Open Recruitment Research Articles

Social Media Recruitment 3.0

PurposeDrawing on a unique case of a Web 3.0 recruitment campaign, the purpose of this paper is to explore how a Web 3.0 social media recruitment communication strategy influence, add value to and challenge conventional recruitment communication management.Design/methodology/approachThe study draws on a reflexive dialogical research approach, which means that it is methodologically designed as a critical dialogue between on the one hand an empirical case and on the other hand theories on social media and strategic communication.FindingsThe study points toward a fundamental new approach to recruitment communication. The application of a Web 3.0 strategy entails what we term an open source recruitment strategy and a redirection of employee focus from work life to private life. These insights point toward ontologically challenging the basic assumptions of employees, work life and the employing organization.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper presents a single-case study, which prepares the ground for larger, longitudinal studies. Such studies may apply a more long-term focus on the implications of applying Web 3.0 recruitment strategies and how they may be integrated into – or how they challenge – overall corporate communication strategies.Practical implicationsA turn toward Web 3.0 in recruitment communication affects the degree of interactional complexity and the level of managerial control. Furthermore, the authors argue that the utilization of a Web 3.0 strategy in recruitment communication put forth precarious dilemmas and challenges of controllability, controversy, ownership and power relations, demanding organizations to cautiously entering the social media 3.0 employment market.Originality/valueThis study indicates how the value and potentials of social media as facilitating participatory processes and community conversations can be strategically used in and fundamentally alter recruitment communication, and hence offers new insights into a paradigmatically new way of understanding what strategic social media recruitment is, can and do.

PENERAPAN METODE FAHIM QURAN (TINGKAT DASAR) PADA PENGAJIAN QUR’AN ANAK DAN REMAJA DI RANTING MUHAMMADIYAH MENUJU PEMBERDAYAAN CABANG DAN RANTING DI KOTA MEDAN

This community service was conducted to re-establish the activity of reciting Al-Quran by the children and adolescents before ‘Isha which was commonly done in the masjid of Muhammadiyah. The target of activity was the students and the members of Youth Muhammadiyah or NA who were active in organizations and in masjid and they were from Muhammadiyah family. They were trained to be teachers of reciting al-Quran to the children by using the method of Fahim Quran . These teachers were trained for a month about using the basic Fahim Quran method that contained Makhaarijul Huroof , sifaatul huroof , tajweed , and good memorization of short surahs of Juz ‘ Amm. The next step was to improve their ability to interpret and understand the Qur'an properly and correctly by using the method of Fahim quran. The specific target of this activity was to empower the young generation in Muhammadiyah organization and to open recruitment opportunities from the children of the community around Masjid of Muhammadiyah who participated in this program.

The Effects of Teacher Efficacy, School Climate and Instructional Leadership of Principals on the Teacher Satisfaction: Focus on the Open Recruitment System for Principals

The Effects of Teacher Efficacy, School Climate and Instructional Leadership of Principals on the Teacher Satisfaction: Focus on the Open Recruitment System for Principals

Wyższe stanowiska w służbie cywilnej – uwagi na tle ostatnich nowelizacji

The amendment to the Act on Civil Service and other acts was passed on 30 December and entered into force on 23 January 2016. The amended Act introduced significant changes concerning recruitment for higher positions in the Civil Service. The changes may be considered controversial in many aspects, especially from a constitutional perspective. The objective of this paper is the assessment of the amendments with special focus on the principle of equal treatment, especially open and competitive recruitment for public service. Dogmatic and analytical methods were used in the paper. The Author analyzes the regulations of the amended Act, focusing on the most important changes in recruitment procedures for higher positions in Civil Service. The Author concludes that the new regulations concerning recruitment for higher positions in Civil Service violate the principle of a politically neutral and professional Civil Service.

KidsBrainIT: A New Multi-centre, Multi-disciplinary, Multi-national Paediatric Brain Monitoring Collaboration.

Validated optimal cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) treatment thresholds in children do not exist. To improve the intensive care unit (ICU) management of the paediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) population, we are forming a new paediatric multi-centre collaboration to recruit standardised ICU data for running and reporting upon models for assessing autoregulation and optimal CCP (CPPopt). We are adapting the adult BrainIT group's approach to develop a new Paediatric Brain Monitoring and Information Technology Group (KidsBrainIT), which will include a repository to store prospectively collected high-resolution physiological, clinical, and outcome data. In the first phase of this project there are 7 UK Paediatric Intensive Care Units, 1 Spanish, 1 Belgium, and 1 Romanian Centre interested in participating. In subsequent phases, we plan to open recruitment to other centres both within Europe, US and abroad. We are collaborating with the Leuven Group and plan to use their LAx (low-frequency autoregulation index), DATACAR (dynamic adaptive target of active cerebral autoregulation), CPPopt and visualisation methodologies. We also plan to use the continuous diffuse optical monitoring and tomography technology developed in Barcelona as an acute surrogate end-point for optimising brain perfusion. This technology allows non-invasive continuous monitoring of deep tissue perfusion and oxygenation in adults but its clinical application in infants and children with TBI has not been studied previously. We report on the current status of setting up this new collaboration and also on pilot analyses in two centres which are the basis of our rationale for the need for a prospective validation study of CPPopt in children. Specifically, we demonstrated that CPPopt varied with time for each patient during their paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) stay, and the median overall CPPopt levels for children aged 2-6 years, 7-11 years and 12-16 years were 68.83, 68.09, and 72.17 mmHg respectively. Among survivors and patients with favourable outcome (GOS 4 and 5), there were significantly higher proportions with CPP monitoring time within CPPopt (p = 0.04 and p = 0.01 respectively). There is a need and an interest in forming a multi-centre PICU collaboration for acquiring data and performing analyses for determining validated CPPopt thresholds in the paediatric TBI population. KidsBrainIT is being formed to meet that need.

Perception of Principals, Teachers, and Parents about the Issues on the Implementation of Open Recruitment System for Principals

Perception of Principals, Teachers, and Parents about the Issues on the Implementation of Open Recruitment System for Principals

DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY OF HUMAN CAPITAL OF PT KIMIA FARMA (PERSERO) TBK

This research is a qualitative research with case study at PT Kimia Farma (Persero) Tbk. The purpose of this research is to understand the overall development strategy of human capital of the Company. Data were collected from primary data through interview, observation, and recording; while secodary data were obtained from PT Kimia Farma (Persero) Tbk or from the externals that are used by the researcher to strengthen the premise, theory building, or data from previous researchers. The data collected from primary and secondary sources are then processed. The validity of data is checked though data accuracy checking process (triangulation). This research found that the Company has conducted human reseource development strategy through 1) Integrated HR Development with the Company’s visions and missions; 2) open recruitment and selection process will decide and find the candidates who meet the qualifications; 3) preparing assessement center to select the right candidate for the right position; 4) employees training can improve the employees’ competence; and 5) the right development of human capital to prepare for the competitiveness in the future..
 Keywords: Human Capital, Development, Strategy, HR Planning

DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY OF HUMAN CAPITAL OF PT KIMIA FARMA (PERSERO) TBK

This research is a qualitative research with case study at PT Kimia Farma (Persero) Tbk. The purpose of this research is to understand the overall development strategy of human capital of the Company. Data were collected from primary data through interview, observation, and recording; while secodary data were obtained from PT Kimia Farma (Persero) Tbk or from the externals that are used by the researcher to strengthen the premise, theory building, or data from previous researchers. The data collected from primary and secondary sources are then processed. The validity of data is checked though data accuracy checking process (triangulation). This research found that the Company has conducted human reseource development strategy through 1) Integrated HR Development with the Company’s visions and missions; 2) open recruitment and selection process will decide and find the candidates who meet the qualifications; 3) preparing assessement center to select the right candidate for the right position; 4) employees training can improve the employees’ competence; and 5) the right development of human capital to prepare for the competitiveness in the future..
 Keywords: Human Capital, Development, Strategy, HR Planning

POLITICAL RECRUITMENT OF CHINESE-INDONESIAN WOMEN CANDIDATE: STUDY OF PDI PERJUANGAN’S RECRUITMENT IN SEMARANG CITY LEGISLATIVE ELECTION 2014

This research aims to explain the dynamics of Chinese-Indonesian Women in their candidacy in local legislative elections in 2014 seen from the political recruitment conducted by PDI Perjuangan, the only party that can seat Chinese women candidate in DPRD Semarang City. Using qualitative methods by conducting in-depth interviews to PDI-Perjuangan elites in Semarang City and analyzing the result using political recruitment theory, Chinese-Indonesian Women's recruitment in PDI Perjuangan is based on party ideology that upholds diversity as well as the popular values and the role of the party elite as the gatekeeper that gives assessment of the resources offered by legislative candidates, where the decisive ones are the social resources, financial resources, and network resources. The author also found additional factors that Pippa Norris did not mention; those are cultural capital and relationships with male political elites. Besides, political recruitment conducted by PDI Perjuangan to Chinese-Indonesian Women Candidate was an open political recruitment, while usually it conducts the close mechanism one. Meanwhile, seen from the typology of recruitment according to Geddes, this recruitment is Immediate Survival typology that does not consider the competence of candidates and aims to foster good relations with the Chinese group in Semarang City. This recruitment is patronage and only takes into consideration to the candidate resources, especially financial and network resources (which is owned by the husband’s candidates). Therefore, the factors influencing the party recruiting Chinese-Indonesian Women in PDI Perjuangan Semarang are the political system of the country, the party’s internal democracy, and the candidate’s capitals including social capitals, network capitals, kinship with the elite, and one new capitals, culture, which are all supported by the candidate’s financial capital.

An Impact Analysis of Citizen-participatory Budgeting Scheme on the Operational Performance of Local Educational Finance

이 연구는 시· 도교육청별 주민참여예산제도가 지방교육재정의 운용 성과에 유의미한 영향을 주었는지를 분석하는 데 목적이 있다 . 이를 위해서 16 개 시· 도교육청 (세종특별시교육청은 제외 )의 2011 년부터 2015 년까지 5 개년도의 결산 자료를 토대로 패널자료를 구성하여 패널회귀분석을 실시하였다 . 종속변수인 지방교육재정의 운용 성과는 크게 지방교육재정의 내실화 ( 학생당 교수학습비 , 학생당 교육복지지원비 , 학생당 학교관련 시설비 ) 와 효율성 ( 학생당 학교회계전출금 , 예산현액 대비 이월액 및 집행잔액 비중 ) 의 측면에서 5 개로 구성하였다 . 분석결과 , 첫째 , 주민참여예산제도는 지방교육재정 운용 내실화에 기여한 것으로 나타났다 . 주 민참여예산 ( 자문 ) 위원회의 총 위원수가 많은 교육청일수록 , 당연직 위원수가 적은 교육청일수록 , 제도 운영기간이 긴 교육청일수록 학생당 교육활동지원비가 많았다 . 둘째 , 주민참여예산제도는 지 방교육재정 운용의 효율성에도 기여한 것으로 나타났다 . 전체적으로 제도 운영의 역사가 긴 교육청일수록 학생당 학교회계전출금 수준이 높고 , 예산현액 대비 이월액과 집행잔액의 비중이 낮았다 . 이는 주민참여예산제도가 정착하면서 점차 지역주민이 균형있게 참여하는 공개모집에 의한 위원수가 많아지고 다양한 의견수렴 방법이 도입되고 정보가 공개되면서 예산편성 단계에서부터 계획을 실효성있게 수립하여 운영하려는 노력이 강화되었음을 알 수 있다 . 분석결과를 토대로 지방교육재정 내실화 및 효율성 증진을 위하여 주민참여예산위원회의 총 위원수와 공개모집 위원수를 확대하는 방향으로 개선할 것을 제안하였다 .This study aims to analyze how citizen-participatory budgeting scheme of provincial education offices have significantly affects the operational performance of local educational finance and to suggest the improvement plan of the schemes. To achieve this goal, I collected the panel data of 16 provincial education offices except for Sejong based on the settlement data of the five years from 2011 to 2015 and carried out a panel regression analysis. The analysis results are as follows: First, the more the total number of members of the citizen-participatory budgeting committee(CPBC), the less the number of ex officio members in CPBC, and the longer the operating period of citizen-participatory budgeting scheme of provincial educational office, the greater educational activity support expenses per student. Second, the longer the operating period of citizen-participatory budgeting scheme of provincial educational office, the higher the amount of student account transfer per student and the lower the ratio of carryover amount and execution balance compared to budget amount. Based on the results of the analysis, it was suggested to increase the total number of members of CPBC and the number of open recruitment members to increase the efficiency of the local education finances.

Policy Formulation and Implementation on Participatory Budgeting in Seoul, South Korea

This research analyzes the policy formulation and implementation of participatory budgeting in Seoul by using qualitative methods focusing on document research. The target time for this research is from 2010 until May 2012 when the Seoul government enacted the PB regulation for policy formulation, and from 2012 until 2016 for policy implementation. The results of the research show that Seoul government had already faced many demands for the implementation of PB before the regulation on PB was enacted. These demands are the result of two flows, that is, a political flow that regards citizen participation in the process of public policy as important and the worsening financial condition of the local government. In this situation, the change of Seoul mayor in 2011 has led the Seoul government to start policy formulation for PB. In the process of making the regulations, the CSOs that already studied a lot about PB also participated in this process. So, Seoul government has made regulation on PB with high level of citizen participation. After regulation on PB was enacted, during the implementation of PB, Seoul government seeks to increase the level of citizen participation by enhancing its representativeness and expertise. For example, Seoul government randomly select most of the PB committee members through open recruitment for representatives, make compulsory lessons in budgets school for expertise, and disclose all information and provide more opportunities for participation such as e-voting to increase the number of participants. As a result, the number of e-voting participants reached about 1% among the total population of Seoul.

Groundcover community assembly in high‐diversity pine savannas: seed arrival and fire‐generated environmental filtering

AbstractEnvironmental filtering—abiotic and biotic constraints on the demographic performance of individual organisms—is a widespread mechanism of selection in communities. A given individual is “filtered out” (i.e., selectively removed) when environmental conditions or disturbances like fires preclude its survival and reproduction. Although interactions between these filters and dispersal from the regional species pool are thought to determine much about species composition locally, there have been relatively few studies of dispersal × filtering interactions in species‐rich communities and fewer still where fire is also a primary selective agent. We experimentally manipulated dispersal and filtering by fire (pre‐fire fuel loads and post‐fire ash) in species‐rich groundcover communities of the longleaf pine ecosystem. We tested four predictions: (1) That species richness would increase with biologically realistic dispersal (seed addition); (2) that the immediate effect of increased fuels in burned communities would be to decrease species richness, whereas the longer‐term effects of increased fuels would be to open recruitment opportunities in the groundcover, increase species richness, and increase individual performance (growth) of immigrating species; (3) that adding ash would increase species richness; and (4) that increased dispersal would generate larger increases in species richness in plots with increased fuels compared to plots with decreased fuels. We found that dispersal interacted with complex fire‐generated filtering during and after fires. Dispersal increased species richness more in burned communities with increased and decreased fuels compared to burned controls. Moreover, individuals of immigrating species generally grew to larger sizes in burned communities with increased fuels compared to burned controls. In contrast to dispersal and fuels, ash had no effect on species richness directly or in combination with other treatments. We conclude that filtering occurs both during fires and in the post‐fire environment and that these influences interact with dispersal such that the consequences are only fully revealed when all are considered in combination. Our experiment highlights the importance of considering the dynamic interplay of dispersal and selection in the assembly of species‐rich communities.

Marine Infectious Disease Ecology

To put marine disease impacts in context requires a broad perspective on the roles infectious agents have in the ocean. Parasites infect most marine vertebrate and invertebrate species, and parasites and predators can have comparable biomass density, suggesting they play comparable parts as consumers in marine food webs. Although some parasites might increase with disturbance, most probably decline as food webs unravel. There are several ways to adapt epidemiological theory to the marine environment. In particular, because the ocean represents a three-dimensional moving habitat for hosts and parasites, models should open up the spatial scales at which infective stages and host larvae travel. In addition to open recruitment and dimensionality, marine parasites are subject to fishing, filter feeders, dose-dependent infection, environmental forcing, and death-based transmission. Adding such considerations to marine disease models will make it easier to predict which infectious diseases will increase or decrease in a changing ocean.

Who seeks ICBT for depression and how do they get there? Effects of recruitment source on patient demographics and clinical characteristics

Studies on internet-administered cognitive behavior therapy (ICBT) frequently use several different sources of recruitment, yet no study has investigated whether different recruitment sources produce different clinical and demographic profiles among participants. Using data from a large sample (n=982) seeking ICBT for depression, we compared these characteristics on the basis of self-reported recruitment source. Recruitment sources that imply more active treatment-seeking behaviors (Google searches, viewing postings on mental health websites) presented more severe depression and anxiety than those recruited through more passive sources of information (newspaper advertisements, referrals by friends and family). In addition, a number of demographic differences between groups were found. These findings have important implications for ICBT research projects and clinical programs who employ open recruitment procedures and multi-modal recruitment strategies, and who wish to recruit representative samples or target specific subgroups. Replications in other countries will however be required to establish cross-cultural patterns.

일부지역 치위생(학)과 학생들의 진학만족도와 진로방향, 치과위생사 이미지에 관한 연구

본 연구는 치위생(학)과 학생들의 진로방향에 대한 기준제시와 치과위생사의 바람직한 이미지 구축에 필요한 기초자료를 마련하고자 대구 경북지역 소재 대학 치위생(학)과 재학생을 대상으로 자기기입식 설문조사를 실시하였다. 자료 수집은 2013년 2월부터 2013년 5월까지 수행하였고, 수집된 자료 중 응답이 불성실한 46부의 설문지를 제외한 1,679부를 SPSS/Win18.0을 사용하여 최종 분석하였고, 다음과 같은 결론을 얻었다. 선택후회와 진학추천의 경우 1학년이 2, 3, 4학년보다 높았고, 전과의지는 3, 2, 4학년이 1학년보다 높은 것으로 나타나, 저학년일수록 진학만족도가 높았다. 희망진로는 모든 학년에서 치과위생사로의 취업이 높았고, 취업 희망경로는 1학년의 경우 교수추천, 2학년, 3학년, 4학년의 경우 공개채용이 높았다. 취업희망 지역은 대도시, 선택이유는 발전가능성이 높았다. 취업 희망기간은 모든 학년에서 결혼 전, 자녀성장 후 재취업이 높았고, 희망근무처는 1학년 대학병원치과, 2학년, 3학년, 4학년의 경우 치과병원이 높았다. 학년에 따른 치위생사 이미지 차이에서 태도의 경우 1, 2학년이 3학년보다 높았고, 신념은 1, 2학년이 3, 4학년보다 높았으며, 가치는 4학년이 1, 3, 2학년보다, 2, 3학년이 1학년보다 높은 것으로 나타나, 태도와 신념은 저학년일수록, 가치는 고학년일수록 높았다. 진학만족도 요인 중, 전과의지와 진학권유 요인이 치과위생사 이미지에 유의한 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 치위생(학)과 학생들은 직업에 대한 정체성을 확립하고, 치과위생사의 바람직한 이미지화를 위해 노력해야 할 것이며, 체계적이고, 적극적인 홍보활동을 통하여 치과위생사에 대한 보다 정확하고, 긍정적인 이미지를 높이기 위한 끊임없는 노력이 필요할 것으로 사료된다. A self-administered survey was conducted in dental hygiene students at colleges or universities in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province to provide basic data necessary to suggest standards for the direction of career for dental hygiene students and construct desirable image of dental hygienists. The data were collected from February to May 2013; with the exception of 46 questionnaires containing insincere responses, 1,679 were finally analyzed using SPSS/Win 18.0, drawing the following conclusion: The freshmen showed higher levels of regret for selection and enrollment recommendation than the sophomores, juniors, or seniors and the sophomores, juniors, and seniors showed higher levels of willingness to change courses than the freshmen; thus, those in lower grades showed higher environment satisfaction. As for desired career, regardless of grades, they showed higher preference for being employed as a dental hygienist; as for desired paths to get a job, the freshmen were more likely to get professors' recommendations and the sophomores, juniors, and seniors showed higher preference for open recruitment. They showed higher preference for getting a job in a large city because of greater possibility of improvement. As for the desired period of employment, regardless of grades, they showed higher preference for employment before getting married and for reemployment after their children grew up; as for desired workplace, the freshmen showed higher preference for a dental clinic in a hospital, whereas the sophomores, juniors, and seniors showed higher preference for a dental hospital. As for the differences in image of dental hygienists by grades, the freshmen and sophomores showed higher levels of attitudes than the juniors; the freshmen and sophomores showed higher levels of beliefs than the juniors or seniors; and the seniors showed higher levels of values than the freshmen, sophomores, or juniors, and the sophomores and juniors showed higher levels of values than the freshmen; thus, students in lower grades showed higher levels of attitudes and beliefs and those in higher grades showed higher levels of values. Such factors of enrollment satisfaction as willingness to change courses and persuasion to make enrollment had significant effects on image of dental hygienists. Dental hygiene students need to make efforts to establish a job identity and get desirable image of dental hygienists and to make constant efforts to promote more accurate and positive image of dental hygienists through systematic and positive public relations.

Chinese pediatricians face a crisis: should they stay or leave?

* Abbreviation: PS-CMDA — : Pediatric Society of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association Chinese pediatricians face a crisis. Not only is there a shortage of pediatricians, but their numbers are actually decreasing.1 In 2012, there was only 0.43 pediatric specialist for every 1000 children, or ∼96 000 pediatricians for the 220 million Chinese children aged <14 years. By comparison, in the United States, the ratio is ∼1.46 pediatricians for every 1000 children.2 Based on this ratio, China is short at least 200 000 pediatricians. A recent event called attention to this shortage. At a 2013 recruitment event for medical staff for the Women and Children’s Medical Center and Children’s Hospital of Dalian, no one was willing to apply for any of the 22 open pediatric positions. Of the 27 physicians who had been offered a position within the public institution system via open recruitment, 9 declined their offers. Among the 18 physicians who did report to work, 3 resigned after <1 month because of the high job pressure and low salary.3 Similar dilemmas are present in pediatric hospitals in Anhui, Zhejiang, Shanghai, and other provinces in China. Individuals recruited through open recruitment by public institutions in China have a regular salary and a career-long job there until retirement, regardless of their performance, but even with these advantages, pediatricians still choose to leave. Because of the shortage of pediatricians, many Chinese hospitals have been forced to dissolve their pediatric departments. According to the Pediatric Society of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association (PS-CMDA), although children account for 20% of the total population in China, there are only 68 specialized hospitals for children with a total of ∼258 000 beds, representing only 6.4% of all hospital beds.1,2 Compared with the huge demand for hospital care, pediatric medical resources are limited. In particular, almost all of the large pediatric hospitals are in big cities. … Address correspondence to Shu-Cheng Zhang, MD, Department of Pediatrics, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, 36 SanHao St, Heping District, Shenyang, Liaoning, 110004, PR China. E-mail: zhangshucheng76{at}126.com

In the Name of Human Capital

The international migration of physicians is considered an effective response to ageing societies. However, the international recruitment of physicians may be challenged by the protectionist rationale of the medical profession in many countries. How is the potential contradiction between open recruitment policies and exclusive professional regulations managed in Europe? What is the role played by foreign credential recognition or language knowledge in the recruitment process? Are there differences among countries? These questions are analysed by comparing Germany and Spain, which possess not only two divergent migration regimes but also two completely different health care systems. The main goal of the article is to explore how the capacity of national health care sectors to attract and integrate foreign physicians may affect Europe’s quest for highly skilled health professionals in the long term.

Do patient race and sex change surgeon recommendations for TKA?

Prior investigations have suggested that physician-related factors may contribute to differential use of TKA among women and ethnic minorities. We sought to evaluate the effect of surgeon bias on recommendations for TKA. Using an experimental approach with standardized patient scenarios, we sought to evaluate surgeon recommendations regarding TKA, specifically to determine whether recommendations for TKA are influenced by (1) patient race, and (2) patient sex. We developed four computerized scenarios for all combinations of race (white or black) and sex (male or female) for otherwise similar patients with end-stage knee osteoarthritis. Patients gave an orthopaedic history of 2years worsening pain with decreased functional status and failure of oral antiinflammatory medications and corticosteroid intraarticular injections. Orthopaedic surgeons attending the 2012 annual meetings of the New York State Society of Orthopaedic Surgeons and American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons were recruited for the study. Surgeons passing an open recruitment table at each meeting were asked to participate. Of the 1111 surgeons in attendance at either meeting, 113 (10.2%) participated in the study. All participants viewed the "control" patient's story (white male) and were randomized to view one of the three "experimental" scenarios (white female, black male, black female). After viewing each scenario, the participants were anonymously asked whether they would recommend TKA. An a priori power analysis showed that 112 participants were needed to detect a 15% difference in the likelihood of recommending surgery for white versus nonwhite patients in the test scenarios evaluated with 90% power at a level of significance of 0.05. Of the 39 surgeons who viewed the white male plus black female scenario, there were 33 (85%) concordant responses (TKA offered to both patients) and six discordant responses (TKA offered to only one of the patients), with no effect of patient race and sex (p=0.99). Of the 37 surgeons who viewed the white male plus black male scenario, there were 33 (89%) concordant responses and four discordant responses, with no effect of patient race (p=0.32). Of the 37 surgeons who viewed the white male plus white female scenario, there were 30 (77%) concordant responses and seven discordant responses, with no effect of patient sex (p=0.71). After orthopaedic surgeons viewed video scenarios of patients with end-stage knee osteoarthritis, patient race and sex were not associated with a different likelihood of a surgical recommendation. Our findings support the notion that patient race and sex may be less influential on decision making when there are strong clinical data to support a decision. Physician bias may have a greater effect on decision making in situations where the indications for surgery are less clear.

ClinicalTrials.gov as a data source for semi-automated point-of-care trial eligibility screening.

BackgroundImplementing semi-automated processes to efficiently match patients to clinical trials at the point of care requires both detailed patient data and authoritative information about open studies.ObjectiveTo evaluate the utility of the ClinicalTrials.gov registry as a data source for semi-automated trial eligibility screening.MethodsEligibility criteria and metadata for 437 trials open for recruitment in four different clinical domains were identified in ClinicalTrials.gov. Trials were evaluated for up to date recruitment status and eligibility criteria were evaluated for obstacles to automated interpretation. Finally, phone or email outreach to coordinators at a subset of the trials was made to assess the accuracy of contact details and recruitment status.Results24% (104 of 437) of trials declaring on open recruitment status list a study completion date in the past, indicating out of date records. Substantial barriers to automated eligibility interpretation in free form text are present in 81% to up to 94% of all trials. We were unable to contact coordinators at 31% (45 of 146) of the trials in the subset, either by phone or by email. Only 53% (74 of 146) would confirm that they were still recruiting patients.ConclusionBecause ClinicalTrials.gov has entries on most US and many international trials, the registry could be repurposed as a comprehensive trial matching data source. Semi-automated point of care recruitment would be facilitated by matching the registry's eligibility criteria against clinical data from electronic health records. But the current entries fall short. Ultimately, improved techniques in natural language processing will facilitate semi-automated complex matching. As immediate next steps, we recommend augmenting ClinicalTrials.gov data entry forms to capture key eligibility criteria in a simple, structured format.

Candidate selection methods and policy cohesion in parties

The method of candidate selection used by parties can influence a number of outcomes related to party organization and representation. In the past decade, Japan’s political parties have increasingly experimented with an ‘open recruitment’ system for selecting new candidates for national elections, but the degree of centralization in the process varies by party. We use candidate and voter survey data to assess whether the new system of recruitment has resulted in intraparty differences in the policy positions of candidates, and their distance from party supporters and the median voter. We find evidence that the new candidate selection method has resulted in the nomination of more centrist and urban-inclined candidates, an indication of greater responsiveness to voters, and that they exhibit higher levels of policy cohesion than their counterparts selected through traditional methods. However, these differences depend on the degree of party centralization in the process.