A longitudinal cost analysis of primary and team nursing

Cost findings from a 4-year (1984-1989) externally funded, empirical study, comparing primary and team nursing on medical units in a tertiary care teaching hospital, demonstrates that primary nursing is less costly than team nursing. An average savings of 6.5% was realized for the duration of the study. Three factors are identified as being responsible for the difference on a cost per patient per day basis. Overall, cost analysis per DRG from primary nursing suggests cost differences related to high DRG volume and average length-of-stay. An administrative review of the study's implications highlights the relevancy of these findings in relationship to nurse retention and cost savings.     

Black-owned commercial banks: A new look at their performance and management

Summary This research has explored management and financial characteristics within mature black banks over the period of 1978–81. In general, although loan loss management remains a key variable in successful financial performance, other variables often argued to explain profitability differences between black and nonminority banks were not so helpful in explaining profit variation among black banks. It appears that a new model of successful black banking must be developed.     

Expanding scope of practice: inter-professional collaboration or conflict?

With the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, interdisciplinary fights are becoming more public with more to come. Currently, the most visible fight is over scope of practice (SOP) expansion, state laws that govern advanced practice nursing and vary idiosyncratically by state. Until there is an expansion of SOP, APNs in many states will not be able to provide services to the fullest extent of their training and knowledge, skills, and experience and patients will continue to go without care. For physicians, the values and identity associated with the history of the medical profession being dominant transcend the policy details and budgetary considerations that might be viewed as "interests. For nursing, the values for trust and professional recognition associated with providing high-quality care to all is central to the profession's identity and transcend the interest-based conflict. A mediator can challenge thought leaders from both professions to acknowledge their core values, to facilitate discussions in which each side accepts those aspects of the other's values that it can agree with, and then build on those shared beliefs.     

Analysing Your Multivariate Data as a Pictorial: A Case for Applying Biplot Methodology?

This paper illustrates the versatility of biplot methodology when analysing multivariate data from diverse disciplines. The modern approach of Gower & Hand (1996) whereby biplots are regarded as multivariate analogues of ordinary scatter plots is utilised for extending biplot methodology introducing several novel applications. Focus is on biplot applications where the merits of principal component biplots and canonical variate analysis biplots are illustrated with data sets from higher education, the manufacturing industry, the mining industry, agriculture, finance and archaeology. It is shown how to equip biplots with quality regions, classification regions and acceptance regions; how a -bags superimposed on biplots provide a quantification of the multidimensional overlap of classes as well as enable biplots to be used with large data sets; how to use biplots for exploring multi-dimensional reality and in sophisticated classification procedures.     

STRATEGIC SUPPLY CHAIN MAPPING APPROACHES

There are a number of compelling reasons to build a strategic supply chain map. However, widely accepted conventions for this kind of mapping do not yet exist. The strategic map provides a tool for linking corporate strategy to supply chain strategy and for helping to manage and modify the supply chain structure. Before the discipline addresses the process of building strategic supply chain maps, there is a need for mapping conventions and a framework for categorizing strategic supply chain maps.     

Innovation through new ventures: new venture concept in BOC

During the last decade there has been increasing questioning in industrial firms of the value and returns from conventionally organized R & D particularly from central research organizations concerned with longer term innovation. This paper describes how one multi-divisional company, with a wide range of markets, has radically changed its Central R & D function to a Pilot Venture structure, with the object of greatly increasing its effectiveness. The main concepts involved in this ‘New Venture Secretariat’ are not new, but it is felt the particular approach used is novel.