Micro- and macroergonomic changes in mental workload and medication safety following the implementation of new health IT

Health information technology (IT) is a promising way to achieve safer medication management in the delivery of healthcare. However, human factors/ergonomics dictates that in order to make the complex, cognitive work of healthcare delivery safer, health IT must properly support human cognition. This means, for example, that new health IT must reduce, not increase, workload during safety-critical tasks. The present study was the first to quantitatively assess the short- and long-term impact of bar coded medication administration (BCMA) IT on nurses' mental workload as well as on perceived medication safety. One-hundred seventy registered nurses across 3 dissimilar clinical units at an academic, freestanding pediatric hospital in the Midwest US participated in surveys administered before, 3 months after, and 12 months after the hospital implemented BCMA. Nurses rated their external mental workload (interruptions, divided attention, being rushed) and internal mental workload (concentration, mental effort) during medication administration tasks as well as the likelihood of each of three medication safety events: medication administration errors, medication errors on the clinical unit, and clinical unit-level adverse drug events. Clinical unit differences were assessed. Findings generally confirmed the hypothesis that external but not internal mental workload was associated with the perceived likelihood of a medication safety event. Comparisons of mental workload from pre- to post-BCMA revealed statistically significant changes in the critical care unit only. Medication safety appeared to improve over the long term in the hematology/oncology unit only. In the critical care and medical/surgical units, medication safety exhibited short-term improvements that were eliminated over time. Changes in mental workload and medication safety, two classically microergonomic constructs, were deeply embedded in macroergonomic phenomena. These included the fit between the BCMA system and the nature of nursing work, the process of BCMA implementation, and BCMA interactions with concurrent changes occurring in the hospital. Findings raise questions about achieving sustainable performance improvement with health IT as well as the balance between micro- and macroergonomic approaches to studying technology change.Relevance to industryDesigners must consider how technology changes cognitive work, including mental workload. Hospitals and other implementers of technology must ensure that new technology fits its users, their tasks, and the context of use, which may entail tailoring implementation, for example, to specific clinical units. Evaluators must look over time to assess both changes in cognitive work and implementation issues. Healthcare practitioners must also recognize that new technology means a complex transformation to an already complex sociotechnical system, which calls for a macroergonomic approach to design and analysis.     

Why do small business butcher shops fail to fully implement HACCP?

This study aims to assess the degree of HACCP implementation in small business butcher shops and understand which factors most influence butchers' intention to fully implement it, through the application of the Theory of Planned Behaviour. One hundred and one butchers managing or owning small butcher's responded to the interview regarding their Attitudes, Subjective Norm, Perceived Behavioural Control, Personal Norm, and Knowledge with regard to their Intention to fully implement a HACCP system in their shops. Before the interviews, a certified veterinarian visited all the shops. Visits included an inspection of the establishments using the Official Portuguese Control Plan checklist for meat retailers. Conformance level measured past performance regarding food safety practices. Based on past performance, butchers were divided into “high performers” and “low performers”. “High performers” yielded high values of Attitude and Intention towards the Behaviour. For these, Attitude and Personal Norm emerge as predictors of the Intention to fully implement a HACCP system. For “low performers”, Personal Norm was the strongest predictor of Intention, with results pointing to the need for an intervention from the authorities to promote increased conformance to food safety practices. For both groups, neither Social Norm nor Perceived Behavioural Control acted as significant predictors of Intention.     

关于信息化测绘时代工程测量发展的思考

如今我国信息化技术全面发展，尤其对于工程测量工作领域来讲，不管是在工程建设和管理方面都产生不小的支撑引导效用。由此，笔者具体结合如今工程建设信息化测绘核心任何以及设备布置细节，进行结构整体安全管理周期和周边地理空间信息技术发展能效整理解析，试图将工程测量最新发展机遇和技术挑战问题处理完全。希望能够借此为日后一定时期范围内相关工程测量规划主体提供合理指导性建议内容，最终为我国各类工程事业可持续发展前景绽放奠定深刻适应基础。     

Suitability,efficiency and microbiological safety of novel physical technologies for the processing of ready‐to‐eat meals,meats and pumpable products

Consumer studies and market reports show an increase in consumption of ready‐to‐eat (RTE) foods. Although conventional processing technologies can in most cases produce safe products, they can also lead to the degradation of nutritional compounds and negatively affect quality characteristics. Consumers strongly prefer food that is minimally processed with the maximum amount of health‐promoting substances. Novel processing technologies as pre‐ or post‐treatment decontamination methods or as substitutes of conventional technologies have the potential to produce foods that are safe, rich in nutrient content and with superior organoleptic properties. Combining novel with conventional processes can eliminate potential drawbacks of novel technologies. This review examines available scientific information and critically evaluates the suitability and efficiency of various novel thermal and nonthermal technologies in terms of microbial safety, quality as well as nutrient content on the production of RTE meals, meats and pumpable products.     

Survey of domestic food purchases and related home handling practices in the Abruzzo region (central Italy): Data collection and analysis through a language-independent classification system

A telephone survey was carried out on 13,486 randomly selected households located in the Abruzzo region (central Italy). Three questionnaires were specifically designed in relation to three different groups of foods (Meat and meat products, Fishery products, Fruit and vegetables). Questions were mainly focused on the amount and number of purchases, type of retailer, and home food handling practices with respect to the week prior to the interview. Data were classified according to a multilingual thesaurus system (LanguaL). Results allowed to estimate domestic purchases (in kg) per capita for different food categories. The category “Red meat/Cattle” accounted for a large part of purchases in the “meat and meat products” group (10.9 kg per capita/year; 32.2% of purchases in the group) while the category “Fish or related organism/Fish” was the most purchased in the “fishery products” group (6.9 kg per capita/year; 63.3%). The aggregation of more detailed characteristics enabled the identification of popular categories of foods, such as “Red meat/Cattle/Divided into pieces” (25% of the “meat and meat products” group). Significant differences (p < 0.05) were found between the four different provinces (L'Aquila, Chieti, Pescara and Teramo) with respect to “Poultry/Chicken” and “Red meat/Cattle” categories. Householders were also asked about post-purchase food handling practices that might be hazardous to food safety. More than 20% of those surveyed stated that they thawed frozen meat at room temperature. The degree of doneness after cooking of different food categories was generally high: over 90% of products purchased in the majority of meat and fish categories were properly cooked. However a noticeable proportion of householders (about 15%) reported medium or rare cooking of “Red meat/Cattle” and “Red meat/Swine”. Differences (p < 0.05) were also found between consumers of different ages, with people over 65 years old being more prone to freeze meat and cook it thoroughly.The survey was carried out in a specific geographic area and on a statistically significant sample of households, thus allowing a collection of data on domestic habits relating to food purchases and home food handling practices. This information should be included in the framework of quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) models as a measure of the actual exposure of consumers to pathogenic microorganism. The LanguaL system also proved to be a practical language-independent method useful not only to identify and describe food items but also to classify them according to specific food safety characteristics.     

构皮滩水电站泄洪洞优化设计

构皮滩水电站为满足2008年12月工程提前发电的需要,结合现有泄洪洞地质情况和施工情况对泄洪洞布置进行了专题研究,结果表明利用降低进口高程为550 m的泄洪洞和坝身放空底孔联合参与后期导流,可缓解2007年导流隧洞下闸封堵后大坝在2008年汛期施工的压力,为大坝施工增加了2个月左右的工期。     

含硫化氢气井钻井过程中的腐蚀因素与防护研究

在含硫气井的钻井过程中对于HRC大于22的钻具钢材除了腐蚀疲劳之外，在pH值小于9的环境中会发生硫化物应力腐蚀破裂，这种破坏比腐蚀疲劳更突然、更快，使钻杆大量损坏。含硫气井在钻井过程中，由于湿硫化氢的出现，常常会出现油管、套管、钻井设备、钻井仪器以及对支持保护管柱的水泥环柱等腐蚀和损坏问题，为此，阐述了湿硫化氢的腐蚀特点、机理，归纳总结了影响腐蚀的因素，综述了如何在这些方面防止其腐蚀，使损失减小，为指导油管、套管防腐工程实践提供了依据。建议在钻井过程中采用碱性钻井液，其pH值可到9或更高(至pH值12)，以减缓或防止钻井过程中电化学从硫化物应力腐蚀破裂；含硫气井用的钻杆应该间歇使用。钻杆停用堆置时间可使其放氢，使钻杆恢复韧性，防止硫化物应力腐蚀断裂。     

游梁式抽油机间歇供电装置的研制与应用

针对游梁抽油机电动机效率低和井场窃电问题,研制了具有节电和防井场窃电功能的游梁抽油机调压+间歇供电装置。该装置通过控制可控硅的导通角实现在电动机做功期调压供电,在电动机发电期不供电。分析了间歇供电对电动机、抽油机和电网的影响;根据现场实测数据分析了该装置的节电效果及现场应用情况。该装置节电效果显著,能防止井场窃电,可用于对游梁抽油机电动机的长期驱动。     

自喷井电动清蜡绞车的研制

针对目前石油钻采用清蜡绞车总体结构设计不合理以及实用性不强等技术难题,研制开发了自喷井电动清蜡绞车。该绞车的核心部件包括过载保护安全装置、牙嵌离合器轴套、自动/手动互换装置、计量装置以及密封装置。在清蜡绞车自动工作中,当清蜡刮刀遇到较大阻力时,清蜡绞车将接收到反馈信号,可实现智能停车,自动转换为手动状态,以便操作人员检查和排除故障,从而确保了操作的安全性,延长了设备的使用寿命。1000余台电动清蜡绞车的现场应用表明,该产品可以大大降低原油的开采成本,具有良好的经济效益和社会效益。