Job-specific Training Research Articles

Investigate the Principles and Applications of Task-Specific Training in Neuro-Physiotherapy Rehabilitation

In India, the third leading cause of mortality is a neurological damage known as a stroke, which happens when blood flow to the brain is interrupted. Disabilities in the hands and legs are among the most prevalent effects of stroke on humans. Exercise and rehabilitation are crucial in the healing process after a stroke. While there are a variety of exercises that may help with stroke management, job specific training is a typical recommendation. Proprioceptive Neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) is another prominent approach utilised in Proprioceptive Neuromuscular facilitation (PNF). Evidence for the efficacy of task-specific training in neurological rehabilitation is growing. Stroke patients' quality of life was the primary outcome of this research, which sought to identify the impact of an ICF model-based exercise programme that was both task- and context-based. Mann Whitney U test, intention to treat analysis, and repeated measures ANOVA with generalised estimating equations using the log link function was used to analyse the data. Patients were surveyed in a more casual setting to assess feasibility. Patients' reports of pleasure, their level of adherence to the exercise programme, and the absence of adverse events all pointed to the program's viability. Stroke patients living in the community may have benefited more from an exercise programme that focused on the structure/function, activity, and involvement domains of the ICF than from traditional physiotherapy, according to one research. So, it's clear that while creating an intervention, it's important to concentrate on all of the ICF domains. Stroke patients were able to benefit from a fitness programme that was both task and context driven.

EVOLUTION OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN IRAQI BANKS (A FIELD RESEARCH)

This research aimed to seek answers to its inquiries from senior levels and experts in human resource development. It originated from a problem stating that acquiring a competent banking workforce is not an easy task, and sustaining this workforce with the necessary experiences and knowledge is also challenging. In Iraq, the banking system is relatively new, with the emergence of private banks starting after 2003. These banks require competent human resources, and there is a need to acquire, sustain, and develop these resources. The research hypothesis stated that "planning, recruitment, training, and compensation influence the evolution of human resource management in the Iraqi banking sector." The descriptive-analytical method was employed by constructing a questionnaire distributed to six Iraqi banks, with a total of 10 questionnaires per bank. A total of 56 valid questionnaires were retrieved for analysis. The study found that training programs determined by the human resource management primarily depend on the needs and requirements of each position, taking into consideration industry advancements in the banking sector when designing training programs. It recommended that human resource management in Iraqi banks should keep pace with industry advancements to incorporate them into training programs, while ensuring that general training covers industry-wide developments, while job-specific training is tailored to the requirements of each position

College Major Area and Career Commitment: Rethinking STEAM in Educational-Vocational Guidance

Objective: The exigency for higher education to exhibit outcomes aligning with career competencies has intensified, driven by external pressures favoring job-specific training. Amidst shifting career tendencies of Generations Y and Z and the advent of artificial intelligence-led automation, the valuation of different college majors has come under scrutiny. This study aims to dissect the prevailing assumptions and explore the satisfaction and career commitment levels among individuals with career-focused degrees. Methods: Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, the study delves into the relationships among areas of study, career commitment, self-esteem, and self-efficacy among alumni from a private Midwestern liberal arts college. Instruments like Core Self-Evaluations, Career Commitment, and Career Reconsiderations facilitated data collection from graduates over the past three decades. Results: Findings underscore higher career connectedness for Arts and Humanities and Physical and Social Sciences graduates compared to Business majors. Conversely, Business majors exhibited a significant surge in career reconsideration, suggesting a potential disconnect or regret among this cohort, possibly owing to the dynamic nature of the business field. Conclusion: The data advocates for a recalibrated approach in vocational guidance aligning with educational majors, promoting data-informed decision-making among stakeholders. The variation in career connectedness and reconsideration across different study fields necessitates a nuanced approach in educational and vocational counseling to enhance alignment with long-term career satisfaction and commitment, preparing students aptly for the evolving job market landscape.

Individual and Systemic Barriers Blocking Community Health Workers from Helping the Seriously Ill.

Background: Palliative care is a valuable component of health care that improves a patient's quality of life, yet its availability to patients with serious chronic illness remains relatively low. Due to their knowledge of community preferences and ability to improve patient education and access to care, community health workers (CHWs) can increase palliative care usage by patients. Notably, barriers to CHWs helping patients with serious chronic illness remain poorly understood. Objective: Explore the perception of barriers CHWs feel they face when attempting to support the health care of patients with serious chronic illness. Design: Qualitative semistructured individual interviews of CHWs and qualitative descriptive analysis. Setting/Subjects: Twelve CHWs who have worked with patients with serious chronic illness were recruited from the Johns Hopkins Healthcare LLC and the Baltimore Alliance for Careers in Healthcare organizations to virtually participate. Results: CHWs perceived both active and passive barriers that obstructed their efforts to work with seriously ill patients. CHWs shared that these barriers were dependent on themselves, their peers, and their work environments. Prevalent themes included interprofessional conflict, poor health care worker understanding of the CHW's role, and lack of access to quality resource organizations. CHWs noted job-specific training, better means to identify needed resources for patients, and inclusive health care teams as solutions to support their professional goals, while helping patients with serious illness. Conclusions: There are multiple perceived barriers to CHWs helping seriously ill patients. CHWs aiding patients with serious illness can be supported through better job training, better resource management tools, and improved communication between health care team members.

Self-care methods of social workers working in end-of-life care

INTRODUCTION: Most people experience some form of grief and loss during their lifetimes; some even choose to work amongst it every day. Navigating through the effects of this can be an arduous task on a personal level, but what about on a professional level? Social workers are becoming more prominent in end-of-life settings and, whilst they often are well versed in self- care, how does this change when working around death and dying on a daily basis? This study sought to explore these questions and gain a greater understanding of social workers. METHODS: This is a qualitative research study where three semi-structured interviews of social workers working in end-of-life (EOL) care were conducted to explore their perspectives of self- care regarding their profession, and to gain a greater understanding of what is beneficial for them and what requires more work. FINDINGS: All participants had both personal and professional self-care journeys that have enabled them to avoid burnout or compassion fatigue during their careers. Whilst each participant had had some form of training on death and dying or grief and loss, there was a clear lack of job-specific training to support them through their work. CONCLUSION: This research report highlighted three key themes for EOL social workers: personal experience of death and dying; their own self-care strategies and practices; and limitations around specific training on death and dying. Results of this study urge social workers and education providers to seek out further training development and opportunities in EOL care.

Repurposing a Digital Twin-Based Decision Support System as a Training Tool by Incorporating Learning Science Principles

The U.S. Navy has a sophisticated manpower planning process for recruiting, selecting, training, and placing thousands of enlisted Sailors into hundreds of specific jobs every year. Given the large number of “moving parts” in this manpower planning process, some inefficiencies are unavoidable. For example, there may be a non-trivial time gap between when some Sailors complete their job-specific training course and when they arrive at their duty station. During this time, their knowledge and skills will invariably decay due to lack of use. Electronic job aids, such as Interactive Electronic Technical Manuals (IETMs) and Decision Support Systems (DSS), are important to mission success because they help to reduce the need for Sailors to memorize rarely used factual details. However, IETMs and DSSs are job aids, not training tools. In this paper, we describe how we repurposed an existing digital twin-based DSS to create a ubiquitous, online training tool. We did so by leveraging the learning science principles of human performance measurement, adaptive learning with scaffolding, performance feedback, and training data analytics. We conclude with a series of best practices and lessons learned that other practitioners could follow when attempting to repurpose electronic job aids that were not originally designed for training.

Predictors of employment for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities participating in a postsecondary transition program in the United States.

Previous research has shown that post-secondary collegiate vocational educational programs often have positive effects on employment outcomes for young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Using secondary data of a program in the United States collected over several years, we examined which intervention components of a postsecondary education transition program predicted subsequent employment for young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The sample consisted of 56 individuals that participated in a transition-services collegiate program; Crossing Points, University of Alabama. Results were able to robustly indicate that acquiring job-specific skills was a much better predictor than global measures of intellectual or adaptive behaviour. Additionally, survival curve analyses as an innovative approach to this population showed that there was a positive relation between the number of job-specific training sessions and eventual community employment. Results are discussed in relation to a historical parallel movement to expand inclusion of students with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the least restrictive educational setting for primary and secondary public education years. In conclusion, the results of the current study suggest positive findings with job-skills training both specific and general.

Using Medicaid to Fund and Shape Tenancy Support Services: Key Considerations From Research in North Carolina and Louisiana

Medicaid is expanding funding for tenancy support services (TSS) that help people who have experienced homelessness or lived in institutional settings obtain and maintain housing. To identify critical considerations for Medicaid TSS regulations, we compared two successful TSS provider agencies in North Carolina, and conducted additional stakeholder interviews in North Carolina and Louisiana, which is ahead of North Carolina in expanding Medicaid-funded TSS. Stakeholder concerns focused on the impact of regulation on goals of access, quality, and flexibility, and noted tensions among these goals. Specific regulatory approaches may mitigate the tension among these goals, such as outcome- and client feedback-based accountability, and an emphasis on job-specific training. Moreover, meeting the goals of access, quality, and flexibility and mitigating their trade-offs is supported by state infrastructure that includes braided funding; horizontal and vertical coordination across agencies; and the capacity for multimodal, multilevel quality assurance and multilevel training and technical assistance.

Moderating effect of project size on the relationship between COVID-19 safety protocols and economic performance of construction projects

PurposeThe COVID-19 health crisis has brought about a set of extra health and safety regulations, and procedures to the construction industry which could influence projects' economic performance (EP). The aim of this paper is to examine the effect of adopting COVID-19 safety protocols on construction sites on the economic performance (EP) of construction projects.Design/methodology/approachEmploying the survey method using a structured questionnaire, data were collected from small- and large-sized construction projects in Nigeria and analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique.FindingsThe findings reveal that job re-organization and sanitization have negative significant effects on EP, while social distancing and specific training have no effect on EP. Furthermore, project size moderates the relationship between job re-organization, sanitization, specific training and EP with the stronger effect on the relationships observed in big projects, except for the relationship between sanitization and EP where the moderating relationship is stronger in small projects. However, there is no significant moderating effect of project size on the relationship between social distancing and EP.Practical implicationsAs construction project sites continue to operate amidst strict safety protocols, this study offers theoretical and practical insights on how construction projects can adhere to the safety protocols while performing economically.Originality/valueThe originality of this study's findings stems from the fact that it is among the first to provide greater insight on how construction projects have fared economically considering the impact of the various COVID-19 protocols.

No room at the top? A system dynamics view of the recursive consequences of women's underrepresentation in international assignments

PurposeThe expatriation literature has developed an insightful body of research on the reasons why women are not assigned abroad as frequently as men. However, the authors know very little about the systemic and recursive consequences of women's underrepresentation in international assignments (IAs), which are examined in this conceptual paper.Design/methodology/approachDrawing upon expatriation research and a system dynamics perspective, the authors propose a conceptual model to explain both women's underrepresentation in IAs and its recursive consequences.FindingsThe authors highlight how women's underrepresentation in IAs results from a complex system of recursive effects that jeopardizes women's professional development and undermines both their own career progression to top management and firms' competitive advantage and international growth. The authors argue that organizations make decisions that contravene their own interest in a competitive global context. First is that they are limiting their talent pool by not considering female candidates. Second is that they are missing the opportunity to use IAs to advance women's careers.Research limitations/implicationsThe model provides a solid grounding for future research on selecting the most effective organizational actions and designing supportive measures to disrupt the persistent dynamics contributing to women's underrepresentation in IAs. Future research could also expand our study by incorporating individual differences and the proactive role that women may take.Practical implicationsThe model points to specific managerial interventions (e.g. increased access to job training and specific training ahead of the assignment, dual-career support, women's mentoring and affirmative action) which have the potential to reduce women's underrepresentation in IAs and in top management.Originality/valueThe system dynamics approach enables a broader understanding of why women are underrepresented in IAs, how this underrepresentation further exacerbates gender segregation in international business, and how these recursive outcomes can be averted to the advantage of firms' sustainable growth.

Improving laboratory quality and capacity through leadership and management training: Lessons from Zambia 2016–2018

BackgroundCompetent leadership and management are imperative for delivering quality laboratory services; however, few laboratory managers receive job-specific training in organisational management and leadership.ObjectiveTo develop and evaluate participants’ competencies in organisational leadership and management as measured through learner and laboratory quality improvement assessments.MethodsThis professional development programme employed a mentored, blended learning approach, utilising in-person didactic and online training, with the practical application of a capstone project in the laboratories. Programme impact was evaluated through a series of pre- and post-laboartory assessments using the Stepwise Laboratory Improvement Process Towards Accreditation checklist, as well as learner-competency assessments through online quizzes and discussions.ResultsFrom 2016 to 2018, 31 managers and quality officers from 16 individual laboratories graduated from the programme having completed capstone projects addressing areas in the entire laboratory testing process. Laboratories increased their compliance with the International Organization for Standardization 15189 standard and all but two laboratories significantly increased their accreditation scores. Two laboratories gained three stars, two laboratories gained two stars, and five laboratories gained one star. Five laboratories subsequently achieved International Organization for Standardization 15189 accreditation in 2019.ConclusionThis programme taught leadership theory to laboratory managers and allowed them to implement leadership and management practices in the laboratory setting. Programmes such as this complement existing laboratory quality management training programmes such as Strengthening Laboratory Management Toward Accreditation.

A national survey of hospice pharmacists and a comparison with international models.

Pharmacists can contribute to improved patient outcomes, improve medicine knowledge, reduce drug costs and minimise errors. However, their role within hospice-based services is not well described. The objective of this paper was to explore the role of pharmacists within UK hospices. Methods include an online survey and follow-up telephone contact of pharmacists working in UK hospices assessing pharmacist provision, duties, communication, medicine sourcing and training. Eighty-nine responses were received from 82 hospices (response rate 50%). Pharmacists had a role in 75% of hospices providing between 6.6 min and 5.5 hrs of pharmacist support per bed per week. The most frequent duty reported was provision of medicines information to the clinical team. Access to patient records varied considerably: 13% had full read and write access to GP records while 29% had no access. Job-specific training had not been received by 36% of the respondents and 47% reported training needs including basic training in palliative care. Three-quarters of UK hospices have pharmacy provision, although this falls below the recommended levels in the majority. Hospice pharmacists lack access to training and records. Medicines sourcing for hospices is variable and could provide opportunities for efficiencies with further research.

Importance of Career Development and Satisfaction of Job Contract Employees Amidst Pandemic (COVID-19) at the Central Luzon State University

The study is conducted involving 58 randomly selected Job Order/ Contractual Employees at the Central Luzon State University. The study focused on the importance of career development and satisfaction of job contract employees amidst pandemic (COVID-19) at the Central Luzon State University. The survey respondents were picked accordingly to availability and no further stratification was employed in a bid to generate unbiased findings. The respondents were comprised of 31 (53.4%) females, a majority (58.6%) belonging to the age bracket of 15-24 years old. Most respondents are single (79%) while education-wise, the majority are college graduates (89.70). Classified accordingly to their assigned jobs, namely: Academic, Technical/ Research, Administrative/ Clerical, Creative/ Consultancy, Support/ Janitorial/ Utility/ Messenger, majority are assigned to administrative/ clerical job (43.90%).The common salary rate most are receiving is about PhP 10,972.00 for the exact amount while the highest at PHP 24, 940.00. Most of the respondents have no eligibilities (62.10%). On the importance of Career Development enumerated aspects, the respondents give premium to Job-Specific Training, Career Development Opportunities with the Opportunities for Merits and Promotions and Opportunities to Use Skills and Abilities only at the third spot. Likewise, no association on the Importance of the Career Development Aspects surfaced as it was correlated with Sex of the Respondents; therefore none of the said aspects were influenced by gender or sex. Measurement of the respondent's Current Job Satisfaction using the same career development parameters, responses mostly corresponded to "Slightly Satisfied" only of which the aspect Opportunities to Use Skills/Abilities was on the lead seconded by Organization's Commitment to Professional Development and tied at rank 3 are Agency-paid General Training and Career Development Opportunities. Regardless of gender, job satisfaction has no difference at all.

Infectious Waste Management in the Face of COVID-19 in a Rural Health Facility in Eastern Uganda

Aim: This study aimed to assess Infectious Waste Management in face of COVID-19, among Health care workers in Rural Health Facilities in Amuria district, Eastern Uganda. Little evidence exists of the challenges that occur while implementing Infectious waste management in the face of COVID-19 in resource-limited settings in Eastern Uganda. Our findings will close this apparent research gap and inform current district and national policies in Infectious Waste Management.
 Materials and Methods: We conducted cross-sectional survey in five health facilities in Amuria district, using modified CDC Infection Control Assessment Tool for health facility, and a validated structured questionnaire to assess the knowledge of health care workers present on Infectious waste management in the face of COVID-19. Observation and in-depth interviews were also conducted in addition to assess the practice and attitude of staff towards infectious waste management.
 Results: The five (100%) of the Health Facilities assessed in Amuria district lacked written infection prevention policies and procedures that are current, and are based on evidence-based guidelines. The facilities also had no competency-based training program that provides job-specific training on infection prevention policies and procedures to health care personnel. In terms of knowledge, Waste handlers had poor knowledge in infection control only 8.3% of the medical waste handlers could identify biohazard symbols and knew how infectious waste is segregated into the different categories at the point of generation. All (100%) of the health care workers were knowledgeable about the COVID-19 standard operating procedures.
 Conclusion: The doctors, nurses, clinical officers, and laboratory personnel had good knowledge of infectious waste Management and were up to date with COVID-19 standard operating procedures. The Medical Waste handlers had poor knowledge of Infectious Waste Management and COVID-19 standard operating procedures. Medical Waste handlers also had a poor attitude, towards the use of personal protective gear while on duty. All the Medical Waste handlers were willing to be trained in Infectious Waste Management. The facilities assessed had no enabling environment for infection control (no policies and in-service training in infection control for staff).We recommend Medical Waste Handlers to be trained in infection control and prevention before and after they are employed.

Conditions for Workplace Learning as a New First-Line Manager in Elderly Care

The purpose of this article is to explore first-line managers’ experiences of workplace learning in elderly care, with a particular focus on the conditions for learning when entering a new workplace as the new manager. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 35 first-line managers from three organisations in Sweden. Four learning conditions emerged as being particularly significant for first-line managers: the managers’ previous professional experience, job-specific training, social support, and the joint repertoire of organisational arrangements. These conditions shifted in importance during the process of entering the workplace, and the way in which the conditions gave access to learning for different managers varied. The managers’ professional experience and others’ recognition of them had a considerable impact on their admittance to the new workplace. After the initial entry phase, the other three learning conditions became more significant and played a role in enabling or constraining the managers’ learning and becoming the new manager. One conclusion is that contextual and work experiences from elderly care were significant for learning during the initial phase and in order to gain access to workplace learning. Another conclusion is that high expectations and great responsibility were placed on the managers to satisfy their own learning needs. This implies that professional, social and emotional support that is received informally is just as significant for learning as formalised training for entering a new workplace as a new manager.

Rationale and Implementation of a Novel Special Operations Medical Officer Course.

The Air Force Special Warfare Medical Officer Course was created to address the lack of operationally focused, job-specific clinical training for medical officers (MOs). This course addresses the gap in knowledge, skill, and application of operational medicine, as well as the behavioral health, human performance, education, and medical oversight of Operators. The course was designed around the senior author's decade of experience piecing together training for his own role as a pararescue flight surgeon and informed by 5 years of flight surgeon courses, lessons learned from case studies of ill-prepared deployed physicians, and input from prehospital medicine subject matter experts. Air Force pararescue and special tactics flight surgeons, physician assistants, and an independent duty medical technician (IDMT) attended. The course consisted of 10 full weekdays of didactics and skills sessions covering theory and application of operational medicine, human performance optimization, behavioral health for Operators, adult education theory, principles of prehospital clinical oversight, and other expeditionary concepts. The course culminated with combat casualty care scenario-based exercises, in which the providers performed operational medicine in full kit with weapons and simulation rounds. For many logistical and practical reasons, civilian medical experience, traditional military medical training, existing special operations medical courses, and "merit badge" card classes are not adequate preparation for this specialized role. Focused, job-specific training should be provided to Special Operations Forces Medical Officers (SOFMO) and, ultimately, to any MO deploying in support of medics or combatants. The goal is to maximize the success of military medical operations while reducing the morbidity and mortality of combat and training casualties. This operationally focused MO course can serve as a model for the future training of SOFMO and has stimulated discussion for consideration of a joint approach to prehospital medical training.

Strengthening the clinical laboratory workforce in Cambodia: a case study of a mixed-method in-service training program to improve laboratory quality management system oversight

BackgroundLaboratory diagnostic testing service delivery and compliance with international standards for laboratory quality are directly influenced by laboratory workforce competency. Many hospital laboratories in constrained resource settings such as Cambodia struggle to cope with the training needs of laboratory professionals in an environment of competing healthcare development priorities. Resource-limited countries need an adaptable and effective approach to provide laboratory professionals with job-specific quality oversight training to ensure the accuracy, timeliness, and reliability of diagnostic services.Case presentationHere, we describe the results of an in-service training and mentoring program conducted with the Cambodia Ministry of Health at 12 tertiary-level hospital laboratories to drive improvements in laboratory quality management systems toward ISO 15189 accreditation, which demonstrated significant progress between baseline and outcome audits in a concurrent study. This case study describes the program, and evaluates how the four primary activities, including actionable gap assessments and planning, centralized and in situ training curriculum, in-person mentoring, and remote tele-mentoring via video communication technologies, contributed towards quality improvement in the participating laboratories. We evaluated participant responses to Likert scale and free response questions from program and training evaluation surveys, and we used thematic analysis to develop a model of best practices within the program’s four primary activities to inform future training approaches. Of these activities, participants agreed most highly that in-person visits and planning based on gap assessments contributed to their learning and ability to improve laboratory operations. Tele-mentoring was rated lowest by participants, who were critical of excessive group dialogue and distraction during web-conferencing; however, feedback suggests both in-person and remote mentoring contribute to continuing education, accountability to action, and peer collaboration and problem solving to improve workforce efforts toward improved quality management systems.ConclusionsWe recommend here a package of in-service training activities for laboratory quality management system improvement initiatives in resource constrained settings that includes needs-based curricula and personalized action plans for participants; interactive and on-site training workshops; and in-person mentoring, complemented with well managed and regular tele-mentoring that focuses on knowledge retention, accountability to goals, and collaborative problem solving. Our model presents an adaptable approach to human resource development for quality improvement in medical laboratories.

SARS-CoV-2 emergency in the workplace: are companies ready to protect their workers? A cross-sectional survey

Purpose. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has affected all aspects of everyday life worldwide, including the entire working sector. This study aims to evaluate the response capacity of some Italian companies to the emergency about workers’ health and safety. Methods. Data were cross-sectional, collected by a specially drafted 19-item checklist sent to 60 enterprises located in the province of L’Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy. Results. Forty-one companies (68%) responded by filling in the checklist; more than 50% have fewer than 50 employees each and most of the companies belong to the food industry and the financial services. Adherence to the containment measures for the COVID-19 emergency was analysed, especially relating to job organization, social distancing, sanitization and specific training. Large enterprises and the banking sector showed ductile work reorganization according to the containment measures compared to small companies and the food sector. Conclusions. Italian companies have shown a good response to the regulatory restrictions resulting from the SARS-CoV-2 emergency. This is a worthy premise for the imminent management of Phase 2, with the progressive reopening of Italian companies.

CHANGING NURSING HOME CULTURE: LONG-TERM CARE LEADERSHIP ACADEMY

Nursing homes that fostered open communication and teamwork were more likely to change their practices and adopt the “It’s Not OK to Fall” program. This pilot study evaluated the feasibility and acceptance of a team-building approach for developing leadership skills to three groups of coworkers: Administrators/Directors of Nursing, charge nurses, and certified nursing assistants (CNA) employed by nursing homes in Oklahoma. Each coworker group received one day of job specific leadership training, with another one half-day session where all levels engaged in team-building exercises. Participant satisfaction with course content ranged from agree-to-strongly agree. All stated that they could apply the leadership strategies at their facility. Administrators/Directors of Nursing found tools for tracking turnover/retention and strategies for improving staff communication helpful. Charge nurses and certified nursing assistants seldom viewed themselves as leaders, found coworker group communication very fragmented, and felt least knowledgeable about nursing home care best practices.

Sustainable achievements and future aspirations in the NHS

Sustainable achievements and future aspirations in the NHS