scholarly journals Understanding School Board Leaders Use of Online Resources to Inform Decision-Making | Examen de l’usage des ressources en ligne par les dirigeants des conseils scolaires pour guider les prises de décisions

2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Holding Kay ◽  
Loralea Carruthers
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
School Board ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Google Scholar ◽  
Online Resources ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Board Level ◽  
Inform Decision Making

In the past five years, there has been considerable interest in the decision-making process of school board officials in the field of education.  However, a paucity of research exists on how these leaders use online resources to make decisions.  Through an online survey and face to face interviews, this study examined the use of online resources by school-board trustees (n=164) to guide board-level decisions.  Trustees used online articles (news, research articles, journals) twice as much as social media (Twitter, Facebook, blogs) or repository services (clipping services, Google Scholar).  Almost 70% of trustees used three or more resources to inform their decision making.  Seventy-five to 85% of trustees rated online articles and repository services as being useful.   Trustees actively checked the trustworthiness of online resources by evaluating sources, cross-checking data, and asking colleagues.  Key barriers to using online resources included lack of time, finding reliable or relevant information, and negotiating conflicting results.  Some trustees wanted access to a third-party, repository of valid, reliable information.Au cours des cinq dernières années, le processus de prise de décisions des officiels des conseils scolaires a suscité un grand intérêt. Il existe cependant peu d’études sur la façon dont ces dirigeants utilisent les ressources en ligne pour guider leurs prises de décisions. Grâce à un sondage en ligne et à des entrevues menées en personne, la présente étude se penche sur l’usage que font les commissaires scolaires (n=164) des ressources en ligne pour appuyer les décisions du conseil. Les commissaires se servaient d’articles en ligne (actualités, articles de recherche, revues) deux fois plus que des réseaux sociaux (Twitter, Facebook, blogues) ou de services d’archivage (services de coupures de presse, Google Scholar). Près de 70 % des commissaires se servaient de trois ressources ou plus pour guider leurs décisions. De 75 % à 85 % des commissaires estimaient que les articles en ligne et les services d’archivage étaient utiles. Les commissaires vérifiaient activement la fiabilité des ressources en ligne en évaluant les sources, en recoupant les données et en demandant l’avis de collègues. Les principaux obstacles à l’usage des ressources en ligne comprenaient le manque de temps, la difficulté à trouver des renseignements fiables ou pertinents, et l’évaluation de résultats contradictoires. Certains commissaires souhaitaient accéder à des archives externes rassemblant des renseignements fiables et valides.

Some Varieties of Consent in Equity

2020 ◽  
pp. 313-332
Author(s):  
Simone Degeling
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Great Care ◽  
Undue Influence ◽  
Autonomous Decision ◽  
Fiduciary Relationships

This chapter studies the role of equity in preserving the autonomy of vulnerable members of the community. It focuses on the equitable domains of trusts, fiduciary relationships, undue influence, and unconscionability, where an imbalance of power exists in which one party has only limited or bounded ability to make decisions. Equity takes great care to protect the independence aspect of autonomous decision, but is less concerned about the availability of choice between meaningful options. A party will be deemed by equity as consenting if their agreement is anchored in freedom and information. Thus, great care is taken by the Courts of Chancery to ensure that no impediment to the exercise of the claimant's will was present in the circumstance. In addition, relevant information must be provided, and at times nothing less than independent advice from a third party would satisfy this requirement. Equity thus conscripts its particularistic nature to offer strong protection for two elements that are crucial for autonomous decision-making: freedom from coercion and information.

scholarly journals Impact of COVID-19 on digital medical education: compatibility of digital teaching and examinations with integrity and ethical principles

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Saskia Egarter ◽  
Anna Mutschler ◽  
Konstantin Brass
Keyword(s):  
Medical Education ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Web Search ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Ethical Principles ◽  
Technical Equipment ◽  
Additional Time ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Practical Examination ◽  
Medical Faculties

AbstractThe COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic in 2020 has had a lasting impact on all areas of personal life. However, the political, economic, legal and healthcare system, as well as the education system have also experienced the effects. Universities had to face new challenges and requirements in teaching and examinations as quickly as possible in order to be able to guarantee high-quality education for their students.This study aims to examine how the German-speaking medical faculties of the Umbrella Consortium of Assessment Network (UCAN) have dealt with the challenges but also the opportunities that the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic created in medical education and whether digitalisation has been driven forward as a result. In an initial online-survey we focused our questions on the current teaching situation with regard to digitised teaching content, the support or establishment of adequate framework conditions by the medical faculties and IT facilities and also the execution of examinations during the summer semester 2020.Between August and September 2020, a total of 88 examiners, educators, dean of study and/or technical admins from 32 partner faculties took part in the survey. Students were not included in our survey. Most respondents stated that a switch to a digital semester had worked, the use of e-learning increased compared to previous semesters and that most courses could be converted, with the exception of practical courses, which were largely cancelled. The respondents also indicated that most examinations could still be taken, with the exception of practical examination formats, like Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs). However, in the case of face-to-face examinations, strict distance and hygiene conditions had to be obeyed or there had to be a switch to distance-online examinations, which raised many open issues such as equal opportunities of students (technical equipment, internet access, premises) and attempts at deception (third-party help with the exam, mutual exchange between students, web search).In conclusion, we identified several issues regarding the rapid transition to a digital semester due to COVID-19 which were categorised into the following topics: Face-to-face teaching could not take place, (2) know-how of educators, (3) integrity aspects, (4) technical aspects, (5) additional personnel required, (6) additional time and effort required for implementation of digital teaching. Our study shows that a switch to digital teaching and distance online examinations is feasible, but many problems were encountered concerning academic integrity and basic ethical principles still need to be solved. In order to investigate whether above mentioned issued could be solved one year after the transition to a digital semester, we conducted a second survey in which the 32 initially surveyed institutions were questioned again.

scholarly journals Safeguarding injured Victorians: development and implementation of an evidence-informed system to manage therapeutic uncertainty and decision making in a compensable environment

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 493
Author(s):  
Lisa J. Sherry ◽  
Andrew M. Briggs ◽  
Tania Pizzari
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Discussion Paper ◽  
Current Form ◽  
Medical Board ◽  
Workplace Accidents ◽  
Emerging Treatments ◽  
Decision Making System ◽  
Inform Decision Making ◽  
Third Party Payers

WorkSafe Victoria and the Transport Accident Commission are two Victorian government agencies that determine the policies that guide decisions to fund treatments and services provided to Victorians injured in transport or workplace accidents. These agencies identified that an internal system was required to manage requests for funding of new or emerging treatments. In particular, the agencies recognised a system that supported consistency in decision making in the context of therapeutic uncertainty and ensured the safety of injured Victorians was needed. The New, Emerging or Non-Established Treatments (NENETs) policy was launched in its current form by the agencies in 2013. The NENETs system includes a record of contemporary evidence for emerging treatments and an evidence-informed decision-making system to ensure consistency and information sharing. A system of recording decisions on emerging treatments was also implemented to ensure that funding decisions could later be reversed if necessary. The NENETs system has proved to be a robust and sustainable method of managing uncertainty for WorkSafe Victoria and the Transport Accident Commission and could be transferable to other funding bodies. What is known about the topic?An algorithm to guide clinicians when prescribing off-label medications was developed in 2006, although it has not been used widely in everyday practice. In 2019 the Medical Board of Australia launched a discussion paper on ‘complementary and unconventional medicine and emerging treatments’ because no system for managing such treatments exists. Third-party payers have a responsibility to make objective and reliable decisions about new, emerging or non-established treatments to ensure high value care is offered to health consumers. What does this paper add?This paper provides an overview of the policy and decision-making system implemented by WorkSafe Victoria and the Transport Accident Commission to managing requests for new, emerging or non-established treatments. The system is adaptable to other third-party payers, health service funders and regulators in Australia and internationally. What are the implications for practitioners?It is important that practitioners caring for injured Victorians are aware of the systems used to inform decision making around requests for funding new, emerging or non-established treatments. Knowledge of the principles underlying this system may assist other funding bodies and the Medical Board of Australia to develop systems in other jurisdictions.

scholarly journals Medical Students in the United States Reveal Their Ideal Expectations to Help Planners of a New Library

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 168
Author(s):  
Aislinn Conway
Keyword(s):  
Medical Students ◽  
Resource Use ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
The United States ◽  
Independent Study ◽  
Online Resources ◽  
Easy Access ◽  
Natural Light ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Face To Face Instruction

A Review of: Aronoff, N. (2016). Surveying medical students to gauge library use and plan for a new medical library. Medical Reference Services Quarterly, 35(2), 187-203. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02763869.2016.1152144 Abstract Objective – To help plan for a new library by exploring student use of existing library services and identifying their priorities for the new space. Design – Online survey, sent via email. Setting – Medical school at a university in New York. Subjects – 585 medical students. Methods – The researchers emailed a 45-item online survey to all medical students enrolled at the school. Responses were anonymised and all questions were non-mandatory. Main results – 27% of students (157 out of 585) took part in the survey by answering at least one question. The questions were categorised into the following six topic areas: 1. Use of space and expectations for the new library space: More than half of the participants (67%) indicated that they rarely or never came to the library during the academic year in question. Of the students who reported frequenting the library on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, the majority indicated that they preferred independent study to group study. The following resources were ranked as very important for an ideal library space: sufficient electrical outlets, strong wireless connectivity, printing facilities, individual and quiet study spaces, comfortable seating, online resources, computers, windows/natural light, and group study spaces. Open-ended responses indicated that students desire close proximity to food and beverage services, large study tables to accommodate reading materials and technology, improved opening hours, and satisfactory bathroom facilities. 2. Where medical students study: Of the participants, one third of students reported studying at home, 21% chose to describe the physical characteristics of their place of study rather than name a place, 18% of students studied in multiple places, and 16% studied in the library. The remainder studied in another library, cafés, or other locations on campus. Online resource use was much higher than borrowing figures with the majority of students indicating that they had never borrowed a print book (77%), a reserve book (90%), or a DVD (96%). In addition, 92% indicated never consulting a print reference book. Online resources were used at least once a semester by 90% of students. 3. Resource use and expectations: Most students used lecture notes, presentations, websites, personal copies of books, clinical decision support tools, online tutorials or video content, electronic journal articles, recorded video or audio lectures, medical apps, electronic books, clinical practice guidelines, or pocket manuals or pocket guides. Print books from the library were the least exploited resources with only 13% of students reporting their use. 83% of students ranked online resources as the most important feature of an ideal library. 4. Equipment use and expectations for equipment and technology: In terms of equipment required for an ideal library space, 88% of students indicated printers, 78% computers, and 69% scanners. Therefore, easy access to electrical outlets and strong wireless connections were hugely important. 5. Services: Book or article requests were only sought monthly or once per semester by 18% and 7% of students respectively. More than half of students (54%) felt that assistance from a librarian was a very important or important feature of an ideal library space. However, 68% never consulted a librarian in the past and of those who did they did not do so frequently. In-person or email contact with a librarian was preferred over other methods of communication. 52% of respondents were not interested in training provided by the library. Of those who were, online and virtual training was preferred by 51% when compared to face to face instruction. 6. Additional Feedback: The vast majority of students (90%) indicated that they would be interested in using the library outside of the existing opening hours of 9:00a.m. to 5:00p.m., Monday to Friday. Regarding the overall library service, 53% of students were satisfied or very satisfied, 26% were neither satisfied nor unsatisfied, and 21% were unsatisfied or very unsatisfied. Lighting, electrical outlets, and having a place to get food and drink were also prioritized by students in this section of the survey. Conclusion – The author concluded that since convenience was considered an important factor by students when choosing their place of study, the increased proximity of the new library should attract more students. In accordance with student preferences, both individual and group study spaces are planned for the new library. Sufficient electrical outlets and a glass façade increasing the amount of natural light will feature in the building. Core textbooks and reference books will be made available in a small area onsite despite the fact that this did not feature in the original plan. Computers and printers will also feature in the new library for students who require equipment to facilitate their study activities. A computer lab to accommodate 30 students will enable face to face instruction on library resources. A professional librarian will not be based at the new library. In-person services will be available at another library with sufficient staffing.

Would you Make the Right Decision? – Decision Making Biases in Economy - Related Dilemmas

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-66
Author(s):  
Zsuzsanna Gödör ◽  
Georgina Szabó
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Framing Effect ◽  
Economic Knowledge ◽  
Bank Account ◽  
Financial Decisions ◽  
Hungarian Population ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Right ◽  
Decision Making Biases

Abstract As they say, money can’t buy happiness. However, the lack of it can make people’s lives much harder. From the moment we open our first bank account, we have to make lots of financial decisions in our life. Should I save some money or should I spend it? Is it a good idea to ask for a loan? How to invest my money? When we make such decisions, unfortunately we sometimes make mistakes, too. In this study, we selected seven common decision making biases - anchoring and adjustment, overconfidence, high optimism, the law of small numbers, framing effect, disposition effect and gambler’s fallacy – and tested them on the Hungarian population via an online survey. In the focus of our study was the question whether the presence of economic knowledge helps people make better decisions? The decision making biases found in literature mostly appeared in the sample as well. It proves that people do apply them when making decisions and in certain cases this could result in serious and costly errors. That’s why it would be absolutely important for people to learn about them, thus increasing their awareness and attention when making decisions. Furthermore, in our research we did find some connection between decisions and the knowledge of economics, people with some knowledge of economics opted for the better solution in bigger proportion

The use of a Domain Ontology for the Management of Essential Hypertension (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Chavez ◽  
Vanessa Perez ◽  
Angélica Urrutia
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Essential Hypertension ◽  
Medical History ◽  
Medical Records ◽  
Medical Training ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Domain Ontology ◽  
Free Text ◽  
Snomed Ct ◽  
History Of

BACKGROUND : Currently, hypertension is one of the diseases with greater risk of mortality in the world. Particularly in Chile, 90% of the population with this disease has idiopathic or essential hypertension. Essential hypertension is characterized by high blood pressure rates and it´s cause is unknown, which means that every patient might requires a different treatment, depending on their history and symptoms. Different data, such as history, symptoms, exams, etc., are generated for each patient suffering from the disease. This data is presented in the patient’s medical record, in no order, making it difficult to search for relevant information. Therefore, there is a need for a common, unified vocabulary of the terms that adequately represent the diseased, making searching within the domain more effective. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study is to develop a domain ontology for essential hypertension , therefore arranging the more significant data within the domain as tool for medical training or to support physicians’ decision making will be provided. METHODS The terms used for the ontology were extracted from the medical history of de-identified medical records, of patients with essential hypertension. The Snomed-CT’ collection of medical terms, and clinical guidelines to control the disease were also used. Methontology was used for the design, classes definition and their hierarchy, as well as relationships between concepts and instances. Three criteria were used to validate the ontology, which also helped to measure its quality. Tests were run with a dataset to verify that the tool was created according to the requirements. RESULTS An ontology of 310 instances classified into 37 classes was developed. From these, 4 super classes and 30 relationships were obtained. In the dataset tests, 100% correct and coherent answers were obtained for quality tests (3). CONCLUSIONS The development of this ontology provides a tool for physicians, specialists, and students, among others, that can be incorporated into clinical systems to support decision making regarding essential hypertension. Nevertheless, more instances should be incorporated into the ontology by carrying out further searched in the medical history or free text sections of the medical records of patients with this disease.

scholarly journals Teleconsultation and Teletreatment Protocol to Diagnose and Manage Patients with Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) during the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (01) ◽  
pp. e141-e149
Author(s):  
Renato Gonzaga Barreto ◽  
Darío Andrés Yacovino ◽  
Lázaro Juliano Teixeira ◽  
Mayanna Machado Freitas
Keyword(s):  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo ◽  
Good Clinical Practice ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Remote Access ◽  
Vestibular Disorder ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Positional Vertigo ◽  
Video And Audio ◽  
Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo

Abstract Introduction Telehealth consists in the application of technology to provide remote health service. This resource is considered safe and effective and has attracted an exponential interest in the context of the COVID pandemic. Expanded to dizzy patients, it would be able to provide diagnosis and treatment, minimizing the risk of disease transmission. Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is the most common vestibular disorder. The diagnosis typically rests on the description of the symptoms along with the nystagmus observed at a well-established positional testing. Objectives The aim of the present study was to propose a teleconsultation and teletreatment protocol to manage patients with BPPV during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Specialists in the vestibular field met through remote access technologies to discuss the best strategy to manage BPPV patients by teleconsultation and teletreatment system. Additionally, several scientific sources were consulted. Technical issues, patient safety, and clinical assessment were independently analyzed. All relevant information was considered in order to design a clinical protocol to manage BPPV patients in the pandemic context. Results Teleconsultation for BPPV patients requires a double way (video and audio) digital system. An adapted informed consent to follow good clinical practice statements must be considered. The time, trigger and target eye bedside examination (TiTRaTe) protocol has proven to be a valuable first approach. The bow and lean test is the most rational screening maneuver for patients with suspected positional vertigo, followed by most specific maneuvers to diagnostic the sub-variants of BPPV. Conclusion Although with limited evidence, teleconsultation and teletreatment are both reasonable and feasible strategies for the management of patients with BPPV in adverse situations for face-to-face consultation.

scholarly journals Individual differences in experienced and observational decision-making illuminate interactions between reinforcement learning and declarative memory

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Batel Yifrah ◽  
Ayelet Ramaty ◽  
Genela Morris ◽  
Avi Mendelsohn
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Reinforcement Learning ◽  
Declarative Memory ◽  
Contextual Information ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Subjective Memory ◽  
Types Of Information ◽  
Reinforcement Learning Models ◽  
Implicit And Explicit

AbstractDecision making can be shaped both by trial-and-error experiences and by memory of unique contextual information. Moreover, these types of information can be acquired either by means of active experience or by observing others behave in similar situations. The interactions between reinforcement learning parameters that inform decision updating and memory formation of declarative information in experienced and observational learning settings are, however, unknown. In the current study, participants took part in a probabilistic decision-making task involving situations that either yielded similar outcomes to those of an observed player or opposed them. By fitting alternative reinforcement learning models to each subject, we discerned participants who learned similarly from experience and observation from those who assigned different weights to learning signals from these two sources. Participants who assigned different weights to their own experience versus those of others displayed enhanced memory performance as well as subjective memory strength for episodes involving significant reward prospects. Conversely, memory performance of participants who did not prioritize their own experience over others did not seem to be influenced by reinforcement learning parameters. These findings demonstrate that interactions between implicit and explicit learning systems depend on the means by which individuals weigh relevant information conveyed via experience and observation.

scholarly journals A Better Learning Community: Mixed-Methods Reveal Medical Student Preferences with Implications for Learning Community Design and Implementation

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 238212052110148
Author(s):  
Jasna Vuk ◽  
Steven McKee ◽  
Sara Tariq ◽  
Priya Mendiratta
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Free Form ◽  
University Of Arkansas ◽  
Medical Sciences ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Personal Support ◽  
School Learning ◽  
The University

Background: Medical school learning communities benefit students. The College of Medicine (COM) at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) provides medical students with academic, professional, and personal support through a learning community (LC) made of 7 academic houses. Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of the academic house model at UAMS utilizing a mixed-methods survey. The aims were to: (1) assess student experience and satisfaction with academic houses, (2) describe the realms of advising and guidance, and (3) identify areas for improvement. Method: An online survey was assigned to 723 COM students (all students enrolled, first through fourth years) at UAMS in March 2019. The survey was comprised of 25 items (10 multiple-choice, 8 on the Likert scale, and 7 open-ended questions). Data was depicted using frequency and percentages and/or thematic review of free-form responses. Results: The survey response rate was 31% (227 students). The majority of students responding (132, 58.1%) attended 2 or more face-to-face meetings with the faculty advisor within the preceding year. However, 27 (11.9%) students did not have any meetings. Approximately two-thirds of the respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with the guidance and direction provided by their advisors [very satisfied (n = 83; 36.6%); satisfied (n = 77; 33.9%)]. Themes that emerged from student generated areas for improvement include time constraints, advisor/advisee interest mismatch, and perceived inadequacy of advising content/connections. Conclusions: This study confirms the effectiveness of the LC model for advising and mentoring in the COM at UAMS. Uniquely, this study identifies not only learners’ satisfaction with their LC but also highlights areas for improvement which are widely generalizable and important to consider for institutions with or planning to start an LC.

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