Martin Utley, David Patterson and Steve Gallivan
To assess the quality of anticoagulation control at an out‐patient clinic and to investigate patterns of deviation from therapeutic ranges.
Abstract
Purpose
To assess the quality of anticoagulation control at an out‐patient clinic and to investigate patterns of deviation from therapeutic ranges.
Design/methodology/approach
Records for 36,157 clinic visits (2,050 patients) were studied. The quality of anticoagulation control was assessed by comparing the measurement of pro‐thrombin time recorded at each clinic visit, expressed as an international normalised ratio (INR), with the target therapeutic range for that patient, also recorded at the time of the clinic visit. Each INR measurement was classified according to the relevant patient's therapeutic range and the signed difference between the INR measurement and the centre of the therapeutic range was calculated. For each patient the percentage of their INR measurements that lay within their therapeutic range was calculated.
Findings
Of the measurements, 52.3 per cent were within the relevant therapeutic range. The proportion of individual patients' INR measurements within range varied greatly (median 52 per cent, inter‐quartile range 40‐65 per cent). The quality of anticoagulation control, as measured by the proportion of patients within their therapeutic range, changed little with patient follow‐up time.
Originality/value
The quality of anticoagulation control reported is comparable with that at other centres. The vast majority of patients spend periods outside the therapeutic range for their condition. There may be considerable room for improvement.
Details
Keywords
Wilfred Ashworth, John Byon, Frank M Gardner, Tony Preston and Steve Kirby
AFTER 17 years continuous service as a LA Council member it seemed strange to me to attend the first council meeting of 1979 as NLW'S reporter.
Angelos Stefanidis, Guy Fitzgerald and Steve Counsell
The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a comprehensive study on the specialisations or career tracks supported by the Information Systems (IS) curriculum in the UK.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a comprehensive study on the specialisations or career tracks supported by the Information Systems (IS) curriculum in the UK.
Design/methodology/approach
The study utilises the recently published IS curriculum guidelines (IS 2010) to develop a method for ranking the career tracks of undergraduate IS courses in the UK.
Findings
The research presents a prioritised list of graduate IS careers by taking into account the entire IS course provision in the UK. At the same time, it offers data about the size of the IS curriculum in terms of universities in the UK and the number/type courses they offer.
Research limitations/implications
The study relies on a previously undeveloped method for measuring career specialisations for UK IS graduates. Additional work is needed to validate the results through comparisons with alternative methods of measuring the careers supported by IS degree courses.
Practical implications
By having concrete data about the state of the IS curriculum in relation to its employability opportunities, the IS academy can make more informed decisions about future curriculum development. Further comparative research can be undertaken to support arguments about the relevance of the IS curriculum to industry needs.
Originality/value
There has been no similar UK study on this scale which examines the state of the IS curriculum in relation to the career opportunities it offers. The development of the method for this study also offers insights into the structure and recommendations presented by IS 2010.
Details
Keywords
Cole J. Crider, Alireza Aghaey, Jason Lortie, Whitney O. Peake and Shaun Digan
The purpose of this study is to empirically examine how individuals’ hybrid entrepreneurial venturing activities (HEVA) influence key characteristics associated with one’s wage…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to empirically examine how individuals’ hybrid entrepreneurial venturing activities (HEVA) influence key characteristics associated with one’s wage work, namely creativity and job satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a cross-sectional self-administered survey design, data were gathered from 465 US-based useable responses via Amazon Mechanical Turk and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM).
Findings
Findings show individuals reporting higher levels of HEVA – such as creating, founding, starting or running – tend to also exhibit higher levels of creativity and job satisfaction in their workplaces. Findings further reveal that income negatively moderates the relationship between creativity and wage work job satisfaction.
Practical implications
By providing a better understanding of how engaging in HEVA can impact creativity and job satisfaction, this study has important implications for (1) managers seeking to influence key employee outcomes and (2) employees considering such entrepreneurial activities.
Originality/value
This paper adds to the growing scholarly and practitioner interest in hybrid entrepreneurship and its outcomes. Specifically, the paper adds new insights regarding how engaging in HEVA can influence individual skills (i.e. creativity) or organizational goals (i.e. employee job satisfaction). In doing so, the paper also uses insights from the intrinsic/extrinsic motivation literature to suggest how extrinsic motivators (such as income) can interact with intrinsically motivated behaviors (such as creativity) in influencing employee outcomes in wage work. Finally, the paper contributes to the growing interest in applying the empowerment perspective within entrepreneurship research by exploring where and how empowerment may occur.
Details
Keywords
Michael Gallivan and Raquel Benbunan‐Finch
The paper seeks to provide a structured review of the literature on gender and scholarly career outcomes in the social sciences and discuss its relevance to research on IS…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper seeks to provide a structured review of the literature on gender and scholarly career outcomes in the social sciences and discuss its relevance to research on IS scholarship, in order to guide researchers who seek to conduct studies on the role of gender in academic IS careers.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors review the literature to identify all published studies that compare (or theorize about) various academic career outcomes for men and women in the social sciences.
Findings
In comparing the literature from the IS field with other social science disciplines, the authors conclude that gender has been entirely overlooked in studies of IS scholars' publication patterns and other career outcomes. Propositions are developed for researchers in order to guide future studies that examine the relationship between gender and academic career outcomes.
Research limitations/implications
The paper focuses on studies that compare research productivity and other career outcomes for men and women in social science disciplines. Studies in other disciplines such as engineering, physical sciences, arts and humanities, are omitted. Studies that focus on women only or studies that examine the general antecedents to scholarly outcomes but which ignore gender are also excluded.
Practical implications
This paper seeks to open up a discussion of gender as a valid issue for investigation regarding career outcomes for IS scholars. The authors seek to motivate other researchers to examine whether women are achieving parity in the IS academic field.
Originality/value
This paper provides a comprehensive, structured literature review to systematically study whether gender plays a role in research productivity and other career outcomes for IS scholars.
Details
Keywords
Catherine Evans and Claire Goodman
The second in a new series about mental health in old age, this article reviews policies and research evidence on services for people with dementia at the end of their lives, and…
Abstract
The second in a new series about mental health in old age, this article reviews policies and research evidence on services for people with dementia at the end of their lives, and looks at future commissioning priorities
Details
Keywords
Farwa Taqi, Syeda Hina Batool and Alia Arshad
This study aims to explore differences in the usability of the Google Drive application based on demographic characteristics, computer skills and use frequency of Google Drive…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore differences in the usability of the Google Drive application based on demographic characteristics, computer skills and use frequency of Google Drive among public library users of Lahore.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopted a quantitative approach and survey-based research method to achieve the study's objectives. The cloud usability model (user perspective) has been used as a theoretical lens to guide the study objectives. It comprises five dimensions of usability – capable, personal, reliable, valuable and secure.
Findings
The findings of the study revealed that the usability of Google Drive varied statistically significantly on the basis of depending on the respondents gender, age, academic qualification, computer skills and Google Drive use frequency.
Practical implications
It is a valuable study since it and adds knowledge to existing literature and has implications for practice.
Originality/value
The findings might be helpful for cloud support teams including Google Drive as they can notice the demographic and other differences among users' perceived usability of Google Drive and can enhance certain features of usability which leads attributes to increase its usage among users.
Details
Keywords
Sladjana Vujovic and John Parm Ulhøi
The aim of this paper is to investigate the role of online networking during the innovation process, including its role(s) in communication, cooperation and coordination. The…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to investigate the role of online networking during the innovation process, including its role(s) in communication, cooperation and coordination. The paper neither implicitly assumes that online computer‐based networking is a prerequisite for the innovation process nor denies the possibility that innovation can emerge and successfully survive without it. It merely presupposes that, in cases of innovation where information and communication technologies play a substantial role, non‐proprietarity may offer an interesting alternative to innovations based on proprietary knowledge.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper borrows from the theory of communities‐of‐practice, which takes into account social relations, contacts, and the transfer and incorporation of knowledge. Open source innovation is not the exclusive preserve of computer nerds, but also has implications for existing software manufacturers. The paper therefore includes the case of IBM, a company which has successfully integrated this new and more open way of collaboration into its business model.
Findings
The paper concludes that online computer‐based innovation fundamentally challenges current ways of communicating, cooperating and coordinating during the innovation and product development process. Moreover, it challenges the traditional business model in that it forces the actors involved to shift the focus from the innovation itself to the identification of new supporting services higher up the value chain. Last, but not least, it blurs the boundary between development and use, since the developer remains the key user.
Research limitations/implications
The paper addresses the implications for future research in the area.
Practical implications
The paper addresses implications for practitioners directly involved in innovation and product development.
Originality/value
This paper develops a conceptual framework for understanding product development based on non‐proprietary knowledge, which cannot be adequately accounted for by traditional corporate innovation theory alone.