If People Were Kaleidoscopes: Sharpening the Resolution on Patient Engagement in Safety

Healthcare is unacceptably error prone. The question remains why, with 20 years of evidence, is error and harm reduction not being effective? While precise numbers may be debated, all stakeholders recognize the frequency of healthcare errors is unacceptable, and greater efforts to ensure safety must occur. In recent years, one of these strategies has been the inclusion of the patient and their family as partners in safety, and has been a required organizational practice of Accreditation Canada in many of their standard sets. Existing patient advisories created to encourage engagement, have typically not included patient perspectives in their development or been comprehensively evaluated. There are no existing tools to determine if and how a patient wants to be involved in safety engagement. As such, a multi-phased study was undertaken to advance our knowledge about the client’s and family’s role in promoting safety. Phase 1 of the study was a scoping review to methodically review the existing literature about patients’ and families’ attitudes, beliefs and behaviours about their involvement in healthcare safety. Phase 2 was designed to inductively explore how a group of patients in an Ontario, Canada, community hospital, describe healthcare safety and see their role in preventing error. The study findings, which include the narratives of 30 patients and 4 family members, indicate that although there are shared themes that influence a patient’s engagement in patient safety, every individual has unique, changing beliefs, experiences and reasons for involvement. Five conceptual themes emerged from their narratives: Personal Capacity, Experiential Knowledge, Personal Character, Relationships, and Meaning of Safety. These study results will be used to develop and test a pragmatic, accessible tool to enable providers a way to collaborate with patients for determining their personal level and type of safety involvement. The most ethical and responsible approach to healthcare safety is to consider every facet and potential way for improvement. This exploratory study provides fundamental insights into the complexity of patient engagement in safety, and evidence for future steps.

Cooperative or collaborative learning: Is there a difference in university students’ perceptions?

The hypothesis that the same educational objective, raised as cooperative or collaborative learning in university teaching does not affect students’ perceptions of the learning model, leads this study. It analyses the reflections of two students groups of engineering that shared the same educational goals implemented through two different methodological active learning strategies: Simulation as cooperative learning strategy and Problem-based Learning as a collaborative one. The different number of participants per group (eighty-five and sixty-five, respectively) as well as the use of two active learning strategies, either collaborative or cooperative, did not show differences in the results from a qualitative perspective.

Educación superior y competencias para el empleo. El punto de vista de los empresarios

La relevancia del conocimiento como input del proceso productivo ha aumentado la complejidad de la contratación en el mercado de trabajo cualificado. Como consecuencia de ello, se ha generado un proceso de reflexión sobre la adecuación de la acreditación universitaria a las necesidades del mercado de trabajo. Académicos, gerentes y expertos en el mercado de trabajadores altamente cualificados han tenido parte en esta reflexión durante mucho tiempo. Este trabajo tiene como objetivo la identificación de las competencias profesionales con mayor relevancia en la empleabilidad de los graduados en Economía y Empresa. El análisis se basa en una investigación cualitativa que toma como fuentes de información las opiniones de los empleadores. La información para el estudio ha sido obtenida mediante entrevistas en profundidad y la realización de un grupo de discusión. En este proceso han participado empresarios, responsables del servicio de prácticas de la Universidad de Barcelona, expertos y responsables de empresa de colocación, representantes de organizaciones empresariales y profesores universitarios. La atención se centra en la percepción que los entrevistados tienen del requerimiento de conocimientos, habilidades y actitudes, en el grado en que los desarrollan y en los cambios que se necesitarían para lograr una mejor correspondencia entre las competencias adquiridas por los graduados y las requeridas por el mercado de trabajo. A partir de la clasificación de las competencias profesionales (proyecto Tuning), el estudio pone de relieve la importancia otorgada por los empleadores a de las competencias genéricas. No obstante, se observan diferencias valorativas según la tipología de empresas. Asimismo, se evidencian déficits en algunos aspectos relevantes, como la formación práctica y la capacidad de iniciativa, de análisis o de organización. Por último, de las opiniones recogidas también se constata la necesidad de aproximar la universidad al sistema productivo, al menos en el campo económico-empresarial.

La carpeta de aprendizaje y la evaluación entre iguales de los estudiantes. Resultados de una innovación docente en los estudios universitarios de las artes

Students reflect more on their learning in course subjects when they participate in managing their teaching–learning environment. As a form of guided participation, peer assessment serves the following purposes: (a) it improves the student’s understanding of previously established learning objectives; (b) it is a powerful metacognitive tool; (c) it transfers to the student part of the responsibility for assessing learning, which means deciding which learning activities are important and choosing the degree of effort a course subject will require; (d) it emphasizes the collective aspect of the nature of knowledge; and (e) the educational benefits derived from peer assessment clearly justify the efforts required to implement activities. This paper reports on the relative merits of a learning portfolio compiled during fine arts-related studies in which peer assessment played an important role. The researchers analyzed the student work load and the final marks students received for compulsory art subjects. They conclude that the use of a closed learning portfolio with a well-structured, sequential and analytical design can have a positive effect on student learning and that, although implementing peer assessment may be complex and students need to become familiar with it, its use is not only feasible but recommendable.

A Preliminary Case Study for Collaborative Quality Enhancement

Eight universities have collaborated in an Erasmus+ funded project to create a lean process to enhance self-evaluation and accreditation through peer alliance and cooperation. Central to this process is the partnering of two institutions as critical friends, based on prior selfevaluations of specific programmes to identify particular criteria for improvement. A pairing algorithm matches two institutions based on their respective self-evaluation scores. It ensures there are significant differences in key criteria that are mutually beneficial for future programme development and enhancement. The ensuing meetings between critical friends have been designated as ‘cross-sparring’. This paper focuses on a case-study of the crosssparring and resulting enhancement outcomes between Umeå University and Queen’s University Belfast, and their respective Masters programmes in Software Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. The collaborative experiences of the process are evaluated, reported, discussed and conclusions provided on the efficacy of this particular application of cross-sparring.

The making of professionals: Embedded civil society development in a transition country

The paper addresses the development of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in transition settings. Caught in the balance of knowledge exchange and translation of ideas from abroad, organisations in turbulent setting legitimise their existence by learning through professional networks. By association, organisational actors gain acknowledgement by their sector by traversing the corridors of influence provided by international partnerships. What they learn is how to conduct themselves as agents of change in society, and how to deliver on stated missions and goals, therefore, legitimising their presence in a budding civil society at home. The paper presents a knowledge production and learning practices framework which indicates a presence of dual identity of NGOs - their “embeddedness” locally and internationally. Selected framework dimensions and qualitative case study themes are discussed with respect to the level of independence of organisational actors in the East from their partners in the West in a post-socialist context. A professional global civil society as organisations are increasingly managed in similar, professional ways (Anheier & Themudo 2002). Here knowledge “handling” and knowledge “translation” take place through partnership exchanges fostering capable and/or competitive change-inducing institutions (Czarniawska & Sevon 2005; Hwang & Suarez 2005). How professional identity presents itself in the third sector, as well as the sector’s claim to expertise, need further attention, adding to ongoing discussions on professions in institutional theory (Hwang & Powell 2005; Scott 2008; Noordegraaf 2011). A conceptual framework on the dynamic involved for the construction professional fields follows: • Multiple case analysis provides a taxonomy for understanding what is happening in knowledge transition, adaptation, and organisational learning capacity for NGOs with respect to their role in a networked civil society. With the model we can observe the types of knowledge produced and learning employed by organisations. • There are elements of professionalisation in third sector work organisational activity with respect to its accreditation, sources and routines of learning, knowledge claims, interaction with the statutory sector, recognition in cross-sector partnerships etc. • It signals that there is a dual embeddedness in the development of the sector at the core to the shaping the sector’s professional status. This is instrumental in the NGOs’ goal to gain influence as institutions, as they are only one part of a cross-sector mission to address complex societal problems The case study material highlights nuances of knowledge production and learning practices in partnerships, with dual embeddedness a main feature of the findings. This provides some clues to how professionalisation as expert-making takes shape in organisations: • Depending on the type of organisations’ purpose, over its course of development there is an increase in participation in multiple networks, as opposed to reliance on a single strategic partner for knowledge artefacts and practices; • Some types of organisations are better connected within international and national networks than others and there seem to be preferences for each depending on the area of work; • The level of interpretation or adaptation of the knowledge artefacts is related to an organisation’s embeddedness locally, in turn giving it more influence within the network of key institutions; An overreaching theme across taxonomy categories (Table 1)is “professionalisation” or developing organisational “expertise”, embodied at the individual, organisational, and sector levels. Questions relevant to the exercise of power arise: Is competence in managing a dual embeddedness signals the development of a dual identity in professionalisation? Is professionalisation in this sense a sign of organisations maturing into more capable partners to the arguably more experienced (Western) institutions, shifting the power balance? Or is becoming more professional a sign of domestication to the agenda of certain powerful stakeholders, who define the boundaries of the profession? Which dominant dynamics can be observed in a broadly-defined transition country civil society, where individual participation in the form of activism may be overtaking the traditional forms of organised development work, especially with the spread of social media?

In Service to Iowa : Public Library Standards, 6th edition, August 8, 2016

The Standards and Accreditation Program exists to encourage the ongoing development of high quality public library services in Iowa. In Service to Iowa: Public Library Standards is the manual for the State Library of Iowa’s standards program. It was first published in 1985 and was updated in 1989, 1997, 2004, 2010, and now in 2016. Iowa’s voluntary public library standards program was established to give public libraries a tool to identify strengths and areas for improvement. It is also used to document the condition of public library service in Iowa, to distribute Direct State Aid funding, and to meet statutory requirements. In 2015, the Iowa Commission of Libraries appointed the Public Library Standards Advisory Task Force to revise In Service to Iowa. The Task Force in turn solicited feedback from the State Library Advisory Panel to ensure that proposed standards meet the changing needs of Iowa’s public libraries. All task force members support and stress the importance of the accreditation process and thank the Iowa public library community for its assistance.

Networking for conservation: social capital and perceptions of organizational success among land trust boards

As an important component in collaborative natural resource management and nonprofit governance, social capital is expected to be related to variations in the performance of land trusts. Land trusts are charitable organizations that work to conserve private land locally, regionally, or nationally. The purpose of this paper is to identify the level of structural and cognitive social capital among local land trusts, and how these two types of social capital relate to the perceived success of land trusts. The analysis integrates data for land trusts operating in the U.S. south-central Appalachian region, which includes western North Carolina, southwest Virginia, and east Tennessee. We use factor analysis to elicit different dimensions of cognitive social capital, including cooperation among board members, shared values, common norms, and communication effectiveness. Measures of structural social capital include the size and diversity of organizational networks of both land trusts and their board members. Finally, a hierarchical linear regression model is employed to estimate how cognitive and structural social capital measures, along with other organizational and individual-level attributes, relate to perceptions of land trust success, defined here as achievement of the land trusts’ mission, conservation, and financial goals. Results show that the diversity of organizational partnerships, cooperation, and shared values among land trust board members are associated with higher levels of perceived success. Organizational capacity, land trust accreditation, volunteerism, and financial support are also important factors influencing perceptions of success among local, nonprofit land trusts.

In Service to Iowa : Public Library Standards, 4th edition, 2004

The State Library of Iowa’s Standards and Accreditation Program exists to encourage the ongoing development of high quality public library services in Iowa. The Public Library Standards Advisory Task Force will work with State Library staff to review current standards in light of known best practices and current trends, and to develop the 4th edition of In Service to Iowa: Public Library Measures of Quality.

Qualitätssicherung an Hochschulen. Anforderung an die Qualitätssicherung und ihre Wirkungen. Beiträge zur 1. AQ Austria Jahrestagung 2013

Im Mittelpunkt dieser Tagungspublikation stehen zwei Kernfragen: Erstens: Welche Interessengruppen stellen welche Anforderungen an die Qualitätssicherung? Diese Frage führt zur Diskussion über den Zweck, den unterschiedliche Interessengruppen mit der Qualitätssicherung verfolgen. Die zweite wichtige Kernfrage betrifft die Wirkungen von Qualitätssicherung. Bewirken sie tatsächlich ein Mehr an Qualität oder dienen sie lediglich der Erfüllung von Berichtspflichten? Und damit eng zusammenhängend: Was sind die intendierten, was die nicht intendierten Effekte von Qualitätssicherung? Die Sicht verschiedener politischer Entscheidungsträgerinnen und -träger, die Sicht der Studierenden und die Sicht der Qualitätssicherungsagentur über die Anforderungen und Wirkungen von Qualitätssicherung werden dargestellt. Ebenso beleuchten Beiträge von Repräsentantinnen und Repräsentanten der Hochschulsektoren die beiden Kernfragen. Die Beiträge zeigen, wo gemeinsame und wo unterschiedliche Interessen bestehen. Mit Beiträgen von: Burckhart, Holger; Hanft, Anke; Hopbach, Achim; Töchterle, Karlheinz; Kazoka, Asnate; Badelt, Christoph; Eckl, Martha; Wulz, Janine; Mann, Susanne; Feucht, Gudrun; Brandstätter, Wilhelm; Moser, Josef-Anton; Treml, Beate; Kainz, Harald; Gaberscik, Gerald; Fink, Kerstin; Wöber, Karl.

A systematic literature review of the current trends and challenges of internationalization of higher education in Latin America

This paper aims to consolidate a sample of existing academic literature on the modes, trends, risks and challenges of the internationalization of higher education in Latin America published over the last 15 years -- Following a systematic literature review methodology, it was seeking to analyze and synthesize a sample of 25 published academic articles on the specifically chosen topic -- As a consequence of this review, it was found that progress has been made on the subject and there is an awareness of the impact it has on quality, international indicators still lag far behind those of more developed regions -- The creation and implementation of accreditation and evaluations processes, the commodification of higher education and the presence of new providers and regionalization efforts were perceived as trending topics in the publications -- Risks and challenges such as lack of governmental support and brain drain, are respectively perceived by researchers as the most concerning -- Finally, an emphasis is made on the comprehensiveness that must characterize this process in order to be successful, meaning that it should “embrace all the educational processes” (Gacel-Ávila, 2007, 406)

Efeitos do processo de acreditação nas práticas profissionais dos assistentes sociais em contexto hospitalar: perspectiva de um painel Delphi

A acreditação de um hospital revela-se um instrumento de extrema importância na melhoria da qualidade dos cuidados de saúde. Subjacente a este processo, estão inerentes alterações ao nível organizacional e individual. Este artigo tem como objetivo, identificar os efeitos do processo de acreditação nas práticas profissionais dos assistentes sociais em contexto hospitalar. Neste sentido, realizou-se um painel de peritos, com recurso à técnica Delphi, no qual participaram 12 peritos multidisciplinares e internacionais, tendo sido conseguida obtenção de consenso em três rondas. Dos resultados obtidos emergiram consensos que permite considerar cinco dimensões de ação relevantes face aos efeitos da acreditação nas práticas profissionais dos assistentes sociais, quanto: 1) especificidades da prática; 2) interação de equipas; 3) eficácia profissional; 4) avaliação e monitorização; 5) ganhos em saúde. São dimensões que correspondem a mudanças e que sugerem uma linha de ação que é influenciada, e determinada pelo processo de acreditação no desenvolvimento de uma cultura de melhoria contínua da qualidade da actividade do Serviço Social e do agir profissional. Os resultados obtidos evidenciam que um processo de acreditação tem efeitos diretos e positivos nas práticas dos assistentes sociais.

Acreditação do Laboratório de Metrologia da Frilabo para Ensaios e Calibrações em Temperaturas

O trabalho desenvolvido centrou-se na preparação da acreditação NP EN ISO/IEC 17025 do Laboratório de Metrologia da empresa Frilabo para prestação de serviços na área das temperaturas, no ensaio a câmaras térmicas e na calibração de termómetros industriais. Considerando o âmbito do trabalho desenvolvido, são abordados nesta tese conceitos teóricos sobre temperatura e incertezas bem como considerações técnicas de medição da temperatura e cálculo de incertezas. São também referidas considerações sobre os diferentes tipos de câmaras térmicas e termómetros. O texto apresenta os documentos elaborados pelo autor sobre os procedimentos de ensaio a câmaras térmicas e respetivo procedimento de cálculo da incerteza. Também estão presentes neste texto documentos elaborados pelo autor sobre os procedimentos de calibração de termómetros industriais e respetivo procedimento de cálculo da incerteza. Relativamente aos ensaios a câmara térmicas e calibração de termómetros o autor elaborou os fluxogramas sobre a metodologia da medição da temperatura nos ensaios, a metodologia de medição da temperatura nas calibrações, e respetivos cálculos de incertezas. Nos diferentes anexos estão apresentados vários documentos tais como o modelo de folha de cálculo para tratamento de dados relativos ao ensaio, modelo de folha de cálculo para tratamento de dados relativo às calibrações, modelo de relatório de ensaio, modelo de certificado de calibração, folhas de cálculo para gestão de clientes/equipamentos e numeração automática de relatórios de ensaio e certificados de calibração que cumprem os requisitos de gestão do laboratório. Ainda em anexo constam todas as figuras relativas à monitorização da temperatura nas câmara térmicas como também as figuras da disposição dos termómetros no interior das câmaras térmicas. Todas as figuras que aparecem ao longo do documento que não estão referenciadas são da adaptação ou elaboração própria do autor. A decisão de alargar o âmbito da acreditação do Laboratório de Metrologia da Frilabo para calibração de termómetros, prendeu-se com o facto de que sendo acreditado como laboratório de ensaios na área das temperaturas, a realização da rastreabilidade dos padrões de medida internamente, permitiria uma gestão de recursos otimizada e rentabilizada. A metodologia da preparação de todo o processo de acreditação do Laboratório de Metrologia da Frilabo, foi desenvolvida pelo autor e está expressa ao longo do texto da tese incluindo dados relevantes para a concretização da referida acreditação nos dois âmbitos. A avaliação de todo o trabalho desenvolvido será efetuada pelo o organismo designado IPAC (Instituto Português de Acreditação) que confere a acreditação em Portugal. Este organismo irá auditar a empresa com base nos procedimentos desenvolvidos e nos resultados obtidos, sendo destes o mais importante o Balanço da Melhor Incerteza (BMI) da medição também conhecido por Melhor Capacidade de Medição (MCM), quer para o ensaio às câmaras térmicas, quer para a calibração dos termómetros, permitindo desta forma complementar os serviços prestados aos clientes fidelizados à Frilabo. As câmaras térmicas e os termómetros industriais são equipamentos amplamente utilizados em diversos segmentos industriais, engenharia, medicina, ensino e também nas instituições de investigação, sendo um dos objetivos respetivamente, a simulação de condições específicas controladas e a medição de temperatura. Para entidades acreditadas, como os laboratórios, torna-se primordial que as medições realizadas com e nestes tipos de equipamentos ostentem confiabilidade metrológica1, uma vez que, resultados das medições inadequados podem levar a conclusões equivocadas sobre os testes realizados. Os resultados obtidos nos ensaios a câmaras térmicas e nas calibrações de termómetros, são considerados bons e aceitáveis, uma vez que as melhores incertezas obtidas, podem ser comparadas, através de consulta pública do Anexo Técnico do IPAC, com as incertezas de outros laboratórios acreditados em Portugal. Numa abordagem mais experimental, pode dizer-se que no ensaio a câmaras térmicas a obtenção de incertezas mais baixas ou mais altas depende maioritariamente do comportamento, características e estado de conservação das câmaras, tornando relevante o processo de estabilização da temperatura no interior das mesmas. A maioria das fontes de incerteza na calibração dos termómetros são obtidas pelas características e especificações do fabricante dos equipamentos, que se traduzem por uma contribuição com o mesmo peso para o cálculo da incerteza expandida (a exatidão de fabricante, as incertezas herdadas de certificados de calibração, da estabilidade e da uniformidade do meio térmico onde se efetuam as calibrações). Na calibração dos termómetros as incertezas mais baixas obtêm-se para termómetros de resoluções mais baixas. Verificou-se que os termómetros com resolução de 1ºC não detetavam as variações do banho térmico. Nos termómetros com resoluções inferiores, o peso da contribuição da dispersão de leituras no cálculo da incerteza, pode variar consoante as características do termómetro. Por exemplo os termómetros com resolução de 0,1ºC, apresentaram o maior peso na contribuição da componente da dispersão de leituras. Pode concluir-se que a acreditação de um laboratório é um processo que não é de todo fácil. Podem salientar-se aspetos que podem comprometer a acreditação, como por exemplo a má seleção do ou dos técnicos e equipamentos (má formação do técnico, equipamento que não seja por exemplo adequado à gama, mal calibrado, etc…) que vão efetuar as medições. Se não for bem feita, vai comprometer todo o processo nos passos seguintes. Deve haver também o envolvimento do todos os intervenientes do laboratório, o gestor da qualidade, o responsável técnico e os técnicos, só assim é que é possível chegar à qualidade pretendida e à melhoria contínua da acreditação do laboratório. Outro aspeto importante na preparação de uma acreditação de um laboratório é a pesquisa de documentação necessária e adequada para poder tomar decisões corretas na elaboração dos procedimentos conducentes à referida. O laboratório tem de mostrar/comprovar através de registos a sua competência. Finalmente pode dizer-se que competência é a palavra chave de uma acreditação, pois ela manifesta-se nas pessoas, equipamentos, métodos, instalações e outros aspetos da instituição a que pertence o laboratório sob acreditação.

RESULTS OF THE SELF-ASSESSMENT AND DOCUMENTATION LIBRARY CAREER WITH A VIEW TO THE REACREDITATION, 2008

Succinctly defines the terms "accreditation" and "recertification" in order to locate the reader (a) on the theme to develop. Also describes the process of self-assessment of Librarianship and Documentation Race towards the re-accreditation, focusing primarily on results obtained in the development of self-evaluation reports of the various sectors that make up the School. Finally, presents some conclusions both about the overall process of the various reports as described.

PART STUDY OF PERCEPTION OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS IN THE LIBRARY COMMUNITY: OPINION (AS) EMPLOYERS (AS) AND GRADUATES (AS) SCHOOL LIBRARY, DOCUMENTATION AND INFORMATION FOR THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

This article provides a brief description of some general aspects of self-evaluation process conducted in the School of Library, Documentation and Information from the National University of Costa Rica, to obtain accreditation from the career of Library and Documentation in 2005 and to achieve re-accreditation in 2009.The objective consists in a comparison between the two evaluation processes from the point of view of two specific sectors, employers and graduates, and presents the views provided by each of them as a partial analysis of the social impact assessment of educational programs in the community librarianship as a first input to raise awareness of the importance of these studies in the institutional and national level.