Administering Interactive Simulations to Supplement Traditional Clinical Placements

This chapter aims to enhance the ability of healthcare educators to identify learner skill levels, develop and implement an appropriate simulation or scenario-based learning technique, and provide optimal feedback to refine clinical reasoning and decision-making development of the learner. The concept of problem-based learning is outlined and applied to the creation of virtual patient cases to augment clinical experiences for healthcare students amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the use of appropriately targeted learning objectives, case design, and feedback strategies, students will be able to continue their professional and academic development in a post-pandemic landscape.

iSHELL: a 1–5 micron R = 80,000 Immersion Grating Spectrograph for the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility

iSHELL is a 1.06–5.3 μm high spectral resolution spectrograph built for the 3.2 m NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Maunakea, Hawaii. Dispersion is accomplished with a silicon immersion grating in order to keep the instrument small enough to be mounted at the Cassegrain focus of the telescope. The white pupil spectrograph produces resolving powers of up to about R ≡ λ/δλ = 80,000 (0.″375 slit). Cross-dispersing gratings mounted in a tiltable mechanism allow observers to select different wavelength ranges and, in combination with a slit wheel and Dekker mechanism, slit widths ranging from 0.″375 to 4.″0 and slit lengths ranging from 5″ to 25″. One Teledyne 2048 × 2048 HAWAII-2RG array is used in the spectrograph, and one Raytheon 512 × 512 Aladdin 2 array is used in a 1–5 μm slit viewer for object acquisition, guiding, and scientific imaging. iSHELL has been in productive regular use on IRTF since first light in 2016 September. In this paper we discuss details of the science case, design, construction and astronomical use of iSHELL.

Considering Instructional Contexts in AAC Interventions for People with ASD and/or IDD Experiencing Complex Communicative Needs: A Single Case Design Meta-analysis

For children with autism or intellectual and developmental disabilities who also have complex communication needs, communication is a necessary skill set to increase independence and quality of life. Understanding the how, where, and communication style being taught is important for identifying deficits in the field as well as which interventions are most effective. This meta-analysis sought to identify effectiveness among different settings, behavioral strategies, and moderator variables. A systematic search and screening process identified 114 eligible studies with 330 participants; overall outcomes indicate that AAC interventions were effective with Tau effects ranging from 0.53- 1.03 and LRR effects ranging from 0.21- 2.90. However, no instructional context variables systematically predicted differences in intervention effectiveness.

Assessment of individual competence

Aims: the assessment of individual competence in medical education is about finding a balance between having sufficient resources to make valid and reliable decisions and not using more resources than necessary. Sequential assessment, in which more resources are used for borderline performing candidates than for poorly or clearly satisfactorily performing candidates, can be used to achieve that balance. Although sequential assessment is commonly associated with larger groups of candidates to be assessed, in many practical settings numbers of candidates may be small.Objective: this article presents a single case design with a statistical model for the assessment of individual competence that can be used regardless of the number of candidates.Method: a worked example of a solution that can be used for an individual candidate, using simulated data in the zero-cost Open Source statistical program R version 4.0.5., is provided.Results: the aforementioned solution provides statistics that can be used to make pass/fail decisions at the level of the individual candidate as well as to make decisions regarding the length and timing of an exam (or parts thereof) for the individual candidate.Conclusion: the solution provided can help to reduce resources needed for assessment to a considerable extent while maximizing resources for borderline candidates. This facilitates both decision making and cost reduction in assessment.

A Comparative Analysis of Residential Care: A Five-Country Multiple Case-Design Study

Background Despite a global policy push toward the advancement of family- and community-based care, residential care for children and youth remains a relevant and highly utilized out-of-home care option in many countries, fulfilling functions of care and accommodation as well as education and treatment. Objective As part of a larger project involving five European countries (Finland, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, and Spain), the objective was “to map” the context and content of residential care in each country, thereby building a foundation for meaningful comparisons and deepened understanding of each system’s inherent logic. Within the context of global deinstitutionalization efforts, the study also aimed to understand factors that hinder or enhance the transformation of residential care. Method Using an embedded multiple-case design, data was gathered by each country on its residential care macro context as well as salient variables related to three units of analysis–residential care system/program features, residential care training and personnel, characteristics of youth. Cross-case synthesis was used to summarize and compare cases across relevant dimensions. Results The analysis highlighted areas of overlap and singularity, particularly with regard to utilization rates, concepts and methods, workforce professionalization, and characteristics of youth. Conclusions Findings provide a more nuanced understanding of how residential care continues to be viewed and utilized in some countries, challenging the ‘residential-care-as-a-last-resort-only’ rhetoric that is currently dominating the discourse on residential care. It further provides an understanding of historical and sociocultural factors that need to be considered when trying to transform services for children, youth, and their families.

The Adoption of e-HRM: A View of a Telecommunications Company in Zimbabwe

The 21st-century has witnessed the catalytic effect of Information Technology (IT) on organisational operations through increased robustness and sustained competitive advantage in the knowledge economy. Technology’s disruptive diffusion has not sparred the human resource practice; thus, this study investigates the adoption of electronic Human Resources Management (e-HRM) by a telecommunications-based organisation in Zimbabwe. The study utilised a quantitative case design using a questionnaire targeting 130 managers and supervisors. In meeting the study’s objective, factor analysis using principal component analysis and varimax rotation was conducted. The results show that the three constructs had a direct impact on the adoption of e-HRM. The respondents agreed that e-HRM had automated employee records management and improved communication between employees and managers, increasing productivity. Identified benefits from the results include lowering administrative costs, delivering state of the art HRM services, enabling HR staff more time to focus on strategic reorientation, increasing HRM effectiveness and efficiency, and facilitating the scouting of the best talent globally. The respondents noted that aligning e-HRM processes to the HRM function had some restraints, such as unwillingness to accommodate change, confidentiality and security of personal records through hacking. The study generates new knowledge for benchmarking as Zimbabwean organisations endeavour to embrace e-HRM. The study contributes literature on e-HRM adoption, which appears scant in developing countries such as Zimbabwe. More research on e-HRM adoption in developing countries provides practical and theoretical implications for the HRM practice and the research community. Future studies could involve several organisations for more generalisability of the results.