Interventional Effect of Nanosilver Paint on Fungal Load of Indoor Air in a Hospital Ward

Hospital ward environments contain various types of microorganisms, in which fungal agents are one of the main contaminants that may cause hospital-acquired infections. Regarding this, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of nanosilver paint on reducing fungal contaminants of indoor air in an educational, research, and treatment center. Two rooms in the hematology ward were selected. One room was painted using usual paint (control room) and the other room was painted with paint containing nanosilver particles (experimental room). One hundred and twelve samples were collected using active (Anderson BioSampler) and passive (settle plate or open plate) air sampling techniques. The samples were incubated for 3–7 days at 35°C, and the positive fungal cultures were examined according to morphological and microscopic characteristics. Following active sampling, the mean and standard deviation of the number of colony-forming units (CFU/m3) of fungi colonies in the experimental and control rooms were 29.21 ± 17.99 and 22.50 ± 10.02 before intervention and 13.79 ± 6.20 and 31.07 ± 21.1 after intervention, respectively. Following passive sampling, the number of CFU/plate in the experimental and control rooms was 6 and 0 before and 1and 1 after intervention, respectively. The use of the nanosilver paint was effective in reducing air fungal contamination. Moreover, the active sampling method was more sensitive to measuring the concentration changes for fungal bioaerosols.

Appropriating integrated performance management tools in healthcare: a sociomaterial work story

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the appropriation of control rooms based on value-based integrated performance management tools implemented in all publicly funded health organizations in Quebec (Canada) as a form of legitimate sociomaterial work.Design/methodology/approachMulti-site organizational ethnographic case studies in two Integrated health and social services centers, with narrative process analysis of triangulated qualitative data collected through non-participant observation (163 h), individual semi-structured interviews (N = 34), and document review (N = 143).FindingsThree types of legitimate sociomaterial work are accomplished when actors appropriate control rooms: 1) reformulating performance management work; 2) disrupting accountability work and; 3) effecting value-based integrated performance management. Each actor (tools, institutions and people) follows recurrent institutional work-paths: tools consistently engage in disruptive work; institutions consistently engage in maintaining work, and people consistently engage in creation work. The study reveals the potential of performance management tools as “effective integrators” of the technological, managerial, policy and delivery levels of data-driven health system performance and improvement.Practical implicationsThis paper draws on theoretically informed empirical insights to develop actionable knowledge around how to better design, implement and adapt tool-driven health system change: 1) Packaging the three agents of data-driven system change in health care: tools, institutions, people; 2) Redefining the search for performance in health care in the context of value creation, and; 3) Strengthening clinical and managerial relevance in health performance management practice.Originality/valueThe authors aim to stimulate new and original scholarship around the under-theorized concept of sociomaterial work, challenging theoretical, ontological and practical conceptions of work in healthcare organizations and beyond.

The Heartbeat of Fieldwork

This chapter explores the issue of temporality in undertaking ethnographic fieldwork, drawing on research that examined traffic control rooms, wherein software is used to automatically regulate traffic flow in a city. The study identifies two key aspects of temporality in this situation: (1) polyrhythmia at different scales produced by algorithms, technology, management, and urban life; and (2) the process of organizing multiple timelines to tune the ‘heartbeat’ of the city. As time represents a new object of concern for the ethnographic investigation of algorithmic management, I introduce the concept of halfway ethnography as a way to grasp the heartbeat of the fieldwork, focusing on its material organizing of dispersed and heterogeneous temporalities while tuning in with such temporalities.

The Impact of Information Integration in a Simulation of Future Submarine Command and Control

Objective Examine the extent to which increasing information integration across displays in a simulated submarine command and control room can reduce operator workload, improve operator situation awareness, and improve team performance. Background In control rooms, the volume and number of sources of information are increasing, with the potential to overwhelm operator cognitive capacity. It is proposed that by distributing information to maximize relevance to each operator role (increasing information integration), it is possible to not only reduce operator workload but also improve situation awareness and team performance. Method Sixteen teams of six novice participants were trained to work together to combine data from multiple sensor displays to build a tactical picture of surrounding contacts at sea. The extent that data from one display were available to operators at other displays was manipulated (information integration) between teams. Team performance was assessed as the accuracy of the generated tactical picture. Results Teams built a more accurate tactical picture, and individual team members had better situation awareness and lower workload, when provided with high compared with low information integration. Conclusion A human-centered design approach to integrating information in command and control settings can result in lower workload, and enhanced situation awareness and team performance. Application The design of modern command and control rooms, in which operators must fuse increasing volumes of complex data from displays, may benefit from higher information integration based on a human-centered design philosophy, and a fundamental understanding of the cognitive work that is carried out by operators.

Human Factors in Urban Transport: Control Room Resource Management Training (CRRM)

Control center operations are highly demanding in terms of the collaboration required for monitoring and decision making in teams. In a joint effort led by the DLR, several institutions investigated psychological requirements among teams in control centers. This involved holding workshops and shadowing the work of experts for operative processes in control rooms of several industry partners (Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Flughafen Hamburg GmbH, Hamburger Hochbahn AG). An initial control room resource management (CRRM) training was developed and tested with a group of operators from the Galileo Control Center (GCC). The refined version of the 2-day CRRM training was developed for groups of 10-12 participants and was validated in seven training sessions with a total of 79 operators from the subway control center of the Hamburger Hochbahn AG. In conclusion, the CRRM training provides a successful approach to improve teamwork in control rooms.