Search results
1 – 10 of 21Andrew William Makkink, Christopher Owen Alexander Stein and Stevan Raynier Bruijns
The purpose of this paper is to describe handover in the emergency centre from the perspective of prehospital emergency care providers in Johannesburg, South Africa. Reference to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe handover in the emergency centre from the perspective of prehospital emergency care providers in Johannesburg, South Africa. Reference to emergency centre handover from the prehospital perspective will have particular relevance to all deliverers of emergency centre handover.
Design/methodology/approach
A purposive, cross-sectional design addressed the study aim by using a purpose-designed, validated, paper-based questionnaire to collect data relating to prehospital emergency care personnel's perspectives on emergency centre handover.
Findings
There were 175 completed questionnaires collected from South African prehospital personnel within the Johannesburg area. The response rate was 175/290 or 62%. Training on handover was described as poor. There was a general appreciation of mnemonics and how well they ensured that all relevant information was handed over. However, this was countered by poor familiarity of common mnemonics. Perception of the accuracy of their own and observed prehospital handovers was generally positive. Handover length was generally perceived to be appropriate. The qualification of emergency centre personnel was perceived to impact on how handovers were received.
Research limitations/implications
The study was limited to one geographical area and did not include all potential participants in the study area. The self-reported data collection meant that there was a risk of self-report bias. These factors may have negatively affected the generalisability of the data.
Originality/value
This paper seeks to describe perceptions related to emergency centre handover from the perspective of prehospital emergency care personnel. In doing so, it is postulated that there is the potential to use these findings to improve certain aspects of emergency centre handover.
Details
Keywords
Rhiannon Firth and Andrew Robinson
This paper maps utopian theories of technological change. The focus is on debates surrounding emerging industrial technologies which contribute to making the relationship between…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper maps utopian theories of technological change. The focus is on debates surrounding emerging industrial technologies which contribute to making the relationship between humans and machines more symbiotic and entangled, such as robotics, automation and artificial intelligence. The aim is to provide a map to navigate complex debates on the potential for technology to be used for emancipatory purposes and to plot the grounds for tactical engagements.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper proposes a two-way axis to map theories into to a six-category typology. Axis one contains the parameters humanist–assemblage. Humanists draw on the idea of a human essence of creative labour-power, and treat machines as alienated and exploitative form of this essence. Assemblage theorists draw on posthumanism and poststructuralism, maintaining that humans always exist within assemblages which also contain non-human forces. Axis two contains the parameters utopian/optimist; tactical/processual; and dystopian/pessimist, depending on the construed potential for using new technologies for empowering ends.
Findings
The growing social role of robots portends unknown, and maybe radical, changes, but there is no single human perspective from which this shift is conceived. Approaches cluster in six distinct sets, each with different paradigmatic assumptions.
Practical implications
Mapping the categories is useful pedagogically, and makes other political interventions possible, for example interventions between groups and social movements whose practice-based ontologies differ vastly.
Originality/value
Bringing different approaches into contact and mapping differences in ways which make them more comparable, can help to identify the points of disagreement and the empirical or axiomatic grounds for these. It might facilitate the future identification of criteria to choose among the approaches.
Details
Keywords
Nebil Achour, Efthimia Pantzartzis, Federica Pascale and Andrew D. F. Price
This study aims to explore the challenges associated with the integration of resilience and sustainability, and propose a workable solution that ensures resilient and sustainable…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the challenges associated with the integration of resilience and sustainability, and propose a workable solution that ensures resilient and sustainable buildings. Recent research outcomes suggest that the number of natural hazards, both environmental and geophysical, will increase due to the effect of global warming. Various approaches have been investigated to reduce environmental degradation and to improve the physical resilience to natural hazards. However, most of these approaches are fragmented and when combined with cultural barriers, they often result into less-efficient assessment tools.
Design/methodology/approach
The primary source of information used to develop this paper has been research publications, policy papers, reports and tool guidelines. A set of questions were developed to guide the review which was complemented with information distilled from the HFA 2005-2015 to develop an integration process to evaluate 10 international sustainability appraisal tools.
Findings
The major finding of this research is that, from a technical point of view, resilience and sustainability could be integrated. However, it requires a long and thorough process with a multidisciplinary stakeholder team including technical, strategic, social and political parties. A combination of incentives and policies would support this process and help people work towards the integration. The Japanese model demonstrates a successful case in engaging stakeholders in the process which led to the development of a comprehensive appraisal tool, CASBEE®, where resilience and sustainability are integrated.
Practical implications
Although data have been sought through literature review (i.e. secondary data), the research is expected to have significant impact, as it provides a clear theoretical foundation and methods for those wishing to integrate resilience within current sustainability appraisal tools or develop new tools.
Social implications
This paper provides original concepts that are required to reduce fragmentation in the way resilience and sustainability are addressed. It sets up a new research agenda which has the potential to have a strong impact due the fact that sustainability and resilience are getting higher on the political priority scale.
Originality/value
This paper provides findings of an original idea to reduce fragmentation in the way resilience and sustainability are addressed. It sets up a new research agenda which has the potential to have a strong impact due the fact that sustainability and resilience are getting higher on the political priority scale.
Details
Keywords
Tinna Dögg Sigurdardóttir, Adrian West and Gisli Hannes Gudjonsson
This study aims to examine the scope and contribution of Forensic Clinical Psychology (FCP) advice from the National Crime Agency (NCA) to criminal investigations in the UK to…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the scope and contribution of Forensic Clinical Psychology (FCP) advice from the National Crime Agency (NCA) to criminal investigations in the UK to address the gap in current knowledge and research.
Design/methodology/approach
The 36 FCP reports reviewed were written between 2017 and 2021. They were analysed using Toulmin’s (1958) application of pertinent arguments to the evaluation process. The potential utility of the reports was analysed in terms of the advice provided.
Findings
Most of the reports involved murder and equivocal death. The reports focused primarily on understanding the offender’s psychopathology, actions, motivation and risk to self and others using a practitioner model of case study methodology. Out of the 539 claims, grounds were provided for 99% of the claims, 91% had designated modality, 62% of the claims were potentially verifiable and 57% of the claims were supported by a warrant and/or backing. Most of the reports provided either moderate or high insight into the offence/offender (92%) and potential for new leads (64%).
Practical implications
The advice provided relied heavily on extensive forensic clinical and investigative experience of offenders, guided by theory and research and was often performed under considerable time pressure. Flexibility, impartiality, rigour and resilience are essential prerequisites for this type of work.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to systematically evaluate forensic clinical psychology reports from the NCA. It shows the pragmatic, dynamic and varied nature of FCP contributions to investigations and its potential utility.
Details
Keywords
Marianne Ylilehto, Hanna Komulainen and Pauliina Ulkuniemi
The purpose of this study is to explore the customer shopping experience in the innovative technology setting. Specifically, the purpose is to understand how do innovative…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the customer shopping experience in the innovative technology setting. Specifically, the purpose is to understand how do innovative technologies influence the customer shopping experience?
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative, explorative study has characteristics of a phenomenological research strategy. The data were collected from four focus groups and ten in-depth interviews with consumers. Abductive approach with an implementation of content analysis was used as a method of analysis.
Findings
The results show that there are three critical factors in customer's shopping experience in the context of innovative technologies; (1) channel choice, (2) value dimensions related to convenience and enjoyment, and (3) social interaction. All factors are highly intertwined and influence each other.
Originality/value
This study contributes to customer experience literature by offering a framework for understanding customer shopping experiences in the innovative technology setting. These findings have important implications for retail managers seeking to enhance customer experience and achieve a competitive advantage by utilizing innovative technology.
Details
Keywords
Andrew Chunkil Park, Leigh Goodrich, Bobak Hedayati, Ralph Albert, Kyle Dornhofer and Erin Danielle Knox
The purpose of this paper is to illustrate delirium as a possible consequence of the application of symptom-triggered therapy for alcohol withdrawal and to explore alternative…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to illustrate delirium as a possible consequence of the application of symptom-triggered therapy for alcohol withdrawal and to explore alternative treatment modalities. In the management of alcohol withdrawal syndrome, symptom-triggered therapy directs nursing staff to regularly assess patients using standardized instruments, such as the Clinical Institute for Withdrawal Assessment of Alcohol, Revised (CIWA-Ar), and administer benzodiazepines at symptom severity thresholds. Symptom-triggered therapy has been shown to lower total benzodiazepine dosage and treatment duration relative to fixed dosage tapers (Daeppen et al., 2002). However, CIWA-Ar has important limitations. Because of its reliance on patient reporting, it is inappropriate for nonverbal patients, non-English speakers (in the absence of readily available translators) and patients in confusional states including delirium and psychosis. Importantly, it also relies on the appropriate selection of patients and considering alternate etiologies for signs and symptoms also associated with alcohol withdrawal.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors report a case of a 47-year-old male admitted for cardiac arrest because of benzodiazepine and alcohol overdose who developed worsening delirium on CIWA-Ar protocol.
Findings
While symptom-triggered therapy through instruments such as the CIWA-Ar protocol has shown to lower total benzodiazepine dosage and treatment duration in patients in alcohol withdrawal, over-reliance on such tools may also lead providers to overlook other causes of delirium.
Originality/value
This case illustrates the necessity for providers to consider using other available assessment and treatment options including objective alcohol withdrawal scales, fixed benzodiazepine dosage tapers and even antiepileptic medications in select patients.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of graduate recruitment in the professional socialisation and subjectification of Big Four professionals.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of graduate recruitment in the professional socialisation and subjectification of Big Four professionals.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on documentary data and interviews conducted at one British university. It adopts an interpretive perspective and is informed by Foucault’s work on technologies of power and technologies of the self.
Findings
The paper argues that the graduate recruitment practices of Big Four firms represent a series of examinations which produce the category of ideal recruits. It moreover suggests that this category serves as the ultimate objective of an ethical process whereby aspiring accountants consciously and deliberately seek to transform themselves into the type of subjects they aspire to be – ideal recruits.
Research limitations/implications
The findings of the paper are primarily based on interviews conducted at one university. Future research could explore if students at other universities experience graduate recruitment in similar or different ways.
Originality/value
The paper highlights the constitutive role of graduate recruitment practices and shows that they can construct ideal recruits as much as they select them. It also shows that graduate recruitment is an important anticipatory socialisation mechanism that can compel aspiring accountants to learn how to look, sound and behave like Big Four professionals long before they join such organisations. Finally, the paper discusses its implications for the future of the profession, social mobility and the use of Foucault’s work on technologies of power and the self in studying subjectivity at elite professional service firms.
Details
Keywords
Giulia Leoni, Alessandro Lai, Riccardo Stacchezzini, Ileana Steccolini, Stephen Brammer, Martina Linnenluecke and Istemi Demirag
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the themes emerging from the first studies exploring accounting, accountability and management practices during the COVID-19 pandemic and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the themes emerging from the first studies exploring accounting, accountability and management practices during the COVID-19 pandemic and coming from a diversity of experiences, across countries, organizations and individuals. In so doing, the paper gives an overview of the most recent findings about the role of accounting and accountability in times of crisis that are hosted in this special issue of Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal (AAAJ).
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws together and identifies emerging themes related to the current COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on accounting, accountability and management practices and considers how the studies in this issue extend one’s knowledge of accounting and contribute to accounting research.
Findings
Three emerging themes are drawn and their contribution to accounting scholarship is discussed. The first theme deals with the role of accounting and numbers in supporting governmental responses to COVID-19. The second theme considers accounting practices used to make exceptional decisions at the organizational level in times of crisis. The third theme addresses a relevant frontier of research into accounting and inequalities.
Practical implications
In considering the diverse contributions of this special issue, the paper points out how uncertainty and change can impact the design, use and understanding of accounting, management and accountability practices and can be accepted by scholars and practitioners as part of such practices.
Originality/value
This paper provides a timely and comprehensive picture of the first reflections and research findings on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on one’s interpretation of accounting, accountability and management practices.
Details
Keywords
Jim Haslam, Jiao Ji and Hanwen Sun
The purpose of this paper is to summarise and reflect upon key issues at the interface of prices, information and regulation with a focus upon the stock market in context…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to summarise and reflect upon key issues at the interface of prices, information and regulation with a focus upon the stock market in context. Reflecting upon academic research in the area of efficient markets, and regulatory policy, the concern is to discern issues in terms of policy and support for policy. What does the research imply for policy? Is it possible that the research, perhaps given its rhetoric, can be misinterpreted in relation to policy? The study is also concerned to develop avenues for future research based on these considerations.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is an analytical and critical review and writing.
Findings
The reading of the research suggests a pragmatic regulatory policy that should be concerned to improve stock market functioning, including with respect to information, as well as the context of which this is part. At the same time, the literature may be read as promoting anti-regulatory policy.
Practical implications
On the one hand, these are consistent with the pragmatic policy referred to above. On the other hand, further research is suggested to explore substantively the rhetoric of the research and its interpretation and to explore understandings of the research and its implications amongst key constituencies in practice.
Originality/value
The concern is to bring key insights from the academic literature together with a view to promoting a pragmatic policy orientation, while cautioning in a critical perspective about how this academic literature and research might be interpreted from a policy perspective.
Details