The Use of Performance Improvement Methods to Enhance Emergency Department Patient Satisfaction in the United States: A Critical Review of the Literature and Suggestions for Future Research

Objectives: The authors reviewed the evidence on performance improvement methods for increasing emergency department (ED) patient satisfaction to provide evidence-based suggestions for clinical practice.
Methods: Data sources consisted of searches through MEDLINE, CINAHL, PSYCHINFO, Cochrane Library, and Emergency Medicine Abstracts and a manual search of references. Articles were included if they reported a performance improvement intervention targeting patient satisfaction in the ED setting. Articles on studies not conducted in the United States or that failed to provide enough details to allow critical evaluation of the study were excluded. Two authors used structured evaluation criteria to independently review each retained study.
Results: Nineteen articles met all selection criteria. Three studies found varying levels of support for multicomponent interventions, predominantly focused on implementation of clinical practice guidelines for specific presenting complaints and process redesign. Sixteen studies evaluated single-component interventions, with the following having at least one supportive study: using alternating patient assignment to provider teams rather than "zone"-based assignment, enhancing provider communication and customer service skills, incorporating information delivery interventions (e.g., pamphlets, video) that target patient expectations, using preformatted charts, and establishing ED-based observation units for specific conditions such as asthma and chest pain.
Conclusions: There is modest evidence supporting a range of performance improvement interventions for improving ED patient satisfaction. Further work is needed before specific, evidence-based recommendations can be made regarding which process changes are most effective. Recommendations are made for improving the quality of performance improvement efforts in the ED setting.     

高职高专院校生物化学教学体会

生物化学这门课程理论性强，内容复杂、抽象、难学难记，教学过程中如果采用灵活多样的教学手段，注意调动学生学习的主动性和积极性，即可克服学生的畏难情绪，从而提高学习效率。     

护士礼仪课的教学与实践

为适应医学模式的转变和市场需求，福建中医学院护理学系开设护士礼仪选修课，并对此课程进行教学设计，包括师资培养设计、教学对象设计、教学内容设计、教学方法设计。在授课结束对学生问卷调查、访谈和考试，并对结果进行统计学处理．认为教学实践效果较好。另在教学实践基础上讨论开设护士礼仪课程的意义，提出护士礼仪课程建设若干思考。     

温敏性聚(N-异丙基丙烯酰胺)水凝胶的合成与表征

作者根据高等教育评价的有关理论与方法，采用“学生评教”的方式，在教学评价这一层次上运用微观多因素定量与定性相结合的评价方法对23门医学硕士研究生基础理论课、专业基础课和科研新方法课程的教学质量进行评价，从学生、教师和课程等方面研究影响教学质量的因素，同时对学校研究生过程培养的追踪提供一个参考方法和手段。     

护理程序在临床教学中的应用

把护理程序运用于临床教学中 ,提高护生的综合素质 ,培养实用型高素质护理人才。通过对护生社会心理状态及学习情况的评估 ,确定知识目标、技能目标、素质目标 ,然后分别组织实施 ,最后作出综合评价。结果显示 ,运用护理程序进行带教后 ,护生的专科知识、技能、服务意识都有了全面的提高 ,同时也培养了护理人员运用护理程序实施带教的能力。揭示 :护理程序在临床教学中的应用具有科学性和实用性 ,值得进一步推广。     

The ability of ‘family friendly’ organizational resources to predict work–family conflict and job and family satisfaction

The effectiveness of organizational interventions in reducing the adverse consequences of work–family conflict has produced mixed findings. This paper examines the relationship between the use of organizational ‘family friendly’ resources (such as crèche facilities, flexible working hours, and job sharing), with levels of work–family conflict, and job and family satisfaction over time. Using structural equation modelling, these associations were tested in 398 employed men and women who each completed a self‐report questionnaire administered on two occasions. The use of organizational interventions directly predicted increased levels of concurrent (Time 1) work–family interference and increased levels of subsequent (Time 2) job satisfaction. Both organizational interventions and family interventions (i.e. support) positively predicted subsequent family satisfaction. The research demonstrates that the provision of organizational ‘family‐friendly’ practices will produce improved psychological outcomes for employees. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Preference awareness education as stress management training for academic staff

This paper describes a response directed stress management intervention (SMI) in the form of a Jungian based preference awareness education (PAE). It uses the Insights System of personality types to increase awareness of behaviour and communication preferences of self and different others. Eighteen self‐recruited academic employees participated for 7 weeks and received feedback about work preferences and personality type. The aim was to reduce perceptions of stress and interpersonal stress and to increase feelings of job satisfaction and interpersonal satisfaction. The data were analysed using two‐tailed t‐tests. No significant findings were observed for the total sample after training, however, interesting results were found for certain sub‐sample groups. Extravert‐thinking types, reported decreased stress levels (p > 0.018), and participants suffering high stress/interpersonal stress pre‐PAE, reported decreased stress levels (p > 0.010–0.018). Participants suffering low job/interpersonal satisfaction pre‐PAE, reported increased job satisfaction (p > 0.015–0.016). These results suggest that individuals who report high levels of stress and dissatisfaction are most likely to benefit from this type of intervention. Future PAE research might: (a) use pilot studies to meet the intervention preferences of employees that are reluctant to participate in SMIs; (b) include a wait‐list control group; use: (c) a follow up education/measures; (d) and organizational level (stressor directed) SMIs at the same time as response directed initiatives. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

我国高等医学院校教学医院评审的回顾

本文回顾了国内教学医院评审的文献，总结了在教育评价理论的指导下，我国大部分省市卫生教育行政部门及医学院校近10年来开展大规模的教学医院评审的实践，包括评审的实施、取得的成效以及存在的问题。     

Development of a new Adolescent Patient-Provider Interaction Scale (APPIS) for youth at risk for STDs/HIV

PurposeAlthough an adult model of patient-provider mutual exchange of information has been proposed, there is no guiding model for adolescents or measurement methodology. Our purpose was to develop a new scale of patient-provider interaction for adolescents accessing reproductive health care and at risk for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and assess the reliability and validity of the scale.MethodsThe Adolescent Patient-Provider Interaction Scale (APPIS) was developed from the Roter and Hall theory of doctor-patient relationships, previously validated adolescent satisfaction and communication scales, and focus group and individual elicitation interviews. To assess construct validity, the new nine-item APPIS was compared with the satisfaction scale used by the Young Adult Health Care Survey (YAHCS), and Kahn’s Provider Communication Scale. Pearson correlation coefficients were used to examine convergence across scales, and factor analysis of the APPIS was performed.ResultsThe study recruited 192 African American girls aged 17.9 ± 1.7 years (range 15–21 years) from three sites: a county STD clinic (n = 51), urban adolescent clinic (n = 99), and a family planning clinic (n = 42). Most participants (85%) rated their overall health care highly (≥ 7 on a 10-point scale); 49% felt that both the provider and patient were “in charge” of the visit, and 88% “strongly agreed” or “agreed” that there was an equal “exchange of information” during the visit. The APPIS showed good internal consistency (Cronbach alpha = .75), and moderate convergence with the six-item YAHCS scale (r = .57, p < .001) and seven-item Kahn scale (r = .48, p < .001). Three factors emerged from exploratory factor analyses, supporting our conceptualization of patient-provider interaction as being multi-dimensional.ConclusionsA new theory-based scale of adolescent patient-provider interaction compares favorably with previous scales of health care satisfaction and communication. The new APPIS may be useful for evaluating approaches to improve health care outcomes for adolescents at-risk for STDs and HIV.