The public hospital system

When you finish this chapter you should be able to: * understand how the public hospital system is funded by the Federal, state and territory governments * appreciate some of the major funding issues facing public hospitals in Australia * have a beginning understandingof casemix Deagnosis Related Groups (DRGs) * have insight into the position of the various interest groups funding public hospitals in Australia.

Preservice teachers’ views : Issues for learning to teach SOSE in an overcrowded curriculum

A cohort of third-year preservice teachers (n=24) was given the opportunity to observe and participate in Studies of Society and Environment (SOSE) in primary classrooms through a series of school visits during a semester-long unit. These visits were designed to give preservice teachers opportunities to connect SOSE teaching theories studied in the university setting to SOSE teaching practices within schools. This study investigates the extent of the preservice teachers’ opportunities to observe SOSE teaching in the primary school. Responses from a survey showed that the majority of preservice teachers only agreed with 6 of the 25 items associated with the six categories (personal-professional skill development, system requirements, teaching practices, student behavior, feedback to students, and reflection on practice). Written responses from the questionnaire concurred that most had not experienced SOSE teaching. Various issues are discussed around providing preservice teachers with SOSE teaching experiences. School executives, teachers and university staff need to be part of the process to ensure preservice teachers are receiving quality SOSE teaching experiences that will assist in their pedagogical development. A wider question is also raised through this paper. If preservice teachers are unable to experience quality SOSE teaching in school visits designed for such a purpose, does this signal a changing emphasis in education that leaves the social sciences and humanities off the education agenda?

News media representations of homelessness : do economic news production pressures prevent journalists from adequately reporting complex social issues

This study used both content and frame analyses to test news-media representations of homelessness in The Courier-Mail newspaper for evidence of restricted journalism practice. Specifically, it sought signs of either direct manipulation of issue representation based on ideological grounds, and also evidence of news organisations prioritising low-cost news production over Public Sphere journalistic news values. The study found that news stories from the earlier parts of the longitudinal study showed stereotypical misrepresentations of homelessness for public deliberation which might be attributed to either, or both of the nominated restricting factors. However news stories from the latter part of the study saw a distinct change in the way the issue was represented, indicating a journalistic capacity to thoughtfully and sensitively represent a complex social issue to the public. Further study is recommended to ascertain how and why this change occurred, so that journalistic practice might be further improved.

The promotion of sustainability agenda for facilities management through developing knowledge capabilities

The growing awareness of sustainability issues around the world has put extensive pressure on the construction industry to improve its sustainable practice. Sustainability principles need to be applied to not just during design and construction phase but the entire life cycle of a construction project. Compared to sustainability endeavours on earlier development phases, the pace to implement sustainability agenda during the operation and maintenance phase has not been as fast during past practices of facilities management (FM). Literature study suggests that sustainable practices in FM activities can bring substantial benefits such as reducing energy consumptions and waste, while increasing productivity, financial return and standing in the community. It also suggests several barriers which inhibit the implementation of sustainability in FM practices, including the lack of knowledge, discrepancy between capability and skills, and unwillingness of the FM personnel and organizations to adapt to new routines in order to implement sustainability in their business. The capabilities of FM personnel and organizations were regarded as the key enablers in managing sustainability knowledge. In a sustainable development context, capabilities are vital to the fostering of competency in an organization to innovate in a more sustainable way and support the agenda in an organization. Additionally, research which focused on people’s capabilities and skills is still lagging behind the efforts to develop guidelines, technical manuals and knowledge portals. Therefore, it is beneficial to explore the issues of capabilities in dealing with the implementation of sustainable practices in FM. This paper introduces a research project which is aimed at establishing a knowledge capabilities framework for promoting sustainability measures in FM practices. It will explore and highlight challenges to integrate sustainability as well as the personnel and organizational capabilities that are vital in dealing with knowledge issues in implementing sustainability agenda in FM practices. The expected outcome of this research has the potential to further sustainability endeavours in FM practices, while providing a useful source of knowledge to the FM personnel and organizations.

The public health challenges of mental health problems and associated difficulties

Mental health is a major global health issue. Neuropsychiatric conditions are the most significant cause of disability worldwide, and account for 14% of the global burden of disease. Depression in particular places a huge burden on society, with the Global Burden of Disease 2000 study listing it as the fourth leading cause of disease burden worldwide and the largest non-fatal disease burden. In Australia, mental disorders are startlingly common and related to significant disability. The 2007 National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing revealed that the lifetime prevalence of any mental disorder was 45%, and within the last 12 months 20% of Australians met criteria for a mental disorder. Many of the articles in this issue explore mental health issues in young people. Indeed, mental health issues account for a large proportion of the disease burden in young people. Across the globe, mental health disorders caused the greatest number of years lost to disability(YLDs) amongst young people aged 10 to 24 years (45% of total YLDs). Depression caused the highest number of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) across this age group, accounting for 8. 2% of DALYs alone.6 It is clear that mental health is a critical area of focus for researchers, practitioners, and policy makers.

Prosecutorial guidelines for voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide : autonomy, public confidence and high quality decision-making

This article proposes offence-specific guidelines for how prosecutorial discretion should be exercised in cases of voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide. Similar guidelines have been produced in England and Wales but we consider them to be deficient in a number of respects, including that they lack a set of coherent guiding principles. In light of these concerns, we outline an approach to constructing alternative guidelines that begins with identifying three guiding principles that we argue are appropriate for this purpose: respect for autonomy, the need for high quality prosecutorial decision-making and the importance of public confidence in that decision-making.

Benefits and issues for bus travel time estimation and prediction

Bus travel time estimation and prediction are two important modelling approaches which could facilitate transit users in using and transit providers in managing the public transport network. Bus travel time estimation could assist transit operators in understanding and improving the reliability of their systems and attracting more public transport users. On the other hand, bus travel time prediction is an important component of a traveller information system which could reduce the anxiety and stress for the travellers. This paper provides an insight into the characteristic of bus in traffic and the factors that influence bus travel time. A critical overview of the state-of-the-art in bus travel time estimation and prediction is provided and the needs for research in this important area are highlighted. The possibility of using Vehicle Identification Data (VID) for studying the relationship between bus and cars travel time is also explored.

Public service versus private interest : a comparative analysis of the Australian and British debates

This paper will compare and evaluate the effectiveness of commercial media lobbying and advocacy against public service media in two countries, the United Kingdom and Australia. The paper will focus empirically on the commercial media coverage of public service media issues in these countries (relating to the BBC and ABC respectively) over the period since the election of the Conservative-led Coalition in Britain in June 2010, and the election of the Gillard government in Australia in August 2010. Reference will be made to preceding periods as relevant to an understanding of the current environment. In both countries the main commercial media rival to public service media is News Corp and its associated organisations – News Ltd and Sky News in Australia, and News International and BSkyB in the UK. The paper will examine with analysis of print and online news and commentary content how News Corp outlets have reported and commented on the activities and plans of public service media as the latter have developed and extended their presence on digital TV and online platforms. It will also consider the responses of the ABC and BBC to these interventions. It will consider, thirdly, the responses of Australian and British governments to these debates, and the policy outcomes. This section of the paper will seek to evaluate the trajectory of the policy-public-private dynamic in recent years, and to draw conclusions as to the future direction of policy. Particular attention will be devoted to recent key moments in this unfolding dialogue. In Britain, debates around the efforts of News Corp to take over 100% of BSkyB, both before and after the breaking of the phone-hacking scandal in July 2011; in Australia, the debate around the National Broadband Network and the competitive tender process for ABC World, that country’s public service transnational broadcaster; and other key moments where rivalry between News Corp companies and public service media became mainstream news stories provoking wider public debate. The paper will conclude with recommendations as to how public service media organisations might engage constructively with commercial organisations in the future, including News Corp, and taking into account emerging technological and financial challenges to traditional rationales for public service provision.

Exploring shared services from an IS perspective : a literature review and research agenda

Shared services have gained significance as an organizational arrangement, in particular for support functions, to reduce costs, increase quality and create new capabilities. The Information Systems (IS) function is amenable to sharing arrangements and information systems can enable sharing in other functional areas. However, despite being a promising area for IS research, literature on shared services in the IS discipline is scarce and scattered. There is still little consensus on what shared services is. Moreover, a thorough understanding of why shared services are adopted, who are involved, and how things are shared is lacking. In this article, we set out to progress IS research on shared services by establishing a common ground for future research and proposing a research agenda to shape the field based on an analysis of the IS literature. We present a holistic and inclusive definition, discuss the primacy of economic-strategic objectives so far, and introduce conceptual frameworks for stakeholders and the notion of sharing. We also provide an overview of the theories and research methods applied. We propose a research agenda that addresses fundamental issues related to objectives, stakeholders, and the notion of sharing to lay the foundation for taking IS research on shared services forward.

A sustainable tourism development in Alacati, Turkey : (Re)invention of public space with clean energy

Although there is an increasing recognition of the impacts of climate change on communities, residents often resist changing their lifestyle to reduce the effects of the problem. By using a landscape architectural design medium, this paper argues that public space, when designed as an ecological system, has the capacity to create social and environmental change and to increase the quality of the human environment. At the same time, this ecological system can engage residents, enrich the local economy, and increase the social network. Through methods of design, research and case study analysis, an alternative master plan is proposed for a sustainable tourism development in Alacati, Turkey. Our master plan uses local geographical, economic and social information within a sustainable landscape architectural design scheme that addresses the key issues of ecology, employment, public space and community cohesion. A preliminary community empowerment model (CEM) is proposed to manage the designs. The designs address: the coexistence of local agricultural and sustainable energy generation; state of the art water management; and the functional and sustainable social and economic interrelationship of inhabitants, NGOs, and local government.

A new research agenda into community-based protest in construction

Many countries face enormous development challenges in adapting to demographic change, urbanisation and emerging issues such as housing affordability and climate change. These challenges are best resolved in consultation with communities rather than in conflict with them. A rich tradition of research and intellectual frameworks exist in the fields of urban geography and planning to understand and manage community concerns during the pre-development approval stages of new projects. However current theoretical frameworks are inadequate in construction management and a new research agenda is needed to develop conceptual frameworks to guide thinking about the role of communities in the construction process. By discussing the components of such a model, it is concluded that this would require a fundamental shift in thinking which challenges traditional structuralist paradigms. A new constructivist paradigm is presented that conceives community consultation as a negotiation process which does not stop at the pre-development planning stages but which continues over the entire life of a project.

Property : a regulatory instrument for protecting private and public interests in the environment

Property in an elusive concept. In many respects it has been regarded as a source of authority to use, develop and make decisions about whatever is the subject matter of this right of ownership. This is true whether the holder of this right of ownership is a private entity or a public entity. Increasingly a right of ownership of this kind has been recognised not only as a source of authority but also as a mechanism for restricting or limiting and perhaps even prohibiting existing or proposed activities that impact upon the environment. It is increasingly therefore an instrument of regulation as much as an instrument of authorisation. The protection and conservation of the environment are ultimately a matter of the public interest. This is not to suggest that the individual holders of rights of ownership are not interested in protecting the environment. It is open to them to do so in the exercise of a right of ownership as a source of authorisation. However a right of ownership – whether private or public – has become increasingly the mechanism according to which the environment is protected and conserved through the use of rights of ownership as a means of regulation. This paper addressed these issues from a doctrinal as well as a practical perspective in how the environment is managed.

Strengthening critical health psychology : a critical action orientation

The commentaries on my original article ‘The Emergence of Critical Health Psychology: Can it Contribute to Promoting Public Health?’ provided engaging views on what critical health psychology (CHP) actually is and does. Consideration of each commentary gave rise to numerous themes and generated my own further thoughts on CHP which I frame as five key areas of a continuing dialogue: (1) reflexivity and CHP; (2) health psychology: pluralist or not? (3) CHP as a moral project; (4) social action and change; and (5) strengthening critical approaches to health. Throughout I highlight concepts and issues that are integral to the capacity of CHP to create a shift towards a reinvigorated action-orientated agenda.

Communication ethics in public health

As new diseases and medical conditions emerge, new community groups appear in the public health arena as consumer advocates or lobby groups seeking to affect policy or to represent ‘communities’ formed around these new diseases and conditions. The role of these groups in public health, their political status, and the extent to which they are actually representative are highly problematic for public health. These new constellations of social groups and activities challenge traditional ideas about public health decision-making and demand a rethinking of the constituency and limits of public health. Using discourse theory, symbolic interactionism, and ethological theory, the authors examine one case, exploring the perspectives of various communities on hepatitis C, and explore some issues that this raises for public health.