Increasing physician engagement. Using norms of physician culture to improve relationships with medical staff

Comments on the 2004 survey identified that physicians thought it was too early to judge whether the new structure itself was successful. This year, the survey will be repeated to measure the effectiveness of the new structure and to help administrators set goals to further improve physician engagement levels. Meanwhile, Mercy & Unity is using the tenets of the physician compact, elements of physician culture, and elements of administrative culture to inform new process-improvement activities. More study is needed to identify whether Mercy & Unity's techniques of reorganization contributed to the higher rates of physician satisfaction and engagement, but it is our belief that incorporating physician cultural norms into the process helped prevent the change process from turning the horse into the proverbial camel.     

Queers on the Tenure Track: Notes on the Civilization of Transgressive Sexualities in the Academy

The job search success of recent doctoral recipients in the humanities and social sciences who submitted dissertations on queer topics was compared to the job search success of a control group. Members of the queer group were more likely to be employed in academe. Writing on a general queer topic, graduating from prestigious institutions, and publishing books or articles were found to be significant predictors of a successful academic job search. The results are discussed within the theoretical context of queer theory.     

A METHOD FOR SOLVING LINEAR PROGRAMS WITH VARIABLE RESOURCES

This paper is concerned with the solution of linear and linear goal programming problems in which the values of the right-hand side parameters are not fixed constants. Specifically, we are concerned with linear optimization problems in which the right-hand sides of the constraining equations are free to vary subject to a set of linear constraining equations. By formulating a relaxed linear program wherein the right-hand sides are treated as variables, we show how it is possible to solve one larger linear program that yields as a solution not only the optimal values for the decision variables, but also the optimal values for the right-hand sides.     

THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN INTEGRATIVE CURRICULUM IN AN UNDERGRADUATE BUSINESS PROGRAM*

This paper describes how the core portion of the undergraduate business program at Indiana University was revised to facilitate integration of basic functionally oriented decision making skills and thus help students gain a deeper understanding of the interdependence of business decisions. It relates, in essence, why and how a single computer-oriented case study which demanded a solution to a large-scale, unified finance-marketing-production problem was used at Indiana University, mentions how we plan to accomplish further integration of functional material, and provides some insight into student reaction to what was, in fact, a massive project from both student and administrative points of view.     

MULTIPLE REGRESSION ANALYSIS APPLIED TO RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES

An interesting and promising innovation in the assessment of property for tax purposes is the application of multiple regression analysis. Sales prices are regressed on various housing characteristics, and models developed from sold properties are used to generate value estimates for unsold properties. Two important issues relating to the development of such models are (1) the extent to which real estate markets are stable in terms of structural relationships over time, and (2) the extent to which sales prices reflect actual market values. The first issue is important because it affects how current sales must be before they can be used in model development, as well as the amount of information the assessor must collect and maintain on properties. The second issue is important because it concerns the amount of measurement error in the models and the extent to which the assessor/analyst can unambiguously interpret residual variance. These issues are investigated by comparing regression models developed from a sample of properties in Eugene, Oregon, which sold in each of two well separated time periods.     

A PLURALITY MAXIMIZING APPROACH TO THE ALLOCATION OF CAMPAIGN RESOURCES

An important problem in the planning of political campaigns is the allocation of resources to precincts and other geographical voting units in order to maximize a candidate's plurality. Essentially, parties may increase candidate plurality by engaging in registration drives, midcampaign activities such as canvassing and candidate appearances, and get-out-the-vote drives. Based on previous work which has related voter response to party identification, the authors develop a model for the optimal allocation of campaign resources to these activities. The computational feasibility of the solution procedure is made possible by a decomposition across activities.     

Performance characteristics of the adjusted r2 algorithm for determining the start of the terminal disposition phase and comparison with a simple r2 algorithm and a visual inspection method

The adjusted r² algorithm is a popular automated method for selecting the start time of the terminal disposition phase (t_z) when conducting a noncompartmental pharmacokinetic data analysis. Using simulated data, the performance of the algorithm was assessed in relation to the ratio of the slopes of the preterminal and terminal disposition phases, the point of intercept of the terminal disposition phase with the preterminal disposition phase, the length of the terminal disposition phase captured in the concentration‐time profile, the number of data points present in the terminal disposition phase, and the level of variability in concentration measurement. The adjusted r² algorithm was unable to identify t_z accurately when there were more than three data points present in a profile's terminal disposition phase. The terminal disposition phase rate constant (λ_z) calculated based on the value of t_z selected by the algorithm had a positive bias in all simulation data conditions. Tolerable levels of bias (median bias less than 5%) were achieved under conditions of low measurement variability. When measurement variability was high, tolerable levels of bias were attained only when the terminal phase time span was 4 multiples of t_1/2 or longer. A comparison of the performance of the adjusted r² algorithm, a simple r² algorithm, and t_z selection by visual inspection was conducted using a subset of the simulation data. In the comparison, the simple r² algorithm performed as well as the adjusted r² algorithm and the visual inspection method outperformed both algorithms. Recommendations concerning the use of the various t_z selection methods are presented.     

Linking Ethnic Identification to Organisational Solidarity

Public Organization Review - This paper investigates the process through which ethnic identification (EI) influences employees’ sense of organisational solidarity (OS). A survey of 1525...     

Recommended Distributions for Exposure Factors Frequently Used in Health Risk Assessment

Although there has been nearly complete agreement in the scientific community that Monte Carlo techniques represent a significant improvement in the exposure assessment process, virtually all state and federal risk assessments still rely on the traditional point estimate approach. One of the rate-determining steps to a timely implementation of Monte Carlo techniques to regulatory decision making is the development of "standard" data distributions that are considered applicable to any setting. For many exposure variables, there is no need to wait any longer to adopt Monte Carlo techniques into regulatory policy since there is a wealth of data from which a robust distribution can be developed and ample evidence to indicate that the variable is not significantly influenced by site-specific conditions. In this paper, we propose several distributions that can be considered standard and customary for most settings. Age-specific distributions for soil ingestion rates, inhalation rates, body weights, skin surface area, tapwater and fish consumption, residential occupancy and occupational tenure, and soil-on-skin adherence were developed. For each distribution offered in this paper, we discuss the adequacy of the database, derivation of the distribution, and applicability of the distribution to various settings and conditions.