Thesis (M. Nursing (Advanced Practice))--University of South Australia, 1995.

BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization (WHO) has acknowledged the importance of maternal care and listed it as part of its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). South Africa has aligned itself with these MDGs. The 5th goal is focused on improving maternal health by reducing the maternal mortality rate by 75% by 2015. There are a number of interventions in place to try and to achieve this goal; the provision of antenatal care is one of these interventions. Antenatal care provides the expectant mother early ongoing monitoring and risk assessment of her pregnancy. It is commonly considered fact that antenatal care improves maternal and perinatal outcomes. In spite of the provision of free maternal health services in South Africa, there are still a significant number of mothers who do not attend antenatal clinics before delivery. No formal study has been done to understand the magnitude of this problem in the Limpopo Province. In view of this, it was decided to conduct this study at the Van Velden Hospital (a rural district hospital in the Mopani District in the Limpopo Province) which has been admitting a significant number of unbooked mothers even after the introduction of free maternal health services in South Africa sixteen years ago. AIM: To compare the pregnancy outcomes (maternal and perinatal) between booked and unbooked mothers who delivered at Van Velden Hospital, a district hospital in the Limpopo Province in South Africa. METHODOLOGY: The setting of this study is the Maternity Unit at the Van Velden Hospital. A cross sectional study design was used. A retrospective record review was done and information for one year (2008/09) will be extracted from the records captured in the District Health Information System. No primary data was collected for this study. RESULTS: This is the first study that looked at broad issues pertaining to the influence of booking status on pregnancy outcomes (maternal and neonatal) at a district hospital in a rural district in the Limpopo Province and probably in South Africa. The study found a prevalence of 15.7% (range: 2.7% to 32.3%) among the study population during the 12 month study period. There were no significant differences in age, marital and employment status of the subjects. However, there were a significant number of teenage pregnancies (13.2%) among the study population, which is of concern. Interestingly, more white women were found not to book in comparison to the black women. There were no significant differences in parity, gravidity and miscarriages between the two groups. Overall, unbooked mothers were more likely to have a preterm baby. This implies antenatal booking can probably prevent preterm deliveries. This study also found unbooked mothers were more likely to have C/S than booked mothers. However, there was no significant difference between booked and unbooked mothers in terms of delivery complications. There was no significant difference between booked and unbooked mothers in terms of birth weight. Although, the babies of unbooked mothers had a significantly lower Apgar score (1 minute) than booked mothers, the difference became insignificant at 10 minutes. There was no maternal mortality during this period. All mothers were discharged home. Overall, perinatal mortality among the study population was 44/ 1000 births. This study found a significant risk of perinatal morbidity (preterm delivery and low Apgar score) among the unbooked mothers. CONCLUSION: This research was undertaken to develop a model that could be used by both the provincial and national governments to evaluate the prevalence and impact of booking status of pregnant women in rural district hospitals in South Africa.

The semiconductor industry follows what is known as Moore’s Law. Moore’s Law says that every 18 months computer chip storage capacity doubles and the intervals between developments in chip design become shorter and shorter. This is also true for the set dates for construction which are dictated by the semiconductor industry’s needs and production schedule. This paper analyzes the impact of a clean room environment. It scrutinizes daily reports and interviews, based on two data sets that focus on a semiconductor wafer fabrication facility (FAB) construction project. Both data sets involve the same crew working on a FAB construction project in the U.S. Room conditions, however, differ. Aside from such working conditions, all elements for both groups are the same (crew skill level, weather, and season). This research is based on the installation, from February 2010 to January 2011 in Austin, Texas, of an access floor in a semiconductor FAB construction project. The total cost of the project was US$3.6 billion. Generally, a semiconductor FAB has raised access floors because cables and pipes are laid under the floors for maintenance and operation purposes. The data for this paper is derived from the access floor installation. The project manager’s daily progress record documented the changes in labor productivity. The data on the number of crew and work-hours is computed based on this information. Labor productivity is defined here as the relationship between output and the labor time for its production. The formula is as follows: Labor productivity = Output(Quantity) / Input(Work-hours) Eq. (1) This study used Eq. (1) to measure labor productivity for two conditions (working in general conditions and working in a clean room conditions). Labor productivity was computed as follows: the unit of output (quantity) is sq. ft., and the unit of input (work-hours) is hours. The questionnaires and interviews attempted to identify the factors affecting project performance: rework, crew interference, overcrowded work areas, and overtime (Garner, et al., 1979; Tucker, et al., 1980). Each section consisted of yes/no questions and one question seeking the interviewee’s opinion about how each problem was solved. The responses are summarized as follows: The results indicate that, in the clean room environment, labor productivity fell by 28.85%. For future projects, this drop represents additional time and money that should be taken into account in the estimate of costs and the schedule duration. The interviews indicate that labor productivity was affected by other factors such as rework, tool availability, other crews not being finished, overcrowded work areas, as well as access to work area. / text

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Thesis (M. Nurs.)--University of Hong Kong, 2005.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University

Fine needle aspiration (FNA) in the operating room is a convenient optional diagnostic approach. Our objective of this study was to evaluate the accuracy and study the potential benefits of fine needle aspiration in the operating room. Retrospective review of all intraoperative FNA that were requested and performed by pathologists over 20-month period was carried out. Immediate smears were interpreted by the cytopathology team after staining with Diff Quik stain. All cases were reviewed and correlation with subsequent tissue diagnosis was done. Accuracy was calculated and potential benefits were discussed. The number of aspirates was 32. Adequate material for immediate and final interpretation was achieved in 31 cases (sensitivity 97%). In 20 cases (63%), malignancy was diagnosed while a benign diagnosis was rendered in 12 (37%). All cases had a follow up tissue diagnosis. No false-positive cases were identified (specificity 100%). The information gained from this approach was considered helpful to the surgeons. We concluded that FNA of head and neck masses in the operating room is an accurate and sensitive diagnostic approach. The service provides helpful information to surgeons and is an additional optional diagnostic approach.

A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Health Science, University of the Witwatersrand, in fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science in Nursing Education Johannesburg, June 2017 / Multi-resistant organisms, the involvement of numerous stakeholders in the OR as well as the complex procedural and technical advancements, especially in the private healthcare environment, justifies an evidence based infection prevention quality audit tool for an OR that is comprehensive. The purpose of the study was to develop a comprehensive infection prevention quality audit tool for operating room within a private healthcare environment. A three phased, multi-method study was conducted whereby phase one included the identification of statements in existing audit tools, policies and published articles. This was used to compile concourse statements that were used during phase 2 in the Q-sort data collection method, which allowed stakeholders (scrub- and anaesthetic nurses, CSD Managers, IPC- and OHS Coordinators and surgeons) to indicate what they want to be included in the IPC Audit Tool for operating room. A statement verification was conducted to expand the concepts that enabled the researcher to compile an audit tool. Subject experts and the researcher tested the degree of validity of the audit tool in phase three of the study. A descriptive analysis revealed that the results of the Q-sort event was inconclusive. The subject experts were unable to determine the degree of validity of the audit tool, which forced the researcher to test the audit tool in an OR. A Comprehensive IPC Control Quality Audit Tool was developed. The utilisation of the audit tool in an OR should be a well-planned event. Specific education and training of the multidisciplinary team regarding IPC in the OR should be considered. / MT2017