Different Types Of Staff Research Articles

Gauging the roles of parliamentary staff

Abstract There is a small but growing literature on the staffs working in national parliaments. These are mostly single-country studies studying one role that staff can play or one principal that they serve. Our contribution provides a comprehensive measurement instrument of the role of parliamentary staff, which takes into account organisational diversity within and between parliaments. We recognise four types of staff that may be present to a greater or lesser extent in different parliaments, which have different principals (PPG staff, personal staff, plenary or committee staff). These different staffs can play different roles (information broker, advisor, ghostwriter, compromise facilitator and marketeer). We apply this typology to the Dutch lower house and find out how different types of staff combine multiple roles in practice.

Pilot testing fentanyl test strip distribution in an emergency department setting: Experiences, lessons learned, and suggestions from staff.

Fentanyl test strips (FTSs) are increasingly used to address fentanyl contamination of the illicit drug supply by testing a drug for the presence of fentanyl, allowing people who use drugs (PWUD) to engage in overdose prevention. While emergency departments (EDs) have implemented various harm reduction strategies for PWUD, to date distribution of FTSs in EDs is limited and not evaluated. Thus, we sought to explore ED staff experiences distributing FTSs. Twenty-one staff serving different roles (e.g., physician, nurse, technician, social worker, certified recovery specialist) within two urban EDs in a major metropolitan area were enrolled in a pilot study to distribute FTS to patients who use drugs. Participants were interviewed about their experience at 3 weeks and again at 3 months. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and coded using a conventional content analysis approach. All participants endorsed the utility of FTS distribution in the ED. Across 42 interviews, participants discussed evolving strategies to approach patients about FTS, primarily favorable patient reactions to FTSs, improved dynamics between participants and patients, mixed intervention support from other staff, and named challenges of FTS distribution and recommendations to make FTS distribution in the ED widespread. Recommendations included medical records prompts to offer FTS, offering via different types of staff, and offering FTS during triage. Implementing FTS distribution may improve patient rapport while providing patients with tools to avoid a fentanyl overdose. Participants generally reported positive experiences distributing FTSs within the ED but the barriers they identified limited opportunities to make distribution more integrated into their workflow. EDs considering this intervention should train staff on FTSs and how to identify and train patients and explore mechanisms to routinize distribution in the ED environment.

An empirical study of the development of types of educational staff's self-efficacy during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected educational organizations. Therefore, studying the psychological factors that can increase educational organization staff's efficiency during the pandemic is very relevant to the present day and socially significant. Aim: to empirically investigate the development of different types of educational staff's self-efficacy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods. J. Maddux and M. Scheer The Level of Self-Efficacy (modified by L. Boyarintseva), Short Occupational Self-Efficacy (adapted by O. Kredentser), and a passport-questionnaire. Results. There is an insufficient level of development of all types of staff' self-efficacy in educational organizations. Particularly low self-efficacy has been found in teaching subjects. Staff's organizational and professional characteristics (work experience, position, qualification category) and socio-demographic characteristics (marital status) are associated with different types of staff's self-efficacy. There is also a close relationship between staff's self-efficacy and the characteristics of educational organizations. Conclusions. The obtained data necessitate the creation of special psychological technologies for the development of various types of educational staff's self-efficacy.

Associations Among Job Role, Training Type, and Staff Turnover in a Large-Scale Implementation Initiative.

Staff turnover is problematic for behavioral health agencies implementing evidence-based practices (EBPs), which are costly and time-consuming. The current study examined the association between EBP training methods and turnover and explored predictors of turnover for different types of staff. Participants (100 clinicians, 50 supervisors, 50 administrators) were randomized to one of three training conditions for an EBP. Results indicated low annual rates of turnover for clinicians, supervisors, and administrators. However, contrary to hypothesis, no statistically significant differences were found in rates of turnover across training conditions. Partially consistent with prior research, organizational climate was a significant predictor of supervisor and administrator turnover at 24months, but was not a significant predictor of clinician turnover. Implications and future directions for research are discussed.

Competitive Risks in the Sharing Economy and the European Union Market Regulation

The massive reduction of costs due to efficient platform brokerage has allowed the “collaborative commons” to expand and evolve, and also to create new and very efficient markets: the so-called “sharing economy”. However, bigger and more efficient sharing platforms also have some drawbacks, such as the concern that these powerful digital brokers could harm fair competition. Nevertheless, economic models seem to support the idea that digital platforms have rarely inhibited the emergence of competitors, nor do they seem to be extracting predatory benefits by abusing their position to the detriment of consumers. This relative lack of risk has pushed competition authorities across Europe to promote the new collaborative business models, regardless of other potential risks: not only the competitive risks, but also the social ones. Both deserve greater and more careful analysis. In order to produce such an analysis, it would be necessary for the competition authorities to be institutionally reshaped and reinforced with different types of staff. Also, a more ambitious vision of the competitive issues, which combines both economic and social issues, would be required.

Community health centers employ diverse staffing patterns, which can provide productivity lessons for medical practices.

Community health centers are at the forefront of ambulatory care practices in their use of nonphysician clinicians and team-based primary care. We examined medical staffing patterns, the contributions of different types of staff to productivity, and the factors associated with staffing at community health centers across the United States. We identified four different staffing patterns: typical, high advanced-practice staff, high nursing staff, and high other medical staff. Overall, productivity per staff person was similar across the four staffing patterns. We found that physicians make the greatest contributions to productivity, but advanced-practice staff, nurses, and other medical staff also contribute. Patterns of community health center staffing are driven by numerous factors, including the concentration of clinicians in communities, nurse practitioner scope-of-practice laws, and patient characteristics such as insurance status. Our findings suggest that other group medical practices could incorporate more nonphysician staff without sacrificing productivity and thus profitability. However, the new staffing patterns that evolve may be affected by characteristics of the practice location or the types of patients served.

Maintenance: organizational modes, activities and health and safety. Use of a French national survey and in-situ analyses

Maintenance activities are identified as critical both to operator safety and to systems safety and reliability. However, it is still difficult to identify maintenance workers in French occupational accident and disease statistics. Moreover, few analyses of these activities and of organizational changes in this field have been conducted. This paper presents two different approaches to this same issue. Analyses were aimed firstly at identifying the occupational exposures of these operators and at comparing them with occupational exposures of production staff and, secondly at developing understanding of normal real maintenance activities, i.e. maintenance activities that are normally actually carried out, while taking into account the socio-technical system and maintenance organization within which they lie.The use of the French SUMER 2003 survey shows that occupational exposures of maintenance staff to various constraints are more frequent than occupational exposures of their production colleagues. However, maintenance staff appear to have greater independence. Analyses were also conducted in a subcontracting urban public transport company, who outsources some maintenance work. Those analyses highlight a complex network of companies involved in maintenance activities, a substantial number of work interruptions and a significant fragmentation of the internal technicians’ activities that can be cognitively costly, reduce anticipation possibilities and lead to incidents or accidents. Above all they underline internal technicians’ contributions to the completion of outsourced interventions and interdependent relationships between the activities of the internal and the external technicians.Outsourcing maintenance interventions thus raises the question of risks associated with the interdependence of actual work activities undertaken by the different types of staff, since they contribute to the same maintenance intervention. This study therefore pinpoints the need to integrate inter-organizational interactions in order to understand the variability of maintenance activities and its relationships with reliability and safety. In this respect, some suggestions are provided with a prevention aim.

Children in hospital

Bristol NHS Foundation Trust has developed a child-friendly website to prepare children for what to expect when going to hospital. Operations, tests, scans, X-rays and medicines are explained in a straightforward way. A ‘who’s who’ is provided to help children identify the different types of staff.

The Laboratory Workforce Shortage

Most clinical laboratories in the nation report severe difficulties in recruitment and retention of most types of personnel. Other important factors impacting this problem include work complexities, increased automation, and a graying workforce. As a further challenge, institutional needs for clinical laboratory personnel are expected to grow significantly in the next decade. This article examines the current situation of the clinical laboratory workforce. It analyzes the different types of personnel; the managerial, supervision, and line positions that are key for different types of laboratories; the job outlook and recent projections for different types of staff; and the current issues, trends, and challenges of the laboratory workforce. Laboratory managers need to take action with strategies suggested for overcoming these challenges. Most importantly, they need to become transformational leaders by developing effective staffing models, fostering healthy and productive work environments, and creating value with a strategic management culture and implementation of knowledge management.

The relationship between staff skill mix, costs and outcomes in intermediate care services

BackgroundThe purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between skill mix, patient outcomes, length of stay and service costs in older peoples' intermediate care services in England.MethodsWe undertook multivariate analysis of data collected as part of the National Evaluation of Intermediate Care Services. Data were analysed on between 337 and 403 older people admitted to 14 different intermediate care teams. Independent variables were the numbers of different types of staff within a team and the ratio of support staff to professionally qualified staff within teams. Outcome measures include the Barthel index, EQ-5D, length of service provision and costs of care.ResultsIncreased skill mix (raising the number of different types of staff by one) is associated with a 17% reduction in service costs (p = 0.011). There is weak evidence (p = 0.090) that a higher ratio of support staff to qualified staff leads to greater improvements in EQ-5D scores of patients.ConclusionsThis study provides limited evidence on the relationship between multidisciplinary skill mix and outcomes in intermediate care services.

Building for Business Knowledge: Constructing a New Business School in the Heart of London

An account is given of the planning and construction of the new award-winning building to house the Cass Business School, City of London (formerly the Business School of City University), opened in May 2003, from the viewpoint of the way in which considerations of information and knowledge management permeated the fundamental concept of the building as well as its detailed design features. A major aim of the building was that it should serve as: a world class place for staff, students and visitors to create and share knowledge; a comfortable, efficient and sustainable building; a visible symbol of the organization’s goal to be the intellectual hub of the City of London; a building that helps staff to achieve cultural change internally by breaking down barriers between departments and between different types of staff; and a flexible building capable of being adapted to changing models of learning/teaching or changing economic circumstances. Three additional concepts emerged from the design process: that it should be the intellectual hub of the City of London; that it should combine the very best of technology with a great diversity of opportunities for face-to-face interaction; and that there should be full commercial flexibility. Concludes that the design process benefited greatly from innovative work by researchers, architects, universities and other organizations worldwide that are concerned with knowledge work. The outcome was an acceptance that there is no one right way to design a modern university but each organization needs to carry out its own strategic review to decide what it wants the building to achieve, before there can be any consideration of detailed design work.

The reliability and validity of the American Board of Internal Medicine Monthly Evaluation Form.

To report indicators of reliability and validity of the American Board of Internal Medicine Evaluation Form (ABIM-MEF) at one institution (Wright-Patterson Medical Center). Completed ABIM-MEFs from 1990-1999 were reviewed. Reliability measures included Cronbach alpha, interrater reliability, and rating consistency between different types of staff and rotations. Construct validity was investigated by tracking ABIM-MEF scores over time and with factor analysis. Predictive validity was assessed by correlating ABIM-MEF scores with the In-training Examination and ABIM Certifying Examination results The 71 residents averaged 12 ABIM-MEFs per year. The forms had a Cronbach alpha of 0.96 and high interrater reliability (intraclass correlation coefficients > 0.80). Ratings did not differ by type of attending or rotation, except that noninternists rated residents lower on procedural skills. ABIM-MEF questions about judgment, knowledge, and clinical skills showed significant improvement from month to month during each academic year as well as year to year. In contrast, questions on professional attitudes, humanism, and procedural skills sections improved between postgraduate year 1 and postgraduate year 2 only. ABIM-MEF questions collapsed into two domains in factor analysis: judgment-knowledge-skills and attitude-humanism. ABIM-MEF questions from judgment and knowledge sections modestly predicted In-training Examination and ABIM Certifying Examination results. In contrast, professional attitude, humanism, and clinical as well as procedural skill questions had little discriminative ability. The ABIM-MEF appears to be reliable and valid. Further, factor analysis results support the ABIM's movement to simplify the monthly evaluation form to the new Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education core competencies.

Women's perceptions of maternity carers

Objective: to investigate women's perceptions about the roles of different types of staff providing maternity care. Design: a descriptive study using screening questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Setting: two hospitals in the north of England, one in a predominantly urban, inner-city area and the other in a mixed urban-rural area. Participants: 537 women between 16 and 24 weeks' gestation from two hospitals serving urban and rural areas completed screen questionnaires, and 247 (46%) were interviewed in their homes. In this paper we report on the findings of the interview study. Findings: the majority of women were clear about the role of the midwife in the maternity care of all women. Obstetricians were primarily perceived as being there to provide specialist or emergency care. Many women were uncertain about the specific role of their GP in maternity care. There was variation in women's views about whether different types of staff are qualified to perform particular tasks. Implications for practice: women need information about the roles and functions of maternity carers in order to make choices about their care.