Abundant Literature (abundant + literature)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Medical Sciences50%
Humanities and Social Sciences50%

Selected Abstracts

Responding to formal complaints about the emergency department: Lessons from the service marketing literature

EMERGENCY MEDICINE AUSTRALASIA, Issue 4 2004
Gavan Doig
Abstract The ability to respond to formal complaints is a necessary part of emergency medicine practice. In spite of the significance of formal complaints there is little guidance within the medical literature to understand why patients complain or how to provide satisfaction to individuals who complain. Practitioners are usually left to their own devices in the style and substance of complaint responses even when working within a defined complaint management system. This article draws on relatively abundant literature in the service marketing field to provide an understanding of dissatisfaction, complaining and complaint handling. Having developed an appropriate theoretical framework the article provides guidance for applying these concepts in dealing with formal complaints. [source]

Risk factors of status epilepticus in children

PEDIATRICS INTERNATIONAL, Issue 4 2003
Serap Karasal
AbstractBackground:,Although there is abundant literature about the morbidity and mortality rates of status epilepticus (SE), little is known about the risk factors of this medical emergency. The aim of the present study is to assess the risk factors of SE in children. Methods:,The authors reviewed the medical records of 83 patients admitted to the Pediatric Neurology Unit of Trakya University Hospital, Edirne, Turkey from January 1994 to December 2001 with the diagnosis of SE. Eighty-three patients were compared with 166 controls who were admitted to the same unit due to non-status epilepticus (non-SE) seizure. Results:,The univariate analysis demonstrated that SE episodes were significantly associated with a history of birth asphyxia, neonatal seizure, discontinuation of antiepileptic medication, epilepsy, partial seizure evolving to secondary generalized seizures, myoclonic seizure, generalized abnormalities in the neurological examination, neuromotor retardation, generalized background abnormalities on electroencephalogram (EEG), generalized abnormalities on neuroimaging and polypharmacy than non-SE episodes. Logistic regression was used to test the independence of these parameters as predictors of SE risk. Four parameters emerged as significant independent predictors of SE in children in multiple logistic regression: polypharmacy (Odds ratio (OR) 5.17, P = 0.0004), discontinuation of antiepileptic medication (OR 4.04, P = 0.0095), neuromotor retardation (OR 4.03, P = 0.0016) and generalized background abnormalities on EEG (OR 2.48, P = 0.0419). Conclusion:,Polypharmacy, discontinuation of antiepileptic medication, neuromotor retardation and generalized background abnormalities on EEG are indicators in children of a higher risk of SE. [source]

Getting the fundamentals wrong: woes of public,private partnerships in solid waste collection in three Ghanaian cities

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION & DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2004
Nicholas Awortwi
Until over a decade ago, concerted efforts at involving private agents to deliver solid waste collection services did not feature in local government's (LG's) policies and practices in Ghana. The LGs had over the years directly delivered the services with their labour, materials and equipment. The purpose of entering into partnerships with private contractors was to improve service delivery. This comes at a time when the private sector is generally viewed as more efficient and effective than the public sector. There is abundant literature on potential benefits of private sector participation in public service delivery; yet, figures of efficiency gains are often accepted without challenge. More advantages but fewer disadvantages are cited and anecdotal evidence is used only to illustrate successful applications of the concept of public,private partnerships (PPPs). Using research data from three cities (Accra, Kumasi and Tema) in Ghana, this article exposes the contrast between policy expectations and outcomes of PPPs. The article argues that simply turning over public service delivery to private agents without ensuring that the fundamentals that make them successful are put in place leads to a worse situation than portrayed in literature about the benefit of PPPs. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Surveying Recent Literature on the Arabic and Persian Mirrors for Princes Genre

HISTORY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 2 2009
L. Marlow
The study of the medieval Arabic and Persian ,mirror for princes' literatures in many respects resembles that of the similarly abundant literatures produced in Byzantium and the Latin West. In earlier scholarship, the predominant approach was that of the history of ideas, and scholars tended to focus on depictions of the ideal ruler and other aspects of the ,political thought' expressed in the mirror literatures. A secondary area of interest concerned textual transmission within and across these literatures. More recent scholarship has continued to develop and refine these established approaches, and has also developed new directions of research. Notably, several scholars have explored the Sitz im Leben of individual mirrors, and have studied their meaning and significance in the historical settings in and for which they were composed. Certain recent publications have highlighted the flexibility of mirrors, the multiple purposes they often served, the range of perspectives represented by their authors, and the importance of authors' choices of language and genre in shaping the composition and reception of their works. [source]