Introduction: Medication errors are a major cause of illness and hospitalization of patients throughout the world. This study examines the situation regarding medication errors in the Armed Forces Hospital, Kuwait since no literature exists of any such studies for this country. Several types of potential errors were studied by physicians, nurses and pharmacists. Their attitudes to the commission of errors and possible consequences were surveyed using questionnaires. Additionally, patient medical records were reviewed for possible errors arising from such actions such as the co-administration of interacting drugs. Methods: This study included direct observations of physicians during the prescribing process, pharmacists while they dispensed medications and nurses as they distributed and administered drugs to patients. Data were collected and compiled on Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and analyses were performed using SPSS. Where applicable, results were reported as counts and/ or percentages of error rates. Nurses, pharmacists and physicians survey questionnaires: From the 200 staff sent questionnaires a total of 149 respondents comprising nurses (52.3%), physicians (32.2%) and pharmacists (16.1%) returned the questionnaires a total response rate of 74.5%. All responses were analyzed and compared item-by-item to see if there were any significant differences between the three groups for each questionnaire item. All three groups were most in agreement about their perception of hospital administration as making patient safety a top priority with regard to communicating with staff and taking action when medication errors were reported (all means 3.0 and p > 0.05). Pharmacists were most assured of administration support when an error was reported whereas nurses were least likely to see the administration as being supportive ( p < 0.001), and were more afraid of the negative consequences associated with reporting of medication errors (p = 0.026). Although nurses were generally less likely to perceive themselves as being able to communicate freely regarding reporting of errors compared to pharmacists there was no significant difference between the two groups. Both however were significantly different from physicians (p< 0.001). Physicians had the most favorable response to perceiving new technology as helping to create a safer environment for patients and to the full utilization of such technologies within the institution in order to help prevent medical errors. Scenario response - Responses to two scenarios outlining possible consequences, should a staff member commit a medication error, tended to be very similar among the three groups and followed the same general trend in which the later the error was discovered and the more grievous the patient harm, the more severe would be the consequences to the staff member. Interestingly, physicians saw themselves as less likely to suffer consequences and nurses saw themselves as more likely to suffer consequences should they have committed a medication error. All three groups were more likely to see themselves as facing dismissal from their job if the patient were to die. RESULTS OF ALL THREE OBSERVATIONS: Result of Nursing observations: For 1124 doses studied, 194 resulted in some form of error. The error rate was 17.2% and the accuracy was 82.8%. The commonest errors in a descending order were: wrong time, wrong drug, omission, wrong strength/ dose, wrong route, wrong instruction and wrong technique. No wrong drug form was actually administered in the observational period. These were the total number of errors observed for the entire month period of the study. IV Result of Pharmacist observations: A total of 2472 doses were observed during the one month period. Observations were done for 3 hours per day each day that the study was carried out. The study showed that there were 118 errors detected which were in the following categories respectively: 52 no instructions, 28 wrong drug/unordered, 21 wrong strength/dose, ignored/omission 13, shortage of medication 3 and expired date 1. Result of Prescribers in Chart review for drug-drug interactions: The analysis of the drug-drug interactions showed that out of a total of 1000 prescriptions, 124 had drug-drug interactions. None were found to fall into the highest severity rating i.e. 4 (contraindicated). Only twenty-one interactions were rated 3 (major), 87 interactions were rated moderate and 15 interactions were rated minor according the modified Micromedex scale. Patient education: All health care such as physician, pharmacist, and nurses have a responsibility to educate patient about their medication use and their health conditions to protecting them from any error can occur by wrong using drugs. Conclusion This study has contributed to the field of medication errors by providing data for a Middle Eastern country for the very first time. The views and opinions of the nurses, pharmacists and physicians should be considered to enhance the systems to minimize any errors in the future.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

ABSTRACT Title: The defend of the picture – a comparison of recruitment advertisements from the Swedish Armed Forces / Bilden av försvaret– en jämförande studie av Försvarsmaktens rekryteringsannonser Number of pages: 35 Author: Greta Simonsson Tutor: Mats Lind Course: Media and Communication Studies C Period: Autumn Semester 2007 University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala University Aim: Do the messages in the recruitment advertisements from the Swedish Armed Forces differ between such advertisements produced in the “defense against invasion” era and those produced in the present, more internationally oriented era, when analyzed using semiotics? And, how are these advertisements understood by their receivers? Material and method: Interviews, a focus group and semiotic analysis. Main results: The messages in the recruitment advertisements have changed. In line with the changed focus of the Swedish Armed Forces to more international cooperation and missions, the present day advertisements do indeed have a more international and aggressive focus. Keywords: Swedish Armed Forces, information, recruitment, advertisements, semeiotics.

The ability of organizations to learn---the process by which individuals learn from direct experience and translate that learning into organizational doctrine and memory---largely determines the course and outcomes of organizational policymaking. A set of hypotheses derived from research in political psychology, learning studies, and organization theory are employed to assess the ability of one international organization, the United Nations, to learn from its history of peacekeeping operations, as manifested in the thinking and behaviour of five Secretaries-General. A conceptual model linking processes of organizational learning, individual personality characteristics, and the nature of the international system is developed and operationalized. On the basis of earlier research on learning in international relations, personality, and organizational change, this study illustrates how organizational learning takes place, what factors are necessary for it to occur, and under what conditions it is translated into policy change. This thesis contributes to the literature, by applying research in these distinct fields to international organization, by testing organizational theories of learning in a detailed case study of the Secretaries-General and the evolution of U.N. peacekeeping, and by providing new insights into the nature of international organizational learning and policy change.

<p>The paper focuses specifically on the South African Military Aerospace Industry as most of the weapons procured under the arms deal were military aircraft. Taking into account the numerous social needs of South Africa, the purpose of this paper is to inter alia try to establish the rationale behind the South African government's decision to to purchase an array of military weapons from foreign suppliers at an initial cost of almost thirty billion rand. In order to gain a better undrstanding of the topic, the author gives a brief overview and history of the South African Aerospace industry.Furthermore, an examination of the politics of the transition from apartheid to democracy and how this affected the aeropace industry is given.</p>

The African National Congress (ANC) is engaged in an armed conflict with the South African Government for control of South Africa. ANC combatants are being prosecuted under South African criminal law as rebels, a process which undermines the normative value of the criminal law because it is in conflict with popular support for the ANC. International law provides a humanitarian alternative to the criminal law. This study investigates the international legal protections available to combatants in the conflict. Lawful combatant status and prisoner of war status would only be available if the South African armed conflict was classified as international. It has been argued that the international status of the ANC, derived from the denial of self-determination to the South African people, internationalises its war against the South African Government. Attempts have been made to enforce this concept. Article 1(4) of Geneva Protocol 1 classifies armed conflicts involving a movement representing a people with a right of se If-determination against a .. racist re,gime" as international. But South Africa did not accede to Protocol 1 and the argument that it is custom fails because of insufficient international support. Nevertheless, the developing situation justifies an examination of the personal conditions required to gain protectedstatus. The conditions in Article 4 of Geneva Convention 3 (1949) are onerous, making it impracticable in South Africa. Protocol l's updated conditions are more suited to the armed conflict. The Conventions and Protocol 1 also make available procedural and substantive protections to combatants and deal with special issues particular to South Africa. The South African armed conflict can alternatively be classified as non-international. Common Article 3 of the 1949 Conventions applies because South Africa is party to them. Geneva Protocol 2 is not .applicable because South Africa is not a party to it. Unfortunately, Article 3 only applies general humanitarian principles and not protected status. To conclude, because of the inadequate means for enforcing the classification of the South African armed conflict as international and the inadequacy of the protections available under the law of non-international armed conflict, it is urged that the Government confer ex-gratia. lawful status on ANC combatants. / Thesis(LL.M.)- University of Natal, Durban, 1988.

Syftet med föreliggande studie var att undersöka varför kvinnor som gått militär grundutbildning väljer att vidareutbilda sig till specialistofficerare. Respondenterna utgjorde fem kvinnliga specialistofficerare i åldrarna 22 till 34. Tre av dem hade gjort allmän värnplikt och två av dem hade gått grundläggande militär utbildning (GMU). Av demografiska skäl genomförde jag telefonintervjuer med respondenterna. Jag följde principerna för induktiv tematisk analys när jag analyserade intervjuerna. Analysen visade att kamratskapen och möjligheten att utmana och utveckla sig själv samt typen av arbetsuppgifter och möjligheten att använda utbildningen både i det militära och i det civila var motiv för vidareutbildning. / The aim of this study was to investigate why women who have basic military training choose to continue their education in the Armed Forces. The participants represented five female officers aged 22 to 34. For demographic reasons I conducted telephone interviews with the participants. I followed the principles of inductive thematic analysis when I analyzed the interviews. The analysis showed that the comradeship, the opportunity for personal development, the type of tasks and the ability to use the military training not only in the Armed Forces but also in the civilian life were motives forbecoming an officer.