Books on the topic 'Staff development teams'

In this chapter we show that team working is vital for high quality health care but that team working is often poor. We draw on research to show that effective team working is associated with fewer errors that harm staff and patients; fewer staff injuries; better staff well-being; higher levels of patient satisfaction; better quality of care; and lower patient mortality. “Pseudo team working” leads to the opposite outcomes. We describe how effective team based working can be developed and identify the importance of team objectives and leadership. The chapter describes the specific challenges for team working in health care, including the complexity of the context and the historical legacy of separate professional development and status hierarchies. We explore how these challenges can be overcome, arguing that ensuring effective team working in health care is critical to ensuring the delivery of high quality, continually improving and compassionate health care.

The development of hospice and palliative care in Austria started with dedicated volunteers in the 1980s and is strongly linked to the development of training for professionals. In 2015, volunteers in hospice and pailliative care (HPC) in Austria numbered 3,630 (87 per cent female) spending 257.510 hours in direct patient care taking care of 12.832 patients, 147.578 hours with activities like training, supervision and fundraising; activities as broard members. HPC volunteers are organized in teams, specially trained (national curriculum with 160 hours and 40 hours practice), and as hospice teams form part of the graded hospice and palliative care system in Austria. They care for patients and their families in all settings: the patients’ homes, nursing homes, hospital wards, and palliative care units, as well as inpatient hospices and day hospices. Factors of success are: effective management and training, standards and guidelines, adequate funding, and appreciation and good cooperation between volunteers and paid staff.

This book presents an evidence-based conceptual framework for planning and implementing organizational change processes specifically focused on human service organizations (HSOs). After a brief discussion of relevant theory and a review of key challenges facing HSOs that create opportunities for organizational change, a detailed conceptual framework outlines an organizational change process. Two chapters are devoted to the essential role of an organization’s executive or other manager as a change leader. Five chapters cover the steps of the change process, beginning with identifying a problem or change opportunity; then defining a change goal; assessing the present state of the organization (the change problem and organizational readiness and capacity to engage in change); and determining an overall change strategy. Twenty-one evidence-based organizational change tactics are presented to guide implementation of the process. Tactics include communicating the urgency for change and the change vision; developing an action system that includes a change sponsor, a change champion, a change leadership team and action teams; providing support to staff; facilitating the development and approval of ideas to achieve the change goal; institutionalizing the changes within organizational systems; and evaluating the change process and outcomes. Four case examples from public and nonprofit HSOs are used to illustrate change tactics. Individual chapters cover change technologies and methods, including action research; team building; conflict management; quality improvement methods; organization redesign; organizational culture change; using consultants; advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice; capacity building; implementation science methods; specific models, including the ARC model; and staff-initiated organizational change.

Successful transitioning involves input from both paediatric and adult multidisciplinary teams with overlap between the two services and tailored to the needs of each individual. This includes varying the duration of the preparatory phase and the timing of transition and eventual transfer based on the chronological and developmental age, maturity, medical stability, and psychosocial issues of each individual patient. Buddy systems and peer support may aid smooth transitioning for some, with the promotion of patients attending a clinic with similar age groups, which can include the formation of a young adult clinic. Effective collaboration between children’s and adult services is required to obtain successful transition of adolescent patients. Moving from one paediatric hospital to different adult specialists in different hospitals requires excellent communication between various teams. Some staff members from each adult nephrology unit should specialize in adolescent medicine and construct their own transitional care pathways to ensure effective communication and collaboration with appropriate paediatric units and facilitate continuity of care with ongoing educational and social programmes.

♦ Major trauma results in a systemic stress response proportional to both the degree of initial injury (1st hit) and the subsequent surgical treatment (2nd hit).♦ The key physiological processes of hypoxia, hypovolaemia, metabolic acidosis, fat embolism, coagulation and inflammation operate in synergy during the days after injury/surgery and their effective management determines prognosis.♦ The optimal timing and method of long bone fracture fixation after major trauma remains controversial. Two divergent views exist between definitive early intramedullary fixation and initial external fixation with delayed conversion to an intramedullary nail once the patient’s condition has been better stabilised.♦ There is agreement that the initial skeletal stabilisation should not be delayed and that the degree of initial injury has a more direct correlation with outcome and the development of subsequent systemic complications rather than the method of long bone fracture stabilisation.♦ Trauma patients can be screened to identify those more ‘at risk’ of developing systemic complications such as respiratory insufficiency. Specific risk factors include: A high injury severity score; the presence of a femoral fracture; the combination of blunt abdominal or thoracic injury combined with an extremity fracture; physiological compromise on admission and uncorrected metabolic acidosis prior to surgery.♦ The serum concentration of pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL) 6 may offer an accurate method of quantifying the degree of initial injury and the response to surgery.♦ The effective management of the polytraumatised patient involves a team approach and effective communication with allied specialties and theatre staff. A proper hierarchy of the injuries sustained can then be compiled and an effective surgical strategy made.

The Lennox Legacy: The history of the CSIRO Laboratory at 343 Royal Parade Parkville records many of the events and incidents associated with the genesis and development of the Division of Protein Chemistry over a period of more than fifty years. This book has been titled in honour of Dr Francis Gordon Lennox, the Laboratory's founder and a man who believed that science has an important part to play in bettering the well-being of all Australians. His vision, over the years, of the critical importance of protein chemistry to Australian science and industry, was central to the Laboratory's national and international achievements. The book has been written three parts: Part 1 attempts to trace the historical record of appointments and changes in research direction that have occurred in the laboratory from 1940 to the present day. Part 2 presents a more detailed description of the major scientific activities that have been carried out in the Laboratory. It reveals how fundamental studies went hand-in-hand with applied research and thereby contributed greatly to the understanding of practical problems and their possible solution. Part 3 provides a complete list of Patents and Publications arranged in decades for easy perusal. As former chief Gordon Crewther states in his foreword: "Of necessity, the story is incomplete, but because it records the stresses, exhilarations, frustrations, rewards, good fellowship, team spirit, irritations and humourous interludes arising from the research objectives of the Division and their accomplishment, there is something of interest for all present and past members of staff of CSIRO. The less technical sections, the occasional insights into/behind the scenes' activities, the glimpses of individual personalities, and the occasional reflections on science management, provides worthwhile reading for a more general audience."

In this study, several aspects of Saxion spin-offs have been analysed, the numbers, workplaces, location, migration, gender issues, different economic sectors and survival rates. The main question underlying all these analyses was what the impact of Saxion as university of applied sciences is on the regional economy of the two regions in which it is located. From the literature, the concept of an entrepreneurial ecosystem, as explanatory factor for the observations that in certain regions more graduates or staff members start their own business and that such an ecosystem helps small fledgling businesses to survive and grow is an interesting concept. Unfortunately, the theoretical foundations are still not fully crystallized, therefore measuring the actual influence of such entrepreneurial ecosystems is still a difficult exercise. In this study, Saxion spin-offs from two regions, Twente and the Cleantech Region, have been analysed, and several differences in terms of number of spin-offs, employment, migration patterns and survival rates have been identified. Since the spin-offs are from the same university of applied sciences, with the same policy regarding support of entrepreneurship and both regions are located outside of the economic core regions of the country, it appears as if the strength of the regional context, the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem and the business opportunities it provides is a factor in explaining why there are more spin-offs in Twente (even when controlling for the larger size of the Saxion campus in this region). If one assumes that the strength of the entrepreneurial ecosystem is stronger in Twente (among others because of existing business networks, the availability of a world class research university, the University of Twente and a business support organization like Novel-T), it would explain why spin-offs located in this region on average offer more workplaces, and have a higher survival rate than in the Cleantech Region. Gender differences related to entrepreneurship are present in Saxion spin-offs, female graduates and staff members are much less likely to start a spin-off company than their male counterparts. When females do start, their spin-offs are on average much smaller in terms of workplaces offered. Their businesses have on average an equal survival rate than those started by a male entrepreneur. Findings from the literature on the subject and the numbers found in this study suggest that there is a need for specific programs in Saxion targeting females, to at least think about starting their own business. Also, specific mentoring programs for spin-offs with female entrepreneurs may help to let these businesses grow and increase their regional economic impact. Saxion spin-offs can be found in many different sectors, something understandable given the broad spectrum of study programs in Saxion. Even though most spin-offs remain micro sized businesses, certain economic sectors seem to offer better scalable business models, especially in sectors such as industry, information and communication technology businesses and business support services. The number as well as employment in the more innovative and internationally competitive topsectors is much higher in the region Twente than in the Cleantech Region, possibly another consequence of the – apparently – stronger regional entrepreneurial ecosystem in Twente. An often-stated argument for regional economic development is that investing in spin-off companies will help to create workplaces in the region, since companies are not very likely to move. In this study, the data on migration of spin-offs have been compared with the migration of graduates, based on the HBO-monitor survey. It is not possible to one-on-one compare the two datasets, as the migration of spin-offs is calculated for the first five years of their existence and the HBO-monitor is held around one and a half year after graduation. Still, w

These Guidelines are one of the results of the four-year research project “Open Online Learning for Digital and Networked Society” (2017-2021). The project objective was to enable university teachers to design open and online learning through open and online learning curriculum and environment applying learning analytics as a metacognitive tool and creating open and online learning assessment and recognition practices, responding to the needs of digital and networked society. The research of the project resulted in 10 scientific publications and 2 studies prepared by Vytautas Magnus university Institute of Innovative Studies research team in collaboration with their international research partners from Germany, Spain and Portugal. The final stage of the research attempted creating open and online learning assessment and recognition practices, responding to the learner needs in contemporary digital and networked society. The need for open learning recognition has been increasing during the recent decade while the developments of open learning related to the Covid 19 pandemics have dramatically increased the need for systematic and high-quality assessment and recognition of learning acquired online. The given time also relates to the increased need to offer micro-credentials to learners, as well as a rising need for universities to prepare for micro-credentialization and issue new digital credentials to learners who are regular students, as well as adult learners joining for single courses. The increased need of all labour - market participants for frequent and fast renewal of competences requires a well working and easy to use system of open learning assessment and recognition. For learners, it is critical that the micro-credentials are well linked to national and European qualification frameworks, as well as European digital credential infrastructures (e.g., Europass and similar). For employers, it is important to receive requested quality information that is encrypted in the metadata of the credential. While for universities, there is the need to properly prepare institutional digital infrastructure, organizational procedures, descriptions of open learning opportunities and virtual learning environments to share, import and export the meta-data easily and seamlessly through European Digital Hub service infrastructures, as well as ensure that academic and administrative staff has digital competencies to design, issue and recognise open learning through digital and micro-credentials. The first chapter of the Guidelines provides a background view of the European Qualification Framework and National Qualification frameworks for the further system of gaining, stacking and modelling further qualifications through open online learning. The second chapter suggests the review of current European policy papers and consultations on the establishment of micro-credentials in European higher education. The findings of the report of micro-credentials higher education consultation group “European Approach to Micro-credentials” is shortly introduced, as well as important policy discussions taking place. Responding to the Rome Bologna Comunique 2020, where the ministers responsible for higher education agreed to support lifelong learning through issuing micro-credentials, a joint endeavour of DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion and DG Research and Innovation resulted in one of the most important political documents highlighting the potential of micro-credentials towards economic, social and education innovations. The consultation group of experts from the Member States defined the approach to micro-credentials to facilitate their validation, recognition and portability, as well as to foster a larger uptake to support individual learning in any subject area and at any stage of life or career. The Consultation Group also suggested further urgent topics to be discussed, including the storage, data exchange, portability, and data standards of micro-credentials and proposed EU Standard of constitutive elements of micro-credentials. The third chapter is devoted to the institutional readiness to issue and to recognize digital and micro-credentials. Universities need strategic decisions and procedures ready to be enacted for assessment of open learning and issuing micro-credentials. The administrative and academic staff needs to be aware and confident to follow these procedures while keeping the quality assurance procedures in place, as well. The process needs to include increasing teacher awareness in the processes of open learning assessment and the role of micro-credentials for the competitiveness of lifelong learners in general. When the strategic documents and procedures to assess open learning are in place and the staff is ready and well aware of the processes, the description of the courses and the virtual learning environment needs to be prepared to provide the necessary metadata for the assessment of open learning and issuing of micro-credentials. Different innovation-driven projects offer solutions: OEPass developed a pilot Learning Passport, based on European Diploma Supplement, MicroHE developed a portal Credentify for displaying, verifying and sharing micro-credential data. Credentify platform is using Blockchain technology and is developed to comply with European Qualifications Framework. Institutions, willing to join Credentify platform, should make strategic discussions to apply micro-credential metadata standards. The ECCOE project building on outcomes of OEPass and MicroHE offers an all-encompassing set of quality descriptors for credentials and the descriptions of learning opportunities in higher education. The third chapter also describes the requirements for university structures to interact with the Europass digital credentials infrastructure. In 2020, European Commission launched a new Europass platform with Digital Credential Infrastructure in place. Higher education institutions issuing micro-credentials linked to Europass digital credentials infrastructure may offer added value for the learners and can increase reliability and fraud-resistant information for the employers. However, before using Europass Digital Credentials, universities should fulfil the necessary preconditions that include obtaining a qualified electronic seal, installing additional software and preparing the necessary data templates. Moreover, the virtual learning environment needs to be prepared to export learning outcomes to a digital credential, maintaining and securing learner authentication. Open learning opportunity descriptions also need to be adjusted to transfer and match information for the credential meta-data. The Fourth chapter illustrates how digital badges as a type of micro-credentials in open online learning assessment may be used in higher education to create added value for the learners and employers. An adequately provided metadata allows using digital badges as a valuable tool for recognition in all learning settings, including formal, non-formal and informal.