Occupational health care personnel tackling alcohol overuse – an observational study of work processes and patient characteristics

Background Overuse of alcohol is a significant risk factor for early retirement. This observational study investigated patient characteristics and work processes in occupational health care (OHC) affecting practices in tackling alcohol overuse. Methods The data were from 3089 patient contacts gathered for quality improvement purposes in fifteen OHC units during the years 2013–2019 in Finland. A two-proportion z-test was performed to find associations between reason for contact, and 17 other factors, and the probability of alcohol use being checked and overuse tackled. Results OHC personnel checked alcohol use twice as often with male patients as with female patients. Employees at risk of needing sick leave were checked for alcohol use more often (55.4, 95% confidence interval 49.2–61.6%) than those on > 30-day sick leave or working with permanent work disability (p < 0.01). Alcohol use was checked in 64.1% (59.5–68.7%) of patients while making an individual health promotion plan compared to 36.9% of those without a plan (33.1–40.6%, p < 0.0001). Patients with depression were actively checked for alcohol use, especially in cases of major depression (72.7%, 64.0–81.0%). Work processes in which OHC should have been more active in checking and tackling alcohol use included assessing the need for rehabilitation (36.5%, 32.0–41.0%) and health check-ups (HCUs) for mental reasons (43.8%, 38.1–49.4%). HCUs where alcohol overuse was detected led to brief interventions to tackle the overuse in 58.1% (43.4–72.9%) of cases. Conclusions The study showed factors that increased OHC personnel’s practices in checking and tackling alcohol use and work processes where the activity should be improved. Discussions about alcohol use took place more often with working-aged men than women, the younger the more. OHC personnel checked actively alcohol use with patients in danger of sick leave, patients treated for depression, while making an individual health promotion plan, and in planned HCUs with a confirmed protocol. More improvement is needed to conduct brief interventions in disability prevention processes, and especially when overuse is detected.

Inter-team communication in large-scale co-located software engineering: a case study

Large-scale software engineering is a collaborative effort where teams need to communicate to develop software products. Managers face the challenge of how to organise work to facilitate necessary communication between teams and individuals. This includes a range of decisions from distributing work over teams located in multiple buildings and sites, through work processes and tools for coordinating work, to softer issues including ensuring well-functioning teams. In this case study, we focus on inter-team communication by considering geographical, cognitive and psychological distances between teams, and factors and strategies that can affect this communication. Data was collected for ten test teams within a large development organisation, in two main phases: (1) measuring cognitive and psychological distance between teams using interactive posters, and (2) five focus group sessions where the obtained distance measurements were discussed. We present ten factors and five strategies, and how these relate to inter-team communication. We see three types of arenas that facilitate inter-team communication, namely physical, virtual and organisational arenas. Our findings can support managers in assessing and improving communication within large development organisations. In addition, the findings can provide insights into factors that may explain the challenges of scaling development organisations, in particular agile organisations that place a large emphasis on direct communication over written documentation.

Parental burnout: a scoping review

ABSTRACT Objective: to map available evidence on parental burnout theme. Method: scoping review as according to the Joanna Briggs Institute. Search in January 2021, in six databases of publications in English, Portuguese or Spanish, without time limits. Data extracted and descriptively analyzed by three independent researchers. Results: 374 articles were identified and 20 were included in the final sample, all published in English, from 2017 onwards. Parental burnout is a complex, multifactorial problem, distinct from burnout cases, depressive symptoms and other mental health alterations. It affects 0.2 to 20% of parents, has validated and suitable instruments for measurement; if not treated, can have consequences on marital life, work relationships, child neglect and violence. Conclusions: this is a recent theme that needs to be explored, due to the possible impact on children’s and families’ health and on parents’ work processes. Protocol registered in the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/jd7vk).

Digital Transformation Process in Selection and Implementation of an Electronic Document Management System

An electronic document management system (e-DMS) is an information system that allows creating, distributing, filing, storing, searching, destroying, and archiving documents concerning certain criteria and standards as a critical part of every digital transformation. It is known that correspondence processes in public institutions such as universities are time-consuming activities that increase workload and bureaucracy. Therefore, it is a critical issue to select and implement the suitable e-DMS software which systematically supports institutions in managing the documents they produce in their work processes. This chapter provides decision support to the institutional managers for selecting proper software, the preparation process before the application, transformation stages, and the environmental benefits after the implementation of the system are shown with their workflows through an actual application in a university. Digital transformation of the system provides both environmental and social benefits for institutions beside its material benefits such as time and labour.

Trends in Macroergonomics Applications for Improved Work Systems

Macroergonomics is the subdiscipline of ergonomics that is concerned with the analysis, design, and evaluation of work systems. It means, macroergonomics focuses on harmonizing the organizational structure of a company and not only one workstation or one task, as microergonomics does. Macroergonomics is a top-down, middle-out, and bottom-up approach. In the top-down approach, the overall general work system structure may be prescribed to match the organization's sociotechnical characteristics. On the other hand, the middle-out approach focuses on the analysis of subsystems and work processes, which can be assessed both up and down the organizational hierarchy from intermediate levels, and also, up and down some changes may be done to ensure the work system design is harmonized. Finally, the bottom-up approach comprises an extensive participation of employees in the identification of problems. Currently, macroergonomics is considered an emergent subdiscipline, and there is the need to promote current theories and methods and propose new ones.

Stress and psychological resilience in intervention and rescue activities

Nature of intervention and rescue personnel activity places them at the top of professions that face a considerable number of occupational health and safety risks. Often, this occupational category does not face a single safety risk, but a complex combination of risk factors, including unpredictability of situations in which they are required to work. Emergence of stress and other psychosocial risks in work processes requires the implementation of an anticipatory attitude and a constant level of vigilance to identify and evaluate them. In intervention and rescue, the issue of regulating and self-regulating the individual’s behaviour is essential, as exceptional acts performed in unusual conditions require adaptive mechanisms as close as possible to perfection. Developing resilience should focus on amplifying already present strengths (physical and mental characteristics and abilities), rather than managing negative effects of operational stressors. The current paper presents a theoretical approach of the concept of resilience, appliable to intervention and rescue activities and suggests several ways to develop rescuer’s resilience.

Inter-sectorial network for assisting women in situations of violence: handicraft work built by the people

ABSTRACT Objectives: to discuss the meanings attributed by professionals to the construction of the service network for women in situations of violence. Methods: Convergent Care Research developed with the application of a convergence group with 32 participants from the health, social assistance, or public security sectors, in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul. The data was produced during ten meetings, based on the problematization methodology, and submitted to analysis of thematic content and interpreted with the referential of networks. Results: the construction of the network is an artisanal work carried out by people continuously, permeated by bonds, communication and partnerships between services and knowledge of work processes. Lashings require permanent movement. Final Considerations: building a network implies defining intertwining lines; form nodes that create cross-sector connections. There is a need to institutionalize processes through care continuity protocols, associated with an efficient communication system between sectors.

Using Technology and Innovation to Streamline Agile Project Management

Agile project management has transformed due to the rapid advancements in technologies. Digitisation of work processes has also contributed to increased efficiencies and lowering of costs within companies and organisations worldwide. This is essential in agile project management as managing and maintaining schedules and budgets are imperative for a successful project completion. The employees' drive, confidence, job meaningfulness, autonomy in job, and mastery of skills, or psychological empowerment as they often referred to in literature, are instrumental in nourishing employees' innovative work behaviour. This is a key contributor to successful agile project management.

Analisis Risiko dan Determinan Kejadian Kecelakaan Kerja di Pabrik Minyak Kelapa Sawit

Safety at work is a series of safety related to machines, work tools, materials and work processes, workplace and environment as well as working methods. Jambi Province is an area that has extensive plantation land, especially for oil palm plantations, based on data from the Central Bureau of Statistics at Provinceof Jambi in 2018. PT. X was experienced the highest incidence of work accidents in the 2017-2019 range in Jambi Province. This study aims to analyze the risks and determinants of workplace accidents at the palm oil mill at PT. X as an effort to prevent work accidents. This research is analytical research. The population of this study were all workers in the production division of PT. X as many as 96 people consisting of two work shifts and were also used as samples in this study. The data will be analyzed to see the relationship between variables using the Chi-Square test with (α = 0.05). There is a relationship between the availability of personal protective equipment (PPE), environmental factors and the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) with the incidence of work accidents in the production division workers of PT. X while working period, attitude, training and equipment safety are not related in this study.

THE TREND OF WORK FROM HOME AND ITS ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

This paper focuses on working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. It focuses mainly on the advantages and disadvantages of this way of working, as well as its impact on the psyche and performance of employees and, last but not least, its impact on a company's finances. It uses the synthesis of data found on the internet, from selected reliable sources dealing with the same or similar issues. From these sources it is evident that the effects of working from home are rather negative. The most frequently mentioned advantage is the saving of time, caused mainly by the absence of commuting to the office. The most frequently mentioned disadvantage is the absence of personal contact with co-workers. The disadvantage that a company could feel the most is the extension of the length of communication between employees, and thus the extension of work processes. At first glance, it might seem that a company will save money using this form of work, but the reality is that the company's costs may even increase. This is due to the fact that most companies have chosen to work from home only partly, so the costs of running the offices remain the same or slightly reduced at best, and legislation states that the company must reimburse workers for costs incurred by this form of work. It follows from this contribution that, if possible, workers and employers should avoid the practice of working from home, even though it has a positive effect on the pandemic. The potential for further research could be to compare the results of this work with the same research conducted outside of the pandemic.