Hospital nursing costs, billing, and reimbursement

Nursing intensity, estimated direct nursing costs, and daily billing were compared for 12 adult medical or surgical units at an academic medical center from January 1 to May 31, 2005 (22,649 patient days). Two main findings, nursing intensity and direct nursing costs, were highly variable within and across each of the study nursing units (mean 429 dollars, SD 160 dollars); direct costs of nursing care were significantly higher for private room rates compared to intermediate room per diem charges billed at a higher rate (441 dollars vs. 426 dollars, F 37.77, p < 0.001). The results demonstrate that the direct costs of nursing care are not aligned with current billing practices at this university hospital. The use of fixed room and board charges to account for nursing care in U.S. hospitals may be obsolete and an alternative nurse-centric costing, billing, and reimbursement model is proposed.     

Hardiness, stress, and use of ill-time among nurse managers: is there a connection?

Intense job-related demands often result in effects on job performance and increased use of ill-time. In this study, associations between hardiness, stress, and use of ill-time among nurse managers were examined. High-hardy/low-stress managers used 27% less ill-time than those low-hardy/high-stressed.     

The relationship among systems engineers' capacity for engineering systems thinking,project types,and project success

In recent years, systems engineering and Project Management Bodies of Knowledge have been rapidly growing. However, despite the vast amount of literature available on systems engineering and project management, about two‐thirds of all projects still fail. A review of both project management and systems engineering publications reveals that most of these works focus on processes. We suggest focusing on people—project managers and systems engineers. One of our previous studies dealt with project managers; this article focuses on systems engineers. This article presents findings of a study aimed at exploring the relationship among systems engineers' capacity for engineering systems thinking (CEST), project types, and project success. The instrument used in this study was a self‐report questionnaire, composed of three parts. The first part assessed the participants' CEST, the second part assessed several measures of project success, and the third part assessed four dimensions of project type. The simple random sampling method was used, and the sample included 114 senior systems engineers who were randomly selected from the sampling frame. The study findings show that there is a statistically significant correlation between CEST and project success. The extent of the project's novelty, complexity, and technological uncertainty are moderator variables that affect this correlation.     

The role of the internet in the internationalisation of small and medium sized companies

It is now recognised that many firms are “born global’ and initiate international business from inception or shortly thereafter. They have been influenced by both globalisation and the impact of new ICT technologies. This paper examines the role of the Internet in the internationalisation of a cross national sample of small entrepreneurial firms from Canada, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. The findings are presented, including the role of the Internet in marketing, distribution, business processes and market intelligence and competitor analysis. The role of the Internet as a knowledge building tool is discussed, and areas for future research are presented.     

'Changing Before Our Very Eyes': Agrarian Questions and the Politics of Land in Capitalism Today

This paper endorses the criticisms of neo-classical populism and its advocacy of redistributive land reform provided by other contributions to this special issue of the Journal, to which it adds several further points. If GKI propose a version of an agrarian question of 'small' or 'family' farming, and its resolution through a familiar (Chayanovian) path of development, much of the critique rests, in one way or another, on the 'classic' agrarian question in capitalist transition, in effect the agrarian question of capital in which the agrarian question of labour was once subsumed. Here the question is posed whether, in the conditions of contemporary 'globalization' and its tendency to the 'fragmentation' of labour, there might be a new agrarian question of labour, now detached from that of capital, and which generates a new politics of struggles over land (and its distribution). Even to conceive of this question is beyond the analytical and political field of vision of neo-classical populism. Some of the dimensions of an agrarian question of labour are illustrated in a brief consideration of recent, and highly contradictory, events in Zimbabwe: a unique case of comprehensive, regime-sanctioned, confiscatory land redistribution in the world today.     

Not All Thin Markets Are Alike: The Case of Organic and Non‐genetically Engineered Corn and Soybeans

We use time series methods to explore the relationship between prices for two different niche versions of feed corn and soybeans, and their conventional counterparts. Whereas organic versions are linearly cointegrated, and their premia are high and stable, non‐GE products – which are nonlinearly cointegrated – exhibit narrower premia that are subject to collapse. Because organics are also non‐GE, these differences point to the value of a well‐recognised and enforced USDA organic label and/or the importance consumers place on the non‐GE attributes of organic products.     

Testing two mechanisms linking work-to-family conflict to individual consequences: do gender and gender role orientation make a difference?

Based on social role theory and a gender role orientation perspective, this study extended the two mechanisms (i.e. resource depletion and source attribution) that link work-to-family conflict to perceived accomplishment in the family and work domains by testing the moderating effects of gender and gender role orientation on the relationships. Data were collected from managers via questionnaires in China, and 225 cases were analyzed with hierarchical regression models. The results showed that compared with female managers, the negative relationship between work-to-family conflict and perceived family accomplishment was stronger for male managers. Within the male group, we found that the negative relationship between work-to-family conflict and perceived family accomplishment was stronger for male managers with an egalitarian gender role orientation than those with a traditional gender role orientation. In addition, for male managers with a traditional gender role orientation, there was a positive relationship between work-to-family conflict and perceived work accomplishment. The theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.