Background: Communication failures during handover has long been noted as a threat to patient safety.1 Breakdown in communication among health professionals is reported to account for up to 85% of hospital sentinel events.1 Lack of formal structure and training in handover methods 53 as well as modes of communication including nonverbal behaviors 59 have been reported to affect the quality of information exchange in handovers. 59 The objective of this mixed methods study is to conduct a detailed analysis of handover content among physicians and among nurses on a Birthing Unit and to examine communication processes within these groups in order to identify gaps in the process. This may provide a basis for future development of standardized approaches and training efforts. Methods: A convergent, parallel mixed methodology was used. The sample in this study comprises the nurses and medical obstetrical team in a hospital Birthing Unit in Hamilton Ontario. Phase one of the study involved initial observations of handover, performing a Delphi to gain consensus on handover content and creating a handover assessment tool. Phase two involved reliability testing of the tool and in phase three, twenty five paired nurse to nurse compared to medical handovers were video recorded, scored and correlated to participant questionnaires. Results: Gaps in handover content were identified; the nurses achieved a mean score of 10.24 items compared to physicians mean score of 9.02 (correlation 0.582, p <0.01). This showed statistically significant differences in the items mentioned among the two groups iii (t = 13.2, p < 0.001). Nonverbal behaviors noted during handover observations revealed inconsistencies in conveying information, within and between the two groups. The findings of this study contribute to a better understanding of handover gaps, has implications to other health team practices and highlights the need for standardized processes, training and policy development. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

The concept of industry transferring work to academia is developed and studied using multiple cases at three different university research sites. Industry sometimes partners with academia specifically to have academia perform work with certain equipments or obtain knowledge for the purpose of process, product or knowledge development. The term "non-traditional" technology transfer is introduced to describe this activity. Case studies using research faculty and their students as well as industry partners were conducted at two Engineering Research Centers and an engineering department of a relatively smaller institution that has developed an engineering clinic approach to research. The literature drawn upon includes: historical perspectives of the academia-industry technology transfer arena (including the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980), trends, the relationship between academic capitalism and technology transfer and the role played by technology transfer in environmental research. Findings of this study indicate that industry has, in some cases, chosen to have their collaborative research team partners accomplish work for them. Access to resultant data is difficult to obtain and has implications for the concept of academic freedom. Advantages of the technology transfer process include the generation of value for each of the project partners, education of graduate and undergraduate students and benefits to the public good in terms of the environment; disadvantages are identified but considered uncertain. Technology transfer, including the non-traditional type defined herein, can be used as a tool to overcome the reality of today's austere university budget environment; the Bayh-Dole Act has served as an enabler of that approach.

abstract: Teacher learning in the workplace is situated within a complex context involving the individual and multiple aspects of an educational organization. The present action research study uses a socio-constructionist inquiry lens to further research the local and multifaceted nature of professional learning in schools. The goal is to re-conceptualize professional development away from reductionist approaches that assume teacher practice can be isolated, packaged, and directly transferable into the classroom. The present study examines how lesson study can structure interdisciplinary professional learning to address the current gap in the literature regarding professional development of secondary specialty teachers. Five teachers participated in two lesson study cycles for a period of 13-weeks. This study focused on how teachers co-construct pedagogical knowledge and the extent to which they make changes to their practice. Using a sequential mixed methods research design, this study collected qualitative and quantitative data in three phases. In the initial phase, participants completed a demographical survey and shared a digital ethnography of their philosophy of teaching. Phase two consisted of video recordings for two lesson study cycles. Phase three involved a second survey and semi-structured interviews. Classroom observations were conducted during the first and last phase of the study. All qualitative data was analyzed inductively using open and thematic coding. Cross-case analysis was employed at the analysis stage to integrate data tools for the purpose of complementarity. Results suggest lesson study was an effective, job-embedded model that supports active and continuous professional development that is sustained and transferrable to the classroom. The type of disposition reported and displayed by teachers changed positively over time having transformational effects in the depth of relationships among teachers, increasing co-creation of pedagogical knowledge, and increasing reflectiveness. Teachers' level of openness to learning related to higher levels of effective practices implemented during lessons. Further research is needed to examine the ways in which teacher disposition influences professional learning when secondary specialty teachers engage in lesson study. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Leadership and Innovation 2014