Online referral and OPD booking from the GP desktop

The Brisbane Inner South E-referral Project (BISEP) developed an application which allowed general practitioners, from their desktop, to successfully search for and book an available hospital outpatient appointment for patients with suspected cancer, send the referral electronically, and inform the patient of both the appointment and referral during the consultation. The hospital changed their outpatient department processes to allow such functionality for local GPs with patients with suspected cancer, working from a mutually agreed set of best practice referral criteria. A group of 19 GPs participated in an 11-week pilot implementation of the application, and were enthusiastic about continuing and expanding the approach. Patient satisfaction measures post intervention indicated that they perceived no major disadvantage in this form of outpatient department referral.

Changes in social identity when joining a new group: The role of individual-level and group-level adaptation processes

While classic intergroup theories have specified the processes explaining situational shifts in social identification, the processes whereby social identities change more profoundly and become integrated within the self have to be proposed. To this aim, the present studies investigate the processes by which group members integrate a new social identity as they are joining a new group. Combining a social identity approach and stress and coping models, this research tests if social factors (i.e., needs satisfied by fellow group members, social support), have an impact on the adaptation strategies group members use to deal with the novelty of the situation and to fit into their new group (seeking information & adopting group norms vs. disengaging). These strategies, in turn, should predict changes in level of identification with the new social group over time, as well as enhanced psychological adjustment. These associations are tested among university students over the course of their first academic year (Study 1), and among online gamers joining a newly established online community (Study 2). Path analyses provide support for the hypothesised associations. The results are discussed in light of recent theoretical developments pertaining to intraindividual changes in social identities and their integration in the self.