Saturday, August 31, 2019

Modernist Poetry: Effectiveness

Modernist Poetry: Effectiveness When it comes to opinions everyone has one. Saying that Modernist poetry has no specific structure or form and therefore means it is not as ‘effective’, is like myself saying curry is spicy, sweet and doesn’t fit in with my taste buds and therefore curry is the worst seasoning. Poetry is far too complex to reduce to a simple â€Å"effective† or â€Å"not effective† dichotomy. To object to an opinion maybe you need to understand where they are coming from.Taking a look at traditional poetry you see rhyme schemes and specific meter and other rigid aspects of form. Modernist experimented vigorously with the poetic forms, language and versification, often doing away with rhythmical sweetness and the regularity of the traditional forms. Like a teenager that never finishes high school. She is considered by society to be a failure because she never met their ideals. However, she then goes out, gets signed and now almost every one knows her name, Christina Aguilera. Also read: Platos Attack on PoetryWhatever be the structure of a modern poem, there is a hidden meaning and rhythm of course. Even, that particular structure bears significance. That beauty and meaning cannot be interpreted by traditional readers. Others, of course, prefer traditional poetry, but I do not think either is more effective than the other; they just cater to different tastes. Just like when it comes to tastes in music, some people like country others prefer rap. Just because one become before the other doesn’t make it the right one and the other wrong, it makes them different.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Marble Chip Investigation Essay

Fair Test To make it a fair test and make my results more accurate I will try and keep all variables constant except the concentration of the acid. This will include weighing the marble chips every time and trying to use lumps of roughly the same size to keep the surface area fairly constant as a change in surface area will affect the rate of reaction. I will try and avoid a change in temperature and I will use the same equipment throughout the tests. Each concentration will be repeated at least once to improve accuracy as an average can be taken. Research The rate of reaction depends upon two factors, the number of collisions within a time between the reactants, and the fraction of these collisions that are successful. Therefore, the higher the concentration of the reactants, the higher the rate of reaction because there will be an increased number of collisions, this is called collision theory. However, for the reaction between the two reactants to be successful, they must collide with enough energy to react, the energy needed to react is known as  activation energy. This can be shown on a graph like the one below, I believe this graph is similar to what the energy diagram would be for my investigation. This shows that my chemical reaction will be exothermic, therefore it will release more energy than it uses to react. Therefore, at a higher concentration, there will be more reactions releasing energy in the form of heat that will enable more particles to reach their activation energy level and react. This shows that the rate of reaction will increase with the concentration of acid. Prediction After having done some research I feel that I can make an education prediction concerning what will happen during my investigation. I predict that the higher the concentration of acid I use, the faster the rate of reaction will be. I think this because the higher the concentration is, the more acid particles there will be to collide with the marble chip with enough energy to cause a reaction as explained in collision theory. I also believe that the rate of reaction will increase with concentration of acid because the chemical reaction I am doing is an exothermic reaction. Therefore, it will release energy as the reactions take place, this will give more energy to other particles around it and will cause the reaction to speed up as more particles reach their activation energy and collide with enough energy to react. Preliminary test results I started with 10g of marble chip and 100cm3 of 2M acid, the reaction was too fast and could not be accurately measured. I then tried 3g of marble chip with the same amount of 2M acid (100cm3), this worked fine, however, when the 0.4M concentration was tested the reaction was too slow and could not be accurately measured due to our scale. I then tried 6g of marble chip and it gave 135 cm3 of CO2 with the 2M concentration and 5 cm3 of CO2 with the 0.4M concentration. I felt that this would give us a good range of results so I  stuck with those measurements based on my preliminary tests. Observations When we had done our experiment we realised that we could benefit from some tests with other concentrations of acid to increase accuracy. Therefore we decided to do tests with 1.8M, 1.4M, 1M, 0.6M and 0.2M acid. However, when we did these tests they produced a much higher volume of carbon  dioxide than we would expect from our previous results. I came to the conclusion that this would have to be down to a change in one of the variables. Looking at the variables it was possible that it could have been temperature or surface area of the marble chips that caused the change, but as there had not been any large change in these variables it was unlikely that they would have such a clear affect on the results. After doing a few tests I found that it was the acid that I was using that had affected the results, I had started on a new batch of acid as the previous bottle had run out. Even though both batches of acid were labelled as being 2M, it was clear that one was stronger than the other and therefore increased the rate of reaction as the chance of acid particles colliding with the marble chip had been increased as there were more acid particles. Due to this, I plotted there results as a separate line, however, the results still show the same pattern and are therefore still useful in concluding the relation between gas given off and the concentration of acid, as explained by collision theory. Conclusion As you can see on the graph, both lines go up in a smooth curve. This shows that there is a correlation between concentration of acid and the volume of gas given off. As the concentration of acid increases so does the volume of gas, therefore they are proportional. The gradient of the line gets steeper as the concentration increases, this means that there was a larger increase of gas produced between 1.6M and 2M, than there was between 0.4M and 0.8M, even though the increase in concentration of acid was 0.4M in both. The graph shows that at higher concentrations of acid, more carbon dioxide was produced but in the same amount of time. This shows that at higher concentrations, the rate of reaction must have been faster to produce more products in the same time period. This can be explained by collision theory and the ideas on activation energy that I explained in my research and prediction. In my prediction I said that more gas would be given off with a higher  concentration, these results show that I was correct. This is because due to collision theory, in a low concentration of acid the acid particles are spread far apart. This means that there is very little chance of acid particles colliding with the marble chip with enough energy to react. In a high concentration, the acid particles are closer together as there is more of them within the same volume. This means that there is a much higher chance of collision with the marble chip, and there is more energy due to the energy being produced by the reaction, which is exothermic, this causes the reaction to be faster. This can be seen in my results, the 2M acid gave an average of 134.75cm3 of carbon dioxide, where the 0.4M concentration only gave an average of 4cm3 of carbon dioxide. The rate of reaction is reduced by a decrease of particles within the same space. Evaluation Accuracy of results I feel that my experiment was accurate because the results made a smooth curve on my graph. I did have a problem with the 1.8M, 1.4M, 1M, 0.6M and 0.2M acid results, as the acid appeared to be stronger than it was labelled. However, I resolved this problem by plotting the results as a separate line on my graph and they still showed a very similar curve to the other one showing the same relation between concentration of acid and the volume of gas given off. This shows that it was probably just the concentration of the acid that caused the problem and not my execution of the experiment that caused the results to be slightly different than what was expected. I think that my results could have been better as there was some variation between my four results for each of 2M, 1.6M, 1.2M, 0.8M, and 0.4M. However I do not feel this problem is major as the variations were relatively small as is shown by the error margins drawn on my graph, but there is still room for improvement. Possible Improvements If I was to do this investigation again I would try and keep some of the variables constant that I had less control over. The investigation was carried out over a few days so the classroom temperature may have varied. This could have had a slight effect on the rate of reaction making my results less accurate. Although the marble chips were roughly the same size they weren’t all exactly the same shape. If I could find a way to make the marble chips all the same shape and size then the investigation would be fairer as the surface area of the marble chips would be constant. If I was to do this investigation again I would try and use only one batch of acid for the whole experiment because as I found out, the acid supplied isn’t always exactly the strength that it says it is. I would also try to use a more accurate piece of equipment to measure the volume of gas produced, using a measuring cylinder did not provide the best accuracy that was open to me. I could have achieved a higher level of accuracy with a buret.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Describe how political, legal and social factors are impacting upon the business activities of the selected organisations and their stakeholders Essay

Describe how political, legal and social factors are impacting upon the business activities of the selected organisations and their stakeholders. Tesco In all the business in the country like Britain, they have to have this in mind that there are changes that are taking place in the business environment and to the people who maybe the shareholders. These changes can be the political, legal, and the social factors with the business environment and the country. Political factors of Tesco as a retail and a large business in Britain. Political factors are the decisions that are made by the politicians who have got all the powers to run the country and control over people and their business. The political factors have got three different levels that help to run the people, country and businesses. The national level: These levels consider is all about the political parties that protect the members of the parliament in the general elections. There is a party that is being led by the prime minister who appoints the ministers in charge of the key areas of the government e.g. Health of the people in the country, education, and also the industry which could be the businesses in the country to make sure they are running smoothly. The international level: Britain is a member of the European Union (EU). This level has got responsibility to make political decisions that increase the effect whatever decisions that done within the members of the states. The local level: This level consists of councils that are representatives of the population of the other people and make decisions about the local issues on behalf of the other local members. The local level has got all the people who help to set power for the people who are living in the particular area by providing protections to the people who are living area the council. These political decisions involve making choices that affect large numbers of people and their businesses. The decisions that are made by the politicians are making laws that will tend to favour or give chance to some groups at the expense of others. Some of the decisions that can be made maybe a favour the business like Tesco when the law is made / decided that every business will not be paying any taxes with whatever they are doing. That can be favour for the shareholders will be earning a lot from their business. But some decisions that are made sometimes may restrain business, e.g. when taxes of the business is raised this will be some of the down fall of the small businesses because the shareholders won’t be getting profits from what they have started in the business. The business will not be providing good services to the people who are the customers so their needs won’t be satisfied. These political factors have got some impacts factors to the business: Political stability: some times, the political stability favours the business. Within this political stability the political factor level that is used is the national level. This political level will find the way to put its plans into action that the people will have to fellow. The plans at the national level are made public to everyone to know it and they can be of good help to business planning. Tesco as a business can be able to use the government plans to identify the likely changes and how their plans that are made at nation level affect them in their business. This provides business with a degree of faith in whatever they are doing for the next few years for the business that has just been setup. Sometimes is political stability different leadership can be an effect to the business and the people in the country. This is when the elections are being taken in place and the president you hard before changed to another person’s which means all the rules and regulations that run the country or the business will have to change and that can be a bad thing to the people you are heading or the business you will be managing. This is all like having confidence in your business as a shareholder. if the education level is high in the area there will be more skilled workers and this will leads to high income. High income means demands for goods and services will increase. Taxation: this term means the money that each business pays on each product and that the business sale. The taxes are levied by the national government like with type of taxes called the income tax and the local government which may deal with the business rates with the products they are selling to the customers. Taxation has a very important purpose to the government because it helps it to raise revenue and also enables it to discourage many activities that the business do and encourage others by lowing the rates of taxes so that they can be able to start up. These are some of the examples of taxes that business use Corporation tax: This type of tax deals with taxes on the profits that are made by the companies like energy companies. Income tax: This type of tax is all about the income the people who are self employed like the sole traders and other people who get income like the employees in the business like the people working in the Tesco. National insurance: This is the required tax that is being paid for pensions like sickness, and unemployed benefits. This is given to the people who may have left their places of work for important reasons, like may be age, serious sickness and other things. VAT (value added tax): This type of tax is that tax that is added to the products that are needed and required by the business. So for example if Tesco needs a product from any business outside it, the price it costs will be added on by the Tesco business to get it and that’s called the vat. So it’s always on retail goods that are being bought and into the business. Customs duty: This is the type of tax that is paid by the business on the imports and the exports of the goods and services. The imports of Tesco as a business will be the goods that are not made and no produced by them. The exports will be the goods that Tesco will be made by the business themselves and they are living the out of the business to other country or to other business that not produce them. The government will have more powers to increase taxes on some of the goods that are sold by the business like cigarettes these are harmful things to human beings. They can because of diseases to people like lung cancer so the government will be fighting against the production of cigarettes by increasing the taxes on it so that people’s health can be better for them. The government can also make an increase of taxes on the fuel that is being used by cars and machines. The reason of this can be that many fuel oils are making smelly gases causing pollution and that can be bad effect to the people lives. Tesco has all both affects of people’s lives the cigarettes and fuel oil selling and so if the government is making tax increase on them the business will see taxes as high cost that takes and uses a lot of its profit from what they had planned for as business shareholders. Government provides direct support to specific types of business and specific activities in two different from grants and loans. A grant is that money that the government gives to a business and it’s not repaid. The main reason why the government provides this is because some business activity supports the government policy. The example here is that the government may give grants to employees to go and train others about business and the money that they have given out is not repaid back. The government also gives out loans to business on a specific purpose. The government loans are of interest rates whereby you borrow money from the banks and pay it back at an interest rate of more money rate you got it for. Government decision to join the European Union because the businesses in this country have got good things and bad things that can be of good help to other countries and their businesses. This is a good thing because trading can be freely without being charged for so there can be free importing and exporting of goods to and from the country. An impact on that can be that businesses have to be more competitive with other business if they want to have trade with the European Union business. This can lead the businesses to produce more and sell more at an affordable price so that they can get free trade market with others. Social factor Demographics The increase of people’s population in the country or area. This is like the number of people changing from the percentage of 90 to an increase of 100% increase of population in the place. Businesses sell more products and the shareholders get more profits. Due to the increase of customers, there will be high demand of products from the customers. More people in the area will lead to more setting up of new business whether big or small businesses from other people. Households and family Helps the business to know the peoples expenditure on how they spend since there many people living alone in house. Education All business needs to employ people who have got better education skills on high level for particular job. This can be of help to both the business and the person him/her self. If there was good education in maybe Peckham at Harris there will be more people who will move to Peckham and so the business near or around will get more customers in the business. Attitudes to work Attitudes at the place of work depend on the different ways people in the business like the employees act ways and behaviour to the customers. If it’s in the bad way them the business will lose customers and so the businesses will not have money. People with right attitudes will be more productive. E.g. Foreigners who are prepared to work hard may be chosen over the local people. Religions: Religion can be a big factor to the business simply because there many people who are living in the area, many people have got different religions believes that they follow for the best of the religion towards the lord. I will give an example here of Muslim’s are have got different believes towards the business like all Muslims in the world do not eat pork as its part of their religion, they also don’t drink alcohol or even smoke, so all of this can affect the business that can that can be in the area of there are only Muslims around that place so if your business is selling one of the mentions things above you are most likely to het loses from them all since you not getting any customers. Another religion maybe Christian, there people don’t work on Sundays the reason being that is they also have to go to their place of worship so there is no need for them to go to work. This can affect the business because there will be no people helping in the store to serve the customers so therefore you need to do the job by yourself or ether close the shop on Sundays . Ethics This in the business are the values principals that run the business, these ethics affect the business through the fair trade in the business this is more like some business should offer fair price to their customers. This money can be used to save people in Africa. In the business like Tesco all the people who buy products like buying a biscuit at 50p and in the other shops the same biscuit is at 40p which means the shop that is selling the biscuit at 5op is having fair trade to help the other people and poor people in Africa. Environment: the business have to use resources well and minimising waste, some of the business wastes that can affect the environment and the bags that are been used in the business for the customers package. Business should make sure that they treat the customer’s very well attitude to male and female role. Attitude to male and female. In the past years, male use to work and the female used to stayed home to baby sit the children, but this time and year both the genders are now working and there more numbers of woman working that the man, women tend to be more attractive at their place of work than the woman Changes in structures In the UK, the highest numbers of people living in the country are the old. This is a impact to the business, if there more people in the country and they old people there will be more business springing up to care for the needs of the old people like transportation them in cars from home to their place of care, many of the old people will be an impact for the pharmacies and health centres, which will need to expand into many places Indore to meet the needs of old people department on the population. Legal factors Consumer laws and regulations: This is the act where the business like Tesco has got all the powers to make its consumers to be happy and taking responsibility of the business. This act has all the business to satisfy the customers quality which will means that all the goods that the consumers buys are meeting there satisfaction so they are happy with the business serving them as their customers. Tesco has to make sure that all the goods it selling to the consumers is fit for purpose. Like if you as the consumers you buying something from the business like you asked for an x box 360 but instead of the staff in the business giving you the right thing that you asked for they give you something else which maybe wrong that can be fit for purpose so the business has to be so careful with that when serving their customers. Employment law: Employees are also protected at their places of work and the employers according to the component of employment protection. Before the employees are asking for the job in any place of work in the business they should all have their personal details that can describe them when asking for the job to help the employers? Like they should have their forms with their full names, job tittle, hours they would be happy with in working, holiday pay entitlement all that is needed by the employers to know what you would really want when you are in the business (Tesco). The time of work like what time they should be coming at the work place and the time they will be leaving to get a proper rest to get ready for the next day. This can help the employees because it can really give them time to spend with their families like their children at home or even going out with their fellow staff members. Wage regulations, this concedes with the employees payment in terms of the money they are being paid for the job that they are doing. They should know how much salary they are getting hourly or monthly which can be done on time because it has to be of good help to them when they need it. Competition law: In the business environment there are laws that run how the business should compete with each other in terms of what they selling or doing. Law against the preventive business practices to reduce competition. This is like there are more than two shareholders agreeing over making the decisions of making prices on the goods that they are selling in their business. This can be controlled by measuring or looking at the amount of the product you bought how it was sold to you so that you can get it in the business so looking at the price you were sold make a decision on more than the price you as the shareholders you got it and then make the sell price in your business. In the business to manage the competition with other business all the goods that are sold in the business have to be so affordable to the customers so it’s so more different from the other business that sell the same thing as your business like Tesco its main competitors is asda, Sainsbury that are selling the same things so Tesco has to make its goods more affordable and provide good customer services to its consumers to win the other competition from the other businesses. Conclusion The result of the political analysis shows that the country is politically stable. But traditional values are still very important and need to be taken into account. If TESCO decides to expand, it must be aware that it is only allowed employing local workers. Also, the cheap local fund borrowing has the benefit over taxes and the good infrastructure is to be seen positively. In addition to that, the analyses showed that they are all people in the business and the outside the business and minded towards foreign operated supermarkets. The analysis of social factors shows that they are all about the living things like considering the services that are in the business and to the people how they are living like education, families, health and population in the country or in the particular .The high living standards in the country area advantageous for TESCO as they allow people to spend a large amount of their income on groceries that they are selling.

Molecular Neuro-degeneration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Molecular Neuro-degeneration - Essay Example It is evident that no drug has been discovered that could to completely protect neurons; there are two possible approaches to that may come up with the treatment of AD. One approach involves treatment which prevents the onset of the disease through curbing the primary targets and reducing the subsequent pathologies of the AD. This way, it becomes possible to slow the disease progression and hence prevention to the development of AD (Vradenburg 2013). The second approach involves the symptomatic treatment; an approach whereby the primary and tertiary symptoms of the AD are declined. Through this approach, reflection to the current state of treatment including the usual treatment the cognitive impairment, the decline in global function, deteriorating performance of activities of daily living and behavioral change ( Perry 2013). When searching for the appropriate treatment strategies, scientists concentrate on the severity of the disease and also the specificity of each individual. Currently the available therapeutic agents are the main target to specific symptoms of the AD; the agents such as cholinesterase inhibitors involved in the enhancement of cholinergic neurotransmission and also the inhibiting of acetylcholine degradation within the synapse are the Alzheimer’s disease main treatment (Vradenburg 2013). Going by the report on the role of the involvement of PI3 kinase signaling in AÃŽ ²-induced memory loss in Drosophila, the PI3K-Akt-mTOR pathway regulation in AÃŽ ² oligomer neuronal cell cycle process and Amyloid-b Interruption of the PI3K-Akt-mTOR signaling pathway involvement in brain-derived neurotrophic factor-induced arc expression in rat scientists can improve theirs unleash a further superior drug to completely heal the Alzheimer’s disease (Perry 2013). One of the hindrances to the progress of other researchers on AD have been due to the fact that most drugs developed show general success in animal specimens but when testing them to human beings, they become less responsive, Therefore, it is safe to say that this project is still in its infancy and further studies have to be carried out but in the long run a solution will be arrived upon.

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Biochemistry of human disease Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Biochemistry of human disease - Essay Example This hepatic dysfunction has led to jaundice as apparent from the yellowish discoloration of the while of his eyes and skin, and this has established a vicious cycle of malnutrition, alcohol intake, hepatitis, jaundice, and malnutrition. Moreover, his blood glucose level is 1.7 mmol/L (fasting reference interval, 3.0-5.5 mmol/L). In alcoholic liver disease, nutritional deficiencies are common and complicate the management. The liver disease in this patient is significant due to presence of jaundice and low blood sugars at presentation. In a habituated alcoholic, an ethanol level of 43 mmol/L or 0.2 g/dL usually does not cause stupor in contrast to that of a nonhabituated patient, where it causes impaired mental activity. Although a habituated man can remain awake even at levels >87 mmoL/L or 0.4 g/dL with the rise in the level of tolerance, usually a nonhabituated man would be stuporous at >65 mmol/L (0.3g/dL) and would lose consciousness at >87. This patient was also hypoglycemic. T hus, as expected, this man is not expected to be unresponsive with the level of alcohol at 0.36% or 80 mmol/L, and it is the hypoglycemia that has made him unresponsive. Based on this background the following questions will now be answered. About 10 percent of consumed alcohol is absorbed from the stomach, the remainder from the small intestine. Once alcohol is absorbed into the bloodstream, it is distributed to all body tissues. Because alcohol is uniformly dissolved in the bodys water, tissues containing a high proportion of water receive a high concentration of alcohol. About 90 percent of absorbed alcohol is metabolized through oxidation in the liver; the remaining 10 percent is excreted unchanged by the kidneys and lungs. In persons with a history of excessive alcohol consumption, upregulation of the necessary enzymes results in rapid alcohol metabolism. Alcohol is metabolized by two enzymes: alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) in the

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Mangosteen Remedies Marketing Plan Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Mangosteen Remedies Marketing Plan - Coursework Example From this paper it is clear that physicians prescribe the drugs for chronic diseases as mentioned above, which are mostly NSAIDs, to provide relief from pain. Although, they are highly effective yet they have severe side effects too. The worst part is that once patient stops consuming it, disease returns with a bang. They are only a stopgap arrangement and not a real cure in themselves. These medicines cause stomach cramps, drowsiness, diarrhea, heartburn, edema (swelling of the feet), nausea and much of the discomfort. Moreover, NSAIDs pose a risk of causing stroke, heart attacks, clotting, and kidney failure, if consumed for a longer duration. The risk is associated with the amount of dosages. No one would like to have such risks and dependency on such drugs. If choice is available for an alternative medicine; it is for sure that patient would prefer switching over to a safer drug where there are no side effects even after taking medicines for a long time. ‘Mangosteen Remedie s’ produces medicines from rind of mangosteen and using many such herbs. Mangosteen is a naturally available fruit. Its remedial potential lies in compounds called xanthones found in abundance in the rind of this fruit. Medical science has found a large group of xanthones in mangosteen. Xanthones are recognized as most potent antioxidants provided by Mother Nature. Antioxidants are the compounds that throw toxic elements out of our body and prevent oxidation of our cells. That is how it increases our immunity slowing the process of ageing and providing strength to fight back chronic diseases. Anti-inflammatory properties of xanthone make it an ideal substitute for many steroid-based drugs in the long run. (Properties of Xanthones) That is why it is found to work on asthma patients giving them relief including the patients suffering from bronchitis asthma. Mangosteen rind extract is found to work in many ailments for the above mentioned reasons. It imparts a rejuvenating effec t increasing the energy levels in humans and a good part is that it delivers a permanent cure without causing any side effects. The manufacturing operation consists of extracting xanthones from mangosteen rind and suitable preparations are made that are high in xanthone concentrations. Medicines outside of U.S FDA ‘Mangosteen Remedies’ products will be marketed in the form of dietary supplements. U.S. FDA does not offer any opinion on dietary supplements. This is to establish the fact that these medicines are beyond the purview of U.S. FDA.

Monday, August 26, 2019

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Marketing - Essay Example However, the increasing demands of the recent market trends have compelled marketing practices to be focused on the attainment of competitive advantage in the markets. It is due to this transition that marketing has begun to be considered as a strategic management tool to devise and attain long term objectives of the organization. The attainment of goals is possible if the demands of the customers are met and they are ensured that the services and products will be delivered to them in an effective and reliable manner (Kotler et al., 2008). Therefore, it becomes evident for companies to understand their market segments and customers’ demands to ensure that successful businesses are run and they are able to deliver better products and services than their competitors. Fulfillment of customer’s needs is one of the most studied aspects of marketing. Hill et al (2003) explained that customer satisfaction is the degree of fulfillment of the customer’s requirements by an entire product or service from an organization. Customer satisfaction is considered to be the factor that provokes customers to be loyal with their brands and convey a positive image of the company in front of other consumers. Loyal customers can prove to be good publicists for companies. Loyal customers are important assets for any organization since they do not switch brands due to price differences and promotions from the competitors. Customer satisfaction is also known to be a major source for increasing revenues for organizations; therefore, it is aimed to be attained by all organizations to reduce instances of brand shifts and increase market shares. Reicheld & Sasser (1990) studied the service industry and concluded their research with the finding that a 5% increm ent in the retaining of consumers results in a significant increase of 25% to 125% in the revenues of any company. The concept of retaining customers has resulted in the evolution of relationship marketing. This concept facilitates the attainment of revenues from extended relations with customers and makes the development of customer relations an important strategic aim for the company. However, it also needs to be comprehended that the fulfillment of customer’s requirements is not the sole solution for companies in the modern markets; rather they need to keep them contended and delighted with the products and services. It would not be wrong to state that service quality bears great relevance in attaining contentment and loyalty from the customer’s side. Sportswear selling is a varied and uneven market. Retailing chains in the respective field have recorded a slow but steady rate of growth in the past. Companies are investigating to devise innovative formats and proces ses to renew their business models and expanding their businesses with greater number of stores. Sports Direct and JD have managed to attain a prominent place in the current market by achieving a commendable market share. Mintel Reports (2009) stated that a promising future can be predicted for the sportswear retailing industry in UK, especially due to the upcoming London Olympics. The marketing strategy that was adopted by Sport Direct involved the implementation of discounts on their retailing items. This strategy helped them to distinguish themselves from the competitors in the market. The quality of their products is comparable to the ones being offered by globally recognized brands like Nike, Adidas and Puma. It is relevant to investigate if marketing strategies, such as lowering the prices of products, plays an important role in the attainment of customer satisfaction. The research shall focus on marketing strateg

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Segregation in the 21st Century Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Segregation in the 21st Century - Essay Example The media perpetrates segregation or white supremacy at every turn.   Social stereotypes also prevail in the American media.   Even though these themes are subtle, they are strong.   Even in cartoon movies, these stereotypes exist.   For example, â€Å"Dumbo (1941), the crows that teach Dumbo how to fly â€Å"are too obviously Negro caricatures† (Avila 132).   The portrayal of black crows as crude, ignorant, and with a bad southern accent is ridiculous.   White people from the south can be crude and ignorant.   Most Southerners have southern accents, whether they are black, white, red, or yellow.   Disney movies seem to have bad representations of ethnic people.   Pocahontas and Mulan are feeble attempts to be politically correct, but manage to portray them very stereotypical.   Most of the heroes are white, Prince Charming, John Smith, and numerous others.   The media perpetrates segregation or white supremacy at every turn.   Social stereotypes also prevail in the American media.   Even though these themes are subtle, they are strong.   Even in cartoon movies, these stereotypes exist.   For example, â€Å"Dumbo (1941), the crows that teach Dumbo how to fly â€Å"are too obviously Negro caricatures† (Avila 132).   White people from the south can be crude and ignorant.   Most Southerners have southern accents, whether they are black, white, red, or yellow.   Disney movies seem to have bad representations of ethnic people.  

Saturday, August 24, 2019

3D xml Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

3D xml - Essay Example X3D builds on the success of the Virtual Reality Modelling Language (VRML) with expanded features such as stricter conformance, additional data encoding formats, and more advanced APIs. Its componentized architecture introduces the profiles feature, which allows for a modular approach to supporting the standard. X3D also features backward compatibility with legacy VRML data (http://www.web3d.org/x3d/specifications/x3d/).   In order to model the numerous graphics nodes constituting a virtual environment, the X3D software makes use of a scene graph, which is a directed and cyclic tree structure. This type of graph has a definite beginning with parent-child relationships between each node, with each node having a single parent. The only exception to this rule is the X3D root at the very top of the graph. The graph in itself contains no cycles or loops, and it organizes all aspects of a 3D scene in a hierarchal manner that systematizes appearance, animation, geometry and event routing (Brutzman, Daily, 2007). As has been already stated, the software is based on VRML or the Virtual Reality Modelling Language, an international standard first adopted in 1997. However, X3D differs from VRML in its inclusion of Extensible Markup Language (XML), which allows it to integrate with other Internet-based software (Brutzman, Daily, 2007).   X3D’s scene-graph architecture and file-format encoding are based on existing VRML technology, which is formally known as the ISO/IEC 14772 -1:1997 international standard. However, it is more commonly known as VRML 2 or VRML 97, and it is well-known for a highly expressive 3D interchange format that is supported by a wide range of codebases and tools. VRML 97’s geometry and behaviour capabilities are expressed in X3D through XML. Moreover, X3D enables users to carry out node prototyping and program scripting, whether in ECMAScript or in Java. All of these features provide outstanding support for

Friday, August 23, 2019

Gandhi Teachings Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Gandhi Teachings - Essay Example This law is the basis of many arguments proposed by supporters of this separation and opponents alike. The heated debate arose out of differing interpretation of the law. Some people have argued that religion is an inherent part of the constitution. As a result, eliminating it completely from the state would be a direct contradiction. Therefore modern societies can still integrate Satyagraha without necessarily possessing a world view. For instance, there are large parts of the state's proceedings that still go on after acknowledging the presence of God and these practices indicate Satyagraha. Most legislative meetings proceed after prayer and the state currency refers to the word 'God'. Additionally, states can still practice Satyagraha by letting members of the population practice their religious beliefs in public but they need not make this a rule for all members of the public. By doing this, the State will still be respecting its citizens' religions without necessarily restricting it. It is also possible to practice Satyagraha today by allowing specific members of the population a chance to recite the oath of allegiance despite the fact that it mentions the word God. However, the State may not necessarily have to make this recital a mandatory requirement in schools. The government of today needs to allow its people the right to practi... As long as no single person is required to engage in a particular religion while condemning another, than religious practices should be allowed in public. In fact, some people argue that when modern governments completely eliminate any form of religious symbol or expression in the public, then what they are really saying is that the beliefs held by atheists are more important than those held by other religions. Consequently, the government should allow fair representation of these issues given the fact that all people within the state have the right to practice their religion. (Lovett, 2007) Benefits, limitations and problems of applying Gandhi's Satyagraha in secular society today Gandhi was an outstanding leader during his time because of the fact that he had an ability to apply foundational religious teachings in the political and social context of his time. He had understood the underlying truths behind most religions and believed that they were instrumental to prevailing social and political environments. Gandhi believed that there was no way one could separate the state and the religion because the law was founded upon religion. In relation to this, the Indian leader asserted that religion assisted man to understand his place in the world. Additionally, he believed that religion is the foundation for understanding reality in the world today. Some of the issues that Gandhi submitted can be applied in the secular environment. Christianity can make its contribution to political life by providing a basis for understanding the relationship between man and his environment. Additionally, the same can be said about Hinduism and Islam with regard to the latter mentioned issue. Modern society can apply the same aspects into political life and reap their

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Stylistic - the Bluest Eye Essay Example for Free

Stylistic the Bluest Eye Essay In the passage from The Bluest Eye, written by Toni Morrison, the author writes about difficult challenges that not only the young girls in the book have to face but everyone of that time has to endure. Taking place in the 1940’s the author uses many stylistic devices to demonstrate life at the time, such as The Great Depression, and the realization young girls grow up to find. The early 1940s brought about the end of The Great Depression leaving the country in economic turmoil. Growing up in this time could not have been easy families were split apart in search for jobs, and nothing would grow on the dry grounds. In the passage Claudia reflects over a time in the life when she remembers nothing would grew and having to face difficult challenge of growing up. The passage starts with Claudia saying â€Å"there were no marigolds in the fall of 1941† an allusion to the ending of The Great Depression, a time of economic hardship, started by the stalk market crash and the lack of crop yielded. Claudia reflects back now understanding what was happening saying â€Å"our seeds were not the only ones that did not sprout†. Claudia continues on admitting â€Å" but so deeply concerned we were with the health and safety of Pecola’s baby†; explaining that Claudia and her sister planted marigold, thinking that if they sprouted it would bring about the safe and healthy delivery of Pecolas baby. The author uses a popular quilocial symbolism of the south at the time to convey the â€Å"magic† Claudia and her sister are attempting to bring about; â€Å"we could think nothing but of our own magic; if we planted the right seed and said the right words, everything would be alright. It was common in the south at the time for the blooming of marigolds to represent life, the author uses this quiloquial symbolism to make the reader understand the â€Å"magic† the young girls thought they possessed. In the last part of the passage the author uses a smilie to convey Claudias now mature vision of what happened. Claudia says â€Å"we had dropped our seeds in our little plot of black dirt like Pecolas’ father had dropped his seeds in his own plot of black dirt†. This simile conveys that Claudia now understands that Pecola’s father impregnated his daughter, comparing it to her planting the marigolds. In the next line the author uses a sharp juxtaposition comparing the girls innocence and Pecola’s fathers lust, many people after the Depression were left distraught facing mental illness; Pecola’s Father is a presentation of the unstable mental state of many people at the end of the 1940’s. Claudia realized that not everything in life was magical and would always be ok, he innocence was lost with this realization, like many young girls coming to terms with this same realization, many of whom had never faced economic hardship. Claudia reflects for the last time saying her innocence was lost and all that was left was the â€Å"unyielding earth†. Like many girls her age she realizes in the end that not all people are good, and things are not always going to be ok, this loss of innocence helped her to grow and mature. Following The Great Depression the country lay in an economic reaction that brought about despair and loss of hope for many people. This despair made many people mentally unstable, up until then many young girls had not had the chance to experience this type of hardship, like Claudia the were forced to grow up in order to survive. Claudias story is a representation of the struggles a young girl faced growing up in the 1940’s. It was a time when childhood fairytales were exposed leaving the whole country feeling as if they had lost some of there innocence as well. The earth did not produced as it always had throwing the delicate stock market out of balance, no marigolds bloomed for america in the 1940’s.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Relation between Error in Healthcare prescription and the inconsistency in Technological information Essay Example for Free

Relation between Error in Healthcare prescription and the inconsistency in Technological information Essay Relation between Error in Healthcare prescription and the inconsistency in Technological information Introduction Background Information            A lot of errors are occurring within the healthcare field lately. They are a result of many factors. Among the principle causes of error are related to wrong prescriptions. As indicated by Benjamin (770), one of the elements that is playing a key role ion this is the use of advanced technological methods. Computers have been used to aid in the computerized entry of prescription orders. Depending on the intensity of the prescription, they can result in serious injuries on the patient or even lead to fatality incidences. In turn, they lead to unnecessary court cases and legal suits that eventually cost many healthcare institutions and practitioners a lot of money that is paid to cater for the damages (Carroll 52-8). As such, there is a need to study the main causes of wrong prescription to ensure that such avoidable consequences are kept at their possible minimal rates. The main questions that will be answered in this study include:            What are the most common types of error in healthcare prescriptions?            What kind of information technology is used in the provision of proper prescription?            Are there specific errors that are related to inconsistently provided information in the same prescription order entry? Methodology            In this study, both primary and secondary data collection methods will be employed. It will include the use of surveys for the collection of first-hand information. In this sense questionnaires and interviews from the participants will also be used to gather information for the data. For accuracy and proper validation, these will be combined with secondary sources such as the national health statistics (Wu, Pronovost, Morlock 88). Data analysis            In this study, the..method of data analysis will be used. The method mainly†¦. Findings            Previous research performed on this topic revealed that†¦..Thus, in relation to this study, it was evident that†¦.. Conclusion It is important that the laid down professional ethics are adhered to in different fields. This is especially within the medical field where a slight mistake can lead to            devastating consequences. Therefore, healthcare providers are always obligated to use the knowledge that they acquired in their studies as well as new knowledge and practices appropriately. They should ensure that drugs are prescribed in the most proper ways to avoid errors. In particular, computerized drug entries should be counterchecked to eliminate disparities. However, owing to the continuous change in the nature of disease processes and hence the production of advanced drug formulas, there is need to conduct more research. These will provide more guidance to guarantee safe drug prescription by providers of healthcare services using new technological methods. References Benjamin, D. M. Reducing medication errors and increasing patient safety: case studies inclinical pharmacology. Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. 2003; 43:768–83. Carroll, P. Medication issues: the bigger picture. RN. 2003; 66(1):52–8. Wu, A. W., Pronovost, P., and Morlock, L. ICU incident reporting systems. Journal of Critical Care. 2006; 17(2):86–94 Source document

Uncle Toms Cabin And The Imagery English Literature Essay

Uncle Toms Cabin And The Imagery English Literature Essay In many ways the north may have been the starting point for many of the hard working religious, patient Individuals. Some might say that they may have bees somewhat like Harriet Beecher Stowe themselves however, this was a potential threat. The north and the south shared many economic and legal issues at that time because even though the north did not have slavery they still felt the issues that came with slavery. Stow made it very clear in her writing just how horrible slavery was. She shows us the legal consequences that slavery had on the north, and how many individuals lend a helping hand to help free slaves with the risk of being jailed. Stow tries to give the readers an accurate picture of the slavery in the south. Many of Stowes readers were mainly white women, so she used the opportunity to play on their feelings on the poor treatment of the slaves. Her main focus was to get the white women of the north to read it, because she hoped that they might be able to help her with the abolishment of slavery. She painted a very strong and real picture of the individuals that were suffering from the prejudice of slavery. The writing in Uncle Toms Cabin is so vivid that it feels like the reader is experiencing the same hardship as the slaves did in the south. The sentimental writing drew women of its time to read Stowes novels. Her main focus was to give the reader an unsettled emotion of guilt, to make individuals see how many lives and families were destroyed through slavery. In the early nineteenth-century human cruelty was a constant issue for the slaves, which makes this a vital part of American history. Harriet Beecher Stowe uses two but distinct ethical systems in Uncle Toms Cabin: One is the value of Christianity and two she uses parental values. When one reads the the beginning of the book, how Uncle Tom and Eliza find out they are getting sold. Both of these characters have different points of views. Uncle Tom puts all of his faith in God and says whatever happens will happen , were as Eliza who will face similar heart ship decides to get away. Both of these decisions are portrayed to fit each character in the book. Uncle Toms describes his sufferings in plain words though the bible. However, some models are not as clear because it over lapses the Christian fews. However, in Eliza case she decides to run away to save her children. However, the book describes how horrific the circumstances were and Uncle Tom was sold many times over. He said: If I must be sold, or all the people on the place, and everything go to rack, why, let me be sold. I spose I can bar it as well as any on em (Stowe, 1852). Looking at all the slave masters in the novel one can clearly see, that Uncle Toms master differed from all the other masters and his outlook on how slaves should be treated. It not only teaches Christian values but also family values. Stowe is mainly focusing her writing on the facts that slavery is wrong, cruel and evil. She not only writes an outstanding book but she also makes some excellent points at the same time. She quoted: I did not write it. God wrote it. I merely did his dictation (Stowe, Uncle Tom`s Cabin, 1879). In Stowes mind all of her writing came from God and not her, she cared deeply about God and his will. In her writing she is consistently telling the readers that slavery is wrong and cruel. Individuals are being beaten, starved to death and ripped away from their familys. Many individuals like Uncle Tome are being sold over and over again, and with each selling a new owner comes along. Slaves never knew what fate had in store for them, because every slave owner had their own way of controlling the slaves. However, Stowes novel shows that there were also good slave owners such as St. Clare. Uncle Tom was sold to a couple named St Clare and from reading Stowes novel they treated Uncle Tom very ki ndly. In conclusion Stowes writing is very effective, she points out that slavery is very wrong, in order to help the abolitionist cause. At the same time her novel has an enormous impact not only on the readers back then but also today.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Cohabitation Essay -- Relationships Marriage Essays

Cohabitation Is cohabitation the right alternative to marriage? The increasing amounts or studies done in relation to cohabiting couples shows that this controversial topic is more common than most American’s think. Marriage used to be considered a defining event in a couple’s relationship, often marking the beginning of intimate relations, sharing a common household, and even childbearing. By definition, unmarried cohabitation is the status of couples who are sexual partners, not married to each other, and sharing a household (Popenoe). These two definitions seem to be similar in what each union reflects, but outwardly marriage includes a legal union that is meant to be a lifelong commitment. The meaning and permanence of marriage may be changing as cohabitation increases, (Casper 40) and this is in turn creating a society who is largely focused on self-fulfilling events, no commitment, and a lower understanding of what is best for our children. The research done regarding the effe cts cohabitation has on children, morality based on religious opinion, and the consequences of cohabitation explain why this growing change in society is wrong. Thirty years ago, living together for unmarried, heterosexual couples was against the law (Popenoe). It is facts like that which make the moral changes in society seem unpredictable. Who would have thought that something as sacred and universally understood as marriage would become so subtle. The proportion of unmarried women who were cohabiting tripled, from 3 to 9 percent, between 1978 and 1998, and unmarried men who were cohabiting increased from 5 to almost 12 percent (Casper 41). Statistics follow along with the changing society. Just as the age for marriage has increased, this has ... ...nstead of marriage. Especially when children are involved, there are many more aspects of living together outside of marriage that need to be taken into consideration. Not only obvious speculations like how the finances will be divided should be taken into consideration, but also morality and situational elements need to be discussed. Socially it may be acceptable, but that is wrong. That is society’s way of weakening marriage as a pure institution (Popenoe). Americans need to start reviewing what is right and what is wrong and reiterate the information into society. Sex should not be shown as glamorous and necessary, but rather as something significant that binds two people together. These themes would help turn around the quickly changing ideal of how family really should be, and turn it back to the right direction where unity is what the world is working towards.

Monday, August 19, 2019

Bank Marketing Essay -- essays research papers fc

I. Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Within our society, financial institutions are becoming more abundant. Along with this present growth, the field of marketing financial services has also grown in size and scope with new entrants everyday. The relatively stable banking environment is being altered with innovation, opportunism, and government intervention. This era, marked by the government’s luminous hand of deregulation (defined as the act of removing regulations or restrictions from a specific entity), has expanded consumer options to the extent that commercial banking must now become an aggressively competing member of the financial services industry. In this new era, important marketing areas such as regulation, environment, product, competition in the market, and delivery of product can no longer be overlooked. II. What is Marketing and Its Role in the Success of Financial Institutions? What is marketing? According to the American Marketing Association, marketing is the â€Å"performance of business activities that direct the flow of goods and services from producer to consumer or user.† In the context of the financial institution, marketing is defined as the â€Å"creation and delivery of customer-satisfying services as a profit to the bank or financial institution.†(McMahon, 1986). With further examination of the previously stated definition, it can be seen that marketing is looked upon as 1) an active process (therefore, ongoing with endless possibilities), with 2) a direct focus on the customer or consumer. Initially, it can be seen that marketing plans that result in efficient returns and profits do not appear out of thin year, but are created. (McMahon, 1986). Once created, these plans must be delivered properly to the consumer. For example, a teller at a bank, with poor delivery and selling, can ultimately destroy a thoroughly thought out creati on aimed at providing superior customer service. Also, marketing is customer-oriented, meaning that it is imperative to take into account whether customers are satisfied and their needs/wants are fulfilled by the products or services offered by the bank. (Reidenbach and Pitts, 1986). Marketing, like any other activity associated with business, is goal-directed. To meet specific goals, individuals in management of these financial institutions create a marketing strategy. A marketing strategy â€Å"consists... ...esent. References Works Cited   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Benn, Alec (1986). Advertising Financial Products and Services. Quorum Books: New York, pp. 100 – 150.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hodges, L.H. and Tillman, R. (1968). Bank Marketing: Text and Cases. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company: Massachusetts. McMahon, Robert J. (1986). Bank Marketing Handbook: How to compete in the Financial Services Industry. Bankers Publishing Company: Boston.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Reidenbach, E.R. and Pitts, R.E. (1986). Bank Marketing: A Guide to Strategic Planning. Prentice Hall: New Jersey. Works Referenced   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Donnelly, J.H., Berry, L.L., and Thompson, T.W. (1985). Marketing Financial Services: A Strategic Vision. Dow Jones-Irwin: Illinois.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Kinnear, T.C. and Bernhardt, K.L. (1986). Principles of Marketing. Scott, Foresman & Company: Illinois.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Larreche, Jean-Claude and Strong, E.C. (1982). Readings in Marketing Strategy. Scientific Press: Palo Alto.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sinkey, J.F. (1986). Commercial Bank Financial Management, 5th edition. South-Western Publishing Company: New York.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Political Parties Essay -- Politics, Clientelistic and Programmatic Ci

What influences parties’ choices between clientelistic and programmatic citizen- politician linkages? In the context of democratization, many authoritarian regimes used to deploy clientelism as the main strategy for maintaining its rules (Magaloni 2006). Even in democratic institutions, parties could systematically and continuously engage in clientelism to maintain long time ruling (Piattoni 2001, Kitschelt 2007). Those hegemonic parties, once defeated in elections, faced an important choice of where to go. In various accounts, different parties went through different lines of development, producing different outcomes. Compared to Shefter’s (1977) analysis that the choice of clientelistic/programmatic strategies is path-dependent and fixed, this paper seeks to address the changes. By investigating two cases of former hegemonic parties’ transition after electoral defeat (KMT in Taiwan and PRI in Mexico), I examined why parties made different choices, and how those different moves altered the transformation of parties. Furthermore, I offered a theoretical pattern in conclusion to differentiate different forms of transformation by two factors: resource control and ideological strength. Theoretical terms and method Two key terms in this paper need to be clarified in advance: resource control and ideological strength. By resource control, I mean particularly the financial resources parties possess and distribute for the sake of winning elections. Resources include control over central or local government budget, access to public subsidies allocation and other properties owned by parties. Levels of resource control can be measured by different offices held by the party and the party’s expenditure structure. It is generally perce... ...dence direction, with President Lee Teng-hui openly announced that Taiwan and mainland China were de facto two different states. This shift had angered many pro-unification party bases, and motivated some KMT politicians to form the New Party (NP) in 1993. NP went on becoming the third largest party, and attracted many votes from traditional KMT supporters. After 2000 election, James Soong also formed his own party, People First Party (PFP), and replaced NP as the major pro-unification party in the system. As the regime cleavage has effectively faded following the successful democratization and regime change, state-identity cleavage became the major salient issue of Taiwan elections. The ambiguous position KMT took on state-identity issues made it hard to perform well among sharply divided ideological voters, and the party was at risk of losing its own â€Å"location†.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Clinical Reasoning: Combining Research and Knowledge to Enhance Client Care

Making sound and client-centered clinical decisions in an area that demands accountability and evidence-based practice requires not only scientific knowledge, but also a deep knowledge of the practice of one’s profession and of what it means to be human in the world of combined strength and vulnerability that is health care. Every clinician must understand the importance of applying best research evidence to client care, the essence of evidence–based practice, to improve the overall quality of healthcare. Research continues to find that using evidence-based guidelines in practice, informed through research evidence, improves patients’ outcomes (Dykes et al, 2005). The literature is replete with definitions of evidence-based practice. Simply stated, evidence-based practice is the process of applying research to practice. Originating from the medical field in 1991, the term evidence-based medicine was established to ensure that medical research was systematically evaluated in a manner that could â€Å"inform medicine and save lives and that is superior to simply looking at the results of individual clinical trials† (Wampold & Bhati, 2004). An evidence-based practice is considered any practice that has been established as effective through scientific research according to a set of explicit criteria (Drake, et al, 2001). The term evidence-based practice is also used to describe a way of practicing, or an approach to practice. For example, evidence-based medicine has been described as â€Å"the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients† (Sackett, Rosenberg, Gray, et al, 1996). Evidence-based medicine is further described as the â€Å"integration of best research evidence with clinical expertise and patient values† (Sackett, Straus, Richardson, Rosenberg, & Haynes, 2000). Rather than a relationship based on asymmetrical information and authority, in evidence-based practice the relationship is characterized by a sharing of information and of decision-making. The clinician does not decide what is best for the client, but rather the clinician provides the client with up-to-date information about what the best-evidence is regarding the client’s situation, what options are available, and likely outcomes. With this information communicated in culturally and linguistically appropriate ways clients are supported to make decisions for themselves whenever and to the extent possible. According to Burns and Grove evidence-based practice is nothing more than a problem-solving approach to the care that we deliver that takes into consideration the best evidence from research studies in combination with clinical expertise and the patient’s preferences and values (Burns & Grove, 2004). Pierce described in â€Å"Evidence-Based Practice in Rehabilitation Nursing† that â€Å"making patient-care decisions with current information and one’s clinical expertise enhances the ability to provide the best practice†. The author added that â€Å"evidence-based practice is a process that begins with knowing what clinical questions to ask, how to find the best evidence, and how to clinically appraise the evidence for validity and applicability to the particular care situation†. Then, the best evidence must be applied by a clinician with expertise in considering the patient’s unique values and needs. As stated by Law& MacDermit, â€Å"evidence for practice is not only about using research evidence, but using it in partnership with excellent clinical reasoning and paying close attention to the client’s stated goals, needs, and values†(Law & MacDermit, 2008). Although the terms best practices and evidence-based practice are often used interchangeably, these terms have different meanings. Evidence-based practice can be a best practice, but a best practice is not necessarily evidence-based; best practices are simply ideas and strategies that work, such as programs, services, or interventions that produce positive client outcomes or reduce costs (Ling, 2000). In order to bring research and knowledge into someone’s practice, it’s necessary to think critically. Becoming a critical thinker is a prerequisite of becoming an evidence-based clinician. But what is critical thinking? Critical thinking involves the application of knowledge and experience to identify patient problems and to direct clinical judgments and actions that result in positive patient outcomes. Critical reflection requires that the thinker examine the underlying assumptions and radically question or doubt the validity of arguments, assertions, and even facts of the case. Critical reflective skills are also essential for clinicians; however, these skills are not sufficient for the clinician who must decide how to act in particular situations and avoid patient injury (Wheatley DN, 1999). Critical reasoning is a process whereby knowledge and experience are applied in considering multiple possibilities to achieve the desired goals (Noll et al, 2001) while considering the patient’s situation (Fowler, 1997). According to Simmons it’s a process where both inductive and deductive cognitive skills are used (Simmons et al, 2003). Each client’s problem is unique, a product of many factors, including the client’s physical health, lifestyle, culture, relationship with family and friends, living environment, and experiences. Thus, a health care professional does not always have a clear picture of the client’s needs when first meeting a client. Because no two clients have identical problems, a clinician is always challenged to observe each client closely, search for and examine ideas and inferences about client problems, consider scientific principles relating to the problems, recognize the problems and develop an approach to client’s care. When clinicians make healthcare decisions for a population or group of clients using research evidence, this can be described as evidence-based healthcare practice. Another prerequisite to becoming an evidence-based clinician is to be a reflective professional. Reflection is an important aspect of critical thinking. As described by Miller & Babcock reflection is â€Å"the process of purposefully thinking back or recalling a situation to discover its purpose or meaning. With reflection, a clinician seeks to understand the relationships between theoretical concepts and real-life situations. The importance of reflecting on what you are doing, as part of the learning process, has been emphasised by many researchers. The concept of reflective practice was introduced by Donald Schon in his book named â€Å"The Reflective Practitioner† edited in 1983, however, the concepts underlying reflective practice are much older. John Dewey was among the first to write about Reflective Practice with his exploration of experience, interaction and reflection (Dewey, 1933). Schon described the concept as a critical process in refining one's artistry or craft in a specific discipline. The author recommended reflective practice as a way for beginners in a discipline to recognize consonance between their own individual practices and those of successful practitioners. He also stated that reflective practice â€Å"involves thoughtfully considering one's own experiences in applying knowledge to practice while being coached by professionals in the discipline† (Schon, 1996). As it was earlier said, there are a few steps toward evidence-based practice and rehabilitation. The first and the most important step in evidence-based practice is to determine a well-designed question that not only affects quality care but is of interest to the rehabilitation clinician and is encountered in practice on a regular basis. A useful ramework for formulating an appropriate clinical question is suggested by Sackett & colleagues. (Sackett, 2000). They proposed that a good clinical question should have at least three and sometimes four components: Patient or Problem; Intervention; Comparison (not mandatory); Outcome of interest. This has been referred to as the PICO (Patient /Problem, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome) or PIO (Patient / Problem, Intervention, Outc ome) approach. The question usually comes from diverse sources. As stated by Pierce, â€Å"the most common source is the rehabilitation practice itself†. Once the question in searching of evidence was formulated, the next and probably the most important step is to find the relevant evidence in the literature that will help in answering the question. It can be difficult to distinguish relevant from irrelevant information and to decide which source contains the most credible information and research data. Using research findings in practice improves care. Research utilization occurs at three levels—instrumental, conceptual, and symbolic: 1. Instrumental utilization is the direct, explicit application of knowledge gained from research to change practice (Gills & Jackson, 2002). 2. Conceptual utilization refers to the use of findings to enhance one’s understanding of a problem or issue in nursing (Gills & Jackson, 2002). 3. Symbolic utilization is the use of evidence to change minds of other people, usually decision makers (Profetto-McGrath, Hesketh, Lang, & Estabrooks, 2003). According to Hameedullah & Khalid, â€Å"all evidence must be appraised in the following areas: validity, importance and applicability to the clinical scenario† (Hameedullah & Khalid, 2008). Performing the previous steps will result in the appearance of a concrete piece of evidence which should be valid and important for the question in consideration. Now is the time to combine the clinical expertise and experience with the evidence generated to improve the outcome of specific client scenarios. It is also important to remember client’s values and circumstances while making such decisions. The evidence regarding both efficacy and risks should be fully discussed with the client in order to allow them to make an informed decision. This approach allows the formation of a decision in consultation with the client in the presence of good evidence and is consistent with the fundamental principle of evidence-based practice i. e. ntegration of good evidence with clinical expertise and patient values (Hameedullah & Khalid, 2008). Whether the intervention was appropriate and resulted in good clinical outcome for a certain group of clients, in a particular clinician’s hands, will only be answered by careful prospective outcome research. As Strauss and Sackett have suggested, we need to ask whether we are formulating answerable qu estions, finding good evidence quickly, effectively appraising the evidence, and integrating clinical expertise and patient’s values with the evidence in a way that leads to a rational, acceptable management strategy (Straus & Sackett, 1998). Although the importance of research-based practice was identified decades ago and has gradually been adopted by rehabilitation professions, there are a number of challenges for clinicians who are attempting to be use research to aid in clinical decision-making. According to Bohannon and Leveau most challenges can be grouped under one of three areas: research methods, clinicians’ skill, and administrative factors (Bohannon & Leveau, 1998). The research procedures of randomly assigning patients to an experimental or control group, using standardized outcomes measures that may not have real-world relevance, and the difficulty of blinding investigators and clients to the research procedures all make research results difficult to be implemented, interpreted and utilized clinically (Ritchie, 2001). Evidence-based practice requires clinicians to read current research literature, understand research methodology, and incorporate best evidence into practice as appropriate. As Sumison noted in one of his studies, it may be difficult to use in client-centered practice. The research literature may be difficult to access and relevant information is often not compiled in one place (Sumison, 1997). Interpreting and implementing research evidence also requires clinical skill, judgement, and experience. Deciding what constitutes evidence that justifies a change in practice can be challenging and the opportunity for bias exists at every stage of the process as Pomeroy observed in one of his articles from 2003 (Pomeroy, 2003). There are many other factors that present challenges to clinicians who are attempting to use evidence to guide their practice. Time constraints are almost universally identified as a primary limiting factor. Schreiber and Stern stated that â€Å"clinicians refer to pressures of today’s health care environment and administrators’ emphasis on productivity as factors that directly inhibit their ability to seek out, gather, read, and integrate cientific information relevant to daily practice† (Schreiber and Stern, 2005). The concept of evidence-based practice is of great importance for rehabilitation and physiotherapy to allow for increased insight for all involved including patients, clinicians, third-party payers, and government and health care organizations, into the clinical decision-making processes. The purpose of promoting this paradigm is optimum quality of care with conservation of professional autonomy.

Friday, August 16, 2019

Donner Case

Order Size for drilling: * The Manual press needs 15 min for set up, in addition to 0. 08 min for every hole. Knowing that the typical circuit board has 500 drilled holes, then run time will be 0. 08*500 = 40 min / board. Therefore, time taken to drill N boards manually will be equal to : 15 + 40(N) * On the other hand the CNC drill needs 240 min for set up, in addition to 0. 004 min for every hole. So run time will be 0. 004*500 = 2 min / board.Then the time taken to drill N boards by CNC drill will be equivalent to : 240 + 2(N) * It is then logic to conclude that we will use CNC drill only in order sizes that will provide timing benefit over manual press. i. e. when 240 + 2N < 15 + 40N which means N 6 * However the shop floor policy dictates that only orders for more than 100 boards be drilled by CNC drill !!!!! Surely this must be changed * This means that they used the CNC drill in only 12 orders of the 60 orders received in September, while actually they should have used it in 3 5 orders ( all orders 6) !!Order Size for Profiling: * Set up time for Punch press is 50 min, while run time is 1 min / board. So Time taken to profile N orders will be 50 + N * While set up time for CNC routers reaches 150 min, in addition to 0. 5 min / board run time. So the time needed to complete profiling of N boards equals 150 + 0. 5(N) * Thus CNC reuters will produce time benefit if used only in orders more than 200 boards Capacity of Dry Film Photo Resist area: * Assuming order size equals 8 boards Then the panel preparation will take 5 + 0. = 5. 2 min Lamination & Exposure will take 20 + 2 = 22 min Development will take 20 + 0. 2 = 20. 2 min * This means that Lamination and exposure are the bottle neck of the process, and the cycle time for this step will be 22 min / panel. Which means that the capacity will be 2. 7 panels / hour * If we increased order size to 2 panels (16 boards) Panel preparation will take 5 + 0. 4 = 5. 4 min Lamination & Exposure will take 20 + 4 = 24 m in Development will take 20 + 0. 4 = 20. 4 min Lamination & exposure are still the bottle neck of the process, but the cycle time drops to 12 min / panel raising the capacity to 5 panels / hour.. Labor time for different order sizes: * Assuming four orders with one, eight, hundred and thousand boards each Operation| Setup| Run| One Board Order| Eight Board Order| Hundred Board Order| Thousand Boards order| PREPARATION| Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Artwork Generation| 29| 0| 29| 29| 29| 29| Inspect & Shear| 20| 0. 5| 20. 5| 20. 5| 26. 5| 82. 5| Punch Tooling Holes| 10| 0. 5| 10. 5| 10. 5| 16. 5| 72. | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | IMAGE TRANSFER| Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Drill| Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Manual| 15| 0. 08| 55| Â  | Â  | Â  | CNC Drille| 240| 0. 004| Â  | 256| 440| 2240| Metallization| 10| 0. 75| 10. 75| 10. 75| 19. 75| 103. 75| Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Dry Film Photoresi st| Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | 1. Panel| 5| 0. 2| 5. 2| 5. 2| 7. 6| 30| 2. Laminate & Expose| 20| 2| 22| 22| 46| 270| 3. Develop| 20| 0. 2| 20. 2| 20. 2| 22. 6| 45| Electroplate| 25| 8. 5| 33. 5| 33. 5| 135. 5| 1087. 5| Strip DFPR| 5| 0. 2| 5. 2| 5. 2| 7. 6| 30| Etch & Tin Strip| 10| 0. | 10. 2| 10. 2| 12. 6| 35| Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | FABRICATION | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Soldermask| 45| 1. 5| 46. 5| 46. 5| 64. 5| 232. 5| Solder Dip| 30| 0. 5| 30. 5| 30. 5| 36. 5| 92. 5| | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Profile| Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Punch Press| 50| 1| 51| 58| 150| Â  | CNC Router| 150| 0. 5| | | | 650| Inspect, Test, Pack| 45| 1. 5| 46. 5| 57| 145| 1545| | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | Total Labor Time| Â  | Â  | 397| 615| 1160| 6545| * Total Labor time is 397 minutes, 615 minutes, 1160 minutes, and 6545 minutes. * Large orders will best utilize the operationLabor distributio n for the operation considering minimum 8 boards per order: * One technician is assigned to inspection & shear, and Punch Tooling Holes Operation Time = 31 minutes * One technician is assigned to CNC drill, and MetallizationOperation Time = 27 minutes * One technician is assigned to panel prep, Develop, and Strip DFPROperation Time = 31 minutes * One technician is assigned to Laminate & Expose, and Etch & Tin StripOperation Time = 31 minutes * One technician is assigned to ElectroplatingOperation Time = 33. minutes * Two technicians are assigned to SoldermaskeOperation Time = 23 minutes * One technician is assigned to SolderdipOperation Time = 30. 5 minutes * Two technicians are assigned to Punch pressOperation Time = 25. 5 minutes * Two technicians are assigned to Inspect, test, packOperation Time = 24 minutes * Artwork generation, CNC drill diskettes, and CNC router diskettes are done with non productive stuff as soon as the order is issued and prior to the actual work start.Throu ghput rate for manufacturing process is equal to the largest operation time for processes = 34 min to produce a patch of eight boards Max idle time per technician is 10 minutes per patch Reduce lead time for order delivery: * Provide an initial inventory to reduce raw material delivery time * Provide a fixed schedule for operation to minimize bottlenecks and work piling * Assign experienced technicians for emergency rush orders, small sized orders, and return boards to perform work off the main production line. Introduce a job action sheet moving with every panel to check mark every finished process to eliminate any returned work due to unperformed processes. * For any stoppage order a complete reschedule for the complete order is mandatory * Create a WIP and schedule sheet visual for the president and sales department to consider while planning for a bid *

Patient Risk Essay

This example of a reflective essay is presented in association with Price, B and Harrington, A (2013) Critical Thinking and Writing for Nursing Students, London, Learning Matters. Readers are introduced to the process of critical and reflective thinking and the translation of these into coursework that will help them to achieve better grades in nursing courses. Stewart, Raymet, Fatima and Gina are four students who share their learning journey throughout the chapters of the book. In this essay on the assessment of pain, Raymet demonstrates her reflective writing skills near the end of her course. Raymet had by this stage written several reflective practice essays and gained good marks. This time though she was encouraged to deepen her reflections, speculating selectively on how the account of pain experienced by a patient (Mrs Drew) might help her to work more creatively with patient perceptions and reported needs. N.B. Remember, copying essays such as this, submitting them as a whole or in part for assessment purposes, without attributing the source of the material, may leave you open to the charge of plagiarism. Significant sanctions may follow for nurses who do this, including referral to the Nursing and Midwifery Council. Assessing Mrs Drew’s Pain Mc Caffery and Pasero (1999) state that pain is what the patient says it is. If we accept that point, then nurses need to explore the patient’s perceptions of pain, as well as their report of experiences. The two are not quite the same. Patients may report their pain in a variety of ways, dependent on the nature and the intensity of pain and the context in which it is felt (e.g. whether they are ever distracted from the pain). Their perception of pain is a little more though and it includes the meaning that the pain has for them. It includes explanation of why the pain is there in the first place, what it indicates about their body and what it could  suggest might happen in the future (getting better, getting worse). The nurse assesses the account of pain shared by the patient, and this may be given in the form of a story. This is how it began, this is how it felt, this is what that meant to me and this is what I did about it (Mishler et al. 2006) In this essay I explore the assessment of pain as conducted with one 60 year old patient whom I will call Mrs Drew. Whilst the essay describes an assessment of pain with a single patient, I try to share too some ideas and questions that this provokes within me about pain assessment more generally. Mrs Drew made me think about other patients, future assessments and what I had to do as a nurse to help patients. To help structure this essay I use the framework described by Gibbs (1988). Whilst the episode concerned relates a stage in Mrs Drew’s illness when she challenged her treatment protocol, it also includes some of the memories and thoughts that this patient refers to regarding her earlier illness and past ways of coping with pain. In particular, it prompted me to question to what extent I as a nurse should recommend analgesia, drawing on what I had been taught about the effective control of pain. I had learned that it was better to control rather than to chase pain ( e.g. Mann and Carr, 2006; Forbes, 2007). Mrs Drew was diagnosed with lung cancer a year earlier and had initially had her illness treated by chemotherapy. This had helped her to achieve a remission that lasted for nearly ten months (Hunt et al, 2009 describe the prognosis of this disease). The cancer had returned though and spread to her spine and it was here that she experienced most of her pain.It was at this stage that the doctors explained that her care would now be directed towards her comfort rather than a cure—to which she had replied, ‘you mean palliative care’. Mrs Drew was supported at home by her husband Neil and visited on a regular basis by community based nurses to whom I was attached as part of my student nurse training. She was prescribed oral morphine and could decide within stated limits how many tablets she could take in any one 24 hour period. The situation I had visited Mrs Drew on several occasions over the period of a month when the community nurse and I were confronted by a tearful patient who announced that she did not wish to take the oral opiates quite as often as we were recommending. As she spoke she held her husband’s hand tightly, looking across to him as she described her experiences and feelings about the matter. Yes, there had been some bad nights when the pain had woken her and she had to sit up and watch television to try and distract herself. Yes, sometimes the pain made her feel nauseous, but she was alarmed at how frequently she was taking the ‘pain tablets’ and how this made her feel about herself. However well meant the medication was, it didn’t feel dignified to be so reliant on drugs, or quite so sleepy and unresponsive for such a high percentage of the day. Whilst the analgesia was working well when she took the tablets, the quality of life wasn’t what she wanted. The community nurse listened patiently to Mrs Drew and then explained that it was normal to have panic moments about such medication. Morphine had a reputation, one that people associated with misuse of drugs, rather than their therapeutic use. Used on a regular basis, the drug wouldn’t cause addiction and it would provide a great deal of reassurance to Mr Drew as well. The community nurse stated that she was quite sure that he respected his wife’s need to sleep when she wished and to build the rhythm of the day around her needs. At this point Mrs Drew shook her husband’s hand, and said, ‘tell her†¦tell her what we’ve talked about!’ Mr Drew then explained that his wife was used to dealing with pain, she had suffered recurrent pain in her neck and shoulder after a road traffic accident some years before. The pain had sometimes been severe, but he had massaged her shoulders and used heat packs that she found soothing. They had decided that they wished to use this technique now, keeping the morphine for absolute emergencies, when she was losing sleep and couldn’t eat as a result of the discomfort. The community nurse assured them that they were in charge of the analgesia and would be allowed to make their own decisions. She started to make notes though, and announced that she was making a referral to the cancer pain clinic, something that would help them to take stock of the situation. There was very good reason to suppose that this might be a problem associated with choosing the right dosage of the  morphine, rather than using supplemental pain relief measures. Mrs Drew responded sharply, ‘You’re not listening to me though Jane (the community nurse’s name—a pseudonym is used here), I want to use heat packs instead of morphine, at least during the day. I want to be more alive with my husband.’ The community nurse assured Mrs Drew that she had heard what she had said and respected her point of view. There would though be nothing lost by using the clinic to gain a further check on this matter. With that she excused us, explaining that we had a further appointment that morning and we left, having checked that Mrs Drew had a sufficient supply of her different medicines. As we walked to the car the community nurse empathised with Mrs Drew’s plight, saying that if she had lung cancer she would probably grasp at straws too. She would reach out for things that seemed more normal, and then observed, ‘but this isn’t normal is it, the pain she has isn’t normal. It’s not just a whip lash injury and old age.’ Feelings I remember that during this episode feeling a mixture of confusion, surprise, anger and impotence. Mrs Drew had surprised me by the way she had spoken, using what seemed to be a planned announcement. They had waited for and perhaps rehearsed this moment. Nothing in my experience to date had prepared me for such an encounter, at least in such circumstances, where we as nurses were so obviously working to support the patient. It was only later that I called the episode a confrontation. Mr and Mrs Drew had confronted the community nurse and I had been the largely silent witness to the event. As the discussion proceeded I remember making supportive noises, remarking how useful heat packs sometimes were and glancing across at Jane, who seemed to be signalling with her expression that I should leave this debate to her. I was trying to read her reactions to the Drew’s points and concluded that if I couldn’t support her arguments to the patient, then I should remain silent. The re were issues here that I perhaps hadn’t enough experience to deal with, at least, whilst ‘thinking on my feet’. My initial anger (with Mrs Drew for not acknowledging all that we were trying to do) quickly became displaced towards my colleague Jane. During the event I couldn’t explain why that was, but afterwards, when I made notes, I realised that it was because she seemed to have set the agenda in her own mind and to be requiring the patient to comply with concerns of her own. Put rather crudely, Jane seemed to be saying, listen I know about these things, this is a phase, an anxiety; you can work through all this. I believed at this point that she had missed the significance of the event, the way in which the Drew’s had arranged the conversation. For them, this was not a phase at all, but a considered and very important decision, one that they wanted the nurses to accept (Freshwater, 2002 and Edwards and Elwyn, 2009 emphasize the importance of negotiated care planning). My feelings of impotence were associated strongly with my lack of clinical experience. I have met this before. No matter how many placements I do, no matter how good the mentoring I receive, I keep meeting situations where I am unsure about how to respond next. I feel younger, less knowledgeable than I should be at this stage in my training. I want to reassure patients, to support colleagues and to give good advice, but there is not enough confidence to do that. If I felt unsettled and uncertain about Jane’s response to the Drew’s, right then I couldn’t easily explain that. I couldn’t offer a second opinion, couldn’t suggest an idea that might help support the patient. To my annoyance I couldn’t manage that either as we left the house. Jane had made some fair points, she  clearly seemed concerned about the patient’s needs, but perhaps she hadn’t spotted the right need—for Mrs Drew to determine in greater part how she de alt with her illness. Experience evaluated Afterwards, this short episode prompted doubts and debates about several important aspects of nursing for me. Setting aside the etiquette of learning in clinical practice, not challenging a qualified nurse in front of a  patient, there were problems here associated with supporting patient dignity, with my assumptions relating to analgesia and pain control strategies, and I realised, with my assumptions about types of pain and who had the expertise to define these. Dignity is more than simply using the appropriate terms of address, protecting the privacy of patients and attending to their expressed concerns (Price, 2004). It is about clarifying the ways in which they live and accommodate illness or treatment. It is about finding out what benchmarks they use to say that ‘yes, I am doing well here, this makes me feel good about myself’. Upon reflection, I sense that we on this occasion had not worked hard enough to discover how Mr and Mrs Drew define quality of life, or being in charge of their situation. We were more concerned with providing resources, sharing research or theory about medication and questioning the familiar misconceptions associated with morphine. To put it simply, we were ‘missing a trick’, reading the encounter as something that had happened many times before—the report of problems or anxieties, a request for help, rather than a decision that the patient and her carer had already come to. Reading situations well seemed, with the benefit of hindsight, to be the first basis for dignified care. ‘What is happening here, what will help the patient most?’ were questions that we perhaps assumed that we already knew the answer to. I realised that in my training I had already accepted the argument that patients would wish to remain pain free come what may and that the tackling of fears about prospective pain, was something that nurses engaged in. I assumed that because cancer pain represented such a major threat, because it was greater and more all encompassing, that there was little or no doubt that it should be removed. What was so unsettling, and took so much time to examine, was that Mrs Drew acknowledged the possible severity of metastatic cancer pain, but that she still preferred to respond to it using measures that had worked for her whiplash neck injury. Mrs Drew was willing to trade off a pain free state for something that gave her a greater sense of control and which perhaps enabled her husband to express his support for her in a very tangible way (preparing heat packs, massaging her back, rather than simply giving her the tablets). Mr and Mrs Drew questioned all my assumptions about best analgesia pr actice, and seemed to write a large  question mark on the textbooks I had read about chasing rather than controlling pain in palliative care situations (Mann and Carr, 2006). Reflections (learning opportunities) The episode with Mrs Drew left me uncomfortable because my past approach to pain management was theoretical. I (and I believe Jane too) regularly made use of science to decide what could be done as regards pain relief and to assume that patients would wish to achieve all of those benefits. This wasn’t about local applications of heat versus morphine, Mrs Drew could use both, it was about choice and how patients made choices—why they reached the decisions that they did. It was for me, about accepting very personally, that providing that patients are given all the relevant facts, alerted to the options, that they really are able to make choices that work for them. The very fact that Mrs Drew’s illness was now incurable, that she and her husband usually tackled pain together, meant that her solution to the challenge was different to those that many other patients arrived at. Having dealt with this pain for some time, knowing that it could and probably would get wors e, meant that she was better equipped than other less experienced patients to make a decision here. This took nothing away from the benefits of sharing further discussion with pain clinic experts. I thought, Mrs Drew will stand her ground, she will insist on doing things her way if her husband is strong too. What it did highlight though was the importance of listening to patients, hearing how they perceive pain, how they narrate not only the pain but what they did about it. In this instance the narration was all about dignity, and coping, and finding ways to help one another and how this enables us to feel in the face of such a terrible illness. So, in telling us about her pain, what she did about it, using morphine when it was ‘absolutely required’, Mrs Drew was not reporting her ignorance of what could be achieved if the medication was used differently, but what she preferred to do as it enabled her to achieve different goals. Mrs Drew’s goals were about liveliness, alertness and stoicism, showing that she could bear at least a measure of pain. I wondered why I hadn’t listened carefully enough to such a story? Was it because of time pressure, or perhaps complacency, that Jane and I felt that we already knew what account would be  shared? Did we think that the patient would ask for help, more help, as the pain continued? If so, then our guesses had prompted us to behave as experts, and problem solvers, on the patient’s behalf. Perhaps hearing a patient narrative is about discovering what sort of role they would like you to fulfil. If so, then it might be a difficult role. I thought hard about how hard this was for Jane. She was going to be asked to witness Mrs Drew’s future pain, one that was now less perfectly controlled. She was going to be asked to reassure, to suggest measures that might help, without reminding the patient that she ‘already knew that you couldn’t manage pain that way!’ When I think about it now, that is very stressful for a nurse. It is about caring and allowing patient’s to make choices that we personally might not make. Conclusions I have drawn then three conclusions from the above reflection. First, that being patient centred is never easy and requires real listening and interpretation skills. My criticism of what Jane chose to do, to try and dissuade Mrs Drew from a course of action, recommending further appraisal of the situation, is an easy one to make. Nurses confront situations such as this relatively unprepared and react as considerately as possible. It is easy in hindsight to recommend other responses, a further exploration of what motivated Mrs Drew’s pain management preferences. Second, that experience can be a valuable teacher, the equal of textbooks. If nurses are interested in care, then we should be concerned with the sense that patients make of their own illness, the treatment or support that they receive. We need to understand what patients have to teach us and have to acknowledge that this means that we won’t always seem in control ourselves, expert and knowledgeable. Our expertise might be elsewhere, helping patients to reach their own decisions. Third, that one way to understand patient perspectives on illness or treatment, on pain management in this example, is to hear how they talk  about the situation. How do they describe the pain, how do they refer to what they did about it? The way in which the story is shared, how we coped, how this made us feel, is as important as the facts related. Sometimes a patient needs to feel stalwart, even heroic in the face of illness. Future care It would be foolish and unprofessional to recommend to other patients that they might not wish to remove pain, or that overcoming pain doesn’t always mean we don’t continue to experience it. For every Mrs Drew there may be many other patients who would welcome the complete removal of pain, so that they can die calmly, quietly, with their own version of dignity. But it does seem to me, that it will be worth thinking about the diversity of patients and how they prefer to cope when I assess pain and help manage this problem in the future. I won’t be able to walk away from the responsibility of debating whether I have explained all that I could, detailed the strengths and limitations of different ways of coping. I will need to find reflection time to ponder what patients have said and if necessary to go back and say, ‘I’ve been thinking some more about your words last week..’ knowing that this doesn’t make me any the less professional. References Edwards, A and Elwyn, G (2009) Shared decision-making in health care: achieving evidencebased patient choice, 2nd ed. Oxford, Oxford University Press Forbes, K (2007) Opiods in cancer pain, Oxford, Oxford University Press Freshwater, D (2002) Therapeutic nursing: improving patient care through self awareness, London, Sage. Gibbs G (1988) Learning by doing: a guide to teaching and learning methods, Oxford, Oxford Polytechnic Further Education unit Hunt, I., Muers, M and Treasure, T (2009) ABC of lung cancer, Oxford, Wiley-Blackwell/BMJ Books Mann, E and Carr, E (2006) Pain management, Oxford, Blackwell McCaffery, M and Pasero, C (1999) Pain: Clinical manual, Mosby, Philadelphia Mishler, E., Rapport, F and Wainwright, P (2006) The self in health and illness: patients, professionals and narrative identity, Oxford, Radcliffe Publishing Ltd Price, B (2004) Demonstrating respect for patient dignity, Nursing Standard, 19(12), 45-51