Monday, September 30, 2019

Children and the Internet Essay

Think about how much time your children spend on electronics and what it could be doing to their health and intelligence. Instead of reading books and learning from experiences they’re glued to a screen that’s leaving them unable to react in real life. â€Å"Hands on experiences are vital to the developing of conversation and cause-effect relationships† (Negative effects of Internet usage on Child Development). Internet Influence on kids is becoming a problem with prolonged exposure to technology ending in Physical, Cognitive and Social Maladaptation. It is important to realize that a child’s body is just beginning to develop and that a sedentary lifestyle can lead to obesity and health issues. â€Å"Computer use can cause carpal tunnel and eye strain.† (Physical and Social Effects of Internet Use in Children). Leaving children with health issues alone on the computer is even worse and unexpected popups can cause a lot of problems. â€Å"It can also cause seizures if there are rapidly flashing games and websites† (). There are so many ways children can get ahold of the internet: computers, smartphones, iPads, iPods, gaming consoles, etc. It’s leaving them feeling instantly gratified and entitled to things that aren’t theirs that causes lots of trouble as they get older. In addition to physical effects there are cognitive ones as well. â€Å"Easy access to internet may become less able to separate fact from fiction. Internet has no filter and no peer review so anyone can publish what they want. Informal communication common to chat rooms is a worry and can carry over to their academics† (Physical and social effects of Internet use in children). The multitasking that many children engage in while online reduces attention span, making intense concentration on a single task more difficult. â€Å"Rapid nature of internet stimulation alters the way children see the world, and it creates boredom.† (Physical and Social effects of internet use in children). Information posted on the Internet is lawless. Young children depend on adults to validate what they see, hear and feel. The information on the Internet is uncontrolled and there is no way to check its reliability, and further, often no practical way to ensure referability.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Increased use among children may result in feelings of loneliness and depression† (Physical and Social effects of Internet use in children). â€Å"Also results in less time spent with family and friends or working on hobbies† (Physical and Social effects of Internet use in children). Another key point refers to the social side of the effects of the internet. â€Å"Violent images, foul language and a lack of social rules common to the internet don’t help a child succeed in the real world† (Physical and Social effects of Internet use in children). â€Å"Instead of hanging out with friends they show a trend that a computer is more important† (The influence of the Internet on our younger generation). â€Å"Causes desensitization to violence. Both violent and pornographic imagery can fundamentally alter a developing child’s perspective of the world† (Negative effects of Internet usage on child development). â€Å"They lose the skills and patience to conduct social relattions in the corporeal world† (Physical and Social effects of Internet use in children).

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Career Episode

LAST NAME: FIRST NAME: MIDDLE NAME CAREER EPISODE No. 1 PIRANHA HANGAR BASE CONSTRUCTION PROJECT Place in Colombia INTRODUCTION 1. This first episode is based on my experience as Project and Quality control Manager for the project related to th construction of two piranha hangar base. This project was executed by XXX, the Company which I worked for, and the Contractor was the ZZZ. This construction project took place from August 2004 to August 2005. BACKGROUND 2. The main scope of this project was to build two hangar bases for â€Å"piranha† motor boats.These hangar bases provided different facilities to military personnel that need some support during their military operations and each one had fuel storage and supply facilities, warehouse, dinning and temporary housing facilities . Thus, it was necessary to build a potable water system, sanitary system, fuel storage and distribution system, air conditioning system, bilge and ballast system, electrical network, including gener ator set. Hull, deck and roof structure were built on steel structure with different specs and coating schema. Each piranha hangar base weighted 209 tons and had two storeys. 3.The Hull was composed by five pontoons each one of 8 meters length x 1. 20 meters width x1. 5 meters depth and a main section of 24 meters length x 3. 5 meters width x 1. 5 meters depth. Each pontoon had a specific function, pontoon number 3 was designed for sewage system, pontoon five was used for ballast system and included sea box. Inside other pontoons there were installed pipe lines for fuel, sanitary, electrical, bilge and ballast system. Hull main section was designed to fuel and LAST NAME: FIRST NAME: MIDDLE NAME potable water storage. On second floor, there were located facilities for housing, office and nursery. . The main existing problem for this project was that the hangar base had to be fabricated on site since transportation of an entire hangar base was impossible due to security conditions. ZZ Z decided that this was a Best Value Proposal, which means that the selected constructor would be the company that guarantees the success of the project regardless the price. The company had to define and support not only an economic and technical proposal but also a real proposal that analyzed and guaranteed quality, transportation and security/safety factors.This proposal also had to include a fabrication plan at Bogota and an on-site, transportation plan and on-site assembly plan. The contractor also had to outline an integral plan to perform assembly on-site and furthermore pinpoint which equipment would be used in pre-assembly and joint nine heavy steel modules. PERSONAL ENGINEERING ACTIVITY 5. During the bid process, I was an active member of the technical team which defined technical solution, including hull modules definition, fabrication and assembly plan at Bogota and on site. This technical team was composed (in hierarchical order) by my boss Eng.XYZ, who is the general m anager of the Company, me and a group of external specialists from different fields e. g. structural, naval and mechanical engineering . In this stage, I was in charge of coordinating equipment to define an integral solution and based on conclusions of the technical team meetings, I did relevant documents such as fabrication and assembly plan, transportation plan, Quality control plan and technical proposal, including project schedule. Final proposal presented by ZZZ was composed of two main stages. The first one was fabricating at Bogota, LAST NAME: FIRST NAME: MIDDLE NAME he hull (pontoons and main hull) and processing steel plates and steel profiles, including sandblasting and coating process. Second stage was transport these steel modules by air and joint them at project location. After a meeting, in which I had to explain and support designed plans to ZZZ, they fortunately decided that our proposal was the best option for them, so the Company was selected as the contractor for the construction of two Piranha Hangar Bases and then it started a new process, which was related to the construction of the project according to proposed plans. . For this construction stage, my job description was that of Project and Quality Control Manager . The following were my main functions: 6. 1 ENGINEERING ACTIVITIES : Supervising and ensuring that each activity was performed according to drawings and specs. This activity was performed throughout the entire process, including construction stage. Supervising steel structure fabrication process. Hull modules were fabricated on a Steel Structure shop located at Bogota . These modules were pre-assembled here in Bogota to guarantee that it would not be any problem at the place.All welding procedures of hull modules were tested by a company which is certified to verify and qualify welding quality and procedures. Steel structure was sent to the place with primer and barrier coating; final coating was applied on site . This decisio n was taken for two main reasons. Firstly, at the place relative humidity level is extremely high, so quality of coating activities could not be guaranteed; furthermore, sand blasting procedures could LAST NAME: FIRST NAME: MIDDLE NAME not be done at the places due to its cost and environmental regulations. Selecting Test Company to perform and control quality of main.I also supervised and ensured that welders were certified by an approved organization. Ensuring welding activities, pipelines and equipments performed at optimal level. Sought materials and equipment needed by the project and assured that those fulfilled requirements established by ZZZ. Once I had identified the supplier for equipment and/or materials, I gave the info to the Purchase Department of the company and they performed the acquisition and coordinated delivery procedures. This procedure was under my supervision and I had to be informed about purchase and delivery status.When the supplier was located out of the country, purchase procedure was my responsibility from beginning to end. This meant that I had to define right supplier, perform importation and nationalization process and coordinate process until its delivery on-site. Writing technical reports that were required by client. Guarantying to client that all activities were performed according to submitted plans. Supervising that those activities were performed fulfilling requirement of Quality Control Plan. Simulating behavior of each piranha hangar base according to hull construction and specific loads.This procedure was very interested since I learned new things related to vessels . For this activity I was supported by Eng. Y who is a Naval Engineer from the National Navy and he really taught me a lot about this subject, we use a special software that LAST NAME: FIRST NAME: MIDDLE NAME simulated vessel behavior according to its own weight, tide level, bilge and ballast tank level and specific conditions that could affect hangar base stability. 6. 2 MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES : Controlling execution budget. Controlling project progress and project schedule.Controlling reports that were required by ZZZ, such as daily reports, Man hour report. Writing and preparing submissions of materials, equipment or procedures which must be submitted to ZZZ and must have its approval. It was a key issue since ZZZ approval took about 30 days and activity could not be started if all the related submittals were not approved. So, any mistake or delay on this activity could significantly affect the progress of the project. Calculating and supporting payment request. Attending meetings requested by client, in order to support project and its progress to ZZZ.Defining and requesting to human resources department required labor to work on site. 7. Eventhough assembly on site was easier than the one that we had planned; there was a problem with the structure designed and built to maneuver steel modules into the water. At the beginning this structure was composed by steel truss and pulleys; however due to weather reasons we required a fast method; so I proposed and built a series of roller boards which were fabricated on AC SCH 40 pipe which was the only strength material available on-site at this stage of the project. It was a good idea.The success of this project was due in part to the rainy season as water level had significantly increased, and so steel modules LAST NAME: FIRST NAME: MIDDLE NAME were close to low-lying land, reducing transportation and handling distance of big steel modules from work area to river. SUMMARY 9. For the successful execution of this project it was important to have create and maintain good team work. Since this project included different fields of engineering and it was mandatory to have positive communication between site engineer, subcontractors and specialists in order to avoid any mistake. The entire roject was performed and completed amidst a healthy working environment. 10. The pr oject was very interesting because it required technical and managerial abilities . It was a personal challenge because it was my first project not only with the company but also with the ZZZ. They have a quality system that really does not make many mistakes and they also have documentation systems and procedures that takes time and cannot be underestimated during the planning process. 11. Our proposal was the best for them; I think that they had some doubts about air transportation and assembly on site of prefabricated modules.Thus, at the beginning, they were extremely dedicated to this project and when they realized that the entire hull was floating on the river, they were proud of their decision. Project fulfilled ZZZ requirements; it was given additional execution time since it was an unexpected rainy season. 12. I think that my role contributed to the project, since I was in charge of key activities and any mistake could dramatically influence the project and its objectives. I realized that I have leadership abilities and that projects could seem complicated but when a project has drawings, specs,LAST NAME: FIRST NAME: MIDDLE NAME a good quality control system and good team work anything is possible. This project was also interesting because it had special equipment that had to be bought in the USA; there was an armor steel plate that was bought in Peru so I learned how to do international purchases and nationalization procedures. 13. In addition, I had to constantly coordination with other departments and gave technical support to the site team, duties that were new to me. It was an important episode in my career and has helped to develop my knowledge base, experience, skills and confidence.LAST NAME: FIRST NAME: MIDDLE NAME CAREER EPISODE No. 2 DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION FOR MIDNIGHT EXPRESS FACILITIES Place – Colombia INTRODUCTION 1. This episode is related to my job as Project Manager and Quality control Manager for the design and construction f or midnight express facilities at Place (Colombia), which is a Pacific coast city. 2. This project was executed by XXX, the Company which I worked for, and the Contractor was ZZZ. This project took place from July 2006 to March 2007. BACKGROUND 3.The first main objective of this project was to provide, at pier zone, fuel, electricity and water to midnight express patrol boats. Fuel was provided from two storage tanks 5000 gallons ea. located at 984, 25 feet away from pier location. Electricity had to be taken from a generator set located at the same distance and water was taken from a storage tank located at 1. 640,42 feet away from pier. These pipelines had to be underground and at pier zone they had to be anchored to concrete structure and protected against sun and bumps.Second objective was to install infrastructure necessary to install a jet dock system which is a floating dock system that works according to tide level of fluctuating waters. This floating dock was 45,93 feet len gth per 29,53 feet width and was composed by cubes of surface area of 20†³ x 20†³ (500mm x 500mm) , 14 pounds (6. 4 kgs) weight, and over 200 pounds (90 kgs) of buoyancy. The cube was air filled (basically a rigid, hollow compartment) with a wall thickness of approximately ? † (6mm). LAST NAME: FIRST NAME: MIDDLE NAME . In order to accomplish this second objective, a special design was created since this jet dock system had to be anchored to existing concrete piles which were not totally aligned with Y-axis nor designed to loads and movements transferred by floating dock and midnight express boats. 5. It is important to note that at this Pacific area, tide levels vary from 1 to 19,69 feet daily; this data was obtained by using Marina records and by doing measurements each hour during six months which were recorded and analyzed in excel.So it was very difficult and complex to design a system that worked according to this tide level variation and that were strong enoug h to support wave forces and directions. 6. In addition, infrastructure included a floating steel platform that was moved according to tide level and that was used as pedestrian access to the jet dock floating platform. It was necessary to design and built a fiber glass floating unit that was used as guide to the steel platform. At the existing pier, there were installed two dockside pillars which supplied electrical energy and water to midnight xpress boats. Fuel was supplied by two fuel pumps. 7. The scope of this Contract had two main activities: Design and Construction. This kind of contracts with ZZZ is very important and requires special attention from Contractor Company. Design procedures have three submittals: Submittion #1: 50% Design submission Submittion #2: 90% Design submission and 100% Design submission Each one of these documents must be submitted to ZZZ in order to have their approval . This approval takes 30 calendar days, and no work on siteLAST NAME: FIRST NAME: M IDDLE NAME can be started if final submittal has not been approved; thus, any mistake in these documents will carry out a delay on execution time. PERSONAL ENGINEERING ACTIVITY 8. At the Design and Construction stage my job position was Project Manager and Quality Control Manager and I was in charge of representing the company during project execution, approving or disapproving executed activities, preparing and submitting payment request, Maintaining updated submission register, preparing and signing daily report .If any work had not been performed according to specs and/or technical code I had authority to reject the work and to define corrective actions. 9. I also coordinated and supervised the Project, assured that the work was properly scheduled, assured that costs were being properly controlled and maintained and an efficient safety program was in place. 10. The Design team was composed by a Structural Engineer, an Electrical engineer and me.I was in charge of this team and I coordinated and supervised their work. I also designed hydraulic network and environmental system. I was an active member of this team and my work was reported directly to Eng. W, who is the general manager of the Company. Once specific design had been done by each external specialist, I reviewed those and if requirements were fulfilled, I prepared design submissions, which included drawings, calculations and specs and submitted it to ZZZ for their revision and approval .These specs were done using SpecsIntact program, which is an specialized software created by ZZZ to edit and create technical specs according to scope and conditions of specific project. LAST NAME: FIRST NAME: MIDDLE NAME 11. In order to do environmental design I first defined two main criteria. 1) The not treated water quality and 2) the use of treated water and required quality. 12. For determining water quality I based my analysis on lab results for well located near the project area.And for the second aspect and according to specs the required treated water quality was determined based on the following uses: †¢ †¢ †¢ Water not apt for drinking Water apt for human contact: Activities where human skin came in contact water Fresh water washes activities to retire marine salt from non sensible materials that do not require being washes with demineralized, distillate water or with more physical and chemical quality than potable water. 13. After these criteria had been defined ,treatment plant capacity was calculated based on the estimated operation flow, maximum 0. lps, storage volume of 1000 gls (according to SOW), and critical conditions or maximum consumption; the storage volume would be consumed in 1. 75 hours. I determined that the well must supply the consumed water at the same rate, which is 0. 6 lps, to assure water supply at all times. Thus, I selected a treatment plant of 0. 6 lps. 14. According to the water quality expected and its final use, the treatment to be used i ncluded the following processes: †¢ †¢ †¢ Ventilation1 ventilation tray set Flocculation and Coagulation :1 coagulation and flocculation tank Sedimentation1 sedimentation tank LAST NAME: FIRST NAME: MIDDLE NAME 4. The Hydraulic design was done using the Hazen-Williams equation with a roughness coefficient C = 150 for PVC pipes and according to the International Plumbing Code 2003. It was not difficult to develop the networks design due to all of the input parameters were known, so it was make the calculations according to the design process and fulfilling the international standards requirements. 15. The challenge for this project was to design a system easy to assembly and guarantee that materials would resist sea environment and fluctuating water forces. Works must be performed on the sea and on a rainy season.For these reasons materials and procedures had to be carefully selected, reviewed and approved. 16. By analyzing information given by surveying methods, exist ing piles were not aligned; they did not have a common axis . Thus, in order to prevent damage in jet dock system, it was mandatory to create something that fixed the jet dock guides in the same X and Y axis. Since the jet dock system required poles to let floating board to move according to tide level, I thought that it would be a good idea if these poles had horizontal members as long as it was required to absorb X-Y axis variations.To achieve this purpose, I suggested steel guide poles, instead of PVC guide poles which were recommended by Jet Dock supplier; in addition, this material would guarantee a stronger structure, able to support wave forces. 17. At the bottom section, these guide poles were fixed to existing concrete pier by fabricated steel clamps plate 1/8â€Å"(height= 1,6404 feet) jointed with O1† screws and at top section they were anchored to existing concrete pier beam by using adhesive mortar for rebar and anchor LAST NAME: FIRST NAME: MIDDLE NAME fastening s.These guide poles and their supports were prefabricated and preassembled at Bogota, Colombia. 18. On site it was difficult to install these guide poles, since their length was 22,97 feet, tide level would be, as minimum one meter above guide pole anchor system. Thus, this anchorage activity had to be performed with specialized diving people that guarantee that screws were installed according to Torque requirements. 19. It was an interesting experience because, even though it was an easy project, there were many difficulties that could influence the overall quality of final product.Thus, it was necessary to have good specialists for each field. In addition, on site was a senior engineer who had great experience regarding coastal projects, so his knowledge was very useful in solving specific problematic on-site details. SUMMARY 20. I learned new things which related to projects surrounding coastal environments. Overall, in order to do the job properly, a number of variables had to b e considered. 21. All the construction procedures were defined throughout design activities; since I did not have knowledge about ea water behavior and how waves and tides can impact in an on shore project, it was interesting to find that my proposed ideas were accepted without hesitation. Since I was in charge of key activities and any mistakes could affect the project, I worked effectively and diligently to ensure the smooth completion of the project and to ensure client satisfaction. The ZZZ and YYY were satisfied with the project and the installed equipment. LAST NAME: FIRST NAME: MIDDLE NAME CAREER EPISODE No. 3 DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION FOR CONCRETE RECYCLING SYSTEM Bogota, Cundinamarca – Colombia INTRODUCTION 1.This episode is based on my experience as Project Manager for the project related to the construction of infrastructure required at a concrete recycling system RRR ® at Precast Concrete Plant COMPANY at Bogota, Colombia. This project was executed by XXX, the Com pany which I worked for, and the Contractor was COMPANY which is a National Precast Concrete Manufacturer. This construction project took place from December 2007 to March 2008. BACKGROUND 2. Precast concrete plant required an integral solution to solve the final disposal of residual concrete . They did not have space nor adequate treatment for this material.In addition, the concrete plant did not have a drainage system so rain water got mixed with wash water and water produced by daily operation and maintenance of proper equipment and concrete mixers. This water used to be accumulated at lowest areas creating different environmental and operational problems, such as floods, visual and soil pollution. Due to these conditions, COMPANY decided to install a recycling RRR ® system, which offered the complete solution not only for reclaiming aggregates and cementitious water for reuse in the production process but also for treating excess water.LAST NAME: FIRST NAME: MIDDLE NAME 3. A r ecycling system provides a closed loop system and consists of a reclaimer and a system to reuse the water. With a recycling system the sand and aggregates as well as the greywater are reused in the batch plant. There was no material leftover to dispose of and therefore a zero discharge solution. 4. This water is treated in a way that enables clear water to be available after the process and can then be used within the factory . The accruing sludge can be used in the batch plant to provide a closed loop system. 5.The objective for this project was to build several civil works such , Rigid pavement including granular as :Reinforced concrete tanks for storage of clarified and greywater, foundation for RRR ® equipment layers, potable water network , electrical network, drainage system and environmental works like grease / oil trap and sand trap treatment . 6. As project manager, my work was supervised by Eng. M who is the owner of the company and I reported every subject related to pr oject performance to him and the general manager of the Precast Concrete Company.PERSONAL ENGINEERING ACTIVITY 7. At the beginning of the project we had a general drawing given by RRR ® system supplier. This drawing was a layout drawing that indicated general dimensions / distances and water and electrical supply network requirements. The first activity that I had to do was locating RRR ® infrastructure inside the general layout of the concrete plant which had existing facilities including cement and aggregates bins, office building, warehouse and a maintenance shop. Thus, I had to define a RRR ® LAST NAME: FIRST NAME: MIDDLE NAME ystem location analyzing existing facilities and parameters like flooding areas, maneuver distances and turn radius. 8. After the suggested location was approved by Client, it was mandatory to improve draft drawings given by machine supplier. Therefore, the second activity was to define maneuver area, pavement slope, drainage system location and grea se/oil trap and sand trap treatment location. Once these criteria had been defined by me and approved by the general manager of the Precast Concrete Company ,I designed each one of these items . . For designing a drainage system I analyzed two main water sources; rain water which was calculated by using Rational method and wash water which was calculated by direct measurement and according to number of loaded cars per day. For Rainfall intensity I used pluviometric Record located at the project area. Since water had sediments, I designed a system based on reinforced concrete open channel in order to facilitate maintenance operations. Q: c: i: A: Flow (m3/sec) Runoff coefficient Rainfall Intensity (m/sec) Catchment Area (m2)Q = c ? i ? A Rational Method 10. To design grease / oil trap I used flow calculated in previous stage and used a retention period of 20 mins which is the one suggested by National code for Hydro sanitary Activities (RAS) . 9. The company for whom I worked, starte d the construction of the project according to design drawings. I supervised each activity and ensured performance was carried out in accordance with drawing specifications given by RRR ®, who was the equipment supplier. I alsoLAST NAME: FIRST NAME: MIDDLE NAME Coordinated and supervised the Project performance, Assured that the work was properly scheduled and that costs were being properly controlled. 10. My work fulfilled project requirement. This could clearly be noted when equipment and recycling systems arrived from Germany. Everything meant my requirements and the installation process went smoothly. Drainage and treatment system were an integral solution to existing water problems reducing flooding areas. 11.Throughout project execution it was not technical difficulties, assembly on site was easy and there no were required any extra works or any modification SUMMARY 12. For the execution of this project it was very important to have good client communication. Positive team w ork transpired throughout the entire project and this and this affirmed and aided the constructive client communication. Overall I believe I was a good project manager, both from the client perspectives and from the workers perspective. 13.The project was a success and I believe that success was and is a reflection of my capabilities. The project was very interesting because it required technical and managerial abilities. It was a personal challenge because it was the first recycling system in my country. There was little technical expertise and know how available to assist me and few knowledgeable people to go to for advice. I had to use my own initiative to get the job done successfully. LAST NAME: FIRST NAME: MIDDLE NAME 14. I think this project has been one of the biggest challenges of my professional career thus far.I had to develop an important design project in a short time and without previous experiences about RRR system. In addition I had to constantly coordinate with othe r departments and give technical support to the site team, duties that were new to me. It was an important episode in my career and has enabled me to gain much knowledge as I had little previous experience in many of the areas I encountered. This project enabled me to further my professional knowledge base, expand my technical expertise and develop my managerial capabilities.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

HR paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

HR paper - Essay Example As an HR, there is a great need to look into the above problem statement and redefine it to enable organization solve their current and future talent gaps as reviewed below. Most organizations fail to assess the gaps in terms of competencies and right skills required to meet future goals. Eventually, this leads to lack of required staff resources in the right location to meet the current and future workload. This lack of right individual with the right skills widens capability gap and finally pose a threat to organizational achievements. Additionally, most organizations fail to recognize employees as their greatest assets. They risks losing the few talented individuals to other competitors’ just because the organization fails to encourage, promote and invest in their staff resources. HR manager should lead the organization in rooting out this mentality and instead invest in continuous trainings that build capability workforce to address the organization’s future skill gaps. Due to scarcity in skills, most organizations find it very expensive to hire staff to address the skills gap. Most critical skills attract a market premium for those organizations that fail to develop and retain key skills. The cost of training and developing critical skills has remained high for most organizations hence making such necessary expertise not affordable. Rapid technological changes continue to remain a major challenge to most organization in addressing capability drive. This creates business environment with a more complex operations as skills evolve and become obsolete more rapidly. As an HR, there is a need to establish a proper knowledge and understanding of the global market and get the organization on toss with the changing market trends and technology so as to identify the relevant skills required in today’s world of production (Emmerichs & Marcum 2004). Based on the fact that most graduates are â€Å"half baked†, they get employed

Friday, September 27, 2019

Current Issues in Corporate Reporting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Current Issues in Corporate Reporting - Essay Example The core mandate of integrated reporting therefore is to gather information about an organizations strategy, its governance, future prospects and performance in a manner that reflects the structure it operates in terms of the commercial, environmental and social context. It is meant to be an organizations most important reporting tool (ACCA (GREAT BRITAIN), 2010). Its aim is to create a formula for accounting for sustainability, bringing together governance, social, environmental and finance in a cohesive way. In order to achieve its mandate and to be welcomed internationally as the standard reporting method, the international integrated reporting committee had a representation from different parts of the corporate world (Eccles & Krzus, 2010).These includes the civil society, the investment sectors, accounting, the academic front, standard setting sectors, the regulatory sector as well as the security sector. It also has task forces that deal with content development, governance, engagement and communication as well as a working group and a steering committee. This report therefore broadly discusses the need for integrated reporting and the challenges that were met when constituting such reporting methods during the 2011 international integrated reporting committee meeting. Corporates need to achieve financial development, sustainability and improved performance while reporting on their corporate performance. Against the background of this, previous reporting did not manage to yield such objectives (Bennett, Burritt& Schaltegger, 2006). In fact, it exposed some businesses to their bare minimum since companies were revealing most of their financial details while yet they did not achieve improved performance that they expected. This therefore necessitated the need for a new framework for corporate reporting that

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

Art - Essay Example It comprises of an image that is centered and surrounded by flowers. In this art piece, the image is a dress made of cloth, and for the head there is a small cluster of daisy like flowers. The periphery of the frame is lined by flowers and ribbons that adorn each corner. The lower escutcheon has a ‘Coat of Arms’ with words of advice or comfort. Robleto makes use of unusual materials for his art pieces and in this case he made use of homemade paper that was made from the letters received by the soldiers of war, cotton, colored paper, lantana stalks, silk, ribbon, ink, foam core, thread and cloth made from soldier’s uniforms. 3: Meaning   The meaning of the ‘Obsequies in Albany’ by Robleto is that of paying homage to those who lost their lives in the Civil War and it is considered to be a memorial for them. 4: Did you like?   Yes, I liked Robleto’s ‘Obsequies in Albany’ for both its simplicity and authenticity. I also liked it fo r the significance it held for all those who lost their lives during the war. I was also inspired by the materials used by the artist and his ingenuity in doing so.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Intro to Criminal Justice Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Intro to Criminal Justice - Coursework Example Finally, the Uniformed Police System came into existence. Sir Robert Peel II drafted the Metropolitan Police Act in 1829 in which the first large-scale, uniformed, organized, paid, civil police force was created in London. This model operated within the principles of crime prevention as the mission of policing, collaborative effort from the police and people, improving police efficiency, and strengthening the responsibility of the police as enforcers of law. 2. Due to the fact that fines did not suffice to persuade people in America during the 1700s into fulfilling their police duties, America realized the need for a salaried and full-time police force. Philadelphia started implementing laws that would establish the salaried and full-time police force. First, it implemented a law that allowed constables to hire as many guards as they required, and the second law was about paying taxes to support the salaries of the police force. Unfortunately, due to the growing population and crime rate in America, this system of policing seemed to not work anymore. In 1800s, the country adopted England's paid, full-time, and uniformed police force. However, due to the low salary of the police officers, issue on bribery and other forms of corruption surfaced and became major concerns in the country. 3. In response to the growing problems that the policing system in America faced, August Vollmer established a new model of policing that greatly improved law enforcement during this time. Vollmer believed that police work must be considered a profession and as professionals they were supposed to serve the people without any biases. He also believed that law enforcement must be free from any political influence. Vollmer also perceived that to improve the police force officers must act and behave like true leaders, and the standards for becoming officers must be reviewed and raised. The new policing system created by Vollmer had the first basic records system in America. There were also special schools designated for the study of law, evidence procedures, and criminology. Vollmer also established the use of scientific investigation of a crime, and the use of motorcycle and automobile patrols. It was also during his time the the first lie detector instrument was used and the first fingerprint system was established. 4. Community policing is based on the premise that police officers are not capable of controlling the crime all by themselves. They need the assistance and cooperation of the people to prevent and control crime within a certain community. In order to successfully do community policing, there must be a good and strong police community relations. Community policing also requires police officers to participate in programs like neighborhood watch, mini-and storefront police stations, police-sponsored athletic leagues, and citizen auxiliary police. Meanwhile, the broken windows theory pertains to neighborhood signs of deterioration. This further means th at a single sign of disorder in a community signifies a downward spiral of deterioration, neighborhood decline, and increasing crime. 5. The first system of law enforcement is local police, and this system is responsible for controlling traffic, patrolling streets, and investigating crimes within a community

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Thesis on Stephenie Meyer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Thesis on Stephenie Meyer - Essay Example This is the adolescent stage when young children begin their puberty, and it marks a transitional change, in their lives, which is characterized by significant changes. They are usually curious to explore some of the ideas they had learnt, in their childhood stage, and this is usually achieved through reading books and watching films. Therefore, it is necessary to understand their psychological mindsets since this stage is characterized by loneliness, peer group need, mood swings, psychological vulnerability, insecurity, audacity and the need to be emotional and argumentative. It is evident that most of the adolescents’ role models are the characters they see in the films and witness, in the books. They need literary works to broaden the understanding of themselves and future roles. Meyers’ film, Twilight, successfully exhibit this quality since it incorporates fairy tale elements and love story in its plot. It has since been known that many literary works about love are about young teenagers meeting and falling in love. During this period, there is always some kind of a barrier that needs to be overcome before the characters reach a happy conclusion. In Twilight, Edward and Bella instantly got attracted to one another when they met for the first time, but they could not establish a stable relationship because Edward is a vampire (Larsson et al. 274). Therefore, Edward, by being a vampire, is an obstacle that stands in their way to obtain mutual happiness. This also makes the novel more complicated than when Edward was just a normal boy. His condition also make their love wrong and forbidden (Larsson et al. 267). It is the passion and danger, associated with the supernatural creatures, which make Meyer’s literary piece different from other normal teenagers’ love stories. In the light of this context, Meyer is not only striving to combine different genres, but also linking Twilight to classic gothic literary

Monday, September 23, 2019

Cover letter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Cover letter - Essay Example I am a graduating student at Pennsylvania University with a dual major in Applied Statistics (GPA 3.7/4.0) and Economics (GPA 3.5/4.0). My internship training was also from financing institution such as Deutsche Bank and Bank of Shanghai in their Asset/ Wealth Management Investment banking Departments respectively. My internship provided me an invaluable training in wealth management which includes providing financial analysis for potential investments. I worked with a DB senior trader who provided me an invaluable hands-on experience in managing over $80 Million institutional funds in foreign currency spot trade and swap trade. I also have background in dealing with customers with my stint at Bank of Shanghai and again given an opportunity to work with senior management to to initiate $11 Million potential leverage buyout of TengChong Manufacture LLC. This makes me an excellent fit of your need as a Financial Advisor whose functions is in the area of investment banking and customer relations of which I have both the necessary competence and training. I can definitely identify the best investment for a client given my training in investment. In addition, I can also share my knowledge about statistical modeling in investment banking having a solid background in econometrics. ... I will have a bachelor’s degree in Applied Statistics and Economics in class 2013 in Pennsylvania University and my GPA of 3.7/4.0 in Applied Statistics and GPA 3.5/4.0 in Economics surpasses your minimum GPA requirement of 3.2. My internship was also in investment banking at Deutsche Bank and Bank of Shanghai invaluable training in wealth management which includes providing financial analysis for potential investments. I worked with a DB senior trader who provided me an invaluable hands-on experience in managing over $80 Million institutional funds in foreign currency spot trade and swap trade. I also have background in dealing with customers with my stint at Bank of Shanghai and again given an opportunity to work with senior management to initiate $11 Million potential leverage buyout of TengChong Manufacture LLC. This makes me an excellent fit in Financial Advisory Services having the academic background and internship to do the job well. In addition, the skill required in business valuation is central to my course and thus competent to advise Federal clients on the complex issues surrounding critical financial and economic events and high-profile transactions. I will be very excited to explain in detail my various competencies that would me make an asset for Deloitte. Attached are my contact information whom you can call and email at your most convenient time. Sincerely , Your name Contact details Memo To: From: Date: 10/22/2012 Subject: Analysis of my cover letters This memo offers a review of the audience, job description and a rhetorical analysis of how adapted my cover letter and resume to meet the audience’s expectations. The two positions I’m applying for is Job at Bank of America

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Geology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Geology - Essay Example Because of these concerns, the prominent changes, at least many of it, occur so in the arctic region. The basis for this is strong positive feedback associated with occurs with ice and snow melt. As a fact, ice and snow are highly reflective and white, for this reason, when the ground or ocean beneath is revealed more absorption occurs. This leads to further warmingfurther melting etc Clearly the level of warming currently occurring in the arctic is having an enormous impact on the region and the magnitude of further warming is set to be disastrous for the region. Thus, the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) states: "The reduction in sea ice is very likely to have devastating consequences for polar bears, ice-dependant seals, and local people for whom these animals are the primary source of food." The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) is the world's largest species of bear and the largest land predator. There is a great difference in size between male and female polar bears, with the males (350-800 kg) weighing more than twice as much as the females (150-300 kg). Their body weight varies considerably during the season - especially female bears which can often double in weight between early spring and late summer. Compared to other bear species, the polar bear has a relatively small, long and narrow head, smaller and shorter fur-covered ears, and shorter, more powerful claws. Its longer predatory teeth and sharper molars have helped polar bears adapt to the arctic climate and its almost exclusively carnivorous lifestyle. The polar bear is the youngest species of bear and is closely related to the brown bear (Ursus arctos) and grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis). In the wild, polar bears normally live to be 20-30 years old. Both males and females mature at the age of four to five years. Females often give birth to their first litter of cubs when they reach maturity, while males do not usually start mating until they are between eight to ten years old. Mating takes place in April-May, but delayed implantation (the fertilised egg stops developing at an early stage) means that foetal development does not commence until September-October. During late autumn, females go into hibernation and remain there for approximately four months. At about the beginning of January, between one and three cubs are born (depending on the mother's age and condition). The newborn cubs are extremely small, weighing only about half a kilo, but they grow rapidly due to the high fat content of their mother's milk. The cubs stay with the mother until they are two-and-a-half years old. The cub infant mortality rate is high and can exceed 70%. Only about a third of cubs r each the age of two. The polar bear is a circumpolar species and is found in arctic regions where there is access to sea ice throughout much of the year. Polar bear populations are found in Canada, Alaska (USA), Greenland, the Russian Arctic, the Norwegian Arctic and on the ice surrounding the North Pole. The global population of polar bears consists of roughly 20,000-25,000 individuals spread between 19 sub-populations. However, polar bears wander across enormous distances, so there are no major genetic differences between these populations. The distribution of polar bears in their habitat is far from even and is highly dependent on the availability of their prey. In the central areas of the polar icecap there is only very limited access to prey, and the density of polar bear

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Dissertation on Teamwork and Customer Service Quality Essay Example for Free

Dissertation on Teamwork and Customer Service Quality Essay 1.0 INTRODUCTION This chapter includes the background of the study, statement of the problem, purpose of the study, objectives of the study, research questions, and scope of the study, significance of the study, limitations of the study and operational definition of terms. 1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY Phil (2002) team working is a group of people who work together towards a shared and meaningful outcomes in ways that combine their individual skills and abilities and for which they are all responsible. He added that a real team does not just happen but an organization has to work at it, create it, maintain and sustain it for the development and provision of quality standards and expectations to the customers. Organizations need teamwork in order to promote innovation and synergy, improve their goal achievement, promote professional development of team members, achieve time reduction targets and get cross-boundary ownership of tasks and problems. Ronald (2004) argues that customer service depends on the expectations of the individual customer. However, all attempts to define customer service tend to focus on the relationships at the buyer/seller interface. He further added that to achieve the customer service levels expected, an organization need to ensure that for each of these two categories: the systems, measurements and the people are in place to respond to each customer group or market. Juran (2000) says that quality is the degree of excellence that is fitness for the purpose. It can also mean the degree in which customer requirements are met. Quality is built at every stage and teams solve problems where everyone is responsible for the quality of the product. A customer is a person or an organization that buys goods or services from the shop, business, etc on a regular basis. Woods et al (2001) assert that customer service quality as the satisfaction of the agreed customer requirements. This means that the total customer service quality is the mobilization of the whole organization to achieve quality, continuously and economically. National curriculum Development Centre is an arm of the Ministry of Education and sports responsible for the Inter-alia development of curricula and related materials for various levels of education. The National curriculum Development Centre was established by NCDC act chapter 135, laws of Uganda Revised Edition 2000 whose history is decree No 7 of 1973. Baale(2010) a curriculum specialist in math for secondary at NCDC, team working is very crucial in the development and review of curriculum that result into the satisfaction of parents, stakeholders, learners, teachers and the general public. He emphasized that team work cannot be avoided when developing curriculum as it includes a panel composed of members from different areas such as subject specialists, practicing teachers, teachers associations, UNEB representative, ESA representative, teacher trainers especially from some Universities and employers or parents. Team work comes when a subject curriculum is being developed. In this case a panel of 18 members from various institutions sits and develops the curriculum. Baseline survey is conducted from parents, teachers and sometimes from learners which result into child based curriculum. Then pilot study of selected teachers from few schools is done and cluster meetings held by teachers who carried out pilot study. The education system preparation trains all teachers about the developed curriculum and NCDC specifies instructional materials to the ministry of education that are purchased and sent to schools where implementation starts. In a period of 5- 10 years the developed curriculum is supposed to be reviewed. Enyutu (2005) stated that available test results from a wide variety of sources had demonstrated prior to the curriculum review that a majority of Ugandan children entering primary school were failing to achieve adequate literacy and numeric standards. Dropout rates were high with only 22% of the 1997 P1 cohort progressing through to P7 in 2003. NAPE test results in 2003 indicated that only approximately 20% of P6 students achieved basic standards of literacy. The combination of these two pieces of information suggested that of the 1997 P1 entry cohort, only 4-5% achieved basic literacy. NAPE testing also revealed very large and unacceptable regional differentials particularly between Kampala and the north of Uganda. Bearing in mind the enormous efforts and the substantial investments in primary education made by the government of Uganda with strong support from its development partners over the past 10 -15 years, these outcomes were disappointing. In all cases the proposals in these related areas have been discussed with senior staff in the Ministry of education and sports departments concerned and with the agencies and development partners directly involved in primary education in Uganda and there has been a very large measure of agreement on the way ahead. Nevertheless, the primary review team did conclude that there were significant flaws in the current primary curriculum and a failure to provide both sufficient time and an adequate syllabus concentration on the achievement of early literacy and numeracy in lower primary grades was by far the most important problem that needed to be addressed. Failure to achieve basic literacy and numeracy in any language in lower primary grades inevitably has a devastating impact on educational quality and student performance in all other subjects. Failure to achieve early literacy was clearly the issue of greatest concern to parents and the wider community that emerged from the primary curriculum review research. It was also perceived to be one of the major causes of drop- outs. National Curriculum Development Centre seems to be using teamwork when executing its functions. It is against this ground that the researcher will investigate how teamwork at NCDC meets customer requirements. 1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Many organizations are focusing on teamwork as a measure to improve the quality of their services delivered through brainstorming, innovation and creativity. Amidst these efforts results are not achieved due to poor coordination, lack of commitment by top management and limited funds. To address these short comings of teamwork visa-a-vie customer service quality in non profit making institutions one needs to access the level of involvement of all stakeholders in order to achieve overall performance levels (Tony 2005). NAPE (2003) report shows poor performance of children in literacy and numeracy skills in either local languages or in English due to insufficient orientation, training and support provided to teachers before the implementation of the curriculum. School supervision by the district inspectorate outside urban areas was almost everywhere insufficient to ensure good school management, the effective delivery of curriculum and regular teacher attendance. Therefore it is the interest of the researcher to know whether customer service quality is achieved through teamwork. 1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: The purpose of the study will be to examine the impact of team work on customer service quality using National Curriculum Development Centre located at Kyambogo as a case study. 1.4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY: The research objectives will be: i. To find out the benefits of using team work in organizations ii. To examine the appropriate team work techniques used in organizations to achieve customer service quality iii. To establish the level of customer service quality at National curriculum Development Centre 1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS i. Are there benefits of team work gained by National curriculum Development Centre? ii. What team work techniques does National curriculum Development Centre use to achieve customer service quality? iii. What is the level of customer service quality at National curriculum Development Centre? 1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY The scope of the study will cover the subject, time, geographical and sample scope. 1.6.1 The subject Scope: The research will be limited to the impact of team work on one hand as the independent variable and customer service quality as the dependent variable. It will also focus on the achievements of team work at NCDC towards the development of curriculum for educational institutions in the country. 1.6.2 The Geographical Scope: The study will be carried out at National Curriculum Development Centre which is located at Kyambogo near Banda Trading centre off Kampala-Jinja road. NCDC will be an ideal case study because its core values include Respect and Team work, availability of well documented data, commitment to quality and Excellence. 1.6.3 The Time Scope The study will consider an operational time frame of a period of 2 years i.e. from the year 2010 to date. 1.7 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY: The study is expected to be beneficial in the following ways: i. The study guides planners and policy makers in making factual decisions on serving customers which ensures that all the customers, shareholders and management needs are met satisfactorily. ii. To the academicians, this research gives recommendations for future research and may act as a reference for the entire world regarding contributions of team work on performance of organizations. iii. The study helps the government and customers to identify how team working at NCDC develop curriculum that is relevant to the future career of the learners. 1.8 OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS: Team work is working together towards a shared and meaningful out come in ways that combine their individual skills and abilities and for which they are all responsible. Customer service is the satisfaction of agreed customer requirements. Quality is the degree of excellence that is the extent to which something is fit for its purpose. CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.0 INTRODUCTION This chapter consists of what other people have said about the researched problem. The researcher therefore reviews some of the related literature for the better insight of the problem. The chapter includes definition of key terms, impact of team work on customer service quality, benefits of team work in organizations, team work techniques and the level of customer service quality. 2.1 DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS Team work is a group of people who work together towards a shared and meaningful out come in ways that combine their individual skills and abilities and for which they are all responsible Phil (2002) .He added that real team does not just happen but an organization has to work at it, create it, maintain and sustain it for the development and provision of quality standards and expectations to customers. Ronald (2004) argues that customer service depends on the expectations of each individual customer. However, all attempts to define customer service tend to focus on the relationships at the buyer/seller interface. He further added that to achieve customer service levels expected an organization need to ensure that for each of these categories; the systems, measurement and people are in place to respond to each customer group or market. Michael (1999) stated quality as satisfying customers’ and stakeholders’ needs by means of sufficient mutually agreed deliverables that ,meet all the agreed requirements and specifications every time, on time and in affordable manner. It can also mean meeting the requirements of the deliverables that satisfy the needs which have been identified and agreed upon by customers, stakeholders and contractors. 2.2 IMPACT OF TEAM WORK ON CUSTOMER SERVICE QUALITY According to Baguley (2002), team work has a great impact on customer service quality. He raised the following points; Efficiency: Team working is important if people are to continue to be efficient members of the organization. Efficiency is whereby employee’s performance is improved up to the standards of the organizational goals. Team working helps employees to achieve maximum efficiency in their current jobs. It also helps the organization to meet its targets for developing and keeping people with the right skills to meet future needs. It applies to all levels of employees in an organization that is the strategic level, tactical level and operational level. Improved customer service: Team working involves different members of the organization working together and combining their individual skills and abilities to come up with something that is either a product or a service that will be highly accepted by the customers (Baguley, 2002). Innovation and Creativity: Sometimes teams of employees work together to develop new products or services through contributing and combining their different ideas and skills. This helps organizations to have new services for customers that eventually improve on its performance and create and sustain customers (Baguley, 2002). Allan Woods et al (2001) stated that team working requires meetings of teams, sections or departments to understand clearly who does what and ensure reliability which is the single most important aspect of delivering outstanding customer service. The teams organize themselves to take the advantage of the individual skills team members bring with them, work together as a group in ways that bring out the best results and every member of the team must be accountable to each other for the success of the whole team. Team working makes it possible to define and insist upon the maintenance of the standards on behalf of the customers and clients as most of the times customers do not specify their needs by referring to the teams’ attitudes or reliability standards but complain bitterly when the team falls below their perceived standards. Michiel and Harold (1997) observed that cross functional teams are used in new product development to shorten development cycle times, improve quality and reduce development costs. These goals are attained because the functional areas perform their tasks in groups rather than each functional area performing its task and passing the project off to the next functional area and the key functional groups usually design engineering, manufacturing, quality assurance, purchasing and marketing work on the new product and development simultaneously. Baguley (2002) said that team working involves integrating individual skills like problem solving, communication, inter personal skills, decision-making and functional skills for the desired out comes. He further added that a good executive team provides a model for everybody in the organization that encourages cooperation and commonality of purpose at all levels of the organization. An assembly team, erection team, machine shop team add value by creating tangible out comes or products which are specific and clearly defined by others and such products meet the expectations of customers. Bradfield et al (1998) are of the view that direct competition is one of the factors that make companies form development teams. They further stated that to be effective, production has to provide a means by which an organization can focus its resources to meet the needs of their chosen customers efficiently. First it is important to know where you are starting from, second is the decision on where you wish to go in future and the outcome should be a commitment by the organization to a deliberate policy on which customers to serve with products or offerings. Woods et al (2001) further observed that the essence of team working skills lies in good communication and open approach to people and ideas and that all communication skills should be used in promoting good customer service. They also noted that for any organization to meet the needs of customers there is need for team work to obtain feedback from customers and colleagues (both within and outside the organization) as well as about the need to establish planning cycles. Each cycle of planning and doing should therefore reduce the amount of uncertainties being faced and obtain feedback not simply from planning but by doing. Adair (1990) argues that innovation calls for a special form of creativity which he called team creativity. He said that all organizations are teams or at least they are potentially so. For effective production and marketing of goods and services these days, delivery on time, at the required quality and at a competitive price calls for a high performance team work. But to improve these existing products or to develop new products and services requires a different order of teamwork (team creativity). Organizations that practice team creativity will survive and prosper while those that do not will decline and disappear. All employees need to participate as each person at work has approximately 10,000 million brain cells, together with a full range of mental faculties, analyzing, synthesizing and valuing abilities. In all of us these processes can take place intentionally on a conscious plane of thought and also less intentionally in our un conscious minds, giving us insights, intuitions, brain waves, gut feelings, intimations and the occasional pear of a genuinely new idea. As a general principle people with a â€Å"hands- on† involvement in any product or service providing they have a modicum of interest in their work will tend to have new ideas for doing it better. The important thing from the motivational perspective is the feeling of being really part of the enterprise with a full share of responsibility in developing the quality of the product or service. Developing a quality team takes hard work because development of team skills, time and patience is not something you can decide to have one day, then achieve overnight. The entire organization is part of the same team working toward meeting the requirements of its customers. Whether management, front line or behind the scenes employees, everyones work contributes to the end result. There are also specific work unit teams (departmental) with specific goals and assignments. Teams working together can and should be responsible for identifying problems not previously recognized; finding the root causes of problems; suggesting who should work on problems; solving manpower assignments and scheduling improvements; and providing communication throughout the organization. To be effective, teams in the workplace must develop standards and skills, and then implement ongoing training and coaching to ensure they are put into practice (Anand, 1997).

Friday, September 20, 2019

Elements of a Good Nursing Report

Elements of a Good Nursing Report Introduction The mechanism of the nursing report is a comparatively ancient one. Certainly it was routinely used in the pre-Nightingale era of nursing and there are reports of such formal handover mechanisms in Chaucer and other medieval writings (Carrick P 2000). As the nursing profession has evolved over time, the requirements, expectations, demands and indeed the procedures employed in the giving of the nursing report, have also evolved and become more formalised. (Mason T et al 2003). The giving of the report can be a very useful procedure on many different levels. Obviously there is the imparting of information between members of the nursing team, but the report also has the potential of serving more subtle purposes such as increasing team bonding, team motivation, engendering of good working practices and increasing patient empathy amongst the whole nursing team. It also can serve the purpose of a forum for the interchange of ideas between professional members of staff. (Yura H et al. 1998) . Other sources suggest that the peer pressure experienced by the new or student nurse, can shape their own practice by observing the attention to detail (or otherwise) as the report is presented. (Fawcett J 2005) We note that the procedure has â€Å"the potential† for these purposes, as with all processes that involve human input, there is inevitably an inbuilt variability of process. It is seldom perfect and a number of studies have shown that its standard and content can vary across a spectrum from excellent to abysmal (RCN.2003) If we consider the evidence base for this statement, we can find support in two landmark studies that have been completed. The two authors (both Danes) coincidentally produced studies which were published in 1992 (Ljukkonen A 1992) (Kihlgren et al 1992). The latter study was structured in a way that analysed the functional components of the nursing reports in several large hospitals over a three month period, it then offered a period of training on improving the content and delivery of the reports, and then remeasured the staff performance using the same set of measurement parameters. The paper itself is both long and detailed as well as being particularly analytical. To condense (and paraphrase) the findings of the initial section of the paper we can cite the findings that the initial reports were found to be: Highly task oriented and (it was noted that) the staff often discussed the patients reaction in vague and general terms without imparting any specific or useful information. The authors went on to comment that structure was frequently absent or minimal and the nursing process was seldom in evidence. After the professional feedback sessions, the second analysis period showed a marked change to the fundamental nature of the reports to the extent that they now included the observation that there were: More messages per report after the intervention compared to the control ward and the messages with psychosocial content had doubled. This was reflected in a greater appreciation and satisfaction on the part of the receiving nurses and a demonstrable improvement in team empathy We note that the authors stated that in organising the mid-section training sessions they utilised the research work of Orlando (et al. 1989), who crystallised the essential elements of the nursing report into the basic concepts of â€Å"prioritisation, communication and presentation skills, together with instruction of the important ingredients of the actual nursing report.† The Ljukkonen (A 1992) paper has similar findings but was set in two nursing homes for the elderly where the authors found that the low turnover in patients was the prime reason for the decline in nursing report standards observed. The lack of trophic peer pressure was also considered to be a major relevant factor. The comments cited by Yura (regarding team building) earlier in this essay have their origins in this paper. Charboyer (2001) expands them further with the suggestion that a â€Å"vital part of the nursing process† is the ability to interact with all of the other members of the nursing team, both in terms of hearing (learning) and expressing opinions. These two papers effectively pose the unformulated question â€Å"just what elements are ideally required in the definitive nursing report?†. We can take the lead from the Kihlgren paper which considered the work of both Orlando and Dugan (1989) who analysed the essential elements of the nursing report and categorised them as: Prioritising care and patient needs. Communication Skills. Non-Judgemental Approach. The precursors of these elements were initially formulated in a paper published by Orlando in 1987 (Orlando I. J. 1987) who suggested that it was a fundamental function of the nursing process to prioritise the patient’s needs after elucidating them and use these perceived needs to instigate and plan an appropriate course of action which could be presented at the formal nursing report. He conceded that such an analysis was a function of the individual and unique interaction between patient and healthcare professional (by implication, the nurse) and that the nurse should ideally use their communication and analytical skills to present their assessment to the professional colleagues. These concepts eventually evolved into Orlando’s preposition that the â€Å"backbone of the nursing report† would be this analysis and prioritisation of the patient’s perceived needs and their presentation in a â€Å"logical sequence†. Orlando concludes his original paper with the comment that this plan should be enunciated and modified in accordance with the patient’s illness trajectory at each successive nursing report so that the stated goals can be achieved as expediently as possible. We have made earlier reference to the importance of good communication skills in the nursing report. It follows from our previous discussions that the communications skills must also ideally be in evidence between the healthcare professional and the patient in order for the nursing report to have maximal relevance (Arnold et al 2004). The importance of this comment can be judged from the fact that interpersonal communication is considered to be one of the six core attributes in consideration of optimum personal effectiveness in the â€Å"modern nurse managerâ€Å" (ICN 1998). The traits and deficiencies in the area of communication in general, identified by both Ljukkonen and Kihlgren, were studied in greater detail by Heinmann-Knoch (2005), who analysed the topic in direct relation to the nursing report in admirable detail and went on to suggest the mechanisms by which such deficiencies could be addressed. If we accept, as Davies (et al. 2002) enunciates, that communication is a skill that is seldom innate or totally intuitive â€Å"it has to be learned, acquired and actively practised.† Other authors point to the fact that other common failings of the nursing report include elements such as stereotyping or judgementalism. (Brechin A et al. 2000). When such elements are found to be present they clearly cross not only professional boundaries but also moral and ethical boundaries as well. (Stowers K et al. 1999) Eye contact is an often overlooked element of professional interaction either between nurses themselves or between nurses and their patients. Eye contact implies attention and respect and can signal perceived degrees of dominance and submission in the pecking order (Hurley R 2006). Similarly lack of eye contact can imply ignorance, confusion, indifference, and ineptitude (Fielder A 2000). As a communication tool it can be used to advantage by the skilled professional nurse both to elicit information from patients and also to ensure attentive listening in the nursing report situation. (Platt, F W et al. 1999) Body language is another often overlooked element in the art of communication. It has not received a great deal of overt scrutiny in the peer reviewed medical press but the majority of experienced healthcare professionals would attest to its value in both eliciting and conveying information (Edmondstone W M 1995). There is a considerable body of evidence to suggest that body language and nonverbal communication has a greater ability to impart information relating to the sincerity of the speaker than the words they are using (Trimboil A et al. 1997), equally it can be used to advantage when trying either to elicit or to suppress a response from the recipient (Tomlinson J 1998). Reflection is a vital part of the learning process. It has been described and modified by many authors. Taylor (2000) suggests that it should be an active process embarked on after the event so that memories and perceptions of a situation can be rationalised and appropriate strategies considered for more optimal outcomes. Palmer (2005) observes that reflection is both a professional requirement and also a dynamic process whereby the practitioner will be prepared for any similar occurrences and can build a knowledge base to enhance his or her practice, and therefore grow as a professional. On a personal note I find that the Gibbs reflective cycle (Gibbs, G 1988 ) is both convenient, practical and useful It is beyond doubt that the nursing report, in its ideal form, should be carefully constructed, structured and prepared. It should address all of the needs of the patient – not only the medical and nursing ones, but as Hendrick, (J. 2000) points out – it should also address the more subtle needs of the patient such as their psychological, socio-economic or social needs as well, if they are appropriate. Its proper delivery is not just a matter of chance or the last item on the shift for the departing staff nurse, it is one of the fundamental tools of the nursing profession and needs to be prepared, considered and focussed before it is actually invoked. The messages that the nursing report conveys are not simply those messages that relate to the continued nursing care of the patients, but also those that speak to the professional expectations of the nurses. Those who listen to their peers delivering the nursing report in a professional and intelligent way are more likely to be indoctrinated with professional attitudes and ideals than those who view the report as little more than a nuisance at the beginning of their shift. (Clarke J E et al. 1997). The nurse who uses all of the tools of communication, including presentation, positive body language and meaningful eye contact together with clear unequivocal language is far more likely to make a positive and dynamic impression with her report than the nurse who simply puts together a few sentences relating to each patient. (Hewison, A. 2004) References Arnold Bloggs 2004  Interpersonal Relationships: Professional Communication Skills for Nurses  London : London Meridian 2004 Brechin A. Brown, H and Eby, M 2000  Critical Practice in Health and Social Care  Open University, Milton Keynes. 2000 Carrick P 2000  Medical Ethics in the Ancient World  Georgetown University press 2000 ISBN : 0878408495 Chaboyer, Najman , Dunn 2001  Cohesion among nurses: a comparison of bedside vs. charge nurses perceptions in hospitals.  Journal of Advanced Nursing 35 : 4, 526-532 Clarke J E Copcutt L 1997  Management for nurses and Healthcare Professionals.  Edinburgh : Churchill Livingstone 1997 Davies Fox-Young 2002  Validating a scope of nursing practice decision making framework  International Journal of Nursing studies 39 , 1 , 85-93 Edmondstone W M 1995 Cardiac chest pain: does body language help the diagnosis? BMJ , Dec 1995 ; 311 : 1660 1661 Fawcett J 2005  Contemporary Nursing Knowledge: Analysis and Evaluation of Nursing Models and Theories, 2nd Edition  Boston : Davis Co 2005 ISBN : 0-8036-1194-3 Fielder A Book : Sight Unseen BMJ , Jan 2000 ; 320 : 66 ;   Gibbs, G 1988  Learning by doing: A guide to Teaching and Learning methods EMU Oxford Brookes University, Oxford. 1988 Heinmann-Knoch, Korte, heusinger, Klunder Knoch 2005  Training of communication skills in stationary long care homesthe evaluation of a model project to develop communication skills and transfer it into practice Z Gerontol Geriatr. 2005 Feb ; 38 (1) : 40-6. Hendrick, J. 2000  Law and Ethics in Nursing and Health Care,  London. Stanley Thornes : 2000 Hewison, A. 2004  Management for Nurses and Health Professionals: Theory into practice. Blackwell Science : Oxford. Hurley R 2006 Ways of seeing BMJ , May 2006 ; 332 : 1219 ;  ICN 1998 International Convention on Nursing   Scope of nursing practice Geneva : ICN 1998 Kihlgren, Lindsten, Norberg Karlsson 1992  The content of the oral daily reports at a long-term ward before and after staff training in integrity promoting care. Scand J Caring Sci . 1992 ; 6 (2) : 105-12.   Ljukkonen A 1992  Contents of daily reports and nursing practice in 2 homes for the aged] Hoitotiede. 1992 ; 4 (5) : 194-200. Mason T and Whitehead E (2003)  Thinking Nursing.  Open University. Maidenhead. 2003 Orlando, I. J. 1987.  Nursing in the 21st century: Alternate paths.Journal of Advanced Nursing, 12 , 405-412 : 1987 Orlando, I. J., Dugan, A. B. 1989.  Independent and dependent path: The fundamental issue for the nursing profession. Nursing and Health Care, 10 (2) , 77-80 : 1989 Palmer 2005  Palmer in Learning about reflection from the student Bulpitt and Martin Active Learning in Higher Education. 2005 ; 6 : 207-217. Platt, F W Gordon G H 1999  Field Guide to the Difficult Patient Interview 1999 Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, pp 250 ISBN 0 7817 2044 3 London : Macmillian Press 1999 RCN 2003 RCN Leadership Project 2003 Defining Nursing RCN Publication 001 983 : Apr 2003 Stowers K, Hughes R A, Carr A J. 1999 Information exchange between patients and health professionals: consultation styles of rheumatologists and nurse practitioners. Arthritis Rheum 1999 ; 42 (suppl) : 388 S. Taylor, E. 2000. Building upon the theoretical debate: A critical review of the empirical studies of Mezirow’s transformative learning theory. Adult Education Quarterly, 48 (1) , 34-59. Tomlinson J 1998 ABC of sexual health: Taking a sexual history BMJ , Dec 1998 ; 317 : 1573 1576 Trimboli A, Walker M B 1997 Journal of Nonverbal Behaviour Publisher: Springer Netherlands ISSN : 0191-5886 Paper 1573-3653 DOI : 10.1007 / BF00990236 Issue : Volume 11 , Number 3 September 1997 Pages : 180 190 Yura H, Walsh M. 1998  The nursing process. Assessing, planning, implementing, evaluating. 5th edition. Norwalk, CT : Appleton Lange, 1998.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Magical Realism in Seventh Heaven :: Seventh Heaven Essays

Magical Realism in Seventh Heaven      Ã‚  Ã‚   The book Seventh Heaven was written by an American author by the name of Alice Hoffman. Seventh Heaven was published in the year of 1990. Seventh Heaven was a book based on life in the suburbs and the spiritual essence of the people who lived there. The author who wrote this story seemed to make the essence known that magical realism was definitely about these people and that they lived it everyday. Magical Realism lived everyday and will keep living as long as there is life on earth. Wendy B. Faris is an author that has written many stories. During the course of this story, things happened physically and magically that no one could explain    Magical Realism was first thought of within the years of 1870 and 1880 according to Ludwig Meidner. Over the years, many different authors have their own opinions of when magical realism began. Some of these are as Franz Roh, Irene Guenther, and Luis Leal. During the course of this story things that happened and physically and magically that no one could explain.    The magical elements in the story were so apparent. The houses were identical, the families got lost on the streets that they lived on, and they went into other peoples homes; thinking that they were in the right house. The smells of the berries cooking and the smell lingering even after the women had been gone for quite some time is another magical element. Then as soon as the house was sold and the house was occupied, the smell was gone. To have an odor, that had been there for so long seems unreal.    The realist element in the story was the teenager who was killed in a car wreck whom no one seemed to care about. The father seemed not to have any emotions and that situation is what life is like today. For example, a boy walking past the girls; home heard a dog barking and he asked the girls father; whose dog was barking. He said, "Oh it's just that damn girls of mines dog the damn thing won't shout up since she died and I put the damn thing outside for good." Realist elements seem to be real not imaginary or fantasy. The mother in the story seemed to be real, a hard working single mother of two children who was trying to make ends meet.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Animal Testing Essay -- Science Experiments, Animals, Guinea Pigs

Canary in the kitchen detects carbon monoxide! Animal testing must be banned for unnecessary tests. Animals should not be guinea pigs. Animals still feel the pain when they are injected with medicine just like humans. Humans can defend themselves and stop the pain, but the animals get strapped down and cannot move. It is better to have tests run on animals because animals will help find cures faster. Animal testing must be banned for unnecessary tests because a lot of animals are dying for no reason. Ninety-four percent of animal testing is done to determine the safety of cosmetics and household products (Animal Testing 1). That only leaves six percent for medical research (1). Ninety percent of all animals used in research are rats and mine (Animals Used in Experiments 4). Cosmetic testing is banned in Belgium, Netherlands, and the United Kingdom (1). The United States has many companies that continue to legally perform horrible tests on animals (1). The United States Food and Drug Administration and the Consumer Product Safety Commission do not require animal testing for cosmetics or household products (1). The Animal Welfare Act is the only federal law to require basic standards of care, housing and treatment to the animals that are kept in the labs for testing (4). The LD50 test is one of the worst tests that was developed back in 1927 and is still used today (1) . Groups of animals are dosed with different amounts of a test substance in order to determine the does which kills half of the animals (1)! Animals are force-fed this substance (1). Why would we want to put poor animals in this kind of pain for no reason? Animals to the society can be their world. Animal lovers in the society would probably g... ...and are just like humans (3). Scientists on the other hand feel like there is a need to endanger the animals because they are trying to find a cure for the human population to all the diseases that are out in the world(3). Animal testing should be banned for unnecessary tests because why would the government want to put human through the same thing that the animals go through. Animals should not be guinea pigs to the horrible tests that the scientists run on them. The animals should be able to be free and not have to be strapped down and forced-fed. Animals feel the pain just as well as a human would, but a human can walk away from the pain and say â€Å"no†. Sometimes it is better to run tests on animals to find a cure for cancer, HIV, and other diseases but the government and the scientists should find a different way to do this with out killing so many animals.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Dental

Tray setups Here is a series of tray set ups for some of the more usual dental procedures. Every operator is different and the tray set ups need to be customized for the operator. Keep tray set ups simple. Also shown are some of the corresponding bench set ups that need to be prepared for specific purposes. Tray 1: Examination Mirror Probe Tweezers Periodontal probe Bench Patient card Pencil for charting Intra-oral camera set up ready to go Hand mirror for patient to view mouth Tray 2: Prophylaxis and fluoride treatment Mirror, probe and tweezersHand scales and/or ultrasonic scales tip Rubber cup Suction tube Prophylaxis paste in ring cup or disposable dish Floss Gauze squares Cotton rolls Fluoride trays or pellets and disposable dish Fluoride solution Model for oral health instruction Tray 3: Amalgam restoration 1 Spoon excavator Flat plastic Amalgam plunger Amalgam carver (every operator has their favorite) Ball burnishes Locking tweezers Tray 4: Amalgam restoration bench Amalgam g un Dapper dish Matrix retainer and band Decal applicator Wedges (where necessary) Amalgam capsule Articulating paper with holderLining material Tray 5: Amalgam restoration 2 Tray 6: Composite / GIG restoration Plastic instrument – temple or Teflon Tray 7: Composite / GIG restoration -? bench 1 Pellets or sponge applicators, Articulating paper Spatula Mixing pad Restorative material Tray 8: Composite / GIG restoration -? bench 2 Pellets or sponge applicators Tray 9: Extraction Sterile gauze Tray 10: Extraction, mandible -? Elevators Forceps Anesthetic set-up Extra gauze bench Instructions for care after an extraction. Tray 1 1: Endicott treatment Endicott probeEndicott spoon excavator Endicott ruler For root canal therapy / root filling you will need to add the following instruments to the Endicott tray: Lateral spreader's Endicott plungers Heat out instrument (for cutting and sealing the GPO points) Tray 12: Endicott treatment -? K files Paper points Medicament's Cavity Mixin g pad and spatula Periodical X ray films Guts perch points Tray 13: Rubber dam 1 Frame Rubber dam clamp forceps Rubber dam punch Appropriate clamp Rubber dam square Tray 14: Rubber dam 2 Tray 15: Oral health education / disclosingLocking tweezers with cotton pellet Toothbrush Microbes Disclosing solution Baseline in small container Denture dish / container Air-abrasion -? tray Teflon instrument or temple composite Air abrasion head and nozzles Air-abrasion -? bench Similar to composite/glass-monomer set up Endicott -? tray Endicott-? bench Periodical films Rubber dam application Oral surgery -? tray Retractor Scalpel handle Peritoneal elevator Erroneous Bone file Tissue tweezers Hemostat Surgical curette Irrigating syringe Suture/surgical scissors Needle holder Surgical aspiratorOral surgery -? bench Scalpel blade of choice Suture needle and thread of choice Saline solution for irrigation Extra gauze-sterile Mouth props if needed Surgical burs of preference Extra cup of water to run through aspirator to avoid clogging. Denture trays Impressions Bite registration -? tray Wax knife Wax carvers Bite registration -? bench Models Bite wax Matches Shade guide. Laboratory Job sheets Try-in -? tray Try-in -? bench Hand mirror for patient Denture issue Denture issue -? Bench The dentures Hand mirror Burs required for acrylic trimming. Dental Dentistry isn't Just a profession; it's a way of life. Helping others is the best way to live, and that's exactly what you do. â€Å"Blessed are those who hold lively conversations with the hopelessly mute, for they shall be called dentists† (Ann Landers). We all dread our next go around at the dentist. Getting our teeth cleaned, drilled, pulled, and any other horrible exploit being done to our poor teeth. What our dentist is doing (besides invading our mouths), is protecting us from any diseases that could otentially form in our mouths.A dentist is â€Å"one who is skilled, licensed and practice the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases, injuries, and malformations of the mouth. † There are many factors into becoming a dentist. To become a dentist, one must attend dental school. The dental school must be accredited by the American Dental Association (ADA). In order to be accepted into any of the 56 (2006) dental schools in the United States, you must complet e two years of predental education. Most people geta bachelor's degree.In order to be accepted into dental school, you must first take the Dental Admissions Test (DAT). In the first year of dental school students normally take science classes like microbiology, pathology, or anatomy. In the next years the advance to more dental-based classes; which includes going to laboratories and getting hands-on experience. Most dental students graduate from a dental D. M. D or a D. D. S in four years. A work day for a dentist varies every day. The field is often challenging due to the difference in people's mouths.You constantly have to build more knowledge due to the fact that each patient is different. Dentist's generally look over the patients records in the morning before their appointment. From there; they will practice what is necessary on the mouth of their patient. Whether it being drilling teeth, extracting teeth, removing decay and filling cavities, to prescribing medicine. Due to the ir flexibility; dentists get to choose whether they want to work full-time or half-time. Full-time dentists average about 63 patients a week.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Nurse Staffing Essay

Adequate nurse staffing for patient care has been a major difficulty in the health care system . Patients’ acuity continues to grow at a fast rate while hospitals continue to struggle with the adequate number for nurse-to-patient ratio, leaving nurses in a very difficult situation while trying to provide the best care possible to their patients. The low nurse-to-patients ratio can be remedied when public and private hospitals realize the negative impact on the outcome of care. This paper will try to point out the negative effects of low nurse-to-patient ratio has on outcome of care. Like other professions that continue to face obstacles, nursing has its own obstacles that it must face from time to time. The world population increases so will the obstacles that nursing will have to face, but good administration can be used to defend the work conditions under which nurses are forced to work. Many studies have been done to point out the problem, with a pile of evidence to support the need to alleviate the burden on the nurses but to no avail. A study conducted in the Chinese hospital by Zhu, You, et al. (2012). Nurse Staffing Levels Make a Difference on Patient Outcomes: A Multisite Study in Chinese Hospitals proved, â€Å"more nursing staff per patient had statistically significant positive effects on all necessary nursing care, nurses’ reports of quality of care, their confidence on patients’ self-care ability on discharge from hospital, patient adverse events, as well as patients’ report of satisfaction (Zhu, You, et al, 2012, p. 266)†. The study was composed of 181 hospitals across mainland China. The sample that was used was 31provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions with level 3 hospitals. To show the strength of the study, the researchers applied statistics to prove their results. As much as the hospitals may not see the need to improve on the nurse to patient problem, the evidence is there. It is something that must be dealt with because it is dangerous to both nurses and patients. Further studies were also conducted on the problem by Nantsupawat A, Srisuphan W, et al. (2011). Impact of nurse work Environment and Staffing on Hospital Nurse and Quality of care in Thailand. This study was to prove the impact of nursing staffing on the work environment, the cause of burnout and the impact on quality of care in Thailand. Research elements was secondary data analysis of 2007 Thai Nurse Survey. The study took place at 13 general and regional hospitals in Thailand using a â€Å"multistage sampling†. Nurses were asked demographic questions about themselves both general and regional hospitals. Results shown the ratio of patient to nurse was 10:1. Nurses who worked in hospitals with fair patient to nurse ratio had less burnout. The study has great significance in nursing practice and can be used as proof to show the impact of high patients to nurses ratio. It was found that nurses in Thailand work environment have high burnout and great dissatisfaction of nurses. Nurse to patient is very low with a total of 1:10 per shift. At times, a nurse ended-up having to care for more patients. The high patients to nurse ratio brought with it adverse outcomes on patients’ care and place the patients at high risk of occurrences such as: mistaken one patient for another, patient falls, medication errors, pressure ulcers, and urinary tract infection. Furthermore, in the study conducted by Cho, June, Kim, et al (2009). Nurse staffing, quality of nursing care and nurse job outcomes in intensive care units. This study measured the proportion number of patients to nurse. As per the authors of the article, â€Å"nurses were more likely to rate quality of care as high when they care for two or fewer patients (odd ratio, 3. 26; 95% confidence interval, 1. 14-9. 31) or 2. 0-2. 5 patients (odd ratios, 2. 44; 95% confidence interval, 1. 32-4. 52), compared with having more than three patients (Cho, June, Kim, et al,, 2009, p. 1729)†. The research use for its design a â€Å"cross-sectional study with survey. Its method included 1365 nurses from 65 intensive care units in 22 hospitals in Korea, using â€Å"A Multilevel logistic regression model†. Two indicators were used, which are the number of patients for each nurse on the ward and the way the staff viewed adequate staffing. The research took place in the ICU units. Hence, the study also reported that in table #4 in the Sole ICU, there were largest number of patient 2. 8 + or – 0. 4 ( Cho, June, Kim, et al, 2009, p. 1733)†. What is proven is that when the ratio of nurses increases and the patient’s one decreases, there is a higher quality of care that takes place on the unit. This study has great significance to nursing and patient care, because nurses here in the U.  S often have similar complaints. In addition, the study from Manojlovich & Sidani (2007). Nurse Dose: What’s in a concept. This is a pathway that the authors believed could alleviate the problem of nurse to patient ratio. The study provided an understanding between the link of nursing care and outcome of care. As stated by Manojlovich & Sidani (20097), â€Å"by clarifying the conceptual and operational definitions of nurse dose, we offer a unified view of the inter-relationships among variables, with the goal of advancing research on nurse staffing and patient outcome (p. 11)†. With this concept of â€Å"Nurse Dose† future nurse staffing may greatly improve. Furthermore, in the research conducted by Al-Kandari &Thomas (2008). Perceived Adverse patient outcomes correlated to nurses’ workload in medical and surgical of selected hospitals in Kuwait. It is understood that the proportion of patient to nurse ratio plays a vital part on the outcomes of care. The study shown that there is clear correlation that exist between the work load of the nursing staff and the outcomes of care. The research elements utilized for this study was â€Å"across-sectional survey conducted between RNs on medical and surgical units in five governmental hospitals. The result shown three major faulty outcomes were reported by nurses from their previous shift which were patients’ complaints and family concerns. The limitation of this study reports were only from the nurses on the units and future researches would need further details (Al-kandari &Thomas, 2007, p. 589). It is impossible for nurses to give adequate care and expect good outcomes when nurses are stocked with non-nursing tasks to do. It was found that patients and families and medication miss dose were the two primary outcomes that added on the nurses’ workload. Second, occurrences tend to increase on the units as the workload of the nurses increased, and non-nursing tasks heavily impacted the workload of the nurses in Kuwait. The study shown great relevance to nursing practice, because it shows that hospitals need to employ other people to carry out non-nursing duties on the unit such as clerical work; which would alleviate the workload from nurses responsibilities. Hence, the article Relationships between Registered Nurse Staffing, Processes of Nursing Care, and Nurse-Reported patient outcomes in Chronic Hemodialysis Units by Thomas- Hawkins, Flynn, &Clarke (2008) shown the importance of a high nurse to patient ratio in hemodialysis units. The authors reported in hemodialysis units, â€Å"higher RN staffing levels have lower odds of experiencing skipped dialysis treatments (Hawkins-T, Flynn, & Clarke, 2008, p. 124)†. The study shows that it is to the benefits of the patients when there is a higher nurse to patient ratio on hemodialysis units because, patient will less likely experience any untoward events that are associated with the side effects of hemodialysis therapy. The study utilized a â€Å"cross-sectional method† for data collection which focused on the hemodialysis patient population. The study demonstrated the importance of having a high nurse to patient ratio in dialysis units. The higher the nurses to patient ratio, the less occurrences the patients will experience during hemodialysis treatment. The research used a type of questionnaire in order to find the most accurate adverse events that took place in the dialysis units. The limitations of this study was conducted with nurses who belong to an organization, the adverse patients’ outcomes were gathered from the nurses’ reports. The findings from this research were as follow: the nurse staffing levels played a significant role on patients’ outcomes during treatment. The ratio between patients and nurses is high, and each nurse had a patient load that consisted of 12 patients and sometimes more. This study has very good relevance to nursing practice due the fact that it shed light on a particular unit because it is a specialized unit. The study also demonstrated the importance of having professional RNs to perform such duties. Nurse staffing levels and Nursing outcomes: A Bayesian analysis, of Finnish-registered nurse survey data by Tero-h, Kiviniemi, et al (2009). Journal of Nursing Management, 17, 986-993. This report pointed out the impact of high patients to nurse ratio have on the nurses and their performance on the unit. Therefore, it is inevitable this kind of nurse staffing would bring negative patients’ outcomes. The design of this study used a survey of date collection from RNs in 46 units at five hospitals. The study found that many elements were contributed to occurrences on the unit such as mortality, failure to rescue, had a very closed correlation to the number of patients to nurse ratio. The study relates significantly to nursing, because it displayed the stress levels that nurses experienced due to heavy patient load assignment. Macphee, Ellis, & McCutcheon (2005). Nurse Staffing and patient Safety. The Canadian Health Services Research foundation. This article brought up evidences of events that may occur in relation to lower nurse patient ratio. It is evident that with a lower nurse to patient ratio, patients are at greater risk of adverse outcomes such as increased rate of mortality, nosocomial infections. It is also proven that with a higher nurse to patient ratio, incidents can be greatly reduced. The study utilized sets of data collected from other researches. No specific population group was chosen for this research but the impact of having high patient to nurse ratio were strongly presented. The article displayed its use to the nursing practice with enough substantial facts. Ke-p. (2003) Relationships between Nurse Staffing and Patient Outcomes. Journal of Nursing Research, 11(3). The study was conducted on a medical –surgical unit in Taiwan with analyzed data from a â€Å"descriptive and multivariate inferential statistics†. The rational of this study was to demonstrate the co-relation that exised between high patients to nurse ratio and its impact on patient care outcomes. The results of this study were astounding. It was found that acquired infections, falls, pressure ulcers were the outcome results of inappropriate nurse to patient ratio. This study definitely has very good relevance to nursing practice. Curtin L. (2003). An Integrated Analysis of Nurse Staffing and Related Variables: Effect on Patient Outcomes. Online Journal of Issues in nursing, 8(3), 10913734. In this his study, the author shows a good co-relation between nurse staffing and the outcomes of care on medical patients. He also pointed out an increase in nurse staffing, that was associated with a reduction of 3 to 12 % in occurrences on the hospitals units. (Curtin, 2003). Here again it shows that the greater is the nurse to patient ratio, the better the outcome. Although, this study did not use a specific design, but the analysis it used shows the importance of having a low patient to nurse ratio. Therefore, it is vital for the hospitals to realize the great pain that are imposed on patients and nurses. It is time to remedy the problem. Aiken L. (2010). Safety In numbers: A mandatory minimum nurse to patient ratio improves outcome. Nursing Standard, 24(44). The author reported, â€Å"International Hospital Outcomes Study revealed that in England and the United States, hospitals with higher nurse staffing levels had lower mortality rates, nurse job dissatisfaction and burnout (Aiken, 2010, p. 2)†. The study was conducted in five different countries which survey 22,000 RNs in 604 hospitals in California, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. It was found that nurse in California and the two other states that are closed to California with similar staffing mandatory rules had decreased their workload subsequently providing better care. Duffield C, et al. (2010). Staffing, Skill mix and the model of care. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 19, 2242-2251 dio: 10. 1111/j. 1365-2702. 2010. 03225. The study design was based on secondary analysis collection of data on selected medical/surgical units in 19 hospitals in South Wales, Australia. The experienced nurses worked during the night while the least experienced nurses worked day or evening shift. The limitation of this study was that skill mix RNs was beneficial to outcomes, but the number of years of experience on a unit were not studied. (Duffield, et al, 2010, pp. 2246, 2249)†. The relevance of this study to nursing was that it shows how a unit can benefit from having different levels of experienced skill nurses give care to patients. Sidani S, Manojlovich M, & Covell C. (2010). Nurse Dose: Validation and Refinement of a Concept. Research and Theory for Nursing Practice: An international Journal, 24(3), dio: 10. 1891/154-6577. 24. 3. 159. The study used â€Å"Anonexperrimental, modified survey† a questionnaire was used with four sections that participants used to answer the questions. The targeted population was nurse researchers who are experts in services related to healthcare (p. 163)†. The result of this study shows how important it is for nurses to spend time with their patients to bring an effective outcome. The study shows great significance of this study in nursing. Welton JM. 2007). Mandatory hospital nurse to patient staffing ratios: Time to take a different approach. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 12(3). (13p) (52 ref) This article did not show a specific design that was used. The article stressed another component of the problem, the fact that hospitals are being pressured to increase their staffing without any reimbursement. The article presented two arguments one for and the other against the problem. As a result, hospitals diminished their staff from other area which helped them to compensate for the deficit. Although the acuity of patients continue to rise, hospitals failed to increase nurse to patient levels to enable good outcomes. Currie V, Gill V, et al. (2005). Relationship between quality of care, staffing levels, skill mix and nurse autonomy: Literature review. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 51(1) 73-82. Using a â€Å"cross-sectional analysis design and magnet hospitals, the article poke through between the problem of patient to nurse ratio and the level of occurrences such as, mortality and failure to rescue. The findings were that units with higher nurse to patient ratio experienced lower occurrences. Yes, the article did prove its significance into nursing and patient care. In conclusion, studies are not always conclusive on a particular problem or issue. Further studies are often needed to shed new light on the problem. Hospitals have their parts to play in order to bring a higher nurse to patient ratio to fruition. It still remains that nurses have the responsibility to provide safe and effective nursing care to their patients, regardless of the environment. As a reminder, nursing is a humanistic profession, and its aim has always and will continue to focus on human needs, without regard to ratios. Nonetheless, nurses own it to themselves to be steadfast and never to soften their stand on their demands. Nurses to patient ratio is of utmost importance in the health care and patient outcomes depend on safe nursing staff. It is undeniably true that most professions are facing their own obstacles, and nursing is no different. Nursing has its own obstacles that it has been fighting and must continue to fight for, but a higher nurse to patient ratio is a must win fight, because the end result will be good patients’ care.