Professional Figure Research Articles

SP-0703 MR Linac RTT - A brand new professional figure?

SP-0703 MR Linac RTT - A brand new professional figure?

Manifesting living knowledges: A pedagogists’ working manifesto

In this paper we present a working manifesto that emerged from our projects with pedagogists – a new professional figure in the Canadian early childhood education context. Drawing on feminist scholars’ work, we offer this manifesto as a feminist call to actively think against the anti-intellectualism sustained by existing structures in early childhood education, and as a response to the urgent need to think about early childhood education in more complex, pedagogical, political and ethical ways.

Italian communication professionals: a comparison among public and private sector ones in search of sediments of innovation

The Covid-19 emergency has made evident the need for a new approach to public communication and, consequently, the update of the public sector commu-nicators skills. Starting from the analysis of the differences between professional condition, education, digital competence level and, especially, working activities carried out by public sector and private sector communicators who have partici-pated in an Italian media regulatory authority (AGCOM) survey, the goal of these contribution is to identify those elements of innovation in private sector communi-cators job that could be useful in shaping a new professional figure suitable for the evolution of the public communication role in a increasingly disintermediated in-formation environment.

The role of the Human Resources Coordinator in Big Four Companies: Introduction to the Government of Behavioral Psychology

The HR coordinator is a new professional figure in the field of personal education and social and behavioral psychology. This paper analyzes the factors that explain the increased use of special reports in Big Four, wondering if they look like evaluation studies. In Big Four auditing firms characterized by strong institutional activism and social dialogue, the HR Coordinator, without performing any function of intermediation of projects or information, has had great success in not creating contrasts or obsessive quarrels by implementing programmed methodologies on social inference. It examines their training as well as their impact as well as the institutional use implicit in the performance audit. The picture of the staff employed in the company and its management over time give an evident measurement of the company's strategic and intellectual capacities. From an anthropological perspective, the audit could traditionally be considered as "Rituals of Verification", recognizing the procedure and the evaluation have social effects, in public management. It is a success of educational pedagogy and organizations settings methodologies. However, the performance established a regulatory dimension compared to the concept of verification.

Interdisciplinarity, Ethics and Territorial Planning

Representing a phenomenon of social aggregation, the settlements of the rock civilization of Fasano and Monopoli in Brindisi, Italy and their recovery, is one of the objectives pursued by the technical-scientific committee of the San Domenico Foundation, which involves experts at national and international level. This paper, presented at the 8th International Conference, intends to highlight how art, as a testimony of these settlements in the area of this rock civilization, is not attributable only to beauty, but also to ethics, and as such, is synonymous with identity. This leads to concepts and meanings deriving from interdisciplinarity, sustainability, planning, territorial development, as well as the need to train a specialized and multi-faceted professional figure who is qualified to operate in the field of the protection and valorisation of the past, in order to be able to competently pass it on through to the future

Estudio acerca de las opiniones del profesorado universitario en la Región de Murcia sobre la formación de métodos activos

La formación del profesorado universitario supone el principal vehículo de cambio y mejora educativa en el marco del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior (EEES). Sin embargo, existen una serie de factores que pueden impedir su formación y, por tanto, su repercusión en los estudiantes y en la sociedad. En este sentido, este trabajo describe las posibles dificultades que pueden surgir respecto de variables tales como: los años de experiencia docente, edad, género, área del conocimiento en la que imparten docencia, figura profesional o formación universitaria recibida. Para ello, se desarrolló un cuestionario ad hoc que fue aplicado a 501 docentes universitarios. Los resultados mostraron que la falta de tiempo y de ofertas formativas cercanas suponen los principales impedimentos para una mejor formación. No obstante, llevar poco tiempo como docente o preferir otro tipo de formación, mostraron también significatividad dentro de las variables estudiadas. De esta manera, los autores de este trabajo concluyen que se deberían ampliar los incentivos para que los docentes estén motivados con el fin de mejorar su calidad docente a través de nuevas metodologías activas, además de establecer planes sólidos en la oferta de formación académica de las universidades. The training of university professors is the principal way to change and to improve the education in the framework of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). However, there are several factors that can impede their training and, therefore, their impact on students and society. In this sense, this paper describes that possible difficulties may arise regarding variables such as: years of teaching experience, age, gender, area of knowledge in which they teach, professional figure or university training received. For this, an ad hoc questionnaire was developed that was applied to 501 university professors. The results showed how the lack of time and nearby training offers are the main impediments to better training. Despite having been a teacher for a short time or preferring another type of training, they also showed significance within the variables studied. In this way, the authors of this work conclude that incentives should be expanded so that teachers are motivated in order to improve their teaching quality through new active methodologies, in addition to establishing solid plans in the offer of academic training of the universities.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease Nurse-Practical Messages.

Background and Objectives: Patients affected by inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) are complex patients with various problems from a clinical and psychological point of view. This complexity must be addressed by a multidisciplinary team, and an inflammatory bowel disease nurse can be the ideal professional figure to create a link between doctor and patient. The objective of this comprehensive review is to describe the figure of inflammatory bowel disease nurses and the various benefits that their introduction into a multidisciplinary team can bring, as well as a focus on how to become an inflammatory bowel disease nurse. Materials and Methods: A search on the PubMed database was performed by associating the terms “IBD” or “inflammatory bowel disease” with the Boolean term AND to the various issues addressed: “life impact”, “communication”, “fistulas”, “ostomy”, “diet”, “incontinence”, “sexuality”, “parenthood”, “fatigue”, “pain management”, and “follow up appointments”. Regarding the analysis of the benefits that the IBD nurse brings, the terms “IBD”, “inflammatory bowel diseases”, “Crohn’s disease”, and “ulcerative colitis” were used, associating them with the terms “benefit”, “costs”, “team”, and “patients”. Finally, regarding the focus on how to become an IBD nurse, an IBD nurse was interviewed. Results: An IBD nurse is a valuable nursing figure within the multidisciplinary team that takes care of patients with IBD because this nurse performs important functions from both a clinical assistance point of view (management of fistulas, ostomies, infusion of biological drugs) and an information and therapeutic education point of view (communication with patients, direct contact with patients by telephone or email). Furthermore, this nurse performs the “filter” function between doctor and patient, saving time for doctors that will be used for more outpatient visits. Conclusions: The introduction of an inflammatory bowel disease nurse is therefore recommended for multidisciplinary organizations dealing with the clinical course of patients suffering from IBD.

Proper Left Ventricular Assist Device Outpatients Monitoring: VAD Coordinator Interface Despite COVID-19 Pandemic

PurposeLeft ventricular assist devices (LVAD) have been developed to support cardiocirculatory function in patients with advanced heart failure, who are refractory to optimal medical treatment. This created the need to identify a professional figure for dedicated management of LVAD patients.MethodsIn this report, we analyzed all the accesses of all consecutive adult LVAD recipients at our outpatient care unit and the impact of VAD coordinator clinical/technical assessment on patients global management, at the time of COVID-19 pandemic in the period January to August 2020ResultsDuring the study period, 19 LVAD patients had overall 357 contacts with the clinic, for different combinations of: advanced driveline dressing (n=280), log file analysis and technical check-up (n=200), clinical visit (n=102), ramp test (n=17). In the majority of accesses, the patient was seen by the VAD coordinator only, (n=238; 67%), mainly for driveline dressing, which was associated with technical check-ups in 89 cases.Overall, alarms were managed by technical check-ups and log file analyses in 14 cases (6 high priority alarms, 3 cases of high watt or low flow, and 5 cases of low-priority alarms). Ramp tests were performed during right heart catheterization, with contextual echocardiography performed by the VAD coordinator: in 11 out of 17 cases the ramp test led to medical therapy or LVAD settings optimization.ConclusionLVAD patients need frequent outpatients dedicated admissions for proper monitoring. The VAD coordinator is a key healthcare professional representing the main interface for LVAD patients, in support of physicians’ throughout the duration of mechanical support, to preserve optimal outcomes.

Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Digital Radiology: The Submission of a Survey to Investigate the Opinion of Insiders.

The development of artificial intelligence (AI) during the COVID-19 pandemic is there for all to see, and has undoubtedly mainly concerned the activities of digital radiology. Nevertheless, the strong perception in the research and clinical application environment is that AI in radiology is like a hammer in search of a nail. Notable developments and opportunities do not seem to be combined, now, in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a stable, effective, and concrete use in clinical routine; the use of AI often seems limited to use in research applications. This study considers the future perceived integration of AI with digital radiology after the COVID-19 pandemic and proposes a methodology that, by means of a wide interaction of the involved actors, allows a positioning exercise for acceptance evaluation using a general purpose electronic survey. The methodology was tested on a first category of professionals, the medical radiology technicians (MRT), and allowed to (i) collect their impressions on the issue in a structured way, and (ii) collect their suggestions and their comments in order to create a specific tool for this professional figure to be used in scientific societies. This study is useful for the stakeholders in the field, and yielded several noteworthy observations, among them (iii) the perception of great development in thoracic radiography and CT, but a loss of opportunity in integration with non-radiological technologies; (iv) the belief that it is appropriate to invest in training and infrastructure dedicated to AI; and (v) the widespread idea that AI can become a strong complementary tool to human activity. From a general point of view, the study is a clear invitation to face the last yard of AI in digital radiology, a last yard that depends a lot on the opinion and the ability to accept these technologies by the operators of digital radiology.

The structural heart disease interventional imager rationale, skills and training: a position paper of the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging.

Percutaneous therapeutic options for an increasing variety of structural heart diseases (SHD) have grown dramatically. Within this context of continuous expansion of devices and procedures, there has been increased demand for physicians with specific knowledge, skills, and advanced training in multimodality cardiac imaging. As a consequence, a new subspecialty of 'Interventional Imaging' for SHD interventions and a new dedicated professional figure, the 'Interventional Imager' with specific competencies has emerged. The interventional imager is an integral part of the heart team and plays a central role in decision-making throughout the patient pathway, including the appropriateness and feasibility of a procedure, pre-procedural planning, intra-procedural guidance, and post-procedural follow-up. However, inherent challenges exist to develop a training programme for SHD imaging that differs from traditional cardiovascular imaging pathways. The purpose of this document is to provide the standard requirements for the training in SHD imaging, as well as a starting point for an official certification process for SHD interventional imager.

Welfare Issues on Israeli Dairy Farms: Attitudes and Awareness of Farm Workers and Veterinary Practitioners.

Simple SummaryAnimal welfare science embraces all factors that might affect the physical and emotional state of the animal, its ability to cope, and its overall quality of life. In recent years, awareness of farm animal welfare has increased among veterinary practitioners—a major professional figure influencing a farm’s routine, farm workers, consumers, and the general public. In particular, the farm worker’s knowledge of animal welfare is an essential component of the rearing system. The aim of this study was to examine attitudes toward and awareness of select animal welfare issues among farm workers and practitioners. A survey was performed based on anonymous questionnaires filled out by dairy farm workers and veterinary practitioners. The results demonstrated that farm workers’ enjoyment of their work is of great importance, as is their cows’ welfare. The survey showed the farm workers’ awareness of their influence on the cow during milking, the effects of stress on milk production, and the possible effect of human behavior on heifers and cows. The main areas where animal welfare might be improved were farmers’ awareness of learning, memory, and pain masking in cattle, and knowledge transfer from veterinary practitioners to the farm workers. The survey answers further emphasized the crucial importance of communication and understanding between farm workers and their practitioners.Attitudes toward practical dairy cow welfare issues were evaluated based on a questionnaire answered by 500 dairy farm workers and 27 veterinary practitioners. Primarily, the effect of demographic characteristics on attitudes toward cattle welfare was tested. Professionally, five themes were identified: effect of welfare awareness on productivity, knowledge of cattle’s senses and social structure, effects of man–animal interactions on milk yield, pain perception and prevention, and knowledge transfer from veterinary practitioners to farm workers. Farms with a higher welfare awareness score also had higher annual milk yield, with an annual mean difference of 1000 L of milk per cow between farms with higher and lower awareness scores. Veterinary practitioners showed high awareness of cows’ social structure, senses, and pain perception. Farm workers were aware of the influence of man–animal interactions during milking and stress effects on milk yield, and the possible effect of man’s behavior on heifers and cows. Practitioners and farm workers had different views regarding pain perception, mostly involving mutilation procedures. All veterinary practitioners advocated the use of pain alleviation in painful procedures, but only some of them instructed the farm workers to administer it. The survey results emphasize the variation in welfare knowledge and practical applications across farms, and the interest of both the animals and their managers to improve applied knowledge of best practice.

The perinatal bereavement project: development and evaluation of supportive guidelines for families experiencing stillbirth and neonatal death in Southeast Brazil\u2014a quasi-experimental before-and-after study

BackgroundFor most parents, getting pregnant means having a child. Generally, the couple outlines plans and has expectations regarding the baby. When these plans are interrupted because of a perinatal loss, it turns out to be a traumatic experience for the family. Validating the grief of these losses has been a challenge to Brazilian society, which is evident considering the childbirth care offered to bereaved families in maternity wards. Positively assessed care that brings physical and emotional memories about the baby has a positive impact on the bereavement process that family undergoes. Therefore, this study aims to assess the effects supportive guidelines have on mental health. They were designed to assist grieving parents and their families while undergoing perinatal loss in public maternities in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo state, Brazil.MethodA mixed-methods (qualitative/quantitative), quasi-experimental (before/after) study. The intervention is the implementation of bereavement supportive guidelines for women who experienced a stillbirth or a neonatal death. A total of forty women will be included. Twenty participants will be assessed before and twenty will be assessed after the implementation of the guidelines. A semi-structured questionnaire and three scales will be used to assess the effects of the guidelines. Health care professionals and managers of all childbirth facilities will be invited to participate in focus group. Data will be analyzed using statistical tests, as well as thematic analysis approach.DiscussionThe Perinatal Bereavement guidelines are a local adaptation of the Canadian and British corresponding guidelines. These guidelines have been developed based on the families’ needs of baby memories during the bereavement process and include the following aspects: (1) Organization of care into periods, considering their respective needs along the process; (2) Creation of the Bereavement Professional figure in maternity wards; (3) Adequacy of the institutional environment; (4) Communication of the guidance; (5) Creation of baby memories. We expect that the current project generates additional evidence for improving the mental health of women and families that experience a perinatal loss.Trial registration RBR-3cpthrPlain English summaryFor many couples, getting pregnant does not only mean carrying a baby, but also having a child. Most of the time, the couple has already made many plans and has expectations towards the child. When these plans are interrupted because of a perinatal loss, it turns out to be a traumatic experience for the family.In Brazilian culture, validating this traumatic grief is very difficult, especially when it happens too soon. The barriers can be noticed not only by the way society deals with the parents’ grief, but also when we see the care the grieving families receive from the health care establishment.Creating physical and emotional memories might bring the parents satisfaction regarding the care they receive when a baby dies. These memories can be built when there is good communication throughout the care received; shared decisions; the chance to see and hold the baby, as well as collect memories; privacy and continuous care during the whole process, including when there is a new pregnancy, childbirth and postnatal period. With this in mind, among the most important factors are the training of health staff and other professionals, the preparation of the maternity ward to support bereaved families and the continuous support to the professionals involved in the bereavement.This article proposes guidelines to support the families who are experiencing stillbirth and neonatal death. It may be followed by childbirth professionals (nurses, midwives, obstetricians and employees of a maternity ward), managers, researchers, policymakers or those interested in developing specific protocols for their maternity wards.

Марко Лукич Кропивницький як засновник школи професійного театру в Україні

The purpose of the article is to analyze the activities of M.L. Kropyvnytsky and to justify his role as the founder of the school of Ukrainian professional theater, actor, director, playwriter and public figure. In October 1882 in Elisavetgrad (now – the city of Kropyvnytskyi) he organized a troupe which included the best actors of that time. In time this theater was named “The Theater of Corypheus”. M.L. Kropyvnytsky attached great importance to the creation of a single ensemble and as a director held the basis of the integrity of the troupe in his hands. As a playwriter, M.L. Kropyvnytsky created more than 40 dramatic works to form the original repertoire of Ukrainian theater. Methodology. The methods of the historical and cultural studies, theoretical and genre-style analysis are used. The scientific novelty. Prior to the emergence of theater schools, directors and actors provided special education in Ukraine, passing on their experience and knowledge to other members of the troupe. M.L. Kropyvnytsky founded a practical school of Ukrainian professional theater and raised several generations of actors of the national stage. The educational institution in this case was the stage. It is the practical activity of M.L. Kropyvnytsky – training and education of future artists that was the school itself. According to the historian Dmytro Volodymyrovych Antonovych, “all the troupes and all the actors of the Ukrainian theater of that time were actors of Kropyvnytsky’s school, they were either his students or students of his students, but everyone was of his school”. Thanks to the Theater of Coryphaeus, the second half of the XIX century came to be seen in the Ukrainian history as the golden age of Ukrainian theater. Therefore, the question who was the founder of this theater, his personality and methods of work will always be relevant. Conclusions. The foundation by M.L. Kropyvnytskyi in 1882 of a practical school of Ukrainian professional theater, education and training of several generations of actors of the national stage testify to the historical significance of Mark Lukych Kropyvnytskyi’s contribution to the creation of the Ukrainian professional theater – the Theater of Coryphaeus. The importance of this event is evidenced by the UNESCO resolution in 1982 to celebrate the historic anniversary of the organization by M. Kropyvnytsky of the first troupe of the Ukrainian Corypheus.

Redefiniendo el Trabajo Social: nuevos yacimimientos de empleo en el envejecimiento. Una propuesta desde la intervención social

Nos encontramos en un contexto sociodemográfico en el que aumenta progresivamente el número de personas que necesitan de cuidados, principalmente personas mayores de 65 años, colectivo mayoritario en la actualidad, en España. Ello genera que aparezcan nuevas demandas y expectativas sobre la atención prestada. Esto supone para la intervención social enfrentarse a un gran reto. Hasta el momento, las formas de intervención social y de atención proporcionados por el sistema, no parecen cubrir con plenitud las necesidades emergentes, fundamentalmente por su escasa adaptación a los nuevos contextos sociales y estilos de vida. Socialmente figuras profesionales como la del/ de la asistente personal suponen una inversión provechosa y sostenible en el contexto de la atención y prestación de servicios, puesto que, desde la praxis profesional del Trabajo Social, así como desde el prisma académico o investigador, supone una apuesta para que las personas en situación de dependencia puedan llevar a cabo su proyecto de vida con libertad e independencia. Por ello, en este trabajo se pretende por un lado visibilizar las necesidades percibidas y expresadas por las personas mayores y/o en situación de dependencia, así como sus demandas y, por otro, definir una nueva figura profesional conceptualizada como Técnico/a de Autonomía Personal y Prevención de la Dependencia (TAP) que de respuesta a los retos planteados a través de la implementación de las nuevas intervenciones basadas en el paradigma de accesibilidad universal y diseño para todas las personas. We are in a socio-demographic context in which the number of people in need of care, mainly people over the age of 65, a majority collective today, in Spain, is increasing progressively. This leads to new demands and expectations about the attention paid. This means that social intervention is facing a great challenge. So far, the forms of social intervention and care provided by the system do not seem to fully meet emerging needs, mainly because of their poor adaptation to new social contexts and lifestyles.Socially professional figures such as that of the personal assistant represent a profitable and sustainable investment in the context of the care and provision of services, since, from the professional practice of Social Work, as well as from the academic prism or researcher, it is a bet so that people in dependency can carry out their life project with freedom and independence. Therefore, this work aims on the one hand to make visible the needs perceived and expressed by the elderly and/or in a situation of dependence, as well as their demands and, on the other hand, to define a new professional figure conceptualized as Technical of Personal Autonomy and Prevention of dependency (TAP) that responds to the challenges posed through the implementation of new interventions based on the paradigm of universal accessibility and design for all people.

Project manager of integrated report: una experiencia de formación en el contexto del informe de sostenibilidad

Esta investigación analiza la experiencia de capacitación del Proyecto PMIR, cuyo objetivo principal es la creación de una figura profesional capaz de coordinar la elaboración de Informes de Sostenibilidad, dentro de empresas de cualquier tipo. El Informe de sostenibilidad es un proceso complejo que tiene como objetivo proporcionar a las partes interesadas la información relevante sobre el desempeño económico, social y ambiental de una organización. Nuestro estudio contribuye al debate sobre la educación en sostenibilidad al examinar un estudio de caso, sobre cómo los programas educativos pueden y deben responder a la creciente complejidad y necesidades del contexto económico actual. Mostramos, a través del análisis de una encuesta realizada en Italia, Alemania, España, Bélgica y Chile, entre empresas con experiencia en informes de sostenibilidad, que la sostenibilidad requiere la integración de diferentes disciplinas, por lo que se requiere capacitación y educación para adoptar un enfoque transdisciplinario. Además, el enfoque educativo también debe ser transnacional, ya que las habilidades y competencias desarrolladas deben reconocerse fácilmente en diferentes países, debido a la naturaleza global de los informes de sostenibilidad. A este respecto, es esencial adoptar un marco común para definir competencias, habilidades y conocimientos, como la metodología ECVET que se utilizó para definir los objetivos y el contenido del programa de capacitación PMIR.

Valorising Public Health activities, a regional shared Methodology: Final Products 2017-20, Italy

Abstract Issue Italian Public Health services still lack adequate measuring systems for effectiveness and sustainability, as well as standard definitions for many Public Health activities (PHA), meaning a shortage of data reflecting performance and generation of value. Within the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, the Final Products (FP) project created a process-based management system for PHA to support scheduling, allocation of resources and the assessment of quality and appropriateness. Description of the Problem From June 2017 to October 2018, 68 Public Health professionals (PHP) from 10 Public Health areas composed flowcharts and dossiers for 102 processes (named FP). Within each of them, they traced and collected PHA in a regional glossary of 184 items, providing standard definitions for them. A Committee of 18 PHP from the original team validated the system to perform from June to July 2019 a valorisation phase, in which all regional PHP were asked to valorise PHA through a matrix-based assessment in terms of personnel involved and time required. Results Valorisation was performed by 445/557 PHP (80%). Data were analysed both as a regional output and as grouped for Public Health district, allowing comparative assessments. A Summary Document (SD) for each FP was created, tabulating time and personnel data. SDs will be returned to the Committee in 7 regional meetings (February-October 2020), one for each Basic Healthcare Levels (A-G) category, and a wrap-up document will be presented to regional policymakers in November 2020. Lessons The project allowed the region to acquire a document summarising process standards for PHA. Mapping and standardising processes while framing the current organisational set-up defined more clearly the role of all PHP within Departments of Prevention to add value to each professional figure. Time quantification, especially, showed different approaches to PHA and processes among different regional Public Health settings. Key messages Process management can be successfully used to identify current specific issues in Public Health activities, in order to implement solutions based on a shared methodology and reliable data. Departments of Prevention can make output assessments easier and better structured through the application of process analysis and managerial competencies.

Quality of Life in Patients with Thalassemia Major: A Concept Analysis Using Rodgers' Evolutionary Method

Background: Quality of life (QoL) is a complicated phenomenon in patients with thalassemia major. This study was conducted to clarify the concept of QoL in patients with thalassemia major. Materials and Methods: This study was performed using Roger’s evolutionary method. Electronic databases: Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Scopus, Science Direct, ProQuest, and Medline. The inclusion criteria were papers published in English up to March 2017 with no time limit for publication. The keywords searched in titles, abstracts, and keywords of the studies included quality of life, health-relatedquality of life, thalassemia, thalassemia major, beta thalassemia, and beta thalassemia major. Results: 67 studies were included. QoL in most studies had been evaluated using the SF-36 and PedsQL. The terms QoL, HRQoL, and QL were used interchangeably in most of the studies. In this concept analysis, HRQoL and well-being were recognized as surrogate terms for the QoL in patients with thalassemia major. The concepts related to the QoL in patients with thalassemia major included satisfaction, indicator of health care, individual’s own view of health, and health status assessment. Five antecedents identified in this concept analysis were: professional figure mainly involved, clinical-care interventions, medicinal and therapeutic approaches and response to them, disease characteristics and presence of comorbidities, ability and characteristics of patient. Seven attributes of the QoL in patients with thalassemia major were objective, subjective, multidimensional, measurable, dynamic, predictable, and processable. Conclusion: Consequences of the concept were effects on physical functioning and improvement of psychological conditions, compliance with regular chelation therapy, iron overload, continuing education, having an appropriate job and marriage, patients’ economic and social status, and finally, motivation and life expectancy.

New perspectives for educational care in the hospital

In places of treatment there are echoes of needs that are unexpressed or that have not been reached, as Lido Valdrè claims, contemporary medicine has reached extraordinary levels of knowledge and operational capacity, yet the relationship between the patient and medicine is yet to be fully comprehended. In the specific regulations of the medical-health professions, among the most distinctive aspects emerges the relational-educational one: health education, therapeutic and prevention education, development of empowerment in the patient. The hospital, being a complex organization in continuous change towards modernity, hyper-specialization and research, often declines the requests of the staff to be a more mobile and flexible structure, to keep up with the needs of the territory, time and users. This a frequent request of high demand that does not always correspond to the availability of resources that are at hand. The professional world is considering the possibility of the insertion of a new kind of knowledge, rather of a professional figure of human relationships within the health field. This thought is what has prompted the Research Centre for Pedagogical and Educational Care and the Degree Course in Professional Education of the University of Insubria to take action with the creation of a project of investigation and experimentation in this specific field. Different hospitals and different departments are required as internship settings for students. From the many experiments gathered in the projects produced by the students and from the evaluations and references obtained by health care workers, it is possible to hypothesize that the Professional Educator can work with sense and benefit of the subjects involved in the process of care in a hospital environment: a reference figure for the processes of reception, stay and resignation, someone capable of picking up needs and noticing fragility, a proposer of strategies and procedures for intervention and mediation, a curator of the environment and facilitator of relational dynamics.

Constructions of burnout, identity, and self-care in professionals working toward the psychosocial care of refugees and asylum seekers in Italy

Professionals who provide psychosocial services to refugees and asylum seekers in Italy are a population at high-risk of job stress and burnout. Located within competing demands from society, clients, changing work circumstances, and professional identities, they struggle to elaborate clear constructions of responsibility, power, and care. To gain a multilayered understanding of job experiences and stress, we ran two focus groups, which became moments of peer reflection and support for the participants. They discussed how their professional figure, allegiances to personal expectations, and professional demands were often at odds with each other, resulting in feelings of guilt, impotence, and mistrust in their jobs. The participants underscored the need to develop a sense of control at work and the challenge of dealing with evolving definitions of their profession and with scarce institutional support, resources, and recognition. The need for an (im)possible, shaky, and yet crucial balance between power and responsibility was further complicated by constructions of the Italian society as hostile or, at best, indifferent about their important social and human role.

The taming of the wilderness: marshes as an economic resource in 3rd millennium BC Southern Mesopotamia

The marshy environment of Southern Sumer in the 3rd millennium BC surely had an impact on the local economy that can be sought for in the written sources. The perception of marshes was however twofold: as a prosperous environment in literary compositions and as a place to be tamed for regular, state-controlled exploitation in royal inscriptions. The great majority of attestations of marshes in economic documents refer to field names, thus, probably referring to agricultural units in drained marsh areas. On the other hand, typical marsh resources, such as reeds, fish and fowl, are widely attested in the economic documentation from 3rd millennium BC, although we can rely on very little information as to their provenance. To conclude, both literary and economic texts give hints for an interpretation of the professional figure known as ‘enku(d/r)’, usually interpreted as ‘tax-collector’ or ‘inspector of the fishery’, as an official connected with the management of wetland resources.