Assessing Outcomes Using Program Assessment Portfolio Approach

The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology has developed and implemented new criteria for accrediting engineering technology programs in the United States. The new criteria, Technology Criteria 2000 (TC2K), have changed the way that engineering technology programs conduct their business. In order to survive in the future, each program has to develop a strategy to meet the new requirements specified in the TC2K. The Department of Engineering Technology at Texas Tech University has developed a program assessment portfolio (PAP) to assess the department performance toward the attainment of TC2K Criterion 1. This paper presents 12 assessment methods within the PAP. Particularly, it demonstrates how to develop and implement one of the assessment methods, pre- and postcourse assessment, to a senior-level course. Data collected from the implementation has been analyzed and results indicate that pre- and postcourse assessment provide valuable information regarding student learning. Furthermore, the information can be used to continue improving effectiveness of teaching.     

Responsibilities of psycho-oncology]

The authors compared in a prospective study the bronchodilatating and undesirable effects of combined inhalation treatment (phenoterol + ipratropium bromide) in the treatment of patients with exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, using different dosages. The patients were divided at random into two groups--group one inhaled berodual sol 3.5 ml/day (i.e. 1.75 mg phenoteroli + 0.875 mg ipratropii bromidium), the second group had a dose of double size. During the trial the authors monitored the peak expiration rate, the heart and respiration rate, blood gases and the subjective state of dyspnoea, using a 10 cm line. By comparison of bronchodilatating and undesirable effects they reached the conclusion that a daily dose of 3.5 ml berodual sol. is sufficiently effective. Increasing the daily dose to 7 ml did not produce a greater therapeutic effect nor increase the risk of undesirable effects.     

Responsibilities of regulatory agencies

If the eye lens of the adult newt, Notophthalmus viridescens, is removed, a new lens will regenerate and only from the dorsal, not the ventral, iris. The source, pigmented epithelial cells, would normally no longer divide, but upon lentectomy they do re-enter the cell cycle and form lens. The cause for this capability is unknown, but the mitogenic Fibroblast Growth Factors and their receptors may be involved. We have demonstrated that FGF receptors are present and operative in lens regeneration, since receptor-directed mitotoxins inhibit regeneration; heterogeneity and differential density in FGF-binding and receptor localization in iris sectors is also present. We propose that the spatial distribution of FGF receptors, especially the amphibian homolog of FGFR-3, is important in initiation of regeneration of eye lens.     

Assessment of Chronic Pain in Rehabilitation: Outcomes Measures in Clinical Trials and Clinical Practice.

Objective: Chronic pain, or pain that lasts for months or even years, is prevalent among patients in rehabilitation settings, and treatment is costly. People with chronic pain often suffer physical limitations and emotional distress. As new treatments become available and clinical trials are initiated, it is important to measure outcomes in an effort to determine the efficacy of treatment interventions. This article provides a review of the core domains of outcomes assessment among people with chronic pain, including recommendations for outcome measures to be used in clinical trials and clinical practice settings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counseling psychology training directors: Responsibilities and benefits.

Reports the responses of 30 directors of accredited counseling psychology (CP) programs to a survey of (1) the duties and benefits of CP training directors, and the (2) duties and benefit differences for directors housed in schools/colleges of education vs departments of psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Responsibilities of the psychotherapy supervisor

The art and skill of psychotherapy supervision and its teaching have received relatively little attention compared to their importance in psychiatric education. Supervision is a complex task, requiring teaching and clinical skills, as well as an awareness of the numerous responsibilities of the position. We describe the responsibilities of the supervisor and group them to include those to the supervise, to the patient, to the training program and profession, and to the supervisor himself or herself. The core responsibility to supervise is teaching them how to be psychiatrists, which for supervisors requires a balance between a hierarchical and collaborative approach. The primary responsibility to patients is that of assuring satisfactory treatment. Evaluating supervise within an educational framework is the primary responsibility to the training program and profession. Finally, the responsibilities to the supervisors themselves include self-examination during the supervision process and general ongoing education. Several themes are highlighted. One theme, which is a central development in the understanding of supervision, is seeing the supervisor as a participant in the supervisory process, rather than an outside observer of the therapy process. Another theme is that these responsibilities are at times competing, requiring the supervisor to establish priorities. Vignettes are used throughout to illustrate the problems and subtleties of supervision.     

"Consulting Firms' Responsibilities for Publication": Comment.

Comments on the article "Consulting Firm Responsibility in Reporting Test Validation Studies" by Wendell French (see record 1962-03705-001.) The author of this comment questions some of the data reported. In addition, there are questions concerning reasons for the "why not" of publishing validation studies that merit being raised. The author suspects that it is more an individual than a firm reporting and discusses whether it is the firm or the individual who carries the responsibility, is blamed, or receives the credit. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Design Engineers' Responsibilities During Construction

A dilemma can face design engineers if they have to choose between their perceived and actual responsibilities during construction of the project they designed. This dilemma can be particularly significant for specialized underground construction involving soild‐structure interaction. Such construction represents unique and unusual situations in which design, inspection, and construction functions cannot be separated. Two cases in which specialized construction quality control was not provided by the designer of subsurface structures are reviewed. In both cases defective construction was later discovered and the projects were abandoned. The design engineer is placed at risk when the owner does not agree to engage a knowledgeable specialist for quality control of the construction work. The engineer should identify in writing the risks the owner is electing to accept by contracting for a lower level of quality control than, in the engineer's judgment, is less than prudent for the project.     

ESG Responsibilities of Mining Enterprises

正Being the abbreviation of Environmental, Social and Governance, ESG is one kind of investment concept and enterprise evaluation criteria that focuses on corporate achievement in environment, society and governance, instead of financial performance. Based on ESG evaluation, investors are able to observe corporate ESG performance to evaluate the contributions made by their investments and the enterprise to promoting sustainable economic development and fulfilling social responsibilities.     

Outcomes research: a review

PURPOSE: The purpose of this article is to review the history of the medical outcomes movement as well as the methodologies used in outcomes research. CONCEPT: Outcomes research refers to a genre of clinical investigation that emphasizes the measurement of patient health outcomes, including the patient's symptoms, functional status, quality of life, satisfaction with treatment, and health care costs. RATIONALE: Outcomes research evolved from studies that demonstrated the presence of wide geographic variations in the practice of medicine and surgery. Such differences in utilization were unaccompanied by any discernible difference in patient outcomes. With escalating health care costs, there has been a growing interest in measuring the outcomes of medical intervention to determine the quality and appropriateness of medical care. DISCUSSION: Outcomes may be measured both directly and indirectly, over differing periods of time, and with varying degrees of objectivity, reliability, and validity. Current research has focused on quality of life issues, which include the extent to which a patient's usual or expected physical, emotional, and social well-being have been affected by a medical condition or treatment. The true value of health care can be determined only by a systematic examination of patient outcomes. To accomplish this goal, methods are required that are relatively unfamiliar to many clinical researchers. Future clinical research should include patient-oriented outcome measures that would otherwise focus solely on physiological or anatomic outcomes. Such information will be essential in determining which medical and surgical treatment strategies should be abandoned and which will gain acceptance in the future.     

Responsibilities and problems in national health reporting

Complaints about the inadequate data situation in public health services are not new. However, during the course of the past few years there have been significant developments: the board of experts for concerted action in the public health services requested an improvement to the situation and the Federal Government promoted a preliminary study on the establishment of a national health reporting system (GBE) in Germany. Under the responsibility of the Federal Statistics Office, a national GBE is currently being established through further promotion by the Federal Ministry for Research and Technology (BMFT) and the Federal Health Ministry (BMG); the standard users of this system will be both the general public as well as the bodies responsible for health policy and scientific research. In the public health services there exist complete, but improveable data sources or incomplete sources requiring selection; also, new data sources must be won. In establishing the GBE, it is being assumed that public health services participants willing to cooperate already have at their disposal extensive data that does not need to be newly acquired, but does need improved mutual co-ordination. The GBE can be established on this. Further supplementary data acquisition is only being considered for a later stage.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Duties and Responsibilities of Construction Managers: Perceptions of Parties Involved in Construction

This paper reports the findings of a study conducted by researchers at Illinois Institute of Technology under the direction and supervision of the ASCE Committee on Management Practices in Construction to investigate the expectations of the parties involved in the construction process, including designers, owners, general contractors, subcontractors, construction managers, and educators, relative to construction managers’ duties. The findings suggest that while there is some consensus among parties to a construction project relative to CM duties particularly in the construction phase, there is also some disagreement, most of which appear to be between contractors and designers. Most disagreements are related to CM duties performed in the bidding and postconstruction phases of projects.     

Sharing in practice: new partnerships for health

A vital part of health care, sharing in practice is not a vision for the future but the reality of today. Below, the meaning and implications of sharing in practice not just for nursing but for health care.     

Sharing wisdom: Ethnic minority supervisor perspectives.

We offer this special issue in an effort to fill the gap in the literature regarding ethnic minority supervisor processes. We dedicate this issue to the ethnic minority psychologist pioneers who have brought tremendous life experience to their work as supervisors, who can reflect on their strategies, lessons learned, You will find three types of articles in this issue. The narratives speak to the personal journeys of psychologists and how their stories inform the practice of supervision. The theoretical offerings highlight the need to think creatively and with an integrative mind when applying extant literature to supervision involving supervisors of color. Finally, one qualitative research article demonstrates that although there are more people of color supervisors in the field, there is still a need to educate them on cultural competency in supervision. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sharing our world: perioperative nurses have the vision

1. Perioperative nurses must bridge the information gap and eliminate public misconceptions about surgery and OR nursing. Fear of the unknown realm of surgery and televised inaccuracies about surgical procedures magnify the lack of awareness of health care consumers about surgery and the holistic nursing care perioperative nurses provide for their patients. 2. There is a national need for more aggressive general promotion of health care awareness and education. This need can be successfully facilitated at the grassroots level with minimal efforts from members of our surgical departments. 3. One effective way to solve this problem is to invite health care consumers into our facilities.     

Sharing your research project: a continuing education approach

CONTINUING EDUCATION PROGRAMS as a practical approach for the CNS to share research results are described in this article. Strategies for planning and implementing this approach are shared, a case example is provided, and benefits to the program are described.