Sandra Turner, Ming-Ka Chan, Judy McKimm, Graham Dickson and Timothy Shaw
Doctors play a central role in leading improvements to healthcare systems. Leadership knowledge and skills are not inherent, however, and need to be learned. General frameworks…
Abstract
Purpose
Doctors play a central role in leading improvements to healthcare systems. Leadership knowledge and skills are not inherent, however, and need to be learned. General frameworks for medical leadership guide curriculum development in this area. Explicit discipline-linked competency sets and programmes provide context for learning and likely enhance specialty trainees’ capability for leadership at all levels. The aim of this review was to summarise the scholarly literature available around medical specialty-specific competency-based curricula for leadership in the post-graduate training space.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic literature search method was applied using the Medline, EMBASE and ERIC (education) online databases. Documents were reviewed for a complete match to the research question. Partial matches to the study topic were noted for comparison.
Findings
In this study, 39 articles were retrieved in full text for detailed examination, of which 32 did not comply with the full inclusion criteria. Seven articles defining discipline-linked competencies/curricula specific to medical leadership training were identified. These related to the areas of emergency medicine, general practice, maternal and child health, obstetrics and gynaecology, pathology, radiology and radiation oncology. Leadership interventions were critiqued in relation to key features of their design, development and content, with reference to modern leadership concepts.
Practical implications
There is limited discipline-specific guidance for the learning and teaching of leadership within medical specialty training programmes. The competency sets identified through this review may aid the development of learning interventions and tools for other medical disciplines.
Originality/value
The findings of this study provide a baseline for the further development, implementation and evaluation work required to embed leadership learning across all medical specialty training programmes.
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Tim Shaw, Deborah McGregor, Sue Sinclair, Robert Sutherland, Ana Munro and Jackie Ross
Cancer care is complex and an integrated cancer pathway involves many health professionals in a variety of care settings using many skills. The widely distributed and…
Abstract
Purpose
Cancer care is complex and an integrated cancer pathway involves many health professionals in a variety of care settings using many skills. The widely distributed and heterogeneous nature of the cancer workforce raises significant challenges with respect to professional development. Cancer Learning is a government-funded initiative designed to provide access to a wide range of quality online learning resources for all health care professionals involved in the care of cancer patients and their families. The purpose of this paper is to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
A multi-phase project, led by a consortium of national stakeholders in cancer care, informed the design, build, and deployment of Cancer Learning; an online, evidence based, information and learning portal to support professional development of health professionals across the continuum of cancer care in Australia. An action research approach allowed for an iterative process of ongoing dynamic evaluation and improvement of this workforce improvement resource.
Findings
The National Government Agency, Cancer Australia's Cancer Learning online hub has been supporting the professional development requirements of cancer care professionals since the site deployment in 2007. Since launch, site usage continues to grow and evaluations have been positive. Time constraints of health professionals continue to be a major barrier to sustained online learning participation.
Originality/value
This research recount of the development and implementation of an Australia first national online learning initiative highlights the rigorous approach undertaken for the delivery of a quality evidence-based resource for the professional development of all health professionals involved in the delivery of cancer care.
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The following is an introductory profile of the fastest growing firms over the three-year period of the study listed by corporate reputation ranking order. The business activities…
Abstract
The following is an introductory profile of the fastest growing firms over the three-year period of the study listed by corporate reputation ranking order. The business activities in which the firms are engaged are outlined to provide background information for the reader.
Reveals how telecommunications giant BT has created a stress‐management toolkit to help its 102,000 employees worldwide to review their own stress levels and take action to…
Abstract
Purpose
Reveals how telecommunications giant BT has created a stress‐management toolkit to help its 102,000 employees worldwide to review their own stress levels and take action to resolve any issues highlighted.
Design/methodology/approach
Describes how BT helps its employees to identify stress problems, promotes awareness and understanding, provides counselling and support, and facilitates flexible working and role adjustment. Provides a case study of an employee who has been helped by some of these initiatives. Details general research on the problem of stress in the workplace.
Findings
Concentrates on: “Stream”, which provides a fast and effective way to assess stress levels and gives advice to help to maintain a healthy state of mind; “Stride”, which brings together in one place all the information on the resources and specialist support available to BT people; a guide giving a short description of the main mental‐health conditions and suggestions about possible ways forward for both the employee and line manager; the counselling and support available to BT employees; and the systems of flexible working and role adjustment that the company has in place.
Practical implications
Shows that investing in the mental health and well‐being of the workforce is a sensible business proposition.
Originality/value
Demonstrates that workplace discrimination against people who have suffered mental ill health may not be deliberate or conscious, but it does waste ability, talent and skills, and spoil lives.
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This article deals with a social phenomenon in which individuals organise locally to promote their personal safety.
Things seem to be going desperately wrong with the concept of the “brave new world” predicted by the starry‐eyed optimists after the Second World War finally came to an end. To…
Abstract
Things seem to be going desperately wrong with the concept of the “brave new world” predicted by the starry‐eyed optimists after the Second World War finally came to an end. To those who listen only to what they want to hear, see everything, not as it is, but as they would like it to be, a new society could be initiated and the lusty infant would emerge as a paragon for all the world to follow. The new society in truth never really got off the ground the biggest mistake of all was to cushion millions of people against the results of their own folly; to shelter them from the blasts of the ensuing economic climate. The sheltered ones were not necessarily the ordinary mass of people; many in fact were the victims and suffered the consequences. And now that the state has reached a massive crescendo, many are suffering profoundly. The big nationalised industries and vast services, such as the national health service, education, where losses in the case of the first are met by Government millions, requests to trim the extravagant spending is akin to sacrilege in the latter, have removed such terms as thrift, careful spending, value for money from the vocabulary.
Few areas of public service exist in which those who work to provide them receive the recognition their efforts justly deserve, and regretably no where more so than in the local…
Abstract
Few areas of public service exist in which those who work to provide them receive the recognition their efforts justly deserve, and regretably no where more so than in the local health and consumer protection services. These services have a long history of public indifference, which in years past bordered on contempt. They were labelled “public servants” in a manner that implied they were the personal servants of ratepayers, apointed by them and paid from monies they provided.
Sexual harassment law addresses hostile environments by evaluating whether the workplace environment would be considered hostile by a “reasonable woman”. But who is a reasonable…
Abstract
Sexual harassment law addresses hostile environments by evaluating whether the workplace environment would be considered hostile by a “reasonable woman”. But who is a reasonable woman? Defendant‐employers may present one group of women employees as representative “reasonable” women and assert that any of these women’s co‐workers who have had different experiences with regard to sexual harassment are not “reasonable”. However, when male employees categorize various groups of female coworkers differently and, subsequently, treat them differently, the experiences of women from one of these groups would not be indicative of the experiences of women from an other group. This “selective sexual harassment” was present in the workplace I studied: while both groups of women were “reasonable”, they had very different experiences, only one of which might be confirmed by a court as the perspective of “reasonable” women. This article advocates for a version of the “reason ble victim” standard to facilitate a closer analysis of hostile environment sexual harassment suits.
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Iain McPhee, Tim Duffy and Colin R. Martin
Shaw et al. identified the need for alcohol counsellors to have “therapeutic commitment” when working with clients or patients with alcohol problems. Studies building on this work…
Abstract
Purpose
Shaw et al. identified the need for alcohol counsellors to have “therapeutic commitment” when working with clients or patients with alcohol problems. Studies building on this work have focussed on how such commitment can be increased. In addition, as helping agencies have increasingly offered support services to people with drug related problems, attention has also been given to staff “therapeutic commitment” when working with both alcohol and drug using populations. This study aims to report on the evaluation of the impact of an alcohol and drugs awareness training programme which was provided for personal advisors (PAs) for young vulnerable people based in a government funded criminal justice project in London.
Design/methodology/approach
A three‐day alcohol and drug awareness programme was provided for 38 personal advisors. Participants completed an adapted version of the alcohol and alcohol problems perception questionnaire (AAPPQ) assessment instrument, previously developed by Shaw et al., immediately before and then again three weeks after the programme ended. This self‐completion instrument is designed to measure the alcohol and drugs knowledge, attitudes and confidence of the PAs in working with service users experiencing alcohol and drug related difficulties. Components of the AAPPQ are specifically designed to assess staff in relation to their role legitimacy, role adequacy, role support, and role satisfaction. In total, 38 participants completed the AAPPQ at Time 1. However, AAPPQ data for the pre‐and post training programme were only obtained for 16. Time 1 and Time 2 responses for these 16 were entered into SPSS and analysed using five‐paired samples t‐tests.
Findings
Participants significantly improved their attitudes to working with, and having confidence in the engagement of young people with alcohol and drug problems. Positive changes were also observed in relation to participants' role legitimacy, role adequacy, role support, and role satisfaction. A positive but non‐significant change in participant motivation was identified.
Originality/value
Alcohol and drugs awareness training programmes have a demonstrable and positive impact on the confidence, perceived role, and confidence of personal advisors working with service users with addiction issues.
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Presents a special issue, enlisting the help of the author’s students and colleagues, focusing on age, sex, colour and disability discrimination in America. Breaks the evidence…
Abstract
Presents a special issue, enlisting the help of the author’s students and colleagues, focusing on age, sex, colour and disability discrimination in America. Breaks the evidence down into manageable chunks, covering: age discrimination in the workplace; discrimination against African‐Americans; sex discrimination in the workplace; same sex sexual harassment; how to investigate and prove disability discrimination; sexual harassment in the military; when the main US job‐discrimination law applies to small companies; how to investigate and prove racial discrimination; developments concerning race discrimination in the workplace; developments concerning the Equal Pay Act; developments concerning discrimination against workers with HIV or AIDS; developments concerning discrimination based on refusal of family care leave; developments concerning discrimination against gay or lesbian employees; developments concerning discrimination based on colour; how to investigate and prove discrimination concerning based on colour; developments concerning the Equal Pay Act; using statistics in employment discrimination cases; race discrimination in the workplace; developments concerning gender discrimination in the workplace; discrimination in Japanese organizations in America; discrimination in the entertainment industry; discrimination in the utility industry; understanding and effectively managing national origin discrimination; how to investigate and prove hiring discrimination based on colour; and, finally, how to investigate sexual harassment in the workplace.