Hurdles at work: perceptions of hospital food handlers

Abstract Background Food handlers have a very important role in preventing food contamination during its preparation and distribution. This responsibility is even greater in hospitals, since a large number of patients have low immunity and consequently food contamination by pathogenic bacteria could be particularly harmful. Therefore, a good working environment and periodic training should be provided to food handlers by upper management. Methods This study is qualitative research by means of focus group and thematic content analysis methodologies to examine, in detail, the statements by food handlers working in the milk and specific-diet kitchens in a hospital to understand the problems they face in the workplace. Results We found that food handlers are aware of the role they play in restoring patients' health; they consider it important to offer a good-quality diet. However, according to their perceptions, a number of difficulties prevent them from reaching this aim. These include: upper management not prioritizing human and material resources to the dietetic services when making resource allocation decisions; a perception that upper management considers their work to be of lesser importance; delayed overtime payments; lack of periodic training; managers lacking administrative skills; insufficient dietitian staff assistants, leading to overwork, at the same time as there is an excess of dietitians; unhealthy environmental working conditions – high temperature, high humidity, loud and constant noise level, poor ventilation; lack of food, and kitchen utensils and equipment; and relationship conflicts with chief dieticians and co-workers. Conclusion From these findings, improvement in staff motivation could be achieved by considering non-financial incentives, such as improvement in working conditions and showing appreciation and respect through supervision, training and performance appraisal. Management action, such as investments in intermediary management so that managers have the capacity to provide supportive supervision, as well as better use of performance appraisal and access to training, may help overcome the identified problems.

Reasoning about shadows in a mobile robot environment

This paper describes a logic-based formalism for qualitative spatial reasoning with cast shadows (Perceptual Qualitative Relations on Shadows, or PQRS) and presents results of a mobile robot qualitative self-localisation experiment using this formalism. Shadow detection was accomplished by mapping the images from the robot’s monocular colour camera into a HSV colour space and then thresholding on the V dimension. We present results of selflocalisation using two methods for obtaining the threshold automatically: in one method the images are segmented according to their grey-scale histograms, in the other, the threshold is set according to a prediction about the robot’s location, based upon a qualitative spatial reasoning theory about shadows. This theory-driven threshold search and the qualitative self-localisation procedure are the main contributions of the present research. To the best of our knowledge this is the first work that uses qualitative spatial representations both to perform robot self-localisation and to calibrate a robot’s interpretation of its perceptual input.

Socioeconomic and psychosocial predictors of dental healthcare use among Brazilian preschool children

Abstract Background Disparities in utilization of oral healthcare services have been attributed to socioeconomic and individual behavioral factors. Parents’ socioeconomic status, demographics, schooling, and perceptions of oral health may influence their children’s use of dental services. This cross-sectional study assessed the relationships between socioeconomic and psychosocial factors and the utilization of dental health services by children aged 1–5 years. Methods Data were collected through clinical exams and a structured questionnaire administered during the National Day of Children’s Vaccination. A Poisson regression model was used to estimate prevalence ratios and 95% confidence intervals. Results Data were collected from a total of 478 children. Only 112 (23.68%) were found to have visited a dentist; 67.77% of those had seen the dentist for preventive care. Most (63.11%) used public rather than private services. The use of dental services varied according to parental socioeconomic status; children from low socioeconomic backgrounds and those whose parents rated their oral health as “poor” used dental services less frequently. The reason for visiting the dentist also varied with socioeconomic status, in that children of parents with poor socioeconomic status and who reported their child’s oral health as “fair/poor” were less likely to have visited the dentist for preventive care. Conclusion This study demonstrated that psychosocial and socioeconomic factors are important predictors of the utilization of dental care services.