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Waking Yourself Up: The Liberatory Potential of Critical University Studies
Get PDFThis paper is designed as a conversation between Mikaila and Scott, one of the students who enrolled in the course the first time it was offered, in Spring 2014. Scott is now a graduate student in sociology. By developing a sustained, paper-length conversation about the course, we hope to provide a sense of the liberatory potential of critical university studies as a pedagogical practice
Leadership and the Social Psychology of Lean Enterprise
Get PDFLean enterprise is the Toyota Production System applied not only in the production department but inside all organizational departments (finance, marketing, etc.). It focuses on continuously adding value to processes while improving efficiency and inputs management. No organization exists that has fully mastered the Lean ideology. Many like Toyota have applied it for decades and seen results, while others have seen none and abandon the chase. It is important to understand that leaders are an essential instrument for an effective and successful Lean implementation. Further, there are variables that affect a leader’s behavior which in turn will have an impact on the organizational performance. In other words, different leadership styles will result in desirable or undesirable organizational outcomes. It is important for organizations striving for Lean improvements to have the most effective leadership in place. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to is to explore the variables interacting with leadership behavior and with a successful Lean implementation. Venturing into the future, this paper proposes a potential model of these interactions and a questionnaire measuring the separate variables
Mind-Body Dualism: A Neo-Leibnizian Argument
Get PDFThis paper attempts to construct a novel argument against the theory of materialism in Philosophy of Mind. Specifically, I argue that materialism cannot be a sufficient answer to the mind-body problem. That is, in the attempt to provide a satisfactory answer as to how the mind is related to the body, the claim that the mind is identical to the brain, I contend, is untenable. First, I explicate the principle of the Indiscernibility of Identicals, then I use it to demonstrate the falsity of the claim: the mind = the brain. In doing so, I argue that the mind and the brain do not have the same properties in virtue of what I’ve deemed a “neo-Leibnizian” argument. This argument hinges on the fact that subjective experiences of the mind cannot be found in the physical brain via third-party observation, as Leibniz claimed. I then address some immediate materialist objections concerning denoting identicals. I finish with an argument that the physical must be third-personally observable. I conclude that this argument leaves the materialist in a position where she must either deny materialism outright and/or nullify her possibly scientific motivations for being a materialist
Comparing the Canadian Cervical Spine Rule and Radiology Confirmed Cervical Spine Injury in the Emergency Department
Get PDFIn the United States and Canada, more than 13 million trauma patients are at risk for cervical spine injury (CSI). To date, providers use computerized tomography (CT) to rule out CSI in these patients. Cervical spine immobilization with the use of rigid cervical collars can be uncomfortable, delays hospital transport, and has a modest morbidity. The Canadian Cervical Spine Rule (CCR) is a screening tool used in emergency departments (ED) as a screening tool to rule out CSI to avoid unnecessary CTs. The purpose of this project is to complete a retrospective chart review to evaluate if emergency departments can apply the CCR to reduce cervical spine radiographs in the adult patient with suspected CSI. The study was a retrospective chart review, which took place at a level 2 trauma center emergency department in a community teaching hospital reviewing patient records and radiological findings in relation to the potential benefit of using the CCR in CSI assessment. The sample was a non-probability convenience sample of patients who have had a cervical spine radiograph in the ED. One hundred charts were reviewed and 60 patient records were included in the study. Of the 60 records included in the study, half met high risk criteria requiring cervical spine radiography. Of the 30 records meeting low risk criteria, only 2 charts had complete documentation including neck range of motion (ROM). One had normal ROM and one was unable to actively rotate neck. There were 8 records that documented “normal range of motion” but did not specifically note normal neck ROM. It is difficult to definitively state that 28 CTs could have been prevented, as there was inadequate neck range of motion documentation. There were no cervical spine injuries detected by CT in this study. As with previous studies, the data shows that the CCR maintains its sensitivity but has low specificity. It remains that clinicians still rely on radiology evidence to rule out CSI rather than assessment tools
A Phenomenological Exploration of How Public School Administrators Balance Teacher Evaluation and Support of Teacher Growth
Get PDFEducational reform efforts over the past several decades have focused on different ways to address student achievement. Since the quality of the teacher that students have is one of the biggest in-school factors that impact student achievement, schools have focused on identifying, measuring, and improving teacher quality. Some of those reform efforts have focused their attention on teacher evaluation as a way of increasing student achievement. There has been much research on the components quality evaluation tools. There is also research on ways to impact and change teacher practice. Unfortunately most evaluation tools do not impact teaching practice. Rhode Island administrators are current facing the challenge of implementing a high stakes evaluation system while also finding ways to help support growth and development of their teachers. This phenomenological study used open-ended interviews to understand how six administrators in Rhode Island negotiate that complexity. Administrators interviewed emphasized the importance of developing a trusting positive climate and utilizing this climate, along with various components of the evaluation system, to provide teachers with the kinds of support that will impact teacher growth and practice in the classroom. Administrators also expressed their frustration at some of the elements of the evaluation system and limitations they have found in their ability to impact teacher change. Findings from this study have implications for those revising or creating educator evaluation systems, as well as for administrators who must use high stakes evaluation systems while simultaneously attempting to impact teacher growth, development and change in practice
Solving the Rubik\u27s Cube using Group Theory
Get PDFWhile he was working in his mother\u27s apartment in 1974, the professor of architecture from Budapest, Erno Rubik, had no idea he was inventing one of the most popular toys in history, the Rubik\u27s Cube. As an estimated 350 million Rubik\u27s cubes have been sold, and approximately one in every seven people have played with one (which is about 1 billion people) it is not surprising to see that the algorithm of solving the Rubik\u27s cube has been applied to the eld of mathematics. By using abstract algebra and more specially, group theory, the Rubik\u27s Cube, no matter what the starting configuration, can be solved. The notes on an intensive course written by Janet Chen guide this project by making the Rubik\u27s cube a group where all of the possible moves are the elements in the group. By looking at the different subgroups and the moves in said subgroups, we can find the algorithm in which we can reconfigure the Rubik\u27s cube back into its starting configuration. A Mathematical Approach To Solving Rubik\u27s Cube by Raymond Tran also helped provide some different methods in achieving the correct configuration the Rubik\u27s Cube. By utilizing these two texts we will prove that using these methods indeed gives us a viable solution to solve a Rubik\u27s cube
Eye on Ethics: Ethics and Integrated Behavioral Health
No full textOne of the most encouraging developments in the human services is the advent of integrated behavioral health. The core feature of this model involves recognizing and addressing the complex connections between physical and mental health, a phenomenon well understood by social workers, who have always appreciated the intimate connection between mind and body
Nurse Practitioner Perspectives on the Barriers and Facilitators of Advance Care Planning
Get PDFEvery year, thousands of residents in the United States die while receiving end of life (EOL) care that is inconsistent with their wishes. Research evidence has shown that advance care planning (ACP) improves congruity between patients’ preference and actual care received at EOL. Despite medical guidelines supporting ACP, these discussions rarely occur. The purpose of this study was to explore the perspectives of nurse practitioners (NPs) on the barriers and facilitators of ACP. The web-based ACP survey was distributed to the members of the New Hampshire Nurse Practitioner Association (NHNPA). The participants (n = 65) were mostly women (96.9%), had a Master’s degree (83.1%), and had 16 to 25 years of practice as NPs (37.5%). Results indicated that the most common barriers to ACP were related to time including type of appointment, lack of time, and length of appointment. The most common facilitators were personal experience, comfort with the topic, long-term relationship with the patient, and previous education and training. Implications for advance nursing practice include conducting research on the patients’ perspective on ACP, and development of evidence-based tools and methods to facilitate ACP discussions. Improving education and training of healthcare providers on ACP and EOL care issues, increasing advocacy for payment and scheduling systems that facilitate ACP, supporting policies that require ACP to patients with chronic, progressive or terminal conditions, and improving public awareness of ACP are recommended
Preoperative Forced-Air Warming of Patients to Minimize Inadvertent Perioperative Hypothermia: A Systematic Review
Get PDFInadvertent perioperative hypothermia (IPH) occurs in many patients during surgery and can potentially carry serious complications, including cardiac arrhythmia, myocardial infarction, increased bleeding, impaired drug metabolism, impaired wound healing and increased risk of wound infection. There are many different techniques to minimize hypothermia during the perioperative period, but forced-air warming is used for many surgical patients. Forced-air warming has been shown to be effective during the intraoperative period; however, many institutions do not utilize this therapy in the preoperative setting. A systematic review was conducted to assess the use of preoperative forced-air warming and its’ effects on minimizing IPH. Databases were searched for pertinent articles regarding the topic of study. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were used to finalize the articles to be included in the systematic review. A total of six studies were critically analyzed. Overall, forced-air prewarming of patients undergoing surgery helped to minimize IPH in adult surgical patients undergoing general anesthesia. Even in studies that did not demonstrate statistically significant results, findings demonstrated that patients that were preoperatively forced-air warmed were less hypothermic than those not prewarmed. Maintaining intraoperative forced-air warming, educating other health care providers about the effects of IPH, and advocating for preoperative warming are important topics that the advanced practice nurse, particularly the CRNA, can lead
The Effect of Head Inclination on Intraocular Pressure in the Prone Position
Get PDFPatient safety relies on effective and efficient communication among healthcare providers. Tools, such as standardized checklists, ensure information sharing in a consistent, predictable format. In the perioperative setting, where handoffs occur at several points and among various disciplines, high reliability is essential. This systematic review focused on the impact of standardized communication practices on perioperative staff satisfaction as it relates to sustainability of the new practice. The electronic databases PubMed and Google Scholar were used. Six articles met inclusion for the systematic review and of these six, four were determined to be of high quality through the application of The CASE Worksheet. The handoff tools implemented in these four studies were the electronic anesthesia information management system (AIMS), I-PASS mnemonic that described the illness, patient summary, action list, situation awareness and synthesis by receiver, Peri-op Handoff Protocol and a variation of the ‘Surgical Safety Checklist’ originally developed by WHO. Results of this systematic review suggest that these standardized communication methods are effective in improving perioperative staff satisfaction. Further research may prove helpful to determine if one handoff tool design is superior to the others. While future research could be performed to provide a larger sample size, the limited data gathered from this systematic review shows promising results. Implementing a standardized approach to perioperative communication and patient handoff has been shown in these studies to be beneficial in terms of staff satisfaction. Furthermore, it would be valuable to examine the indirect impact these communication tools have on patient care. Healthcare providers have the responsibility and opportunity to improve patient care through the adoption of standardized communication processes