BACKGROUND: The effects of attrition on a continuing education program for nursing personnel within long-term care facilities are described. METHODS: Allowing flexible participation can enhance the impact of a continuing education program designed for paraprofessional staff. Increasing the number of nursing staff who experience only a portion of the training ...

I have participated in the evolution of the cataract procedure for the last 23 years. This year, as nursing director for an eye surgery center, I was responsible for the implementation of a new prerolled intraocular lens: The Memory lens. I review 5 implementation strategies, which are: Be open to ...

The University of Pennsylvania Health System Trauma Network views the registry staff as key members of the trauma team and the registry as a vital component to the overall success of our programs. Trauma Registry databases are increasingly complex and require highly skilled and knowledgeable personnel to perform the functions ...

The purpose of this experiment was to explore the possibility that the inconsistent findings of Brehmer and Hagafors (1986, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 38, 181-195), Sniezek and Buckley (1995, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 62, 159-174), and leader-member exchange research regarding leaders' propensity to differentially and accurately ...

Facilities that are converting to filmless operations can learn from the University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center's (UKMC) experience: that dramatic reengineering processes must take place before radiologists' productivity can increase. To convert a radiology department to soft copy interpretation, a piece-by-piece implementation of new systems or upgrades is customary. ...

OBJECTIVE: To explore environmental health officers' (EHOs) perception that a program to train Aboriginal people as environmental health workers in 10 remote Northern Territory communities was not operating well. METHOD: Phenomenography, an approach within the qualitative domain, was used to explore 15 EHOs' understanding about the program during 1996-97. Respondents ...

Results are presented of a modest benchmarking project with eight institutions as part of a program review. Four of the institutions had programs with both research and clinical components. Metrics were derived from the data acquired. They included Registered Users per total Technical Staff (mean 284, SD 42%); Principal Investigators ...

The Ottawa-Carleton Heart Beat Restaurant Program is intended to encourage restaurateurs to provide lower-fat and higher-fibre choices. Restaurants participating in this program are promoted through a dining guide and a newspaper supplement. In addition, all participating restaurants receive promotional materials - decal, certificate, menu inserts, table tents, and staff poster ...

We evaluated the effectiveness of a staff training and management package on nutritional practices in two community-based group homes serving adults with developmental disabilities. Food storage, menu development, and meal preparation were trained in a multiple baseline format, followed by supervisor feedback. All staff behaviors increased after training and were ...

All technology requires training. Simply installing videoconferencing equipment in a hospital or health centre, and leaving the manufacturer's manual nearby, is not sufficient to encourage or maintain its use for telemedicine. Presenting clinicians and other users with thick policy and procedure documents to be read and understood is also not ...

The peer mentor is a full time paid staff member of the G. F. Strong Rehab Centre Spinal Cord Program. To qualify for the position, an individual with a high lesion spinal cord injury must live a self-managed life in the community. The peer mentor's role bridges professional, lay, and ...

The Assaulted Staff Action Program (ASAP) has been associated with sharp reductions in the frequency of patient assaults on staff in four state hospital settings. Recent national trends in healthcare have resulted in an emphasis on community-based services. This case study sought to assess the effects of ASAP and findings ...

The authors compared the effects of the staff's perceptions of the culture in a LTC facility pre and post-intervention(s). One unit had significant architectural modification (physical intervention). On the second unit, efforts were directed toward culture change through management modification (social intervention through goal setting and role modeling). Lastly, both ...

Intended for ambulatory care administrators considering a building project, the article discusses seven key steps to a successful project: Avoid common pitfalls: allow enough time, avoid over-delegation, focus staff on issues rather than egos, require staff "buy-ins" to project concepts and design, and understand the realties of construction. Select the ...

Staff who work exclusively on Alzheimer's disease units need to develop strategies to deal with emotional outbreaks of these clients. This project demonstrated that staff is not helpless in dealing with Alzheimer clients, and it reinforced the staff by validating that they, too, are experts in coping with daily problems ...

BACKGROUND: An educational fair and poster approach was developed to meet organization-wide mandatory education requirements. METHOD: A multidisciplinary task force identified 25 mandatory topics. Task force members utilized posters to indicate key points (principles) and questions for each topic. Two interactive stations, body mechanics and fire safety, were developed to ...

When senior executives at Grant and Riverside Methodist Hospitals in Columbus, OH, decided to merge their institutions into one healthcare system, the two security forces suddenly were faced with the need for major changes. The directors of the two security departments decided to work together to plot a successful integration ...

Few programs exist that offer a range of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) services to multiple populations (i.e., substance abusers, individuals on probation, sex workers and their clients, court-mandated perpetrators of domestic violence) in multiple settings (i.e., courts, methadone maintenance clinics, residential and outpatient substance abuse treatment programs). The purpose of ...

The 125I content in the thyroids of staff members working with 125I at Malmo University Hospital has been measured regularly during a period of 20 y. The measurements were made with a specially designed NaI(Tl) detector, 1.5 mm thick and 124 mm in diameter. Four categories of personnel have been ...

A survey of staff grades and associate specialists in the Oxford deanery showed that there were slightly more females (53%). There were 44% who had on-call commitments, a third of these were first on call. Thirty-eight per cent of the staff grades and 55% of the associate specialists had membership ...

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the intra- and inter-examiner variability of a panel of examiners using a 'glance and grade' marking system when assessing Class II preparations. METHODS: The examination panel consisted of five university staff with varying clinical and teaching experience. The panel assessed 75 ...

Staff who have negative attitudes about behavioral treatments are less likely to implement them. Previous research suggests that negative attitudes are associated with staff burnout and perceived collegial support. A path analysis is conducted in this study to determine the direction of these effects. Ninety staff members who work in ...

The 5-S selling system works extremely well when used properly. Because each 5-S selling system step relates closely to a treatment planning step, skipping portions or rearranging the process only negates its results. The dentist should also consider having a meeting with all staff and training them on the benefits ...

An individualized weight-based gentamicin dosing program is used at this community hospital to achieve stable serum drug levels with optimal clinical outcomes. This program requires extensive communication between disciplines and because of its complexity, was identified by the nursing staff as being confusing to initiate and maintain. The authors report ...

Family-friendly initiatives are popular with staff, but little research has been done to determine their effect. Employers should ask staff what sort of schemes would be most useful to avoid wasting managers' time. Under half the employers surveyed offered creches, nurseries or holiday play schemes. Where they are offered, they ...

Staff development specialists were surveyed regarding their reasons for participation in continuing nursing education programs. Hospital-based staff development specialists (n = 279) from American Hospital Association member facilities responded to the Participation Reasons Scale (PRS). Using a Likert scale 1 to 7 rating, mean scores ranged from 3.52 to 6.40. ...

A study was made of the effect of staff commitment to abstinence-oriented policies on retention of patients in methadone maintenance. Staff working in six public methadone programs in Sydney, Australia, were surveyed in 1989 and 1992 using the Abstinence Orientation Scale. The association of the clinics' median Abstinence Orientation scores ...

Critique can have as much benefit for management as it does for staff members. The fact is every time you have an opportunity to teach, you gain staying abreast of your field. Each time someone learns by your instruction, you earn their respect. Each time you have an opportunity to ...

AIM: This article explores the impact of technology and potential clinical negligence claims on nursing practice. BACKGROUND: Sophisticated procedures and techniques have led to the development of many types of medical device. Many device functions have moved from being one of supporting clinical practice to that of being an integral ...

OBJECTIVE: The main hypothesis was that staff burnout/distress would be negatively associated with the quantity and quality of social interactions between staff and residents. The subsidiary hypothesis hypothesis was that 'perceived involvement in decision-making' among staff would be positively associated with the quantity and quality of staff-resident interactions. DESIGN: Cross-sectional ...

The effectiveness of video-based staff training with manager-led exercises in improving staff performance in residential support for persons with disabilities was examined. Research staff assisted two residential program managers to implement staff training in health and safety, basic support, and residential support values. Results showed improvement in (a) staff members' ...

To do more with less requires being able to empower others so that they are accountable and responsible. In many situations, staff resist empowerment and often make comments to the effect that it is the manager's job to get certain things done--not theirs! In moving toward empowerment, the most difficult ...

Shared leadership involves a process as well as a structure. Two key principles apply to all forms of shared leadership: a commitment to true partnership and a decision-making structure that allows for balance of power. In this article, the author shares her personal experience of facilitating a shared leadership model ...

During these changing times in the healthcare environment, staff development and management must work together to provide competent staffing models. This article focuses on an innovative pilot internship program that was developed and implemented collaboratively by the management/staff development team. The article describes a cross-training program for new graduates in ...

The major goal of this Dutch study was to compare the behavior of staff towards demented patients in residential homes with five expert recommendations for dealing with dementia. There were 136 respondents in this postal survey. The results showed that the staff carried out the recommendations of encouraging activity, establishing ...

The wide variety of calls received by the Hawaii Poison Center are described. These include the typical, humorous and calls unique to the islands. Methods include descriptive anecdotal recall and review of Hawaii Poison Center call statistics. A brief description of staff, resources and call taking procedures are also provided.

The healthcare environment is changing rapidly. Work reorganization and redesign can lead to department and unit closures, resulting in work transitions for many staff members. The authors describe the findings of focus groups held with staff and management on units that have closed. These interviews highlight the difficulties encountered with ...

Implementing a program as complex as continuous venovenous hemodialysis without the involvement of nephrology nurses is a challenge. However, with proper planning, appropriate staff support, and the ability to make changes as implementation proceeds, a successful program can be developed. Our reward is that we are now able to offer ...

A small-scale study of the inter-rater and staff:client reliability of the Schalock & Keith (1993) Quality of Life Questionnaire (QOL-Q) was conducted. Whilst the sample size was small and the QOL-Q achieved an acceptable overall level of reliability, the study replicated the pattern of low staff:client concordance and staff overestimation ...

Technologies for promoting quality of organizational services to the developmentally disabled have been evolving over the past several decades. Feedback reinforcement and, often, goal-setting, powerful change tools, generally are incorporated within behavioral interventions. Despite their promise, wide-scale application of these strategies often is impeded by natural and informal organizational contingencies. ...

This paper describes an evaluation of a training workshop for staff working with people who have severe physical and learning disabilities and who need extensive support with eating and drinking. Training involved joint input from speech and language therapy, dietetics, occupational therapy and physiotherapy and was evaluated at three levels: ...

The University of Victoria School of Health Information Science (HINF) and The Toronto Hospital (TTH) have formed a strategic partnership to align current information management theory with practical experience. The fourth year undergraduate course in Information Management and Technology was redesigned to include a joint research project with TTH. Staff ...

Thirty-five years of empirical research have continuously documented the potential negative impact of patient assaults on staff. The Assaulted Staff Action Program (ASAP) is a voluntary, peer-help, systems-wide crisis intervention debriefing approach for employee victims of these assaults. ASAP has been associated with providing needed clinical support for victims, declines ...

Information technology (IT) has radically changed the way that many people work and think. This audit was designed to evaluate the IT skills and training needs of different professional groups. Most clerical staff but only about 33% of medical and nursing staff were able to use the current patient information ...

Staff competence in the application of behavioral techniques is critical to improve quality of life for persons with a developmental disability. Development of efficient staff training programs is therefore of great importance. This paper describes some of the procedures most frequently used in staff training research. Research in this area ...

Social service programs that do not generate sufficient revenues will not survive in a Fee-For-Service (FFS) system. Yet a concern about finances is alien to many social workers' client-centered orientation. This article presents findings from a study that evaluated the effect of an objective feedback intervention on social workers' productivity ...

The requirement to verify and ensure the competency of staff members to perform their assigned duties is here to stay. This article describes a model for decision making about competency assessment frequency. Implementation of the model should be accompanied by a systematic review of learning needs and performance improvement data. ...

OBJECTIVE: Our objective is to report how an inexpensive computer database program (Filemaker Pro, version 3.0, for Macintosh) can be used to manage work schedules and optimize staff use in a radiology department. CONCLUSION: Using this report in conjunction with the manufacturer's documentation, one can adapt this database program to ...

In response to a lack of staff consistency in assessing clinical work, as identified by a student questionnaire, a checklist scheme of assessment was devised. This consisted of a series of questions covering the key stages of the majority of procedures in conservative dentistry to which a demonstrator indicates whether ...