Other-initiated repair in Yélî Dnye: Seeing eye-to-eye in the language of Rossel Island

Other-initiated repair (OIR) is the fundamental back-up system that ensures the effectiveness of human communication in its primordial niche, conversation. This article describes the interactional and linguistic patterns involved in other-initiated repair in Yélî Dnye, the Papuan language of Rossel Island, Papua New Guinea. The structure of the article is based on the conceptual set of distinctions described in Chapters 1 and 2 of the special issue, and describes the major properties of the Rossel Island system, and the ways in which OIR in this language both conforms to familiar European patterns and deviates from those patterns. Rossel Island specialities include lack of a Wh-word open class repair initiator, and a heavy reliance on visual signals that makes it possible both to initiate repair and confirm it non-verbally. But the overall system conforms to universal expectations.

A Military Transitional Year Professionalism Curriculum

Background Development of professionalism is a critical component of a military transitional year residency. Little published research exists to guide programs in meeting this challenge. Objective and Methods After significant concerns regarding resident professionalism were raised by Tripler Army Medical Center faculty, a novel transitional residency professionalism curriculum was conceived and implemented. Universal expectations of physician professionalism, as perceived by various stakeholders (patients, parents, faculty, and nurses), were explored using a small group, discussion-based curriculum. This was combined with a small group, discussion-based, lessons-learned project and a military-unique curriculum. Results Since implementation, the curriculum has had 100% satisfaction on the part of the faculty and 80% to 100% on the part of the residents, as measured by annual review surveys. Although resident professionalism scores on evaluations did not change significantly, the number of adverse actions because of professionalism lapses has decreased steadily in the 4 years since inception, and the program has been without any such actions for the past 18 months. Conclusions Our novel transitional residency professionalism curriculum has been successful in a military residency program.