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Resource Issues (resource + issues)
Kinds of Resource Issues Selected AbstractsThe Assessment of Land Resources: Achievements and New ChallengesGEOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH, Issue 2 2002Donald A. Davidson It is surprising that despite all the pleas and policies regarding the development of sustainable land use systems, there is still considerable ignorance regarding the nature and significance of land resources. This paper traces the development and achievements of land evaluation during the 20th century, with particular reference to soils. The most active period was between 1950 and around 1980 with the development of soil and land capability surveys, methodological advances initiated with the FAO Framework for Land Evaluation, and regional land resource assessments. Thus there were considerable achievements in land evaluation by the early 1980s, and subsequently there have been important advances in the subject through the application of GIS, spatial analysis, modelling and fuzzy set algebra. Since the late 1990s there has been a phenomenal rise in interest in soil quality assessment. Considerable debate has focussed on definition, and methods of assessment and monitoring. The latter part of this paper discusses the major challenges to the development and application of land evaluation. The inadequacy of much soil survey data in terms of variables, quality, spatial coverage and scale is emphasised. Also, there is a continuing need to highlight the centrality of land resource issues in any attempt to develop sustainable land use systems. [source] Nursing and midwifery: Millennium Development Goals and the global human resource crisis,INTERNATIONAL NURSING REVIEW, Issue 1 2006A. Green ba The World Health Organization Global Advisory Group for Nurses and Midwives and wider stakeholders met in May 2005 against a background of concern over the disappointing progress being made towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The meeting considered the urgent need to address human resource issues, particularly those related to nursing and midwifery, if the MDGs are to be achieved. [source] Explaining adult homelessness in the US by stratification or situationJOURNAL OF COMMUNITY & APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 2 2003Michael R. Sosin Abstract In the US, the most widely accepted individual-level explanations of homelessness suggest that adults lose their dwellings when they cannot compete in the marketplace for the monetary resources needed to pay for housing, and cannot compete in a non-market struggle for compensatory resources. Such resource problems allegedly typically reflect myriad lifetime and current personal problems or deficits. However, the causal role of the problems and deficits is now known to be complex, and evidence about transitions in and out of homelessness suggests that key events occur somewhat independently of easily measured individual problems or deficits. This article, therefore, provides an alternative explanatory approach that directly focuses on aspects of the probabilistic situations that spur, or fail to reverse homelessness. The events and resource issues are posited to give rise to episodes of homelessness that vary in length, that are indirectly affected by many commonly mentioned individual traits, and that can be matched to targeted policies. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] International Experts' Perspectives on the State of the Nurse Staffing and Patient Outcomes LiteratureJOURNAL OF NURSING SCHOLARSHIP, Issue 4 2007Koen Van den Heede Purpose: To assess the key variables used in research on nurse staffing and patient outcomes from the perspective of an international panel. Design: A Delphi survey (November 2005-February 2006) of a purposively-selected expert panel from 10 countries consisting of 24 researchers specializing in nurse staffing and quality of health care and 8 nurse administrators. Methods: Each participant was sent by e-mail an up-to-date review of all evidence related to 39 patient-outcome, 14 nurse-staffing and 31 background variables and asked to rate the importance/usefulness of each variable for research on nurse staffing and patient outcomes. In two subsequent rounds the group median, mode, frequencies, and earlier responses were sent to each respondent. Findings: Twenty-nine participants responded to the first round (90.6%), of whom 28 (87.5%) responded to the second round. The Delphi panel generated 7 patient-outcome, 2 nurse-staffing and 12 background variables in the first round, not well-investigated in previous research, to be added to the list. At the end of the second round the predefined level of consensus (85%) was reached for 32 patient outcomes, 10 nurse staffing measures and 29 background variables. The highest consensus levels regarding measure sensitivity to nurse staffing were found for nurse perceived quality of care, patient satisfaction and pain, and the lowest for renal failure, cardiac failure, and central nervous system complications. Nursing Hours per Patient Day received the highest consensus score as a valid measure of the number of nursing staff. As a skill mix variable the proportion of RNs to total nursing staff achieved the highest consensus level. Both age and comorbidities were rated as important background variables by all the respondents. Conclusions: These results provide a snapshot of the state of the science on nurse-staffing and patient-outcomes research as of 2005. The results portray an area of nursing science in evolution and an understanding of the connections between human resource issues and healthcare quality based on both empirical findings and opinion. [source] Issues in Growing a Family Business: A Strategic Human Resource ModelJOURNAL OF SMALL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2001Sandra W. King The conceptual literature on family businesses suggests that family businesses have difficulty managing their human resources, especially when it concerns a family member or the transition from the founder to the successor. The authors empirically examined the assumptions raised in the conceptual literature regarding whether family businesses were experiencing human resource problems in growing their business and what factors enabled or constrained the ability of their businesses to grow. The authors used in-depth interviewing to collect data in order to emphasize the depth of the issue. Using content analysis with subject matter experts coding the data, the authors sought to mine the richness of data. Finally, the authors analyzed the data using Elliot Jaques' Stratified Systems Theory as a model to examine the strategic human resource issues and to draw some tentative conclusions. [source] Therapeutic hypothermia after cardiac arrest: a survey of practice in intensive care units in the United KingdomANAESTHESIA, Issue 9 2006S. R. Laver Summary A telephone survey was carried out on the use of hypothermia as part of the management of unconscious patients following cardiac arrest admitted to United Kingdom (UK) intensive care units (ICUs). All 256 UK ICUs listed in the Critical Care Services Manual 2004 were contacted to determine how many units have implemented therapeutic hypothermia for unconscious patients admitted following cardiac arrest, how it is implemented, and the reasons for non-implementation. Two hundred and forty-six (98.4%) ICUs agreed to participate. Sixty-seven (28.4%) ICUs have cooled patients after cardiac arrest, although the majority of these have treated fewer than 10 patients. The commonest reasons given for not using therapeutic hypothermia in this situation are logistical or resource issues, or the perceived lack of evidence or consensus within individual ICU teams. [source] Elegy, ode or panegyric?AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL & RESOURCE ECONOMICS, Issue 1 2001Practising agricultural economics in Australia Changes are investigated in the Australian agricultural economics profession, 1975,99, using a conventional microeconomics framework of supply and demand for agricultural economists. Aggregate exogenous factors such as changes in the agricultural and tertiary education sectors, and changes in beliefs about the proper role of government, have changed both supply and demand conditions for agricultural economists. The profession has responded by shifting its focus away from narrowly agricultural policy, especially marketing policy, towards areas of market failure such as environmental and natural resource issues. [source] Factors that contribute to high turnover among residential child care staffCHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 2 2007Matthew Colton ABSTRACT In this paper we draw on our own empirical research and that of others to consider the factors that contribute to high staff turnover in residential child care. First, we focus on the problem of retaining staff in children's services. Second, we turn our attention to the factors that contribute to staff turnover in residential care: namely, perceptions of the service; of children and young people; and of human resource issues. Third, we attempt to draw out the implications of high turnover for policy and practice. The negative image of residential care has persisted in the wake of a plethora of abuse scandals. The increasing emotional and behavioural problems presented by the children cared for, and the violence and verbal abuse directed at staff are key retention issues. Moreover, poor conditions of employment contribute to staff perceptions of the work as a short-term career choice only. The potential means of resolving these problems are explored, and the future research agenda highlighted. [source] | ||||||||||||||||