Nowadays, a considerable number of fishing grounds are already depleted to such an extent that their future viability is at risk. The best way to increase farms yield is to create genetically modified fish that will be safe for people, the environment, and other species. One of the first GM fish that seem appropriate and are considered for commercial farming is AquaAdvantage Salmon growth hormone transgenic Atlantic salmon. However, there are still some genetic and ecological concerns about whether they can enter the wild waters, participate in spawning events, and interact with wild and non-transgenic fish.
The discussed article adds significant value in terms of the topic. It provides the first empirical data reports concerning the breeding performance of GH transgenic Atlantic salmon males, including that of an alternative male reproductive phenotype, in pairwise competitive trials within a naturalized stream mesocosm (Moreau et al., 2011, p. 737). The results described by the authors are rather valuable for scientific society. The articles findings showed that in terms of spawn participation, quivering frequency, and nest fidelity, captively reared transgenic counterparts were outperformed by wild anadromous males (Moreau et al., 2011). Similarly, regarding spawn participation and nest fidelity and notwithstanding less aggression, captively reared non-transgenic mature parr were superior competitors to their transgenic counterparts (Moreau et al., 2011, p. 738). Both domesticated non-transgenic and transgenic males appeared to be able to participate in natural spawning events. Therefore, there is a potential that they bring their genes into subsequent generations.
For the article, the authors used the method of collecting data by conducting two separate experiments. First, they observed captively reared and anadromous transgenic males and their breeding participation and behavior alone with wild females and in competitive trials with wild males (Moreau et al., 2011). Second, they analyzed transgenic and non-transgenic captively reared precocial parr and their reproductive success, performance, and breeding behavior (Moreau et al., 2011). The chosen methodology is the articles primary strength; no weaknesses were detected. To add legitimacy to this study, it is necessary to mention that AquaAdvantage Salmon is indeed the first genetically engineered fish in the U.S. that became approved for human consumption, as was mentioned at the beginning of the article.
Assessment of performance measurement system in the government organization is crucial as it defines the effectiveness of the work of the agency. It has acquired significant attention from researchers, and there is a vast amount of literature on the matter. For instance, Choong (2013) implements a thorough review of articles on the performance measurement system. The researcher examined 479 articles and revealed three major features of the materials on the matter: identification of gaps, suggestions of solutions, recommendations on future research.
It is noteworthy that researchers provide particular models as well as strategies to test their efficiency. For instance, Giblin and Burruss (2009) provide a well-developed model that includes the following concepts: mimesis, publications, and professionalization. The researchers employ two-order measurement models based on institutional pressures which are manifested through mimetic processes publications and professionalization. Suppa and Zardini (2012) evaluate the effectiveness of a performance measurement system in the Italian army and use similar concepts during the assessment. Notably, researchers tend to utilize a process-based approach and report about its effectiveness.
Therefore, to develop a sophisticated system to measure performance management, it is essential to apply a process-based approach. Neely et al. (2000) provide a detailed description of the development of a performance measurement system for organizations (both in the private and public sector). This framework can be used to come up with an effective system for such a government organization as police. Neely et al. (2000) outlined 12 phases of the process of development of a performance measurement system. This twelve-phase model can be applicable but somewhat adjusted to better fit the organization in question. It is necessary to note that the model can be enhanced with the help of the testing approach used by Broeckling (2010). The researcher exploited a survey to evaluate the effectiveness of certain measurement processes. Likewise, this can be integrated into the new model.
Hypothesis
The hypothesis can be formulated as follows: To evaluate the effectiveness of the work of police departments, it is possible to employ a 7-phase model enhanced by attention to employees evaluation of their performance held through implementation of the survey.
Relevant Model
As has been mentioned above, a modified 12-phase model suggested by Neely et al. (2000) can be employed. It is necessary to add that the organization in question is quite specific, and the approach used has to take into account its peculiarities. The new model will include 7 phases. These phases are as follows:
Identification of major areas for performance measurement.
Cost-benefit and purpose analysis.
Comprehensiveness analysis.
Detailed design, including environmental considerations.
Testing
Institutionalization.
Maintenance.
Before going into detail describing each phase, it is necessary to note that almost every stage will involve completion of a survey by employees. Thus, identification of major areas for performance measurement will start with the survey completion. In this survey, employees will try to identify and measure areas of major interest.
Each employee should try to identify qualities he/she has to have and tasks he/she has to implement to be an effective member of the team. These data will provide insight on the way police officers see their work and tasks. Clearly, a variety of normative acts has to be considered to identify major standards which has to be met. Finally, successfully completed tasks have to be analyzed and discussed in certain groups to develop certain standards of effectiveness.
When areas are developed, it is essential to analyze cost-effectiveness and particular purpose of each of them. This is an important stage as it will be the basis of the measurement system. It is also rather complicated to implement. Abundance of areas which may appear during discussion and analysis of surveys and literature has to be properly analyzed. It is important to make sure that only cost-effective areas will be included in the performance measurement system. The system should involve only major areas which are crucial for effective functioning of the organization.
The chosen areas will be considered with the use of a comprehensive approach. It is crucial to make sure that the areas are comprehensive, in other words, they cover major aspects of tasks completed. This analysis can also be held with the help of surveys completed by employees. They can evaluate effectiveness of each other (or themselves) using areas outlined. At that, employees should be able to add some comments to the surveys questions. This will enable the developers to see whether all aspects have been covered.
The next stage is development of a detailed design of the system. Notably, it is essential to take into account environmental considerations. When developing the model, it is important to take into account current environment to create an effective measurement system which can be used.
Testing is another important stage which will help developers to reveal flaws in the system. Testing should be comprehensive and cover vast areas. To make sure that the system is viable, developers have to test it within quite extended period of time. Analysis of flaws of the system will enable developers to remove them and improve the model.
When the stage of testing is completed, it is necessary to start the process of institutionalization. The developers will have to introduce the system and start training personnel. It is also important to establish regular audits which will identify whether there is an informal and conflicting performance measurement system in operation (Neely et al., 2000, p. 1134). AT this stage, it is possible to generalize some areas and provide certain recommendations on the way to adjust the system to different environments.
Finally, it is also important to ensure maintenance of the system developed. This stage will involve audit as well as analysis of particular measures and their effectiveness. It is important to make sure that the system is evolving alongside with the changing environment and redundant practices are eliminated while new ones are introduced.
Dependent & Independent Variable
To implement the research necessary for development of the effective performance measurement system, it is necessary to outline applicable dependent and independent variables. Independent variables in the present research may be age, years of work in police, number of successfully completed tasks, salaries. These variables can help identify effectiveness of the employee and rewarding system exiting in the facility.
As far as dependent variables are concerned, these can be awards provided, training options, and collaboration within departments. These variables will help to identify effectiveness of departments and facilities as well as training programs used. It is necessary to note that these variables will be used during the stages from one to five. These are important categories to consider when designing an effective model to measure performance of police facilities.
Reference List
Broeckling, J. (2010). Performance measurement: Theory and practice (A professional project, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin). Web.
Choong, K.K. (2013). Understanding the features of performance measurement system: A literature review. Measuring Business Excellence, 17(4), 102-121.
Giblin, M.J., & Burruss, G.W. (2009). Developing a measurement model of institutional processes in policing. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, 32(2), 351-376.
Neely, A., Mills, J., Platts, K., Richards, H., Gregory, M., Bourne, M., Kennerley, M. (2000). Performance measurement system design: Developing and testing a process-based approach. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 20(10), 1119-1145.
Suppa, A., & Zardini, A. (2012). The implementation of a performance management system in the Italian army. International Journal of Operational Management, Marketing and Services, 2(1), 9-15.
In certain circumstances, the terms of a contract may become difficult to implement due to unforeseeable difficulties. The injured party may file a lawsuit alleging a breach of contract by the other party (contractor). In his defense, the contractor may point to an impossibility of performance or commercial impracticability.
Normally, the defense of impossibility is only allowed by the law in cases where the performance was impracticable due to an excessive and unreasonable difficulty (Smith, 2012). This paper seeks to analyze a case study in which one party failed to fulfill the terms of a contract due to an alleged impossibility of performance. The paper will include a discussion of the elements of the impossibility of performance and the three situations where the defense can be used; and a discussion of commercial impracticability and its application to the current case.
In this case, Millie had contracted to sell to Frank 10,000 bushels of corn that were to be grown on her farm. As a result of the drought, her yield was much lower compared to the contracted amount and she, therefore, delivered only 250 bushels. Frank agreed to take the 250 bushels but filed a lawsuit citing a breach of contract.
According to the US contract law, the mere fact that unforeseen difficulty occurred does not in itself represent impossibility. The defense of impossibility is only allowed when the performance is rendered impracticable due to an excessive and unreasonable difficulty (Smith, 2012). Impossibility of performance requires the impossibility to be in the nature of the thing to be done (objective) and not in be in the inability of the promisor or subjective impossibility (Camardo Law Firm, 2010).
In cases where the contract concerns the sale of goods three conditions must be satisfied. These conditions can be explained by citing the current case study. First, the drought that occurred represented a contingency. Secondly, the contingency made performance to be impracticable. Thirdly, the non-occurrence of the contingency (draught) was a basic assumption when the parties entered the contract (Camardo Law Firm, 2010). In cases where impracticability has been ascertained as per the criteria outlined above, the promisor can be discharged of his/her contractual duties (Camardo Law Firm, 2010).
Three situations under which impossibility of performance arises can include: when one party (contractor) has undertaken the contract as per the plans and specifications provided by the other party (owner), and the plans and specifications have proved to be defective; when a circumstance that was not considered in the contract has caused unreasonable difficulty that has facilitated an impracticability of performance; and when the terms of the contract are found to contravene the law.
Commercial impracticability of performance can be explained by considering several factors. For instance, in the current case, the parties did not consider any potential difficulties that could result in a commercial impracticability of performance (Smith, 2012). Thus the nature and specifications of a contract are important determinants of commercial impracticability of performance. The contractor is also required to show some effort in meeting the specifications of the contract.
For instance, Millie should have mitigated the effects of drought by using irrigation as an alternative source of water. This factor could have however been taken into account if the parties had considered the possibility of drought when they were signing the contract. Finally, commercial impracticability of performance requires the evaluation of whether or not other contractors had the ability to meet the specifications of the contract (Smith, 2012).
References
Camardo Law Firm. (2010). Impossibility or commercial impracticability of perfomance. Web.
Smith, C. (2012). Impossibility of perfomance. Web.
A friend was contracted by a businessman to paint his house. The agreement was that he should use green paint to paint the face of the shop. However, the friend used a color similar to green and the businessman refused to pay him. A question arose as to whether this amount to substantial performance or it amounts to inferior performance.
The writer feels that this amounts to substantial performance and not inferior performance since the other parts painted were in accordance with the agreement. The only problem was with the paint used on the front of the shop and this amounts to substantial performance. The businessman was not therefore right to deny the contractor his payments (Liuzzo & Bonnice, 2007).
In this paper, the differences between inferior performance and substantial performance will be addressed. The paper will also look at the rights available to the non-breaching party in the case of substantial performance and inferior performance in order to substantiate the position taken on the issue. An overview of the elements of a contract will also be provided.
Analysis
There are six elements of an enforceable contract. For a contract to be enforceable, there must be an offer and acceptance, the contracting parties must be legally competent to enter into a contract, there must be consideration, there should be free consent of the contracting parties, the contract must be legal in nature and the contract should have the intention of creating a legal relationship (Young, 2010). If a contract has all the above elements, it is considered to be a valid contract enforceable in a court of law.
There are differences between substantial performance and inferior performance in contract law. Inferior performance is defined as a material breach of a contract and it happens when one party does not fulfill his contractual obligations. The remedies available for the non-breaching party are to rescind the contract and seek restitution from the breaching party (Young, 2010).
On the other hand, substantial performance means that even if the performance is not equal to the contractual obligations, it is so near that denying the contractor payment will be unreasonable. The remedies available for substantial performance are seeking an order for specific performance and claiming damages (Liuzzo & Bonnice, 2007).
The non-breaching party in the case of inferior performance or substantial performance has the right to withhold payment of the consideration until the work is completed. He also has the right to sue the breaching party for breach of contract and also the right to avoid future obligations arising out of the contract.
According to the provisions of contract law, the non-breaching party has several options in case of substantial performance and inferior performance. The non-breaching party can claim for damages, can seek court order of specific performance by the breaching party, can rescind or annul the contract and can also seek restitution.
The non-breaching party is excused from any other performance arising out of the contract. Another remedy available to the non-breaching party is to claim for consequential damages arising out of the substantial performance or inferior performance (Young, 2010).
The non-breaching party is advised to seek legal redress once it becomes evident that the other party has performed substantial work or inferior work. This can be in the course of the work or after the other party has completed the work. Legal address should be sought after efforts reach to an agreement with the other party about the quality of the work has failed (Young, 2010).
Conclusion
According to the analysis, it is clear that the business man was wrong in denying the painter his full compensation for the work done. There is breach of contract and this amounts to substantial performance since the work done is almost equivalent to the work which the painter had been contracted to do.
The business man should therefore claim for damages or seek an order for specific performance. The business man also has the option of claiming for damages or claiming for consequential damages arising out of the substantial work. Failing to pay the painter is not among his options since there is substantial performance and not inferior performance (Liuzzo & Bonnice, 2007).
References
Liuzzo, A. & Bonnice, J. (2007). Essentials of business law. 6 Edn. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Young, M. (2010).Contract law: The basics. London: Taylor & Francis Publishers.
Healthcare workers use their competencies to provide high quality support and care to their patients (Bouphan, Apipalakul, & Ngang, 2015). Hospitals should have powerful policies to measure the performance of their employees. Effective performance measurement can make it easier for healthcare facilities to understand how they accomplish their objectives. When done efficiently, performance measurement can guide hospitals to understand what is not working effectively. Evidence-based data should be gathered in order to implement better healthcare delivery models (Lizarondo, Grimmer, & Kumar, 2014). Performance measurement is therefore defined as the regular collection of information and data to ensure various processes are implemented in a professional manner (Kundu, 2015, p. 20). The ultimate goal should be to deliver quality care to the targeted patients. This discussion therefore presents a powerful healthcare policy in this field.
Performance Evaluation Policy
Purpose
The proposed Performance Evaluation Policy is aimed at monitoring, guiding, and ensuring every healthcare worker acts diligently in order to improve the health outcomes of the targeted clients. Medical institutions are characterized by different departments. The units have qualified healthcare professionals who work together to maximize the health outcomes of the targeted patients. This situation might have adverse effects on the quality of services available to every client. This is the case because some workers might fail to act ethically or use their skills effectively (Bouphan et al., 2015). The healthcare working environment is also characterized by a wide range of uncertainties, risks, and challenges. Nurse Practitioners (NPs) and caregivers must overcome these challenges in order to deliver quality care to their clients. There are also different regulatory boards that monitor the responsibilities and performance of health practitioners. However, such regulations and obligations might not guarantee positive performance in different working environments (Nuti, Seghieri, & Vainieri, 2012). This gap, therefore, explains why a performance evaluation policy is needed to guide and hold NPs accountable. By so doing, the policy will compel practitioners to focus on the health outcomes of their respective clients.
Definitions
Policy. The proposed policy is a performance evaluation process that must be completed for every healthcare worker annually (Lizarondo et al., 2014). The supervisors in every health organization will guide the professionals to complete the policy documents and make the most appropriate adjustments.
Appraiser. This term refers to the team leader or supervisor whose role is to complete the performance evaluations for the employees. The healthcare workers will be appraised after every twelve months.
Evaluation. This refers to the formalized procedure through which the performance of an employee is evaluated to provide the best feedback.
Duties
The performance evaluation policy targets different healthcare professionals in every hospital. The targeted practitioners should use their competencies in an attempt to provide professional and sustainable care to the clients (Kundu, 2015). The performance of each professional will be governed by this policy. The targeted duties include:
Hospital Administrator (NA). The NA is expected to ensure there is a framework for assessing the performance of every employee in the healthcare institution.
Supervisor. This is the individual responsible for the annual evaluation of the employees annually. The institution might also allow the targeted employees to present their personal evaluations (Nuti et al., 2012). Throughout the evaluation process, the supervisor will guide and empower the healthcare workers. He or she should liaise with the top management in order to support the assessment process.
Healthcare Workers. These are the individuals who are engaged throughout the evaluation process. This category includes different professionals such as Nurse Informaticists (NIs), Nurse Practitioners (NPs), physicians, Nurse Managers (NMs), caregivers, and nurse aids (Bouphan et al., 2015). These workers play a positive role towards supporting the diverse needs of the targeted clients.
Nurse Manager. This professional will guide the nurses to be part of the policy. The approach will ensure the employees are aware of the importance of the performance evaluation initiative. The NM will collaborate with the supervisor in order to deliver positive results. The manager will embrace the best practices in an attempt to support the diverse needs of the healthcare workers (Lizarondo et al., 2014).
Human Resources. The human resources will be responsible for the oversight of this appraisal system, policy, and overall development of the process (Nuti et al., 2012, p. 3). The HR department should constantly use the collected forms to make appropriate decisions regarding transfers and promotions. The assessment process will encourage health professionals to worker harder in order to provide quality care to their respective patients.
Body of Policy
Issue Statement. Employee evaluation in a hospital is the best way to ensure nurses focus on the expectations of their patients. The performance management and evaluation policy (PMEP) is aimed at measuring healthcare delivery effectiveness in hospitals (Kundu, 2015). The workers will be compelled to function optimally and focus on the targeted objectives.
Policy Position. Many agencies such as the American Nursing Association (ASA) believe that healthcare practitioners should be evaluated periodically in order to maximize patient outcomes. The performance evaluation model should assess the productivity of the NPs in accordance with the outlined responsibilities. The evaluation should focus on specific attributes such as leadership, judgment, and ability to communicate effectively. The caregivers should be on the frontline to deliver evidence-based, quality, and timely patient support. Supervisors will be expected to provide evaluate feedback to the workers (Bouphan et al., 2015, p. 129). Different stakeholders should be allowed to support the policy in order to produce positive results. The NPs and caregivers should collaborate with different supervisors throughout the process. The process will play a positive role towards empowering, mentoring, and supporting the performance of the healthcare workers.
Role of the Institution. The hospital should develop and implement the best framework to provide feedback to the healthcare workers. The framework should also measure the progress of the targeted employees. This framework will play a positive role towards improving the performance of the healthcare facility (Nuti et al., 2012).
Implementation
A powerful process will be used to implement the performance management and evaluation policy. The implementation procedure will have these three steps:
Evaluation. Using the PMEP document, the performance of the employees will be assessed after every twelve months. Performance appraisal can be conducted when a healthcare worker is being sacked or transferred (Kundu, 2015). Reviews and suggestions will be indicated in the PMEP forms.
Review and Analysis. The supervisor will guide the workers to sign the PMEP document. The employees will be allowed to retain a copy of the PMEP document. The supervisor will then forward the signed forms to the human resource (HR) department (Lizarondo et al., 2014). The HR managers will review the information and make the most appropriate recommendations.
Monitoring Compliance
The issue of compliance must be taken seriously. Healthcare workers who transfer during the indicated period for evaluation will have to liaise with their supervisors. This practice will ensure the performance evaluation is executed in a professional manner. The supervisor will be expected to collect quality information from the targeted employees (Nuti et al., 2012). The healthcare workers will have to collaborate with their supervisors throughout the assessment period.
The HR department, the supervisors, and the management must collaborate to monitor the performance of the workers. The policy should be implemented in each department to guide the performance of the employees. Recommendations and suggestions should be presented by the supervisors. The collected PMEP forms from the workers will be used to make the most desirable recommendations (Nuti et al., 2012). Healthcare workers will be promoted depending on the information gathered using the performance evaluation process.
The appraisal process must have been completed within two months after the end of the year (Kundu, 2015). The supervisors (or appraisers) will be required to send to filled forms to the HR department. The appraiser should also attach the relevant supporting documents whenever sending the files to the HR manager. In order to maximize the targeted outcomes, several stakeholders will be considered throughout the implementation process (Lizarondo et al., 2014). These stakeholders will include Medical Managers, Information Technology Experts, Financial Officers, Quality Assurance (QA) Managers, and the Nursing Managers (NMs).
Part Two: Healthcare Procedure
Performance evaluation can be implemented in a healthcare institution to improve the quality of services available to different clients. The first approach towards having a successful performance evaluation process is through the use of a powerful policy. The policy suggested in Part One can help medical institutions to assess the performance of every caregiver. This is a tested approach that has continued to support the effectiveness of different medical facilities across the globe. The second approach is the use of a powerful healthcare procedure. The approach encourages different stakeholders and workers to evaluate their contributions in a department. The framework plays a critical role towards identifying the existing gaps and improving the quality of patient care (Lizarondo et al., 2014). The proposal below gives a detailed healthcare procedure that has the potential to support the performance evaluation philosophy of a hospital. The proposed healthcare procedure is known as the integrated employee evaluation process (IEAP).
Integrated Employee Evaluation Process
Healthcare professionals work synergistically in a hospital to address the diverse needs of their clients. Human beings are social beings and tend to work together as teams. The concept of teamwork is critical towards ensuring that every hospital provides desirable support to their patients. Medical facilities have embraced the use of performance evaluation to assess the effectiveness of their employees (Nuti et al., 2012). However, performance evaluation has been observed to focus on the contributions of individual healthcare workers. The integrated employee evaluation procedure can be implemented as a meaningful healthcare procedure capable of minimizing the gaps affecting the quality of care available to every client. The integrated employee evaluation process (IEAP) framework therefore borrows most of the associated with lean.
Objectives
The recommended healthcare process should be guided by the three objectives presented below. The objectives will help medical facilities understand the contributions of different employees and the best approaches to improve performance.
Monitor and evaluate the performance of the healthcare professionals.
To make the most appropriate administrative decisions about the healthcare workers in the health organization. Some of these decisions include dismals, compensations, layoffs, and promotions.
Identify the best opportunities for employees growth based on their strengths and competencies.
Definitions
Healthcare Procedure. This refers to the integrated employee evaluation process that should be implemented in a healthcare institution (Kundu, 2015). The procedure will be characterized by continued analysis and evaluation of the activities undertaken by different healthcare workers.
Evaluation. This refers to the formal procedure through which the responsible leaders will analyze the performance of the targeted caregivers. The process will outline the gaps and strengths that influence the quality of health services available to the clients.
Monitoring. This term focuses on the continuous analysis of the engagements, activities, and goals of the employees (Lizarondo et al., 2014). The process has the potential to identify the existing gaps and propose new processes to improve the nature of healthcare delivery.
Lean. This concept refers to a powerful strategy aimed at examining the gaps affecting performance. The framework goes further to propose new strategies towards improving the level of employee performance (Lizarondo et al., 2014).
Employee Growth. One of the objectives of the suggested healthcare procedure is to identify the challenges making it impossible for caregivers to offer quality services. The performance evaluation process should be aimed at empowering the workers depending on their competencies (Kundu, 2015). The leaders will identify the existing gaps and offer new ideas to promote employee growth. The practice will eventually improve the nature of healthcare services.
Roles and Responsibilities
The healthcare procedure will be guided by a number of roles and responsibilities (Kundu, 2015). The procedure will be characterized by different professionals in order to produce positive results. These leaders (and their respective responsibilities) are presented below.
Nurse Manager (NM). This professional will guide the employees in the institution to be part of the procedure. The NM will collaborate with the workers in order to deliver positive results. The manager will identify the strengths and weaknesses of the targeted healthcare workers.
Human Resource (HR) Management. The HR manager will monitor the performance of the health professionals. This manager will analyze the behaviors of the employees (Lizarondo et al., 2014). The department will outline the grievances and challenges affecting different units.
Hospital Management. The role of the top managers is to monitor the goals of the hospitals and examine the contributions of different workers. By so doing, the management will understand the issues affecting the hospital (Lizarondo et al., 2014). The major areas for improvement will be identified. The management will implement and support the use of the lean concept. This concept will ensure the most appropriate improvements are guided by the challenges affecting the quality of care available to the targeted clients.
Healthcare Workers. The healthcare practitioners will be required to support the procedure. These professionals will have to collaborate with the HR manager and the top leaders in order to implement the procedure (Kundu, 2015). They should also cooperate in order to implement the best training practices.
Process
A top to down strategy is proposed for this healthcare procedure aimed at promoting performance evaluation. The senior managers will be required to initiate the process. They will begin by examining and evaluating the effectiveness of the healthcare practitioners using various parameters (Lizarondo et al., 2014, p. 578). Some of these parameters include ability to work in teams, deliver of adequate services, addressing workplace problems, decision-making, and empowering patients (Kundu, 2015).
The institution should design an appropriate framework to determine if an employee has been able to support the expectations of the healthcare facility (Lizarondo et al., 2014). This process will make it easier for the management to identify the achievements and philosophies of the healthcare workers. The main focus should be on the quality of healthcare services available to the patients.
The healthcare professionals in the institution should be required to fill up their personal performance evaluation forms. The workers should outline their responsibilities, competencies, and weaknesses. They should also outline their models towards supporting the diverse needs of their patients. The supervisor should use this information to highlight the achievements and competencies of every health practitioner (Grigoroudis & Zopounidis, 2010). The top management should use these performance evaluation documents to make the most desirable conclusions.
The next important thing is to implement the concept of lean. This approach will identify the weaknesses or issues affecting some of the healthcare workers. The gathered information will be used to design powerful models to empower the followers. The process will improve their skill sets and equip them with better organizational competencies (Grigoroudis & Zopounidis, 2010). Continuous improvement should be implemented as part of the healthcare procedure. This means that new ideas and practices will be considered in order to ensure the healthcare practitioners in the facility work hard to maximize patient outcomes.
Compliance
The health leaders, supervisors, and NMs will have to collaborate in order to monitor the performance of different caregivers. The procedure should be implemented in each department to monitor and evaluate the performance of the healthcare professionals. Recommendations and suggestions should be presented to the HR department. The practitioners will be guided to focus on the proposed healthcare procedure (Grigoroudis & Zopounidis, 2010). The strategy should be embraced as a critical aspect of the institution aimed at improving the level of performance. The gathered information will be used to implement a powerful lean model that can improve the competencies of the workers. This practice will eventually ensure the targeted employees work hard to maximize the health outcomes of their respective patients.
Evaluation and Recommendations
The healthcare procedure should be characterized by a number of practices to improve the level of performance evaluation. The evaluation process should be done continuously in the hospital. The procedure will identify the existing gaps and offer new suggestions to improve the level of performance. Several recommendations have the potential to make a difference for nursing institutions. For instance, there should be positive communication between the subordinate and the superior in the healthcare organization (Grigoroudis & Zopounidis, 2010). Whenever a problem is identified, third parties should be allowed to intervene in order to minimize biasness. Training should be implemented as part of the healthcare procedure. This practice will empower the healthcare workers and eventually improve the level of performance. The management should match the needs of the workers with the available resources. This approach will ensure the implemented healthcare process supports the ultimate goal of performance evaluation. New improvements will be implemented and ensure the healthcare facility becomes a leading provider of sustainable medical services.
References
Bouphan, P., Apipalakul, C., & Ngang, T. (2015). Factors affecting public health performance evaluation of sub-district health promoting hospital directors. Procedia: Social and Behavioral Sciences, 185(1), 128-132.
Grigoroudis, E., & Zopounidis, C. (2010). Developing an employee evaluation management system: The case of a healthcare organization. Working Paper, 1(1), 1-19.
Kundu, P. (2015). Performance evaluation of hospital employees through ongoing appraisal systems. International Journal of Thesis Projects and Dissertations, 3(2), 19-27.
Lizarondo, L., Grimmer, K., & Kumar, S. (2014). Assisting allied health in performance evaluation: A systematic review. BMC Health Services Research, 14(1), 572-589.
Nuti, S., Seghieri, C., & Vainieri, M. (2012). Assessing the effectiveness of a performance evaluation system in the public health care sector: Some novel evidence from the Tuscany region experience. Journal of Management and Governance, 1(1), 1-11.
The leadership and the principles of successful warfare are fundamental aspects peculiar to the commanders military performance. Armed conflicts and military operations are the primary responsibilities of the commanders mission and the complex issue to examine. According to the ADP 6-0 Mission Command, commanders implement command and control (C2) by integrating the art of command and the science of control.
Therefore, the commander plays a crucial role in combat since he is responsible for making the right decisions promptly, as well as under intense pressure. The wrong and ill-timed decisions lead to severe outcomes, including human casualties, and might affect national strategic objectives. With that said, military commanders must adhere to the core principles of mission command, which facilitates effectiveness and success when delegating responsibilities to subordinates and distributing appropriate resources to meet the assigned tasks.
The seven principles of mission command serve as the framework for a sufficient commanders performance. One can achieve beneficial results by following these principles, which include competence, mutual trust, shared understanding, commanders intent, mission orders, disciplined initiative, and risk acceptance.
This paper examines the LTC Honeycutts capacity to appropriately utilize Mission Command that resulted in the victory of the American troops at Dong Ap Bia. As described by Ward and Burns, Lieutenant Colonel Weldon F. Honeycutt led three companies of the 187th and is widely known as an aggressive officer who was called a Blackjack. He joined the army in 1946 and joined the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team during the Korean War. Honeycutt took his battalion into the battle at Hamburger Hill, which was considered as one of the bloodiest engagements of the Vietnam War.
The Analysis of the Commanders Performance
The Battle of Hamburger Hill occurred in 1969 and had a significant meaning in terms of general perspective on the Vietnamese War. Despite the American victory and Honeycutts view of the heroic performance, the critics were less approbatory of the military leaderships performance due to irresponsible losses. The events that occurred within this battle are, therefore, considered as the most complex and disputable events of the Vietnam conflict. The perception of the Vietnamese War in 1969 was torn between the American population and the political spectrum. As such, the primary task was to satisfy both the military and the American public.
Consequently, the political circles were concerned about putting an end to War as the policy of public appeasement, as well as achieving victory as the military target. As a result, the U.S. military established a new strategy, which was based on searching and destroying missions, meaning that the troops were focused on investigating the area in order to detect an enemy. Such a tactic resulted in the 187th Infantrys attack on Dong Ap Bia Mountain, which was later called Hamburger Hill.
The Hamburger Hill battle occurred at the beginning of May, in 1969, and was a combined operation of South Vietnamese ARVN troops and U.S. Army soldiers from the 3rd Brigade, 101st Division. The American forces were determined to explore the territory in finding the enemy. Eventually, the enemy was observed on the ridge numbered 937 by American Army maps and was detected as the 29th North Vietnamese regiment.
The arms fire over the Hill 937 started on May 10 and was actively bombarding until May 14. LTC Honeycutt immediately responded to the firearms of the Vietnamese enemy. Wright mentioned that Weldon Honeycutt was a feisty veteran of the Korean War, which means he was prepared for the battle. Three companies of the 187th Airborne began planned maneuvers up the mountain hill. As stated by Geoffrey and Ken Burns, the battle was so furious and sometimes so loud and relentless that radios proved useless. The southern side of the hill was assaulted by the 1/506th Airborne led by Lt. Roger Leasure.
A complete attack started after four days of the uphill struggle, and since then, the hill was called the Hamburger Hill because the U.S. attackers were ground up by enemy protectors. On May 20, the hill was taken by the American Army. Operation Apache Snow was the code name for the joint operation of the U.S. Army and a South Vietnamese infantry regiment against North Vietnamese activities in the A Shau Valley.
Based on combat reports, the goals of the operation were successfully implemented by the U.S. forces. The Hamburger Hill battle took the lives of 48 Americans and nearly 600 North Vietnamese. However, it was considered a controversial aspect of the American Army history by many reporters. Together with some soldiers on the hill, they all doubted the tactical relevance of the combat and the application of regular tactics instead of modern airstrike technology.
The Mission Command Philosophy
Lieutenant Honeycutt managed to demonstrate the leadership qualities of the commander and left a significant mark within the course of American history. By analyzing the basic principles of the mission command, one might notice that some of them were successfully applied during the Hamburger Hill battle. To be more specific, the commanders leadership and competence are the essential components of successful combat. LTC Honeycutt led the American army to the victory on Hamburger Hill due to a professional combination of the art of command and the science of control.
The U.S. troops addressed many challenges during the fight, such as enemy territory, severe weather conditions, and skilled opponent in unforeseen numbers and with cautiously chosen battlefield to counteract the power of American technology. Nevertheless, they did not undermine the commanders determination and impetus to take the lead of his combat group.
Furthermore, the 3rd Battalion/187th Infantry Regiment, nicknamed the Rakkasans, had an explicit trust in their commander. Honeycutt led the U.S. to victory during the War in Vietnam when he made his company to be the one that managed to take the vital hill after two abortive attempts of the previous companies. The commanders performance was based on aggression and a common successful experience that allowed him to form coherent teams under the spirit of trust. The commander assigned each of the companies with a clear division of tasks and responsibilities as the battle group was placed in the operating zone. Thus, the companies were well informed about the shared mission and the centerline of the battle.
Weldon Honeycutt also achieved a shared understanding of individual and cooperative teamwork with his company commanders. As a result, this concept was shared with the soldiers as well. For instance, this can be traced when the commander of Company B, Captain Littman, demanded the instructions from the corps C.P. on May 10.
The commander of the battle group ordered him to relocate the company up the hill, and the Captain expressed full support and readiness to follow the instructions. In addition, the commander of the battalion Rakkasans provided a clear intent through leading by example. LTC Honeycutt injured his back and leg during the battle, however, he still managed to manifest strong courage to fight when he flew to the battalion surgeon and was back to the war zone shortly afterward.
The commander tended to take risks regularly as he flew over the fighting field to investigate his operating companies. He guided them in the axial direction and required support when being under enemy attack. Although, the most crucial and risky decision was made when Lt. Colonel Honeycutt decided to attack the hill alone on May 16 and refused to await the 1/506 group. The commander ordered his battle group to launch the attack because waiting for the 1/506 might give sufficient time for the NVA to rearrange and renew the supplies. In such circumstances, the enemy would become more difficult to destroy.
Conclusion
The core principles of the mission command and its philosophical basis within military strategy enabled to proper examine the commanders performance and combat power in the Hamburger Hill battle during the Vietnam War. This analysis promotes a better understanding and assessment of the events and mission, as well as the tactics that helped LTC Honeycutt to lead his battalion and the United States to victory.
The Hamburger Hill battle is crucial within the course of the Vietnam War since it might serve as a model for the current commanders to assist in successful operations. It is vital to adhere to the fundamental aspects of the mission command, such as command and control, and learn to demonstrate tremendous skills in combining them along with seven key principles. The commanders must be exemplary leaders who allocate clear and concise tasks, as well as a mission to their subordinates and companies. Setting precise objectives and the purpose of military intervention is the key to the successful outcomes of warfare.
Bibliography
ADP 6-0, Mission Command: Command and Control of Army Forces. 2019. Washington, D.C.: Headquarters. Department of the Army.
Daddis, Gregory A. 2017. Withdrawal: Reassessing Americas Final Years in Vietnam. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Fox, Mason E. 2019. The Vietnam War at Home and Abroad: Soldiers, Military Leadership, and the Antiwar Movement. Honors Theses, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Niles, Douglas. 2015. A Noble Cause: American Battlefield Victories in Vietnam. New York, NY: Penguin Random House LLC.
Ward, Geoffrey C., and Ken Burns. 2018. The Vietnam War: An Intimate History. New York, NY: Penguin Random House LLC.
Wright, James Edward. 2017. Enduring Vietnam: An American Generation and its War. New York, NY: St. Martins Press.
To validate the quality and relevance of the innovation proposal as a mechanism to enhance organizational performance, specific implementation outcomes need to be assessed. In particular, the delay in medical assistance is one of the key gaps to address to reduce mortality from heart attacks in cardiac patients. As a solution to introduce, a monitoring system is planned to be developed, which will ensure stable and fast interaction between EMT personnel and ED staff. An opportunity to track ECG indicators and forward them to specialists in real time is a valuable implication that can increase the prospects for positive outcomes and minimize the risks of critical delays (Ehnesh et al., 2020). In addition, this innovation can become a convenient tool for the prevention of possible heart attacks on the way to a healthcare institution due to the timely assessment of patients conditions by specialists.
This idea is relevant to different stakeholders for specific reasons. Patients can be better protected by being examined without delay. Ambulance services can improve productivity and reduce mortality through timely communication with hospitals. Paramedics will have an opportunity to obtain a comprehensive clinical picture of each specific case, which will help avoid errors in the delivery and resuscitation of patients. Finally, hospital staff will be prepared to deal with specific cases in advance, which will also be relevant in the context of maintaining positive recovery statistics. Such a monitoring system is viable and sustainable due to modern remote communication technologies and topicality in the context of the problem of delays in the provision of the necessary assistance to cardiac patients.
Stakeholders are likely to appreciate the proposed idea not only due to its functionality but also due to a real opportunity to introduce it into an ongoing practice. While taking into account the improved interaction between EMT personnel and ED staff, patients with STEMI will be able to count on faster assistance, which is critical in conditions of limited time for all resuscitation activities. This innovation does not require special training or advanced skills and can be implemented in a real emergency environment.
To validate the proposed monitoring system, the use of findings from academic literature is a relevant solution. For instance, one of the parameters that can be improved through the introduction of the innovation is the activation of the catheterization laboratory in the time dimension. According to Zeitouni et al. (2020), performing all necessary procedures within the first 20 minutes is a valuable implication during the provision of emergency care, while longer actions are fraught with patients death during the transfer to the hospital. The proposed system contributes to achieving the smallest time indicators, which is relevant to all stakeholders.
The mortality parameter is a crucial indicator that needs to be taken into account. As Meisel et al. (2021) state, 6.3% of patients admitted by ED staff die within 30 days of admission, while the death rate following direct admissions is 3.6%, which is almost half as much (p. e018343). The authors also note that, according to the estimated morbidity rate, myocardial infarction accounts for about one-fifth of the total studied patients (Meisel et al., 2021, p. e018343). The door-to-ballon times criterion is another indicator that shows the effectiveness of the applied methods of providing emergency care. Forsyth et al. (2020) note that, based on their research, 28% of transferred patients underwent balloon inflation within 90 min from first hospital arrival (p. 321). These statistics prove the relevance of the implementation of the considered monitoring system as an effective algorithm to increase the chances of patients with STEMI.
Enhancing Organizational Performance
Due to the proposed innovation, the parameter of organizational performance can increase, which, in turn, is one of the ultimate goals. The aforementioned indicators of mortality and morbidity, as criteria of medical staff productivity, reflect the real picture of the issue and are critical in the context of appropriate interventions and optimization measures. The considered system of emergency monitoring can help improve the professional qualifications of the involved medical personnel, which correlates with positive patient outcomes directly. Abuzeyad et al. (2020) cites the statistics from the Kingdom of Bahrein and notes that 30-50% of all EMS transfers do not qualify to be transferred to the ED (p. 6). This means that ongoing training and education of paramedics are essential to ensure patient safety and reduce deaths.
As valuable performance indicators, one should consider such parameters as balloon inflation time and the delay rate. According to a study by Forsyth et al. (2020), transferred receive care based on balloon inflation 98% longer than direct patients (p. 327). The door-to-balloon parameter, which is one of the significant indicators, is based on an estimate of the time spent by the paramedic team. In the same study, Forsyth et al. (2020) remark that of all transfers, only 28.1% showed results in less than 90 minutes (p. 324). These statistics are alarming and prove the need for staff training and promotion of ongoing education.
The need to improve the professional competencies of the involved medical departments can be realized in the context of establishing better interaction among different teams. Czapla et al. (2020) state that one of the aspects that deserve attention in the context of improving organizational performance is the education level that employees throughout the whole chain have. Paramedics, nursing staff, and doctors all have distinctive levels of authority and skills due to different training backgrounds and educational experiences. To establish a system for improving the professionalism of the stakeholders, continuing education needs to be promoted in each group. Better training is the key to strengthening professional relationships among healthcare providers and, therefore, increasing a trust culture as a crucial prerequisite for successful work. In an emergency setting, productive interaction is of great importance, and the aforementioned criteria of mortality and transfer delays are weighty arguments to focus on enhancing communication to achieve better organizational performance.
Thus, the considered monitoring system, as an innovative solution, is relevant in the context of the evaluated gaps and problems in the field of emergency care for patients with STEMI. In view of the need to improve performance and ensure a higher quality of medical assistance, the implementation of the mechanism for improved communication among emergency teams is essential. This program is an intervention aimed to not only strengthen the quality of care but also to enhance organizational performance. Different stakeholders can benefit from this program and gain valuable experience, which is necessary due to the role of continuing education as an aspect that correlates with productivity and positive patient outcomes directly. As a result, the intervention is valid and practically grounded.
Forsyth, R., Sun, Z. H., Reid, C., & Moorin, R. (2020). Inter-hospital transfers and door-to-balloon times for STEMI: A single centre cohort study. Journal of Geriatric Cardiology: JGC, 17(6), 321-329. Web.
Bias is closely linked with the process of drawing conclusions based on an intuitive approach rather than analytic methods. Some sources state that bias may be represented by perception errors that occur due to human thinking limitations or irrelevant thinking models (Hammond et al., 2021). Naturally, bias is a subconscious instrument that is meant to utilize collected experience in order to avoid danger and prevent harm. Nonetheless, people learn not only from personal experience but also from controversial information that might be received from culture, the media, and other people.
Moreover, people may tend to form attitudes towards general based on specific, which may also cause bias. According to some sources, bias may be divided into two categories, including implicit bias and explicit bias (Hammond et al., 2021). By definition, implicit bias is a set of unconscious beliefs and perceptions. As an individual may not be aware of implicit personal biases, it may be particularly hard to reduce them. By contrast, explicit biases occur on a conscious level, and hence fewer efforts may be required to identify and reduce them.
Influence of Biases on Executive Performance
As already mentioned, bias may serve as a helpful tool that systemizes and implements knowledge and experience regardless of the field of expertise. However, errors may occur due to inadequate analysis of past experiences or even as a result of false memories. Such errors may form an inappropriate bias, which may have an adverse impact on professional performance. As my selected specialty track is executive nursing, bias may significantly influence outcomes.
Recent studies have shown that bias may form diverse behavior models and unequal treatment based on such factors as race, gender, age, or ethnicity (White et al., 2017). In addition, executive nursing involves management and particularly human resource management. Therefore, implicit bias in executive nursing may cause insufficient attention to professionalism, experience, and competence of employees. It may also lead to inadequate treatment of patients, worsening outcomes, and even causing discrimination.
Personal Biases
In most cases, my personal biases are implicit and based on common stereotypes regarding certain social groups. Even though I try to minimize the adverse effects of unfounded bias, it may not always be possible. For instance, I have an explicit bias towards older people. I also may not always treat with sufficient respect traditions and beliefs, which are unfamiliar and hence hard to understand for me. Another possible bias may be represented by frequently jumping to conclusions based on my perception of weight and the overall fitness of the patient regardless of the background.
Implicit Bias
In some cases, I may assume that older people are not familiar with modern technology, and hence I tend to propose help. However, the benefits of such an explicit bias are closely linked with the drawbars of consequent implicit biases. I may unconsciously believe that older people are not able to use digital technology and modern data sources properly. Such an assumption may lead to unequal treatment of employees and even patients depending on their age groups. Furthermore, as digital technology becomes an inseparable part of modern medicine, such bias towards older people may lead to incorrect assessment of their professional skills.
Bias Reduction Strategies
It may be possible to reduce the above-mentioned bias by stereotype replacement. However, such an approach would also mitigate the benefits of explicit bias. Therefore, individuation, which implies an individual approach to each patient or worker, may be more effective. Biases may occur on different levels and from various sources, making it almost impossible to be fully self-aware. As biases may influence the workflow, form working environments, and affect patient outcomes, it may be critical to address the issue. Regularly assessing experiences and evaluating and analyzing both explicit and implicit biases may be the key to identifying possible adverse effects. Finally, implementing appropriate strategies designed to reduce bias is essential.
References
Hammond, M. E., Stehlik, J., Drakos, S. G., & Kfoury, A. G. (2021). Bias in medicine. JACC: Basic to Translational Science, 6(1), 7885. Web.
For the current study, the question below was chosen from a suggested list.
Does drinking caffeine affect students performance on tests?
The choice of this question was not accidental but instead has a strong justification. Living in a college community often involves severe stress and health risks. Academic responsibility for ones own learning and the desire to perform at a high level encourages young students to use radical ways to keep their bodies functioning. These include the consumption of coffee and caffeinated coffee drinks in order to maintain alertness and clarity of judgment at unnatural times for a healthy biorhythm. Such phenomena are particularly acute during exams and tests when students are required to demonstrate the knowledge and competencies they have learned on their own.
It is true that exams and final tests are a stressor for the student. In an attempt to perform at their best, students spend the last days before the test repeating theoretical basics and learning new knowledge. Such a large amount of information cannot be absorbed systematically, so students often forgo healthy sleep and devote all their waking hours to studying. In this sense, coffee is a good tool for maintaining such a state when one does not want to sleep.
Nevertheless, it is easy to assume that such activities do not turn out to be absolutely harmless for the body. A large amount of caffeine consumed overstresses the nervous system, as a result of which the student experiences severe emotional stress, hallucinations, and memory loss. Obviously, the consequences of such sleepless nights before exams can be precisely the opposite of the expected effect, when due to lack of sleep and large amounts of coffee, reflection ceases to be clear, and the theoretical base is forgotten. Thus, the critical interest in this experiment is to determine the relationship between coffee consumption before exams and students own performance on those exams.
Description of Hypotheses
The initial research question for the entire experiment is to determine the above relationship. In doing so, the working hypothesis is that consuming caffeine (in coffee or coffee drinks) before exams significantly reduces performance on those exams. This question allows us to create an alternative hypothesis, from which the null hypothesis is also formulated:
From the mathematical formulations of the above two hypotheses, we can see that two samples (populations) are used, for which the mean is created. It is worth saying that the focus is set on the scores on the exams, with drinking coffee before the exams as an intervention. It is seen that the alternative hypothesis states that the average for the first population in which students drink coffee should be lower than for the population without the intervention.
Description of Information Collection and Analysis
A description of the procedures for collecting and analyzing the information collected forms the center of the design of the entire experiment. In order for the results to be reliable and for the conclusions to be extrapolated to the general population, the impact of errors and limitations must be minimized. For this reason, some of the steps described below may seem redundant at first glance, but in fact, they carry the goal of reducing the impact of threats and improving the quality of the results.
The primary issue is to determine the mechanism for selecting participants. As follows from the hypotheses stated, it is necessary to collect two samples, one of which will be exposed to the intervention and the other (control) will not. It should be taken into account that selecting students from only one group may not be correct since potential faculty bias cannot be ignored. The same is true for a single university, as there may be differences in teaching tactics and grading methods for exams between different institutions. For this reason, the best solution is to collect students from different universities within the same city.
Each sample should contain about 75 participants who have volunteered to contribute to the study. Both groups should also have an equal or close balance of incoming females and males, as well as a roughly similar average age of the entire sample.
The first group is the one exposed to the intervention throughout the experiment. Three days before the exam, they take four cups of coffee or 400 mg of caffeine per day. The second group, accordingly, does not consume any coffee, energy drinks, or coffee. Two important points must be discussed beforehand. First, the university exam is not a real exam because if the hypotheses turn out to work, the researcher assumes responsibility for the low results in the students. To delineate these responsibilities and prevent respondents scores from falling, the exam takes place in a mock format, with the test, assignments, and procedural parts being kept real.
Students will not be alerted to the falsity of the experiment because it may affect their determination to prepare for it. Thus, the entire test acquires blind status, which in the limit increases the reliability of the results. Second, students are not allowed to drink more than four standard cups of coffee a day, as this could negatively impact health than expected.
On the day of the test, students write an exam in one discipline (e.g., math) and formally stop participating in the experiment when they finish writing the test. Each students results are collected and sent to a follow-up stage using statistical tools. However, to form a more exciting and meaningful study, it would be a good idea to ask students after the exam is over about their emotions and stress over the past few days. This could be a fully structured questionnaire that represents a different line of inquiry and is not related to the test results. That said, randomly discovered data may prove valuable in elucidating the nature of the relationship between coffee, exam preparation, and students stress levels.
Statistical processing of the results can be conventionally divided into two stages: descriptive statistics and hypothesis testing. Descriptive statistics includes determining the demographic characteristics of each sample, calculating the mean score, median, range, standard deviation, and IQR. These results will provide an initial indication of trends. Such data alone, however, are not all-encompassing to the objectives of the experiment.
Therefore, it is necessary to perform hypothesis testing using the test of the mean of two independent samples with the hypotheses stated in Step 2. The standard Z-test is used, which is calculated based on the mean, the number of observations, and the standard deviation. If the final p-value result is above the critical level of significance (0.05), then there is no substantial evidence to reject the null hypothesis and vice versa. Thus, with this test, it will be possible to statistically reliably indicate whether there is an effect of coffee consumption on exam results.
It is argued that educators and policy makers must consider nutrition as a critical ingredient in the development of educational interventions principally designed to enhance the participation and academic performance of students across the world (Galal & Hulett 2003, p. 11). Recently, more than ever, academics, educators and health professionals are in agreement that nutrition plays a significant role on a range of variables of school performance, including but not limited to &enrolment, attendance, grade repetition, behaviour cognition, psychosocial well-being, and achievement levels (Grantham-McGregor & Olney 2006, p. 105). Nutritional status, specifically overall diet quality is a variable of substantial importance for students as it influences intelligence and scholastic achievement (Ivanovic et al 2008, p. 19), as well as cognition and behavior (Florence, Asbridge & Veugellers 2008, p. 209).
Extant literature demonstrates that although parents, educators, and health professionals continue to tout the interdependence between what students eat and their educational achievement, evidence for this association is not always obvious, not mentioning that recurrent biases on both sides of the argument often override data when this topic is brought to the attention of the relevant stakeholders (Taras 2005, p. 199). More importantly, very few studies have cared to analyze this issue from the cost perspective despite the fact that cost concerns are known to impinge on the availability, affordability, and accessibility of healthy food for students not only in Australia but also globally (Wong et al 2011, p. 11). The present study seeks to fill these two gaps in the literature.
According to one particular study, undernourished school-going children &have been shown to have decreased attendance, attention, and academic performance, as well as experience more health problems compared to well-nourished children (Florence et al 2008, p. 210). More resoundingly, preventive supplementation studies suggest a causal relationship between iron-anemia in early childhood on the one hand and poor cognition, late school enrolment, classroom behavioral challenges, poor school achievement, and increased drop-out rates from school on the other hand (Grantham-McGregor & Olney 2006, p. 105).
But while these studies may post conclusive results on school-going children (Pollitt, Gersovitz & Gargiulo 1978, p 478), the same cannot be validated on university student populations in the absence of exhaustive studies (Unwin 2004, p. 144). More importantly, mature students are in charge of their nutrition uptake depending on their level of awareness (Goldberg 1998, p. 99), financial endowment (Wong et al 2011, p. 11), and behavioral orientations (Murray et al 2007, p. 590). It is indeed true that even if food security is regarded to be high in Australia (Wong et al 2011 p. 8), access to a healthy diet may often be limited for this group of the population due to the variables already mentioned, leading to poor dietary intake. This view is reinforced by Cameron and Madden (2011), who suggest that &the relatively high cost of certain foods compatible with healthy eating and the lower price of others has been suggested as one of many barriers to achieving nutritional goals. It is therefore imperative to evaluate how students compatibility with healthy eating is impacted by the cost of food and, ultimately, how this association affects their academic performance.
The study will utilize Heiders (1958) psychological theory of attribution to evaluate how nutritional status affects students performance. Available literature demonstrates that &attribution theory is concerned with how individuals interpret events and how this relates to their thinking and behavior (University of Twente 2010, para. 2). In the context of the research question, it will be assumed that students attribute their performance to some innate variables such as their character, attitude, or personality (internal attribution), or to the inference by some external variables such as dietary status and cost of food (external attribution). This model is justifiable as it will assist the investigator to unearth existing evidence linking students dietary intake, cost implications, and their ability to learn through attribution.
References
Cameron, SJ & Madden, DM 2011, The cost of a basket of food compatible with healthy eating guidelines are higher than a comparable basket of standard food, Journal of Human Nutrition & Dietetics, vol. 24 no. 4, pp. 380-381.
Florence, MD, Asbridge, M & Veugellers, PJ 2008, Diet quality and academic performanc, Journal of School Health, vol. 78 no. 4, pp. 209-215.
Galal, O & Hulett, J 2003, The relationship between nutrition and childrens educational performance: A focus on the United Arab Emirates, Nutrition Bulletin, vol. 28 no. 1, pp. 11-20.
Goldberg, JP 1998, The recommended dietary allowances: Can they inform the development of standards of academic achievements?, Applied Measurement in Education, vol. 11 no. 1, pp. 97-105.
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Ivanovic, D, Rodriguez, MP, Perez, H, Alvear, J, Diaz, N, Leyton, B&Ivanovic, R 2008, Twelve-year follow-up study of the impact of nutritional status at the onset of elementary school on later eeducational situation of Chilean school-age children, European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, vol. 62 no. 1, pp. 18-31.
Murray, NG, Low, BJ, Holus, C, Cross, AW & Davis, SM 2007, Coordinated school health programs and academic achievement: A systematic review of the literature, Journal of School Health, vol. 77 no. 9, pp. 589-600.
Pollitt, E, Gersovitz, N & Gargiulo, M 1978, Educational benefits of the United States school feeding program: A critical review of the literature, American Journal of Public Health, vol. 68 no. 5, pp. 477-481.
Taras, H 2005, Nutrition and student performance at school, Journal of School Health, vol. 75 no. 6, pp. 199-213.
University of Twente 2010, Attribution theory, Web.
Unwin, J 2004, Celebrating the achievement of young people in nutrition, Nutrition Bulletin, 29 no 2, pp. 143-145.
Wong, KC, Coveney, J, Ward, P, Muller, R, Carter, P, verity, F & Tsourtos, G 2011, Availability, affordability and quality of a healthy food basket in Adelaide, South Australia, Nutrition & Dietetics, vol. 68 no. 1, pp. 8-14.
