Andrea Brooks, Suzanna Fitzpatrick and Eleanor Dunlap
Teamwork is essential for patient safety as highly functioning teams make fewer errors. In high acuity academic medical centers, care delivery is complex and ever-changing…
Abstract
Teamwork is essential for patient safety as highly functioning teams make fewer errors. In high acuity academic medical centers, care delivery is complex and ever-changing, creating a high-risk environment for safety concerns. These intricate settings demand a collaborative approach to care delivery, where structured methods of teamwork and communication are engrained in day-to-day practice. With teamwork being a critical component of patient safety and communication failures likened to preventable medical errors, hospitals are looking to bolster leadership training and improve team dynamics. TeamSTEPPS is a proven method shown to enhance teamwork, communication, leadership, and patient satisfaction. TeamSTEPPS provides an evidence-based framework to optimize patient outcomes by improving communication and teamwork skills among healthcare professionals. Current literature on teamwork and communication demonstrates that nurse practitioners are uniquely positioned to improve team performance through the use of the TeamSTEPPS framework.
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Jean D. Hallewell Haslwanter, Geraldine Fitzpatrick and Klaus Miesenberger
Digital systems for independent aging, support and care are not being adopted as hoped. The purpose of this paper is to examine the results of three studies to derive key factors…
Abstract
Purpose
Digital systems for independent aging, support and care are not being adopted as hoped. The purpose of this paper is to examine the results of three studies to derive key factors during the development and engineering process of care and support systems for older people that can impact acceptance and uptake to provide support to future projects.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper analyzed the results of three qualitative studies, including two detailed case studies and a further study with 35 participants, to derive key factors. Methods for deriving factors are based on thematic analysis to identify common factors across cases and participants.
Findings
The findings point to a broad set of interconnected factors that give developers of these types of systems specific recommendations. These highlight what makes these projects complex and identify implications for the development process. Furthermore, they show way the needed user-centered and iterative methods may be in conflict with funding processes.
Originality/value
While others have reported on single projects or looked at acceptance, these studies were the first to explore aspects of the development process that may contribute to the lack of success to date of these types of systems. The results here support more successful outcomes in the future, both by helping people involved in the development of these systems to avoid some of the issues others face and providing input to improve the performance of the engineering process.
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Jessica Anderson, Jacklyn Bruce and Lauren Mouton
The purposes of this qualitative study were to determine the contribution of 4-H experiences to leadership life skill development of college-level 4-H alumni and to determine the…
Abstract
The purposes of this qualitative study were to determine the contribution of 4-H experiences to leadership life skill development of college-level 4-H alumni and to determine the effect of those skills on collegiate alumni’s desire to continue involvement in 4-H. The research methods included semi-structured interviews. Major findings of the study noted that the interviewees’ 4-H experiences positively contributed to leadership life skill development, closely following the pattern of the four essential elements which serve as the foundation of 4-H programming. Also identified was a strong desire of college-level 4-H alumni to continue their participation with 4-H. Recommendations include specifically targeting this generation of alumni for greater utilization because of their strong desire to stay connected.
This study concerned aspiring educational leaders’ problem-solving skill development, specifically through classroom instruction with real-world scenarios. Professional educators…
Abstract
This study concerned aspiring educational leaders’ problem-solving skill development, specifically through classroom instruction with real-world scenarios. Professional educators obtaining an advanced degree in educational administration at a public university were surveyed in the fall and spring about their problem-solving abilities. Participants were also asked to respond to real-world principal scenarios. Focus group interviews were conducted in the spring. Results indicated that participants’ confidence in their problem-solving abilities did improve, though their ability to address the real-world problems did not improve significantly. Participants identified the value of learning from real-world scenarios and professors who had experience as administrators, and they also recognized the importance of learning from one another during discussions of the scenarios. Participants indicated that they still needed experience working in actual administrative contexts.
Yang Guan, Shengbo Eben Li, Jingliang Duan, Wenjun Wang and Bo Cheng
Decision-making is one of the key technologies for self-driving cars. The high dependency of previously existing methods on human driving data or rules makes it difficult to model…
Abstract
Purpose
Decision-making is one of the key technologies for self-driving cars. The high dependency of previously existing methods on human driving data or rules makes it difficult to model policies for different driving situations.
Design/methodology/approach
In this research, a probabilistic decision-making method based on the Markov decision process (MDP) is proposed to deduce the optimal maneuver automatically in a two-lane highway scenario without using any human data. The decision-making issues in a traffic environment are formulated as the MDP by defining basic elements including states, actions and basic models. Transition and reward models are defined by using a complete prediction model of the surrounding cars. An optimal policy was deduced using a dynamic programing method and evaluated under a two-dimensional simulation environment.
Findings
Results show that, at the given scenario, the self-driving car maintained safety and efficiency with the proposed policy.
Originality/value
This paper presents a framework used to derive a driving policy for self-driving cars without relying on any human driving data or rules modeled by hand.
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Mounir Louhaichi, Azaiez Ouled Belgacem, Steven L. Petersen and Sawsan Hassan
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the vulnerability of the important rangeland shrub, Atriplex leucoclada (Boiss) to both climate change and livestock grazing, within the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the vulnerability of the important rangeland shrub, Atriplex leucoclada (Boiss) to both climate change and livestock grazing, within the Syrian rangelands as a representative landscape type of West Asia.
Design/methodology/approach
Ecologically based quantitative niche models were developed for both shrub species using maximum entropy and 13 spatially explicit GIS-based layers to predict current and future species distribution scenarios. Climatic variables varied over time in line with the predictions created from the HADCM3 global circulation model.
Findings
Results indicate that with grazing and climate change, the distribution of A. leucoclada will be reduced by 54 per cent in 2050, with the mean annual and minimum temperatures of the coldest month having the highest contribution in the model (28.7 and 21.2 per cent, respectively). The contribution of the grazing pressure, expressed by the overgrazing index, was estimated at 8.2 per cent.
Originality/value
These results suggest that the interaction of climate and increased grazing has the potential to favor the establishment of unpalatable species, while reducing the distribution of preferred plant species on western Asia rangelands.