An Exploratory Study of Patient Falls

Debate continues between the contribution of education level and clinical expertise in the nursing practice environment. Research suggests a link between Baccalaureate of Science in Nursing (BSN) nurses and positive patient outcomes such as lower mortality, decreased falls, and fewer medication errors. Purpose: To examine if there a negative correlation between patient falls and the level of nurse education at an urban hospital located in Midwest Illinois during the years 2010-2014? Methods: A retrospective crosssectional cohort analysis was conducted using data from the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) from the years 2010-2014. Sample: Inpatients aged ≥ 18 years who experienced a unintentional sudden descent, with or without injury that resulted in the patient striking the floor or object and occurred on inpatient nursing units. Results: The regression model was constructed with annual patient falls as the dependent variable and formal education and a log transformed variable for percentage of certified nurses as the independent variables. The model overall is a good fit, F (2,22) = 9.014, p = .001, adj. R2 = .40. Conclusion: Annual patient falls will decrease by increasing the number of nurses with baccalaureate degrees and/or certifications from a professional nursing board-governing body

Resource Allocation Using Queuing Theory In A Walk-In Clinic

The objective of this research is to produce a simple tool to assist health care management in quantifying the tradeoffs between different resource allocations. In many cases, intuition results in an appropriate selection; the quandary, however, is typically over the magnitude of improvement. The problem addressed herein uses queuing theory in the context of a hypothetical walk-in clinic. Different resource allocations are compared on the basis of the expected number of patients in the waiting room. Without comparative numbers, managers are forced to guesstimate the difference in expected queue lengths. Fact-based decisions not only improve quality but give the decision maker a sense of comfort

Student Satisfaction with Learning Experience and Its Impact on Likelihood Recommending University: Net Promoter Score Approach

Universities, just like any business, realized the importance and relevance of student satisfaction as well as getting recommended by their students for their long-term success, survival, and growth. This study intends to examine university students’ satisfaction with various aspects of their college learning experience, recommending a university as measured by Net Promoter Score (NPS), and the influence of factors related to student satisfaction on the likelihood of recommending the university. The results of the survey based on 220 responses from current students identify students’ satisfaction with the factors included in the study, where students had the highest satisfaction with feeling support by faculty and staff. The study also found that NPS is -0.40, indicating that students are not likely to recommend this university to HS students, where NPS varied gender, class level, and majors. The regression analysis identified the factors to predict the likelihood of recommending this university. These findings offer some insights for university administrators for designing strategies for improving student satisfaction and getting recommendations

Perceptions of Service Profession-Status Stereotyping: Comparisons of Turkish and American Millennials

Employment opportunities in the service industry have created jobs for both genders and raises the question about how these jobs are influenced and evaluated regarding occupational stereotyping based on prestige and gender (Gottfredson, 1981). For example, Oswald (2003) found that high prestige male occupations were rated significantly higher than high prestige female occupations. Likewise, low prestige male occupations were rated significantly higher than low prestige female occupations, which is indicative of occupational status stereotyping. A relatively small number of studies have been carried out after new service occupations were created from advancements in technology and demographic changes (Belt et al., 2002). Moreover, occupational stereotypes are considered dynamic and malleable since they emerge from role-bound activities (Diekman and Eagly, 2000). These trends and changes in the service sector may have impacted the perception of occupational status stereotyping. Therefore, more research is needed. A study by Pinar, Wilder, Filipek, and Karaatli (2016) showed that millennials perceived some services as low status and others as high status, which provided some evidence of service occupation status stereotyping. Given that millennials will comprise nearly 75% percent of the workforce by 2025 (Bentley University, 2013), their perceptions of service status stereotypes could have important implications for businesses regarding employment and service quality. Lipton, O’Connor, Terry, and Bellamy (1991) defined occupational stereotyping as a preconceived attitude about an occupation, about people who were employed in that occupation, and about one’s own suitability for that occupation. Prior studies have provided support for the existence of stereotypes for different jobs (e.g., McLean and Kalin, 1994; Moloto et al., 2014; Oswald, 2003) and showed that some traits were deemed more suitable than for others (Arkkelin and O’Connor, 1992). In addition, McLean and Kalin (1994) offered support for the existence of occupational stereotypes, such that these stereotypes were similarly shared among men and women. Other studies have also confirmed the existence of occupational stereotyping based on prestige and gender associated with certain types of service occupations (Glick, Wilk and Perrault, 1995; Etaugh and Hoehn, 1995; Kulik, 1998; Pinar, Schiffel, Strasser, and Stück, 2013). This study intends to examine millennials’ perceptions of service occupation status stereotyping in Turkey and the United States. The underlying reason is that young consumers perceptions may be different from those of previous generations. The specific research objectives were to: a) Investigate whether service profession status stereotyping existed among millennials, b) Determine whether significant differences existed in millennials’ perceptions of status stereotyping by gender within each country, c) Investigate whether service status stereotyping among millennials significantly differed by gender and across cultures. In order to accomplish the research objectives, a survey instrument was designed to include a list of common service occupations in the US and Turkey. The survey included seventeen occupations. Pretesting of the survey provided useful input that confirmed status classifications and improved the wording and understanding of survey questions. This activity helped to establish the face validity of the constructs (Churchill and Iacobucci, 2005). Demographic questions were also included. The final survey was administered using convenience sampling, which produced 462 usable surveys, of which 44% (203) were from the U.S. and 56% (259) were from Turkey. About 52% of the respondents were female and 48% were male. The average age of respondents was 22. The results of this study provided insights about service occupational stereotyping among millennials in Turkey and the US. Specifically, the study showed the existence of service profession status stereotypes. The findings indicated service profession status stereotypes exist were consistent with prior research (e.g., Belt et al., 2002; Corxton et al., 1989; Glick, 1995; Moloto et al., 2014; Oswald, 2003; Pinar et al., 2016, 2013). These results were somewhat surprising because millennials are known to be the most diverse and inclusive generation (Dakus, 2013; Smith and Turner, 2015). Companies may use these findings to attract the right employees, especially for low status professions. However, the results and conclusions must be put in the context of the limitations of the study and directions for future research

Resource Allocation Using Queuing Theory In A Walk-In Clinic

The objective of this research is to produce a simple tool to assist health care management in quantifying the tradeoffs between different resource allocations. In many cases, intuition results in an appropriate selection; the quandary, however, is typically over the magnitude of improvement. The problem addressed herein uses queuing theory in the context of a hypothetical walk-in clinic. Different resource allocations are compared on the basis of the expected number of patients in the waiting room. Without comparative numbers, managers are forced to guesstimate the difference in expected queue lengths. Fact-based decisions not only improve quality but give the decision maker a sense of comfort

The queuing theory of two-populations with lane switching

The objective of this research is to produce a set of tables for practitioner use for a selected set of queuing configurations. The tables that distinguish this research from previous studies are the mixed queue configurations; other tables are included for comparison and reference. The mixed queue configurations belong to a class of problems known as Lane Switching models. The goal for switching lanes applied to this research is to equalize the workload between two servers. All tables are presented in a unique manner in order to facilitate their application; this presentation is defined by the algorithm used to populate the tables with various combinations of exogenous variables. The tables are used in two actual and one hypothetical application to demonstrate their value in a variety of situations. Each application focuses on a different performance metric to evaluate implementation options. Each case emphasizes the complexities involved in queuing problems, which are multivariable functions