-depth case study, focusing on power as an embedded concept. Results Empirical evidence is used to demonstrate how some actors use CSR to improve their own positions within an organization. Resource dependence theory is used to highlight why this may be a more significant concern for CSR. Conclusions Increasing power for CSR has the potential to offer actors associated with it increased personal power, and thus can attract opportunistic actors with little interest in realizing the benefits of CSR for the company and its stakeholders. Thus power can be an impediment to furthering CSR strategy and activities at the individual and organizational level