International Profession Research Articles

Prescribing antibiotics prudently—A survey of policy implementation drivers among physicians and veterinarians

BackgroundAs the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) problem accelerates, humans and animals are suffering from the consequences of infections with diminishing antimicrobial treatment options. Within the One Medicine and One Health mandate, which denotes a collaborative, multisectoral, and transdisciplinary approach to improve medicine and health across human and animal sectors, we investigate how human and veterinary medical practitioners apply their medical and policy knowledge in prescribing antimicrobials. Different regions and locations establish different intermediary policies and programs to support clinicians in that pursuit. In Hong Kong, there are locally adapted programs at governance and clinical levels in the human medical field. However, there is no locally adapted veterinary antibiotic prescription guideline or stewardship program, and veterinarians adopt overseas or international professions' antimicrobial use guidelines. Such a policy environment creates a natural experiment to compare local policy implementation conditions and clinicians' knowledge, perception, and practice. MethodWe construct the investigative survey tool by adaptation of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice (KAP) and Capacity, Opportunity, and Motivation-Behavior (COMB) models. We identify, compare and contrast factors that influence clinicians' antimicrobial prescription behavior. The factors are considered both intrinsically, such as personal attributes, and extrinsically, such as societal and professional norms. FindingsThe absence of locally adopted antimicrobial guidelines influences AMR stewardship program implementation in local Hong Kong veterinary community. As medical allies, physicians and veterinarians share similar demographic influence, organization considerations and perception of public awareness. Both cohorts prescribe more prudently with more years-in-practice, time available to communicate with patients or caretakers, and public awareness and support.

Social Work and Intractable Conflict: Professional Experiences and Role Perceptions

Abstract Social workers worldwide share a common framework and mission: to provide aid to those in need and promote social justice. Yet as an international profession, both global and local realities contribute to the unique ways in which the profession is understood and practised in various locations. This article considers the broad issue of how local and global realities shape social workers’ understanding of the profession using the case of Israeli-Jewish social workers as an exemplar. Narrative and life story methods were used to understand individual life stories within collective political and professional contexts. Sixteen Jewish-Israeli social workers participated in two, individual zoom interviews each in which they described becoming a social worker and practising in the context of an intractable conflict, the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Three approaches to social work practice emerged, suggesting that social work in Israel has shifted away from applying ecological perspectives, limiting both how social workers understand their roles and how they practise. Recommendations for incorporating a politically aware framework to social work practice, research and education are discussed.

Cariology and Endodontology in China forges ahead together with Chinese Journal of Stomatology

The articles related to Cariology and Endodontology published in Chinese Journal of Stomatology from August 1953 to July 2023 were summarized. Total 1 247 articles accounting for 12.5% of the journal's publications were involved, which reflected the progress of Cariology and Endodontology in China. The publications of five pioneers and nine chairmen of Chinese Stomatological Association Society of Cariology and Endodontology were also recorded. Whether in clinical diagnosis and treatment or cutting-edge scientific research of Cariology and Endodontology, China is catching up with or has exceeded the international professions. Over the past 70 years, China has made outstanding achievements in dental caries and endodontics. Regards to occlusal diseases, dental developmental diseases, pulp biology, pulp and periradicular diseases, and operative dentistry, a significant progress also has been made. While the articles published in the Chinese Journal of Stomatology represent only a portion of the approaches within Cariology and Endodontology, they nonetheless provide valuable insights into the development of these fields in China.

INTERNATIONAL MIDWIFERY, OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

Midwifery is an international profession and many midwives make the decision to move away from the UK to live and work. I was one of them. I loved my job as an NHS midwife, I valued my professional autonomy, training and the expansive knowledge and wisdom of the birth workers surrounding me. However, I wanted to fulfil my life personally. In 2013, whilst avoiding ‘adulthood’, I moved to Australia.

Göç İçin Karar Verme Sürecinde Üç Temel Faktör: Karar Kalitesi, Uygulama, Zamanlama

In the decision-making process in Tabak (2020) model, three factors must be met to be successful: Decision quality, implementation, and timing. In the article, the predictions of this decision-making model were observed on immigrants. It has been determined that those who managed to migrate act in harmony with this model. Before making a decision, the individual knows the reasons for going, examines the countries receiving immigration and collects resources. In this process, acquiring an international profession, working in an international company, learning a foreign language, visiting the target country, catching job opportunities and acquiring a social environment are the best practices of the preparation period. Migrating as a career professional or learning a profession in the place of migration facilitates the migration process. In practice, perseverance, tolerance for uncertainties, using opportunities in the country of immigration, attending language or education programs first, and leaving family members one by one bring success. In terms of timing, being young, single, childless, a child at a young age and beginning of his/her career help to move faster and more flexible.

NEW GENERATION YOUNG FIREFIGHTERS

This study was carried out in order to find out the deficiencies, wishes and thoughts of the students of the Civil Defense and Fire Department of 39 universities in our country after they started to work in various fire departments of our country after they graduated. It is intended to help us gain fresh insights into what they see and what their future goals are. It will be tried to understand the effects of the 302-year-old Turkish fire brigades' transition from traditional management to modern management with the Republic, as well as the effects of young firefighters on the management, along with the effects on the new generation of young firefighters. Since fire brigades are dynamic organizations that work for 24 hours, firefighters have their own free time in the headquarters, when there is no disaster or emergency, during these 24 hours. What do the new generation of young firefighters spend their free time doing? What kind of work do they do for their own personal development? Although these differences do not prevent the establishment of bridges between generations, they provide a generational richness. In life, every person has something to learn from other people, and every person has something to teach other people. Since firefighting is an international profession, there is a professional brotherhood. Firefighters all over the world are real heroes who rush to the aid of people and creatures such as fires, floods, earthquakes, traffic accidents, forest fires, animal rescues. The importance given to fire brigades actually parallels the importance given to human life and nature. This study attaches importance to the belief that the new generation young firefighters with merit, who are the biggest candidates to add value to the fire brigades in our country, will add value to the fire brigades, as well as the value that the fire brigades will bring to them. Keywords: Young firefighters, Fire Brigades, Civil Defense and Firefighting

Reimagining Social Work Ancestry: Toward Epistemic Decolonization

Contextualizing disciplinary histories through the personal stories of forerunners creates compelling narratives of the craft of evolving professions. By looking to our intellectual and practitioner ancestors, we participate in a dialogue with a history that shapes our contemporary professional identities and aspirations for the future. Grounded in a decolonizing approach to social work, this article examines how the discipline shapes its professional identity and ways of knowing by centering the role of canonical founders in the social work curriculum. The global social work origin story in the curriculum often centers on Anglo-American ancestors that illustrate the development of the disciplinary boundaries of the international profession. One method of decolonizing social work epistemology at the intersection of ancestors and professional lineage could be to look to public history as a pedagogical tool in the curriculum. The article concludes by examining the use of podcasts as having the potential to decolonize the process of collecting, analyzing, and disseminating local knowledge of ancestors thus challenging the top-down approach to expert-driven epistemologies.

Public sector accounting education and training as supportive mechanisms of the ongoing accrual-based accounting reforms

This article explores the major challenges surrounding the ongoing wave of public sector accrual accounting reforms. In particular, this paper sheds light on the importance of training and skill development as essential components of capacity-building and discusses the crucial role educational institutions play in laying the basis of a sound Public Sector Accounting (PSA) body of knowledge. The article also provides recommendations based on studies and reports conducted by international organizations, standards-setting bodies, and accountancy profession institutions as well as capitalizing on the experience of leading countries in the public financial management field

The invisible stigmatisation of female practitioners in international arbitration

AbstractThe paper is a study of the gender-based stigmatisation process of elite professionals in an international legal field. It uses commercial arbitration as an example of an international profession and adds to the prevalent understanding of gender inequality by developing a framework called ‘invisible stigmatisation’. The main theoretical framework is supported by twenty-two semi-structured interviews conducted across five international arbitration jurisdictions and two original datasets. These data have helped to contextualise the nuances of gender-based stigmatisation in prestigious arbitral appointments and at the echelons of international arbitration law firms. The paper establishes that the stigmatising experiences drive elite female professionals and their gender-equality consciousness. These experiences also lead to them devise innovative strategies to minimise the effects of gender inequality on their professional lives.

Silver linings: A thematic analysis of case studies describing advances in health professions education during the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose In addition to the damaging public health, social and economic effects of COVID-19, health professions faculty around the world have faced staggering upheaval in the education of their students and junior doctors. Despite the formidable challenges, some silver linings have emerged in health professions education. The paper aims to describe themes from reflections of international health professions educators on these silver linings using an appreciative inquiry framework. Materials and methods We performed a qualitative analysis of written reflections from a group of 115 international educators from medicine, nursing, dentistry, and the allied health professions describing a personal experience with an educational approach or work strategy arising during the COVID-19 pandemic that should be sustained. Results We identified 13 thematic units of reflections regarding advances in health professions education during the pandemic. The most notably optimistic and pioneering were Advancement of the Profession, Professional Connections, and Accelerating Change. Other frequent themes included unexpected successes in Virtual Teaching and Clinical Teaching. Conclusion Several points of optimism from this otherwise catastrophic world event have emerged. This analysis serves as a useful guide for further research to understand, sustain and promote positive changes during a global pandemic on health professions education.

The perception of counselling services through the lens of college faculty in China

AbstractCounselling has become a growing profession in many countries around the world and is now viewed as an international profession. Gaining insights into the perceptions of college professors on counselling has been an ongoing challenge. With the high number of international students, particularly those from China, the purpose of this study was to describe the perceptions of professional counselling held by Chinese professors in China. The authors identified six themes that made up the essence of the Chinese faculty's perceptions of professional counselling: roles of college counsellors in China; common challenges that brought Chinese college students to counselling; Chinese professors’ expectations of college counsellors; training and requirements of college counsellors; credentials and experience of counsellor supervisors; and future development of college counselling in China. The results led the authors to note that research focused on the intersections of specific cultures and the basic foundations of counselling is needed so that counselling becomes a more relevant means to improving mental health around the world.

Measuring impacts of continuing professional development (CPD): The development of the CPD impacts survey (CPDIS)

Introduction Evaluating continuing professional development (CPD) programs is essential to demonstrate their value to participants and their institutions, and to inform the improvement and quality of CPD programs. Existing surveys measure a narrow range of impacts. This study developed a survey that can measure a broad range of impacts of CPD programs, not just those that are easily measured such as knowledge, skills, attitudes and confidence. Method The development of the CPD Impacts Survey (CPDIS) was informed by best practice guidelines. A systematic scoping review, qualitative interviews, and existing survey instruments were used to develop the initial survey items. Past participants from two international health professions education institutes completed the survey (n = 292). Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to refine the survey. Results The PCA provided a three-component solution. Component 1 (learnings and self-efficacy), Component 2 (networking and building community), and Component 3 (achievement and validation) comprising 47, 14, and 13 items, respectively. The three components had high internal consistency (α = .98, α = .95, α = .92, respectively). Conclusion The CPDIS is the first survey to assess a broader range of impacts of CPD programs. Given the substantial financial and opportunity costs of participation in CPD, the CPDIS will allow more efficient and accurate evaluation of the utility and value of CPD programs.

Professional regulatory entanglement: the curious case of project management in Italy

Abstract Growth in the internationalization of economic activity has favoured an increase in institutional control at a supranational level. A typical example of such institutions that wield this control is corporate professions such as Project Management (PM). Attempting to replicate the successful strategies of the collegial professions but embracing advantages presented by global markets, corporate professions is confronted by the dilemma of how to reconcile the demands of stakeholders at both national and global levels. This research investigates an international corporate profession, PM, and its development within Italy using a historical case study. Results shows an increase in the number of regulations faced by international corporate professions as they attempt to satisfy a number of different institutions (and their competing agendas) while attempting to colonize a national context. This we define as ‘professional regulatory entanglement’. It concludes that what was once a simple bargain involving two actors, the state and the profession, with a long established, commonly agreed and mutually beneficial agenda is now a much more complex system involving multiple actors and a number of competing agendas and this results in the homogenization of professional practice across the globe.

Research on The Construction of Japanese Curriculum System for Foreign-Related Secretarial Major in Technology-Based Universities Based on Computer Multimedia Technology and Multicultural Background

Foreign secretary is an international profession. With the strengthening of the trend of global economic integration, the foreign-related secretarial major is faced with many problems that need to be solved in terms of personnel training objectives and all-round improvement of personnel’s comprehensive quality. From the basic attribute of foreign secretary, its global industry attribute makes the degree of internationalization become one of the most important standards. This paper discusses the occupation characteristics.

An international profession with commonalities and differences: Social work responses to COVID-19 where local is global and vice versa

Both in the professional field and in the international academia, we always say that social work is an international profession with local practice and global implications. Of course, we have formed a few international or regional social work organisations for the pursuit of our ideals and exchange of ideas, such as the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW), International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW) and International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW). In fact, our International Social Work (ISW), as a professional and academic journal, is serving as a platform and network for sharing and advancing the mission of the social work profession globally by revisiting, researching and reflecting on local social work practice in different parts of the world. In this forum, perspectives on concepts, content, contacts and constructs of meaning are examined by the global social work community.

Why they do it: a study into the motivations of social workers volunteering with migrants for Social Workers Without Borders

In response to the increase in international migration to Europe over recent years, questions have arisen on how social work practice can respond to the safeguarding risks in migrant camps at borders and to those within the UK who are denied or have restricted access to services. Social Workers Without Borders (SWWB) is a group of volunteers using their professional skills in this context. A qualitative study into the motivations of some of these social workers sought to better understand and theorise the group’s work. The research found that practitioners identified strongly with values of social justice, driving their practice within SWWB and elsewhere. Social work as a profession was conceived of as essentially political, having a role to play in making change on a societal level, along with supporting individuals. SWWB was found to provide an opportunity for participants to practice in a way which they felt was in accordance with their personal values and was effective with migrants. The organisation is described as offering an important critical space for contemporary social work practice with migrants and as a vehicle for a collective professional voice. Several participants placed their work with SWWB in the context of social work as an international profession, whose shared values have the potential to respond to the pressures of hostile immigration policies of national governments.

The Evolution of Project Management in Iceland: The Path to a Profession - Paper 1 of 3

The birth of project management as discipline during the mid 20th century was not the birth of a profession, but rather an important enhancement of planning techniques to tackle temporary and timelimited endeavors. Project management has since evolved and matured to be currently recognized as an important international profession with unique accredited procedures, international standards, best practice references and theoretical platforms. Iceland is an interesting example of how the path to a profession is paved in a developed Western society. Entrepreneurs channeled international development into business-driven projects, and the academia followed the suit. Iceland currently has a thriving forum for project management as a professional discipline. This development is arguably best displayed by some impressive educational programs that were developed by path-finding consultants, within universities and post-graduate study lines, and in the increasing demand for professional project managers in most areas of public and private sectors. However, it is also noteworthy that in one specific domain Iceland is atypical among countries often seen as international benchmarks, e.g. Norway, the UK and Sweden, and that is the fractional public project governance framework, which might also explain why the Icelandic Project Management Association has not yet fully actualized its full potential as a professional leader for project management in Iceland.

From national to European frameworks for understanding the role of occupational health and safety (OHS) specialists

An important phase in the development of a new profession is the process of comparison of the tasks, education, training, certification and regulation of its proponents across different countries, to understand whether there are sufficient commonalities to call it a recognised international profession. This paper traces in particular the processes and results of comparisons of OHS specialists’ roles, functions and knowledge and skills requirements. The work was conducted under the auspices of the International Social Security Association (ISSA) and the European Network of Safety and Health Professional Organisations (ENSHPO and its precursors). The paper starts with a historical review of European collaboration in this field and a description of the ways in which relevant data were collected and analysed to provide insights into the role and functions of OHS specialists in Europe. The paper describes how these insights were captured into the criteria for professionalisation and a voluntary certification process at a pan-European level.

Health Education and Its (Social) Scientization in the 1950s and 1960s

The contemporary history of prevention is booming. By means of its preventative societal handling of health and illness, it illuminates exemplarily the transformation in concepts, institutions, and practice of the biopolitical governing of populations. In this regard health education is adecisive technology. However, up until now the history of health education, especially with regard to its methodological transformation during this period, as well as the relations between international developments and national adaption, has not been well studied. This gap will be filled to acertain extent by means of quantitative and qualitative analysis of three different anglophone journals. During the 1950s an international professional discourse was established, which constituted ascientific occupational area. This clearly required moving away from the traditional German model of ademonstrative mediation of medical knowledge, mainly through exhibitions, and to focus on the integration of knowledge and methodology from the social sciences. From the perspective of the BehaviouralSciences human action and the possibility of it being influenced were integrated within anetwork of mutual influencing factors: apparently only survey research on health attitudes and motivation as well as on its own efficacy could enable the health educators to successfully understand and change human behaviour-the prioritized purpose of health education. Through such adetermination of purpose, means, and relevant knowledge, which was differently received and institutionalized in the FRG as well as in the GDR, the actors of the discourse assured themselves to be part of an international profession of health educators. However, more research and the implementation of their results did not fulfill their hopes of finding "recipes for steering human" behaviour.

Genuine and false pre-consolidation and yield pressures

“It remains a mystery why the international profession still uses the awkward e-log p plots, and the incomplete and useless coefficient Cc which is not even determined from the measured data, but from a constructed line outside the measurements”. These are the words of Nilmar Janbu (1998). This paper does not solve the mystery; what it does is highlight the issue behind the mystery in the hope that the profession will face up to the defects of the log scale. An examination is made of oedometer test results when plotted to both scales. Examples are given for sedimentary and residual clays, and sands. It is shown that the e-logp plot routinely produces graphs from which pre-consolidation pressures or yield pressures can be determined. However, when plotted using an arithmetic (linear) scale, this apparent pre-consolidation or yield pressure is found, in most cases, to disappear. It is a false value created by the way the data are plotted. The paper does not deny that pre-consolidation or yield pressures exist in many soils; it gives examples for each of the soil types listed above. It is recommended that the term “yield pressure” be used in preference to “pre-consolidation pressure”, and that only the use of a linear scale will reveal whether such a pressure exists.