Little is known about the communication principles necessary for the design and implementation of health information technology (HIT) that supports the needs of healthcare providers from multiple professions. The purpose of this descriptive, exploratory research was to examine the patterns and methods of communication used by nurses, physicians, social workers, respiratory therapists, and pharmacists to share patient information during a patient handoff between units. The principles of complexity science were used as a theoretical framework and an original model of the healthcare organization consisting of embedded complex adaptive systems is presented.Five patient handoffs from the emergency department to participating inpatient units were included in the study. Providers responsible for the care of patients during the designated handoffs were identified through observation and snowball sampling and asked to complete a survey asking whom they communicated with and how. Social Network Analysis was used to map, analyze, and compare the communication patterns used by healthcare providers. Inferential statistics and thematic content analysis were used to examine provider characteristics and satisfaction with the quality of information available.The multi-professional collaborative patterns that emerged revealed the simultaneous use of both synchronous and asynchronous communication methods. HIT was shown to play a major role in the coordination process. Centrality and centralization measures identified that there is no one particular professional group dominating communication and hierarchy metrics indicate a unidirectional communication flow with tiers of dominant providers filtering information to providers on the lower tiers. These patterns suggest that the coordination of patient care during a handoff is a complex process that is the domain of more than one professional group.Satisfaction with the quality of available information was higher for providers working in the ED compared to the admitting units. Verbal communication was preferred by most participants despite difficulties identifying or contacting providers in other units. This study provides a foundation for future research that examines how communication principles that reflect the needs of multiple providers can be incorporated into healthcare provider workflow and HIT design.

This study explored how British Columbia K-12 teachers incorporate environmental education (EE) into their teaching practice. Using a mixed method design with surveys and interviews, I applied grounded theory method to understand teachers' experiences. Teachers applied infusion, integration, and interdisciplinary approaches in most grades and many subject areas. Teachers' rationale and philosophy supported their practices, implying strong teacher and student engagement. The more a teacher modified the school curricula and infrastructure, and collaborated with the education community, the more the EE course or program was likely to become embedded within the school culture. The experiences of these environmental educators can serve as a model for education transformation by identifying challenges and support systems, and demonstrating the importance of how teaching rationale and philosophy sustain innovative practices. The findings are of interest to BC teachers, administrators, school districts, the Ministry of Education, and organizations that support teachers.

In primary care (PC) health providers are delivering nutrition advice and counselling to patients. Yet, a number of challenges have been identified in conducting dietary assessment (DA). Electronic DA (e-DA) tools within mobile apps or websites can potentially facilitate DA in team-based PC. The objective of the study was to explore current DA practices and use of e-DA tools by various disciplines of health providers in Family Health Teams (FHTs) using a mixed-methods sequential design. Data collection included interdisciplinary focus groups (FGs) and a web-based survey. Fifty health providers from various disciplines participated in 11 FGs. Identified themes included: 1) Assessment of diet in an interdisciplinary fashion; 2) Improvement of patients’ eating habits with use of e-DA tools; 3) Support of health providers with use of e-DA tools; and, 4) Integration of e-DA tools into FHTs. One hundred and ninety-one health providers from 89 FHTs were included in the web-based survey. The two studies found that most providers offer a DA very frequently with diverse DA methods. The use of e-DA tools by health providers and patients is still low, although registered dietitians significantly use more e-DA tools than other health providers. There was high interest among all disciplines in the use of e-DA tools for the management of obesity, diabetes and heart disease, especially for patient self-monitoring. Several recommendations were suggested to facilitate uptake of e-DA tools into practice. / Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC). Primary Health Care Transition Fund.

Cross-curricular teaching is a teaching method in which one or more subjects are used within another subject to make clear links to those subjects. This is to attract pupils that are otherwise maybe not interested in this subject. The aim of this work is to see how this teaching practice is organised these days by asking teachers about their work from a constructivist point of view. For this work written interviews with teachers from Flanders and Sweden have been conducted to see how teachers work in an international context. The results point out that although the teaching practice is different in both regions, the way the teachers think is very similar.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) provides updates of diagnostic criteria and it is crucial that clinicians from all relevant fields are aware of new terminology. Music therapists are increasingly being added to interdisciplinary teams and need to efficiently communicate with other professionals. This study aimed to discover if current music therapy students are familiar with the DSM-5 before they enter their professional practice. Music therapy students from two American Music Therapy Association-approved universities completed a survey aimed to assess their use and knowledge of the DSM-5. A total of 58 participants were included in the analysis. Findings from the survey revealed that seniors had a higher level of knowledge of the DSM-5 and referred to it in their courses more so than freshmen and sophomores. However, a high rate of students indicated that they did not discuss the DSM enough in their music therapy courses, non-music therapy courses, and clinical experiences. If more universities were sampled in future studies, educational programs could closely examine the preparedness of music therapy students with regards to DSM training and then make curriculum modifications as needed.

This study focused on the integration of book arts in a fifth grade classroom. As an art teacher turned regular education teacher I was interested in the effects of integrating art into the area of reading. The curriculum unit consists of two lessons in which the students were invited to use books arts as a means of expression and comprehension. The lessons correlated with the novel Number the Stars, by Lois Lowry. The results include my observations and reflections as a practicing elementary teacher.

The  purpose  of  this  study  is  to  identify  and  analyze  reoccurring  insights  in Entrepreneurship  Education  (EE)  literature,  fill  gaps  in  the  scholarly  discussion,  and develop innovative teaching tools for entrepreneurship educators. The study is based on an in-depth  review  of  the  current  EE  literature  drawing  on  insights  from  about  70  studies. The analysis finds a clear need for: EE on the university level; clear goals and objectives; clear  program  descriptions;  a  more  practical  orientation;  and  true  alumni  networks. Additionally it finds that EE should be interdisciplinary, student-centered, practical, as well as containing strong elements of reflection, support, and networking. These findings are a valuable  resource  for  educators  interested  in  innovative  teaching  practices  and entrepreneurship  program  design  in  a  university  context.  This  paper  develops  three suggestions  on  the  use  of  innovative  teaching  practices,  namely  a  course  on  business models,  an  adapted  form  of  business  simulation  with  a  focus  on  cross-disciplinary networking, and a comprehensive class in entrepreneurial venturing that takes the student through all steps of establishing and growing a business.

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No description available.

The concept of curriculum integration has long held seductive appeal as a way to unite knowledge and meet the educational needs of young people. However, researchers have largely dismissed the concept as a romantic but unworkable idea. Nonetheless in the short history of education in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ), notions of integration have persistently reappeared in the national curriculum. In the 1930s, innovative teachers implemented world-class examples of curriculum integration in rural schools. Later, the Freyberg Project (1986-1991) demonstrated that curriculum integration admirably meets the needs of young people. Recently, the Ministry of Education trialled curriculum integration in several schools but, since the literature indicates that curriculum integration is represented by a plethora of models, this raised an important question: which model is preferable? This thesis combines historical and theoretical methodology to conduct an investigation of the concept of curriculum integration with respect to the needs of early adolescents in NZ. The historical investigation demonstrates that curriculum integration is best described by two broad traditions which stem from nineteenth century USA: the 'student-centred' approach based on Dewey's 'organic' education and the 'subject-centred' approach based on the Herbartian notion of 'correlation'. These two approaches are represented in current practice by the student-centred integrative model (Beane, 1990/1993) and the subject-centred multidisciplinary model (Jacobs, 1989). The theoretical investigation draws from American experience to examine the respective claims of the integrative and multidisciplinary models as the preferred model of curriculum integration for middle schooling. It finds that the 'thick' ethics associated with the politics of the integrative model ensures that it meets the needs of all early adolescents whereas the 'thin' ethics of the multidisciplinary model is indifferent to the needs of young people. The thesis concludes that the integrative model should be seriously considered in the middle years in NZ. It also concludes that historical understandings of curriculum integration are vital to further research, policy-making and teacher education. Moreover, attention to political and ethical issues would enhance implementation of the integrative model in NZ and would help avoid a set of problems which have impeded implementation of the model in the USA.