Surgical quality improvement Essay Example for Free

Surgical quality improvement Essay Through a review of blood utilization in the surgical units, the administrative manager of clinical operations for a large hospital noted what she believed to be a significant variation in the number of transfusion orders being placed per surgical case among the surgeons on staff. She brought the question to the surgical quality improvement committee, and the committee initiated a review of current standard practice for ordering transfusions within the surgical units of the hospital and also a review of best practices as supported by current research evidence. They discovered that the evidence from transfusion research revealed that transfusion therapy can result in a variety of adverse patient outcomes, including the transmission of infection diseases and allergic reactions. As a result, the hospital medical staff moved to adopt as its general â€Å"best practice† for transfusion ordering: a minimum hemoglobin concentration of 7g/dL (21% hematocrit) as an indication for red cell transfusions and a 10g/dL hemoglobin concentration (30% hematocrit) as a level at which transfusion therapy usually is unnecessary. After the approved â€Å"best practice† guideline was introduced to the medical staff, a blood utilization dashboard was developed that helps responsible clinical managers identify at the physician level when transfusion orders are placed contrary to the guideline. Having this information available enables the clinical manager to address the issue on a unit or with the individual physician involved. Use of this dashboard has resulted in significant reduction in the variation in transfusion ordering practices among the medical staff and a significant reduction in blood utilization, which equates to a significant reduction in costs of maintaining the blood supply, and an improvement in patient outcomes. Questions: 1. What data elements must be accessed from the clinical data repository to drive the blood utilization dashboard? Explain. 2. What clinical data systems might this data come from? Explain. Support your answers from the text, supplemental readings, and any other applicable resources. APA Page Setup: Pages should be set with 1-inch margins. Font should be 12-point Times New Roman. Lines should be doubled-spaced throughout the document, without extra spaces at the top or bottom of the page or between paragraphs or sections. A complete document includes a title page, an abstract (if the instructor requires it), the body of the paper, a reference list, and appendices (if indicated). The paper should be 1 to 2 pages in length, not including cover page. Latour, K. M., Maki, S. E., Oachs, P. A. (2013). Health information management: Concepts, principles, and practice (4th ed.). Chicago: AHIMA Press.

The Raw Power of A Streetcar Named Desire Essay -- Streetcar Named Des

The Raw Power of A Streetcar Named Desire      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Tennessee Williams's play A Streetcar Named Desire contains more within it's characters, situations, and story than appears on its surface. As in many of Williams's plays, there is much use of symbolism and interesting characters in order to draw in and involve the audience.   The plot of A Streetcar Named Desire alone does not captivate the audience.   It is Williams's brilliant and intriguing characters that make the reader truly understand the play's meaning.   He also presents a continuous flow of raw, realistic moods and events in the play which keeps the reader fascinated in the realistic fantasy Williams has created in A Streetcar Named Desire.   The symbolism, characters, mood, and events of this play collectively form a captivating, thought-provoking piece of literature.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A Streetcar Named Desire produces a very strong reaction.   Even at the beginning of the play, the reader is confronted with extremely obvious symbolism in order to express the idea of the play.   Blanche states that she was told "to take a streetcar named Desire, and then to transfer to one called Cemeteries".   One can not simply read over this statement without assuming Williams is trying to say more than is written.   Later in the play, the reader realizes that statement most likely refers to Blanche's arriving at the place and situation she is now in because of her servitude to her own desires and urges.   What really makes A Streetcar Named Desire such an exceptional literary work is the development of interesting, involving characters.   As the play develops, the audience sees that Blanche is less proper and refined than she ... ...st into a reality which is not his own, yet somehow seems familiar. This realistic fantasy Williams creates with his brilliant use of symbolism, intriguing characters, and involving action in the play causes the reader to connect fully with the setting, characters, conflicts, and emotions within.    BIBLIOGRAPHY    Adler, Thomas P.   A Streetcar Named Desire: The Moth and the Lantern. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1990    Kernan, Alvin B.   "Truth and Dramatic Mode in A Streetcar Named Desire, In Modern Critical Views: Tennessee Williams."   Ed. Harold Bloom.   New York: Chealsea House Publishers, 1987    Quirino, Leonard.   "The Cards Indicate a Voyage on A Streetcar Named Desire, In Modern Critical Interpretations: Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire."   Ed. Harold Bloom.   New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988   

Free Trade and Fair Trade

Free Trade and Fair Trade All over work places and school campuses around the world you can be sure to find cocoa, coffee and certain other products that are labeled â€Å"free trade,† but is fair trade the same as free trade? â€Å"Free† and â€Å"fair† are powerful, often abused words when applied to the concept of trade. I will attempt to clarify the differences between free and fair trade, show how they may overlap, and the beneficial in each system. Deliberate trade benefits both the buyer and the seller. The benefits in excess of costs are the gains from trade.An efficient society maximizes the gains from trade by wisely using human, natural and capital resources. Political processes redistribute these gains to promote or reduce equity. Free trade means that anyone can trade with anyone else. Property rights are typically maintained, but government intervention in markets are minimal at best, (Wetzel). The fairness of this trade depends on the amount of com petition between buyers and sellers. For example, products price rises when there are few sellers and many buyers. In this case, sellers gained because they have â€Å"market power†.With few buyers and many sellers, the price falls; buyers use their market power to gain. Fair Trade is about more than just paying a fair wage. It means that trading partnerships are based on equal benefits and mutual respect; that prices paid to producers reflect the work they do; that workers have the right to organize; that national health, safety, and wage laws are enforced; and that products are environmentally sustainable and conserve natural resources, (Codey). When trade is freed, competition increases, market power falls and gains distributed more evenly. Numerous buyers and sellers in the farmer’s market reduce bargaining power.Seller competition pushes price down; buyer competition holds them up. Free trade can be fair trade, but agreements that open some markets to powerful pro ducer where they can use their market power, while keeping others closed and uncompetitive, are neither free nor fair. Free trade and fair trade can provide important benefits to participants. Free trade is benefit by all those involved, especially the large multination corporations. It helps nations develop the best economic policies for their citizens. Companies willing to meet consumer demand for several items will look for the cheapest resources or goods to increase supply.Nations engaging in free trade allow companies to import resources or goods from international countries with no government restrictions or tariffs. Governments placing restrictions or tariffs on imported goods often increase a cost of doing business in the domestic economic market, (Mathews 2009). Free trade can help nations improve job opportunities in the economic market. Meanwhile, fair trade provides favorable economic opportunity for those smallholder farming families able to join producer organizations and provide products of the right specifications for the market.Fair trade improves health, education, and agricultural development in the community. Finally, free and fair trade is somehow important to participants that are involved. However clarifying the different between free and fair trade, show how they may overlap, and the beneficial in each system is the main context of this essay. Codey, Scott & Embry, Mary. â€Å" Fair Trade Resource Network. † Education and Discussion to Mark Trade Fair. 1999. 05 Oct. 2012 Mathews, Tony. â€Å"Enhancing the Global Linkages of Cooperatives: The Fair Trade Option. † 2009. 05 Oct. 2012. Wetzel, Doug. â€Å"Fair V. S. Free Trade. † 1999-2012. 05 Oct 2012.

Beyond the Black Board

â€Å"Beyond the Blackboard† Context The part of the movie that struck me the most was when Stacy Bess break down moments. The moments when she cried because she felt quitting in teaching in the shelter and when she loosed her temper that made her raise her voice on Danny. Experience I can relate to this experience because in times of wrong things come in your way you get the idea of giving up.You become more fragile, confused and loses energy when the least things you expected hits you with the face of reality. When we don’t want to fail the people who believed in us and when we get our strength back we sometimes lose the reason for doing things. I failed my parents with giving them an F mark in my finals. They are my source of strength to do well in school because this is for them but I was a disappointment to them. I felt really down and lost.As I try to get back on track of my studies I told myself to deal with and learn from it. Reflection I could see is that Stacy was eager not to fail and quit on her students and the people around her. She made great efforts of changing those events with a wide range of great works and effort for her students to learn. Action If I will encounter this kind of situation, I would reflect well by going back to the reason I’m doing this and that is because I want to teach.In Stacy’s case, she loves teaching. Be inspired all over again by doing more than you did before and change everything for the best and the benefit of the many. Evaluation I think my actions may lead me to be a more persistent and striving person. I will not easily give up nor break. And from those mistakes I made in the past, I should look up to them as teaching life has given to me to be a better individual and teacher.

Greek Alphabet and Symbols in Chemistry

Greek Alphabet and Symbols in Chemistry Scholars used to be conversant with Greek and Latin as part of their education. They even used these languages to publish their ideas or work. Correspondence with other scholars was possible even if their native languages werent the same. Variables in science and mathematics need a symbol to represent them when they are written. A scholar would need a new symbol to represent their new idea and Greek was one of the tools at hand. Applying a Greek letter to a symbol became second nature. Today, while Greek and Latin arent on every students curriculum, the Greek alphabet is learned as needed. The table below lists all twenty-four letters in both upper and lowercase of the Greek alphabet used in science and mathematics. Name Upper Case Lower Case Alpha Beta Gamma Delta Epsilon Zeta Eta Theta Iota Kappa Lambda Mu Nu Xi Omicron Pi Rho Sigma Tau Upsilon Phi Chi Psi Omega

Rubrics - How to Make Grading Easier

Rubrics - How to Make Grading Easier Rubrics can be defined as a simplified way to grade a complicated assignment. For example, when you are grading an essay, how do you decide whether it gets an A or a B? What about if you are assigning number grades to the essay? Whats the difference between a 94 and a 96? The times that I have graded without a rubric, I have typically relied on the subjective method of reading and ranking. I read each essay and rank them in order from best to worst. Usually when Im knee deep in essays, I begin to wonder why I did this to myself. The easy answer, of course, is that it seems much easier to avoid the extra work required to create a rubric. However, the time saved up front is more than lost while grading. Here are three reasons why I find rubrics truly effective. First, rubrics save time because I can simply look at your rubric and mark off points. Second, rubrics keep me honest, even when Ive had a horrible day and my cat wont leave me alone. I feel much more objective as I sit before my mountain of papers. More important than these two reasons, however, is that when I have created a rubric beforehand and shown it to my students I get better quality work. They know what I want. They can also see right away where they lost points. How to Write a Rubric Writing a rubric is a fairly easy process even though it takes a little time. However, as Ive already explained, the time is worth it. Ive created step-by-step instructions for writing rubrics for any assignment you give. Examples of Rubrics Here are some wonderful rubrics that you can adapt and use today! Biography FrameworkBody Paragraph of an EssayCompare Contrast EssayCritical ThinkingDebate RubricFlorida Writes - Expository Persuasive EssaysExpository EssayPersuasive EssayStand Alone ParagraphSupporting DetailsWriting Prompts

How to Answer the Most Common Job Interview Questions

How to Answer the Most Common Job Interview Questions Going into a job interview can feel a bit like prepping for the Hunger Games. You have a general idea of what you’re facing, but you don’t know the specifics- who knows what those devilish game makers will have in store for you? Nobody dies here (unless job interviews have really changed since the last time I went on one), but there can be only one person left standing: the victor, the one with the job offer. And as in any good conflict where you want to come out on top, you want to be as prepared as possible going into it. It’s impossible to know exactly what questions to expect ahead of time, but there’s enough commonality in how job interviews are structured that you can take an educated guess- and educate yourself accordingly. Here’s how to answer common interview questions. 1. Standard Interview Questions2. Behavioral Interview Questions3. Tricky Interview QuestionsThe first thing to do is to figure out what kinds of questions you might face be fore you even think about trying to prep for specific questions. The question types fall into two categories: what we’ll call â€Å"standard† interview question and behavioral interview questions.Standard interview questions are about what you’d expect: questions that ask you about your past experience, your current skills, and your professional goals. Some examples:â€Å"Tell me more about your coding background.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Can you tell me about your day-to-day responsibilities in your most recent job?†Ã¢â‚¬Å"How did you get started in this industry?†Ã¢â‚¬Å"It says here that you worked for seven years at Job Co. What did you work on there?†Ã¢â‚¬Å"What is your biggest strength?† (And its devilish counterpart, â€Å"What is your biggest weakness?†)â€Å"Where do you see yourself in five years?†These are straightforward questions with (hopefully) straightforward answers. You know your resume and your experience better than anyone, so own the information.How to Approach Standard Interview QuestionsIf it helps, think of these questions as a kind of game show, like The Interview Guys do. There’s a concrete answer available for every standard interview question. â€Å"I don’t know† or uncomfortable silence will throw up a major red flag to the interviewer, so make sure that you’re solid on your resume, the job description for which you’re interviewing, and the talking points you want to use in the interview. (I’ll take â€Å"Leadership Experience† for $400, Alex.)Top 5 tips for answering standard interview questions:Be confident! You’re talking about your best professional self, so be ready to cover your skills and accomplishments.Don’t give short answers. If you’re asked about your background in coding, don’t just say, â€Å"I took a class five years ago,† then wait for the next question to come along. Say, â€Å"I start ed with a class five years ago, and took off from there. I’ve used and grown those skills in my current job, where I was responsible for updating and maintaining the company website.† You don’t need a novel’s worth of details, but the interviewer is looking for you to expand on your own history- all he or she knows is what’s in the bullets on your resume. It’s your job to fill those out and make yourself look like a well-rounded candidate.Remember: it’s not about you. But, you say, isn’t it about my experience and skills? Yes and no. The whole point of the interview is to see how you’ll fit in with this job and this company. So when you frame your answers, make sure you’re always emphasizing how this skill or that experience point relates to the job at hand.Be honest. This kind of question is where, uh, soft spots on your resume might come to light. The interviewer will expect you to be able to answer all of these questions with concrete info, so if you can’t offer supporting information, or have long and awkward pauses, that’s a problem. If you’re not fluent in Spanish, don’t list it. If you weren’t really the youngest CEO ever at your last company, don’t suggest you were. Forget a background check- if you can’t back up your resume’s assertions in the interview, you’ll never even get to that stage.Be specific. This isn’t so hard for questions about your background or your software proficiencies, but it’s tougher when you get to questions about your strengths and weaknesses. The best way to hone in on these is to think of specific examples from your past. For example, â€Å"At my current job, I developed a workflow that improved sales reporting, so I’m very good at zeroing in on challenges and working with a team to solve them.† Or, â€Å"I’d say my greatest weakness is my tendency to try to tak e everything on myself. In my last job, that led to a lot of stress around deadlines, and I’ve since learned that I need to work harder on prioritizing and setting boundaries to get everything done smoothly.†RELATED:  How to Answer These 5 Common (but tough) Interview QuestionsThe best advice we can offer you is to think about how to answer common interview questions in advance and anticipate having to give anecdotes about your experience. You won’t know ahead of time which ones are likely to come up, but by having talking points in your pocket for every part of your resume, you can be ready for any standard questions that come up.Behavioral interview questions are a little less straightforward, with no easy answer. These questions are kind of like storytime: the interviewer will ask you to talk about a specific time you faced a challenge or demonstrated a skill. You’ll know behavioral questions when you hear them because they’ll have telltale phr ases like:â€Å"Tell me about a time you†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬Å"What would you do if†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬Å"Show me how you handled†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬Å"Walk me through a time when you†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬Å"How would you deal with†¦Ã¢â‚¬ What do all of these have in common? There’s a performance element, and usually an action verb. It’s on you to come up with an answer, and phrase it in a smooth interview operator kind of way.RELATED:  How to Answer Behavioral Interview QuestionsHow to Approach Behavioral Interview QuestionsThe approach for these questions isn’t so different from that of traditional questions. They just require a little more thinking on your feet, because there’s no easy factual answer. You’ll be drawing from your history directly (â€Å"tell me about a time when you†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ), or indirectly (â€Å"what would you do if†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ).Top 5 tips for answering behavioral interview questions:It’s not about you, itâ€℠¢s about them. The advice for standard interview questions (#3 above) remains the same here: remember that it’s really about the interviewer and the company, not you. You’ll be providing info that illustrates how you have operated and will likely operate as an employee, but that information will be weighed against what the company wants and needs for this job opening. You’re not answering the questions in a vacuum. So make sure that your answers dovetail with the job description.Don’t be brutally honest. If you’re asked about the biggest challenge in your career so far, and your most trying time happens to have been the royal-est screwup in the history of royal screw-ups, don’t bring it up. Before the interview, spend time thinking about less dramatic anecdotes that don’t make you look bad. Or if you do end up talking about a time you messed up, absolutely make sure to follow up with a quick point about how you learned from it and hav e turned it to your advantage.Come up with pre-answers in certain categories. Behavioral questions usually seek to draw you out on skills like leadership, problem-solving, and personal interaction. Long before the interview, start doing a personal audit of your work history and come up with a list of relevant anecdotes in the following areas:Challenges you faced, and how you overcame themTimes you led others or managed a complicated project with numerous peopleWorkplace conflicts or differences of opinion, and how you handled themKeep it brief. You don’t want to leave them confused or wanting more by being too abrupt, but if you feel yourself start to ramble on (adding details that aren’t really necessary, explaining things in tangents), then rein yourself in a bit. Rehearse your likely stories ahead of time, so you can adjust the flow, and what feels like the right presentation. Rambling can come off as nervous babbling, and you don’t want to undermine your con fident aura on interview day.Keep it professional. They’re definitely not looking for examples from your personal life- make sure you limit your stories to things that happened at work.The Trickiest QuestionsOnce you know the types of questions and how to mine your resume and experience to prep ahead of time, you can focus more on the most challenging questions of all: the â€Å"you tell us† questions. These aren’t really standard interview questions, because they’re not straight facts or expansions on points found on your resume. They’re not really behavioral, either, because they don’t illustrate how you’ve approached workplace issues in the past (or would). They’re open-ended, and that’s what makes them scarier. Some examples of these extra-hard interview questions.â€Å"Tell me about yourself.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Why should we hire you?†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Why do you want to work here?†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Why did you leave your last job ?†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Do you have any questions for me?†Ã¢â‚¬ËœWhat is your biggest weakness?†Spin negatives into positives. This applies most fully to the â€Å"biggest weakness† and â€Å"why did you leave your last job?† questions (especially if you were let go, or left in a bad situation). The kind of formula you should keep in mind is, â€Å"I experienced X, but I learned Y, and now I work very hard on achieving Z. It’s an experience that I take very seriously.†Don’t pull the interviewer’s leg. If you’re asked about a weakness, talk about a weakness†¦don’t try to say you work too hard, and gosh darn it, that’s your biggest flaw. Every single one of us has real flaws, and candidness can be the key to establishing trust with the interviewer. However, when you talk about a weakness or a challenge you’ve faced, always, always (did I mention â€Å"always†?) talk about what you did/do to overcome i t, and what you’ve learned from it.Don’t panic†¦or pause too long. The deer-in-headlights reaction is not a good look during the interview. Either you look like you’re trying to invent an answer, or you look like you just don’t know how to respond. Practicing answers for the questions above (using, again, specific examples from your resume and your work history) can help you feel more comfortable with repurposing your material for a variety of potential questions.Always tie it to the job/company. Before the interview, review the job description, and highlight the areas that connect to your resume. If the job calls for managerial skills, â€Å"tell me about yourself† can be a quick walkthrough of your rise to leading men and women to greatness (increased sales or efficiency). If it’s a general question about why you want to work here,Keep it professional (redux). If you want to work for this company because your commute would be cut in h alf, don’t say that. â€Å"Tell me about yourself† is not an invitation to show pictures of your beloved pet lizard, Dr. Greenjeans III. Just give a quick rundown of where you are, professionally, and where you’re hoping to go. Personal opinions and personal life don’t really belong in an interview. (Exception: mild small talk before or after the interview- but even then, no big personal confessions or controversial opinions.)RELATED:  How to Answer the Toughest Interview QuestionsThe best way to deal with any interview questions is to prepare in advance- you can practice the spirit of them, if not the exact content. If you have a trusted buddy or family member, have them lob unscripted (professional) questions at you, so you can get better at fielding things on the fly. And if you need a cheat sheet on common interview questions and how to tackle them in the meantime, here’s a quick overview you can use as a reference. [via UndercoverRecruiter]A nd remember the most important part: you got this! Don’t panic no matter what you’re asked, and answer with confidence. May the interview go ever in your favor!