In a contemporary context dominated by reports of the historical institutional abuse of children and young people in residential children's homes, and where the voice of workers is largely absent, this study explores the views and experiences of 26 workers in the Republic of Ireland regarding relationship‐based practice. Using an exploratory, qualitative approach and informed by ‘appreciative inquiry’; semi‐structured interviews were undertaken with 26 residential care workers. The findings highlight that relationship‐based practice has not been fully understood and/or embraced in practice because of a culture of fear that has permeated the Irish residential childcare system. Using theoretical concepts associated with the sociology of fear, the paper explores their effects on practice and argues that these are amplified given the current low status of residential care workers, the impact of media reports and the influence of current discourses around professional practice in which ‘objective’ and ‘emotionally detached’ practice is viewed as synonymous with efficiency and effectiveness. The paper ends by considering implications for professional practice in residential childcare settings.
Hospitalization represents an ideal time to address tobacco cessation. For a variety of reasons, current users do not always receive appropriate support or treatment during the hospitalization. An improvement team was created to improve the care for the hospitalized tobacco user. The team's aim was to develop a standardized process to increase the assessment, documentation, and delivery of cessation counseling, and increase community referrals upon discharge. After implementation of the project, percentages of hospitalized patients who had their tobacco use status documented in the electronic medical record increased to 80-90%. The percentage of patients admitted with heart failure or pneumonia had their rates of tobacco cessation counseling improved to 82-96%. The care of the hospitalized tobacco user can be improved and sustained by utilizing community resources and creating a team of motivated care providers. This improvement work stimulated the creation of a smoke-free institution and other preventive health measures throughout the institution.
The COMPASS software was designed to facilitate the use of MARSSIM and guide the user into making informed decisions in designing final status radiological surveys. COMPASS also simplifies the application of the statistical tests by performing the statistical calculations and providing prospective power curves that help in determining what level of confidence the user is willing to accept for a particular number of measurements or samples for a survey unit. After performing the final status survey, COMPASS assesses the data for comparison to the release criteria. The purpose of this article is to provide the COMPASS user with an overview of the features of the software and to demonstrate how COMPASS implements the MARSSIM guidance.
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