Sunday, January 26, 2020

Factors in NHS Clinical and Corporate Governance

Factors in NHS Clinical and Corporate Governance Introduction This paper presents a critical insight on the key aspects associated with the deployment of clinical and corporate governance on an organization wide basis. The key managerial elements associated with the management or change, organization wide practices and implementation of policy guidance is presented to the reader. 1.  Organization Wide awareness and governance Lee (1999)[1] argues that the â€Å"Clinical governance has been defined as ‘Corporate accountability for clinical performance†. This makes it clear that the accountability of a given NHS trust can be accomplished only through an organization wide approach to the quality management process in order to ensure that the organization is not only accountable to the process of achieving quality of service in healthcare services but also in the delivery of the processes from a managerial perspective. The implementation of the framework like Total Quality Management is deemed applicable as the TQM approach is primarily aimed to nurture the awareness of quality at all levels of an organization thus leveraging commitment and operational excellence among the staff members as argued by Onion (2000)[2]. The implementation of the TQM would also require the need to review and address the key operational and strategic elements of the overall NHS management process in the given organizat ion in order to effectively implement the quality assurance strategy devised (Onion, 2000). The following sections provide a overview on the key tasks associated with the implementation of the organization wide quality assurance and management process at the NHS trust where the clinical incident due to the mismanagement and inefficient policy control. 2. Quality Assurance The quality of service in the health services environment is a critical aspect associated with the management of the NHS hospitals and primary health care units attached to the each hospital (Savage, 2000[3]). This is not only due to the need for ensuring that the patients are diagnosed successfully and critical illness or transition to critical condition avoided through prompt treatment but also due to the need for effectively managing the process of allocating the resources to the necessary locations and training the medical staff in the use of the equipments alongside communication of changes to policies and procedures. This process of clinical governance is one of the critical elements to ensure that the funds spent on the healthcare services at NHS and other primary healthcare units are realised through providing prompt and valuable services to the patients as argued by Trubek et al (2008)[4]. The implementation of the quality assurance process at the primary health care clinic and the NHS hospital to which it is attached, it is necessary to review the existing policies and procedures of the entire NHS trust that manages the portfolio of hospitals and primary health care centres along with the two that were concerned with the incident. This is necessary in order to ensure consistency in the policies and procedures which can be accomplished through implementing a common procedure to replace those that are locally managed at the healthcare centres or hospitals. This is critical for the effectiveness in the quality assurance process because of the fact that the consistency in the service rendered is the first step to achieving quality of service as the healthcare staff across the organization at a given role will be aware of the tasks and the sequence in which they must be conducted in order to provide medical care to a patient. The process of quality assurance in an organization is mainly concerned with the policies and procedures that are implemented and th e extent to which they are adhered in order to deliver the effective service quality to the customers as argued by reference4. Hence it is necessary to ensure that there is consistency in the policies and procedures followed in order to successfully implement the quality assurance process at the NHS. In the light of the clinical incident, it is clear that the lack of policies and procedures for resuscitation of the patients along with the lack of awareness among the emergency response team on the operational procedures associated with the use of the recovery equipments justifies that the review of existing policies and enforcement of organization-wide policies and procedures for both emergency medical care and the day-to-day operations to achieve quality assurance. 3. Audit Control and Change Management The process of quality assurance can be achieve successfully only when the revision of the existing procedures and policies are in place (i.e.) the changes required at each hospital and attached health care units are achieved and practised effectively. This naturally leads to the need or change control and management of change in order to ensure that changes in the infrastructure, policies or procedure related changes specific to a given care unit or hospital is not only implemented but also managed as part of the NHS trust. This is necessary because of the fact that any emergency response team that is dispatched to the specific unit can be aware of the changes before hand and the relevant personnel with the necessary expertise arrive at the scene. This is evident in the case of the clinical incident where the emergency medical staff that arrived at the primary health care centre was not only aware of the procedures at the primary care unit but also lacked knowledge in operating the equipments at the facility. This process of change management and the audit control when managed in tandem centrally by the NHS trust, can help provide the relevant information that is up-to-date on the paramedic or emergency staff’s handheld devices thus helping the staff overcome the element of surprise due to malfunctioning or outmoded equipments etc., The audit control process in the clinical environment as argued by Onion (2000) is deemed to become effective when the changes to the policies and procedures are incorporated as changes to the then implemented procedures and policies along with upgrades to any equipment at a given healthcare unit will be logged and monitored across the board. This process will also help in devising the training plan for the medical staff. As the emergency medical staff that arrived at the primary healthcare unit was unable to operate the equipments available at the facility because of the lack of knowledge, this makes it clear that the training is a critical part of the change management process. The audit control when enforced alongside the change management process will help achieve the desired result of training the appropriate medical staff and emergency response staff members to deliver the desired health care service at the hospitals and the primary healthcare units that are attached to the hos pital. The major barriers to the change management is the funding and the availability of resources as the implementation of a quality assurance process with consistency in the equipments being used across the hospitals and attached healthcare units will require commitment of resources and funds to procurement of the infrastructure as well as training of the staff as argued by Onion (2000). It is also critical to appreciate the fact that not only the change control, but also the need to realise sustainable return on the investment in specific piece of hardware at a given healthcare unit naturally requires the need to ensure that the change process to achieve quality assurance does not affect the existing investments at the facilities managed b the NHS trust. This makes it clear that the effective delivery of the services at the NHS must be accomplished through introducing the change management process as part of the infrastructure upgrades being conducted but ensure that the policies and pr ocedures for the emergency response and day-to-day medical operations are implemented. As the change management and audit control are expected to govern the managerial elements of the operational and strategic business of the NHS, the aforementioned must be managed effectively. This process itself will help provide the relevant information to the emergency staff in order to effectively respond to a given medical emergency. The aforementioned also includes the process and procedure associated with the dispatch of the emergency medical staff as the failure of the dispatch team to send the staff to the correct location in the first instance resulted in delays to the medical care given to the patient at the primary healthcare unit. The setting of the policies and their implementation can be achieved successfully once they are reviewed and the senior management along with the operational staff are in agreement with the policies/procedures prior to their implementation. This is necessary because of the need to ensure that the staff members are aware of their duties in the light of the new policy thus avoiding potential errors associated with the dispatch of emergency medical staff to the wrong location, lack of training to the staff member at any given facility as well as sending emergency response medical personnel who do not have the relevant training in operating the equipments at the given facility. This makes it clear that the implementation of an organization wide policy would leave the paramedic to be concerned with the equipments at the facility alone. This is because the former when standardised will be the same across the facilities at the given NHS trust thus overcoming the barrier of lack of informati on or misinformation. 4. Clinical Failures and Lessons Learned The case of clinical governance at Greater Manchester NHS Trust (Clinical Governance Support Team[5]) is a classical example for this case where the clinical governance implementation changed the attitude of the staff towards incident reporting and clinical failures. The positive approach to handling the critical incidents through avoiding disciplinary on the staff involved and encouraging the process of taking collective responsibility to the case justifies that the clinical governance is a major element that attributes to the effective use of the lessons learned process and knowledge transfer across the organization in the NHS trusts of the UK. The change in the attitude of the staff towards reporting incidents with the outlook of realizing benefits to the organization through the information gathered in the critical incident in order to help address policy related issues and fill the gaps in the expertise and training required at the Greater Manchester NHS Trust further justifies that personnel management at the NHS trust is the major element that must be addressed as part of the policy and procedure review to implement quality assurance and TQM within a given NHS trust. In case of the primary healthcare unit incident, it is clear that the implementation of the aforementioned would not only encourage the staff to learn from the incident but also avoid potential incidents in future through drafting the best practices that can be implemented organization wide to achieve clinical governance. 5. Conclusion From the research presented above, it is clear that the review of the existing policies and procedures must be conducted at the NHS trust on a organization wide basis in order to revise and implemented the policies along with audit control change management to ensure best practices are devised and adhered to effectively. Footnotes [1] Lee, R. (1999), Clinical governance and risk management, Journal of the Medical Defence Union 15 (2) [2] Savage, J. (2000), The culture of culture in National Health Service policy implementation, Nursing Inquiry 7 (4) [3] Carl W. R. Onion (2000), Principles to govern clinical governance, Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice 6 (4) [4] L. G. Trubek, Joseph V Rees, A. Bryce Hoflund, Marybeth Farquhar and Carol A Heimer (2008), Health care and new governance: The quest for effective regulation, Regulation Governance 2 (1) [5] Clinical Governance Support Team (2002/2003), Communicating the need for change: getting better following untoward incidents. Online Resource [URL: www.cgsupport.nhs.uk]

Saturday, January 18, 2020

Beowulf Movie Critic

Beowulf Movie Critic Do you envision a strong female role or a male role as your hero? In my opinion the Beowulf movie was a thumbs up, due to Angelina Jolie’s use of seduction and female wiles. Angelina is a critical character who drives the plot. In the movie, her character of Grendel’s mother overshadows Beowulf‘s character as a hero. This is in drastic contrast to the original poem ‘Beowulf’ because in the original, women were not valued and they had no important role. Grendel’s mother differs from the original, in three aspects; character, plot and theme.The difference between the characters from the original Beowulf poem to the movie is vast. Grendel’s mother in the movie was beautiful, for example ‘Beowulf’ Movie Review says, â€Å"The link between the early battles of a young hero and his fatal confrontation with the dragon as an aging king is his temptation by the monster’s mother who dangles wealth, power a nd sexual favors before his bedazzled eyes,† the writer reminds us of the beauty she portrays. In the poem readers are led to believe she looks monstrous; it is said that the warriors from Herot thought she looked like Grendel and also Beowulf is not one bit attracted to her.In the poem Grendel’s mother is a violent being who creates conflicts to avenge her son; she eats people and kills many of Hrothgar’s men. In the movie Angelina Jolie lures Beowulf with her sexuality and beauty; her strategy is seduction, as for in the poem Grendel’s mother is a monster who attacks Beowulf and drags him into the cave where they engage in combat; her strategy is direct attack. In my opinion the movie Beowulf was successful, whereas the poem was not. The role played as Grendel’s mother was more thought out.Her strategy was a wise one because not only did she live, but she is free to lure more men into her cave, where she will pursue to seduce and sin. Grendel†™s mother changes the plot from beginning to end. If she had never seduced the king in the movie, then there would have never been the character Grendel. Without Grendel, Beowulf would have no reason to travel to Denmark on behalf of King Hrothgar’s request. King Hrothgar was sick and tired of Grendel savaging at night; he surmised Beowulf would save his kingdom.Grendel’s mother creates all conflict, for example she allures Beowulf knowing that lust was his weakness; where in the original ‘Beowulf’ she is an ugly lake monster with dragon claws, a long snout, yellow feathers, red eyes, a pale face and since Beowulf is not attracted, he defeats her. In the movie Grendel’s mother gives birth to a dragon, but this monster is also son of Beowulf. The plot was changed once again because in the poem the dragon was not Beowulf’s son and if it weren’t for Grendel’s mother’s promise to Beowulf, he would have not become king of He rot and would have not fallen in love with the queen.He chose to kill his evil son to save his love, the queen and his mistress. In the movie every victory was glorious. Each battle won is sung and celebrated. People remember you from your battles. In ‘Beowulf’ the poem, the theme is complete opposite. Christian element is used; battle is bad, and one was not known for battles, but how honest and faithful you were throughout your life. Beowulf’s morals were very different in the movie, because he was not using the Christian element, but was deceitful and unfaithful; for example, he lies about his battles and betrays the kingdom by fornicating with Grendel’s mother.Whereas in the poem he never did such thing. Contrary to the original Beowulf, the new film wants us to understand and humanize our monster. The changes of theme from story to movie give Beowulf a more modern feel. The movie was a real life depiction of the poem, which was a fantasy. In real life there is reality like sin. The movie is like a metaphor to the poem; we picture Grendel’s mother as an ugly creature, but she was not ugly; she was a monster within but not on the outside. ?

Friday, January 10, 2020

Benefits of Human Resource Portals Essay

Torres-Coronas & Arias-Oliva define a human resource portal as a set of applications which avails a single gateway to personalized as well as customized information (2005). It is worth mentioning that Portal strategies are currently being either adopted or employed in many modern organizations. This has been necessitated by the need of organization to implement one common base in terms of Human Resource procedures and policies throughout the organization. In addition, there is an increase in the number of international branches in several organizations due to the urge for global expansion. With this background this paper will objectively discuss the reasons for the popularity of human resource portals among the human resource managers. Human resource portals enable the human resource managers to experience enterprise unification especially if a global HR portal is put in place. This solution ensures the provision of better services to the employees. Besides, human resource managers in global organizations find it very easy to connect directly with the employees and the entire workforce of the firm in all locations. Employees can easily access all the relevant services via the employee portal and as such the human resource manager does not have to attend to each individual employee unless under very special circumstances. This consequently reduces the workload of the human resource managers due to the availability of short cut processes (Torres-Coronas & Arias-Oliva, 2005). Additionally, the managers are in a better position to focus on the achievement of organizational strategic goals. A case in point is the Time Warner’s portal, which is referred to as the Employee Connection. This portal gives the 80,000 employees of this organization, expense reimbursement, access to benefits enrollment and other services (Robb, 2006). The recruitment process has equally been made easier, faster and more efficient. Considering global staffing technology and operations, the BearingPoint portal is a milestone achievement when it comes to global recruitment. Its â€Å"Called Career Connections† enables employees to access and apply for jobs internationally, thus making it very simple for human resource managers to carry out recruitment. Moreover, the referral section found in this portal allows for online employee referrals that give room for new employees, unlike initially where the firm relied on premium job boards which were very expensive (Robb, 2006). It is worth mentioning that these portals are usually affected by issues such as local regulations in terms of taxation as well as privacy. For instance, the Data Privacy Directive employed within the European Union which restricts transmission and monitors the type of data in question. This therefore implies that some employees working in other international branches of any firm may not be able to access information stored in other parts of the world (Hildebrandt & Gutwirth, 2008). However, when the right measures are put in place, there are more advantages that come with the employment of these portals and as such human resource portals are increasingly become more popular among the human resource managers.

Thursday, January 2, 2020

Tragic Hero In Oedipus The King - 1502 Words

The idea of a tragic hero was first thought of by the philosopher Aristotle in his work, â€Å"Poetics†. In article discussing the philosopher’s ideology of a tragic hero, with emphasis on hamartia, the author states: The function of a tragedy is to arouse the emotions of pity and fear and Aristotle deduces the qualities of his hero from this function. He should be good, but not perfect, for the fall of a perfect man from happiness into misery, would be unfair and repellent and will not arouse pity. Similarly, an utterly wicked person passing from happiness to misery may satisfy our moral sense, but will lack proper tragic qualities. His fall will be well-deserved and according to ‘justice’. It excites neither pity nor fear. Thus, entirely good†¦show more content†¦The queen Jocasta tells Oedipus to ignore this but also states the oracle told her first husband, who was Laius, would die at the hands of their son. She believed this to be false because she believed her husband was murdered during a robbery and her baby died. This made Oedipus become nervous because before he came to Thebes, he killed a man who resembled Laius at a crossroads and when he was younger, an oracle to ld him he would kill his father and marry his mother. After the death Polybus, he finds out that Polybus and Merope are not his real parents and the messenger himself gave Oedipus to the couple when a shepherd offered him an abandoned baby from the house of Laius. The shepherd confirms Oedipus is actually the son of Laius and Jocasta. Oedipus realized the prophecy is becoming true and becomes devastated by his fate. Oedipus finds that the queen has killed herself so he takes the pins from her gown and rakes out his eyes, blinding himself. He begs Creon to kill him, but ultimately surrenders under Creons leadership, and awaits the decision whether or not he will casted away from Thebes, the place he once ruled. 2. Nobility and Respectability He is a king of excellence, love, and esteem. Due to his nobility, he left his originally thought city of birth to make sure the prophecy didn’t come true. Beginning with the opening of the play, Oedipus shows he is a good king andShow MoreRelatedThe Tragic Hero Of Oedipus The King1528 Words   |  7 Pagesdescribes the tragic hero as having three components which should be present in order to influence the audience. The audience must become involved emotionally with the hero so they become fearful for his welfare or well-being. The concluding suffering of the hero draws pity from the audience. Aristotle describes this emotional transition as â€Å"catharsis† which refers to the purging or releasing of emotions. This is what Aristotle believes entices audiences to watch tragedies. The hero must also beRead MoreOedipus The King : A Tragic Hero1541 Words   |  7 PagesAristotle (384-322 B.C.) defines a tragic hero as one who possesses the characteristics of hamart ia, peripeteia, anagnorisis, and that the characters fate must be greater than deserved (Else). Since the main character in Sophocles’ classic tragedy Oedipus Rex or Oedipus the King matches up to Aristotle’s definition, Oedipus certainly exemplifies what it is to be a â€Å"tragic hero.† The play’s protagonist Oedipus is revered as a good man and intelligent ruler who acts quickly to support Thebes- a cityRead MoreThe Tragic Hero Of Oedipus The King987 Words   |  4 PagesWhile exemplifying the high estate, noble character, and flawed nature of Aristotle’s tragic hero, Oedipus fails to have a personal mistake become his undoing, hence denying him the status of Aristotle’s tragic hero. A key criteria of Aristotle’s tragic hero is that he or she comes from high estate, such as a royal family. Aristotle’s definition of the tragic hero is well thought out in this manner. High status is important as it gives the character a long way to fall (Kennedy Gioia, 2013). ThisRead MoreOedipus The King : A Tragic Hero987 Words   |  4 PagesLike most greek tragedies, Oedipus the King had a tragic hero whose downfall was the result of a tragic flaw. Oedipus, like other greek characters, did not see his errors until his reign was coming to an end. Oedipus, the man who saved Thebes did not understand that every good thing must come to an end. A tragic hero defined by Aristotle has five characteristics that lead to their downfall and their understanding of why the situation happened. Oedipus is the ideal tragic hero because his downfall followedRead MoreThe Tragic Hero Of Oedipus The King1156 Words   |  5 Pages The topic I chose is the tragic hero topic. There exists a number of parameters that describe a tragic hero and thus it was my desire to get to understand these parameters. It was also my desire to be in position to give the difference between normal heroes and a tragic hero and give see the main dimensions of the two figures. I preferred to work with the book by Sophocles Oedipus, the king, in order to portray the attributes of a tragic hero. The book contains adequate information concerning theRead MoreThe Tragic Hero Of Oedipus And King1060 Words   |  5 Pageshowever, Oedipus and Dido lost much more than that. These were two great leaders that both, suffered by losing their reputations, their sanity, and their kingdoms. These are two great examples of what a tragic character displays, according to Aristotle’s conception. Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero is a distinguished person occupying a high position, living in prosperous circumstances and falling into misfortune because of an error in judgment. King Oedipus and Queen Dido are tragic charactersRead MoreOedipus the King a Tragic Hero936 Words   |  4 PagesEnglish 1302-6504 Mrs.Weatherford 21 November 2011 A Tragic Hero Indeed! In Sophocles tragedy Oedipus the King, King Oedipus swears to solve the murder of former King Laios in order to free the city from the plague. The plague taunts the city destroying crops and livestock and making the women unable to bear children. A seer, Teirsias tells Oedipus that he himself is Thebes’s pollution for killing his father and marrying his mother. Oedipus ignores his words and is blind to the truth until he discoversRead MoreOedipus The King : A Tragic Hero870 Words   |  4 Pagestragedies and his most famous being performed there. While only seven of his plays have survived, many, like Oedipus the King, are still prevalent today. It definitely meets the five main criteria for a tragedy: a tragic hero of noble birth, a tragic flaw, a fall from grace, a moment of remorse, and catharsis. Oedipus the King is seen as a perfect tragedy. It features a hero with a tragic flaw, Oedipus, and highlights many common themes in Greek tragedy such as fate or destiny, love, pride, loss, the abuseRead MoreOedipus : The King Of Thebes And Tragic Hero Essay728 Words   |  3 PagesOedipus: The King of Thebes and Tragic Hero Ancient Greek Literature encompasses an assortment of poetry and drama to include the great masterpieces of tragedy. In Classic Literature, tragedies were commonly known for their elaboration of a protagonist fitting the classification of a tragic hero. This type of a tragic hero often collectively described as a character of noble birth, facing an adversity of some nature and a fate of great suffering. The characteristics of what encompassed a tragic heroRead MoreThe Tragic Hero Of Sophocles Oedipus The King1518 Words   |  7 Pagesaudiences so well. A tragic hero plays the most essential role in this. Tragic heroes can be defined differently for whoever is trying to force a character into the tragic hero mold. However Aristotle, the great Greek philosopher, established an outline of the requirements a tragic hero has to meet in order to be considered one. These requirements include a downfall, a hamartia, and recognition of said tragic hero’s condition. Oedipus, the prot agonist of Sophocles’ play Oedipus The King fits the mold.