Free Essays on Vatican Council II

Catholicism The Second Vatican Council The 20th century was a time of change. Technologically speaking; horses were exchanged for cars, which were exchanged for airplanes, World War I and II changed war was to be fought, all with great steps in technology. Minds of intellectuals were churning, whether it was Einstein’s theory of relativity or Carl Jung’s theories about synchronicity. Politics were being pushed to new limits, with women’s right activists springing up along side civil right activists, change was happening everywhere you looked. Change is nothing new to the Holy Roman Catholic Church, it has seen over 2,000 years of change thus far and will continue to adapt to its surroundings. The Church went through a large change during and after the Second Vatican Council, and is still evolving from it and into it. Pope Pius XII died on October 8, 1958, after a long time as the Supreme Pontiff his twilight years were plagued by various illness’. He was a good and Holy man who was admired by millions, and the first Pope to be known widely by radio and television. Pope Pius XII was know as the â€Å"Pope of Peace† who had an authoritarian style which he showed often during WWII, where he denounced the war. Cardinal Roncalli was awarded the position of Pope John XXIII, as Pope Pius passed on October 8, 1958, and officially took the position on October 28, 1958 when he was permanently elected. The Second Vatican Council was a big surprise to the entire world. Today the Catholic Church reaches all across the world and has over 1,000,000,000 members far larger than any other private organization and nearly four time the size of the United States of America(Web4). There is no doubting the fact that the Catholic Church is very large and some would argue very powerful, throughout history the Church has been in situations in which it was given power, more by default than demand. It was January 25, 1959 where Pope John... Free Essays on Vatican Council II Free Essays on Vatican Council II Catholicism The Second Vatican Council The 20th century was a time of change. Technologically speaking; horses were exchanged for cars, which were exchanged for airplanes, World War I and II changed war was to be fought, all with great steps in technology. Minds of intellectuals were churning, whether it was Einstein’s theory of relativity or Carl Jung’s theories about synchronicity. Politics were being pushed to new limits, with women’s right activists springing up along side civil right activists, change was happening everywhere you looked. Change is nothing new to the Holy Roman Catholic Church, it has seen over 2,000 years of change thus far and will continue to adapt to its surroundings. The Church went through a large change during and after the Second Vatican Council, and is still evolving from it and into it. Pope Pius XII died on October 8, 1958, after a long time as the Supreme Pontiff his twilight years were plagued by various illness’. He was a good and Holy man who was admired by millions, and the first Pope to be known widely by radio and television. Pope Pius XII was know as the â€Å"Pope of Peace† who had an authoritarian style which he showed often during WWII, where he denounced the war. Cardinal Roncalli was awarded the position of Pope John XXIII, as Pope Pius passed on October 8, 1958, and officially took the position on October 28, 1958 when he was permanently elected. The Second Vatican Council was a big surprise to the entire world. Today the Catholic Church reaches all across the world and has over 1,000,000,000 members far larger than any other private organization and nearly four time the size of the United States of America(Web4). There is no doubting the fact that the Catholic Church is very large and some would argue very powerful, throughout history the Church has been in situations in which it was given power, more by default than demand. It was January 25, 1959 where Pope John...

Chemistry Abbreviations Starting With Letters U and V

Chemistry Abbreviations Starting With Letters U and V Chemistry abbreviations and acronyms are common in all fields of science. This collection offers common abbreviations and acronyms beginning with the letters U and V used in chemistry and chemical engineering. Chemistry Abbreviations Starting With U U - Internal EnergyU - UndetectableU - UraniumUAFM - Uranyl Acetate Fluorescence MethodUCK - Universal Chemical KeyUHF - Ultra High FrequencyUG - Undisturbed Gas UHC - Unburned HydroCarbonsUHMW - Ultra High Molecular WeightUHP - Ultra High PressureUHP - Ultra High PurityUHT - Ultra High TemperatureUHV - Ultra High VacuumULG - Universal Liquid GasULO - Ultra Low OxygenULOQ - Upper Limit Of QuantitationULS - Ultra Low SulfurULT - Ultra Low TemperatureUNK - UNKnownUPW - Ultra Pure WaterUQY - Ultimate Quality and YieldUUD - UnUnDuium (Element 112, now Cn)UUH - UnUnHexium (Element 116)UUP - UnUnPentium (Element 115)UUQ - UnUnQuadium (Element 114)UUS - UnUnSeptium (Element 117)UUO - UnUnOctium (Element 118)UUU - UnUnUnium (Element 111, now Rg)UV - UltraVioletUVA - UltraViolet band AUV-A - UltravViolet band AUVB - UltraViolet band BUV-B - UltraViolet band BUVF - UtraViolet FilterUVL - UltraViolet LampUVR - UltraViolet ReactiveUXS - Glucuronic Acid DeCarboxylaseUYQ - Uranium Yield Quantity Chemistry Abbreviations Starting With V V - VacuumV - VanadiumV - VoltVA - Volume AnalyzerVA - Nitrogen groupVAC - VacuumVAC - Vacuum Assisted ClosureVB - Vacuum BreakVB - Valence BandVBJ - Vacuum Bell JarVBT - Valence Bond TheoryVC - Viscous CoupledVC - Vapor CloudVCE - Vapor Cloud ExplosionVC - Vinyl ChlorideVCM - Vinyl Chloride MonomerVd - Volume distributionVDB - VanDyke Brown testVDF - Van der Waals forceVDW - Van der Waals radiusVEQ - EQuilibrium VolumeVEQ - EQuivalence point VolumeVFn - Vertical Face number (n is a number)VH - Vapor HazardVHH - Volatile Halogenated HydrocarbonVHI - Vapor Hazard IndexVHN - Vickers Hardness NumberVHP - Vaporized Hydrogen PeroxideVHP - Very High PressureVHT - Very High TemperatureVHY - Very High YieldVI - Viscosity IndexVLD - Vacuum Leak DetectorVLE - Vapor Liquid EquilibriumVMD - Visual Molecular DynamicsVO - Vacuum OvenVOA - Volatile Organic AnalysisVOC - Volatile Organic CompoundVOL - VolumeVP - Vapor PointVP - Vapor PressureVPE - Virtual Potential EnergyVR - Very RapidVS - Very Sat uratedVS - Volatile SolidVSC - Volatile Sulfur CompoundVSS - Volatile Suspended SolidVTC - Variable Temperature CutoffVTP - Volume, Temperature, PressureVU - Volume UnitsVV - Vacuum VesselVV - Valence-ValenceVW - Varies Widely

Quality Improvement Plan Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Quality Improvement Plan - Term Paper Example Quality improvement of a clinician should be present at every stage of his performance. Quality improvement strategy would contribute much to responsibility development among clinicians and their confidence. Goals/Objectives Quality improvement is very popular in America. It has been often claimed that professional improvement of clinicians and nurses is beneficial for the clients and hospital’s performance. Leadership, individual’s responsibility, activities engagement and many other facts are supported in American hospitals. Working in the direction of quality is a common strategy for American clinicians. Payers demand from hospitals improvements on internal and external levels and starting from 2003, when the voluntary Hospital Quality Initiative (HQI) was launched, hospitals inform their clients and stakeholders online about quality improvements. The main goals of quality improvement in American hospitals concern improvement of facilities reputation, excellent servi ce delivery of nurses and physicians and many other aspects. Scope/Description/QI Activities In order to report about quality improvements in hospitals, American hospitals discuss the results of educational programs involvement with their stake holders, clients. Florida Hospital located in Orlando, FL share its quality improvement activities and developments with the public in order to assess and measure reached goals. The improvement of quality patient care is one of crucial concerns for the American hospitals. Basing on mandatory and secondary data collection, the results of quality improvement processes can be considered by the public. In such a way, clients can self-manage their healthcare treatment, identify and indicate gaps in quality improvement process. Moreover, performance measure indicates quality improvements and specific data and criteria may be reached. This type of data is useful for further quality improvement process in any hospital. Another important indicator of quality is stakeholders’ feedback. It is helpful for current patient service improvement and future emergence of new services. Data Collection Tools Currently, a scope of data about quality improvements is presented online for the convenience of clients and stakeholders. There are secondary and mandatory data presented by hospitals. Stakeholders’ feedback is usually presented in a form of alternative suggestions concerning hospital activities improvement. A public response is also important for current and future improvement of client’s healthcare service. Written responses, comments, letters from clients can reflect a real situation concerning the necessity of quality improvement. It is more relevant to clients to express their opinion about changes they would like to introduce in the healthcare system. QI Processes and Methodology Currently, in accordance with quality management processes there are many options to perform quality improvement process. These are : control charts, lot sampling, process capability, and value analysis (Florida Hospital). Still, it is important to consider quality processes data collection in detail. Clients’ histories with medical information about them, details on their illnesses, family and personal background and other variety of data may indicate existent problems in the process of healthcare treatment. This approach shows quality improvem

An investigation of the support newly qualified radiographers receive Essay

An investigation of the support newly qualified radiographers receive towards developing their CPD (continue professional development) in united kingdom - Essay Example While the desire and opportunity to develop learning and reflection from the practice take a back seat (Brown 2009). SOR (Society of Radiographers) clearly found that unlike CPD resource support to other health care workers, radiographers are not placed well. Hence post registration skill development has remained little, if any. But the role extension has been taken as common practice during the duration of service so radiographers too have moved up to clinical practice and higher academics and research (Henwood 2003). However, if the radiographers plan to remain in practice, then also CPD helps in achieving supervisory and/or specialist positions. Achieving higher positions is a biggest incentive for a radiographer to undertake CPD even if he has to arrange for it on his own. Due to work pressures however employers are reluctant to release staff for CPD (Brown, 2009). The radiography is considered a career with monotony and routine work, heavy workload with little credit and family consideration by the school students (Coombs et al, 2003). Moreover lack of clarity of a programme makes radiographe r reluctant to go for it. The present article attempts to critically evaluate the various CPD options available to radiographers for job satisfaction and career advancement. It has been clearly indicated by Department of Health (as cited in O'Donoghue, 2006, p92) allied health services personnel must regularly update their knowledge through CPD. Its working together-learning together document emphasised the need stating it necessary for improved patient care and better opportunities for professionals. The e-earning is preferred by higher education funding in UK since professionals can update knowledge without loss of time. The Society of Radiographers (SOR) has emphasised need for CPD, despite initial apprehension about its effectiveness. It has stated that radiographers "must maintain and strive to improve their professional knowledge and competence'... Every patient is entitled to be cared for by radiographers with relevant and up-to-date skills and expertise. Therefore all radiographers must undertake lifelong learning and will keep a record of their ongoing development activities... The Society and college considers that CPD, lifelong learning, peri odic appraisal and revalidation must be compulsory to ensure and maintain competence, as well as enabling radiographers to gain knowledge and competencies outside their scope of practice" (SOR 2009, p1). The radiographers' professional and other bodies thought of CPD when some efforts by NHS to appoint non-medical consultants did not succeed fully as there was lack of appropriately qualified and experienced consultants. Moreover, the clinical and educational pathways to prepare potential consultants are also ill defined (Hardy & Snaith, 2007). The study necessitates upgrading the basic training in radiography to make subsequent CPD effective. Cherry and Duxbury (1998) have felt that in spite of training at higher educational institutions i.e universities, the radiographers are equipped only with basic competences. The half life of this knowledge is only 2-5 years so it can not provide the competency for life time. It is more so in these times considering the rapid technology changes.

Rate In Malaysia From Construction Industry Construction Essay

Rate In Malaysia From Construction Industry Construction Essay In 2009, fatality rate in Malaysia from construction industry is the highest compared to the other industries. Although it decreases in 2010, it still remains as the top industry that contributes the most in terms of fatality. Social Security Organization (SOCSO) has reported that the number of victims in construction industry until September 2012 is the upmost among the others with 48 victims followed by manufacturing with 30 victims. The factors of these occupational accidents are crystal clear. Safety issues are always considered secondary and take a back seat in construction. They do not emphasize on safety because they do not know how high the actual cost of accident is until it occurs. For instance, health and safety laws from the industry are regulated by themselves and that shows many employers gave less priority to the safe workplace concept. A safe workplace should be harmless and accident-free. However, it is not possible for them to follow this exact rule because of profit, cost, time and quality. Not only that, human factors especially poor ergonomics, manual handling of heavy loads, misuse or failure of equipment, exposure to general hazards, and inadequate safety training are all the roots of this accident. The construction industry is a high risk industry because there is a high risk of accident occurrence. The statistics show that accident rate at construction site in Malaysia is still high. Therefore, preventive measures must be taken to prevent any occupational accidents. This includes Cleaner Production (CP) as an initiative whereby it is defined as the continuous application of an integrated preventative environmental strategy to processes, products and services to increase efficiency and reduce risks to humans and the environment. Usually CP is implementing to minimize the rates of waste and emission generation. However, CP also can be used to improve safety and prevent accidents at construction site. Thus, the sole purpose of this research is to study the efficiency of Cleaner Production (CP) options in improving safety level at construction site and minimizing the occupational accident cases. To fit onto the safety purposes for construction industry, CP involves elimination of risky activities, minimized the accidents and improved the safety awareness among construction workers. 2.0 Problem Statement Every year starting from 2009 until October 2012, statistic from SOCSO shows that construction industry in Malaysia is the most dangerous place to work by seeing the number of fatality occurs during that period. To avoid this from continually happen, a method need to be invented to diminish this problem. Implementation of cleaner production concept seems to be reliable and effective in order to solve this problem. For this research, a study will be made to propose cleaner production option for improving safety and minimize accident occurring at construction sites. 3.0 Objectives The objectives of this research are : a) To determine the most frequent accident cases and evaluate risk level of construction activities throughout site visits. b) To propose suitable CP options which can reduce the risk level at construction site. 4.0 Scope of Research High rise building construction site will be choosing as a site visit for data collection. All data that will be evaluated in this report will be obtained from survey form and interview sessions. The main focus for this research is to implement cleaner production option to reduce risk level at construction site. Thus, any conclusion and recommendation that will be made from this research will be based on this two important thing. 5.0 Literature Review 5.1 Construction industry in Malaysia Construction industry is recognized as one of the main contributors for economic growth in Malaysia. Statistic from Department of Statistic (DOS) shows that construction sector in Malaysia posted a double digit growth in 2010 with 11.1% average annual growth of gross output compared to 2005. This growth comes along with the increase of total workforce engaged from 551,755 people in 2005 to 974,488 in 2010. This gives a clear picture of how fast this industry had developed. However, with this positive growth, there are negative feedbacks along with it. In 2010, according to Department of Safety and Health (DOSH), construction industry were in the leading chart of the most industry that contribute to death with 66 numbers of victims, followed by manufacturing industry with 59 victims. The same pattern followed in 2012 as construction industry contributes the most number of victims. Whatever the growth of this sector is, it remains the most dangerous industries to work in. Figure 5.1 : Occupational accidents by sector for the category of death (DOSH, year 2012) 5.2 Hazard at construction sites There are two main category of hazard in construction sites (A Hamid, MZA Majid, B Singh, 2008) : The risk of physical injury or physical injury hazard. Hazard that associated with process of works or equipment used and climatic condition such as scaffolds, power access equipment and manual handling, ladder, roof work, plant and machinery, excavation, etc. Can cause direct injury at site and if severe can cause of death. The risk of ill health or health hazard. Health hazard in construction work may be grouped under chemical, physical and biological hazard. Can be notified after long term of period and shall cause sickness or death after certain period of time. 5.3 Types of accident 5.4 Introducing of cleaner production 5.5 Implement cleaner production option for safety at construction site 5.6 The important of Cleaner production option 6.0 Methodology Data and information were gathered through literature review from various sources which include from journal papers, articles, thesis and website which are listed in the reference. From that study, a design of interview session and questionnaire will be made according to the study. A site visit at construction place will be held for data collection. The data will be analyzed and evaluate using a simple statistical method to show a clear picture of the data( data from survey form). From the analysis, new CP option will be propose to reduce risk level oreliminate the accident. A period of time will be given for the implementation of CP option proposes. The effectiveness of the propose option will be evaluate by comparing frequency of accident occur before the implement of CP option with after the implementation of CP option. Figure : Summary of research methodology 7.0 Work Plan Week No. Activity 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 1 Site visit data collection 1 week break 2 Data Analysis 3 Propose and Implementation of CP option 4 Data Analysis 6 Final report article writing 8.0 Limitations Cannot cover other place of construction site. So, just restricted only to one high rise building of construction site.

Immelt: Reinventing General Electric

This case study was part of a strategy assignment taken at the SDA Bocconi School of Management. I’d like to thank my fellows Gouri Wagle, Felipe dell’Oro, Andrea Masina, Paolo Cerchiario, Ashna Suri-Sasmal and myself for the insights that contributed to put through this work. The issue: In September 2009, Ge’s Board of Directors reappointed Jeff Immelt as CEO. My team was asked to prepare a memo providing guidance on the following four qustions: 1. The key features of Immelt’s strategy for GE, in compariso to that of his predecessor, Jack Welch.While Jack Welch was mainly focused on short-term objectives, his successor, Jeff Immelt was more concerned about the long-term strategy. Welch’s leadership was characterized by risky projects that led to technological revolutions, aggressive cost cutting schemes and accurate performance measurements. On the other hand, Immelt emphasized organic growth, technological innovations and exploiting emerging oppor tunities. 2. To what extent has Immelt’s strategy been aligned (a) with developments in the external business environment since 2001 and (b) GE’s resources and capabilities?Jack Immelt’s strategy was very much aligned with the external business development and its key resources and capabilities. External business events that occurred during the period 2001-9 included: the destruction of the Twin Towers, Enron’s collapse, the Tyco International Scandal and the 2008-9 financial crisis which brought to light an increased awareness in corporate governance issues. The investment community believed GE hasn’t been transparent with the sources of their profits and subsequently short GE’s shares. GE was then downgraded from AAA to AA+.GE’s response was two fold with the aim of restoring investor confidence and maximizing their value. Firstly, GE improved communication with investors through more detailed financial reporting. Secondly, GE lever aged on its diversified portfolio in order to exploit strategic synergies that would lead to growth in emerging economies. Some of the initiatives included using brand reputation to gain floor in emerging economies such as India and China. In addition, its massive investments in R&Dresulted in new products such as â€Å"Smart Grid† and sodium battery.GE also exploited itsmanagerial capability to increase efficiency and reduce costs. Consequently, customer satisfaction and coherency within the organization ensued. 3. How well is the strategy performing? Complexity remains a significant challenge for many mega-institutions. The larger and more complex the company, the harder it is to perform extremely well. When Immelt took over from Jack Welch almost 8 years ago (as of April 2009), GE stock was trading at $53 a share. 8 years later, it’s at around $12.The company’s rating was AAA, the best, awarded to only a handful of enterprises, now it’s AA+. Looking at GE’s share price may give the impression the company destroyed value, but a close look at the company’s ROE shows that over the period, GE registered an average 19% ROE, which is quite impressive taking into consideration the company’s exposure to external business environments. Figure 1: GE’s stock against the S&P 500 and Siemens AG (2001-2009) Immelt may have made some mistakes during his tenure as GE’s CEO.GE’s financial arm invested into too risky businesses, including consumer credit cards and real estate. But one should note that before the financial crisis, GE made considerable profits coming primarily from the now-questioned investments in its financial division and no one could have predicted that the financial crisis could have been so pervasive. GE has been investing heavily in R&D and focusing in what it believed would be the business of tomorrow.Since his appointment, Immelt has been busy reshaping GE into one of the world†™s biggest problem solvers through its infrastructure, energy, transportation and health care divisions in a broad, high-payoff scope. Immelt made some smart divestitures. GE got out of subprime mortgages in 2007 and exited insurance before the sector depressed. Though GE Capital unit suffered huge reversals during the financial crisis, it never registered a loss and the company was able to limit its exposure.Overall, if we take into account the dividends GE paid to investors and all the meltdowns that occurred between 2001 and 2008, Immelt’s performance looks respectable and the company external and forward focus strategy may pay-off. 4. Is there a case for a radical change in strategy—specifically, should GE be broken up into a number of more specialized businesses (some of which would be floated as independent quoted companies, others might be sold to existing competitors)? A radical change wouldn’t be a solution for GE’s fate.GE is surely suffering a conglomerate discount because there’s a lack of tangible and intangible interrelationships among some of its business units. The emergence of GE Capital has created another significant business for GE. GE should therefore try to focus on its two core businesses and get rid of what is not related either to the industrial or to the financial businesses. GE Capital should be horizontally integrated to GE’s industrial business. In addition, GE should keep divesting underperforming and non-core businesses unless they create synergies within the conglomerate.GE should divest NBC Universal, the commercial lending and leasing, and the consumer and industrial businesses, which have registered negative growth since 2004. This could provide required capital to invest in high growth businesses. GE’s future as a successful conglomerate depends on its ability to harness cross-selling and cross-promotion between divisions, exploit scale advantages, differentiate itself from its direct competitors, maintain its role as a national champion, and be coherent with its culture and brand. Immelt: Reinventing General Electric This case study was part of a strategy assignment taken at the SDA Bocconi School of Management. I’d like to thank my fellows Gouri Wagle, Felipe dell’Oro, Andrea Masina, Paolo Cerchiario, Ashna Suri-Sasmal and myself for the insights that contributed to put through this work. The issue: In September 2009, Ge’s Board of Directors reappointed Jeff Immelt as CEO. My team was asked to prepare a memo providing guidance on the following four qustions: 1. The key features of Immelt’s strategy for GE, in compariso to that of his predecessor, Jack Welch.While Jack Welch was mainly focused on short-term objectives, his successor, Jeff Immelt was more concerned about the long-term strategy. Welch’s leadership was characterized by risky projects that led to technological revolutions, aggressive cost cutting schemes and accurate performance measurements. On the other hand, Immelt emphasized organic growth, technological innovations and exploiting emerging oppor tunities. 2. To what extent has Immelt’s strategy been aligned (a) with developments in the external business environment since 2001 and (b) GE’s resources and capabilities?Jack Immelt’s strategy was very much aligned with the external business development and its key resources and capabilities. External business events that occurred during the period 2001-9 included: the destruction of the Twin Towers, Enron’s collapse, the Tyco International Scandal and the 2008-9 financial crisis which brought to light an increased awareness in corporate governance issues. The investment community believed GE hasn’t been transparent with the sources of their profits and subsequently short GE’s shares. GE was then downgraded from AAA to AA+.GE’s response was two fold with the aim of restoring investor confidence and maximizing their value. Firstly, GE improved communication with investors through more detailed financial reporting. Secondly, GE lever aged on its diversified portfolio in order to exploit strategic synergies that would lead to growth in emerging economies. Some of the initiatives included using brand reputation to gain floor in emerging economies such as India and China. In addition, its massive investments in R&Dresulted in new products such as â€Å"Smart Grid† and sodium battery.GE also exploited itsmanagerial capability to increase efficiency and reduce costs. Consequently, customer satisfaction and coherency within the organization ensued. 3. How well is the strategy performing? Complexity remains a significant challenge for many mega-institutions. The larger and more complex the company, the harder it is to perform extremely well. When Immelt took over from Jack Welch almost 8 years ago (as of April 2009), GE stock was trading at $53 a share. 8 years later, it’s at around $12.The company’s rating was AAA, the best, awarded to only a handful of enterprises, now it’s AA+. Looking at GE’s share price may give the impression the company destroyed value, but a close look at the company’s ROE shows that over the period, GE registered an average 19% ROE, which is quite impressive taking into consideration the company’s exposure to external business environments. Figure 1: GE’s stock against the S&P 500 and Siemens AG (2001-2009) Immelt may have made some mistakes during his tenure as GE’s CEO.GE’s financial arm invested into too risky businesses, including consumer credit cards and real estate. But one should note that before the financial crisis, GE made considerable profits coming primarily from the now-questioned investments in its financial division and no one could have predicted that the financial crisis could have been so pervasive. GE has been investing heavily in R&D and focusing in what it believed would be the business of tomorrow.Since his appointment, Immelt has been busy reshaping GE into one of the world†™s biggest problem solvers through its infrastructure, energy, transportation and health care divisions in a broad, high-payoff scope. Immelt made some smart divestitures. GE got out of subprime mortgages in 2007 and exited insurance before the sector depressed. Though GE Capital unit suffered huge reversals during the financial crisis, it never registered a loss and the company was able to limit its exposure.Overall, if we take into account the dividends GE paid to investors and all the meltdowns that occurred between 2001 and 2008, Immelt’s performance looks respectable and the company external and forward focus strategy may pay-off. 4. Is there a case for a radical change in strategy—specifically, should GE be broken up into a number of more specialized businesses (some of which would be floated as independent quoted companies, others might be sold to existing competitors)? A radical change wouldn’t be a solution for GE’s fate.GE is surely suffering a conglomerate discount because there’s a lack of tangible and intangible interrelationships among some of its business units. The emergence of GE Capital has created another significant business for GE. GE should therefore try to focus on its two core businesses and get rid of what is not related either to the industrial or to the financial businesses. GE Capital should be horizontally integrated to GE’s industrial business. In addition, GE should keep divesting underperforming and non-core businesses unless they create synergies within the conglomerate.GE should divest NBC Universal, the commercial lending and leasing, and the consumer and industrial businesses, which have registered negative growth since 2004. This could provide required capital to invest in high growth businesses. GE’s future as a successful conglomerate depends on its ability to harness cross-selling and cross-promotion between divisions, exploit scale advantages, differentiate itself from its direct competitors, maintain its role as a national champion, and be coherent with its culture and brand.

Virginia Mason Medical Center - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 3 Words: 997 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/09/17 Category Health Essay Type Argumentative essay Did you like this example? Virginia Mason Medical Center Case 1. What is Gary Kaplan trying to achieve at Virginia Mason? Dr. Gary Kaplan was trying to achieve change at Virginia Mason. He envisioned the transformation of Virginia Mason Medical Center into the quality leader in health care and sought to lead the organization toward this vision. When Dr. Kaplan joined VMMC what attracted him to the medical field was a collaborative team approach and Virginia Masons’ unique culture that was created in the early 1900’s. With time VMMC started to face challenges, competition was fierce and VMMC soon began to experience financial troubles. In addition, its employees were unhappy and the staff morale around the hospital was declining. Kaplan noticed that change had to be made to the way VMMC ran its hospital. Kaplan proposed that VMMC follow Toyota Production System management method to restructure the way it ran its physicians, nurses and support staff. He felt that NMMC’s goals were similar to Toyota, especially putting the customer/patient first, focus on quality and safety, and a commitment to employees. Kaplan was trying to achieve this change while keeping the unique culture that VMMC began with so many years ago. . How does the Toyota Production System fit into his strategy? Dr. Kaplan and executives at VMMC had created a strategic plan focused on becoming the quality leader in healthcare; however he lacked a system to achieve this goal. Kaplan felt the Toyota Production System (TPS) was an appropriate match for the VMMC because of the similarities in goals that they both shared and desire to achieve them. VMMC’s new vision aligned with Toyota model including its priorities of putting the patient/customer first, along with satisfying quality, safety and its employees. Traditionally, VMMC had taken cost savings approaches by consolidated less profitable business lines (obstetrics, mental health) and reducing academic spending (travel, research ti me). Kaplan felt these activities were putting academics to the wayside. He sought to apply TPS for other cost savings opportunities such Just in Time (JIT) production. Similarly, he felt the detection of abnormalities in the production process could be applied to patient care. TPS was not the first production model to be imported into the health-care delivery organizations. For decades hospitals had tried several management models drawn from production industries such as Total Quality Management (TQM) and Six Sigma. VMMC has previously utilized TQM in the 1990s, but the concepts had failed to gain traction. Kaplan’s first strategy would be to get a visual of the current process that takes place. Value-stream mapping would give him a better idea of the gaps in VMMC’s work flow. Value-stream mapping would encompass patient check-in, visits, inventory and flow of equipment. Kaplan felt that by starting with the value-stream mapping it would set the base for the imp lementation of Virginia Mason Production System. By applying the plan of action that TPS used and modifying it to fit VMMC, within the year Kaplan started to see positive results from the various strategies that were exercised. 3. What is your view of the â€Å"people are not cars† debate? We agree with the statement that â€Å"people are not cars† and that each patient is unique when it comes to diseases, treatments, and personal emotions. With that being said, when a new process or system is in place some people have difficulties adjusting to change, they tend to look at the negative vs. the positive outcomes that can be achieved from a new model/process such as VMPS. Also, people tend to want change to take place immediately and that is not always the case. When something new is being implemented it will most likely take some time to reap the benefits. We believe that there are tangible benefits can be realized through the adaptation of the TPS model. Opponents a rgue the TPS system jeopardizes their autonomy and clinical creativity. However, the system adapted from TPS, actually seeks to maximize patient outcomes through the elimination of waste and efficiency improvements. In return freeing up more time for clinicians to spend with patients, families, or pursuing academic endeavors. 4. Is Kaplan’s approach transferable to other US hospitals? We believe that Kaplan’s approach is transferable to other US hospitals. Proven results have been demonstrated especially for the oncology or cardiovascular units. I think that these two departments will seek the most benefits from Kaplan’s approach. This approach was already tried by The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and they saw benefits early on in the transition process. For instance, they applied TPS and they immediately saw a decrease in patient waiting time, patient registration, medical chart and having supplies available. If UPMC is able to switch to a manufacturing model, then any other US hospital will be able to do the same as long as they are able to modify the process to their environment and culture. We believe VMMC was uniquely poised for success. The executives, board of directors, physician, and staff were willing to embrace change. VMMC was founded on the principles of teamwork to offer patients comprehensive medical care. To be replicated in other hospitals solid leadership and support must be obtained throughout the organization. A commitment to achieve the goal and belief in the strategic plan is essential. The implementation of VMPS has shed positive outlook on both the process and metrics. For example, the redesign of the physical layout for treatment rooms has not only improved the patients view but also it created more space so that physicians and nurses are maximizing their travel time and communication. Equally important, this new amount of space increased the number of visits from 120 to 188, a 57% inc rease and it also reduced patient travel per each visit from 1,600 feet to 375 feet, a 76% decrease. Moreover, the built-in pharmacy improved the delivery system which minimized the wait time from 2 hours to 20-30 minutes and 20 minutes to 1 minute respectively. This goes to prove that higher efficiency would also improve the hospitals metrics and quality. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Virginia Mason Medical Center" essay for you Create order