Northampton Community College

About: Northampton Community College is a education organization based out in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 3410 authors who have published 4582 publications receiving 130398 citations. The organization is also known as: Northampton County Area Community College.

Opening doors as well as banging on tables: an assessment of UNISON/employer partnerships on learning in the UK public sector

Abstract: The academic debate on partnerships has so far mainly focused on whether there are mutual gains for both unions and employers and whether they support or undermine branch organisation. This debate is here assessed in relation to learning partnerships, which are considered to be a distinctive form of partnership and represent a process of institution-building.

Deception and its detection in children: A study of adult accuracy

Abstract: Three groups of participants, 20 social workers in the final year of their training, 20 trainee teachers, and 20 student controls, were assessed on their effectiveness in deciding if children were lying or telling the truth. Although differences did occur across groups, no group displayed overall superiority. The clearest discriminator between correct and incorrect classification of children was parental experience, with parents clearly doing significantly better than non-parents. The indication is that life experience may be an important competency in this area.

Medication errors in older people with mental health problems: a review.

Abstract: Objective - To review and summarise published data on medication errors in older people with mental health problems. Methods - A systematic review was conducted to identify studies that investigated medication errors in older people with mental health problems. MEDLINE, EMBASE, PHARMLINE, COCHRANE COLLABORATION and PsycINFO were searched electronically. Any studies identified were scrutinized for further references. The title, abstract or full text was systematically reviewed for relevance. Results - Data were extracted from eight studies. In total, information about 728 errors (459 administration, 248 prescribing, 7 dispensing, 12 transcribing, 2 unclassified) was available. The dataset related almost exclusively to inpatients, frequently involved non-psychotropics, and the majority of the errors were not serious. Conclusions - Due to methodology issues it was impossible to calculate overall error rates. Future research should concentrate on serious errors within community settings, and clarify potential risk factors.

Buprenorphine, benzodiazepines and respiratory depression

Abstract: We assessed the high incidence of pain after injection of methohexitone while conducting recent studies in out-patients using methohexitone and alfentanil. We tried a combination of two methods of solution of mcthohexitone alter reports that the use of normal saline rather than water reduced thc incidence of pain from 42\"; to 16\",,,' and that pretreatment with lignocaine 10 mg rcduced the incidence from 64\": to 16\",.' Fifty successive unpremedicated patients for outpatient gynaecological surgery received either methohexitone dissolved in normal saline or water on a double blind random basis through a 23G Butterfly (Abbott) in the back of the hand. Spontancous expressions of pain. withdrawal of the hand or wincing werc classified as a painful response. Thirteen ( 5 2 9 3 of those receiving the aqueous solution complained of pain and 16 (64\"J of those in the saline group. The next 100 successive patients also received either methohexitone in saline or water. bul were all pretreated with lignocaine 10 mg. Twcnty-four percent of the aqueous group and 28'; of the saline group complained of pain. The incidence of pain following injection of methohexitone has hccn reported from between 60i,and lO\"<' and is higher in unpremedicated, vasoconstricted patients receiving the injection into a small vein. Numerous methods to reduce thc incidence have been advocated. none with any convincing success. We havc failed to show any significant improvement when dissolving methohexitone in saline, and despite a lower overall significant improvement when pretreating with lignocaine, the final incidence is still higher. This means that more than one in four patients will experience moderate to severe pain after injection of the methohexitone. There is no clear alternative to methohexitone at present, because of its safety record and short duration of action. We suggest that the only method definitely to reduce the incidence of pain is to site the intravenous needle in a large vein in the foream.

Contribution and solvency risk in a defined benefit pension scheme

Abstract: This paper presents a stochastic investment model for a defined benefit pension scheme, in the presence of IID real rates of return. The spread method of adjustment to the normal cost is used to deal with surpluses or deficiencies. Two types of risk are identified, the “contribution rate risk” and the “solvency risk” which are concerned with the stability of the contributions and the security of the pension fund, respectively. A performance criterion is introduced to deal with the simultaneous minimisation of these two risks, using the fraction of the unfunded liability paid off (k) or the spread period (M) as the control variable. A full numerical investigation of the optimal values of k and M is provided. The results lead to practical conclusions about the optimal funding strategy and, hence, about the optimal choice of the contribution rate subject to the constraints needed for the convergence of the performance criterion.