Beyond Doing Good: An Interview with Dr. Kirsten Johnson on the Canadian Disaster and Humanitarian Response Training Program

Compte-rendu / Review

Emergency pre-hospital disaster response training. What's the state of play?

Study/Objective This study examines the current state of disaster response education for Australian paramedics from a national and international perspective and identifies both potential gaps in content and challenges to the sustainability of knowledge acquired through occasional training. Background As demands for domestic and international disaster response increase, experience in the field has begun to challenge traditional assumptions that response to mass casualty events requires little specialist training. The need for a “streamlined process of safe medical team deployment into disaster regions”1 is generally accepted and, in Australia, the emergence of national humanitarian aid training has begun to respond to this gap. However, calls for a national framework for disaster health education2 haven’t received much traction. Methods A critical analysis of the peer reviewed and grey literature on the core components/competencies and training methods required to prepare Australian paramedics to contribute to effective health disaster response has been conducted. Research from the past 10 years has been examined along with federal and state policy with regard to paramedic disaster education. Results The literature shows that education and training for disaster response is variable and that an evidence based study specifically designed to outline sets of core competencies for Australian health care professionals has never been undertaken. While such competencies in disaster response have been developed for the American paradigm it is suggested that disaster response within the Australian context is somewhat different to that of the US, and therefore a gap in the current knowledge base exists. Conclusion Further research is needed to develop core competencies specific to Australian paramedics in order to standardise teaching in the area of health disaster management. Until this occurs the task of evaluating or creating disaster curricula that adequately prepares and maintains paramedics for an effective all hazards disaster response is seen as largely unattainable.

The effect of teachers trained in a fundamental movement skills programme on children’s self-perceptions and motor competence

Perceived and actual motor competence are hypothesized to have potential links to children and young people’s physical activity (PA) levels with a potential consequential link to long-term health. In this cross-sectional study, Harter’s (1985, Manual for the Self-perception Profile for Children. Denver, CO: University of Denver) Competency Motivation-based framework was used to explore whether a group of children taught, during curriculum time, by teachers trained in the Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) programme, scored higher on self-perception and on core motor competencies when compared to children whose teachers had not been so trained. One hundred and seventy seven children aged 7–8 years participated in the study. One hundred and seven were taught by FMS-trained teachers (FMS) and the remaining 70 were taught by teachers not trained in the programme (non-FMS). The Harter Self-Perception Profile for Children assessed athletic competence, scholastic competence, global self-worth and social acceptance. Three core components of motor competence (body management, object control and locomotor skills) were assessed via child observation. The FMS group scored higher on all the self-perception domains (p < 0.05). Statistically significant differences were found between the schools on all of the motor tasks (p < 0.05). The relationships between motor performance and self-perception were generally weak and non-significant. Future research in schools and with teachers should explore the FMS programme’s effect on children’s motor competence via a longitudinal approach.

Ricoeur's "Petite éthique": an ethical epistemological perspective for clinician-bioethicists

This is a preprint of an article published in HEC Forum, 2010 22(4): 311-26. URL: http://www.springerlink.com/content/jj08821k513u5747/

Optimizing the Performance Evaluation Process for Non-Academic Staff

If conducted poorly and without support from all employee levels, performance management programs at institutions may devolve into annual evaluations that represent a staff burden rather than an ongoing career development opportunity. This brief analyzes the key components of successful performance evaluation systems for non-academic staff, incorporating insights from employers outside of the higher education sector as well. It examines the importance of midyear check-in meetings; employee goal-setting; simplified rating scales on evaluation forms; and core staff competencies that reflect institutional priorities. It also describes how institutions communicate modifications to the evaluation system and offers recommendations for the implementation of process change.

Core competencies required for managing occupational road risks

To provide valuable industry information with human resource applications, this study aimed to identify the minimum level of competency required within organisations to manage occupational road risk. Senior managers from four Australian organisations participated in individual semi-structured interviews. These senior managers were responsible for a combined workforce of approximately 46,000 and a combined fleet of approximately 20,000. The managers assessed a list of 39 safety management tasks that had previously been identified as critical to the management of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) performance within the construction industry. From this list the managers perceived that organisational personnel required competency in at least 14 of the safety tasks to meet a minimum standard of road risk management. Managers perceived that a full understanding of at least six of these tasks was critical. These six tasks comprised: hazard identification and control; providing OHS information and instruction; incident investigations; inspections of workplace and work tasks; researching and reporting on OHS issues and strategies; and applying legislative OHS requirements. It is hoped that the core competencies identified in this study may assist in the development of an internationally accepted competency framework for managing occupational road risks. This proposed competency framework could have many applications including guiding the design of job descriptions, training curriculums, and employee performance assessments. To build upon this study, the authors recommend future research be conducted to identify the key competencies required to manage occupational road safety across a broad range of organisational contexts.

The competent prescriber: 12 core competencies for safe prescribing

Prescribing errors remain a significant cause of patient harm. Safe prescribing is not just about writing a prescription, but involves many cognitive and decision-making steps. A set of national prescribing competencies for all prescribers (including non-medical) is needed to guide education and training curricula, assessment and credentialing of individual practitioners. We have identified 12 core competencies for safe prescribing which embody the four stages of the prescribing process – information gathering, clinical decision making, communication, and monitoring and review. These core competencies, along with their learning objectives and assessment methods, provide a useful starting point for teaching safe and effective prescribing.

Enterprise technology governance: New information and technology core competencies for boards of directors

Boards of directors have legal and ethical responsibilities to be competent. Yet, in a world where business models and whole sectors are being disrupted by rapid information and technology change, a majority of directors lack IT governance knowledge and skills. Individual IT competency and collective board Enterprise Technology Governance capability is a global problem. Without capability, boards are potentially flying blind, and risk is increased and opportunities to lead and govern digital transformation lost. To address this capability gap, this research provides the first multi-industry validated Enterprise Technology Governance competency set for use in board evaluation, recruitment and professional development.

The Acute Care Undergraduate TEaching (ACUTE) initiative: consensus development of core competencies in acute care for undergraduates in the United Kingdom

Background: The care of the acutely ill patient in hospital is often sub-optimal. Poor recognition of critical illness combined with a lack of knowledge, failure to appreciate the clinical urgency of a situation, a lack of supervision, failure to seek advice and poor communication have been identified as contributory factors. At present the training of medical students in these important skills is fragmented. The aim of this study was to use consensus techniques to identify the core competencies in the care of acutely ill or arrested adult patients that medical students should possess at the point of graduation. Design: Healthcare professionals were invited to contribute suggestions for competencies to a website as part of a modified Delphi survey. The competency proposals were grouped into themes and rated by a nominal group comprised of physicians, nurses and students from the UK. The nominal group rated the importance of each competency using a 5-point Likert scale. Results: A total of 359 healthcare professionals contributed 2,629 competency suggestions during the Delphi survey. These were reduced to 88 representative themes covering: airway and oxygenation; breathing and ventilation; circulation; confusion and coma; drugs, therapeutics and protocols; clinical examination; monitoring and investigations; team-working, organisation and communication; patient and societal needs; trauma; equipment; pre-hospital care; infection and inflammation. The nominal group identified 71 essential and 16 optional competencies which students should possess at the point of graduation. Conclusions: We propose these competencies form a core set for undergraduate training in resuscitation and acute care.

Core competencies in information management education

Core competencies have long been discussed and developed in the literature of library science education and information systems education. However, for information management, a blending of these two disciplines, there has been much less discussion of core competencies. The purpose of this paper is to consolidate the sparse literature on information management educational competencies and to suggest a set of core competencies and educational outcomes that might be applied to curricula in both developed and developing countries.

Core health promotion competencies in Australia : are they compatible with climate change action?

Issues addressed: Health promotion principles for practice are closely aligned with that of environmental sustainability. Health promotion practitioners are well positioned to take action on climate change. However, there has been scant discussion about practice synergies and subsequently the type and nature of professional competencies that underpin such action.

Methods: This commentary uses the Australian Health Promotion Association (AHPA) national core competencies for Health Promotion Practitioners as a basis to examine the synergies between climate change and health promotion action.

Results: We demonstrate that AHPA core competencies, such as program planning, evaluation and partnership building, are highly compatible for implementing climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. We use food security examples to illustrate this case.

Conclusions: There appears to be considerable synergy between climate change and health promotion action. This should be a key focus of future health promotion competency development in Australia.

Health promotion and climate change : exploring the core competencies required for action

Climate change poses serious threats to human health and well-being. It exacerbates existing health inequities, impacts on the social determinants of health and disproportionately affects vulnerable populations. In the Australian region these include remote Aboriginal communities, Pacific Island countries and people with low incomes. Given health promotion’s remit to protect and promote health, it should be well placed to respond to emerging climate-related health challenges. Yet, to date, there has been little evidence to demonstrate this. This paper draws on the findings of a qualitative study conducted in Victoria, Australia to highlight that; while there is clearly a role for health promotion in climate change mitigation and adaptation at the national and international levels, there is also a need for the engagement of health promoters at the community level. This raises several key issues for health promotion practice. To be better prepared to respond to climate change, health promotion practitioners first need to re-engage with the central tenets of the Ottawa Charter, namely the interconnectedness of humans and the natural environment and, secondly, the need to adopt ideas and frameworks from the sustainability field. The findings also open up a discussion for paradigmatic shifts in health promotion thinking and acting in the context of climate change.