Normal Work Hours Research Articles

INFRASTRUCTURAL SERVICES AND SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS PLAY CATALYTIC ROLE FOR GIG WORKERS OF FOOD AND BEVERAGE INDUSTRY IN MUMBAI METROPOLITAN REGION

Gig work is increasing across all industries and sectors all over world after pandemic. In Mumbai, the gig workers of food and beverage industry are more as compared to other municipal corporations in Mumbai Metropolitan Region. The Ambernath municipal council has more gig workers as compared to Matheran Municipal Council. Rural parts of Vasai have less gig workers but Ambernath and Kalyan rural has more gig workers. Employment generated by the wholesale and retail trade, restaurant and hotel were more during 1990 ‘s in Mumbai city. But currently, this industry is growing very slow in terms of employment as compared to other industries and employment. The ordinary least square regression shows that gig workers of food and beverage industry are positively correlated to all municipal corporations in Mumbai Metropolitan Region but negatively correlated to Thane and Panvel rural area. Sewage and water supply is positively co-related to gig workers in Vasai Virar municipal corporation. Most of units in food and beverage unis are small and do not provide employment throughout year. The social security is not provided to most of the gig workers. Hygiene, regular pay scales, normal work hours, training is not provided to gig workers. Central and State government must draft rules and regulation for this sector with strict guidelines. It will improve the current economic status of gig workers and work environment in this industry.

Telephone follow-up by nurse practitioners of geriatric patients discharged from the emergency department after traumatic injury

IntroductionGeriatric patients discharged from the emergency department (ED) after an injury are at risk for adverse outcomes. Older patients are at a higher risk for sensory impairments and cognitive problems which can make comprehension of discharge instructions more difficult. Moreover, geriatric patients often have limited skills with or access to alternative sources of information, such as hospital web pages or phone applications, which could put them at a higher risk of undertreatment. Implementing telephone follow-up after discharge presents a potential solution to enhance information transfer and address problems related to the injury. MethodsAn exploratory cohort study was conducted in the ED of an inner-city hospital in the Netherlands between 2019-2020. Patients ≥70 years were included if they presented with an injury and were discharged home from the ED. Telephone follow-up was performed by an ED nurse practitioner within 48 hours after discharge to address any problems or questions relating to the injury. Feasibility was assessed by determining whether the intervention could be performed within the allotted time period during normal work hours (1 h per day). The frequency and type of additional advice given, as well as patient satisfaction with the intervention, were documented. Results635 patients were eligible for inclusion, and 266 completed the intervention (median age 77 years; 32 % male). Nurse practitioners were able to complete the intervention on over 90 % of days. A total of 64 % of patients received additional advice during the telephone call, mostly related to pain medication adjustments and instructions to contact their GP. Patient satisfaction with the intervention was high (median score 8/10). ConclusionTelephone follow-up is a feasible intervention that may be able to enhance older patients' comprehension of discharge instructions and help identify new problems after discharge. During the follow-up call, the majority of patients received additional advice, indicating a potential demand for this intervention. The main limitation was that not all eligible patients were approached or did not want to participate in the intervention. Future studies should investigate whether telephone follow-up can effectively reduce adverse events and improve the quality of life for these patients.

A survey of demographic properties of patients who died in intensive care units and their association with the death hour

IntroductionPoor sleep hygiene and the hour of changing shifts are among the most important factors which affect the quality of services in the intensive care unit. The present study aimed to investigate the demographic properties of patients who died in the intensive care unit and their association with their death hour. Materials and methodsAs a cross-sectional study, this study was performed by referring to the Statistics Center of Hazrat Rasool Akram Hospital and collecting the demographic information of dead patients at 12 intensive care units in this hospital. This information includes age, sex, the cause of death, and the exact time of death of these patients. ResultsIn this study, the rate of mortality in intensive care units was assessed as follows; from 12 pm to 2 am (14.48%), from 2 am to 4 (5.49%), from 4 to 6 am (8.99%), from 6 to 8 am (11.32%), from 8 to 10 am (6.79%), from 10 am to 12 noon (8.03%), from 12 to 14 (6.04%), from 14 to 16 (6.93%), from 16 to 18 (7.41%), from 18 to 20 (9.47%), from 20 to 22 (8.1%), and from 22 to 24 hours (6.93%). The highest rate of mortality was between 12–2 AM and then 6–8 AM. In this study, a significant rate of deaths occurred during the night and the lowest rate was during normal work hours and in fact during the morning hours of visiting patients. ConclusionSince the highest rate of mortality was during night hours, during the hours of changing shifts, and at the beginning of midnight, the mortality rate could be decreased with the decrement in staff's working hours and paying more attention to patients during these hours, the overall mortality rate of patients could be decreased in ICU units.

Nuances of Remuneration of Pedagogical Workers as a Multidimensional Object, Based on Rationalization Factors

A teacher’s remuneration depends on a number of factors and can be viewed as a multidimensional object influenced by several constituent elements. Thus, it is relevant to determine these constituent elements, namely the pay rate for normal work hours, number of extra work hours per teacher, number of students in the class. The purpose of this article is to determine and calculate how these factors influence the teacher's rate of pay. The article studies correlation between teachers’ wages and the constituent factors based on a city school in the Trans-Baikal Region, which is a typical school with typical pay data. In the course of the study, the following methods were used: studying various sources of information, summary and interpretation, analysis of information obtained from various sources, and a study of teachers’ remuneration through modeling methods. The results of the study revealed each of the influencing factors’ percentage of significance, as well as, based on the data obtained, possibilities of making some managerial decision to make sure that the factors reach their rational value. A possible area of application of the results of the study is the economy of education; in particular, they could be applied in general educational institutions.

Getting on the Same Page: A Quality Improvement Project to Enhance Nurse-to-Resident Communications and Reduce Overnight Sleep Interruptions.

Many residency programs utilize "home call" residents who answer hospital communications and place orders from home. Often, residents are required to live nearby and arrive in-person if needed. Residents work normal daytime work hours while on home call, which can last several nights. This disrupts sleep and creates the potential for increased resident fatigue and patient safety issues. To implement and evaluate a novel program to reduce non-urgent overnight pages from nurses to home call physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) residents between 11 pm and 6 am. At an inpatient acute rehabilitation unit in a tertiary care university teaching hospital, we implemented a 2-step prospective quality improvement study with interventions derived from nurse-physician meetings implemented 9 months apart in 2018 and 2019. The first intervention was a centralized nightly handoff sheet. The second intervention was to display suggested PRN medication lists in resident workrooms. The primary outcome measure was the percentage of nights with non-urgent pages between 11 pm and 6 am. Tracking urgent pages and 7-10 am emergent pages were used as balancing measures. A total of 1835 text-based nursing pages (366 pre- and 1469 post-intervention) were received and categorized by content, urgency, and timing over a 17-month period. Post-intervention, there was a stable 25% decrease in nighttime non-urgent pages. The most common hour to be paged shifted from 11 pm to 8 pm. Pain, constipation, insomnia, and nausea were the most common complaints overnight. By characterizing and studying nighttime pages, residents collaborated with nighttime nursing staff through structured meetings to reduce non-urgent nighttime pages for more than 1 year.

A follow up survey on the impact of COVID-19 on hand therapy practice

BackgroundThe coronavirus-19 pandemic continues to influence on the hand therapy community. It is important to understand how therapists are currently affected and how things have changed since the onset of the pandemic. PurposeFollow-up on a previous survey and investigate the current status of hand therapy practice 10 months into the pandemic. Study DesignWeb-based survey. MethodsA 38-item survey was electronically delivered to American Society of Hand Therapists members between December 9, 2020 and January 6, 2021. Stress, safety measures, changes in practice patterns and telehealth were focus areas in the survey. Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficient was used to analyze nonparametric correlations, Chi-Square analysis examined relationships between categorical values and unpaired t-tests were utilized for the comparison of means. ResultsOf the 378 respondents, 85% reported higher stress levels compared to pre-pandemic times. Younger therapists expressed more stress over childcare concerns (rs = 0.38;P = .000) and job security (rs = 0.21; P = .000), while older therapists expressed more stress over eldercare concerns (rs= -.13;P = .018). Descriptively, hours spent on direct clinical care were near prepandemic levels. Telehealth is currently used by 29% of respondents and did not correlate to age or years of practice. Postoperative cases (t(423) = 4.18;P = .0001) and people age 50-64-years (t(423) = 3.01;P = .002) were most frequently seen for in person visits. Nontraumatic, nonoperative cases (t(423) = 4.52;P = .0001) as well as those 65 years and older (t(423) = 3.71; P = .0002) were more likely to be seen via telehealth. ConclusionsHand therapists are adapting as reflected by the return to near normal work hours and less utilization of telehealth. Respondents still report higher levels of stress compared to prior to the pandemic, and this stress appears to be multifactorial in nature. Weariness with the precautionary measures such as mask wearing, social distancing and sanitizing was expressed through open-ended responses.

Drivers of general practice-type presentations to the emergency department in a remote outback community.

To estimate the number of general practice-appropriate attendances in a remote emergency department and explore the reasons for patients' choice of service. A four-step case study approach was adopted, focusing on hospital emergency department (ED) attendances that were potentially manageable in general practice. A large, remote community with substantial populations of Indigenous peoples and fly-in, fly-out mining industry workers. The ED is experiencing rapid growth in demand for services for lower urgency. Patients attending the emergency department with lower urgency problems. ED attendance data for 2016 were reviewed to identify lower urgency presentations. Patient records for 400 randomly selected presentations were subject to deeper analysis. A prospective survey was conducted over 6 months of 369 ED patients with lower urgency presentations. The proportion of patients attending the ED with GP-appropriate problems and influences on their decisions to attend the ED. About 48% of all attendances met the agreed definition of GP-appropriate problems. About half of presentations were during the normal work hours and about half of patients stated that GP services were unavailable. Younger age, lack of information about local GP services, and perceptions of convenience contributed significantly to seeking ED care. Increasing the availability of GP services alone is unlikely to be sufficient to change service utilisation. Strategies should include raising community awareness of how and when to utilise the appropriate service, understanding different models of care, and the need to register with a general practice.

Work-family strategies during COVID-19: Examining gender dynamics among dual-earner couples with young children.

There are several existing typologies of dual-earner couples focused on how they dually manage work and family; however, these all assume that couples can outsource childcare during normal work hours and that work is largely conducted outside of the home. Early attempts to control COVID-19 altered these assumptions with daycares/schools closing and the heavy shift to remote work. This calls into question whether couples tended to fall back on familiar gendered patterns to manage work and family, or if they adopted new strategies for the unique pandemic situation. We addressed this question using a sample of 274 dual-earner couples with young children. We content coded couples' qualitative responses about their plans for managing childcare and work commitments and used these codes in a latent class analysis to identify subgroups. Seven classes were identified, with 36.6% of the sample using strategies where women did most or all childcare, 18.9% of the sample using strategies that were not clearly gendered or egalitarian, and 44.5% of the sample using unique egalitarian strategies. We also obtained data from 133 of these couples approximately 7 weeks later regarding their well-being and job performance. Results suggested that women in the Remote Wife Does It All class had the lowest well-being and performance. There were nuanced differences between the egalitarian strategies in their relationships with outcomes, with the Alternating Days egalitarian category emerging as the overall strategy that best preserved wives' and husbands' well-being while allowing both to maintain adequate job performance. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Assessment of Radiation Leakage from Diagnostic Rooms of Radiology Department of a Teaching Hospital in Kano, Northwestern Nigeria

Diagnostic x-radiation is an essential part of present-day medical practice being the largest contributor of irradiation to the general population. Therefore, routine checking of x-ray tubes leakage is very important to ensure that leakage radiation at a one-meter distance from focus is less than 1mR/h. The measurement of background radiation was performed during normal departmental working hours: early in the morning before the machines were switched on, and after the machines were switched on. Exposures were performed using different exposure factors and the fall out radiation in both control and uncontrolled areas were also recorded. The highest equivalent dose rate was recorded in the uncontrolled area of room 2, where the mean dose rate was 26.21 μSv/h (in changing room) and 11.67 μSv/h (behind the door), respectively. It follows the dose rate measured in the uncontrolled area of room 1, where the mean dose rate was 6.33 μSv/h (behind the door), 2.96 μSv/h (in changing room B), and 1.56 μSv/h (in changing room A), respectively. The lowest radiation dose was measured in both controlled and uncontrolled areas of CT-scan, where the mean dose rate was 0.17 μSv/h and 0.16 μSv/h, respectively, simply because the room doors and wall are adequately lead-lined and protected. All values obtained in this study are within the permissible limit, except that for uncontrolled areas in x-ray rooms 1 and 2, where radiation dose rates were higher than the reference limit for public exposure.

Procedural Characteristics and Outcomes of Patients Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention During Normal Work Hours Versus Non-work Hours

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) performed during non-work hours is believed to have inferior outcomes because of operator fatigue, differences in baseline patient characteristics, and fewer on-call catheterization laboratory staff. We aimed to analyze a cohort of patients who underwent PCI (all comers) at our tertiary-care center between January 1, 2006, and December 31, 2018, and compare procedural and in-hospital outcomes between 2 groups defined by whether PCI was performed during normal work hours (7:00 A.M. to 7:00 PM) versus non-work hours (7:01 P.M. to 6:59 A.M. weekdays; all hours weekends and holidays). Finally, we examined temporal changes throughout the 24-hour weekday. Primary outcomes were unadjusted in-hospital adverse outcomes (composite death, recurrent myocardial infarction, emergent coronary artery bypass grafting, and target lesion revascularization). We identified 21,848 patients who underwent PCI at our institution. The proportions of ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) were higher during non-work hours. Overall, unadjusted in-hospital adverse outcomes were higher during non-work hours than during normal work hours (8.80% vs 2.00%; p <0.001). These findings were consistent based on the patient's clinical presentation (STEMI, NSTEMI, unstable angina, and stable angina). Despite confounding variables in the patients' presentations preventing definite causal attribution, our analysis demonstrates that in-hospital adverse outcomes were higher for those patients who underwent PCI (all comers) who had their procedures during non-work hours than during normal work hours.

In-hospital cardiac arrest in hospitals with mature rapid response systems — a multicentre, retrospective cohort study

AimTo investigate in-hospital cardiac arrests (IHCAs) according to the Ustein template in hospitals with mature systems utilizing rapid response teams (RRTs), with a special reference to preceding RRT factors and factors associated with a favourable neurological outcome (cerebral performance category (CPC) 1–2) at hospital discharge. MethodsMulticentre, retrospective cohort study between 2017–2018 including two Finnish and one Australian university affiliated tertiary hospitals. ResultsA total 309 IHCAs occurred with an incidence of 0.78 arrests per 1000 hospital admissions. The median age of the patients was 72 years, 63% were male and 73% had previously lived a fully independent life with a median Charlson comorbidity index of two. Before the IHCA, 16% of the patients had been reviewed by RRTs and 26% of the patients fulfilled RRT activation criteria in the preceding 8 h of the IHCA. Return of spontaneous circulation was achieved in 53% of the patients and 28% were discharged from hospital with CPC 1–2. In a multivariable model, younger age, no pre-arrest RRT criteria, arrest in normal work hours, witnessed arrest and shockable initial rhythm were independently associated with CPC 1–2 at hospital discharge. ConclusionsIn hospitals with mature rapid response systems most IHCA patients live a fully independent life with low burden of comorbid diseases before their hospital admission, the IHCA incidence is low and outcome better than traditionally believed. Deterioration before IHCA is present in a significant number of patients and improved monitoring and earlier interventions may further improve outcomes.

Factors Associated With Electronic Health Record Usage Among Primary Care Physicians After Hours: Retrospective Cohort Study.

BackgroundThere is limited published data on variation in physician usage of electronic health records (EHRs), particularly after hours. Research in this area could provide insight into the effects of EHR-related workload on physicians.ObjectiveThis study sought to examine factors associated with after-hours EHR usage among primary care physicians.MethodsElectronic health records usage information was collected from primary care pediatricians in a large United States hospital. Inclusion criteria consisted solely of being a primary care physician who started employment with the hospital before the study period, so all eligible primary care physicians were included without sampling. Mixed effects statistical modeling was used to investigate the effects of age, gender, workload, normal-hour usage, week to week variation, and provider-to-provider variation on the after-hour usage of EHRs.ResultsThere were a total of 3498 weekly records obtained on 50 physicians, of whom 22% were male and 78% were female. Overall, more EHR usage during normal work hours was associated with decreased usage after hours. The more work relative value units generated by physicians, the more time they spent interacting with EHRs after hours (β=.04, P<.001) and overall (ie, during normal hours and after hours) (β=.24, P<.001). Gender was associated with total usage time, with females spending more time than males (P=.03). However, this association was not observed with after-hours EHR usage. provider-to-provider variation was the largest and most dominant source of variation in after-hour EHR usage, which accounted for 52% of variance of total EHR usage.ConclusionThe present study found that there is a considerable amount of variability in EHR use among primary care physicians, which suggested that many factors influence after-hours EHR usage by physicians. However, provider-to-provider variation was the largest and most dominant source of variation in after-hours EHR usage. While the results are intuitive, future studies should consider the effect of EHR use variations on workload efficiency.

Time calculation of waste collection routes: Case study from the City of Oslo.

For the first time since 1992, Oslo's household waste in 2017 was collected by The Agency for Waste Management in the City of Oslo (REN). Collections were taken over due to the contractor's poor delivery quality; however, complaints and breaches of the working hours provisions did not disappear after the REN take-over. A new operating model requiring a new route layout was simulated to determine whether new routes exceed normal work hours. Fifty proposed waste collection routes were simulated under normal and adverse snowing conditions. 36% of the proposed exceed the 7 1/2 work-day limit under adverse conditions and will require provision for overtime use. The sensitivity analysis shows that there is an efficiency potential associated with the human, safety and ergonomics factors, and that some time drivers impact time spent considerably more than others. Based on this, we recommended that: The simulation models should be used to estimate time spent on new routes before these are implemented, as a quality assurance measure. The results should be reconciled against working hours. The new routes should be simulated successively as new routes are proposed since changes to one route's time drivers will have consequences for adjoining routes. The various data sources should be reviewed with a view to registering or coding information in a way that makes it easy to extract information linked to the individual route across data sources. REN should clarify a new working hours model for the waste collectors before the new route layout is designed.

Attendance barriers experienced by female health care workers voluntarily participating in a multi-component health promotion programme at the workplace

BackgroundStudies have shown that Workplace Health Promoting Programmes (WHPP) can facilitate healthier behaviour. Despite the benefits achieved from participating in a WHPP, a systematic review showed that only 10–50% of the employees participated and a challenge was lack of participation. Previous studies stress that understanding the barriers that prevent participants from attending WHPPs are important for designing highly effective interventions. To exploit the potential of a WHPP, it requires a deep insight into the attendance barriers experienced by the participants who voluntarily sign-up for a WHPP; and particularly those who want to stay in the programme but are prevented from participating in it regularly. Thus, the aim of this study was to identify and explore attendance barriers experienced by female Health Care Workers (HCWs) who voluntarily participated in a weekly one-hour multi-component training session, within a WHPP, over a one-year period.MethodsThis study was carried out within a RCT named FRIDOM (FRamed Intervention to Decrease Occupational Muscle pain) and was designed as a single-case study with an inductive approach for analysing the content of in-depth semi-structured qualitative interviews. Data was collected at two home care workplaces and two retirement homes in Denmark. Nine HCWs from the intervention group were selected as participants in the present study.ResultsThe attendance barriers identified, consisted of three main themes and six related sub-themes: 1) organizational factors (work inflexibility, lack of support from team leaders), 2) intervention factors (training sessions organized outside normal work hours, incongruence between information received and reality, content and intensity of the program) and 3) individual factors (personal factors).ConclusionOrganizational and intervention factors are the two most important attendance barriers in future WHPPs. To overcome these barriers; training sessions should be organized within or in connection with work hours, support should be secured from team management and work shifts should be planned to enable attendance for all participants. Furthermore, the attendance barriers may be minimized by including participants in the decision-making process. This relates to both the content and intensity of the intervention, not only in the planning stage but throughout the intervention process.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov. NCT02843269 - 06.27.2016 - retrospectively registered.

Developing an Optimized UI for Traffic Incident Managers

Traffic Incident Managers (TIMs) coordinate first responders and help resolve traffic-related incidents. Currently, some use over fifteen different software applications with unique functionalities across three monitors to manage incidents, leading to redundant data entry, unnecessary task switching, and delayed responses. 40 hours of TIMs’ screens were recorded during their normal work hours at the Iowa Department of Transportation (DoT). The resulting task analysis from these videos greatly influenced the design of a simplified, web-based, user interface (UI) prototype. The new UI offers a 42.9% reduction in the steps required to manage an incident by combining the functionality of the fifteen different applications used in the existing system into a single, structured UI. This research approach offers a UI model to other DoTs that can lead to faster and more effective incident management.

A Prospective Study on Operation Theater Utilization Time and Most Common Causes of Delays and Cancellations of Scheduled Surgeries in a 1000-Bedded Tertiary Care Rural Hospital with a View to Optimize the Utilization of Operation Theater.

Background:The operation theater (OT) complex is a costly component of a hospital budget expenditure. This area of hospital activity requires maximum utilization to ensure optimum cost benefit. To achieve a high level of utilization in the OT, it is necessary to efficiently coordinate number of activities and personnel.Methods:This study was conducted in a 1000-bedded tertiary care teaching hospital in rural maharashtra over aperiod of two months. The OT complex consists of eight major OTs. Normal working hours for routine scheduled cases on all working days except Sundays and public holidays.Results:Total study period consisted of 96 working days. There were a total of eight OT tables of various specialties, and parameters were observed during the routine hours excluding Sundays and holidays. The total procedure time was maximum for ENT followed by orthopedics and least for obstetrics. Room turnover time was maximum for obstetrics followed by general and oncosurgery. Case delays were maximum in general surgery and least for ophthalmology. The most common reason for delay in starting the operation table was patient getting shifted late from the ward and administrative causes. The most prominent reasons for cancellation were lack of operating room time followed by medical reasons of the patient.Conclusion:We concluded that most of the causes of delays and cancellations of surgeries were avoidable with proper preoperative planning and optimization of patients and resources and good communication between surgeon anesthesiologists and the nursing staff.

Effect of timing of cannulation on outcome for pediatric extracorporeal life support.

Literature reports worse outcomes for operations performed during off-hours. As this has not been studied in pediatric extracorporeal life support (ECLS), we compared complications based on the timing of cannulation.. This is a retrospective review of 176 pediatric ECLS patients between 2004 and 2015. Patients cannulated during daytime hours (7:00 A.M. to 7:00 P.M., M-F) were compared to off-hours (nighttime or weekend) using t-test and Chi-square. The most common indications for ECLS were congenital diaphragmatic hernia (33%) and persistent pulmonary hypertension (23%). When comparing regular hours (40%) to off-hours cannulation (60%), there were no significant differences in central nervous system complications, hemorrhage (extra-cranial), cannula repositioning, conversion from venovenous to venoarterial, mortality on ECLS, or survival-to-discharge. The overall complication rate was slightly lower in the off-hours group (45.7% versus 61.9%, P=0.034). Outcomes were not significantly worse for patients undergoing ELCS cannulation during off-hours compared to normal weekday working hours.

Hot Buttons and Time Sinks: The Effects of Electronic Communication During Nonwork Time on Emotions and Work-Nonwork Conflict

As advances in communication technologies have made organizations more easily connected to their workforce outside of normal work hours, there is increased concern that employees may experience hei...

Faculty Development on Systems-Based Practice

OPEN ACCESSSeptember 26, 2014Faculty Development on Systems-Based Practice Ayesha Mirza, MD Ayesha Mirza, MD University of Florida College of Medicine, Jacksonville Google Scholar More articles by this author https://doi.org/10.15766/mep_2374-8265.9909 SectionsAboutAbstract ToolsDownload Citations ShareFacebookTwitterEmail AbstractAbstract Introduction: Milestones-based assessments of the six learning competencies have recently been implemented in graduate medicate education (GME). Since these are one of the primary means of measuring residents' progress and since faculty are relied on to accurately assess trainees, faculty development in this area is important. Faculty development is also considered a key common program requirement. Nonetheless, most faculty are unable to, or simply do not, participate in faculty development. The goal of this educational activity was to develop an online module specifically for the members of a pediatric department that would be easily accessible, allow faculty to view on their own time, be department specific, and provide examples to help faculty relate a specific competency to the relevant milestones. Methods: The competency we focused on in this resource was Systems-Based Practice. This module has been formatted in Prezi, a cloud-based software, enabling faculty to participate in learning at their own convenience. Videos have also been embedded in the presentation to optimize the learning experience and provide live examples and explanation of the text. The activity was approved by the University of Florida for 1.0 continuing medical education (CME) credit. The Prezi is accompanied by an instructor's guide, as well as by pre- and postsurveys that were used by our faculty and may be modified as needed by instructors adapting the presentation for their own institutions. The postsurvey is necessary for CME. Results: At our program, the Prezi was sent to 35 core program faculty responsible for evaluating residents. Several faculty members viewed the Prezi, but only nine filled out the surveys. Of those nine, all felt that the activity was useful and provided much-needed information on learner assessment, particularly in this specific competency, which often gets confused with individual problem-based learning and improvement. They felt it was an effective way to provide information on GME. Faculty also suggested case-based reviews of other competencies presented in a similar manner. Discussion: This module was developed with the intent of allowing faculty to participate in education-related CME at their own convenience. Faculty development is an ongoing challenge. Developing modules like this one may circumvent some of the obstacles, such as limited time during normal work hours, that prevent faculty from dedicating themselves to development activities. Educational Objectives At the end of this activity, faculty will be able to: Describe the six Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) competencies and milestones based on the Dreyfus model.Explain the rationale behind the milestones-based competency evaluation of trainees required by ACGME.Apply the pediatric milestones described for Systems-Based Practice to evaluate and assess learner competence.Understand the concepts of quality improvement and working in interprofessional teams and incorporate them in their daily instructional activities. Sign up for the latest publications from MedEdPORTAL Add your email below FILES INCLUDEDReferencesRelatedDetails FILES INCLUDED Included in this publication: Instructor's Guide.docx Faculty Development Prezi-SBP folder Pre- & Post-Survey.docx To view all publication components, extract (i.e., unzip) them from the downloaded .zip file. Download editor’s noteThis publication may contain technology or a display format that is no longer in use. Copyright & Permissions© 2014 Mirza. This is an open-access publication distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike license.KeywordsMilestones-Based EvaluationAssessmentMilestones AssessmentFaculty DevelopmentEducationalSystems-Based Practice Disclosures None to report. Funding/Support None to report. Loading ...

Seeking Balance, Professional and Otherwise

“There is no such thing as work-life balance. Everything worth fighting for unbalances your life.” —Alain de Botton I find the quote attributed to Alain de Botton to be both intriguing and disturbing. I am certain that anybody who reads this editorial (both of you) struggles with the same issue of balance that I do. At times, I too feel like de Botton in that, to do something worthwhile requires a 100% effort. How, then, to feel that we can give 100% in everything that we do? Are there enough hours in the day? The lack of balance in our lives is typically most evident in seeking the inevitable “work-life” balance. Whether one works in academia or private practice, there is always something to do that threatens our personal/family/home time. I know a few practicing interventionalists who seem to be able to compartmentalize the various aspects of their lives, but those individuals are few and far between. There always seems to be something to do, something to accomplish away from what we should expect to be normal work hours. And in the era of electronic communication, it is far too easy to log on to our work e-mail accounts on the weekends and weeknights to decompress the inevitable onslaught of e-mail exchanges on Monday morning. Without a doubt, finding that balance between work and personal life becomes our own personal struggle. Each individual situation is different: Work environment, family support, and personal motivation all contribute to set the tone of our own personal struggle with this important life balance. And although I understand de Botton's point, I must admit that I struggle mightily against the idea that balance is an inaccessible goal. Perhaps it's just more difficult for a physician to accept the concept of the inevitability of the lack of life balance than it is for a Swiss writer (don't worry—I had to look him up, too). It probably is telling that I've been working on editing this Seminars issue all weekend. I have been in e-mail contact with Dan Brown and Bill Rilling about their contributions—and sadly they both responded on a Sunday in short order. There is one other issue I come up against with regard to balance. Let me preface this concept with the statement that I love, truly love, my job as an academic interventionalist. While discussing careers with trainees, I continually come back to the idea that as an academic, I get to be a clinical doctor one day, a researcher the next, and a teacher the following day. I enjoy that diversity more than anything, but it can also lead to a feeling of inadequacy in one or more aspects of this career. Not infrequently I look around our field, or even around my own laboratory, and realize I have some catching up to do with clinical skills, or writing that next paper, or better delivering my vast stores of knowledge to the next generation (frightening to all of us, I'm sure). Add into that mix the inevitable administrative duties and increasingly onerous communication chains, and trying to achieve that appropriate balance in one's professional life seems nearly impossible. Academic so-called triple threats are few and far between these days, for good reason. Who can really do it all? I suppose that this holy grail of balance will likely always seem to be just out of arm's reach, and that continual striving for this level of balance might be the reward in and of itself. I'm choosing to look at it that way: It's more healthy for me and my family, it's less negative, and I need to finish this editorial so I can get going on my other work.