A conceptual framework of patient satisfaction with a pharmacy adherence service

Background Patients do not adhere to their medicines for a host of reasons which can include their underlying beliefs as well as the quality of their interactions with healthcare professionals. One way of measuring the outcome of pharmacy adherence services is to assess patient satisfaction but no questionnaire exists that truly captures patients' experiences with these relatively new services. Objective Our objective was to develop a conceptual framework specific to patient satisfaction with a community pharmacy adherence service based on criteria used by patients themselves. Setting The study was based in community pharmacies in one large geographical area of the UK (Surrey). All the work was conducted between October 2008 and September 2010. Methods This study involved qualitative non-participant observation and semi-structured interviewing. We observed the recruitment of patients to the Medicines Use Review (MUR) service and also actual MUR consultations (7). We also interviewed patients (15). Data collection continued until no new themes were identified during analysis. We analysed interviews to firstly create a comprehensive account of themes which had significance within the transcripts, then created sub-themes within super-ordinate categories. We used a structure-process-outcome approach to develop a conceptual framework relating to patient satisfaction with the MUR. Favourable ethical opinion for this study was received from the NHS Surrey Research Ethics Committee on 2nd June 2008. Results Five super-ordinate themes linked to patient satisfaction with the MUR service were identified, including relationships with healthcare providers; attitudes towards healthcare providers; patients' experience of health, healthcare and medicines; patients' views of the MUR service; the logistics of the MUR service. In the conceptual framework, structure was conceptualised as existing relationships, environment, and time; process was conceptualised as related to recruitment and consultation stages; and outcome as two concepts of immediate patient outcomes and satisfaction on reflection. Conclusion We identified and highlighted factors that can influence patient satisfaction with the MUR service and this led to the development of a conceptual framework of patient satisfaction with the MUR service. This can form the basis for developing a questionnaire for measuring patient satisfaction with this and similar pharmacy adherence services. Impact of findings on practice * Pharmacists and researchers can access the relevant ideas presented here in relation to patient satisfaction with pharmacy adherence services. * Researcher can use the conceptual framework as a basis for measuring the quality of pharmacy adherence services. * Community pharmacists can improve the quality of healthcare they provide by realizing concepts relevant to patient satisfaction with adherence services.

Semiotic interoperability- a critical step towards systems integration

Information systems integration becomes critical in enhancing organisational competitiveness through effective use of information resource provided by the whole host of information systems. Information systems integration in its nature is a process of bringing about the capability of communication and information exchange between systems; while interoperability, often as the result of systems integration, is such a capability. However currently there is a lack of theoretical foundation for representation and measure of the interoperability in organisations. Organisational semiotics provides a theoretical foundation for systems interoperability. A notion of ‘semiotic interoperability’ is proposed in this paper as a paradigm, guiding systems integration and measuring degree of interoperability, covering aspects from physical properties, transmission structure of signs, placing emphasis on communicating meaning, intention to social consequence of information.

CASCADE: An Agent Based Framework For Modeling The Dynamics Of Smart Electricity Systems

The Complex Adaptive Systems, Cognitive Agents and Distributed Energy (CASCADE) project is developing a framework based on Agent Based Modelling (ABM). The CASCADE Framework can be used both to gain policy and industry relevant insights into the smart grid concept itself and as a platform to design and test distributed ICT solutions for smart grid based business entities. ABM is used to capture the behaviors of diff erent social, economic and technical actors, which may be defi ned at various levels of abstraction. It is applied to understanding their interactions and can be adapted to include learning processes and emergent patterns. CASCADE models ‘prosumer’ agents (i.e., producers and/or consumers of energy) and ‘aggregator’ agents (e.g., traders of energy in both wholesale and retail markets) at various scales, from large generators and Energy Service Companies down to individual people and devices. The CASCADE Framework is formed of three main subdivisions that link models of electricity supply and demand, the electricity market and power fl ow. It can also model the variability of renewable energy generation caused by the weather, which is an important issue for grid balancing and the profi tability of energy suppliers. The development of CASCADE has already yielded some interesting early fi ndings, demonstrating that it is possible for a mediating agent (aggregator) to achieve stable demandfl attening across groups of domestic households fi tted with smart energy control and communication devices, where direct wholesale price signals had previously been found to produce characteristic complex system instability. In another example, it has demonstrated how large changes in supply mix can be caused even by small changes in demand profi le. Ongoing and planned refi nements to the Framework will support investigation of demand response at various scales, the integration of the power sector with transport and heat sectors, novel technology adoption and diffusion work, evolution of new smart grid business models, and complex power grid engineering and market interactions.

A semiotic framework for information representation of energy consumption in office buildings

Taking a perspective from a whole building lifecycle, occupier's actions could account for about 50% of energy. However occupants' activities influence building energy performance is still a blind area. Building energy performance is thought to be the result of a combination of building fabrics, building services and occupants' activities, along with their interactions. In this sense, energy consumption in built environment is regarded as a socio-technical system. In order to understand how such a system works, a range of physical, technical and social information is involved that needs to be integrated and aligned. This paper has proposed a semiotic framework to add value for Building Information Modelling, incorporating energy-related occupancy factors in a context of office buildings. Further, building information has been addressed semantically to describe a building space from the facility management perspective. Finally, the framework guides to set up building information representation system, which can help facility managers to manage buildings efficiently by improving their understanding on how office buildings are operated and used.

HMEF: framework to evaluate merging of Higher Education Institutions – application of Enterprise Architecture

Mergers of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are organisational processes requiring tremendous amount of resources, in terms of time, work, and money. A number of mergers have been seen on previous years and more are to come. Several studies on mergers have been conducted, revealing some crucial factors that affect the success of mergers. Based on literature review on these studies, factors are: the initiator of merger, a reason for merger, geographical distance of merging institutions, organisational culture, the extend of overlapping course portfolio, and Quality Assurance Systems (QASs). Usually these kind of factors are not considered on mergers, but focus is on financial matters. In this paper, a framework (HMEF) for evaluating merging of HEIs is introduced. HMEF is based on Enterprise Architecture (EA), focusing on factors found to be affecting the success of mergers. By using HMEF, HEIs can focus on matters that crucial for merging.

Biodiversity, cultural pathways, and human health: a framework

Direct contact with biodiversity is culturally important in a range of contexts. Many people even join conservation organisations to protect biodiversity that they will never encounter first-hand. Despite this, we have little idea how biodiversity affects people's well-being and health through these cultural pathways. Human health is sensitive to apparently trivial psychological stimuli, negatively affected by the risk of environmental degradation, and positively affected by contact with natural spaces. This suggests that well-being and health should be affected by biodiversity change, but few studies have begun to explore these relationships. Here, we develop a framework for linking biodiversity change with human cultural values, well-being, and health. We argue that better understanding these relations might be profoundly important for biodiversity conservation and public health.

LTE and LTE-A interworking and interoperability with 3GPP and non-3GPP wireless networks

This paper provides a high-level overview of E-UTRAN interworking and interoperability with existing Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and non-3GPP wireless networks. E-UTRAN access networks (LTE and LTE-A) are currently the latest technologies for 3GPP evolution specified in Release 8, 9 and beyond. These technologies promise higher throughputs and lower latency while also reducing the cost of delivering the services to fit with subscriber demands. 3GPP offers a direct transition path from the current 3GPP UTRAN/GERAN networks to LTE including seamless handover. E-UTRAN and other wireless networks interworking is an option that allows operators to maximize the life of their existing network components before a complete transition to truly 4G networks. Network convergence, backward compatibility and interpretability are regarded as the next major challenge in the evolution and the integration of mobile wireless communications. In this paper, interworking and interoperability between the E-UTRAN Evolved Packet Core (EPC) architecture and 3GPP, 3GPP2 and IEEE based networks are clearly explained. How the EPC is designed to deliver multimedia and facilitate interworking is also explained. Moreover, the seamless handover needed to perform this interworking efficiently is described briefly. This study showed that interoperability and interworking between existing networks and E-UTRAN are highly recommended as an interim solution before the transition to full 4G. Furthermore, wireless operators have to consider a clear interoperability and interworking plan for their existing networks before making a decision to migrate completely to LTE. Interworking provides not only communication between different wireless networks; in many scenarios it contributes to add technical enhancements to one or both environments.

Customer engagement planning emerging from the “individualist-collectivist”-framework: an empirical examination in China and UK

Purpose – Today marketers operate in globalised markets, planning new ways to engage with domestic and foreign customers alike. While there is a greater need to understand these two customer groups, few studies examine the impact of customer engagement tactics on the two customer groups, focusing on their perceptual differences. Even less attention is given to customer engagement tactics in a cross-cultural framework. In this research, the authors investigate customers in China and UK, aiming to compare their perceptual differences on the impact of multiple customer engagement tactics. Design/methodology/approach – Using a quantitative approach with 286 usable responses from China and the UK obtained through a combination of person-administered survey and computer-based survey screening process, the authors test a series of hypotheses to distinguish across-cultural differences. Findings – Findings show that the collectivists (Chinese customers) perceive customer engagement tactics differently than the individualists (UK customers). The Chinese customers are more sensitive to price and reputation, whereas the UK customers respond more strongly to service, communication and customisation. Chinese customers’ concerns with extensive price and reputation comparisons may be explained by their awareness towards face (status), increased self-expression and equality. Practical implications – The findings challenge the conventional practice of using similar customer engagement tactics for a specific market place with little concern for multiple cultural backgrounds. The paper proposes strategies for marketers facing challenges in this globalised context. Originality/value – Several contributions have been made to the literatures. First, the study showed the effects of culture on the customers’ perceptual differences. Second, the study provided more information to clarify customers’ different reactions towards customer engagement tactics, highlighted by concerns towards face and status. Third, the study provided empirical evidence to support the use of multiple customer engagement tactics to the across cultural studies.

Spiritual capital: the co-evolution of an ethical framework based on Abrahamic religious values in the Islamic tradition

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to investigate how values from within Abrahamic religions could be adopted to improve liberal market economies’ (LMEs’) corporate governance business practices. Design/methodology/approach – The concept of spiritual capitalism is explained from an Islamic perspective by adopting three universal Abrahamic values to critically analyse LMEs and offer an ethical alternative to current capitalism concerns. Findings – It is found that LMEs can be improved by considering all stakeholders, putting ethics before economics, and introducing shared risk/reward plus lower debt. Originality/value – The paper compares LMEs/Co-ordinated market economies (CMEs)/Islamic countries economies (ICEs) within an ethical framework for LMEs.

Unified framework for construction of rule based classification systems

Automatic generation of classification rules has been an increasingly popular technique in commercial applications such as Big Data analytics, rule based expert systems and decision making systems. However, a principal problem that arises with most methods for generation of classification rules is the overfit-ting of training data. When Big Data is dealt with, this may result in the generation of a large number of complex rules. This may not only increase computational cost but also lower the accuracy in predicting further unseen instances. This has led to the necessity of developing pruning methods for the simplification of rules. In addition, classification rules are used further to make predictions after the completion of their generation. As efficiency is concerned, it is expected to find the first rule that fires as soon as possible by searching through a rule set. Thus a suit-able structure is required to represent the rule set effectively. In this chapter, the authors introduce a unified framework for construction of rule based classification systems consisting of three operations on Big Data: rule generation, rule simplification and rule representation. The authors also review some existing methods and techniques used for each of the three operations and highlight their limitations. They introduce some novel methods and techniques developed by them recently. These methods and techniques are also discussed in comparison to existing ones with respect to efficient processing of Big Data.