Team coordination in an Intensive Care Unit

Researchers have the need for improved coordination and continuity of care in health-care environments, but little research has been undertaken to better understand how coordination occurs and how it might be improved. Using Klein's (2001) phases of coordination this exploratory study provides a profile of the contributions of role-based communications to team coordination in an Intensive Care Unit. All communication events for five patients for five consecutive days were logged and analysed using a hierarchical loglinear analysis. Nurses to nurse communications were found to focus mainly on the planning phase of coordination of short-term time horizons. Doctor to doctor communication events were characterized as formal and involved the planning and direction phases of team coordination and informal nurse to doctor communication events focused on planning and team assessment phases of coordination. Further analysis is required to determine how these contributions interact and what the vulnerabilities might be.

Fertilizer Use and Environmental Policy in Agriculture: A Socio-economic Study in Greece

The growing interest in environmental impacts of agriculture calls for effective agricultural policies to confront the expanding use of chemical fertilizers. Environmental policies in agriculture should be based on evidence concerning the factors influencing fertilizer usage.A hierarchical loglinear analysis of some social and economic factors showed that age, education, farm size, and employment status, all exert an independent effect on fertilizer usage. In addition, age and education exert a joint effect on fertilizer usage. It is found that the categories most likely to use high rates of application of fertilizer, at least in Greece, are full-time farmers 56 to 65 years old, well-educated or with small-sized holdings.The EEC's socio-structural policy for agriculture is examined in the light of the above findings. It is concluded that the policy could form the core for an effective environmental policy in agriculture. However, areas are pointed out for the formulation of improved policy with avoidance of mistakes.

Epidemiologic Data on Seriously Emotionally Disturbed and Learning Disabled Adolescents: Reporting Extreme Depressive Symptomatology

This study examined the relationship between extreme levels of depressive symptomatology and age, gender, and placement label among 465 students served in special education resource programs for the seriously emotionally disturbed and learning disabled. According to cutoff points on the Beck Depressive Inventory-Short Form, students' scores were categorized into either high or low depressive symptomatology groups. Group contrasts on the three epidemiologic variables were made via a logistic regression backward elimination strategy. Hierarchical loglinear analysis with backward elimination was computed on these variables. Gender was the only significant predictor of severe depressive symptomatology, with females more frequently categorized as exhibiting severe depressive symptomatology. Results are discussed in terms of identification and treatment issues.