New technologies and nursing: use and perception of primary healthcare nurses about electronic health record in Catalonia, Spain

This study was aimed to analyze and assess the use and perception of electronic health records (EHRs) by nurses. The study sample included 113 nurses from different shifts of primary health facilities in Catalonia, Spain, devoted to adult as well as pediatric outpatients using EHRs throughout the year 2010. A majority of the sample (87.5%) were women and 12.5% were men. The average age was 44.27 years and the average time working in primary healthcare was 47.15 months. A majority (80.4%) received specific training on the use of the EHR and 19.6% did not. The use of the application required side technical support (mean: 3.42) and it is considered necessary to learn more about the performance of the application (mean: 3.50). The relationship between the average ratings that nurses have about the EHR and age shows that there is no statistically significant linear relationship (r = - 0.002, p-value = 0.984). As to how long they have used the EHRs, there are significant differences (r= -0.304, p-value = 0.00), so the more time the nurse takes using the EHR, the greater degree of satisfaction is shown. In addition, there are significant differences between nurses" perceptions regarding the EHR and gender (t = - 0.421, p-value = 0.675). Nurses assessed as positive the contribution of the EHRs in their nursing care day work (average score: 2.55/5). Considering that the usability of the EHR device is assessed as satisfactory, the results of the perception of nurses show that we must also take into account the training and emphasize the need for a side technical support in the implementation process of the EHR. Doing so, the positive perception that nurses have in regard to information and communication technology in general and with respect to the EHR in particular may be increased.

New technologies and nursing: use and perception of primary healthcare nurses about electronic health record in Catalonia, Spain

This study was aimed to analyze and assess the use and perception of electronic health records (EHRs) by nurses. The study sample included 113 nurses from different shifts of primary health facilities in Catalonia, Spain, devoted to adult as well as pediatric outpatients using EHRs throughout the year 2010. A majority of the sample (87.5%) were women and 12.5% were men. The average age was 44.27 years and the average time working in primary healthcare was 47.15 months. A majority (80.4%) received specific training on the use of the EHR and 19.6% did not. The use of the application required side technical support (mean: 3.42) and it is considered necessary to learn more about the performance of the application (mean: 3.50). The relationship between the average ratings that nurses have about the EHR and age shows that there is no statistically significant linear relationship (r = - 0.002, p-value = 0.984). As to how long they have used the EHRs, there are significant differences (r= -0.304, p-value = 0.00), so the more time the nurse takes using the EHR, the greater degree of satisfaction is shown. In addition, there are significant differences between nurses" perceptions regarding the EHR and gender (t = - 0.421, p-value = 0.675). Nurses assessed as positive the contribution of the EHRs in their nursing care day work (average score: 2.55/5). Considering that the usability of the EHR device is assessed as satisfactory, the results of the perception of nurses show that we must also take into account the training and emphasize the need for a side technical support in the implementation process of the EHR. Doing so, the positive perception that nurses have in regard to information and communication technology in general and with respect to the EHR in particular may be increased.

A Grid Supercomputing Enviroment for High Demand Computational Applications

Despite the huge increase in processor and interprocessor network performace, many computational problems remain unsolved due to lack of some critical resources such as floating point sustained performance, memory bandwidth, etc... Examples of these problems are found in areas of climate research, biology, astrophysics, high energy physics (montecarlo simulations) and artificial intelligence, among others. For some of these problems, computing resources of a single supercomputing facility can be 1 or 2 orders of magnitude apart from the resources needed to solve some them. Supercomputer centers have to face an increasing demand on processing performance, with the direct consequence of an increasing number of processors and systems, resulting in a more difficult administration of HPC resources and the need for more physical space, higher electrical power consumption and improved air conditioning, among other problems. Some of the previous problems can´t be easily solved, so grid computing, intended as a technology enabling the addition and consolidation of computing power, can help in solving large scale supercomputing problems. In this document, we describe how 2 supercomputing facilities in Spain joined their resources to solve a problem of this kind. The objectives of this experience were, among others, to demonstrate that such a cooperation can enable the solution of bigger dimension problems and to measure the efficiency that could be achieved. In this document we show some preliminary results of this experience and to what extend these objectives were achieved.

Material flow accounting of Spain

Material throughput is a means of measuring the so-called social metabolism, or physical dimensions of a society’s consumption, and can be taken as an indirect and approximate indicator of sustainability. Material flow accounting can be used to test the dematerialisation hypothesis, the idea that technological progress causes a decrease in total material used (strong dematerialisation) or material used per monetary unit of output (weak dematerialisation). This paper sets out the results of a material flow analysis for Spain for the period from 1980 to 2000. The analysis reveals that neither strong nor weak dematerialisation took place during the period analysed. Although the population did not increase considerably, materials mobilised by the Spanish economy (DMI) increased by 85% in absolute terms, surpassing GDP growth. In addition, Spain became more dependent on external trade in physical terms. In fact, its imports are more than twice the amount of its exports in terms of weight.

Societal metabolism of societies: the bifurcation between Spain and Ecuador

This paper presents an application of the Multiple-Scale Integrated Assessment of Societal Metabolism to the recent economic history of Ecuador and Spain. Understanding the relationship between the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the throughput of matter and energy over time in modern societies is crucial for understanding the sustainability predicament as it is linked to economic growth. When considering the dynamics of economic development, Spain was able to take a different path than Ecuador thanks to the different characteristics of its energy budget and other key variables. This and other changes are described using economic and biophysical variables (both extensive and intensive referring to different hierarchical levels). The representation of these parallel changes (on different levels and describable only using different variables) can be kept in coherence by adopting the frame provided by MSIASM.

Composition of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Spain: an Input-Output Analysis

Extending the traditional input-output model to account for the environmental impacts of production processes reveals the channels by which environmental burdens are transmitted throughout the economy. In particular, the environmental input-output approach is a useful technique for quantifying the changes in the levels of greenhouse emissions caused by changes in the final demand for production activities. The inputoutput model can also be used to determine the changes in the relative composition of greenhouse gas emissions due to exogenous inflows. In this paper we describe a method for evaluating how the exogenous changes in sectorial demand, such as changes in private consumption, public consumption, investment and exports, affect the relative contribution of the six major greenhouse gases regulated by the Kyoto Protocol to total greenhouse emissions. The empirical application is for Spain, and the economic and environmental data are for the year 2000. Our results show that there are significant differences in the effects of different sectors on the composition of greenhouse emissions. Therefore, the final impact on the relative contribution of pollutants will basically depend on the activity that receives the exogenous shock in final demand, because there are considerable differences in the way, and the extent to which, individual activities affect the relative composition of greenhouse gas emissions. Keywords: Greenhouse emissions, composition of emissions, sectorial demand, exogenous shock.