scholarly journals Achieving Excellence for California’s Freight System: Developing Competitiveness and Performance Metrics; Incorporating Sustainability, Resilience, and Workforce Development

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian-yu Ke ◽  
Fynnwin Prager ◽  
Jose Martinez ◽  
Chris Cagle
Keyword(s):  
Workforce Development ◽  
Process Management ◽  
Performance Metrics ◽  
Central Valley ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Container Terminals ◽  
Air Cargo ◽  
Distribution Centers ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
North East

This study explores the question of whether California's freight system is staying competitive with other US regions. A novel analytical framework compares supply chain performance metrics across multiple US states and regions for seaports, airports, highways, freight rail service, and distribution centers by combining the Performance Evaluation Matrix (PEM), Competitive Position Matrix (CPM), and Business Process Management (BPM) approaches. Analysis of industry data and responses from structured interviews with 30 freight industry experts across 5 transportation sectors suggests that California's freight system is competitive for seaports, airports, and freight rail; however, highways and distribution centers have room for improvement with respect to travel time reliability and operation costs, and California should prioritize infrastructure investments here. To stay competitive with the Texas and North East regions, state investments could also expand seaport container terminals and air cargo handling facilities, improve intermodal port connections and management of flows of chassis, container trucks, empty containers to ameliorate cargo backlogs and congestion on highways, at the ports, and at warehouses. The state could also invest in inland ports, transporting goods by rail directly from seaports to the Inland Empire or Central Valley.

If you want to change the world you have to start with yourself: The impact of staff reflective practice within the Offender Personality Disorder pathway

2020 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 283-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Webster ◽  
Laura Doggett ◽  
Stephanie Gardner
Keyword(s):  
Personality Disorder ◽  
Reflective Practice ◽  
Workforce Development ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
Client Group ◽  
Service Staff ◽  
Probation Service ◽  
The Impact

The offender personality disorder (OPD) pathway was implemented in 2012 to help improve services for people with personality difficulties within the criminal justice system. The OPD pathway acknowledges the importance of supervision, training and reflective practice for staff working with this client group and such activities have therefore been embedded within this initiative. Despite the research from this pathway identifying benefits to both staff and service users, there is a gap in knowledge about the impact of reflective practice. This study aims, therefore, to increase this knowledge base by exploring staff’s experience and perception of reflective practice as part of the OPD pathway programme. Focus groups and semi-structured interviews were completed with 32 members of National Health Service and National Probation Service staff within offender management teams and approved premises in the North East of England. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data, resulting in the emergence of four key themes relating to the utility of reflective practice sessions. The findings suggest that reflective practice is useful, however, there are some barriers to attending sessions. The findings have implications for service delivery and workforce development within the OPD pathway programme and more widely within NPS.

Qualitative Analysis of the Cognition and Flow (CoGFlowS) Study: An Individualized Approach to Cognitive Training for Dementia Is Needed

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Lucy Beishon ◽  
Victoria Haunton ◽  
Hari Subramaniam ◽  
Elizabeta B. Mukaetova-Ladinska ◽  
Ronney B. Panerai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Training ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Cognitive Disorders ◽  
Health Belief ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Home Based ◽  
Individualized Approach ◽  
Belief Model ◽  
Severity Of Dementia

Background: Cognitive training (CT) may have benefits for both healthy older adults (HC) and those with early cognitive disorders [mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia]. However, few studies have qualitatively evaluated home-based, computerized CT programs. Objective: We present the qualitative arm of a feasibility randomized controlled trial evaluating a CT program for HC and people living with MCI or dementia. Methods: Participants underwent semi-structured interviews after 12 weeks of CT. Where possible, participants were interviewed with their carers. The interview schedule and analysis were underpinned by the health belief model. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, open-coded, and categorized into themes. The analytical framework was developed, and themes were condensed under five major categories: benefits, barriers, threat, self-efficacy, and cues to action. Results: 37 participants underwent interviews. CT was feasible and acceptable to participants. Benefits included: enjoyment, improved awareness, benchmarking cognitive function, reassurance of abilities and giving back control. Barriers were more prevalent among those with dementia: problems with technology, frustration, conflict between patients and carers, apathy and lack of insight, anxiety or low mood, and lack of portability. HC and MCI perceived the severity of dementia risk as high, partially mitigated by CT. Participants living with dementia valued a more individualized approach to training, accounting for baseline characteristics. Conclusion: CT was a feasible intervention for HC and people living with dementia and MCI. Benefits were present, but the identified barriers need to be addressed for CT to be implemented successfully.

scholarly journals Health workers’ perspectives on informed consent for caesarean section in Southern Malawi

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wouter Bakker ◽  
Siem Zethof ◽  
Felix Nansongole ◽  
Kelvin Kilowe ◽  
Jos van Roosmalen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Informed Consent ◽  
Caesarean Section ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Partial Disclosure ◽  
Labour Pains

Abstract Objective Informed consent is a prerequisite for caesarean section, the commonest surgical procedure in low- and middle-income settings, but not always acquired to an appropriate extent. Exploring perceptions of health care workers may aid in improving clinical practice around informed consent. We aim to explore health workers’ beliefs and experiences related to principles and practice of informed consent. Methods Qualitative study conducted between January and June 2018 in a rural 150-bed mission hospital in Southern Malawi. Clinical observations, semi-structured interviews and a focus group discussion were used to collect data. Participants were 22 clinical officers, nurse-midwives and midwifery students involved in maternity care. Data were analysed to identify themes and construct an analytical framework. Results Definition and purpose of informed consent revolved around providing information, respecting women’s autonomy and achieving legal protection. Due to fear of blame and litigation, health workers preferred written consent. Written consent requires active participation by the consenting individual and was perceived to transfer liability to that person. A woman’s refusal to provide written informed consent may pose a dilemma for the health worker between doing good and respecting autonomy. To prevent such refusal, health workers said to only partially disclose surgical risks in order to minimize women's anxiety. Commonly perceived barriers to obtain a fully informed consent were labour pains, language barriers, women’s lack of education and their dependency on others to make decisions. Conclusions Health workers are familiar with the principles around informed consent and aware of its advantages, but fear of blame and litigation, partial disclosure of risks and barriers to communication hamper the process of obtaining informed consent. Findings can be used to develop interventions to improve the informed consent process.

‘So yo creo que es un proceso evolutivo’: Language ideologies among Puerto Ricans in southeastern Pennsylvania

Multilingua ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine Shenk
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Language Ideologies ◽  
Puerto Ricans ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
The United States ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Puerto Rican Spanish ◽  
Publicity Campaign

AbstractThis article examines the perspectives of Puerto Ricans living in the United States in response to a publicity campaign that focuses on the correction of linguistic features that appear in some Puerto Ricans’ spoken Spanish. The campaign addresses phonetic, morphological, lexical, and syntactic features, including a specific set of words or phrases that are named as lexical and semantic borrowings from English. Participants were invited to respond to the content and ideologies present in the campaign by means of semi-structured interviews. Through a framework of Critical Discourse Analysis and language (de)legitimation, the article analyzes the ways in which interviewees (de)legitimize loanwords in Puerto Rican Spanish. A Critical Discourse Analytical framework allows for the mapping of spoken and written texts (e. g. the campaign texts) onto discourses

Hybridization as practice: clinical engagement with performance metrics and accounting technologies in the English NHS

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christos Begkos ◽  
Katerina Antonopoulou
Keyword(s):  
Performance Measurement ◽  
Performance Metrics ◽  
Healthcare Setting ◽  
Business Managers ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Professional Boundaries ◽  
Care Outcomes ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Clinical Engagement

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the hybridization practices that medical managers engage with to promote accounting and performance measurement in the hybrid setting of healthcare. In doing so, the authors explore how medical managers enact and become practitioners of hybridity.Design/methodology/approachThe authors adopt a practice lens to conceptualize hybridization as an emergent, situated practice and capture the micro-activities that medical managers engage with when they enact hybridity. The authors conducted semi-structured interviews with medical managers, business managers and coding professionals and collected documents at an English National Health Service (NHS) hospital over the course of five years.FindingsThe findings accentuate two emergent practices through which medical managers instill hybridity to individuals who are hesitant or resistant to hybridization. Medical managers engage in equivocalizing and de-stigmatizing practices to broaden the understandings, further diversify or reconcile the teleologies of clinicians in non-managerial roles. In doing so, the authors signal the merits of accounting in improving care outcomes and remove the stigma associated to clinical engagement with costs.Originality/valueThe study contributes to hybridization and practice theory literature via capturing how hybridity is enacted in practice in a healthcare setting. As medical managers engage with and promote accounting information and performance measurement technologies in their practice environment, they transcend professional boundaries and hybridize the professional spaces that surround them.

scholarly journals BUSINESS PROCESS THROUGHPUT METRICS

2018 ◽  
pp. 43-50
Author(s):  
Ivan Vasilevich Artamonov
Keyword(s):  
Business Process ◽  
Queuing Theory ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Manufacturing Systems ◽  
Process Management ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Performance Metrics ◽  
Simulation Modelling ◽  
Computer Hardware ◽  
Depth Analysis

In the course of development and implementation of information technologies it is necessary to measure performance of the designed and improved business processes. A developed system of performance metrics for such analysis is determined by the specific nature of a business process, while its quality depends on the analyst’s experience. Current technologies do not provide a method for objective measuring of future business processes throughput efficiency being either too primitive or too complex for real-world enterprise models. Some experience on performance measuring is collected in the theory of manufacturing systems, computer hardware and software, queuing theory and quality of service of business processes. Summing up the achievements it is possible to create a general-purpose and abstract set of performance parameters that can be applied to any business process and used for depth analysis of processes in the systems of simulation modelling and of business process management. The set consists of four groups evaluating efficiency by the time of operation, quantitative parameters, workload of employees and compliance to standards and conventions. For these parameters there have been developed a number of boundary values, reaching them leads to undesirable effects. Besides, the definition of dangerous events has been proposed to determine abnormal, out-of-bound process behavior or state causing business process failure.

Infoprocess

2014 ◽  
pp. 222-255
Keyword(s):  
Business Process ◽  
Enterprise Resource Planning ◽  
Customer Value ◽  
Process Management ◽  
Resource Planning ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Process Approach ◽  
Process Time ◽  
Process Perspective ◽  
And Performance

This chapter explores the concept of infoprocess. Concepts of process in various disciplines are examined in preparation to conceptualizing process from the management and IS perspectives. Business Process Reengineering (BPR) and Business Process Management (BPM) are discussed as the approaches relevant for IS research. The discussion proceeds to infoprocess (short for “informing process”), which is defined in terms of interrelated informing activities that deliver an outcome to a customer. The concept of infoprocesses involves aspects of data, cognition, and their intersection that results in information. Many organizational processes are infoprocesses, or have infoprocess segments. An analytical framework that applies to business process and infoprocess alike is elaborated. It includes two essential segments—design and performance. Infoprocess design is discussed in terms of composition, coordination, complexity, flexibility, and technology. Infoprocess performance is discussed in terms of process time, costs, and customer value. Process design determines process performance. Better performance can be achieved by optimizing each design aspect. Ensuing discussion covers the process-centered organization in conjunction with Enterprise Resource Planning systems and the BPR methodology. Challenges of BPR are examined and contrasted to the BPM approach. In the second part of the chapter, attention turns to the role of process approach in advanced forms of organizing. The virtual organization is discussed and expanded with exploring virtualness at large and a model of Tree of Virtual Life. Next, organizations enabling e-commerce and the mobile enterprise are examined from the process perspective. The discussion concludes by looking at potential perils of the process approach framed as a collision of different concepts of time.

Role of a hospital accreditation program in developing a process management system

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-137
Author(s):  
Erfan Shakibaei
Keyword(s):  
Process Management ◽  
The Body ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Hospital Accreditation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Accreditation Program ◽  
Private Charity

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to clarify the effects of the Iranian Hospital Accreditation Program (IHAP) on hospital processes from the viewpoint of the staff charged with establishing the program.Design/methodology/approachThis qualitative study is based on the data collected in semi-structured interviews conducted in 2016, which involved eight questions. Interviews were held with 70 staff members at 14 hospitals. Managerial staff were purposively interviewed based on their familiarity and involvement with the program. The hospitals were divided into five groups, comprising public, private, charity, military and social service hospitals. A thematic analysis was carried out using the collected data.FindingsThree themes emerged from the data, which together comprise a process management cycle: the establishment, implementation, and control phases of the program. For each phase, various positive trends, as well as hurdles for establishing the program, declared which were framed two sub-themes as positive effects and challenges.Originality/valueThe findings contribute to the body of evidence used by policy-makers and hospital managers to improve the change management processes related to the Iranian IHAP. Although positive changes in the process management cycles at Iranian hospitals were noted, successful implementation of the program demands a thorough assessment of the hospitals’ technical and financial needs (taking into account disparities between hospitals), and there is an urgent requirement for a plan to meet these needs.

scholarly journals What features of a nutrition resource are important to adolescents of a low socioeconomic status?

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (10) ◽  
pp. 1716-1725
Author(s):  
HC Scott ◽  
C Craddock ◽  
LCA Craig
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Behaviour Change ◽  
Low Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Dietary Behaviour ◽  
Socioeconomic Background ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Framework Analysis ◽  
Low Socioeconomic ◽  
North East

AbstractObjective:To identify the key features of a nutrition resource that are important to adolescents of a low socioeconomic status (SES).Design:Structured interviews were conducted to explore participants’ preferences relating to the features of a nutrition resource. Thematic framework analysis was used to determine key themes, subthemes and concepts from the data.Setting:Streetsport activity sessions, north-east of Scotland.Participants:Eighteen adolescents aged 12–17 years from a low socioeconomic background.Results:The overarching themes identified were barriers and facilitators to engagement with a nutrition resource. Adolescents expressed a preference for an app, and this was mainly attributed to convenience and low cost. There was also an emphasis on the integral role social media has in their lives. Aesthetics was a facilitator for both male and female participants, with a particular focus on weight loss. Behaviour change support, including reminders, access to simple recipes and adopting a ‘small change approach’, were identified as possible facilitators, whereas cost, environmental influences, and existing eating habits were identified as possible barriers to engaging with a nutrition resource.Conclusions:A number of subthemes, including aesthetics, cost and convenience, which have previously been reported in adolescents with a higher SES, were prominent in our research. The present study contributes to insights relating to behaviour change tools that should be considered when developing a nutrition resource targeting disadvantaged adolescents. Further research focusing on how mobile phone technology and social media can be utilised to support dietary behaviour change in low SES adolescents is recommended.

scholarly journals Student Expectations of an RN-to-BSN Program: A Qualitative Analysis of Student and Faculty Perspectives

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 237796081989725
Author(s):  
Mary Linton ◽  
Beverly W. Dabney ◽  
Linda Knecht ◽  
Jamie Koonmen
Keyword(s):  
Nursing Education ◽  
Student Perceptions ◽  
Workforce Development ◽  
Gap Analysis ◽  
The United States ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Student Expectations ◽  
Bachelor Of Science ◽  
Rn To Bsn ◽  
Rn To Bsn Program

The expansion of RN-to-BSN (registered nurse to Bachelor of Science in Nursing) education is addressing the need for nursing workforce development. However, little is known about what RNs expect from their RN-to-BSN education experience. Lack of understanding of student expectations could lead to student-perceived gaps in service quality. The aim of this study was to explore students’ expectations of the RN-to-BSN program compared with the faculty’s perceptions of what students expect. A descriptive qualitative research study using structured interviews was conducted at a school of nursing in the Midwest region of the United States. Student and faculty reports revealed the common themes of workload, flexibility, coursework, and support. Congruencies were noted in the areas of workload and coursework, and differences were identified in the areas of flexibility and support. Conducting a gap analysis can be a worthwhile endeavor for educators seeking to understand the needs of their student population. Acknowledging RN-to-BSN student expectations and addressing gaps between their expectations and reality early in the program could improve student perceptions of program quality.

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