Centre for Health Service Development - CHSD

Proposals for Strategic Development of Engineering Management Education aimed at Improving Business Outcomes

Peter W. Childs — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:26:00 PST

This paper points to perceived deficiencies in teaching management knowledge and skills to engineers. There has been a largely ad-hoc approach to the inclusion of management in engineering degrees that was not based on objective research. There is anecdotal evidence that employers and professional institutions are dissatisfied with the management abilities of new graduates and that this may be adversely affecting the strategic competitiveness of engineering organisations. A literature review of teaching management to engineers is presented and research is proposed that will objectively evaluate the effectiveness of current engineering management education teaching strategies with a view to recommending more effective methods for the future.

Strategic Supply Chain Management in a Global Environment

Peter R. Gibson — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:25:59 PST

Strategic Positioning of a Small to Medium-sized Enterprise using Groupware

Peter R. Gibson — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:25:58 PST

This paper discusses the strategic importance of Groupware to Small to Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) and describes an application. The importance of technology applications that actually generate strategic advantage is discussed. Many advantages of Groupware in SMEs are highlighted. These include improved communication links, diffusion of knowledge and enhanced management of projects. Limitations are also discussed. The paper concludes that the main problem with the development of strategic advantage is concerned with the exploitation of knowledge generated from improved value creation by human capital. The challenge is to develop unique expertise in value creation that cannot easily be emulated by competitors rather than implementation of technology alone.

Computer Supported Cooperative Work in Engineering Education

Peter R. Gibson — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:25:56 PST

Intranet-Based Document Managament System

Peter R. Gibson — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:25:55 PST

Supply Chain Integrated Logistical Processes: Achieving the Key Logistical Process Linkages Required to Deliver Optimal Supply Chain Performance

Peter Wayne Robertson — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:25:53 PST

As the globalisation of industries continues and as supply chains consolidate and start competing as entire chains rather than as individual entities, so will the requirement to manage the supply chain in an integrated endto- end way, intensify. In undertaking the application of Supply Chain Management concepts, companies are endeavouring to improve their business’s performance. Specifically they are trying to improve their customer service offer and the delivery of that offer. They are trying to reduce costs and improve their working capital, asset utilisation and intra-supply-chain generated feed usage. This paper describes the progress that BHP Steel has made in understanding the logistical processes that are used to manage its supply chains and importantly, to identify and understand all of the feed-forward and feedback linkages that are necessary to enable that supply chain management to be most effective. Ideas for further work are also presented.

Future Challenges in Management Education for Engineers and Technologists

Peter R. Gibson — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:25:51 PST

Meaningless Management Diagrams

Peter R. Gibson — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:25:50 PST

Suturing as an advanced skill for Registered Nurses in the emergency department

Rebekkah Middleton — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:39:46 PST

Objective: Many patients present to emergency departments (EDs) for wounds that require repair by suturing. This study looked at ascertaining the efficacy of Advanced Clinical Nurses’ (ACN) suturing dermal lacerations in tertiary, regional and rural ED settings. Design: Convenience sample; prospective questionnaire. Setting: Three mixed adult and paediatric EDs. These departments were tertiary, regional and rural regional EDs. Participants: Eighty patients requiring sutures for dermal lacerations that were repaired by an ACN. Of them 24 were men and seven were women. Mean age was 40.5 years, with a range of 21–58 years. Ten results from rural ED; six from regional ED; 15 from tertiary ED. Main outcome measure(s): Any differences between suturing standards in rural, regional and tertiary EDs; clinical results of suturing performed by ACNs; local medical officers’ satisfaction with wound repair. Results: A total of 31 responses were received. The lacerations were located on the face in 13 patients (42%), the scalp in 10 (32%), an extremity in 2 (6%), and on the trunk in 6 (20%). A total of 196 sutures were required. Local medical officers graded wound repair as ‘good’ in 24 cases (77%) and adequate in seven cases (23%). There were no wound healing complications reported. Conclusions: Nurses who complete a standardised training program in wound management and repair are capable of providing high-quality, definitive care for patients who present to EDs with dermal lacerations. This is true irrespective of whether the Registered Nurse is working in a rural, regional or tertiary ED.

Why patients attend emergency departments for conditions potentially appropriate for primary care: Reasons given by patients and clinicians differ

Malcolm R. Masso — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:39:41 PST

Objectives: To compare reasons identified by clinical staff for potential primary care attendances to the ED with those previously identified by patients. Methods: Survey of staff and primary care patients in five ED in New South Wales, Australia using questionnaire based on reasons identified in published studies. Results: Clinicians in the survey identify a broader spectrum of reasons for potential primary care cases presenting to the ED than the patients themselves report. Doctors reported on average 4.1 very important reasons and nurses 4.8 compared with patients 2.4 very important reasons. The main reasons identified by both doctors and nurses were similar and quite different to those identified by patients. Clinicians were more likely to emphasize cost and access issues rather than acuity and complexity issues. There was no difference within the clinician group between doctors and nurses nor by varying levels of experience. Furthermore doctors with significant experience in both primary care and emergency medicine did not differ from the overall clinicians' pattern. Conclusions: These data confirm that clinician perspectives on reasons for potential primary care patients' use of ED differ quite markedly from the perspectives of patients themselves. Those differences do not necessarily represent a punitive or blaming philosophy but will stem from the very different paradigms from which the two protagonists approach the interactions, reflecting the standard tension in a provider - consumer relationship. If policy is to be developed to improve system use and access, it must take both perspectives into account with respect to redesign, expectations and education.

Primary Care: Where and Why

Kathleen M. Eagar — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:39:35 PST

Influential organisational capabilities for SMEs’ export performance: An exploratory study

Majidah Hassan — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:19:59 PST