Teamwork in surgical specialties: an evaluation

Background/Aims Teamwork is the cornerstone of patient safety, with effective communication being essential for producing fewer complications during a patient's stay in hospital. In 2018, The Royal College of Surgeons of England published ‘The High Performing Surgical Team’, which outlined the components of a high-functioning team broken down into seven attributes: individual, team, trust, conflict resolution, commitment to task, accountability and results. This study evaluated teamwork among surgical specialties in a single centre. Methods Team members completed a survey consisting of seven sections, based on the Royal College of Surgeons of England components of teamworking, scoring statements using a 4-point Likert scale. Respondents included surgical doctors (interns, residents, registrars, fellows and consultants) and nurses (ward and theatre) from 12 surgical teams. Sections with 20% of more negative answers were considered to indicate a significant negative team attribute in that area of teamworking. Results Of the 108 respondents, 73 (67.6%) doctors and 35 (35.4%) nurses noted negative team attributes across all staff grades in at least two of the seven attributes (accountability and results), except registrars, who had one (accountability) of the seven negative attributes. Interns were reported as having negative attributes in four of the attributes (conflict resolution, commitment to task, accountability and results), while residents had negative attributes in three area (commitment to task, accountability and results). Conclusions The more junior the member of the team, the more likely they are to have negative teamworking attributes. Further evaluation would be of use to investigate whether these results are generalisable to other cohorts and to provide opportunities to improve teamwork and, therefore, patient care.

Race and White Rural Consciousness

The concept of rural consciousness has gained a significant amount of traction over the past several years, as evidenced by hundreds of citations and its inclusion within the most recent pilot of the ANES. However, many have questioned whether rural consciousness is appreciably different from racial prejudice. We assessed this issue by distributing a survey study to Wisconsinites living in rural and urban communities, and by examining the relationships between rural consciousness, racial resentment, and political attitudes in the ANES 2019 Pilot Study. The survey study revealed that participants living in rural parts of Wisconsin—unlike those living in urban parts—tended to think of city dwellers as possessing more negative attributes. In addition, the survey study revealed that rural participants thought of Milwaukeeans, specifically, as possessing stereotypically Black attributes. Moreover, this tendency was starker among those who scored higher on a measure of rural consciousness, suggesting that rural consciousness is related to racial stereotyping. Finally, in an analysis of the ANES 2019 Pilot Study, we found that rural consciousness correlated with racial resentment, and that controlling for racial resentment dramatically reduced the extent to which rural consciousness could predict political preferences (e.g., approval for Donald Trump). Thus, while white rural consciousness may not be reducible to racism, racism certainly plays a central role.

Impacts of Binge-Watching on Netflix during the COVID-19 pandemic

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to dive into various binge-watching habits of Netflix users amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Consumers find themselves amidst the COVID-19 lockdown with more free time to indulge in these viewing habits. This study investigates motivational factors, amount of media consumption and negative attributes associated with binge-watching on Netflix during the COVID-19 outbreak.Design/methodology/approachThis study has employed an exploratory research design and obtained primary data via an online survey using a semistructured questionnaire. Convenience sampling has been used to choose a sample (n = 105) of Netflix binge-watchers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both sample selection and survey administration have been done through social media messaging services owing to the COVID-19 lockdown measures.FindingsThe results indicate that most of the respondents use smartphones for binge-watching on Netflix. Moreover, they have expressed that a wide range of shows available on Netflix incline them to engage in marathon viewing. However, the respondents spend just over 70 h per month binge-watching on Netflix. Finally, the majority of respondents have flagged “one more episode” syndrome as the most challenging aspect of being marathon viewers on Netflix during the COVID-19 pandemic.Originality/valueThis is one of the few papers to exclusively focus on the impacts of binge-watching on Netflix during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings will originate the value with novelty and important implications to the Netflix consumers, telecom service providers and payment gateways.

A Rule Induction Framework on the Effect of ‘Negative’ Attributes to Academic Performance

Attaining high retention rates among engineering institutions is a predominant is-sue. A significant portion of engineering students face challenges of retention. Academic advising was implemented to resolve the issue. Decision support sys-tems were developed to support the endeavor. Machine learning have been inte-grated among such systems in predicting student performance accurately. Most works, however, rely on a black box model approach. Rule induction generates simpler if-then rules, exhibiting clearer understanding. As most research works considered attributes for positive academic performance, there is the need to con-sider ‘negative’ attributes. ‘Negative’ attributes are critical indicators to possibility of failure. This work applied rule induction techniques for course grade predic-tion using ‘negative’ attributes. The dataset is the academic performance of 48 mechanical engineering students taking a machine design course. Students’ at-tributes on workload, course repetition, and incurred absences are the predictors. This work implemented two rule induction techniques, rough set theory (RST) and adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system (FIS). Both models attained a classifi-cation accuracy of 70.83% with better performance for course grades of ‘Pass’ and ‘High’. RST generated 16 crisp rules while ANFIS generated 27 fuzzy rules, yielding significant insights. Results of this study can be used for comparative analysis of student traits between institutions. The illustrated framework can be used in formulating linguistic rules of other institutions.

Evaluations of anxious others: Using cluster analyses to explore the co-existence of positive and negative evaluations and social anxiety

Introduction: Research on individuals with social anxiety has primarily focused on their evaluations of themselves before, during, and after social situations. However, our most evidence-based treatment remains not effective for some. Considering social and clinical theory, we wonder if some people with social anxiety experience negative evaluations of others. Prior studies tested for group-based differences, which does not allow for the possibility that only a subset of people with social anxiety evaluate others negatively. Across two studies, we use cluster analyses to determine how social anxiety and negative other-evaluations co-vary. Methods: 267 (study 1) and 290 (study 2) unselected participants completed an online survey, including two measures modified for the current study: Modified-Interpretation and Judgemental Questionnaire (M-IJQ) and Modified Ways of Thinking about Social Behaviour Questionnaire (M-WTSBQ). Participants read several vignettes and judged the hypothetical anxious person across several positive and negative attributes (M-IJQ). Results: Results from the cluster analysis revealed consistent groups of individuals across both studies, including people with: 1) severe social anxiety and no judgements; 2) low social anxiety and no judgements; 3) mild-to-moderate social anxiety and positive judgements; and 4) some social anxiety who disagreed with all judgements. We discuss how these clusters relate to thoughts about themselves and others on the M-WTSBQ. Discussion: Previous research has been mixed on the presence of negative evaluations of others in social anxiety. This study clarifies some of the confusion by revealing subgroups of individuals with varying social anxiety and judgements of others.

Georg Simmel and the Study of Religious Conflicts

The continuous rise of religious conflicts at different parts of the world has left so many questions unanswered and so many issues unresolved. The quest for supremacy, wealth, relevance and dominance are some of the major causes of religious conflict. Even within religions, there is constant news of conflicts of different kinds, which, unfortunately contrasts with the notion that religion qua religion is one (Madu, 2003). This has also attracted mostly negative attributes to conflict. However, some scholars have taken a different look at the positive side of this negative act - conflict. One of such scholars was Georg Simmel, a German philosopher and sociologist. This work, therefore aims at discussing the scholar Georg Simmel, his ideas and views about conflict in respect to the study of religious conflicts. This work explains how Georg Simmel presented conflict, a negative phenomenon as having some positive outcomes. Seeing religion as a fundamental process in man’s life and conflict as a dark tunnel the leads to a bright end of the tunnel, Georg Simmel presents conflict as what the writer terms “a negative beginning with a positive end”. To this end, this work shifts ground towards discussing how these bad sides of religious conflicts will be used to achieve something good. As widely believed that something good comes out of bad things, there are different positive roles religious conflict plays, as proposed by Georg Simmel which includes connection, definition, revitalization, social glue, integration and safety valve. For him, all these are necessary for achieving peace and unity only if the conflict is properly handled. Hence, religious conflict is bad in its entirety. Finally, the writer outlines some of the relevance of the work to students, scholars and the general public, advocating for peace.

The Tyrant’s Progress: The Meaning of ΤΥΡΑΝΝΟΣ in Plato and Aristotle

This article considers a longstanding problem: what does the word τύραννος mean? And if it means ‘bad / tyrannical ruler’, why are good rulers called tyrants? The solution proposed here is that tyranny is not a fixed state of being, or not being, but instead a gradual process of development. To be called a tyrant, a ruler need not embody all the stereotypical traits of tyranny. If tyranny is, by definition, unconstitutional and illegitimate rule, then there may be no clear moment at which one ceases to be a general or king and becomes a tyrant, only a process by which the tyrant gradually strengthens his rule and develops the negative attributes associated with absolute and illegitimate power. A strong trend in not only the political theory of Plato and Aristotle, but also Greek poetry and historiography in general, is to trace the decline of tyrannies from initially good and popular governments to ones that are despotic and unpopular: the tyrant’s progress.

P558 Medication Preference of 400 patients with mild to moderate Ulcerative Colitis

Background Patient adherence to his/her medication is a major challenge in the successful management of any chronic disease and it is a major challenge in Ulcerative Colitis (UC). Patient adherence is thought to be closely related to patient preference of medication and formulation used. We wanted to investigate the patient preference between tablets and granules of mesalazine and compare it to the physician perception. Methods We conducted an online survey between November and December 2020 in 4 EU countries (France, Germany, Spain, and the UK). In addition to patients and physicians from these 4 countries, the questionnaire was also addressed to IBD nurses from the UK. Patients were included if they had mild or moderate UC. Results 400 patients, 160 physicians, 20 nurses participated in this survey. 68% patients were taking tablets and 32% granules. 62% of the patients who answered the survey admitted their preference for tablet while only 38% for granules (figure 1). 63.9% of the physician would prefer to prescribe tablets for their patients. Physicians stated that patients tend to be more adherent to tablets than granules (69% vs. 31%) and patients tend to find this the most convenient formulation. When patients were asked about some positive attributes of tablets, the highest agreement was with “good size, easy to see and handle” (7.6/10) while for granules “no problem to take granules in public” (8.4/10). When asked about some negative attributes of tablets, the highest agreement was with “I would like to take fewer each day” (6.1/10) and “I wish I could take fewer at a time” (5.4/10) while for granules “you have to drink a lot of liquid for them to go down” (6.6/10) and “I wish I could take fewer” (5.1/10). 50 patients were switched to tablets after trying granules first and 45 to granules after trying tablets. Treatment changes were initiated mainly by the physician (57% of the time). Patients switching to granules almost all agreed that they wanted to take fewer tablets each day (8.1/10). Patients switching to tablets complained about the need to drink a lot of water with granules (6.5/10) or to mix them with food (6.3/10). This is also reflected in the way patients take tablets (figure 2) or granules (figure 3). While 71% of the patients swallow the tablets whole only 35% of the patients swallow all the granules at once. 37% mix the granules with food or liquid, 20% divide the portions to be able to swallow them and 8% chew the granules. Asked about adherence, only 21% (85 patients) admitted taking less than 80% of prescribed medication. Conclusion The majority of the patients prefer the tablet formulation. A high strength tablet overcoming the pill burden could be a good solution to address patient expectations.

Exploring the Prototypical Definitions of Intelligent Engineers Held by Irish and Swedish Higher Education Engineering Students

Males are generally overrepresented in higher education engineering. However, the magnitude of this variance differs between countries and engineering fields. Evidence associated with the field-specific ability beliefs hypothesis suggests that perceptions of intelligence held by actors within engineering affects the engagement of underrepresented groups. This study examined perceptions of an intelligent engineer held by undergraduate and postgraduate engineering students in Ireland and Sweden, countries selected based on their levels of female representation in engineering education. It was hypothesised that there would be a significant difference in perceptions between countries. A survey methodology was employed in which a random sample of Irish and Swedish university students completed two surveys. The first asked respondents to list characteristics of an intelligent engineer, and the second asked for ratings of importance for each unique characteristic. The results indicate that an intelligent engineer was perceived to be described by seven factors; practical problem solving, conscientiousness, drive, discipline knowledge, reasoning, negative attributes, and inquisitiveness when the data was analysed collectively, but only the five factors of practical problem solving, conscientiousness, drive, discipline knowledge and negative attributes were theoretically interpretable when the data from each country was analysed independently. A gender × country interaction effect was observed for each of these five factors. The results suggest that the factors which denote intelligence in engineering between Irish and Swedish males and females are similar, but differences exist in terms of how important these factors are in terms group level definitions. Future work should consider the self-concepts held by underrepresented groups with respect to engineering relative to the factors observed in this study.

Remove the negatives or highlight the positives? The effect of negativity bias in food preferences

PurposeThe interest of food consumers in improved quality, healthiness, freshness, and authenticity results in a growing introduction of new food products featuring a variety of “positive” (e.g. “Enriched with Vitamin D”) and “negative” (e.g. “Low in Fat”) label claims. It's the goal of this paper to uncover how the presence of positive and absence of negative benefits or attributes balance in the minds of consumers, determine which label claims would have the greatest impact on consumers' intention to buy milk, and understand the role of stating these in either a positive or a negative frame.Design/methodology/approachTo achieve the objectives of this paper, we utilize (1) descriptive study to identify which claims are currently used by the dairy marketing practitioners, (2) focus group to identify the importance of positive and negative product claims, and (3) online survey including discrete choice experiment (DCE) to determine the effect of positive and negative claims on consumer food choices.FindingsWe provide evidence of negative bias in consumers facing the choice between foods with enriched positive ingredients vs foods that are free-from negative ingredients. Specifically, we find that consumers have a general tendency toward giving negative attributes more weight than positive ones.Research limitations/implicationsThe research was conducted in one food category.Practical implicationsThis research should encourage food marketers to include more positive statements about their products rather than the current focus on negatives such as no GMOs or no hormones. the authors understand these negative attributes need to be made but there should also be positive attributes.Social implicationsConsumers will get a total picture of the product values and not skewed to one point.Originality/valueThe concept of negative bias has not be adequately explored in the food category on product labels.