Peachtree Healthcare Essay

Peachtree Healthcare has been faced with a dilemma. There has been a major IT infrastructure problem within the company for some time now. Since technology has taken over in the healthcare field, it is imperative that Peachtree Healthcare get the technology needed so that they can be trusted and well known within the healthcare industry. Mission The mission of Peachtree Healthcare is to ensure quality, consistency, and continuity of care across the entire network – and to deliver care with the highest levels of efficiency and economy while maintaining respect for patients and staff. Objectives The hospital needs to decide on what long / short term IT infrastructure system strategies and roadmaps are needed to increase efficiency. The new system should allow sharing of patient records, ensure quality, consistency, and continuity of care across entire network of hospitals and physicians. Key Issues The IT infrastructure is not reliable; therefore, uses are unable to perform their day to day functions including clinical duties. This is impacting quality and safety of patient care. Recommendations Adopt service oriented architecture (SOA) which will enable selective standardization. CURRENT SITUATION (10) Peachtree Healthcare has major IT infrastructure problems and is struggling to find the right fix. Growth through acquisitions has led to the inheritance of many incompatible legacy systems. Current IT resources are focused on maintaining inefficient processes in order to keep the hospital running. The maintenance costs of the current IT system are so high that further innovation has become a luxury. In addition there have been recent meltdowns of clinical information systems. IT infrastructure is not reliable; therefore users are unable to perform their day to day functions, including clinical duties. This is impacting quality and safety of patient care. Furthermore there is pressure from the hospital’s board to standardize hospital procedures and practices without fully assessing the need for it. Max Berndt (CEO), Candace Markovich (CIO) and Tom Drane (CFO) are struggling to analyze the current situation subjectively in order to properly manage the pressure to follow competitors. CRITERIA (5) The hospital needs to decide on what long / short term IT infrastructure system strategies and roadmaps are needed to increase efficiency. The new system should allow sharing of patient records, ensure quality, consistency, and continuity of care across entire network of hospitals and physicians. The system should also ensure â€Å"selective† standardization of certain medical procedures across the network but allow sufficient flexibility to individual hospitals and professionals in other areas. Other criteria include: †¢ Time to value – when will the new system realize value for each business unit †¢ Flexibility – easy to modify, upgrade and customization capabilities †¢ Staff buy-in – ability to convince all staff to give this project a try ALTERNATIVES & RECOMMENDATIONS (15) Alternative 1: Monolithic System (Modular Enterprise System) A monolithic system is single set of systems and applications that will provide consistency across Peachtree’s facilities but may not give doctors enough flexibility. Other pros and cons include: Alternative 2: Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) System A servicer-oriented architecture system is modular design that will allow Peachtree to standardize incrementally and selectively but poses certain risks as a newer technology. Recommendation: My recommendation is to crease a strategy of selective standardization using a SOA system. This means assessing and deciding on a SOA architecture standard. Reviewing individual business functions and deciding on an ideal standard for that functional unit then migrating others to it. This will allow Peachtree to standardize incrementally, which Max has wanted most in an IT infrastructure. RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN (15) Since SOA is a new technology, there are serious risks and consequences involved with this approach. The SOA technology is not mature yet and has not been tested in the long term. As a result there is a lot of unpredictability. To mitigate these risks Peachtree should gradually replace its old system with the SOA System. They should proceed with SOA in stages by piloting smaller projects to quickly provide value to business units. By gradually installing the SOA, Peachtree and its doctors would learn about how the systems worked and they could then master it in a sense as the infrastructure moved further. By gradually installing the infrastructure, Peachtree would not only minimize risk but also create flexibility and control. With the gradual learning process on the new SOA system, Peachtree and its physicians would allow IT to shift priorities along the way. Peachtree should also create case studies to get other business units and vendors support throughout roll-out process. They should also consider hiring external change management consultants to ensure minimum user disruption and smooth transition into the new system.

George Washington Essays - George Washington, Cities In Virginia

George Washington Essays - George Washington, Cities In Virginia George Washington Steven Sims Social Studies 8-6 4/5/99 Born February 22, 1732, in Westmoreland County, he was the first son of his father Augustine's second marriage; his mother was the former Mary Ball of Epping Forest. When George was about three, his family moved to Little Hunting Creek on the Potomac, then to Ferry Farm opposite Fredericksburg on the Rappahannock in King George County. In the interim, the powerful Fairfax family of neighboring Belvoir introduced him to the accomplishments and appropriateness of mannered wealth and, in 1748, provided him his first adventure. That year Lord Fairfax dispatched him with a party that spent a month surveying Fairfax lands in the still-wild Shenandoah. In the expedition, he began to appreciate the uses and value of land, an appreciation that grew the following year with his appointment as Culpeper County surveyor, certified by the College of William and Mary. Washington also succeeded to Lawrence's militia office. Governor Robert Dinwiddie first appointed him adjutant for the southern district of the colony's militia, but soon conferred on him Lawrence's aide for the Northern Neck and Eastern Shore. So it happened that in 1753 the governor sent 21-year-old Washington to warn French troops at Fort Duquesne at the forks of the Ohio (modern Pittsburgh) that they were infiltrating in territory claimed by Virginia. The French ignored the warning and the mission failed, but when Washington returned Dinwiddie had Williamsburg printer William Hunter publish his official report as The Journal of Major George Washington. It made the young officer well-known at home and abroad. Returning to the Ohio in April with 150 men to remove the intruders, Washington got his first taste of war in a fight with a French scouting party. He wrote to his brother Jack, I heard the bullets whistle, and, believe me, there is something charming in the sound. A second engagement quickly followed and Washington, retreating to Fort Necessity, was beaten by a more numerous French force. He surrendered and, in his ignorance of French, signed an embarrassing surrender agreement. But he had opportunities to correct his defeat. The whistling bullets declared the start of the Seven Years' War, as it was called in Europe. In America it was called the French and Indian War or, sometimes, Virginia's War. Horace Walpole wrote, The volley fired by a young Virginian in the backwoods of America set the world on fire. Washington returned to the field as an aide to General Braddock in 1755 and performed with honor, despite crippling illness, in the disastrous campaign against Fort Duquesne. Later that year Dinwiddie gave him command of all Virginia forces and promoted him to colonel. In these years Washington had two disputes with English officers who viewed their regular-army commissions as superior to that of the Virginia militia commander. These disputes may mark the beginning of Washington's resentment of British attitudes toward the colonies. Operating from a fort at Winchester, Washington protected the Virginia frontier until 1758 when he was made a militia brigadier and helped to chase the French from Fort Duquesne for good. Washington resigned at war's end and retired to Mount Vernon. He was defeated in elections for the House of Burgesses in 1755 and 1757, but won in 1758 and was seated the following year from Frederick County. For 15 years he devoted himself to his legislative work and his farm. During this period, he also became a family man, marrying the widow Martha Dandridge Custis, the mother of two children, on January 6, 1759, in New Kent County. In 1760, Washington took on the additional duties of a Fairfax County justice of the peace. He also found time for the amusements of a Virginia gentlemanfox hunting, snuff taking, plays, billiards, cards, dancing, and fishing. He delighted in bottles of Madeira, plates of watermelon, and dishes of oysters. In these years his anger of the inferiority of American interests to those of England grew. When Parliament attempted to impose the Stamp Act in 1769, Washington told an friend that Parliament hath no more right to put their hands into my pocket, without my consent, than I have to put my hands into yours for money. By 1774 he was in the lead of the defense

The Best Way to Plan a Marketing Performance Management Process

The Best Way to Plan a Marketing Performance Management Process How do you get the most from your marketing team? The most productivity. The most team satisfaction. The most success overall, however you choose to define it. That’s all anyone managing a team wants, right? The answer starts with planning an effective performance management process. One that identifies your team’s goals, puts a plan in place to achieve them, and measures the results for future improvement. Putting that kind of plan into place isn’t a simple task. But, with this straightforward guide, you can put yourself and your team on the right path to be more productive. Now, this is a broad topic with lots of moving parts. In order to keep it digestible, practical, and actionable, this post will narrow down the steps you need to take to put an actual process into practice, without diving too deep into more theoretical aspects of management. Digestible, practical, and actionable intro into setting up a successful marketing performanceSnag Your Performance Management Checklist It’s easier to follow processes when you can break them down into a checklist. In fact, that’s something research supports. So, make implementing this process easier with a simple performance management checklist. When it comes time to evaluate marketing talent on your team, it’ll make it easier to know exactly what to look for, which questions to ask, and what to do next. What Does â€Å"Performance Management† Mean in Plain Language? In a marketing context, we can summarize this topic as such: Performance management is the intentional practice of ensuring every member of your marketing team meets individualized goals through thorough planning, monitoring, and commitment to continuous improvement. That’s it in as succinct terms as possible. What Does the Performance Management Process Look Like? Generally, this process moves in three phases: Planning: Setting goals, expectations, and a strategy moving forward. Execution: Acting to implement that strategy to meet desired goals up to expectations. Review: Periodically assessing progress toward goals and steps for improvement. Which Performance Management Tools Do Marketing Teams Need? Get the right tools for the job. For this particular task, here are some recommendations: : An all-in-one marketing management platform for keeping teams and projects organized. Use Team Tab to manage team performance, and Team Performance Reports to objectively measure real productivity. Excel: Much of what marketing teams would typically use Excel for team planning-wise can be achieved with . However, this remains a staple option that’s essentially free (in that it’s a paid product, but your company is probably already paying for it). Evernote: Useful for building checklists and storing documentation. Integrates seamlessly with . This covers the basics. What’s Needed for Success? Everything starts with setting the right goals. At a high level, it should achieve (at least) the following three things. Ensuring Everyone Does Their Best Work Ultimately, this is what it’s all about: getting the most from your team. Identifying Strengths and Weaknesses Everyone has both, and it’s important to understand where every team members lies in each area. Providing Constructive Feedback No one can improve without knowing where to focus their efforts. When constructive feedback is communicated clearly, you can set expectations on how things need to change before the next time you meet to talk about goals. Celebrate Wins It’s important to be transparent when communicating areas that need improvement. But, it’s also important to appreciate successes and make sure team members know when they’re doing well. That helps build positive momentum that leads to further success. Getting Started With Planning Excellence doesn’t happen by accident, it happens by choice, and it starts with solid planning. Start a Trial or Schedule a Demo This post will cover managing your team using . If you’re not a customer, consider starting a trial or scheduling a demo. Otherwise, you may need to substitute in other software to complete some of the following steps. Add Your Team Members to Next, add each team member into . This is easy to do quickly. Understanding the Team Now, there are some things that need to be made clear between management, HR, department leads, and team members. Each team member’s purpose. What is their actual role and value to your marketing team? This has likely been summarized in your job descriptions, but if they’re out of date or the team member has outgrown that definition, it may be time for a role switch or promotion. Responsibilities and priorities. What are the most important things this employee needs to get done? Performance expectations. In order to keep your team on track to meet its goals, what results does each team member need to produce? Recommended Reading: How To Lead A Cross-Functional Team Collaboration With 3 Proven Ways To Ease Cross-Functional Team Collaboration Determining Future Vision Set up a meeting with each team member to figure out where they’d like to go in the future (and to set performance goals accordingly).

Examples of Interviewing Techniques

Examples of Interviewing Techniques In composition, an interview is a  conversation in which one person (the interviewer) elicits information from another person (the subject or interviewee). A transcript or account of such a conversation is also called an interview. The interview is both a research method and a popular form of nonfiction. EtymologyFrom the Latin, between see Methods and Observations Interviewing Tips The following interviewing tips have been adapted from Chapter 12, Writing about People: The Interview, of William Zinssers book On Writing Well (HarperCollins, 2006). Choose as your subject someone whose job [or experience] is so important or so interesting or so unusual that the average reader would want to read about that person. In other words, choose someone who touches some corner of the readers life.Before the interview, make a list of questions to ask your subject.Get people talking. Learn to ask questions that will elicit answers about what is most interesting or vivid in their lives.Take notes during the interview. If you have trouble keeping up with your subject, just say, Hold it a minute, please, and write until you catch up.Use a combination of direct quotations and summaries. If the speakers conversation is ragged, ... the writer has no choice but to clean up the English and provide the missing links... Whats wrong... is to fabricate quotes or to surmise what someone might have said. To get the facts right, remember that you can call [or revisit] the person you interviewed. Honor Moore When I first began talking to people, I tended to monopolize the conversation, to steer my subject to my own interpretation of Margaretts life. Listening to my tapes, I learned that I often interrupted people just before they were about to tell me something I never would have suspected, so now I tried to let the subject guide the interview and to encourage the interviewees anecdotes. I came to understand that I was interviewing people not to substantiate my own theories but to learn Margaretts story.–Twelve Years and Counting: Writing Biography. Writing Creative Nonfiction, 2001 Elizabeth Chiseri-Strater and Bonnie Stone-Sunstein When we interview, we are not extracting information like a dentist pulls a tooth, but we make meaning together like two dancers, one leading and one following. Interview questions range between closed and open. Closed questions are like those we fill out in popular magazines or application forms: How many years of schooling have you had? Do you rent your apartment? Do you own a car?... Some closed questions are essential for gathering background data,... [but] these questions often yield single phrase answers and can shut down further talk...Open questions, by contrast, help elicit your informants perspective and allow for more conversational exchange. Because there is no single answer to open-ended questions, you will need to listen, respond, and follow the informants lead...Here are some very general open questions- sometimes called experimental and descriptive- that try to get the informant to share experiences or to describe them from his or her own point of view: Tell me more about the time when...Describe the people who were most important to...Describe the first time you...Tell me about the person who taught you about...What stands out for you when you remember...Tell me the story behind that interesting item you have.Describe a typical day in your life. When thinking of questions to ask an informant, make your informant your teacher.–FieldWorking: Reading and Writing Research, 1997 John McPhee In the way that a documentary-film crew can, by its very presence, alter a scene it is filming, a tape recorder can affect the milieu of an interview. Some interviewees will shift their gaze and talk to the recorder rather than to you. Moreover, you may find yourself not listening to the answer to a question you have asked. Use a tape recorder, yes, but maybe not as a first choice- more like a relief pitcher.–Elicitation. The New Yorker, April 7, 2014

ComparisonContrast Montresor and Fortunato Essay

ComparisonContrast Montresor and Fortunato - Essay Example The obsession may derive because the men are equals in background, thus making Fortunato's insults that much more infuriating to Fortunato. Additionally, it seems from their elegant language to each other, they have the same level of education and social circles. Additionally, both men seem to have many of the same interests. While the plot takes advantage of the love of fine wines, it appears that they may have other things in common. Both men are at carnival which indicates a love of parties. Both love wine and pride themselves on their knowledge. Poe says," in the matter of old wines he,' meaning Fortunato.' Was sincere. In this respect I,' meaning Montresor,' did not differ from him materially" (748). Both men seem to have a ludicrous view of self import. Both it seems, may be masons. In the story, Fortunato is certainly a mason, but it is unclear whether Montresor is a mason because while he had the trowel, he did not know the hand gesture. Nevertheless, they both had an interes t in this secret society and felt that it was sign of prestige. Additionally, it can be inferred that both men possessed a dark sense of humor. Perhaps both have had their share of pulling off dark pranks and being the object of dark humor. This premise is evident by the fact that even until the last moment, as the alcohol wore off, Fortunato thought that Montresor may be joking. Finally, both men are arrogant. Fortunato truly believes that he is the one and only expert in fine wines and it is this arrogance that seals his fate. Throughout the journey into the cask, as Fortunato's cough worsens, Montresor taunts him by offering to take him home knowing full well that Fortunato cannot possibly resist the opportunity to taste. Indeed, Montresor depends on Fortunato's arrogance in order to kill him. Montresor, likewise, is arrogant in his perception of the slights suffered by him and served by Fortunato. Even fifty years later, Montresor sits reminiscing about the murder he committed and still justifies it. The main difference between the two men was that Montresor was suspicious and ever alert, but Fortunato was foolish and easily led. Fortunato, as his name implies is favored by fortune. He is admired and adored in society and enjoys popularity. Fortunato has wealth and seems to be well respected by his family. It is perhaps his popularity which allows him to be misled by Montresor. Almost from the beginning of his story, Montresor takes advantage of Fortunato's cockiness and pride. The first manipulation is "As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchresi. If any one has a critical turn it is he. He will tell me" (748). Montresor diabolically makes this statement because he knows that Fortunato will want to go with him to taste the Amontillado. It works beautifully because Fortunato insists that " Luchresi cannot tell Amontillado from Sherry" (748). Contrary to Fortunato, Montresor does not appear to be loved, respected, or one who enjoys a spot in society. Montresor it seems at one point in time seemed to be an equal of Fortunato but that time has faded. Montresor has a large family it seems and just as many friends but it seems is if that respect dwindled with all of the injuries he suffered. "The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could, but when he ventured insult I vowed revenge" (747). It may be that the injuries delivered

North Korea Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

North Korea - Research Paper Example According to Armstrong (2011), North Korea is currently experiencing a range of issues but the most prevalent include the poor state of the economy, which Armstrong (2011) attributes to its authoritarian leadership style that still has not implemented market reforms to improve the country’s ailing economy. Secondly, Armstrong (2011) states that the country has focused so much on funding its military operations that comprise of more than 9 million military personnel of which approximately a million are active army personnel, a fact that makes it the 4th country in the World with largest military defence force. The country’s budgetary allocation to the defense department is extremely high leaving little resource for economic development. Armstrong (2011) stated that North Koreans are grappling with harsh economy, coupled with high food prices, periodical shortage of electricity, fuel, and raw materials that cause manufacturing factories to remain inactive thus, leading to increase in number of the unemployed population. However, on the positive side Armstrong (2011) notes that the new North Korean leader has given women the freedom to wear western brands, which were restricted in the past due to their western affiliation. Secondly, the new North Korean leader has shown a new leadership style by taking the responsibility of the failed rocket launch. Such an admission was not to the norm with the North Korean leadership. The other notable current issue in North Korea is its poor relations with its’ close neighbor, South Korea of whom they are still technically at war with after failing to sign a peace treaty ever since the Korean war. The North and South currently have murky relationship because of periodical wrangles that increases the tension between the two countries. Armstrong (2011) further notes that the new leader of North Korea strained the country relationship with China after recently carrying out a

Should English become the official language. (Should there be an Essay

Should English become the official language. (Should there be an official world language.) - Essay Example Therefore, I believe to a large extent that English (or any other language) should not be made the official language of the world because there is a lot of scope in the field of multilingualism, multilingualism has a huge positive impact on an individual’s cognitive development, and one’s language is an integral part of one’s culture and ethnicity (Baker and Jones1998). Multilingualism means the use of many languages by an individual. Although many people are learning to speak English, no fact can deny that the field and demand of multilingualism is enormous. Even the United States, the country where English is the most spoken language, has a great need for individuals who can speak multiple languages. The reason why the field of multilingualism is so vast is because multilingualism itself applies to so many different professions. For instance, multilingualism can be used in international trade, international diplomacy and foreign relation. It can also be used in national security and defense, marketing, business, engineering, community development, public relations and media. Medical and health care professionals should know more than one language in case they come across a patient who is unable to speak ‘the official language’. ... Moreover, if English or any other language would be made the official language of the world, it would be extremely time-consuming for non-English speakers to learn a whole new language, not to mention the loss of jobs that interpreters and translators would face. Even the education profession would face loss of jobs; teachers who teach foreign languages like Spanish, Arabic, Mandarin and many others would have nowhere to go. Thus, it would be a very wrong move to make English the official language of the world because there is a lot of scope in studying different languages. Furthermore, there are numerous job opportunities in the field of multilingualism; about three fourth of respondents to a survey on languages in the EU confirmed â€Å"improving job opportunities† as the top most reason why youths should learn many languages (Working Together to Build a Multilingual Society 2003; Orban 2007). Other than the availability of many job opportunities, there is another advantage of knowing many languages rather than only one ‘official’ one; creativity. Recent study has shown that an individual who speaks more than one language enhances one’s normative cognition, which leads to increased creativity. The reason for this is that due to variations in the use of specifiable processes, and the flexibility and richness of stored cognitive structures to which the processes are implemented. Therefore, the impact on an individual’s cognition of speaking more than one language results in intricate cognitive functioning, which may lead to a higher creative performance. One of the popular mechanisms of normative creativity that multilingualism can lead to is divergent thinking. Research shows that a multilingual