Personal Statement My Goals and Why Essay

This paper introduces you to my world. It explains my professional goals, including why I am pursuing my Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN). This paper addresses my current role as a registered nurse (RN) at St Mary’s hospital on the Neuro Trauma Intensive Care Unit (NTICU). I will explain how I got where I am today. I will inform you of my understanding of importance of integrity. I will express my importance of how ethics play a role in my life and how Fowler (2010) broadened my understanding of ethics. Lastly, I will cover why professional writing and communication is so important to the profession of nursing. Keywords: Bachelor of Science in Nursing, registered nurse, neuro trauma intensive care unit Personal Statement My Goals and Why I Am Pursuing My BSN My long term goal goes farther than just accruing my BSN. I potentially want to acquire my Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA). I need to have achieved my BSN to apply for CRNA School. Regardless, if I planned on furthering my degree, I feel a BSN in needed in my profession as a nurse. A BSN opens doorways to climbing the clinical ladder, more leadership roles, and increasing responsibilities. A nurses’ back is quick to wear out doing constant patient care, having a higher degree will give me more options in my career. I currently work at St. Mary’s hospital on the NTICU. I spend my nights assessing my critically ill patients, carrying out nursing care, communicating with doctors and other nurses, and constantly using my critical thinking skills. New trauma patients I find most interesting. The adrenaline starts flowing and the fight and flight response takes over. Often in these moments I surprise myself. The knowledge horded in the back of my brain and life saving skills take over. This makes for an awarding and self gratifying night. Not all traumas end the way we intend them to. We are often reminded we are not the ones in totally control. I love my job and my current position but eventually I will have to move on. I graduated from St. Mary’s School of Nursing in December 2011. Previously I was enlisted in the United States Army. I served four years as a combat medic. I left for the army right out of high school. This decision was based on the fact I was living on my own and did not have any guidance in my life and knew this decision would set me off in the right direction. Not only did my enlistment open my eyes to the medical field but I also gained my values which I have displayed thru my life. The seven core values I was thought were as follows: loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal courage. I would not be where I am today without the army in my life. This experience was the molding of who I am today. My service to the army instilled my beliefs, morals, and ethics. Integrity and ethics play a valuable in my everyday life at home and at work. Integrity to me is to do what is right and expected of me, legally and morally. To understand integrity I had to understand my own beliefs and morals. The code of ethics for nurses is the profession’s public expression of those values, duties, and commitments (Fowler 2010). To uphold integrity and ethics to my work place I have be familiar with hospital policies, code of conduct, and my scope of practice. I have to educate myself on changes, make sure my certifications are up to date, and constantly continue my education. I have learned thru my experience as I strengthen these qualities I acquired more trust from others and have more trust in myself. Professional writing and communication is so important to the profession of nursing because in my profession it is used in many ways, unclear communication leaves room for error and all treatment is carried out by communication. As a nurse I communicate to coworkers, doctors, patients, and family members. I receive orders from doctors written and verbally, it is important I understand exactly what he is ordering. Written medical orders have their own universal formula to leave room for minimal mistakes. Verbal orders should be wrote down and read back to the physician. Along with receiving orders as a nurse I am the physician eyes, ears, and brain when they are not around. I have to be able to pick up on changes, new data, and intervene appropriately. I have to paint a clear and concise picture for the physician so that treatment can be done. I also communicate with the patient and family so that I have a clear understanding of what treatment my patient does or does not want. In my communication with the patient and family a lot of times I have to step out of the medical profession and explain things in different terms, so that they can develop a clear understanding. Communication with my coworkers is in a clear, respectful, and constant manner. I always keep my coworkers involved in patients as well as where I stand on finishing my tasks, so that I may be of help to others. I am beginning my journey to acquire my BSN and tackle my lifelong goals. I hope to by the end of this journey become a CRNA. With my understanding of the importance of integrity and ethics in my profession, and the promise to carry them out I should not have any problems meeting my goal. I have an understanding for the importance of communication as well and will continue to practice it as well. Overall, I want to continue to better myself and my knowledge in all aspects and know that if I apply myself thru this course and other I will gain exactly that. Reference Fowler, M. D. M. (2010). Guide to the code of ethics for nurses. (p. xiii). Siliver Spring, MD: American Nurses Association.

Vampire Academy Chapter 5

FIVE OR RATHER, THEY HAD BEEN Strigoi. A regiment of guardians had hunted them down and killed them. If rumors were true, Christian had witnessed it all when he was very young. And although he wasn't Strigoi himself, some people thought he wasn't far off, with the way he always wore black and kept to himself. Strigoi or not, I didn't trust him. He was a jerk, and I silently screamed at Lissa to get out of there – not that my screaming did much good. Stupid one-way bond. â€Å"What are you doing here?† she asked. â€Å"Taking in the sights, of course. That chair with the tarp on it is particularly lovely this time of year. Over there, we have an old box full of the writings of the blessed and crazy St. Vladimir. And let's not forget that beautiful table with no legs in the corner.† â€Å"Whatever.† She rolled her eyes and moved toward the door, wanting to leave, but he blocked her way. â€Å"Well, what about you?† he taunted. â€Å"Why are you up here? Don't you have parties to go to or lives to destroy?† Some of Lissa's old spark returned. â€Å"Wow, that's hilarious. Am I like a rite of passage now? Go and see if you can piss off Lissa to prove how cool you are? Some girl I don't even know yelled at me today, and now I've got to deal with you? What does it take to be left alone?† â€Å"Oh. So that's why you're up here. For a pity party.† â€Å"This isn't a joke. I'm serious.† I could tell Lissa was getting angry. It was trumping her earlier distress. He shrugged and leaned casually against the sloping wall. â€Å"So am I. I love pity parties. I wish I'd brought the hats. What do you want to mope about first? How it's going to take you a whole day to be popular and loved again? How you'll have to wait a couple weeks before Hollister can ship out some new clothes? If you spring for rush shipping, it might not be so long.† â€Å"Let me leave,† she said angrily, this time pushing him aside. â€Å"Wait,† he said, as she reached the door. The sarcasm disappeared from his voice. â€Å"What? ­um, what was it like?† â€Å"What was what like?† she snapped. â€Å"Being out there. Away from the Academy.† She hesitated for a moment before answering, caught off guard by what seemed like a genuine attempt at conversation. â€Å"It was great. No one knew who I was. I was just another face. Not Moroi. Not royal. Not anything.† She looked down at the floor. â€Å"Everyone here thinks they know who I am.† â€Å"Yeah. It's kind of hard to outlive your past,† he said bitterly. It occurred to Lissa at that moment – and me to by default – just how hard it might be to be Christian. Most of the time, people treated him like he didn't exist. Like he was a ghost. They didn't talk to or about him. They just didn't notice him. The stigma of his parents' crime was too strong, casting its shadow onto the entire Ozera family. Still, he'd pissed her off, and she wasn't about to feel sorry for him. â€Å"Wait – is this your pity party now?† He laughed, almost approvingly. â€Å"This room has been my pity party for a year now.† â€Å"Sorry,† said Lissa snarkily. â€Å"I was coming here before I left. I've got a longer claim.† â€Å"Squatters' rights. Besides, I have to make sure I stay near the chapel as much as possible so people know I haven't gone Strigoi? ­yet.† Again, the bitter tone rang out. â€Å"I used to always see you at mass. Is that the only reason you go? To look good?† Strigoi couldn't enter holy ground. More of that sinning-against-the-world thing. â€Å"Sure,† he said. â€Å"Why else go? For the good of your soul?† â€Å"Whatever,† said Lissa, who clearly had a different opinion. â€Å"I'll leave you alone then.† â€Å"Wait,† he said again. He didn't seem to want her to go. â€Å"I'll make you a deal. You can hang out here too if you tell me one thing.† â€Å"What?† She glanced back at him. He leaned forward. â€Å"Of all the rumors I heard about you today – and believe me, I heard plenty, even if no one actually told them to me – there was one that didn't come up very much. They dissected everything else: why you left, what you did out there, why you came back, the specialization, what Rose said to Mia, blah, blah, blah. And in all of that, no one, no one ever questioned that stupid story that Rose told about there being all sorts of fringe humans who let you take blood.† She looked away, and I could feel her cheeks starting to burn. â€Å"It's not stupid. Or a story.† He laughed softly. â€Å"I've lived with humans. My aunt and I stayed away after my parents? ­died. It's not that easy to find blood.† When she didn't answer, he laughed again. â€Å"It was Rose, wasn't it? She fed you.† A renewed fear shot through both her and me. No one at school could know about that. Kirova and the guardians on the scene knew, but they'd kept that knowledge to themselves. â€Å"Well. If that's not friendship, I don't know what it is,† he said. â€Å"You can't tell anyone,† she blurted out. This was all we needed. As I'd just been reminded, feeders were vampire-bite addicts. We accepted that as part of life but still looked down on them for it. For anyone else – especially a dhampir – letting a Moroi take blood from you was almost, well, dirty. In fact, one of the kinkiest, practically pornographic things a dhampir could do was let a Moroi drink blood during sex. Lissa and I hadn't had sex, of course, but we'd both known what others would think of me feeding her. â€Å"Don't tell anyone,† Lissa repeated. He stuffed his hands in his coat pockets and sat down on one of the crates. â€Å"Who am I going to tell? Look, go grab the window seat. You can have it today and hang out for a while. If you're not still afraid of me.† She hesitated, studying him. He looked dark and surly, lips curled in a sort of I'm-such-a-rebel smirk. But he didn't look too dangerous. He didn't look Strigoi. Gingerly, she sat back down in the window seat, unconsciously rubbing her arms against the cold. Christian watched her, and a moment later, the air warmed up considerably. Lissa met Christian's eyes and smiled, surprised she'd never noticed how icy blue they were before. â€Å"You specialized in fire?† He nodded and pulled up a broken chair. â€Å"Now we have luxury accommodations.† I snapped out of the vision. â€Å"Rose? Rose?† Blinking, I focused on Dimitri's face. He was leaning toward me, his hands gripping my shoulders. I'd stopped walking; we stood in the middle of the quad separating the upper school buildings. â€Å"Are you all right?† â€Å"I? ­yeah. I was? ­I was with Lissa? ­Ã¢â‚¬  I put a hand to my forehead. I'd never had such a long or clear experience like that. â€Å"I was in her head.† â€Å"Her? ­head?† â€Å"Yeah. It's part of the bond.† I didn't really feel like elaborating. â€Å"Is she all right?† â€Å"Yeah, she's? ­Ã¢â‚¬  I hesitated. Was she all right? Christian Ozera had just invited her to hang out with him. Not good. There was â€Å"coasting through the middle,† and then there was turning to the dark side. But the feelings humming through our bond were no longer scared or upset. She was almost content, though still a little nervous. â€Å"She's not in danger,† I finally said. I hoped. â€Å"Can you keep going?† The hard, stoic warrior I'd met earlier was gone – just for a moment – and he actually looked concerned. Truly concerned. Feeling his eyes on me like that made something flutter inside of me – which was stupid, of course. I had no reason to get all goofy, just because the man was too good-looking for his own good. After all, he was an antisocial god, according to Mason. One who was supposedly going to leave me in all sorts of pain. â€Å"Yeah. I'm fine.† I went into the gym's dressing room and changed into the workout clothes someone had finally thought to give me after a day of practicing in jeans and a T-shirt. Gross. Lissa hanging out with Christian troubled me, but I shoved that thought away for later as my muscles informed me they did not want to go through any more exercise today. So I suggested to Dimitri that maybe he should let me off this time. He laughed, and I was pretty sure it was at me and not with me. â€Å"Why is that funny?† â€Å"Oh,† he said, his smile dropping. â€Å"You were serious.† â€Å"Of course I was! Look, I've technically been awake for two days. Why do we have to start this training now? Let me go to bed,† I whined. â€Å"It's just one hour.† He crossed his arms and looked down at me. His earlier concern was gone. He was all business now. Tough love. â€Å"How do you feel right now? After the training you've done so far?† â€Å"I hurt like hell.† â€Å"You'll feel worse tomorrow.† â€Å"So?† â€Å"So, better to jump in now while you still feel? ­not as bad.† â€Å"What kind of logic is that?† I retorted. But I didn't argue anymore as he led me into the weight room. He showed me the weights and reps he wanted me to do, then sprawled in a corner with a battered Western novel. Some god. When I finished, he stood beside me and demonstrated a few cool-down stretches. â€Å"How'd you end up as Lissa's guardian?† I asked. â€Å"You weren't here a few years ago. Were you even trained at this school?† He didn't answer right away. I got the feeling he didn't talk about himself very often. â€Å"No. I attended the one in Siberia.† â€Å"Whoa. That's got to be the only place worse than Montana.† A glint of something – maybe amusement – sparked in his eyes, but he didn't acknowledge the joke. â€Å"After I graduated, I was a guardian for a Zeklos lord. He was killed recently.† His smile dropped, his face grew dark. â€Å"They sent me here because they needed extras on campus. When the princess turned up, they assigned me to her, since I'd already be around. Not that it matters until she leaves campus.† I thought about what he'd said before. Some Strigoi killed the guy he was supposed to have been guarding? â€Å"Did this lord die on your watch?† â€Å"No. He was with his other guardian. I was away.† He fell silent, his mind obviously somewhere else. The Moroi expected a lot from us, but they did recognize that the guardians were – more or less – only human. So, guardians got pay and time off like you'd get in any other job. Some hard-core guardians – like my mom – refused vacations, vowing never to leave their Moroi's sides. Looking at Dimitri now, I had a feeling he might very well turn into one of those. If he'd been away on legitimate leave, he could hardly blame himself for what happened to that guy. Still, he probably did anyway. I'd blame myself too if something happened to Lissa. â€Å"Hey,† I said, suddenly wanting to cheer him up, â€Å"did you help come up with the plan to get us back? Because it was pretty good. Brute force and all that.† He arched an eyebrow curiously. Cool. I'd always wished I could do that. â€Å"You're complimenting me on that?† â€Å"Well, it was a hell of a lot better than the last one they tried.† â€Å"Last one?† â€Å"Yeah. In Chicago. With the pack of psi-hounds.† â€Å"This was the first time we found you. In Portland.† I sat up from my stretches and crossed my legs. â€Å"Um, I don't think I imagined psi-hounds. Who else could have sent them? They only answer to Moroi. Maybe no one told you about it.† â€Å"Maybe,† he said dismissively. I could tell by his face he didn't believe that. I returned to the novices' dorm after that. The Moroi students lived on the other side of the quad, closer to the commons. The living arrangements were partly based on convenience. Being here kept us novices closer to the gym and training grounds. But we also lived separately to accommodate the differences in Moroi and dhampir lifestyles. Their dorm had almost no windows, aside from tinted ones that dimmed sunlight. They also had a special section where feeders always stayed on hand. The novices' dorm was built in a more open way, allowing for more light. I had my own room because there were so few novices, let alone girls. The room they'd given me was small and plain, with a twin bed and a desk with a computer. My few belongings had been spirited out of Portland and now sat in boxes around the room. I rummaged through them, pulling out a T-shirt to sleep in. I found a couple of pictures as I did, one of Lissa and me at a football game in Portland and another taken when I'd gone on vacation with her family, a year before the accident. I set them on my desk and booted up the computer. Someone from tech support had helpfully given me a sheet with instructions for renewing my e-mail account and setting up a password. I did both, happy to discover no one had realized that this would serve as a way for me to communicate with Lissa. Too tired to write to her now, I was about to turn everything off when I noticed I already had a message. From Janine Hathaway. It was short: I'm glad you're back. What you did was inexcusable. â€Å"Love you too, Mom,† I muttered, shutting it all down. When I went to bed afterward, I passed out before even hitting the pillow, and just as Dimitri had predicted, I felt ten times worse when I woke up the next morning. Lying there in bed, I reconsidered the perks of running away. Then I remembered getting my ass kicked and figured the only way to prevent that from happening again was to go endure some more of it this morning. My soreness made it all that much worse, but I survived the before-school practice with Dimitri and my subsequent classes without passing out or fainting. At lunch, I dragged Lissa away from Natalie's table early and gave her a Kirova-worthy lecture about Christian – particularly chastising her for letting him know about our blood arrangement. If that got out, it'd kill both of us socially and I didn't trust him not to tell. Lissa had other concerns. â€Å"You were in my head again?† she exclaimed. â€Å"For that long?† â€Å"I didn't do it on purpose,† I argued. â€Å"It just happened. And that's not the point. How long did you hang out with him afterward?† â€Å"Not that long. It was kind of? ­fun.† â€Å"Well, you can't do it again. If people find out you're hanging out with him, they'll crucify you.† I eyed her warily. â€Å"You aren't, like, into him, are you?† She scoffed. â€Å"No. Of course not. â€Å"Good. Because if you're going to go after a guy, steal Aaron back.† He was boring, yes, but safe. Just like Natalie. How come all the harmless people were so lame? Maybe that was the definition of safe. She laughed. â€Å"Mia would claw my eyes out.† â€Å"We can take her. Besides, he deserves someone who doesn't shop at Gap Kids.† â€Å"Rose, you've got to stop saying things like that.† â€Å"I'm just saying what you won't.† â€Å"She's only a year younger,† said Lissa. She laughed. â€Å"I can't believe you think I'm the one who's going to get us in trouble.† Smiling as we strolled toward class, I gave her a sidelong glance. â€Å"Aaron does look pretty good though, huh?† She smiled back and avoided my eyes. â€Å"Yeah. Pretty good.† â€Å"Ooh. You see? You should go after him.† â€Å"Whatever. I'm fine being friends now.† â€Å"Friends who used to stick their tongues down each other's throats.† She rolled her eyes. â€Å"Fine.† I let my teasing go. â€Å"Let Aaron stay in the nursery school. Just so long as you stay away from Christian. He's dangerous.† â€Å"You're overreacting. He's not going Strigoi.† â€Å"He's a bad influence.† She laughed. â€Å"You think I'm in danger of going Strigoi?† She didn't wait for my answer, instead pushing ahead to open the door to our science class. Standing there, I uneasily replayed her words and then followed a moment later. When I did, I got to see royal power in action. A few guys – with giggling, watching girls – were messing with a gangly-looking Moroi. I didn't know him very well, but I knew he was poor and certainly not royal. A couple of his tormentors were air-magic users, and they'd blown the papers off his desk and were pushing them around the room on currents of air while the guy tried to catch them. My instincts urged me to do something, maybe go smack one of the air users. But I couldn't pick a fight with everyone who annoyed me, and certainly not a group of royals – especially when Lissa needed to stay off their radar. So I could only give them a look of disgust as I walked to my desk. As I did, a hand caught my arm. Jesse. â€Å"Hey,† I said jokingly. Fortunately, he didn't appear to be participating in the torture session. â€Å"Hands off the merchandise.† He flashed me a smile but kept his hand on me. â€Å"Rose, tell Paul about the time you started the fight in Ms. Karp's class.† I cocked my head toward him, giving him a playful smile. â€Å"I started a lot of fights in her class.† â€Å"The one with the hermit crab. And the gerbil.† I laughed, recalling it. â€Å"Oh yeah. It was a hamster, I think. I just dropped it into the crab's tank, and they were both worked up from being so close to me, so they went at it.† Paul, a guy sitting nearby whom I didn't really know, chuckled too. He'd transferred last year, apparently, and hadn't heard of this. â€Å"Who won?† I looked at Jesse quizzically. â€Å"I don't remember. Do you?† â€Å"No. I just remember Karp freaking out.† He turned toward Paul. â€Å"Man, you should have seen this messed-up teacher we used to have. Used to think people were after her and would go off on stuff that didn't make any sense. She was nuts. Used to wander campus while everyone was asleep.† I smiled tightly, like I thought it was funny. Instead, I thought back to Ms. Karp again, surprised to be thinking about her for the second time in two days. Jesse was right – she had wandered campus a lot when she still worked here. It was pretty creepy. I'd run into her once – unexpectedly. I'd been climbing out of my dorm window to go hang out with some people. It was after hours, and we were all supposed to be in our rooms, fast asleep. Such escape tactics were a regular practice for me. I was good at them. But I fell that time. I had a second-floor room, and I lost my grip about halfway down. Sensing the ground rush up toward me, I tried desperately to grab hold of something and slow my fall. The building's rough stone tore into my skin, causing cuts I was too preoccupied to feel. I slammed into the grassy earth, back first, getting the wind knocked out of me. â€Å"Bad form, Rosemarie. You should be more careful. Your instructors would be disappointed.† Peering through the tangle of my hair, I saw Ms. Karp looking down at me, a bemused look on her face. Pain, in the meantime, shot through every part of my body. Ignoring it as best I could, I clambered to my feet. Being in class with Crazy Karp while surrounded by other students was one thing. Standing outside alone with her was an entirely different matter. She always had an eerie, distracted gleam in her eye that made my skin break out in goose bumps. There was also now a high likelihood she'd drag me off to Kirova for a detention. Scarier still. Instead, she just smiled and reached for my hands. I flinched but let her take them. She tsked when she saw the scrapes. Tightening her grip on them, she frowned slightly. A tingle burned my skin, laced with a sort of pleasant buzz, and then the wounds closed up. I had a brief sense of dizziness. My temperature spiked. The blood disappeared, as did the pain in my hip and leg. Gasping, I jerked my hands away. I'd seen a lot of Moroi magic, but never anything like that. â€Å"What? ­what did you do?† She gave me that weird smile again. â€Å"Go back to your dorm, Rose. There are bad things out here. You never know what's following you.† I was still staring at my hands. â€Å"But? ­Ã¢â‚¬  I looked back up at her and for the first time noticed scars on the sides of her forehead. Like nails had dug into them. She winked. â€Å"I won't tell on you if you don't tell on me.† I jumped back to the present, unsettled by the memory of that bizarre night. Jesse, in the meantime, was telling me about a party. â€Å"You've got to slip your leash tonight. We're going up to that spot in the woods around eight thirty. Mark got some weed.† I sighed wistfully, regret replacing the chill I'd felt over the memory of Ms. Karp. â€Å"Can't slip that leash. I'm with my Russian jailer.† He let go of my arm, looking disappointed, and ran a hand through his bronze-colored hair. Yeah. Not being able to hang out with him was a damned shame. I really would have to fix that someday. â€Å"Can't you ever get off for good behavior?† he joked. I gave him what I hoped was a seductive smile as I found my seat. â€Å"Sure,† I called over my shoulder. â€Å"If I was ever good.†

Biological weapons Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Biological weapons - Research Paper Example Because of the level of destruction that these weapons are capable of causing, the use of these can be a motivation for many adversaries. Also, these weapons are indiscriminately used to kill people. So they might not just affect the military, but may also cause numerous deaths in the civilian populations. Further, a wound due to other weapons can be treated. A biological weapon might be hard to detect and once detected, might not have a cure. Biological weapons also tend to have long term effects on the human and living populations as compared to nuclear missiles and arms. (Satpathy 10) History Although biological weapons have now come into notice, they have been used for centuries. The use of these weapons dates back to 1500 BC when the people suffering from a plague were often driven into the territories of the enemy. The plague would not just kill or sicken the enemy civil populations but would also render the military unsuitable for war. Apart from that, the spears and arrows we re often poisoned so that the enemy could not just be wounded, but would also have poison spread in his body. In the famous First Sacred War, the Athenians poisoned the water supply of the city of Kirrha in order to kill the military combatants. In other wars, clay pots containing snakes were often thrown on the enemy. (Chauhan 158) Slowly over the centuries, biological weapons took new forms. Before the 17th century, the most common way of inflicting disease on the enemy was to throw the infected corpses into the water supply of the cities. Since water is a basic necessity, this ensured that all the people were infected. Later, however, new ways of introducing the diseases were established. For instance in the 18th century, in Native America, two blankets and a handkerchief exposed to small pox were given to the Natives by the British in order to disease them. Diseases like influenza spread often due to the exchange of goods at ports from ships that came from different regions. Bio logical warfare went to a new extreme when in the Second Sino Japanese war, the Japanese tested all kinds of biological weapons on the prisoners held in custody so that the weapons could then be used to combat the enemy in the future. In the First World War, the most famous and extensive Biowarfare program was started by the empire of Germany. This program included the supply of teams of saboteurs to areas like Finland where they placed anthrax (a disease causing agent) in the stables of Russia in the year 1916. (Chauhan 159) German intelligence officers also created glanders that could be used to affect livestock and crops, particularly at ports. The Imperial Japanese army also was responsible for many pathogen outbreaks in the same period. From the year 1937 to 1945, the Japanese army contaminated the Horustein river in Soviet Russia with typhoid. The army also used made use of bombs having fleas that could carry the bubonic plague. Air dropping of plagued fleas was also a common thing against the Chinese. After the use of the biological weapons in the first and second world wars, nations like the US, Soviet Union and Britain started the experimentation of agents that could be used as biological weapons. The US started its US Biological Weapon testing program through which it started research on the topic. Operation whitecoat was one of the leading operations of the US that aimed to study the effects of

Effective Leadership Styles Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Effective Leadership Styles - Movie Review Example In this paper, the leadership skills reflected by Carter will be discussed and the focus of which will be mainly on goal setting, self-motivation, determination, evaluation and communication. From the time the coach went to the school where he coached, he made it clear to the team that he is the team leader and the players are his team members. It is believed that such clear lay-out of the roles of each member helps in making the goals as well as the rules and regulations clearly defined so that they may be achieved in due time. Before the team even started with their rehearsals, the coach made the goal very clear and he even gave them contracts to sign in order for them to take things more seriously. There was not only verbal explanation given to the students but a meeting with their parents was also called for to make them understand the situation and for them to be informed also of the contract the students agreed upon. Kinicki et.al consider goals as the starting point for all mo tivations because having an objective keeps people focused on the things they must do in order for them to achieve their goals. ... Trying to simultaneously achieve the short term and long term goals have been extremely challenging to Carter but these always made him more focused on the steps he needed to take. Although his team was undefeated, which would be every coach’s dream; Carter was not satisfied with their performances because they failed to live by the contract that they agreed upon from the start of his job. Therefore, he travelled an extra mile in order to help further the players in their academic performances. He made sacrifices with his time and decisions, not wavered by the arguments of his colleagues, students and their parents. He stuck to his priorities and was focused ore than ever with his goals. Detractors abound in every corner and they could either serve as challenges or obstacles that stop people from achieving their goals. In The Art of Leadership, Dag Heward-Mills encourages leaders to become self-motivated (2006) and not to expect direction or encouragement from outside. Indeed, more often than not, people can easily become pessimistic and become discouragements rather than encouragements. Thus, it is important that leaders should have that spirit of motivating themselves first and foremost before getting motivated by others. In the film mentioned earlier, Carter was surrounded by oppositions and impossibilities but he knew his goals and he knew he could succeed if he did his best. While most of his colleagues were encouraging him to give in to the clamor of the students and parents to let the students play despite their failing grades, Carter sought to achieve his goals, clinging to his set of rules and not compromising his principles. In line with the motivation that Carter had, he was also determined to

The nature and importance risk management to businesses Assignment

The nature and importance risk management to businesses - Assignment Example A large firm’s cost of capital must rely only on its framework, not the entire risk of the organisation because investors can omit the manifold risks of single firms by grasping a well-variegated portfolio (McShane et al., 2011, p. 644). 3.0 Risk Management 3.1 Nature Business risk management is a process that can aid the firm determine risk situations and regulate the relevant risks. Nations such as South Africa, United Kingdom, and Australia have been adapting the framework of business risk management. It should be fathomed that risks potentially existed in any type of business organisation because one firm cannot withstand the industrial setting without encountering diversified forms of risks. There is, therefore, a spice to light up the world of business for organisational leaders to remain active. The risks are accompanied with hazards, which can cause harm and can be fatal to any perspectives. Where there are risks and hazards, there should be a proper regulation of busi ness risk management in order to annihilate the cause of its emergence. However, in today’s business environment, it is difficult to determine risk management of organisations because they are not postulated to disclose their business risk management framework (Gates et al., 2012, pp. 28-36). 3.2 Significance What signifies business risk management is that it can be utilised by business organisations to annihilate the emergence of hazards, and eventually omit the danger of its accompanied risks. Additionally, organisations with business risk management schemes can improve its organisational performance initially through enabling corporate executives to regulate the firm better. With the presence of business risk...To investigate the after-event of implementing the action plan requires thorough analysis. Such strategy is done to develop the action plan for its re-modification. Written documents should focus on the stakeholders; alongside optimum practices, such as scheduling c onventional meetings of every department. The external environment should be considered in the formulation of strategies; having a well-defined policies and safety programs should also be emphasised (Strong and Shane, 2011). 5.0 Conclusion Small and medium enterprises, as well as large organisations, need to manage risks in order to project the success of its activities and verify the solidity of its sustainable development. However, with the given facts and procedures in managing business risks, small organisations are smoothly impacted by the types of risks the relative industry has given. The optimum exposition that would best benefit large organisations in utilising business risks management is because they have more human resources and large operations compared to small firms. Most significantly, the economic changes in today’s environment create a big impact to a certain large company who does not practice business risk management. Not just hazards doom to backfire risks against firms, it also leads to bring a fast-developed cause to bring business to the catacomb of bankruptcy, insolvency and death.

Out group culture experience Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Out group culture experience - Movie Review Example I am a Chinese national and would very often compare my socio-cultural with what happens in United States of America. Every year from the movie, many people hope to land in the USA from Southern as well as Central America to evade poverty implications in their countries. They experience a jungle of a nightmare while traveling along a stretch of the desert of ‘death corridor’. Many migrants have perished at this place. The in-group culture identity would range from religion (Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism), arts (Kung Fu, traditional dance, acrobatic,) and immigration policies. The Chinese government regulates the issue of immigration; favoring skilled labor to unskilled labor (Diestro-Dopido 2014). The unique hukou system of China distinguishes Chinese internal migration from migration in other developing countries; China founded the global hukou system, which restricted the mobility of the people. It aims to tie farmers to land, secure agricultural supply.The in-group experience is more pleasing and reliable. The cultural activities in China enhance peace and harmony in the soc iety because people meet very often to participate. There are many advantages of in-group because of a common language- a contributor to unity (Pedzich

Immigration and assylum law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Immigration and assylum law - Essay Example UK is considered be a welfare state, where the constitution permits availability of required resources for its citizens and immigrants The UK government has revised its policy in this regard, and the legislators have sought the scrutiny of the process. The objective of the plan is to classify the cases of the political asylum on the basis of their eligibility. The authorities intend to implement a plan, according to which the seekers arte to be distinguished on the basis of deserving and undeserving criteria. The local population have expressed their concern over the heavy influx of political asylums, and the recent series of terrorist attacks and threats in the country has compel the authorities to revise their policies, and to thoroughly investigate the application of the asylum seekers. The government has been involved in the detention of those, whose applications have been approved, and plan to re-interrogate their application. The political asylum are considered to be problematic and homogenous group, and the government understands that it require early resolution so to avoid any chaos. The detention of the po litical asylum is therefore any bold strategy to counter for social disorder. Media has played a crucial role in this regard, the repeated discussion of political asylums, in their reports, and the expenses that government has to incur towards their health, stay and welfare, has therefore put a pressure on the government to review its policies in this regard. (Bauman, 1998) According to reports the security concerns have compel the UK government to take strong action against the asylum seekers, therefore have been incidents in the past where the asylum seekers are found guilty of criminal accusations. Asylum seekers are regularly associated with ‘illegality, racketeering and disregard for sovereign borders’. The media in its report has continuously warned the government

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

Management - Research Paper Example It is one of the supporting structures that constitute the strength of the company. Another important aspect of strength for Lean-Body Diet relates to the economic factors. The economic environment for the production and sale of eatables and drinks for the diet conscious population is determined by the market trends, factors of competition, and the purchasing power of the market. Another important element relates to the nature of relationship between demand and supply. Regarding the factor of market trends, Lean-Body Diet will benefit from the current trends that have shown a preference for foods that promote good health. In fact the marketing strategies employed by the company will endear it to large segments of the population precisely because the company has managed to balance between taste and quality of the products. Lean-Body Diet will also benefit significantly from the imbalance between demand and supply for healthy foods and drinks. A study on the target market would reveal that few companies are engaged in the business of producing healthy food stuffs. One of the strategies that have been employed by the company is that it seeks to satisfy the needs of a broad category of the clientele. For instance, the company produces both low-fat and zero-fat kind of eatables. Diversification of the range of products will have significant economic benefits for the company as it seeks to stay ahead of the competition on the market. Usually the aspect of diversification is strategically adopted by businesses for expanding their market reach (Pearce & Robinson, 2005). Another advantage could be assessed from the perspective that the company deals with food products, which are basic necessities. In harsh economic times, Lean-Body Diet will still thrive in terms of both sales and profits as the populations in the target markets reduce switch from non-essential items and luxurious expenses to focus more on essential foodstuffs that are both healthy and affordable. The p ricing adopted by the company is meant to attract the clientele across the spectrum of socio-economic status. On this score, it might be added that the company has employed strategies that will enhance its market performance and growth of its brand. Weaknesses One of the weaknesses of the company is that it must invest in expensive storage facilities in order to shield it from losses that could occur due to spoilt foods. Food items are generally perishable and must require sophisticated equipment for proper storage. The maintenance of such expensive may prove costly in such a manner that eats into the profits of the company. This means that the company must engage in processes that will help in building a robust system that will check against the possibility of unforeseen losses that could stem from a slump in the market. It must be considered that the line of business of food items is full of damage related risks, which often discourages the entry of new players. A second weakness that is worthy of note relates to the competition from the established multinationals that deal in the same line of business. Generally, the aspect of competition will involve breaking into the market currently held by the multinationals. The international business organizations have sufficient resources to engage in aggressive marketing campaigns

Movie review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Movie review - Essay Example The movie may be an animation, but it has been geared to be of interest to both adults and kids. In my opinion, this movie ought to be for ages 9 and above. There are plenty of lessons and layers packed into the vibrantly and cheerfully colored, animated package. Ted, who is the main character, decides to try to find a genuine Truffula tree to make an impression on a girl called Audrey. They reside in a city called Thneedville, which is encircled by a cement wall where every person has to buy air in bottles. In Thneedville, there exists no soil and no living thing except the inhabitants and their pets. Every person is jovial, and everything is not genuine. As a young man, the Once-Ler begins to argue that his fortune makes thneeds, which he fashioned from the Truffula trees’ tufts. After chopping down the first tree, he comes across the Lorax, who speaks on behalf of the trees, and tells him that he must not chop them down because this would cause the wrath of nature to stumble upon him. The Once-Ler in due course promises not to bring down any more trees and tries unproductively to sell his product. Finally, in a dumb luck’s stroke, the society makes a decision that a thneed is, in fact, great, and all of a sudden every person must have one. The enterprise develops, and all the trees are cut. With the natural world scraped, the people must depend on bought clean air and stay inside the city’s walls. Towards the story’s ending, the Once-Ler comprehends the meaning behind the last message from Lorax and offers Ted a gift of the last Truffula seed in anticipation of planting it and re-developing the forest. The desire of Ted to impress Audrey is now a personal task to remind his town of nature’s importance. Enter Ted, who obtains the last Truffula seed from the Once-Ler after having his own eco-conversion, is determined to make known corporate corruption, save the earth, and win the heart of Audrey.

Research paper2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Research paper2 - Essay Example It is often argued that obesity is strongly associated with fast food. Irrespective of young or adult, fast food is getting more popularity among people all over the world. â€Å"A new study shows that toxicperfluoroalkyls, which are used in surface protection treatments and coatings to keep grease from leaking through fast food wrappers, are being ingested by people through their food and showing up as contaminants in blood† (Mercola). Above all, it is an accepted fact that fast food contains more fat contents than any other foods. Therefore, the logic of using fast food on a regular basis is highly debatable. Food is necessary for the sustainment of human life. At the same time, over food and limited food or lack of food are equally responsible for causing health problems. Moreover, modern farming methods are not so good for keeping the health of people. In order to increase the yield, farmers all over the world are using huge amounts of fertilizers, chemicals, and pesticides in their agricultural lands. Crops or food grains developed as a result of such unhealthy farming methods are causing huge health problems in many ways. Above all, increased use of fertilizers chemicals and pesticides is causing huge pollutions to air, land and water. In other words, improper farming methods have the ability to cause multiple problems to all living things in this world, including human beings. Genetically modified food or GM food is a new concept in the farming field. Genetically modified foods are capable of providing more yields. However, the safety of using such foods is still unclear or debateab le. Organic food is one of the most modern concepts developed in the farming field in order to eliminate all the concerns explained above. â€Å"The foods that are cultivated without using any chemical fertilizers and pesticides, processed without adding any of the artificial ingredients and packaged using natural means can be referred as organic foods†

Education in the United States Essay Example for Free

Education in the United States Essay India has made large strides in educating its population of more than a billion people, yet a lot remains to be done. It is commonplace now that education is both intrinsically valuable and also instrumental for economic well-being, and this is true for individuals and entire nations. No country in the world has been able to develop without the spread of mass education. An educated population is a prerequisite for take-off into high economic growth. Table 1 in the appendix shows literacy rates for India as a whole and by sex. It also shows the decadal rates of change from 1901 to the present. 2 Literacy rates have increased for both males and females, and though the latter continues to lag behind the former, there has been a narrowing of the male-female gap in literacy: from 24. 8% in 1991 to 21. 7% in 2001. In 2001, the absolute number of illiterates declined historically for the first time by nearly 32 million. In terms of state-wise performance, Kerala continues to occupy first rank as it has done historically; on the other hand, densely populated states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar are yet to overcome their educational inertia. 3 The average figures for India as a whole hide a great deal of variation among states. Table 2 in the appendix provides literacy rates for states for the years 1991 and 2001, for the population as a whole, by sex and also provides the decadal rate of change. In 2001, Kerala, Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh had more than 75% of their population of 7+ years literate. On the other hand, even in 2001, less than half of Bihar’s population of seven years and above was literate with female literacy rate only 33. 6%. In terms of zones, states in the South and West outperform states in the North and East. 2. Primary Education Primary education refers to the education of children between the ages 6-11 years (grades 1-5). Universalization of Primary Education (UPE) is a constitutional provision in India and there has been a steady expansion in the spread of primary education since Indian independence in 1947. The Indian educational system is the second largest in the world after China. In 2001-02, there were nearly 0. 66 million primary schools in India 1 This study has been undertaken as part of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals Project. 2 Before the 1991 census, only those belonging to the age-group 0-4 years were excluded from the population in order to compute literacy rates and the basis of the computation was the entire population. From the 1991 census onward, literacy rates were computed based on the population aged 7+ years and above. 3 In Bihar, Nagaland and Manipur as well as Delhi and Chandigarh, the absolute number of illiterates has increased in the 1990s. 4 providing access to 84% of habitations with a primary school located within a distance of one kilometer. Between 1997 and 2002, the gross primary school enrolment rate4 for India was 111 for males and 92 for females. The net primary school enrolment rate5 on the other hand was only 78 for males and 64 for females. The net primary school attendance rate between 1999 and 2002 was 79 for males and 73 for females. However, of the children who entered primary school, only 68% reached grade 5 between 1995 and 1999 (UNICEF, 2004). Table 3 provides data on gross primary school enrolments by sex between 1950-51 and 2001-2002. As can be seen from the table there has been a steady increase in the numbers of boys and girls attending primary school over time. In Table 4, state-wise enrolment of boys and girls as a percentage of their age-group is provided for 1997-1998. Girls’ enrolment has been steadily increasing over time and in 2001-02, nearly 45% of girls in the age-group 6-11 were enrolled in school. These statistics are heartening because at least until the 1990s, one of the most dismal aspects of India’s education system was the large percentage of the population in the younger age groups that were out of school. Socio-economic disparities Despite the strong constitutional backing for the provision of primary education in India6 and its expansion over time, the system is characterized not only by low achievements but also by large unevenness of achievements. Huge gaps remain between rural and urban areas, and the probability of getting any education at all sharply depends on gender, caste and income. Women, scheduled castes and tribes and the poor are faced with formidable barriers when it comes to getting basic education. Of the 200 million children in the age group 6-14, it is estimated that 59 million are out of school. Of these 35 million are girls and 24 million are boys (Ministry of Human Development, GOI). Apart from socio-economic determinants, the educational infrastructure and the management and the governance of the educational system in India are far from efficient or sufficient. The government is the largest provider of education in India with only about 10% of primary schools owned by the private sector. 7 The quality of education provided by the public education system is low which translates into low educational abilities even for those who are able to complete primary education cycle. Moreover, there is a lot of ‘waste’ in the educational system with dropout rates as high as 40% for the country as a whole and in some Indian states, they are as high as 75%. Though the number of primary 4 Gross primary school enrolment rate is computed as the number of children enrolled in primary school regardless of age divided by the population of that age group. 5 Net primary school enrolment rate is computed as the number of children in that age group enrolled in primary school divided by the population of that age group. 6 In 2002, the Supreme Court of India decreed that free primary education was a constitutional right. 7 Around 3% of private schools are aided by the government, which makes government intervention in the education sector even greater. 5 schools in the country increased, more than 1 lakh8 habitations still do not have access to a primary school within a distance of one kilometer. Teacher-pupil ratios are inadequate: less than 2 teachers are available in rural areas to teach a class size of around 100 students. Teacher motivation and teaching incentives are also very weak. India perhaps has the highest rate of teacher truancy in the world. Poverty and Education. Empirical evidence strongly shows that, both at the level of the household as well as at the level of the country, there is a positive relationship between income (and wealth) and educational attainment. More income simply means more resources available to spend on the acquisition of education. With more than 250 million people in India living on less than a $1 a day, poverty remains a major barrier to educational access. Although education is provided ‘free’ by the government, the cost of uniforms, textbooks and transportation costs are beyond the reach of many households (Tilak, 2004). Added to these direct costs are the indirect (opportunity) costs of wage/domestic labor which children perform and the costs of acquiring education become considerable for households. Graphs 1 and 2 in the appendix show simple regressions of literacy rates for sixteen states against state poverty rates and state per capita income for 2001. As is expected, literacy rates decline with poverty and rise with per capita incomes. State per capita incomes seem to explain literacy rates better than poverty rates. Filmer and Pritchett (2001) using Demographic Health Survey data for India find that the gap in enrolment between the highest and the lowest wealth class is as much as 52 percentage points. Gupta (2003) using the 52nd round of National Sample Survey data finds that the percentage of people who have completed five years of schooling declines as one descends consumption deciles. In the lowest consumption decile, the proportion of people who have not completed the primary school cycle is greater than 80%. 9 While poverty status and income class are strong determinants of who goes to school and for how long, they do not make up the whole story. Indian states of Kerala and Himachal Pradesh even with fewer resources at their disposal have been able to achieve much better educational and health outcomes compared to rich states such as Punjab and Haryana in India. This is true even when we look at cross-country outcomes. For example, Sri Lanka and Botswana do much better in education and health terms than would be predicted based on their level of resources; the Latin American countries do much worse given their resources (Mehrotra and Jolly, 1998). 8 One lakh is equal to 100,000. 9. These graphs are meant to be illustrative of the association between resources and education and do not claim any direction of causality. The relationship between resources and educational attainment is bidirectional. The poor cannot afford schooling. With little human capital, the opportunities to escape persistent poverty are very restricted and the poor can be trapped in a low education, low income vicious cycle across generations. A large literature has analyzed both theoretically and empirically persistence of poverty inter-generationally due to lack of resources to invest in education.

Wear Rate of an Advanced Polymer Coating Experiment

Wear Rate of an Advanced Polymer Coating Experiment CHAPTER 1 1.0 INTRODUCTION The general purpose of coating is to protect the substrate and to be decorative, enhancing the appearance of substrate in terms of gloss, colour, adhesion and wetability. Consequently, in addition, surface properties such as resistance to wear, indentation, and scratching are critical to retain the basic functions [1, 2]. Polymers are common materials which are widely used in industry. Polymer coating acts as a protective covering in corrosive environments. The properties of polymers depend largely on the structures of individual polymer molecules, molecule shape and size as well as how molecules are arranged to form a polymer structure. Polymer molecules are characterised by their very large size a feature that distinguished them from other most organic chemical compositions. The wear rate for an advanced polymer materials varies depending on the applied normal load and the sliding speed which is affected by size, shape, the matrix composition and the test conditions [3]. As the load decreases the contact becomes elastic with consequent changes in mechanism of friction. Epoxy resin are characterized by the presence of three- member cyclic ether group commonly referred to as an epoxy group, epoxies cross-link when a catalyzing agent (hardener) is added, forming a three-dimensional molecular network. Because of their outstanding bonding strength, epoxy resins are used to make coatings, adhesives, composite laminates and have important applications in the aerospace industry. Epoxy powder coating is still widely used today, especially as a functional and tough coating where flexibility, adhesion, toughness and corrosion resistance are needed. Epoxy coatings are based on epoxy resin; they are manufactured in a way which enables the possibility of coating to a certain thickness without defect in the coating after curing [14, 16]. Epoxy power coatings get a good adhesion to aluminium or steel surfaces, and provide a good corrosion protection layer (for indoor use). Most outstanding with powder finish is the excellent resistance against other chemicals. Epo xy powder coatings are suitable especially in aggressive environments. However, they are not suitable for external use where they become discoloured as the pigments are broken down by ultra violet rays when exposed to sunlight. They consequently become chalky and actually decreased in thickness as they are washed away [15]. 1.1 AIM The main aim of this project is to determine the effect of sliding speeds on the wear rate of an advanced Polymer coating. 1.2 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES The objective of this project is to investigate the wear rate of an advanced powder coating using a reciprocating linear ball-on-flat sliding machine. Due to the nature of the resources required to run the experiments, this investigation included the careful attention taken for wear testing especially in areas of the ball-on-flat sliding machine, data acquisition and wear rate calculation. The technical approach for the investigation will involved preparing different test specimens cured at temperatures of 140oC, 160oC, 180oC, and 200oC respectively. These test specimens would then be tested for one hour at sliding speeds of 0.02 m/s, 0.03 m/s and 0.04 m/s on a fixed normal load of 0.76 kg. Data from the wear testing would be acquired at once as electrical signals through with the help of electronic data acquisition devices. Also this would involve investigating and analysing the microstructure of the all the tested coated sample to see the level of damage done to it at the above temperatures and sliding speeds. CHAPTER 2 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 POLYMERS Modern scientific tools revolutionized the processing of polymers thus available synthetic polymers like useful plastics, rubbers and fibre materials says (Satish V. Kailas) [38]. As with other engineering materials (metals and ceramics), the properties of polymers are related their constituent structural elements and their arrangement. The suffix in polymer ‘mer is originated from Greek word meros which means part. The word polymer is thus coined to mean material consisting of many parts/mers. Most of the polymers are basically organic compounds, however they can be inorganic (e.g. silicones based on Si-O network). This chapter introduces classification of polymers, processing and synthesis of polymers, followed by mechanism of deformation and mechanical behaviour of polymers [10, 11, 38]. Polymers are classified in several ways by how the molecules are synthesized, by their molecular structure, or by their chemical family. For example, linear polymers consist of long molecular chains, while the branched polymers consist of primary long chains and secondary chains that stem from their main chains. However, linear does not mean straight lines. The better way to classify polymers is according to their mechanical and thermal behaviour. Individually, polymers are classified into two main classes plastics and elastomers [10, 11]. 2.1.1 PLASTICS Plastics are mouldable organic resins. These are either natural or synthetic, and are processed by forming or moulding into shapes. Plastics are important engineering materials for many reasons. They have a wide range of properties, some of which are unattainable from any other materials, and in most cases they are relatively low in cost. Following is the brief list of properties of plastics: light weight, wide range of colours, low thermal and electrical conductivity, less brittle, good toughness, good resistance to acids, bases and moisture, high dielectric strength (use in electrical insulation), etc. Plastics are again classified in two groups depending on their mechanical and thermal behaviour as thermoplasts (thermoplastic polymers) and thermosets (thermosetting polymers) [10, 11]. 2.1.2 TYPES OF PLASTICS 2.1.2.1 THERMOPLASTS These plastics soften when heated and harden when cooled processes that are totally reversible and may be repeated. These materials are normally fabricated by the simultaneous application of heat and pressure. They are linear polymers without any cross-linking in structure where long molecular chains are bonded to each other by secondary bonds and/or inter-wined. They have the property of increasing plasticity with increasing temperature which breaks the secondary bonds between individual chains. Common thermoplasts are: acrylics, Vinyl resins (PVCs), polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, polyimide, ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene and styrene) etc [10, 11]. Acrylics (poly-methyl-methacrylate) They are characterised by outstanding light transmission and resistance to weathering; only fair mechanical properties. Their applications are mostly in lenses, transparent aircraft enclosures (aeroplane windows), drafting equipment, and outdoor signs [17]. Polystyrene They have low specific gravity (1.07), availability in colours form clear to opaque, resistance to water and most chemicals, dimensional stability, insulating ability. Polystyrene is an excellent rubber substitute for electrical insulation. Styrene resin is moulded into battery boxes, dishes, radio parts, lenses, flotation gears etc [17]. Polyethylene These materials are flexible at room and low temperatures, waterproof, unaffected by most chemicals, capable of being heat-sealed, and can be produced in a variety of colours. Polyethylene, which floats on water, has a density range from 0.91 to 0.96% and is one of the inexpensive plastics, and its moisture-resistant characteristics ensure its use for packing and squeeze bottles [12, 17]. Polyethylene Polymer Table 2.1 Properties of polyethylene Polypropylene Polypropylene has excellent electrical properties, high impact and tensile strength and is resistant to heat and chemicals. Monofilaments of polypropylene are used in making rope, nets, and textiles. Polyimide These thermoplastics are produced in the form of solids, films or solutions. They have unusual heat-resisting properties up to 750oF (400oC), low coefficient of friction, high degree of radiation resistance, and good electrical properties. Products from this include sleeve bearing, valves seats, tubing, and various electrical components. The films, tough and strong, are used for wire insulation, motor insulation, and printed circuit backing [17]. ABS (Acrylonitrile, Butadiene, and Styrene) This plastic can be compounded to have a degree of hardness or great flexibility and toughness. The ABS plastics are used in applications that requires abuse resistance, colourability, hardness, electrical and moisture properties, and limited heat (2200oF (105oC). These plastics and processed by thermoforming injection, flow, rotational, and extrusion moulding. Applications include household piping, cameras, electrical hand tool housings, telephone handsets, and canoes [12]. Vinyl Resins These thermoplastic materials can be processed by compression or injection moulding, extrusion, or blow moulding. Vinyl resins are suitable especially for surface coating and flexible and rigid sheeting. The vinyl resins commercially available include polyvinyl chlorides (PVCs), butyrates, and polyvinylidene chloride. Polyvinyl chloride has a high degree of resistance, to many solvents and does not support combustion. It is used for rubberlike products including raincoat, packaging and blow-moulded bottles. Polyvinyl butyrate is a clear tough resin, which is used for interlayers in safety glasses, raincoats, sealing fuel tanks, and flexible moulded products. It has moisture resistance, great adhesiveness, and stability towards light and heat [17]. 2.1.2.2 THERMOSETS These plastics require heat and pressure to mould them into shape. They are formed into a permanent shape and cured or ‘set by chemical reactions such as extensive cross-linking. They cannot be re-melted or reformed into another shape but decompose upon being heated to too high a temperature. Thus thermosets cannot be recycled, whereas thermoplasts can be recycled. The term thermoset implies that heat is required to permanently set the plastic. Most thermosets composed of long chains that are strongly cross-linked (and/or covalently bonded) to one another to form 3-D network structures to form a rigid solid. Thermosets are generally stronger, but more brittle than thermoplasts [10, 11]. An advantage of thermosets for engineering design applications includes the following: high thermal stability, high dimensional stability, high rigidity, light weight, high electrical and thermal insulating properties and resistance to creep and deformation under load. There are two methods whereby cross-linking reaction can be initiated cross-linking can be accomplished by heating the resin in a suitable mould (e.g. bakelite), or resins such as epoxies (araldite) are cured at low temperature by the addition of a suitable cross-linking agent, an amine. Epoxies, vulcanized rubbers, phenolics, unsaturated polyester resins, and amino resins (ureas and melamines) are examples of thermosets [10, 11]. Phenolics These resins for popular for thermosetting applications. The synthetic resign, made by the reactions of phenol with formaldehyde, forms a hard, high-strength, durable material that is capable of being moulded under a variety of conditions. It is characterized by excellent thermal stability to over 150oC (that is, has high heat and water resistance) and can be coloured in a variety of way; may be compounded with a large number of resins, fillers [12]. It is used in manufacturing coating materials, laminated products, grinding wheels, and metals as well as glass bonding agents, and can be cast into moulded cases, bottle caps, knobs, dials, knife handles, electrical appliance cabinets and numerous electrical parts [17]. Epoxy Resins Epoxy resins, both monomers and oligomers, can be powders or they can be thick and clear or yellow liquids with strong and unpleasant odours. They are known for their excellent adhesion, chemical and heat resistance, excellent mechanical and good electrical insulating properties. Moulding a fibre reinforced epoxy composite is much easier compared to other thermoset resins [19]. The typical applications of epoxy are in adhesives, electrical parts, coating and lamination process, moulds/dies/tools and in military, biomedical and automotive fields. Epoxy being a thermoset polymer, during the process of curing, when mixed with curing agent or harder, polymerises and cross-links. In other words, this curing agent reacts with epoxy resin monomers to form epoxy product. The curing agent selection will determine to a large extent the performance of the final epoxy composite. Table 2 below shows the properties of epoxy resins. Table 2.2 Properties of Epoxy resins Epoxy resins are the major part of the class of adhesives called ‘structural adhesives. These high performance adhesives are normally used in the construction of aircraft, automobiles, bicycles, golf clubs, snowboards and other applications where strength bond are required. Also, they are exceptional adhesives for wood, metal, glass, and some plastics. Epoxy resins can be made flexible of rigid, transparent, opaque or coloured and fast setting or extremely slow setting. Furthermore, epoxy adhesives are unmatched in heat and chemical resistance among other adhesives. Usually requires heat curing for maximum performance [22]. Therefore epoxy adhesives cured with heat will be more heat and chemical resistant than those cured at room temperature. Also, the peak adhesion strengths achievable for epoxy/metal interfaces depends greatly on the types and sequences of wet chemicals used to treat the surface. For all these reasons, they are used in high performance and decorative flooring applications too [22]. Epoxy coatings are also widely used as primers to improve the adhesion of automotive and marine paints especially on metal surfaces where corrosion resistance is important. However, they are not used in the outer layer of a boat as they can deteriorate when exposed to ultra violet light. But they are often used during boat repair and assembly and also over-coated with conventional paints or marine varnishes which can provide ultra violet protection [23]. Also, metal cans and containers are often coated with epoxy to prevent rusting especially for foods like tomatoes, which are acidic in nature. In addition, epoxy resin is an excellent electrical insulator too. It helps to protect electrical components from short-circuiting due to dust and moisture. Hence, epoxy resins are important in the electronic industry, finding application in motors, generators, transformers, switchgears, bushings and insulators. Also, in the electronic industry, epoxy resins are the primary resin used in moulding integrated circuits, transistors and hybrid circuits. The cured epoxy is an insulator and a much better conductor of heat than air. Using epoxy in transformers and inductors greatly reduces hot spots which in turn give the component a stable and longer life than unprotected products [24]. Another interesting property of epoxy is that it does not stick to mould release compounds like paraffin wax, polyethylene sheeting, sandwich bags and the non glued side of packaging tape which is of great use during lay-ups and also during the manufacturing of precision parts. Though epoxy resins are more expensive than any other resins such as polyester resins, in brief, the purpose of selecting epoxy as the base resin for this research is because of its un-matching high chemical and thermal resistance, good adhesion to various materials, compatibility with various substrates and other additives, low shrinkage, availability of solvent free formulations, light in colour, easy to control viscosity and low vapour pressure besides holding good to excellent mechanical properties and very good electrical insulating properties. The properties of polymers depend largely on the structures of individual polymer molecules, molecule shape and size as well as how molecules are arranged to form a polymer structure. Polymer molecules are characterised by their very large size a feature that distinguished them from other most organic chemical compositions. 2.1.2.3 ELASTOMERS Polymers are long-chain molecules that are formed by polymerization (that is by linking and cross-linking of different monomers. A monomer is the basic building block of a polymer. One of the fascinating properties of the elastomeric materials is their rubber-like elasticity. That is, they have the ability to be deformed to quite large deformations, and then elastically spring back to their original form. This results from the cross-links in the polymer that provides a force to restore the chains to their undeformed conformations. Elastomeric behaviour was probably fist observed in natural rubber; however, the past few years have brought about the synthesis of a large number of elastomers with a wide variety of properties. Typical stress-strain characteristic of elastomeric materials is displayed in figure 2 curve. Upon stretching, it is immediately noted that there is a flat region in the stress-strain curve. This essentially means that after an initial elongation, there is a region stretching which occurs without increasing strain. 2.2 CRYSTALLIZATION, MELTING AND GLASS TRANSITION Polymers are known by their high sensitivity of mechanical and/or thermal properties. This section explains their thermal behaviour. During processing of polymers, they are cooled with/ without presence of presence from liquid state to form final product. During cooling, an ordered solid phase may be formed having a highly random molecular structure. This process is called crystallization. The melting occurs when a polymer is heated. If the polymer during cooling retains amorphous or non-crystalline state i.e. disordered molecular structure, rigid solid may be considered as frozen liquid resulting from glass transition. Thus, enhancement of either mechanical and/or thermal properties needs to consider crystallization, melting, and the glass transition. Crystallization and the mechanism involved play an important role as it influences the properties of plastics. As in solidification of metals, polymer crystallization involves nucleation and growth. Near to solidification temperature at favourable places, nuclei forms, and then nuclei grow by the continued ordering and alignment of additional molecular segments. Extent of crystallization is measured by volume change as there will be a considerable change in volume during solidification of a polymer. Crystallization rate is dependent on crystallization temperature and also on the molecular weight of the polymer. Crystallization rate decreases with increasing molecular weight. Melting of polymer involves transformation of solid polymer to viscous liquid upon heating at melting temperature, Tm. Polymer melting is distinctive from that of metals in many respects melting takes place over a temperature range; melting behaviour depends on history of the polymer; melting behaviour is a function of rate of heating, where increasing rate results in an elevation of melting temperature. During melting there occurs rearrangement of the molecules from ordered state to disordered state. This is influenced by molecular chemistry and structure (degree of branching) along with chain stiffness and molecular weight. 2.3 POLYMER COATING The task of coating technology is to provide surface protection, decorative finish and numerous special functions for commodities and merchandise by means of organic coatings. Many everyday products are only made useable and thus saleable because their surface treatment. To achieve this, relevant coating formulations, their production plant, the coating material and suitable coating processes for product must be available. However, the quality to be achieved by means of coating process is not the only function of the coating material used. The object to be painted or coated itself with its specific material and design and appropriate application process are further variables which play a significant role. Coating itself is a layer of material which is applied to a surface to decorate, preserve, protect, seal, or smooth the substrate; usually applied by brushing, spraying, mopping, or dipping [26]. There are two principal technologies that are the backbone of the coatings industry: Ø Liquid coating technology (wet), which has been applied for more than two centuries Ø Powder coating technology (dry), which has been applied on an industrial scale for some 30 years. 2.3.1 WHY POWDER COATING The global average annual growth for powder coatings has been approximately 7-9% over the last 10 years. From country to country worldwide these figures have varied considerably. This relatively high performance has been achieved by autonomous growth on the one side and by replacing liquid coatings on the other. Powder coating involves applying a finely grounded resin (powder) to a substrate and subjecting this powder to heat. During the heating process, the powder melts and creates a uniform, continuous coating [26]. The use of powder coating as a finishing process has grown significantly in the past several years. It dates back to the 1950s when powders were flamed-sprayed on metallic surfaces to protect them from corrosion and abrasion. As the process evolved, most powder-coating application involved lowering a heated part (sometimes referred to as a â€Å"ware† or a â€Å"substrate†) into a bed of fluidized powder. However, this process resulted in inconsistent film thickness. Electrostatic introduced in the early 1960s, enabled powder coatings to be applied to cold substrates, resulting in more uniform, thinner surface application and thus, savings in raw materials [26]. Today, powder-coating processes are employed in many production settings involving protective finishes. Powder formulations can be created to deliver cosmetic, protective, and longevity characteristic, and to achieve maximum hardness, chemical resistance, and gloss retention. More and more companies have turned to powder coating as a way to produce a high-quality finish while increasing production rates, cutting costs, and complying with increasing environmental pressures. Also, ongoing technological breakthroughs are continually knocking down the few barriers that hindered powder coatings ability to grow in the market. 2.4 POWDER COATING MANUFACTURING PROCESS The process of producing a powder coating is somewhat more complex, the equipments are numerous and the production time is somewhat long. This process can be simplified into 4 basic stages. 2.4.1 PREMIXTURE This is the first stage in the manufacture of a powder coating and is the most crucial for production. In this stage, the various sizes of resin flake, pigment powder, etc must be transformed into a homogeneous blend of similar sizes before they enter the extrusion stage. This is for the fact that the extruder is a simple melt mixer and not a very efficient disperser; the premix equipment consists of a mixing bowl with a locking cover. The equipment is usually fitted with a cooling jacket capable of being filled with running water or cryogenic gases. Inside the mixing bowl are mixing-blades placed at different heights and orientation to one another depending on the machine configuration [27]. 2.4.2 EXTRUSION This is the second stage of the powder coat manufacture. The extruder is composed of a horizontally placed barrel. Within the barrel is a cylindrical screw shaft that is slightly smaller than the barrel in diameter. As the shaft turns, the premix moves forward through heated mixing zones. The mixing zones contain attachments called paddles that knead the melted premix and blends the various ingredients. 2.4.3 GRINDING The third phase (grinding stage) is very important to its performance. This is because the average particle size and distribution are important in the application properties and final surface appearance. In the grinder, grinds the chilled and pressed extruded mix into fine particles. This is usually done using, impact/hammer mill, air jet mill or the air classifier mill. 2.4.4 SIFTING AND CLASSIFYING The final structuring of the particle size is accomplished by passing the ground materials through sieves or cyclonic separators. This is to sort out the distribution and average particle size of the powder. 2.5 ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF POWDER COATING Although equipment and materials cost are similar in powder-coating and liquid-coating processes, yet powder coating processes provide a number of advantages over other surface coating methods. These include: Fewer rejects. Less floor space required. Less material waste. Lower energy costs. Lower training and labour costs. Lower waste-disposal costs. More efficient cleaning operations. More uniform finishes. Powder coating materials are immediately ready for use. They do not have to be mixed with any other ingredients such as solvents or catalysts and are easy to apply, thus labour costs associated with training, setup, and processing are low when compared with liquid-coating processes [26]. Liquid coating usually requires thinning before application, leading to additional material and labour costs. This is not the case with powder coating. Liquid paint requires flash-off time before surface can re recoated which is not applicable to powder, meaning that racks can be spaced closer together and thus more parts per hour can be processed [25]. Powder coating processes results in fewer rejects than liquid coating processes. Since the former is a dry process, air and water associated problems such as sags, runs, and contaminations are almost eliminated. Blowing off the surface with an air hose and reapplying the powder can easily repair coating rejects in booth or application area. 2.5.1 THERMOSETTING POWDER Most powder coating materials are thermosetting powders. The greatest technological advances in powder coatings are being made in this area. Thermosetting powders are composed of solid resins higher in molecular weight than resigns found in liquid coatings and lower in molecular weight than those found in thermoplastics. The solid resins melt and flow chemically, and cross-link within themselves or with other relative components forming a higher molecular weight reaction product. The coating film formed by this reaction is heat stable and will not soften back to a liquid on further exposure to heat (Wick and Veilleux 1985). At these higher temperatures, a coating emerges with different chemical properties than before heating. Cured coatings have different chemical structures than basic resins. Newly formed cured materials are heat stable and will not re-melt to liquid after further exposure to heat. These powders are ground from brittle resin systems into fine particles in the range of 0.004 0.0016 in (10 40 um) or less. ‘Due to the rheology of these resin systems, they can produce thin like paint coatings in the range of 0.001 0.003 in (25 75 ÃŽ ¼m) with properties equivalent or superior to coatings produced from liquid-compliance technologies [33]. The types of resins commonly used in thermosetting powder include:  § Several types of epoxies  § Hydroxyl and carboxyl types of polyesters  § Several types of acrylics, and  § Several types of silicones. They require lower temperatures for curing than thermoplastic resins. Table 2.4 Main properties of different types of thermosetting powder coatings[27] Thermosetting powders chemical reaction begins in oven. Ovens produce and maintain heat-the sole cause of chemical reaction needed for in powder coating. P

Practical Application Of Lewins Force Field Analysis Change Model Nursing Essay

Practical Application Of Lewins Force Field Analysis Change Model Nursing Essay The aim of this paper is to to describe practical application of Lewins (1951) force field analysis change model in reducing Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients length of stay (LOS) in a Tertiary Care University Hospital. Introduction: This paper reports on a change from 6.5 days to 4 days reduction in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients length of stay (LOS) in a Tertiary Care University Hospital. The change was embedded with systemic assessment, planning and implementing standardized strategies for all ICU long stay patients and finally evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of ICU bed utilization with multidisciplinary team approach. Change is inevitable for the reason that it ingrained human lives, core processes and system reforms. Day by day many changes have been observed in health care; associated with disease processes explicitly from prevention to rehabilitation, health care norms and nomenclature, infra structures modifications, policy matters, reengineering and system transformation. Different components of health care depends on one another for assembling such changes in order to produce work like from providers to payers, hospitals to suppliers, education to regulatory bodies and research to professional associations; all these are interlinked to perform function. Many of the above stated happening are planned however at times nature takes its own turn to act as a catalyst for change for example natural occurrences like tsunami, some crucial system analysis like break through reports from Institute of Medicine (IOM) on patient safety and the quality of care provided to all the health care customers. Th ese were just simple examples of revolutions in health care taken place on an ongoing basis. Traditionally it is believed that changes are always for the betterment however at times it has been observed that this phenomenon is proven to be cynical and challenging especially when it is not made in a haphazard manner, without pursuing change management principles. Addressing the challenge of change Fetherston et.al (2009) stated that: Managing changing in the health care setting is always challenging, especially when it involves transforming entrenched habits grounded in professional expectations (p.2581). Despite change involves resources like human, material and cost and therefore whatever is proposed for change need to be evaluated for its effectiveness and efficiency, applicability, and consequences. It also depends on the team we are working with and there are times when the team building is so strong and the communication between the team is such that adopting to a new concept is very easy versus if the team members are not on same wavelength and have a lot of differences of opinions failure to reach to a simple consensus. Coch and French (1948) concluded that rate of recovery when learning a new task is directly proportional to the amount of participation. To improve understanding of change dynamics Armenakis and Harris (2011) recommends that readiness for change is distinguished from resistance to change and readiness is described in terms of the organizational members beliefs, attitudes, and intentions. Change agent is a very important contributor to make change happen constru ctively and productively. The personal and professional characteristics, interpersonal competency all these aspects are dependent to an outcome of change. Another factor involved in change process seems to be very crucial is the timeframe require for change. Is it a short term or a long run change which is going to measure and monitor, what about the sustainability of the proposed change etc. In order to have successful change Kotter and Schlesinger (2008) recommends and put idea in practice (Appendix) and suggested that analyze situational factors, determine the optimal speed of change, and consider methods for managing resistance (p1, 2). According to Lippincott-Raven Publishers 1986 Crucial to facilitating change is selecting a strategy that is likely to produce the desired change with minimal time and resistance. Background In todays health care setting, organizational change is essential for growth and development to keep up with the market competition Although health care continues to be enmeshed with ongoing challenges of cost, technologies, access to health care, human resources, quality inconsistent with an arena where error rates are too high there are multiple growing opportunities to improve client care management and service delivery components. Changes have been observed in clinical practice based on evidence based research resulting in application of new technology, diagnostics, drug regimes, treatment profile, care monitoring and finally the patient outcomes. All these are direct provision to a customer and perhaps if we look at the wider base it heavily involves all support functions available for patient care and employees of the organization. How all these are managed with patient flow and activities? Who is accountable? Change has both individual and institutional significance; and addre ssing its importance Watwood et al. (1997) shared that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦changes à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ bring opportunity for personal and institutional growth and development (p 162). When it comes to an institutional change; it has emphasized that it should complement the philosophy, mission and vision of the organization. Therefore Heller Arozullah (2001) identified four key factors for successful program development and achievement and those were: aligning the program with the strategic goals of the organization; obtaining active senior leadership commitment, including allocated resources; securing the appropriate infrastructure to facilitate integration of recommended actions into daily practice; and setting up systematic communications with all involved stakeholders (p551) Several challenges exists in system when it comes to a revolution however factors define by Heller Arozullah (2001) would help in embarking change in a more structured manner. ICU is a consolidated area of a hospital where patients with life-threatening illnesses or injuries receive round the clock specialized medical and nursing care. Intensive care is one of the hospitals most complex and expensive medical systems. As medical care has improved, the type of patients treated in critical care units has changed from those with acute illnesses to those suffering from complications of chronic diseases. While better technology and better ways of taking care of patients has improved longevity and general health, the patients in the intensive care units of hospitals are getting sicker and globally these beds have a high demand based on the critical needs of patients and it doubles the need in an arena where these resources are very scare and inadequate This would augment medical care required, cost of care and excess use of resources when they are not required. Long stays in the intensive care unit are associated with high costs and burdens on patients and patien ts families and in turn affect society at large. Williamss et.al (2010) states that: It has been estimated that between 2% and 11% of critically ill patients require a prolonged stay in ICU, accounting for 25-45% of total ICU days, and a significant proportion of resources(p 459) The cost of caring for patients in ICUs in the United States has been estimated to account for 1% to 2% of the gross national product shared by (Miller et al. 2000, Seeman David 2004) ) whereby Haugh (2003) stated that 15% to 20% of US hospital costs represents 38% of total US healthcare costs. According to Miller et al. (2003) the total number of hospitals, hospital beds, and inpatient days decreased during the years 1985 to 2000, the number of critical care beds and days in critical care increased dramatically during the same period Whereby Stricker et al (20037) found that only 11% of patients admitted to the ICU stayed for more than 7 days, these patients used more than 50% of ICU resources. Furthermore, in several studies (cited in Ryan et al 1997, Wong et al 1999) the mortality of patients with ICU admissions lasting 14 days or longer was estimated to be nearly 50%. Rosenberg et al. (2001) shared that Mortality rates are higher in ICU than in any other area of the hospital due to the complexity of patients medical condition. Fakhry et al (1996) found that 70% of patients with stay longer than 2 weeks reported less than 50% functional recovery. Esserman e t al (1995) found that 32% of ICU resources were spent caring for patients who survived less than 100 days after discharge from the hospital. In a tertiary care university hospital where I am presently working patients were found to be stuck in the ICU and have longer stays and in the month of January 2009 it was found to be 8.4 days and subsequently in the following quarter 1 it was 6.5 days (refer appendix 1). When explored, multiple factors aroused (refer appendix 2) and therefore to address this concern a multidisciplinary team was formed. It was proposed to undertake the work of reducing patients length of stay in ICU and therefore it the goal was to reduce patients length of stay from 6.5 days to 5.5 days in the second quarter for the year 2009. Rogers and Shoemaker (1971) framework was used to appraise the various component of the proposed change in order to identify its strengths and weaknesses.  Team assessed its relative advantages to current situation and felt that it is worth spending the time and effort for the given scenario, change seems to be appropriate and compatible with existing philosophy of the clinical area, easy to be understood and applicable by all bedside staff. Moreover the project was trialable to a pilot    before going the whole way and relevant to organizational goals. Discussion Changes will continue as an adaptation and at times mandatory in order to survive. Lot of literature is available when it comes to the change management in health care setting. There are models available to address organizational change, system revolution, and human transformations which address many other aspects of successful implementation of reforms. Change process follows the same course as of nursing process and problem solving approaches. According to Christensen a Christensen b (2007) Lewins (1951) theory of transitional change is the most used form of change implementation strategies. The change we were supposed to undertake; this theory appeared to address many aspects of it and therefore the mechanism for identifying the social system within organization for selecting, developing and implementing the strategies to serve as a solution was done by application of this model. According to course notes Lewins widely cited, classic model of the change process, the three changes are: Unfreezing, where faced with a dilemma or disconfirmation the individual becomes aware of the need to change; changing where the situation is diagnosed and new models of behaviour are explored and tested and finally, refreezing where the application of new behaviour is evaluated and adopted. (p53) Huber (2006) states that: The basic concept of the change process was outlined by Lewin A successful change involves three elements: unfreezing, moving and refreezing. (p810) Fetherston et.al (2009) emphasized the importance of major change like this and endorsed that: Where a major change is implemented, models such as Lewins (1951) model of unfreezing, changing and refreezing can be a useful guide Baulcomb (2003) states that This theory places emphasis on the driving and resisting forces associated with any change, and to achieve success the importance lies with ensuring that driving forces outweigh resisting forces. Driving forces tend to initiate change or keep it going whereas restraining forces act to restrain or decrease the driving forces. The intention to reach a state of equilibrium (p277). Unfreezing Lewins change approach fall within three steps and this is the first one where the process of thawing out the system to create motivation for change. Its like getting the team warming up to play their cards; getting everybody on the same wavelength and organizing. Huber (2006) shared that the first stage is cognitive exposure to the change idea, diagnosis of the problem, and work to generate alternative solutions. (p811). Though it was a great challenge for the team however the process of systemic assessment and unfreeze stabilizing the team readiness was initiated for the said change. Different strategies were brain stormed in a multidisciplinary team.ICU patients length of stay was gathered prospectively. Potential predictors were analyzed for possible association with prolonged ICU stay. Driving and restraining forces were studied (Appendix ) Moving Then we proceeded with the second stage of Lewins theory i.e., moving and changing. It involves moving a target system to a new level maintaining equilibrium; viewing the problem from a new perspective, situation is diagnosed and new models of behaviour. This stage was determine through formation of ICU long stay committee with terms of reference, notification of long stay patients stayed in ICU for more than 7days or earlier if deemed necessary to all concerned, holding meeting with primary team everyday to discuss next course of action, identification of patients difficult to wean, patient requiring early tracheotomy to maximize discharge process, initiating daily rounds by multidisciplinary team with primary team. Furthermore, introducing expected admission discharge time (EADT) to facilitate bed identification. According to Hoda (2008) length of stay (LOS) may be influenced by the availability of appropriate high dependency units to discharge patients. Review on daily basis the n eed for bed for inpatients and emergency. Admission /discharge policy was reinforced through multidisciplinary approach. Alternate accommodation in other units like CICU and CCU which has same bed accessories and uniform care provision were identified. Early tentative beds are booked in wards before rounds in order to facilitate early bed arrangement and patient transfer. Refreezing The final stage is refreezing. In this stage new developments are incorporated and improvements are made to stabilize the selected strategies to ensure the sustainability of the project. Daily check at unit and divisional level by bed management coordinator and ICU team. Monitoring on shift bases by charge nurses and nursing supervisors. Interventions involving palliative care, ethics consultations, and early decision about patient transfer and orders writing, family willingness and readiness and other methods to increase communication between healthcare personnel, patients, and patients families were helpful in decreasing length of stay in the intensive care unit. Thus, interdisciplinary communication played a vital role in improving ICU patients LOS whereby its importance is being defined by Pronovost et al (2003) and point out that communication failures lead to increased patient harm, length of stay (LOS), and resource use (p71). Hence to a major extent the daily communication st rategy worked out very well and the team was successful to bring about this change. ICU length of stay was 6.5 days in quarter one and it was reduce to 5.6 days in the second quarter for the year 2009 and consequently to 4.8 and 4 day in third and fourth quarter of 2009. Fetherston et.al (2009) stated that: When change is managed in systematic steps with adequate evaluation and communication throughout the process, it is more likely to result in successful outcomes. (p 2582) Evaluating the Change Project s took place and was received very positively. Following are the most important attributes I have experienced for this successful change like it was logical, efficient, and planned not haphazard then it was based on explanation of reason for a change so that individuals understand it. After that it was very informative and staff supported change when they were involved in assessment and planning. Change agent interpersonal competency and expertise (knowledgeable) of the given task was outstanding and hence the monitoring feedback on timely basis -to ensure that all team members is on same wave length wa carried out in a very sposticated manner.