Chantal Backman, Paul C. Hebert, Alison Jennings, David Neilipovitz, Omar Choudhri, Akshai Iyengar, Romain Rigal and Alan J. Forster
Patient safety remains a top priority in healthcare. Many organizations have developed systems to monitor and prevent harm, and have invested in different approaches to quality…
Abstract
Purpose
Patient safety remains a top priority in healthcare. Many organizations have developed systems to monitor and prevent harm, and have invested in different approaches to quality improvement. Despite these organizational efforts to better detect adverse events, efficient resolution of safety problems remains a significant challenge. The authors developed and implemented a comprehensive multimodal patient safety improvement program called SafetyLEAP. The term “LEAP” is an acronym that highlights the three facets of the program including: a Leadership and Engagement approach; Audit and feedback; and a Planned improvement intervention. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the implementation of the SafetyLEAP program in the intensive care units (ICUs) of three large hospitals.
Design/methodology/approach
A comparative case study approach was used to compare and contrast the adherence to each component of the SafetyLEAP program. The study was conducted using a convenience sample of three (n=3) ICUs from two provinces. Two reviewers independently evaluated major adherence metrics of the SafetyLEAP program for their completeness. Analysis was performed for each individual case, and across cases.
Findings
A total of 257 patients were included in the study. Overall, the proportion of the SafetyLEAP tasks completed was 64.47, 100, and 26.32 percent, respectively. ICU nos 1 and 2 were able to identify opportunities for improvement, follow a quality improvement process and demonstrate positive changes in patient safety. The main factors influencing adherence were the engagement of a local champion, competing priorities, and the identification of appropriate resources.
Practical implications
The SafetyLEAP program allowed for the identification of processes that could result in patient harm in the ICUs. However, the success in improving patient safety was dependent on the engagement of the care teams.
Originality/value
The authors developed an evidence-based approach to systematically and prospectively detect, improve, and evaluate actions related to patient safety.
Details
Keywords
Anwar ul-Haque, Waqar Asrar, Ashraf Ali Omar, Erwin Sulaeman and JS Mohamed Ali
Realistic data bank of aerodynamic and stability derivatives is still missing for hybrid buoyant aerial vehicles. Such vehicles take-off and land similar to an aircraft with their…
Abstract
Purpose
Realistic data bank of aerodynamic and stability derivatives is still missing for hybrid buoyant aerial vehicles. Such vehicles take-off and land similar to an aircraft with their partial weight balanced by the aerostatic lift. The purpose of this paper is to use wind tunnel testing for a better understanding of the aerodynamic and static stability behavior of such vehicles.
Design/methodology/approach
The effect of wing on the aerodynamic and static stability characteristics of a clean configuration hybrid buoyant is analyzed. The free stream velocity is 20 m/s, and ranges of angle of attack and side slip angle are from −8° to 12° and ±16°, respectively. Data are corrected to account for the effect of strut interference and zero load condition. The maximum blockage of the model with respect to the cross-section area of the test section is about 2.7 per cent.
Findings
A hybrid model manufactured by using wood and metal is an optimum solution with less number of parts. The vehicle is statically, longitudinally and directionally stable. Wings designed to fulfill the partial requirement of lift contribute significantly to counter the huge moment generated by the voluminous hull for centre of gravity location ahead of the leading edge of the wing.
Research limitations/implications
There are number of manufacturing constraints for scaling down a model of a hybrid buoyant aerial vehicle configuration. Specially, the thickness of the wing limits the testing envelop of angle of attack and free stream velocity.
Practical implications
The data presented here are a preliminary guide for further work on larger size models. The data may also be used to build and perform flight tests on small full-scale instrumented models and to obtain flight dynamics data.
Originality/value
The estimated aerodynamic and stability derivatives and slopes can be utilized in future for multidisciplinary design.
Details
Keywords
Mostafa Adel Elsebaei, Omar Elnawawy, Ayman Ahmed Ezzat Othman and Mohammed Badawy
The construction industry is considered one of the most dangerous industries especially in developing countries such as Egypt. Although safety in Egypt is regulated by mainly four…
Abstract
Purpose
The construction industry is considered one of the most dangerous industries especially in developing countries such as Egypt. Although safety in Egypt is regulated by mainly four pivotal legislations, namely, Law No. 12 (2003) and Ministerial Decrees No. 211, 126 and 134, construction accident records in Egypt are high. Accordingly, this paper aims to develop a framework to activate the health and safety regulations in the Egyptian construction industry.
Design/methodology/approach
To achieve this aim, a research methodology consisting of a literature review and a survey questionnaire was developed to accomplish three objectives. First, a literature review was used to identify the causes of site accidents and strategies adopted in different countries to improve and enforce safety, safety roles of stakeholders. Second, a survey questionnaire was conducted with a representative sample of large- and medium-sized construction firms in Egypt to examine their perception of the causes of site accidents. Finally, a framework was developed to activate the health and safety regulations in the Egyptian construction industry.
Findings
The research identified 16 causes of construction site accidents. These causes were classified into three categories based on the party responsible for the occurrence of site accidents, namely, workers, organization management and government. Results of data analysis showed that “lack of housekeeping” and “lack of governmental inspection for safety” were ranked the highest causes of site accidents in the Egyptian construction industry, whereas “inefficiency of old safety equipment or no safety equipment at all” and “reluctance to input resources for safety” were ranked the least causes.
Originality/value
This research provides valuable information about the nature of the construction industry with a particular focus on site accidents, causes and impacts of construction site accidents. The study highlighted the safety roles of the Egyptian Governmental bodies in Egypt to improve and enforce safety. The research tackled a topic that received scant attention in construction literature especially in the Egypt context. The framework presented in this paper represents a synthesis that is important and adds value to the knowledge in a manner that has not previously occurred in the Egyptian construction industry.
Details
Keywords
Abdullah Al-Yami and Muizz O. Sanni-Anibire
Although there is a boom in the construction industry in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), it is yet to fully adopt building information modeling (BIM), which has received a lot…
Abstract
Purpose
Although there is a boom in the construction industry in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), it is yet to fully adopt building information modeling (BIM), which has received a lot of attention in the US, UK and Australian construction industries. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to provide the current state of the art in BIM implementation in Saudi Arabia, as well as perceived benefits and barriers through a case study.
Design/methodology/approach
A broad overview of BIM, the construction industry in KSA and the research and implementation of BIM in KSA was presented in this study. The research further established the perceived benefits and barriers of BIM implementation through a case study of a local AEC firm. A questionnaire survey was used to obtain lessons learned from the BIM team of the pilot project and was further analyzed using the RII approach.
Findings
The study’s findings include the lack of policy initiatives in KSA to enforce BIM in the construction industry, as well as the lack of sufficient research in the domain of BIM in KSA. Furthermore, the case study also revealed that the most important benefit of BIM adoption is “detection of inter-disciplinary conflicts in the drawings to reduce error, maintain design intent, control quality and speed up communication,” whereas the most important barrier is “the need for re-engineering many construction projects for successful transition towards BIM.”
Originality/value
The study provides a background for enhanced research towards the implementation of BIM in Saudi Arabia and also demonstrates the potential benefits and barriers in BIM implementation.
Details
Keywords
Filip Fidanoski, Moorad Choudhry, Milivoje Davidović and Bruno S. Sergi
The paper aims to determine the impact of bank-specific, industry-specific and macro-specific determinants on the profitability indicators – return on assets (ROA) and ratio…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to determine the impact of bank-specific, industry-specific and macro-specific determinants on the profitability indicators – return on assets (ROA) and ratio net-interest margin (RNIM).
Design/methodology/approach
This research sample includes selected Croatian banks, and the empirical analysis covers the period 2007-2014. Based on the reliable and robust econometric tests, dynamic estimation technique (DOLS) was run to estimate the profitability models, by using of ROA and RNIM as dependent variables, which also include lagged dependent variables to capture the speed of mean reversion in terms of profitability, respectively.
Findings
The results proved the crucial positive impact of assets size (economies of scale), loan portfolio and GDP growth on the banks’ profitability. Further, the negative impacts on profitability have risks and administrative costs. This paper shows the positive impact of capital adequacy ratio (CAR) and leverage on ROA and RNIM, as well as the correlation between market concentration and banks’ profitability.
Practical implications
Basically, Croatian banks should improve operative efficiency and risk management practice to increase their profitability. In addition, banks should carefully balance between capital base and risk exposure on the one hand and take advantage of using relative cheaper deposits and borrowed funds instead of using more expensive equity. This conclusion is reasonable, keeping in mind that the Croatian financial market does not punish banks for an extra risk exposure caused by market imperfections. Finally, the regulatory authority in Croatia should impose some additional antitrust measures to increase competition in the banking market.
Originality/value
Although a bunch of existing studies explain the determinants of bank profitability from different perspectives, this paper conducts a specific empirical analysis about the determinants of bank profitability in Croatia. In addition, this paper provides a good synthesis of the relevant empirical and theoretical studies from this domain.