The aim of this study was to help develop support services for carers of people with dementia on admission to a district general hospital. Qualitative methodology was used in the form of individual semistructured interviews. These interviews suggest that service developments need to take into account the individual need of each carer. Identified themes included communication, vulnerability of the carers and the need to develop a therapeutic relationship with the carer as well as the person with dementia. Recommendations for change include a letter introducing the dementia specialist nurse to be given to carers, a poster in wards across the trust to support the letter; and workshops on dementia care for staff with emphasis on the need to work in partnership with informal carers.

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractThe learning organization may be the key to future success for organizations. There is no blueprint for success, but companies need to recognize and utilize the experience and expertise of their employees. In return, they must provide appropriate rewards and generate an environment of mutual trust and openness. A significant factor in this is the sharing of information. Attempts to assess learning organization characteristics in an engineering company using a specially developed questionnaire. Presents findings using eight conceptual groups. The company could not claim to have become a learning organization, though it had moved in this direction. Empowerment and employees' self-development were the areas where the company had developed most. Progress appeared to have been impeded by lack of change in other departments and by failure to share information throughout the company. This, in turn, had precluded the growth of trust between management and other employees.

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It is often suggested that learning is one of the keys to sustained competitive advantage. However, resource constraints within smaller rms may mean that they sometimes fail to maximize the potential of learning. This article describes the development of a collaborative model of small rm learning and its implementation in a number of organizations in the south west of the UK. The stake-holders in the model were client rms, learning advisors, and a university business school. The model took as its starting point a diagnosis of learning needs at the individual and organizational levels. The subsequent Learning Programme varied enormously between participating rms (re ective of their differing needs) and included activities which were firm-specific alongside a number of generic interventions at the organizational level intended to develop team learning and experimentation. The principal aim of the programme was to address a manageable number of high-priority learning issues. As well as describing the model ' s development and implementation, the paper reports the results of a qualitative evaluation and concludes by suggesting some theoretical elaborations to models of workplace learning.

It is helpful to allow patients control over timing and frequency of contact with professionals. Improving understanding of the condition in the public and health professionals may enable patients to access a greater range of social activities.

Travel commitments for trainees have reduced as a result of introducing the web-based resource, but not as expected. Demands on academic staff have not reduced but have changed. The resource has had positive effects on postgraduate orthodontic teaching and learning. Important themes of interest emerging from the data are improvements in the flexibility and efficiency of learning and the value of the resource as a repository of information and in the organization of teaching and learning. Despite the popularity of this web based learning resource, trainees continue to value the opportunity to interact face to face with their teachers and peers and are prepared to travel for organized teaching sessions.

Describes a study in two large engineering companies attempting to implement a learning orientation and presents a new sector‐specific model of a learning orientation, based on these findings. Research was conducted through interviews with managers and employees and questionnaires using a specially designed measurement tool. Both companies were found to be most learning orientated in terms of empowerment and organisational structure, and least learning orientated with regard to participation in policy making and environmental links. Interviews with respondents indicated concern at poor communications and a lack of trust in both organisations; appearing to constitute a barrier to learning. Effective information‐sharing appeared to constitute a critical factor in the success or otherwise of learning programmes and there were links with trust and employee morale. The study highlighted a need for greater evaluation of learning in organisations and a more holistic approach to the implementation of learning initiatives.

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