Trade unionism in the UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Trade unionism in the UK - Essay Example They organise a particular section of skilled or unskilled workers and with them as members of the Union, the office bearers become the legal representatives of such workers and union by attaining the power of representing them in all matters of employment and thus, in most of the countries they attain the status of an important legal entity. They negotiate collectively on behalf of their members over pay, working hours, wages, terms and conditions, cleanliness, perks, benefits, pensions, etc. If bargaining fails, Unions can undertake industrial action and strike and can cause immense harm to a well-running business and in major cases, to the economy of the entire country. Since the late 1970s there had been a rapid decline in unionisation in UK. This failure had been attributed to the inability of unions to organise new establishments in the same lines as they did twenty years ago, though it is not as simple as that. "The sharpest falls in unionization occurred in private manufacturing establishments set up post-1980, with significant falls also occurring, but from a lower initial level, in private sector services" http://158.143.49.27/machin/pdf/bjir2000.pdf There had been overwhelming arguments that the age of establishments has a lot to do with the decline of unions. Younger organisations pitted against the older ones, have shown totally different trends of conducting business, recruiting people, retaining them, or even retrenching them, to which unions are not fast enough to adjust themselves. "Finally, there is some evidence that age of workplace, rather than age of worker, is the critical age based factor as the negative association with unionization is found for all age groups in workplaces set up post-1980" ibid. Unions of yore had different sets of principles and ways of working. They were mainly centralised with highly centred authority wielded by the Union Leaders, who could sway the entire massive group of workers by a word or deed. In recent years, this trend has received a set back, with more and more vociferous demands by workers for a democratic set up. "Since the 1960s a democratic ethos has developed within the trade union movement Whilstleaderships may be formally in control, their power is constrained and checked on a number of issues (Hodgson 1981: 135)", in Webb (1992, p.83). Lately, there had been extensive arguments about the possible reasons for decline of Trade Unions in Britain. As a matter of fact, it is a universal trend, which came before the globalisation started and Britain had only been part of it. Her participation in the decline could not be stemmed and we have to agree that the influence and strength of trade unions have definitely suffered a major set back, with managements having an upper hand in every situation. "In the economic arena, unions face more confident managements, implementing politics of restructuring often without explicit reference to Unions. No longer are trade union leaderships party to the formulation of policy and programmes which take into account the specific concerns and interests of their memberships," Fairbrother (2000, p.10). The trend started with a steady decline in trade union membership. In last three decades and to put it mildly, it had been

Human memory Essay Example for Free

Human memory Essay The investigation into whether images aid memory recall has been fairly successful. The experimental hypothesis: participants in condition 1(words with images) would perform better than those in condition 2 (words without images), has been rejected therefore the null hypothesis: there will be no difference in condition 1 (involving grid of random words supported by images) and condition 2 (only consisting of random words) has been accepted. Only to some extent from the line graph (Condition 1 vs. Condition 2), can we say condition 1 (words with images) recalled more words than those in condition 2 (words without images) because the line for condition 1 is generally above the line for condition 2 and this fairly supports the experimental hypothesis. The results measured using central tendency and measures of dispersion moderately support the experimental hypothesis. The mean and median for condition 1 (14. 1 14. 5) was greater than of condition 2 (12. 6 13. 5) indicating that there is a better recall when words are companied by visual aid and this supports the experimental hypothesis. The range (11) illustrated that data for both conditions were equally spread out, which does not necessary support the experimental hypothesis. Standard deviation, a more reliable measure of the dispersion than range has shown data in condition 2 (3. 977715704) is slightly more spread out than in condition 1 (3. 604010112). Descriptive statistics (numerical graphical) have illustrated that condition 1 (words with images) performed better and this supports the experimental hypothesis. Not only do the numerical statistics support the hypothesis but the results are fairly pronounced, simply by looking at the line graph (graphical statistics); there is definitely a difference between both conditions although the Mann-Whitney U-test shows this to be below the level of significance. Inferential statistics, which enable us to draw clear conclusions about the likelihood of the hypothesis being true, is evidence for accepting the null hypothesis. The implication of the results measured using a non-parametric method, The Mann-Whitney U-test clearly shows that at the significance level of 0. 05, the results were very likely to have happened by chance. Though the observed value, 35 is greater than the critical value of 23 but only by 10. Comparatively, the findings of this study support previous theory and research but also are contrary to them. Bower, 1972 imagery recall experiment found that participants, who used imagery, recalled 80% of the words compared to only 45% by the non-imagers. In this investigation, participants in condition 1 (words with images) recalled 70. 5% of the words compared to 63% by the non-imagers. My investigation does support Bowers findings, since there is a difference however the differences between the two conditions is not significant. Previous research does suggest that data in STM is stored in an acoustic manner this was demonstrated by Conrad (1964). Illustrating people may not always use visual codes to remember data and this supports the null hypothesis; in addition Baddeleys (1966) study suggests that data is also stored semantically and this again illustrates that people may not always use visual codes. A possible problem with this experiment is the experimental design which lacks ecological validity and also does not account for individual differences. The study used independent groups, which meant it lacked control of participant variable and needed more participants. A matched participant design could have been used instead to deal with participant variables as participants are matched on key variables such as age and memory ability. Another problem of the study was the sample size. The study only used 20 participants, a small sample; therefore findings cannot be generalised to the rest of the population. So, a larger sample size of 50+ would be more representative and can be generalised. In addition, the investigation used opportunity sampling, which is very biased, and again it cannot be generalised. Random sampling would be the best method to select participants since it is potentially unbiased. An additional problem was the images used; some of the images were cartoon images (i. e. bible pizza) and others were actual photographs (real life images, i. e. greenhouse). This may have been a problem since real life images may possibly be easier to remember than cartoon images or vice versa. To resolve such problem, would be by using only cartoon images alone or only real life images. The recall between genders may have wider implications: on the whole men have performed better than women, when studies have shown women should perform better than men. For example; women perform better than men in tasks such as verbal learning remembering tasks, name face association, and first last name associations learning (Larrabee and Crook, 1993). Ideas for a follow up research study is the effects of gender recall and discover if there is a significant effect for the sex of a participant on the types of gender associated images recalled and to compare the effects of visual and semantic codes in depth. There is evidence to illustrate that people do remember more with the aid of visual representation and evidence to illustrate people remember more without any visual representation. This itself suggests people do remember data and information differently (individual differences), i. e. acoustically, semantically. Therefore it is important to recognize these findings as they have strong insinuations for its involvement in everyday life, for example with teaching, revision and marketing. References Bibliography Atkinson, R. C. Shiffrin, R. M. (1968) Human memory: A proposed system and its control processes. In K. W. Spence and J. T. Spence (Eds. ), The psychology of learning and motivation, vol. 8. London: Academic Press Baddeley, A. D. (1966) Encoding in LTM: The influence of acoustic and semantic similarity on long-term memory for word sequences. Quart. J. exp. Psychol. , 18, 302-9 Bahrick, H. P. (1975) The nature of LTM: Fifty years of memory for names and faces: A cross-sectional approach, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, vol. 104, pp. 54-75

Anne Moodys Coming of Age in Mississippi :: Anne Moody Coming Age Mississippi

In this autobiography of Anne Moody a.k.a. Essie Mae as she is often called in the book, is the struggles for rights that poor black Americans had in Mississippi. Things in her life lead her to be such an activist in the fight for black equality during this time. She had to go through a lot of adversity growing up like being beat, house being burned down, moving to different school, and being abuse by her mom's boyfriend. One incident that would make Anne Moody curious about racism in the south was the incident in the Movie Theater with the first white friends she had made. The other was the death of Emmett Tillman and other racial incidents that would involve harsh and deadly circumstances. These this would make Miss Moody realize that this should not be tolerated in a free world. First time she ever accounts racism was at the Movie Theater, before she had even realized what it was. This incident made her start questioning what racism was and what made blacks and whites different. In Centreville, Mississippi where she lived with her mother and a sister (Adline) and brother (Junior). In Centreville they meet two other kids that just had happened to be white. Essie Mae had never been a friend with white kids. The two white children Katie and Bill would always ride their bikes and skates in front of Essie Mae yard. So they got their attention on one afternoon by making Indian noises to draw them to play with the others. Katie and Bill would let Essie ride their bikes and skates all the time, the others where too young to let them try. So they would grow a close relationship not knowing what others might think of these two groups playing. Every Saturday Essie's mother would always take them to the movies, where the blacks would have to seat in the balcony and whites could seat in the bottom level. But they saw Katie and Bill there so Essie and her bother and sister followed them to the bottom level. While mother was not noticing what was going on, when mother noticed she began to start yelling and pulling them out the door. The children begun to cry this would make mom just leave the Movie Theater.

Foundation and Empire 26. End Of The Search

There was not a word to be said. The echoes of the blast rolled away into the outer rooms and rumbled downward into a hoarse, dying whisper. Before its death, it had muffled the sharp clamor of Bayta's falling blaster, smothered Magnifico's high-pitched cry, drowned out Toran's inarticulate roar. There was a silence of agony. Bayta's head was bent into obscurity. A droplet caught the light as it fell. Bayta had never wept since her childhood. Toran's muscles almost cracked in their spasm, but he did not relax – he felt as if he would never unclench his teeth again. Magnifico's face was a faded, lifeless mask. Finally, from between teeth still tight, Toran choked out in an unrecognizable voice, â€Å"You're a Mule's woman, then. He got to you!† Bayta looked up, and her mouth twisted with a painful merriment, â€Å"I, a Mule's woman? That's ironic.† She smiled – a brittle effort – and tossed her hair back. Slowly, her voice verged back to the normal, or something near it. â€Å"It's over, Toran; I can talk now. How much I will survive, I don't know. But I can start talking-â€Å" Toran's tension had broken of its own weight and faded into a flaccid dullness, â€Å"Talk about what, Bay? What's there to talk about?† â€Å"About the calamity that's followed us. We've remarked about it before, Torie. Don't you remember? How defeat has always bitten at our heels and never actually managed to nip us? We were on the Foundation, and it collapsed while the Independent Traders still fought – but we got out in time to go to Haven. We were on Haven, and it collapsed while the others still fought – and again we got out in time. We went to Neotrantor, and by now it's undoubtedly joined the Mule.† Toran listened and shook his head, â€Å"I don't understand.† â€Å"Torie, such things don't happen in real life. You and I are insignificant people; we don't fall from one vortex of politics into another continuously for the space of a year – unless we carry the vortex with us. Unless we carry the source of infection with us! Now do you see?† Toran's lips tightened. His glance fixed horribly upon the bloody remnants of what had once been a human, and his eyes sickened. â€Å"Let's get out of here, Bay. Let's get out into the open.† It was cloudy outside. The wind scudded about them in drab spurts and disordered Bayta's hair. Magnifico had crept after them and now he hovered at the edge of their conversation. Toran said tightly, â€Å"You killed Ebling Mis because you believed him to be the focus of infection?† Something in her eyes struck him. He whispered, â€Å"He was the Mule?† He did not – could not – believe the implications of his own words. Bayta laughed sharply, â€Å"Poor Ebling the Mule? Galaxy, no! I couldn't have killed him if he were the Mule. He would have detected the emotion accompanying the move and changed it for me to love, devotion, adoration, terror, whatever he pleased. No, I killed Ebling because he was not the Mule. I killed him because he knew where the Second Foundation was, and in two seconds would have told the Mule the secret.† â€Å"Would have told the Mule the secret,† Toran repeated stupidly. â€Å"Told the Mule-â€Å" And then he emitted a sharp cry, and turned to stare in horror at the clown, who might have been crouching unconscious there for the apparent understanding he had of what he heard. â€Å"Not Magnifico?† Toran whispered the question. â€Å"Listen!† said Bayta. â€Å"Do you remember what happened on Neotrantor? Oh, think for yourself, Torie-â€Å" But he shook his head and mumbled at her. She went on, wearily, â€Å"A man died on Neotrantor. A man died with no one touching him. Isn't that true? Magnifico played on his Visi-Sonor and when he was finished, the crown prince was dead. Now isn't that strange? Isn't it queer that a creature afraid of everything, apparently helpless with terror, has the capacity to kill at will.† â€Å"The music and the light-effects,† said Toran, â€Å"have a profound emotional effect-â€Å" â€Å"Yes, an emotional effect. A pretty big one. Emotional effects happen to be the Mule's specialty. That, I suppose, can be considered a coincidence. And a creature who can kill by suggestion is so full of fright. Well, the Mule tampered with his mind, supposedly, so that can be explained. But, Toran, I caught a little of that Visi-Sonor selection that killed the crown prince. Just a little – but it was enough to give me that same feeling of despair I had in the Time Vault and on Haven. Toran, I can't mistake that particular feeling.† Toran's face was darkening. â€Å"I†¦ felt it, too. I forgot. I never thought-â€Å" â€Å"It was then that it first occurred to me. It was just a vague feeling – intuition, if you like. I had nothing to go on. And then Pritcher told us of the Mule and his mutation, and it was clear in a moment. It was the Mule who had created the despair in the Time Vault; it was Magnifico who had created the despair on Neotrantor. It was the same emotion. Therefore, the Mule and Magnifico were the same person. Doesn't it work out nicely, Torie? Isn't it just like an axiom in geometry – things equal to the same thing are equal to each other?† She was at the edge of hysteria, but dragged herself back to sobriety by main force. She continued, â€Å"The discovery scared me to death. If Magnifico were the Mule, he could know my emotions – and cure them for his own purposes. I dared not let him know. I avoided him. Luckily, he avoided me also; he was too interested in Ebling Mis. I planned killing Mis before he could talk. I planned it secretly – as secretly as I could – so secretly I didn't dare tell it to myself. â€Å"If I could have killed the Mule himself – But I couldn't take the chance. He would have noticed, and I would have lost everything.† She seemed drained of emotion. Toran said harshly and with finality, â€Å"It's impossible. Look at the miserable creature. He the Mule? He doesn't even hear what we're saying.† But when his eyes followed his pointing finger, Magnifico was erect and alert, his eyes sharp and darkly bright. His voice was without a trace of an accent, â€Å"I hear her, my friend. It is merely that I have been sitting here and brooding on the fact that with all my cleverness and forethought I could make a mistake, and lose so much.† Toran stumbled backward as if afraid the clown might touch him or that his breath might contaminate him. Magnifico nodded, and answered the unspoken question. â€Å"I am the Mule.† He seemed no longer a grotesque; his pipestem limbs, his beak of a nose lost their humor-compelling qualities. His fear was gone; his bearing was firm. He was in command of the situation with an ease born of usage. He said, tolerantly, â€Å"Seat yourselves. Go ahead; you might as well sprawl out and make yourselves comfortable. The game's over, and I'd like to tell you a story. It's a weakness of mine – I want people to understand me.† And his eyes as he looked at Bayta were still the old, soft sad brown ones of Magnifico, the clown. â€Å"There is nothing really to my childhood,† he began, plunging bodily into quick, impatient speech, â€Å"that I care to remember. Perhaps you can understand that. My meagerness is glandular; my nose I was born with. It was not possible for me to lead a normal childhood. My mother died before she saw me. I do not know my father. I grew up haphazard, wounded and tortured in mind, full of self-pity and hatred of others. I was known then as a queer child. All avoided me; most out of dislike; some out of fear. Queer incidents occurred – Well, never mind! Enough happened to enable Captain Pritcher, in his investigation of my childhood to realize that I was a mutant, which was more than I ever realized until I was in my twenties.† Toran and Bayta listened distantly. The wash of his voice broke over them, seated on the ground as they were, unheeded almost. The clown – or the Mule – paced before them with little steps, speaking downward to his own folded arms. â€Å"The whole notion of my unusual power seems to have broken on me so slowly, in such sluggish steps. Even toward the end, I couldn't believe it. To me, men's minds are dials, with pointers that indicate the prevailing emotion. It is a poor picture, but how else can I explain it? Slowly, I learned that I could reach into those minds and turn the pointer to the spot I wished, that I could nail it there forever. And then it took even longer to realize that others couldn't. â€Å"But the consciousness of power came, and with it, the desire to make up for the miserable position of my earlier life. Maybe you can understand it. Maybe you can try to understand it. It isn't easy to be a freak – to have a mind and an understanding and be a freak. Laughter and cruelty! To be different! To be an outsider! â€Å"You've never been through it!† Magnifico looked up to the sky and teetered on the balls of his feet and reminisced stonily, â€Å"But I eventually did learn, and I decided that the Galaxy and I could take turns. Come, they had had their innings, and I had been patient about it – for twenty-two years. My turn! It would be up to the rest of you to take it! And the odds would be fair enough for the Galaxy. One of me! Quadrillions of them!† He paused to glance at Bayta swiftly. â€Å"But I had a weakness. I was nothing in myself. If I could gain power, it could only be by means of others. Success came to me through middlemen. Always! It was as Pritcher said. Through a pirate, I obtained my first asteroidal base of operations. Through an industrialist I got my first foothold on a planet. Through a variety of others ending with the warlord of Kalgan, I won Kalgan itself and got a navy. After that, it was the Foundation – and you two come into the story. â€Å"The Foundation,† he said, softly, â€Å"was the most difficult task I had met. To beat it, I would have to win over, break down, or render useless an extraordinary proportion of its ruling class. I could have done it from scratch – but a short cut was possible, and I looked for it. After all, if a strong man can lift five hundred pounds, it does not mean that he is eager to do so continuously. My emotional control is not an easy task, I prefer not to use it, where not fully necessary. So I accepted allies in my first attack upon the Foundation. â€Å"As my clown, I looked for the agent, or agents, of the Foundation that must inevitably have been sent to Kalgan to investigate my humble self. I know now it was Han Pritcher I was looking for. By a stroke of fortune, I found you instead. I am a telepath, but not a complete one, and, my lady, you were from the Foundation. I was led astray by that. It was not fatal for Pritcher joined us afterward, but it was the starting point of an error that was fatal.† Toran stirred for the first time. He spoke in an outraged tone, â€Å"Hold on, now. You mean that when I outfaced that lieutenant on Kalgan with only a stun pistol, and rescued you – that you had emotionally-controlled me into it.† He was spluttering. â€Å"You mean I've been tampered with all along.† A thin smile played on Magnifico's face. â€Å"Why not? You don't think it's likely? Ask yourself then – Would you have risked death for a strange grotesque you had never seen before, if you had been in your right mind? I imagine you were surprised at events in cold after-blood.† â€Å"Yes,† said Bayta, distantly, â€Å"he was. It's quite plain.† â€Å"As it was,† continued the Mule, â€Å"Toran was in no danger. The lieutenant had his own strict instructions to let us go. So the three of us and Pritcher went to the Foundation – and see how my campaign shaped itself instantly. When Pritcher was court-martialed and we were present, I was busy. The military judges of that trial later commanded their squadrons in the war. They surrendered rather easily, and my Navy won the battle of Horleggor, and other lesser affairs. â€Å"Through Pritcher, I met Dr. Mis, who brought me a Visi-Sonor, entirely of his own accord, and simplified my task immensely. Only it wasn't entirely of his own accord.† Bayta interrupted, â€Å"Those concerts! I've been trying to fit them in. Now I see.† â€Å"Yes,† said Magnifico, â€Å"the Visi-Sonor acts as a focusing device. In a way, it is a primitive device for emotional control in itself. With it, I can handle people in quantity and single people more intensively. The concerts I gave on Terminus before it fell and Haven before it fell contributed to the general defeatism. I might have made the crown prince of Neotrantor very sick without the Visi-Sonor, but I could not have killed him. You see? â€Å"But it was Ebling Mis who was my most important find. He might have been-† Magnifico said it with chagrin, then hurried on, â€Å"There is a special facet to emotional control you do not know about. Intuition or insight or hunch-tendency, whatever you wish to call it, can be treated as an emotion. At least, I can treat it so. You don't understand it, do you?† He waited for no negative, â€Å"The human mind works at low efficiency. Twenty percent is the figure usually given. When, momentarily, there is a flash of greater power it is termed a hunch, or insight, or intuition. I found early that I could induce a continual use of high brain-efficiency. It is a killing process for the person affected, but it is useful. The nuclear field-depressor which I used in the war against the Foundation was the result of high-pressuring a Kalgan technician. Again I work through others. â€Å"Ebling Mis was the bull's-eye. His potentialities were high, and I needed him. Even before my war with the Foundation had opened, I had already sent delegates to negotiate with the Empire. It was at that time I began my search for the Second Foundation. Naturally, I didn't find it. Naturally, I knew that I must find it – and Ebling Mis was the answer. With his mind at high efficiency, he might possibly have duplicated the work of Hari Seldon. â€Å"Partly, he did. I drove him to the utter limit. The process was ruthless, but had to be completed. He was dying at the end, but he lived-† Again, his chagrin interrupted him. â€Å"He would have lived long enough. Together, we three could have gone onward to the Second Foundation. It would have been the last battle – but for my mistake.† Toran stirred his voice to hardness, â€Å"Why do you stretch it out so? What was your mistake, and†¦ and have done with your speech.† â€Å"Why, your wife was the mistake. Your wife was an unusual person. I had never met her like before in my life. I†¦ I-† Quite suddenly, Magnifico's voice broke. He recovered with difficulty. There was a grimness about him as he continued. â€Å"She liked me without my having to juggle her emotions. She was neither repelled by me nor amused by me. She liked me! â€Å"Don't you understand? Can't you see what that would mean to me? Never before had anyone – Well, I†¦ cherished that. My own emotions played me false, though I was master of all others. I stayed out of her mind, you see; I did not tamper with it. I cherished the natural feeling too greatly. It was my mistake – the first. â€Å"You, Toran, were under control. You never suspected me; never questioned me; never saw anything peculiar or strange about me. As for instance, when the ‘Filian' ship stopped us. They knew our location, by the way, because I was in communication with them, as I've remained in communication with my generals at all times. When they stopped us, I was taken aboard to adjust Han Pritcher, who was on it as a prisoner. When I left, he was a colonel, a Mule's man, and in command. The whole procedure was too open even for you, Toran. Yet you accepted my explanation of the matter, which was full of fallacies. See what I mean?† Toran grimaced, and challenged him, â€Å"How did you retain communications with your generals?† â€Å"There was no difficulty to it. Hyperwave transmitters are easy to handle and eminently portable. Nor could I be detected in a real sense! Anyone who did catch me in the act would leave me with a slice gapped out of his memory. It happened, on occasion. â€Å"On Neotrantor, my own foolish emotions betrayed me again. Bayta was not under my control, but even so might never have suspected me if I had kept my head about the crown prince. His intentions towards Bayta – annoyed me. â€Å"I killed him. It was a foolish gesture. An unobtrusive flight would have served as well. â€Å"And still your suspicions would not have been certainties, if I had stopped Pritcher in his well-intentioned babbling, or paid less attention to Mis and more to you-† He shrugged. â€Å"That's the end of it?† asked Bayta. â€Å"That's the end.† â€Å"What now, then?† â€Å"I'll continue with my program. That I'll find another as adequately brained and trained as Ebling Mis in these degenerate days, I doubt. I shall have to search for the Second Foundation otherwise. In a sense you have defeated me.† And now Bayta was upon her feet, triumphant. â€Å"In a sense? Only in a sense? We have defeated you entirely! All your victories outside the Foundation count for nothing, since the Galaxy is a barbarian vacuum now. The Foundation itself is only a minor victory, since it wasn't meant to stop your variety of crisis. It's the Second Foundation you must beat – the Second Foundation – and it's the Second Foundation that will defeat you. Your only chance was to locate it and strike it before it was prepared. You won't do that now. Every minute from now on, they will be readier for you. At this moment, at this moment, the machinery may have started. You'll know – when it strikes you, and your short term of power will be over, and you'll be just another strutting conqueror, flashing quickly and meanly across the bloody face of history.† She was breathing hard, nearly gasping in her vehemence, â€Å"And we've defeated you, Toran and I. I am satisfied to die.† But the Mule's sad, brown eyes were the sad, brown, loving eyes of Magnifico. â€Å"I won't kill you or your husband. It is, after all, impossible for you two to hurt me further; and killing you won't bring back Ebling Mis. My mistakes were my own, and I take responsibility for them. Your husband and yourself may leave! Go in peace, for the sake of what I call – friendship.† Then, with a sudden touch of pride, â€Å"And meanwhile I am still the Mule, the most powerful man in the Galaxy. I shall still defeat the Second Foundation.† And Bayta shot her last arrow with a firm, calm certitude, â€Å"You won't! I have faith in the wisdom of Seldon yet. You shall be the last ruler of your dynasty, as well as the first.† Something caught Magnifico. â€Å"Of my dynasty? Yes, I had thought of that, often. That I might establish a dynasty. That I might have a suitable consort.† Bayta suddenly caught the meaning of the look in his eyes and froze horribly. Magnifico shook his head. â€Å"I sense your revulsion, but that's silly. If things were otherwise, I could make you happy very easily. It would be an artificial ecstasy, but there would be no difference between it and the genuine emotion. But things are not otherwise. I call myself the Mule – but not because of my strength – obviously-â€Å" He left them, never looking back.

Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) Essay

In the recent Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA), orthopedic cases are projected to increase in the Trinity Hospital over the next five years. The assessment displayed that orthopedic cases are likely to flow from 11,800 to 17,338 (+46%); joint and spine procedures by 30%; and outpatient joint and spine procedures are expected to rise by 350%. The assessment highlighted the orthopedic services and the needs of the Trinity community. Some of the needs were shortage on physicians and specialist, gear, physical therapy services, and surgical suites. When looking at the business side of things you must understand supply demand. When demand rises and supply goes unchanged, a shortage will follow leading to greater costs equilibrium and if demand does not change and supply drops a short happens. This means there will be an increase in the overall revenue because of the rise in the demand for the orthopedic services. The community has a high demand for orthopedic services so it is and the population size for the aging community is growing so it is likely these services will be at an all-time high in five years. A recent needs assessment displayed that the current orthopedic cases are expected to rise 46%, with a 30% growth in inpatient joint and spine procedures. As expected outpatient joint and spine procedures are projected to grow by 350%. The orthopedic center is in a high demand area and the numbers show a defined market area within. There are also two private local hospitals in competition with very good orthopedics programs, which makes the need for Trinity’s to have a strong orthopedic program. Research shows that the main location is within the community with a projected population growth of 4%, this sets the demand for a quality orthopedic program to cover the growing community. The needs assessment shows that with an established orthopedic center, it is possible that we are able to provide everyone in the Trinity community with quality service for. It would be very feasible to develop the new center right away in order to meet the demands of the community and provide adequ ate treatment and services with adequate equipment. The orthopedic center development should allow us to incorporate an international trend of providing quality healthcare for all citizens in the community and spending less money. Regardless of the ability to pay we must also look into ways to reduce spending and still providing quality healthcare. The development of a plan that will allow patients to be treated despite financial ability  and health insurance could also help us meet the demand in the community. While our country does not offer a national healthcare system, our facility can incorporate the international trend. In addition to developing an integrated health system developing a selective groups of physicians and healthcare workers to provide adequate services. Currently there are two groups that are moving in the area. Fortunately one group has recently secured office space to open a branch of orthopedic practice on campus with the Trinity community, which helps us move to the integrated healthcare system. This benefit s the Trinity community by providing more services and quality programs to assist more patients. The ultimate goa at Trinity is to provide quality healthcare to all citizens of the Trinity community Robotic surgery and current digital equipment would be complementary to the new orthopedic center in surgical units. In addition to this we are able to accommodate the demands of orthopedic cases we deal with in the facility within our surgical units adequately. The development of the surgery facilities provide the advantage to recruit orthopedic groups that desire to be closer to Trinity and apply for privileges for the facility. There are currently twenty operating rooms that are equipped with the basic setup necessary to accommodate the orthopedic program. The rooms are equipped with two CT scanners, MRI scanner, X-ray, nuclear medicine, mobile PET scanner, and ultrasound services. The nursing staffs at Trinity are devoted and skilled which helps increase orthopedic nursing certification rate to 75% showing that this is a strong area in the facility. Although we may not be highly recommended the drive towards patient quality care it is a major part of the increase in demand of services. Even though all our service lines compliment the orthopedic program, it is clear that we can work hand- in- hand to develop a valued healthcare system and meet the demands, not only for patients but all hospital staff as well. The recent research shows that we could cut cost by building a new 5000 square foot physical therapy/rehab center adjacent to the Trinity campus. The new building costs estimates to about 600,000 verses 700,000 to purchase the space adjacent to the Trinity campus. In order to expand the services by adding a radiology department and have two MRI machines could cost approximately $3,000,000. Currently in the capital reserves we have 25,000,000 so this would be feasible for this service line expansion. Adding an orthopedic center could potential gain approximately 2100 new surgical cases and also gaining about 6500 visits in physical therapy. This can bring the profit margin to about $2,171,500. According to the five year projection plan, it is projected that there will be about $25,000 in gross charges per orthopedic surgical case. It is also clear that there is a $275 in gross charges per physical therapy treatment. 31% is the ratio of cost in charges when calculated. The Medicaid, Medicare and self- pay patients are at an all-time high right now so it is projected that the orthopedic program will increase in revenue and gain more pay-in patients. Developing a bundle payment program can allow the patient insured and uninsured an opportunity to get quality care and treatment in an affordable manor. A community hospital with the orthopedic center in it will be great in the future to help increase utilization, and also make-up for the decreased volume seen with the damage of the OB program and decay of general surgery volumes. An increase in the utilization could help our key financial indicators and also develop an effective profit plan for years to come. In order to increase the amount of specialists that are in the center we will need to target the patients who need total joint care. Developing a patient navigation system for these pacific patients can be a huge way to market the new service line to the community also coordinating care and appointments for the patients. This will also be a chance to provide physicians with the ability to sustain private practices and still work in the facility and have hospital privileges. It is suggested that we continue to work closely with those practices that are moving in the same direction as Trinity help outline the exact plan that has been developed for the marketing. A key marketing strategy that can be used in the marketing area is advertising. Highlighting the high quality services and giving the physicians satisfaction rate which is 90% could convince new patients to come to Trinity. Adding the orthopedic group adjacent to the Trinity campus, a referral service could be developed. The system should be set up as Trinity refers the orthopedic cases to the physicians group who will then in return refer all of their patients to the new orthopedic center for surgery, physical therapy, etc. Working directly with the physicians can give a more unified unit where everyone is able to benefit and also help increase their revenue equally among the practices and the hospital. Marketing can weigh in  on the expanding growth of the orthopedic specialists that are on staff and the new orthopedic center. Patients will be provided with referral information if the patient is in need for physician’s services on Trinity campus. We can also give referral for physicians who are not directly connected to the Trinity facility but have privileges at the facility. These physicians are able to use the referral services and in return refer patients to our facility and the new orthopedic center. Resources Kohn, L. T., Corrigan, J., Richardson, W. C., & Donaldson, M. S. (2000). To err is human: Building a safer health system. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. McLaughlin, C. P., & Kaluzny, A. D. (1999). Continuous quality improvement in health care: Theory, implementation, and applications. Gaithersburg, MD: Aspen Publishers