The Philosophies of Plato Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Philosophies of Plato - Essay Example Plato was believed to have been born approximately 427 B.C., making his ideas, concepts, and theories well over 2,000 years old. Plato lived and died in Greece in approximately 348 B.C. making him about 80 years old. However, with little historical accounts of these dates, they are approximations but it is also believed that he was born unto a very political family that was also wealthy and it was his father who ensured that Plato received the top education by distinguished teachers during this era. It is during those approximate 80 years, mostly in Athens, where he developed many ancient philosophical concepts which contributed to Western philosophy and his teachings were often considered Platonism (Vaughn). With Socrates as Plato’s teacher, as well as another of Socrates’ famous students, Aristotle, they laid the groundwork for developing higher thinking in the foundations of Western science and philosophy in the Western world. Plato even founded an Academy in Athens which was considered to be one of the first of its kind to teach higher learning topics that included numerous topics and it was years later that his nephew (his sister’s son) would be the successor of being the head of the Academy. Some of these topics that were part of Plato’s dialogue, writings, and teachings were based not only on philosophy but also ethics, rhetoric, logic, mathematics, and even religion. Many of the themes behind his work included the theory of forms, innate knowledge, the five regimes and Platonic love.

Marketing in success of any business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Marketing in success of any business - Essay Example As the world gradual growth to become a global marketplace, every business owner find themselves trapped in the sticky web of the market competition and getting out of it becomes a nightmare. However, any entrepreneur can play his or her cards well and emerge victoriously in this market issue by making use of the Holly Scriptures which will provide a guideline of marketing in a divine way. For centuries that have passed, the Christian bible has remained relevant in its teaching it is believed that whoever is guided by it is doing the right. Hence, the Bible has become applicable even in businesses since anyone transacting a business is expected to maintain some biblical ethics regarding the business. Therefore, this paper cannot be termed as complete without quoting some verse from these Holly scriptures called the bible. In relation to good marketing or advertisement, the bible states, â€Å"It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfil it. Do not let your mouth lead yo u into sin. And do not protest to the temple messenger, â€Å"My vow was a mistake.† Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands? Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God† (Ecclesiastes 5: 5-7). ... Finally, it is not in good order to cheat as one carries a burden of remembering what he or she said and may at long last lead to someone's destruction. The best advertisement is a pillar of any business success and no matter what one business is, having a well planned marketing strategy is of great significant value in business prosperity (Parente, 2004). If no advertisements are made for the products and services offered by a business, then it will be a tough mountain climbing game for ones’ business. Having the adequate knowledge about an effective business advertisement allows one to have good plans to pull off better results (Hackley, 2005). Firstly, in order to have an attractive and effective advertisement to a potential customer, the advertisement has to be memorable because if the potential customer can not recall what the advertisement was talking about or the product being sold, it becomes a waste of time and resources (Copley, 2004). The ability to remember about t he advertisement is usually the stamp of a result oriented advertisement. Secondly, the target population is another concept that a business should pinpoint as not everyone will be satisfied with goods and services produced by a company (Copley, 2004). This identification of a target group helps one to know where to do their advertisements (Hackley, 2005). Thirdly, an advertisement needs to be entertaining to the potential customer making them more attentive when watching the advertisement or listening to it over the radio. Lastly, the advertisement should be eye catching and focused to achieve the maximum attention from viewers thus requiring one to select the best design for the advert. A number of economists and other brainy fellows are not happy about advertisements with

Female Foeticide In India

Female Foeticide In India India is a country of incredible ironies. It is a land where people worship myriad forms of female Shakti in quest of wealth, wisdom and power. In this country it is a common sight to see thousands of couples making arduous journeys every year to shrines of goddesses in order to be blessed with a child. But strangely enough, in this country, a couple is said to be ‘blessed only when it has a male child; for a girl is never considered a blessing in our society. Her birth seems to cast a pall of gloom over the entire family. Her birth is not rejoiced, instead the entire family moans. Gender biasness had been the typical attitude of the patriarchal Indian society since time immemorial. The Vedas contained passages which emphasized the necessity of son. ‘May you be the mother of a hundred sonshave always been a popular blessing by elders to young brides. It is indeed an undeniable fact that despite differences in social and intellectual status, almost all the sections of the society do stand on the same platform so far as their craving for male child is concerned. On the other hand, daughters are unwanted, they are considered burdensome and people who do not dare to carry this ‘burden for long dispose them off as quickly as possible, for in Incredible India, ‘killing of the girl child is no sin. Initially the girl child was put to death brutally, being throttled, poisoned or drowned in a bucket of water right after her birth. These had been the common practices followed particularly in the rural areas. However the evil of killing the girl child no longer remained confined to the rural people but equally attracted the urban population too who, despite being educated, seem to show a strong preference for the male child and the subsequent avoidance of the female child. The rapid advancement of science and technology proved a boon for these people as this had made the diabolic slaughter of the female child much easier and more sophisticated than before. The benefits of science, as usual, has again been misused by mankind and today by dint of the pre-natal sex determination tests, the female fetuses are selectively aborted. Hence we can say that in the modern era another shameful chapter has been added to the saga of oppression and exploitation meted out to women, in the form of ‘Female Foeticide. It is indeed heartening that in recent times when India boasts of its scientific achievements and discoveries, when the pages of textbooks are flooded with slogans of ‘Shining India, women in India are not only facing inequality and inequity in every sphere but they are denied even the right to be born. What is Female Foeticide? As a medical term, foeticide is destruction of a fetus. The term ‘Female Foeticide may be defined as the elimination of a female foetus at any stage of pregnancy, after determining its sex. It is also defined as killing of female foetus through induced abortion.Hence ‘Female Foeticide refers to the process of aborting a foetus if, after undergoing sex determination tests or pre-natal diagnostics tests, it is revealed that the foetus is female. In other words, it implies the barbarous act of killing the girl child in the womb itself, unseen and unheard, only for the fact that she is female. The misuse of medical science has facilitated the rapid growth of this heinous crime in the society today. A number of medical procedures are carried out to determine the sex of the unborn child such as : Amniocentesis Ultrasonography Foetoscopy Chorionic villi biopsy Placental tissue sampling etc. Out of these the most commonly used sex-determination test is amniocentesis. It was meant to be used as an aid to detect any abnormality in the unborn child. But over the years, especially since 1978, amniocentesis has become a widely used test by doctors to determine the sex of the foetus between 14-18 weeks of pregnancy. The ultrasound technique has also gained huge popularity. The trans-vaginal sonography has enabled to determine the sex of a foetus within 13-14 weeks of pregnancy and through abdominal ultrasound, sex determination is possible within 14-16 weeks. Whatever be the method employed, the reality is that these methods have made sex determination quite easier and cheaper, thereby encouraging the growth of Female Foeticide at a high rate. Reasons for High Rate of Female Foeticide in India: It has been widely accepted nowadays that girls are emotionally more attached to parents, more responsible in society and by no means less competent than boys. However withstanding all this, the typical orthodox Indian attitude accompanied with several socio-economic-cultural factors pervading in the society has always upheld the need of male child and disfavored the birth of girl child in the family. This has immensely contributed to the rampant growth of female foeticide in the country, thus making India one of the worst nations in the world plagued with skewed sex ratio. The most prominent factors encouraging Female Foeticide in India are listed below: i) Religious factors: The Hindu religion lays great stress on the birth of a son. In a Hindu patriarchal society it is the son who continues the family lineage or ‘Vansh. According to Manu, a man cannot attain moksha unless he has a son to light his funeral pyre. Also, it says a woman who gives birth to only daughters may be left in the eleventh year of marriage.Such gender biased customs and practices in the traditional Hindu society has over-emphasized the birth of sons and discouraged the birth of girl child in the family, thus paving the way for Female Foeticide. ii) Evil of Dowry:Dowry is essentially one of the factors which has encouraged the practice of Female Foeticide to a great extent. Parents find it a better option to avoid the female fetuses itself than to pay exorbitant rates in the form of ‘dowry while marrying off their daughters. Hence in order to escape from dowry people desperately go for sex selection tests and eliminate the female foetus. To most of the couples, especially the middle-class ones, it appears that ‘paying Rs. 500 at present is better than to pay Rs.5,00,000 in future.Conversely, the boy is viewed an asset to fetch fabulous dowry for the parents. Hence boys are naturally preferred to girls. iii)Financial Dependence of Females on Husband or In laws: In India, the socio-economic background has also been the villain behind the tragic female foeticide. Certain communities want to get rid of female child compelled by the circumstances of dehumanizing poverty, unemployment, superstition and illiteracy. iv) Secondary status of women in society: It is generally expected that sons would carry the family lineage forward, provide security and care to parents especially in old age, enhance family wealth and property and perform the last rites and rituals. Whereas daughters would go to anothers house draining out all the family wealth. Moreover they always need to be protected, defended and taken care of , thus imposing an extra burden over the family. Such conservative attitude of the Indian society which essentially regards women a ‘burden is one of the most potent factors which has induced strong son preference and hence encouraged Female Foeticide. All this factors clearly point out that the ever existing gender biasness in our country favoring the male and the stereotype notion of women as ‘burden is the primary cause acting behind the shocking statistics of Female Foeticide in India. Genesisand Growth of Female Foeticide in India: The Chilling Reality The devil of Female Foeticide first crept into the Indian society through the corridors of the northern states which engaged in gross misuse of amniocentesis.Amniocentesis first started in India in 1974 as a part of a sample survey conducted at the All India Institute of Medial Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, to detect foetal abnormalities. These tests were later stopped by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), but their value had leaked out by then and 1979 saw the first sex determination clinic opening in Amritsar, Punjab. Even though women organizations across the country tried their best to put a stop to this new menace, but were helpless because of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act 1971 which permitted the amniocentesis test as it claimed to be used for detection of foetal abnormalities,. According to the MTP Act, if any abnormality is detected between 12 to 18 weeks of gestational period in the foetus, an abortion can be legally carried out up to 20 weeks of pregna ncy. [5] Owing to this provision, amniocentesis could not be banned and its gross misuse continued. Although responding to the situation certain legal steps had been initiated by the government, however, the evil of Female Foeticide could not be curbed out but rather with the passage of time it has become all the more sdangerous. Today the issue of Female Foeticide in India is no longer only an issue of violation of womens rights only but rather it has become a chronic disease. It has become so widespread all over the country today that day by day we are actually inching closer to a nation without women. Weird it may sound, but the shocking statistics revealing the distorted sex ratio in our country compel us to accept this truth. According to the United Nations an estimated 2,000 unborn girls are illegally aborted every day in India. Another glaring example is the demographic profile of India which clearly indicates the profoundness and wide spread prevalence of female foeticide. India is a country of 102.7 crore population, out of which 53.1 crores is of males and 49.6 crores is of females, clearly indicating a deficit of 3.5 crore women. The sex ratio is 933 women /1000 men and child sex ratio is 927 girls for 1000 boys[6]. The intensity of this heinous crime in our country is revealed by the following figures: Sex Ratio(females per thousand males),India: 1901-2001 Year Sex-Ratio 1901 972 1911 964 1921 955 1931 950 1941 945 1951 946 1961 941 1971 930 1981 934 1991 929 2001 933 Thus as per these statistics reveal, the overall sex ratio in India is 933 females for every 1000 males, showing a marginal increase of 4 points from the 1991 census of 929. However, this is a very sorry state indeed and we are doing much worse than over a hundred years ago when the sex ratio was 972 in 1901, 946 in 1951 till the 933 today. The Trend of sex ratios in the age group of 0-6 years all over India Years Sex Ratio 1961 976 1971 964 1981 962 1991 945 2001 933 The above table clarifies that more and more baby girls have either been aborted or killed as infants since 1961 and that this trend continues strong even today. The intensity of sex ratio imbalance in the 0-6 age group in some states of India is indeed horrifying. In Punjab the sex ratio is (793 F: 1000 M), in Haryana it is (820 F: 1000 M), in Himachal Pradesh it is (897 F: 1000 M), in Gujarat it is (878 F: 1000 M). Recent government figures show that in South Delhi, the sex ratio is 762 females per 1000 males, while in Mumbais Borivalli its 728 females per 1000 males. In Jaipur itself, an average of 3500 instances of female foeticide is supposed to be carried per year. These figures undoubtedly point out that the country, is witnessing today the systematic extermination of the female child on a large scale. All most the whole of the country is under the grip of this menace. The following table estimates the intensity of Female Foeticide in the various states of India: States Showing High Foeticide Percentage State Female Foeticide ( percent to All India) Maharashtra 45.1 Madhya Pradesh 15.4 Haryana 14.3 Rajasthan 9.9 Andhra Pradesh 8.8 From the above table we find that ironically the developed and the richest states of India are the toppers in the list where female foeticide is extensive. According to UNICEF study done over 3 years (1994-1996), there are only five states in India where no case of foeticide or infanticide have been reported which are Sikkim, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Jammu Kashmir. An improvement in the child sex ratio whatsoever has only been marked in one state, Kerala, and two Union Territories, Lakshwadeep and Pondicherry. The reports published by various agencies also throw considerable light on this grim reality. The UN reports reveal that between 35 to 40 million girls missing from the Indian population. According to a study conducted recently in India, the first systematic study on female foeticide by an Indo-Canadian team, 10 million female foetuses have been aborted in India, What all the more shocking is according to its report every year, about 50,000 unborn girls-one in every 25-are aborted in India . The UNPFA report on â€Å"India Towards Population and Development Goals† published in 1997 also expressed its concern over the issue. It is estimated that 48 million women were ‘missing from Indias population. The report states â€Å"If the sex ratio of 1036 females per 1000 males observed in some states of Kerala in 1991 had prevailed in the whole country, the number of would be 455 million instead of the 407 million (in the 1991 census). Thus, there is a case of between 32 to 48 million missing females in the Indian society as of 1991 that needs to be explained.† It further stated that, â€Å"The 1991 census is only indicative of this disturbing trend when elsewhere in the world women outnumber men by 3 to 5 percent. There are 95 to 97 males to 100 females in Europe; the ratio is even less, 88 males to 100 females, in Russia, mainly due to causalities of World War 2†. According to the UNICEF report, 40 to 50 million girls have gone missing from Indian population since 1901 as a result of systematic gender discrimination in India. Thus in consideration of all these facts it is quite evident that Female Foeticide has taken a disastrous shape in India. It is the distressing reality of Shining India that the mass depletion of the fairer sex is being carried on boldly without any hesitation, without any fear. Laws in India to Check Female Foeticide : In India in order to stop the indiscriminate abortion of female fetuses several laws have been enacted. The essential provisions relating to the prevention of Female Foeticide are laid down in: Indian Penal Code 1860 The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act,1971 The Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1994 a) Indian Penal Code 1860:Under the IPC adequate provisions have been made for the protection of mother and unborn child. Under Section 312, 313and 314, the IPC provides to save the women from miscarriage. Miscarriage means the expulsion of the child or foetus from the mothers womb at any period of pregnancy before the term of gestation is completed. Though the term â€Å"miscarriage† is not defined in the I.P.C in its popular sense, it is synonymous with abortion, and consists in the explosion of the embryo or foetus, i.e. the immature product of conception. The stage at which pregnancy has advanced and the form which the ovum or embryo may have assumed are immaterial.Any act intended, not in good faith to cause miscarriage is punishable under IPC. The punishment for this offence is further enhanced if the woman is ‘quick with child. The term ‘Quickening refers to the peculiar sensations experienced by a woman about the fourth or fifth month of pregnancy. The symp toms are popularly ascribed to the first perception of the movement of the foetus. According to Section 312 if any person causes a miscarriage of woman, he shall be punished with the imprisonment up to three years or fine or with both, and if the woman be quick with child, he shall be punished with imprisonment up to seven years and fine also. Under this section a woman who causes her miscarriage or gives consent to miscarry is also liable for punishment. Section 313 provides the punishment for life or ten years and fine, who causes the miscarriages of a woman without her consent. In the case of Tulsi Devi v. State of U.P, the accused women kicked a pregnant woman in her abdomen resulting in miscarriage. She was held to be convicted under Section 313. Section 314further provides that if the act directed to cause miscarriage results in death of the pregnant woman, the offender is punishable with imprisonment of ten years as well as with fine. However the IPC permits abortion for saving the life of the pregnant women. Section 312 allows the termination of pregnancy in good faith for saving the life of the pregnant woman. The term good faith, however, is not a constant term but it is varied from case to case. The General Clauses Act 1897 defines good faith as, â€Å"A thing shall be deemed to be done in good faith where it is, in fact done honestly.† IPC defines good faith as â€Å"Nothing is said to be done or believed in good faith which is done or believed without due care and attention†. In addition to these, Section 315 and 316 provides for protection against injuries to the unborn child. Section 315 lays down that any person doing an act without good faith with the intention of preventing a child to be born or to cause it die after birth is punishable with imprisonment of ten tears or fine or both. Section 316 provides if a person causes the death of a quick unborn child by an act amounting to culpable homicide he shall be punishable with imprisonment for ten years as well as be fined. Like the Indian law, protection to the unborn child has also been recognized and guaranteed in other countries too. Such as in the United States thirty-five states currently recognize the unborn child or fetus as a homicide victim. 25 of those states apply this principle throughout the period of pre-natal development while 10 establish protection at some later stage, which varies from state to state. For example, the Supreme Court of California treats the killing of a fetus as homicide, but does not treat the killing of an embryo (prior to approximately eight weeks) as homicide. The Unborn Victims of Violence Act enacted in 2004 recognizes the ‘child in utero as a member of the species homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb. This ‘child in utero is recognized as a legal victim if he or she is injured or killed during the commission of any of 68 existing federal crimes of violence and offered legal remedy as per the state laws. However, the f ederal and state courts have consistently held that these laws do not apply to apply to legal induced abortions and do not contradict the U.S. Supreme Courts rulings on abortion.But unlawful abortion however may be considered foeticide, even if the pregnant woman consents to the abortion..Similarly the English law also gives protection to the unborn child. It recognizes ‘Child Destruction as a crime. ‘Child destruction refers to the crime of killing a child capable of being born alive, before it has a separate existence. The Crimes Act 1958 defined capable of being born alive as 28 weeks gestation, later reduced to 24 weeks. b)The Medical Termination Of Pregnancy Act, 1971: The MTP Act is another attempt to prevent high rate of female foeticide in India. This Act aims in preventing large number of unsafe abortions. The Act clearly states that an abortion can be termed legal only when- Termination is done by a medical practitioner approved by the Act Termination is done at a place approved under the Act Termination is done for conditions and within the gestation prescribed by the Act Other requirements of the rules regulations are complied with. It permits termination of pregnancy only when Continuation of pregnancy constitutes risk to the life or grave injury to the physical or mental health of woman or there is a substantial risk of physical or mental abnormalities in the fetus as to render it seriously handicapped or if pregnancy caused by rape (presumed grave injury to mental health) or due to contraceptive failure in married couple (presumed grave injury to mental health).However termination of pregnancy is possible Upto 20 weeks of gestation period only With the consent of the woman. If the woman is below 18 years or is mentally ill, then with consent of a guardian With the opinion of a registered medical practitioner, formed in good faith, under certain circumstances With the opinion of two RMPs required for termination of pregnancy between 12 and 20 weeks. Also such abortion is to be conducted either at a hospital established or maintained by Government or at a place approved for the purpose of this Act by a District-level Committee constituted by the government with the CMHO as Chairperson. Thus this Act on one hand positively aims to improve the maternal health scenario by upholding the validity of legally induced abortions and negatively, on the other hand, seeks to reduce illegal abortions. Also it is to be noted that such strict principles laid down by the Act for the regulation of abortion is a bold attempt by the Indian Legislature to check Female Foeticide. The Act seeks to put an end to the menace of illegal abortions carried out primarily for the elimination of female fetuses. c) The Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulations and Prevention of Misuse) Act 1994:The PNDT Act is the outcome of the realization of the Parliament that a central piece of legislation had become mandatory for stopping the abuse of pre natal diagnostic techniques. When it was quite evident from the mushroom growth of clinics all over that the pre-natal diagnostic techniques were not restricted for the purpose of detection of genetic disorders or chromosomal abnormalities or congenital abnormalities or sex-linked diseases only but was actually leading to female foeticide, for the first time in India, in 1986, a social action group in Mumbai namely the Forum Against Sex Determination and Sex Pre-selection (FASDSP), initiated a campaign. On its pressure the Maharashtra government enacted the Maharashtra Regulation of Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act 1988, which was the first anti sex determination drive in the country. This was followed by a similar Act being introduced in Punjab in May 1994. However both these Acts were repealed by the enactment of a central legislation, i.e. the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act 1994, which came into effect from 01.01.1996, banning sex determination tests all over the country. This Act was renamed in 2002 as the Pre- Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994 (PCPNDT Act) which came to effect from 14.02.2003. The PCPNDT Act chiefly provides for : Prohibition of sex selection, before and after conception. Regulation of prenatal diagnostic techniques (e.g. aminocentesis and ultrasonography) for detection of genetic abnormalities, by restricting their use to registered institutions. The Act allows the use of these techniques only at a registered institutions .The Act allows the use of these techniques only at a registered place for a specified purpose and by a qualified person, registered for this purpose. Prevention of misuse of such techniques for sex selection before or after conception. Prohibition of advertisement of any technique for sex selection as well as sex determination. Prohibition on sale of ultrasound machines to persons not registered under this Act. Punishment for violations of the Act. This Act requires that all diagnostic centres must be registered with the authorities. They are required to maintain detailed records of all pregnant women undergoing scans there. These records must include the referring doctor, medical and other details of the woman, reason for doing the scan, and signatures of the doctors. These records must be submitted to the authorities periodically. For implementing the Act, â€Å"appropriate authorities† are appointed at the state level and work with the director of health services, a member of a womens organization and an officer of the law. At the district level, the appropriate authority is the medical officer or civil surgeon. Advisory committees consisting of doctors, social workers and people with legal training assist appropriate authorities. Supervisory boards at the state and central levels look at the implementation of the Act. The appropriate authority may cancel the diagnostic centres registration, make independent investiga tions, take complaints to court, and take appropriate legal action. It may demand documentation, search premises, and seal and seize material. Courts may respond only to complaints from the appropriate authority. Under the Act the following people can be charged-everyone running the diagnostic unit for sex selection, mediators who refer pregnant women to the test, and relatives of the pregnant woman. The pregnant woman is considered innocent under the Act, â€Å"unless proved guilty†. So far as penalties under the Act are concerned, it consists of imprisonment for up to three years and a fine of up to Rs. 10,000. This is increased to five years and Rs. 100,000 for subsequent offences. Doctors charged with the offence will be reported to the State Medical Council, which can take the further necessary action including suspension. These are the three chief legislative measures initiated in India for combating the evil of Female Foeticide. Judicial Response to Female Foeticide in India: The Indian Judiciary has from time to time come up with ingenious ways to provide protection to the fairer sex and this essentially includes the group of unborn girls too. The Supreme Court in the case of â€Å"Centre for Enquiry into Health and Allied Themes (CEHAT) and others v.Union of India† which was filed under section 32 of the Constitution of India under PIL issued directions to Central Supervisory Board, all State Governments and Union Territories for proper and effective implementation of the PCPNDT Act which mandates that sex selection by any person, by any means, before or after conception, is prohibited. Since 2001, the judiciary has been closely monitoring the implementation of its various orders passed regarding the ban on the use of ultrasound scanners for conducting such tests. Subsequently, it had sought status reports from all states and Union Territories. The Supreme Court also directed 9 companies to supply the information of the machines sold to various clinics in the last 5 years.. Addresses received from the manufacturers were also sent to concerned states and to launch prosecution against those bodies using ultrasound machines that had filed to get themselves registered under the Act. The court directed that the ultrasound machines/scanners be sealed and seized if they were being used without registration. The Supreme Court also asked three associations viz., The Indian Medical Association [IMA], Indian Radiologist Association [IRA], and the Federation of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Societies of India [FOGSI] to furnish details of members using these machines. It is to be noted that since the Supreme Court had issued such directives, 99 cases were registered and in 232 cases ultrasound machines, other equipment and records were seized Today there is an estimated 25000 ultrasound machines in the country, of these 15000 have been registered, owing to the efforts of the Judiciary. The Supreme Court in the case of Mr. Vijay Sha rma and Mrs. Kirti Sharma vs. Union of India the Supreme Court has recently quoted that â€Å" foeticide of girl child is a sin; such tendency offends dignity of women. It undermines their importance. It violates womans right to life. It violatesArticle39(e) of theConstitutionwhich states the principle of state policy that the health and strength of women is not to be abused. It ignores Article51A (e) of theConstitutionwhich states that it shall be the duty of every citizen of India to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women. The architects of the MTPA, 1971, have not taken into consideration the fundamental rights of the foetus to be born. It is submitted that ‘life exists in the foetus while in the womb of the mother and in this context Article 21 of the constitution of India is applicable to unborn person as well.† Current Scenario of the extent of Female Foeticide in India subsequent to the Legislative initiatives and Judicial attempts: It is quite unfortunate that in India despite enactment of effective laws there has been a little change in the psychology and behavior in the people who still have a damn care attitude in causing the death of that most vulnerable being in India the female foetus. The PCPNDT Act has not been successful to curb out this menace completely but has somewhere or the other contributed to the mushroom growth of private clinics all over the country where people desperately visit for conducting sex selective abortions. Another shameful picture which has come out is that of the doctor community, more often labeled as Gods in our country, are seen to commit a blatant violation of law as well as medical ethics. The zeal with which Female F

Case Study: Dell :: essays research papers

Case Study: Dell Dell can be one of the most successful companies mostly due to its direct marketing strategy. Unlike other computer companies which sell their product through retailers, Dell provides their computer and service directly to customers. The direct-selling model makes the company understand their customers better and eliminates the retailer cost. What is more, each PC is customized to the customers who can specify what components they want. Dell also holds little or no inventory and assembles products as soon as an order placed. The company can save inventory cost and apply new technology on their product quickly by using the just-in-time approach. In 1996, Dell became the e-commerce leader, for its website is not only some pages describing the details of products but also an online shop specializing computers for consumers. People can buy computer on the website which covering 80 countries, 27 languages/dialects, and 40 currencies without leaving home. Therefore, direct marketing strategy with low cost (low price), customization and e-commerce is the key factor for Dell’s success. Blois et al (2000.p.20) argued that marketers have been making increasing efforts to integrate direct-marketing activities within their overall communications mix. For instance, when a new computer comes into the market, the company should integrate every aspect of its campaign like TV Ads, online promotions, sending emails and brochures to the potential customers and so forth. Such Integrated marketing communications which can generate the awareness of the new product are likely to become popular in the future. Furthermore, in order to remain its top position, Dell has to develop new market such as camera and printer.

Informative Speech: Barbie Essay

With more than 150 careers on her resume she has worked as a Nurse, lifeguard, dance teacher and even astronaut. Her popularity has spread throughout the world for decades. She is beautiful, talented and every little girl has yearned to have her. Who is this woman you may ask? Her name is Barbie. I will be speaking about the History, popularity, and controversies of the Barbie doll. The Barbie doll was invented by a woman named Ruth Handler in 1959. Ruth had a daughter named Barbra and noticed that she would make paper dolls and enjoyed giving them adult roles. During that time there were not many dolls that were adult like. Most represented infants known as the baby doll. Ruth shared her idea with her husband who was the co founder of the Mattel Toy Company. Initially he was unenthusiastic about the idea. Saying that the idea was to expensive and wouldn’t be marketable. Ruth’s idea was inspired by the Lilli doll which was based on a popular comic strip. The Lilli doll was a blonde bombshell, working girl who Ruth felt represented women in a positive view. Despite Ruth’s initial support from her husband she worked on her design of the doll with her engineer friend Jack Ryan. The doll was given the name Barbie named after Ruth’s daughter Barbara. The doll debuted at the American International Toy fair March 9, 1959. This date is also used as Barbie’s birthday. When the Barbie Doll was launched she was introduced as a teenage fashion model. She was available in blonde or brunette wearing a black and white bathing suit, pony tail, sandals and e6ar rings. Over the years the Barbie design has changed in many ways. For example, in 1971 the dolls eyes were adjusted to look forward instead of a sideways glance. In 1961 a red haired Barbie was added to the collection. 19 years later in 1980 the first African American and Hispanic Barbie doll was launched. Ever since 1959 the Barbie doll phenomenon has not slowed down and still sells millions of dolls per year today. The Barbie doll was a breath of fresh air for children and the toy industry which leads me to my next topic the Barbie dolls popularity. The Barbie doll is one of the most successful dolls in history, with sales of more than 1.7 billion in 1998. According to the Mattel Toy Company, 3 Barbies are sold every 2 seconds throughout the world. Today, Barbie has become a brand and is not limited to just dolls. There are video  games, computer programs that allow young g irls to design outfits for Barbie and of course movies. Barbie appeared in toy story 2 and 3 as a supporting character to woody and Buzz light year. Time Square even named one of the streets Barbie Avenue for a week. The Barbie doll has been a growing favorite for little girls all over the world. A billion Barbie’s have been sold worldwide in over 150 countries. There are more options as to what type of Barbie that can be bought which I believe ads to its popularity. Because the Barbie brand offers so much variety as far as race and ethnicity, occupation, and fashion trends the brand has made history with this invention. Eight months after Barbie’s debut at Toy Fair. Ruth Handler was according to the Los Angeles Times running a half- million dollar business. Ruth states in her book â€Å"Dream Doll†; I designed the doll with a blank face so that the child could project her own dreams and future onto Barbie†. Ruth’s vision for her doll was to be positive and to help young girls self esteem. She felt it was important for children to have a realistic view of women through the doll. With that being said many people did not agree with her and the Barbie doll caused a lot of controversy. One criticism that the Barbie doll received was from moms stating that they felt it was inappropriate to have a doll with breast. Ruth Stated in an interview â€Å"I believe it is important to a little girls self-esteem to play with a doll that has breast, besides one day she too will have breast and she is beautiful†. Another huge controverserial topic was the body image. If Barbie was to be a real women her measurements would be a 36† breast 18† waist and 33† hip if Barbie was a human she would not be able to stand up straight because her body was not proportioned of a normal women, An academic expert n=by the name of John Hay stated that the likelihood of a women being shaped like Barbie was less than 1 in 100,000. Many people felt that this was not giving a realistic to young girls view on how a women’s body is shaped. Critics felt that young girls would believe that if they are not shaped like Barbie they would have poor body image and could lead to eating disorders. Although the Barbie brand came out with their first African American and Hispanic doll in 1980, some of the African American community was not happy about the representation of the doll. They felt that the only thing that the doll had was darker skin but lacked African American features. For Awhile the black Barbie had dropped in sells drastically until finall y the Mattel  toy company recalled all the black Barbie’s and created them to have more of African American features. Although the Barbie has received much controversy, Ruth and her invention has been a game changer. She started off with one idea and it changed the world. Today Barbie is a brand and has been going strong for over 50 years. She took a risk even though she didn’t have much support from others she felt in her heart that she wanted to invent something that was contrary to what was being sold in the toy industry. The lesson in this is to follow your dreams no matter how much support you may or may not have. If you have a vision go for it and despite whatever criticism you may receive persevere and you too can change the world.

An Unfor Gottable Event in My Life

he Most Memorable Event in my Life As the title suggests, my essay is about some event which is important, exciting, memorable to me. A lot of people probably would agree with me that one of the most interesting activities in life is traveling, this is one of the thing I enjoy the best in my life. For this reason, I try to travel as much aas possible. The last trip was a very long and interesting one, it was a trip to the United States of America. The first thing to be said about is the choice of the country.It wasn’t that the United States was a country of my dreams like it is for some people. There were a lot of countries which I wanted to see more than America, but I was given an opportunity to work there for some time and this is how I went overseas. I worked there and traveled as well. During this trip I had visited a lot of places, but I decided to write only about one city which impressed me the most. It is the New York. City. When I first arrived to this city I had nev er seen anything like that before.When you come from such a small country like Lithuania you are shocked how big the city is. It left a great impression to me, I just loved the buildings of it: new ones, old ones, small ones and especially big ones. There is so much of everything: huge and tiny shops, restaurants, cafes, night clubs, museums, galleries, etc. It seems that it would take at least few years to see everything only in one city, not mentioning the whole country. Another interesting and important thing about New York, as well as the whole United states, is a mixture of cultures.I met so many people from so many different countries. I think America is the only country which has so many cultures mixed with that of their own. This is a very interesting and at the same time strange thing to discover for someone who is not familiar with such thing. The last words which I want to say about this trip, it taught me a lot of things about life and people. In the States people are ve ry different but one thing is common to the majority of them, it is money.Visiting this country I discovered how great the power of money is, how it changes the world, people and their lives. I guess it was the only disappointing thing about this country because the rest of it was very exciting. To conclude, I would like to say that it is quite hard to write everything on one sheet of paper as there is so much of interesting to say, but it takes a lot of space. Summing up, I could say that this trip, in some way, changed my life and outlook to the world, that is why I have chosen it on the most memorable event in my life.

Textual analysis of a Three-Minute Clip from the Successful essays

Textual analysis of a Three-Minute Clip from the Successful essays The Oscar-winning film Titanic (James Cameron 1997, U.S.A) proved to be one of the most profitable films ever made. In this essay I am going to analyse at a three-minute sequence from the film, where I will be specifically looking at features such as mise-en-scene, editing, framing, sound and lighting. I will then be discussing how these aspects help to reinforce the broader areas such as narrative, genre, representation and style. I am going to particularly focus on the representation of class as I feel that the class system is vividly portrayed in the film. Titanic is a love story set against real historical events: the sinking of the great ocean liner amongst the ice packs of the North Atlantic in 1912. Directed by James Cameron; famous for Aliens, True Lies and the Terminator movies, and starring actors such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet and Billy Zane; it is listed amongst the top ten grossing films of all time. It has won eleven Oscar awards including the much sought after award of 'Best Motion Picture', tying with the illustrious record set by Ben Hur in 1959. In its first year of release it sold more tickets than any other motion picture in history and it was the first ever to gross one billion dollars in worldwide sales. The three-minute sequence I have chosen to look at starts with Old Rose telling the discovery crew about what the Titanic was like. She then has a flashback and the film goes back to the day of the Titanic's maiden voyage. The end of my clip is where Jack and Fabrizio are gambling in a pub. I chose this sequence because it introduces the two main characters of the film, Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) and Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio), and shows the stark contrast between them in terms of their class. The sequence begins with a close-up shot of Old Rose's face, which helps us to see that she is very old. She says "Titanic was called the 'ship of dreams'Â ¡K" and the camera slowly pans right so t...

history of computers1 essays

history of computers1 essays Somewhere around 3000BC the first mechanical counting device created was the abacus. The abacus is still used today and, amazingly to me, with great speed and accuracy. In 1642 another mechanical device was created called the Pascaline (after Blaise Pascal, a famous French mathematician). The Pascaline used gears and wheels ("counting-wheels") to perform the calculations. The interesting thing to note is that the counting-wheel design was used in calculators until the 1960s. The next major breakthrough in computer history revolves around Charles Babbage and his Difference Engine and Analytical Engine. The machines that Charles designed in the early 1800s were not electronic computers as we know them now but they were general-purpose computational devices that were designed to be driven by steam. Charles is credited with being the "Father of Computing" due to the fact that his designs were WAY ahead of his time. He laid the foundation for the modern computer. Another computer development spurred by the war was the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) produced by a partnership between the U.S. government and the University of Pennsylvania. Consisting of 18,000 vacuum tubes, 70,000 resistors and 5 million soldered joints, the computer was such a massive piece of machinery that it consumed 160 kilowatts of electrical power, enough energy to dim the lights in an entire section of Philadelphia. Developed by John Presper Eckert (1919-1995) and John W. Mauchly (1907-1980), ENIAC, unlike the Colossus and Mark I, was a general-purpose computer that computed at speeds 1,000 times faster than Mark I. These first computers were extremely large, slow, and inefficient. Many things happened between the creation of the ENIAC and now. Among the most interesting and pertinent to us in this course is the development of the microcomputer. The major development of ...

Britain of evacuation in World War Two Essay Example for Free

Britain of evacuation in World War Two Essay During the course of World War Two, many people were evacuated, not just children. There were many differing reactions to evacuation. The reaction would depend on the experience you had. Reactions would also change over time during the war and even after the war had finished. One set of people affected by Evacuation was the Children. Many children did not know where they were going and therefore experienced feelings of fear and anger. The children disliked being separated from their parents but put on brave faces so not worry their families. When the children arrived at their destination, they were taken to school halls of town meeting places where the were chosen by their â€Å"foster† families, which they disliked because often they were split from their sisters and brothers. If they had negative attitudes, they very often did not settle quickly like those who had positive attitudes and would see their stay as a holiday. If an evacuee had a positive experience, they would have pleasant memories of being treated as one of the family. Evacuation was described as â€Å"no better than a ‘paedophile’s charter’ † as it would have been easier to abuse children away from home. However, in a study of 450 ex-evacuees, only 12% of them had bad experiences. Michael Caine remembers being evacuated with his brother Clarence. He said † My brother used to went the bed when he was nervous. My foster mother could not figure out who it was so she beat both of us, and Clarence became more nervous and wet the bed more. † However, not all experiences were bad. On ex-evacuees remembers being given clothes when he was evacuated. A child’s reaction to evacuation would depend on their experiences while in care. Another set of people who were affected by evacuation was the children’s parents. Most parents were reluctant to send their children away but agreed because of propaganda. Not all parents sent their children away though. Some parents thought that their children were safe in their family home. However, most parents brought their children home due to the ‘phoney ‘ war. But the children were evacuated again when the Blitz happened, although the scale of evacuation was not as large as the first wave in September 1939. Thanks to the Blitz, many parents changed their opinions on evacuation, now agreeing that it was probably best for their children. Britain of evacuation in World War Two. (2017, Oct 11).

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 26

Assignment Example wis Mandell, American consumers feel much secured about their life after retirement because of Social Security, therefore, they believe that nothing bad can happen to them (Gardner). 3) Economic conditions are also contributing to the American’s cut way back on savings. For example, the high rate of unemployment and decline in average earnings of consumers during the previous few years along with the increase in housing, education and healthcare costs have increased the financial stress on Americans, thereby, making it difficult to fulfill their basic needs. 4) Consumers are getting more materialistic and they do not consider the difference between ‘need’ and ‘want’ and it is evident from the fact that they want to have latest cell phone, iPods, fast cars etc. Generally, when a person earns bonus, he is more likely to think how to spend it rather than thinking about how much they can earn in future by savings and

What is the role of graduate education in preparing nurses to meet the Personal Statement

What is the role of graduate education in preparing nurses to meet the health needs of our society - Personal Statement Example A lot of diligence and ethical discipline is expected of them. A nurse therefore must have knowledge and skills that are geared towards to performing of duties diligently. Graduate education instills skills that enable a nurse to give care to the patient based on theoretical and practical knowledge. In addition, a nurse is a decision maker and skills attained from a graduate education enables the nurse to think critically in assessing patients and helps in the evaluation of the patient’s problem. In enabling the nurse to discern what is best for the patient, it helps in determining the best course of action. Communication between the nurse and the patient is crucial and barriers in communication can delay the healing process. Graduate education trains the nurse on ways to communicate effectively with the patient and the family members. These techniques can help in improving the healthcare environment. Moreover, graduate education teaches a nurse on how to play the role of teacher in educating the patient more about their health, illness, and medication (Grigg, 2007). As a teacher, the nurse teaches the patient on how to deal with the challenges that come with the illness and may need to instruct the family members on ways to care for the patient after being discharged from the hospital. Motivation of patients is a major focus that graduates education emphasis on. It trains nurses to stimulate, motivate, and to work as a team with fellow colleagues and with the patients. To devote time to listen to patients with a positive attitude and encouraging them assists with the healing process of the patient Furthermore, nursing is a sensitive field of profession; it requires the maintenance of good conduct and observance of the standard code of ethics as the core part of training in graduate education. It trains the nurse to prioritize the patients’ health first and to carry out the process of care giving diligently. It trains

Technology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 6

Technology - Essay Example Technology has assisted them long and hard to further their belief in this phenomenon. The proponents of technology have supported it because they find no reason in disapproving the advantages that come along with it in different fields of life. Technology has allowed people to relax more today than ever before.This is the reason why the advocates of technology are always in favor of it. Technology has resolved nearly all the issues plaguing the human society and has been the savior on more than a single occasion to be remarked as the messiah of the modern day society. People have felt more inclined to cope up with the different technological facets today than ever before as their trust and confidence has increased manifolds. This trust and confidence has increased because they have seen the advantages and benefits that technology has offered them over the years. They have found out that technology assists them whenever they seem to be in a problem. Plus it is proactively driven to bring rewards for them which is also something that positively motivates them about technology. The ones who receive these benefits in turn tell others about how good the technological manifestations have been. This is the reason why technology is taken on by people in a sudden manner and then there seems to be no looking back on this tangent at all. If seen correctly, this is one of the major pluses behind the concept of technology adoption (Swart, 2012). Technology has overtaken the human emblem by a fair count. It has made people realize where they can find a substit ute for their own selves. At times, technology has even taken the sheen off the human intellect. This is an alarming aspect because human beings are superior than any other entity in this world yet technology has come out strong to make them redundant on certain occasions (Jensen, 2005). The role of human beings cannot be denied under any case whatsoever. It must be

PAS Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

PAS - Case Study Example After 6 months, I was asked to run the whole station store and gas pumps. The gas was closed a year after it was closed due to its line expiry. It was due to this reason that Pas Automotive repair decided to acquire a building that was the year 2000, hence the business became steady from then. Pas Automotive is luckily located on one of the busiest  streets in Sydney 500 Prince Street. With a large lot of 20 plus cars and access to the roadways, situated in 3 different directions. In business, Pas automotive repair company is among the automotive repair shop that deals with all repairs on both cars trucks boats as well as lawn mowers. In addition, the company deals with rebuilding various vehicle engines as well as changing engine oil. As the business is at a tender age, the company has a total of seven employees. Our services include; service calls, self service work where customers will be picked from a prevailed position and the problem they are encountering on their vehicle asc ertained just on time and at affordable price. Our prices depend on the  labor  guide, being serviced and provided by all of our service stations. We also give a discount price to students and  seniors. More so we have affordable and special hourly rate of 60.00 dollars an hour and this makes us cheap on the market as compared from our competitors. Research on the Pas Automotive Repair as a sole  proprietor  business is very useful. Firstly, it will aid in making a forecast to affiliate the current situation, therefore supporting the potential increase in service provision. Additionally, while delivering the service, the industry looks forward in growth and developing around the globe. There are several factors that limit their use, which may be reflected later. Moreover, the statistical analysis of the pas automotive repair company and distribution channels, which is very essential in making sound decisions, will be evaluated. Secondly, the study of online and traditional agency services (in terms of understanding consumer needs) is relevant not only for the owners of Pas Automotive Repair Company, but also for the insurance companies, transportation and others. Through the data, a clear analysis of the various factors affecting the industry is evaluated. This leads to increased efficiency and consequently increased returns. Additionally, research of the subject carries a statistical and social nature, which makes it necessary to understand the consumer behavior, as well as their knowledge of the possible opportunities. Increasing Sales and Profits One of the main objectives of advertising is to augment sales and profits. Most companies nowadays employ advertising to impart people regarding their products and services. Some forms of advertising lend themselves more to producing immediate profits. This can be with adverts availed through Billboards. The company will process and markets their services under a brand name of Pas Automotive Repair Compan y. Encourage Trial and Usage Pas Automotive Repair Company will frequently use advertising to hearten trial and convention of new services they unveil to their customer. The company will lope their advertising to bring in their services to the public as well as their customers. The company will initiate public enticements to first-time service consumers and will work based on brand equity among techniques Forms of advertisement In any company as per the requirements of marketing strategies,

Personal Development Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Development - Personal Statement Example My goals for next week are to continue writing. 3 Understanding Information and Data It sure was a lot of specific information. I learned about writing and research styles and referencing techniques. My goal for next week is to understand first hand how to conduct library research. 4 Presentations I love presentations. I learned the appropriate way to design slides. My goal for next week is to keep up with the matrix. 5 How Information Is Used This was a really cool lecture. I learned about the different methods of systemic thinking. My goals for next week are to continue with my matrix and try to implement systemic analytic thinking. 6 Information in Global Business Communications I never thought of communication like this before. I learned about the history and methods of business communications. My goals for next week include keeping up with assignments and lectures. 7 Information in Business This was the most interesting lecture to me so far. I learned about how information technology augments business. My goals are to complete this module strongly. Summary Personal Learning and Skills Matrix Semester General reflection Subject specific reflections New goals, new behaviors Challenge It was a real challenge to keep the matrices. Although I know it will probably help me in the future, I wish there was an easier way to use reference styles. I aim to implement more structured time management and find an easier way to do formal citations. Expectations I learned nearly everything I expected from this module. I like the parts about report writing, web communications, and systems thinking most. I hope to apply the principles wherever I can. Responsibilities I feel I have a responsibility to apply this information effectively in the...Although I am proud of my academic achievements, I wish I could apply what I learned more specifically in the workplace. In the appropriate business setting, much of this is quite applicable, but in others they were not so much. I suppose it takes the right type of environment to express scholarly skill and be appreciated for it. I am more used to people being intolerant to academic achievement. I am not sure why. I do not see the harm in bringing knowledge to bear on one's life. I am not overbearing about it, and I do not use it intrusively. I can only gather that among certain circles learning is seen as a threat. It is a threat to some people because of low self-esteem I guess. It seems they are not willing to sacrifice for knowledge so they do not wish anyone else to either. It is a threat to some because of sheer jealousy. They are unwilling to let others grow professionally who will serve them directl y. I do not really know. It is all speculation if I am to be perfectly honest. Human psychology presents the most challenging systems analysis task in the known universe. One thing is certain. Some people are intolerant toward learning for whatever reason. Despite the intolerance of those around me, I am proud that I have accomplished so much in the face of such unnecessary odds.

EVALUATING A WEBSITE AS A SOURCE FOR LEARNING HISTORY Essay

EVALUATING A WEBSITE AS A SOURCE FOR LEARNING HISTORY - Essay Example In this regard, the Europeans exploration and colonizers made regular trips to America to deliver merchandise and collect precious metals and treasures. However, as treasures increased, so did the desire to capture more areas to gain control over the Americans. The reason for choosing this website for analysis is because it provides information on America’s history and recommends other resources rich in America’s history. Therefore, this website serves as a good source of learning history due its diverse information, including artifacts and paintings and also other suggested literatures on America’s history. This website is owned by the library of Congress, the world largest library. Through this site, the library provides diverse books, photographs, recordings, maps and many other academic resources for both teachers and students. The information provided in this website gives insights on America’s history, and it is adequately supported by finding of gre at historians such as Jay Kislak, who amassed a comprehensive collection of materials on ancient America. In the process of his exploration, Jay acquired rare collection of manuscripts and books that pertained to early America. In this vein, the objective of library of Congress was to avail diverse learning resources to the American people. Therefore, this site seeks to reveal America’s history, creativity and knowledge through both primary and secondary sources to both teachers and learners. Notably, the site has a selection of more than 3,000 rare maps, paintings, documents, prints and artifacts among others. The audience can access information on the early America, including pre-contact America, exploration and encounters and finally aftermath of the encounter through this website. In addition, the site provides more than 3,000 collections of documents, paintings, prints among others. All information accessible through this site is equally useful for a historian, but for t his particular paper information on pre-contact, America is of paramount importance. In this regard, the website provides insights on America’s indigenous culture, including their music and poetry, powerful expressive objects modeled and the hierarchical political, religious and social systems. I consider the information to be reliable since it emanates from the library of Congress whose main role is to document historical information. In addition, the information provided is fully supported by researches conducted by re-known historians such as Jay Kislak. Despite providing valuable information about America’s history, the website has some ancient drawings and objects not clearly explained. For instance, under theme and exhibition, there are various items and drawings with no clearly explanations on how they relate to ancient American culture. This poses a considerable problem since ancient items, and drawing helps to provide information on a given generation. Further , despite the support of what the website provides with works of great researchers, little is provided to tie such information with artifacts and painting shown in the website. This leaves a gap that can challenge information provided on America’s history. Certainly, I cannot say that the website does not provide the right information, but more research needs to be conducted to

Personal Development Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Development - Personal Statement Example My goals for next week are to continue writing. 3 Understanding Information and Data It sure was a lot of specific information. I learned about writing and research styles and referencing techniques. My goal for next week is to understand first hand how to conduct library research. 4 Presentations I love presentations. I learned the appropriate way to design slides. My goal for next week is to keep up with the matrix. 5 How Information Is Used This was a really cool lecture. I learned about the different methods of systemic thinking. My goals for next week are to continue with my matrix and try to implement systemic analytic thinking. 6 Information in Global Business Communications I never thought of communication like this before. I learned about the history and methods of business communications. My goals for next week include keeping up with assignments and lectures. 7 Information in Business This was the most interesting lecture to me so far. I learned about how information technology augments business. My goals are to complete this module strongly. Summary Personal Learning and Skills Matrix Semester General reflection Subject specific reflections New goals, new behaviors Challenge It was a real challenge to keep the matrices. Although I know it will probably help me in the future, I wish there was an easier way to use reference styles. I aim to implement more structured time management and find an easier way to do formal citations. Expectations I learned nearly everything I expected from this module. I like the parts about report writing, web communications, and systems thinking most. I hope to apply the principles wherever I can. Responsibilities I feel I have a responsibility to apply this information effectively in the...Although I am proud of my academic achievements, I wish I could apply what I learned more specifically in the workplace. In the appropriate business setting, much of this is quite applicable, but in others they were not so much. I suppose it takes the right type of environment to express scholarly skill and be appreciated for it. I am more used to people being intolerant to academic achievement. I am not sure why. I do not see the harm in bringing knowledge to bear on one's life. I am not overbearing about it, and I do not use it intrusively. I can only gather that among certain circles learning is seen as a threat. It is a threat to some people because of low self-esteem I guess. It seems they are not willing to sacrifice for knowledge so they do not wish anyone else to either. It is a threat to some because of sheer jealousy. They are unwilling to let others grow professionally who will serve them directl y. I do not really know. It is all speculation if I am to be perfectly honest. Human psychology presents the most challenging systems analysis task in the known universe. One thing is certain. Some people are intolerant toward learning for whatever reason. Despite the intolerance of those around me, I am proud that I have accomplished so much in the face of such unnecessary odds.

Research Study on Organizational Commitment Essay Example for Free

Research Study on Organizational Commitment Essay IntroductionOrganizational commitment is an organizational member’s psychological connection or feeling of belongingness to the organization CITATION Edu15 l 1033 (Educational Portal). This commitment to an organization creates a feeling of passionate affection within a stakeholder of an organization, creating a desire for that / those individual(s) to do anything necessary for the organization to succeed. Organizational commitment is an indispensably huge role that determines whether a stakeholder will remain at the organization willingly, if given a choice. This is a determinant as to whether this individual will produce at the top of his skill index to ensure that the organization moves much closer, or in the direction of its goals. According to the three- component model (TCM), the organizational commitment is made up of three unique components. These are affective commitment, continuance commitment and normative commitment. Affective commitment encompasses the love for your career or job. This happens when one has a strong feeling of emotional attachment to their organization or company, and zealously works to promote the interests of that organization. These people have internalized the organization’s values, vision and goals, and have a sincere feeling of wanting to work for the organization for a longer period CITATION Min151 l 1033 (Mind Tools). This happens when the employee is happy at their workplace. There are factors that will normally contribute to this affection. Some of the reasons include freedom of thought and innovation, appreciably good salary, better employee terms among other things that could make employees feel that they are important and are valued by their employer. Whatever these reasons are, this affection is imperative to the organizational success. Hypothesis: Employees who are treated in a respectful manner in an ethics based organization are more likely to be happier than employees that belong to a profit oriented organization. Continuous commitment is an express fear of loss. This kind of commitment comes by when employees measures up the advantages and disadvantages of being at the organization compared to their exit CITATION Min151 l 1033 (Mind Tools). This comes as a result of a realization that staying at your current position in your company has better terms or benefits than leaving the company. For instance, if one wanted to move from one company or organization, they will not only consider monetary benefits, but a number of other parameters. These parameters include employee terms of welfare, available position of responsibility within the new organization, among other benefits one stands to lose or gain. Another reason could be completely unrelated to profession; one could be attached to their friends at the organization, that moving from the organization is a risk of breaking these bonds. The relentlessness of the continuance commitment increases with advancement of age and professional responsibi lity. Those who are so advanced in both of these factors will feel a certain kind of inertial force that hardly allows them to leave. Hypothesis: People who have successively progressed up the ladder within an organization, and / or age feel the severity of continuance commitment the most. Normative Commitment is the sense of obligation that one feels for an organization. Some people feel that it is the right thing to do, for them to belong to the organization they do belong to. This sense of belongingness occurs even when one is not happy with their position. They are often held back from pursuing even better opportunities CITATION Min151 l 1033 (Mind Tools). This feeling could arise from an array of reasons. A great example is a son working at their father’s firm, He will get a kind of virtual family pressure to weigh the burdens of the organization in order to make it successful. Even if there existed better opportunities, this son will turn them down for the sake of keeping their parents happy. Another scenario that could occur is when a wife works for an organization within a region. The job she does could only be offered by only her current company within the whole region or even country. Due to her domestic responsibilities, she cannot leave to pursue her career interests in another region of the country. This sense of obligation could drain the company of energy because normally, there is no zeal to work, but one will only perform at an average. Hypothesis: more married people will tend to work for a certain firm on a normative commitment basis than the single professionals. All the above forms of commitment are segments of organizational employee response due to certain organizational behaviors. The underlying fact is that employees have their personal needs, and will tend to place these interests first. When these interests are well provided for, the employees will automatically feel appreciated and will tend to happily offer service to the organization. As it has been stressed before, happy employees make more productive and successful companies CITATION And14 l 1033 (Oswald, Proto, Sgroi, 2014). On a practical scale, companies like Google have benefited from employee first approach. The company has invested a lot in employee support and satisfaction while allowing for imagination, creativity and innovation CITATION Kel14 l 1033 (Parkes-Harrison-Warwick, 2014). Some companies have got it right while others are yet to get it right. We carried a research into the various aspects that contribute to this phenomenon of organizational commitment. We use different techniques to measure or research into different Organizational behavior, including self-reporting scales, behavioral observation and organizational records analysis such as performance appraisal forms, time card data, absenteeism rates, productivity indices In this research, we use the self-reporting scales. Self-report study involves use of questionnaires, surveys or polls that let respondents respond to questions in a manner the respondents choose. This kind of survey is focused on extracting information from participants about their attitudes, feelings and beliefs on certain topics. It could be a form of interview, provision of answers to open and closed questions, rating scales, fixed choice questions among others. Reliability on these methods is dependent upon their consistence in providing similar results if used repeatedly in similar circumstances. Validity of the response is also a matter of concern. Especially for questionnaires, respondents may or may not give accurate or sincere answers to certain questions depending on the parameters provided. For example, Anonymous questionnaires or response forms are more likely to produce valid answers. In this survey, we carried a survey in which we asked various questions related to the hypotheses stated in within this document. We adopted the anonymous response questionnaire system to enhance validity of our research. We asked them to rate different departments, work conditions and parameters. The respondents were to respond to questions regarding the hypotheses. They were requested to rate the questions on four guided answers: Strongly agree, Agree, strongly disagree, and agree. Our respondents were 30 employees of different organizations. Results             We set ourselves to find out the validity of three hypotheses regarding the tenets of organizational commitment. These hypotheses stated as follow: Hypothesis 1: Employees who feel appreciated are happy and are more likely to be affectively committed to an organization Hypothesis 2: older employees and those who get promoted are likely to stay within an organization out of continuance commitment Hypothesis 3: most married people are normatively committed to organizations. The validity of our hypotheses had some concurrence with our respondents. However, what the survey disqualified is the sense of promotion as a determining factor to employee continuance commitment. Instead, the people who got promoted in organizations were the productive cream of the organization. This means that they felt a conviction to work for the organization. Such people were comfortably placed within the category of affective commitment. Conclusion             The survey conducted was successfully concluded and in our finding, hypothesis 1 was completely valid as most people agreed with it. Hypothesis 2 produced mixed reactions. Most agreed that older people were committed to the organization due to continuance commitment. Hypothesis 3 was completely valid as most people agreed with this hypothesis. All respondents had their reasons, as evident on their additional comments, including fear of family strain and divorce for the third hypothesis. References BIBLIOGRAPHY l 1033 Educational Portal. (n.d.). Organizational Commitment: Definition, Theory Types. Retrieved January 28, 2015, from Educational Portal: http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/organizational-commitment-definition-theory-types.html Mind Tools. (n.d.). The Three Component Model of Commitment. Retrieved January 28, 2015, from Mind Tools: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/three-component-model-commitment.htm Oswald, A. J., Proto, E., Sgroi, a. D. (2014, february 10). Happiness and Productivity. Retrieved January 28, 2015, from http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/staff/eproto/workingpapers/happinessproductivity.pdf Parkes-Harrison-Warwick, K. (2014, March 21). Google is right: We work better when we’re happy. Retrieved jaanuary 28, 2015, from futurity.org: http://www.futurity.org/work-better-happy/ Source document

Emergency Departments And Effects Of Non Urgent Cases

Emergency Departments And Effects Of Non Urgent Cases Emergency Departments (EDs) are under increasing pressure and increases in numbers of patients deemed inappropriate or some which could be seen by alternative providers are all a burden on the ED and the health service in general. Over recent years there has seen an increase of attendances at EDs of more than 20% with the majority being primary care cases. Recent changes to the GP contracts in 2003 have also had an impact on increases in attendance to EDs. There is a potential saving of in excess of  £120 million if patients attended the appropriate health service provider either GPs, walk in centres or by self treating and asking a pharmacist. Patient education and good promotion of the Choose Well campaign could reduce these numbers and therefore do away with the need to have to potentially turn away non-urgent cases. Introduction EDs are under increasing pressure to deliver high quality care due to rising attendances. Over the period from 2007-2010 there has been an overall increase in attendance at EDs of England of 20.9%. There was an increase of 10.7% in attendance between the period 07/08 to 08/09 (12,318,051 attendances in 07/08 and 13,794,072 in 08/09) 11.4% increase between 08/09 and 09/10 (15,569736 attendances in the period 09/10). There have been numerous attempts to try and stem the rise in ED attendances including offering patients guidance, making them aware of the consequences and informing them of the alternative health services available. A GP ED Triage Pilot conducted by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Sheffield General Practitioner Collaborative in March 20101 which was conducted to ensure patients were seen in the most appropriate location and by the most appropriate health care professional found that cases deemed to be actual primary care cases amounted to 19%. From this study it could be said that approximately 20% of attendees could potentially have been seen by a general practitioner in primary care rather than attending the ED but this is very small sample and many more studies would need to be carried out looking at different departments to be able to draw a more definitive conclusion. Applying 20% would therefore estimate that for the year 2009/10 in England approximately 3 million attendees were candidates for primary care. The estimated cost of seeing these patient in the ED based on the cost of  £56 for treating a minor ailment and  £75 for a standard (average cost  £65.50) totals  £196.5 million. Doctors consultations in primary care settings are the most cost effective part of the medical component of the NHS at  £15- £30 (averaging  £22.50), GP consultations cost less than out-patients appointments, ED and ambulance calls (ambulance calls costing  £255 per patient). Therefore the cost of treating the 3 million potential primary care/GP patients in the GP setting would total  £67.5million which would save the NHS a potential  £129 million.2 These values are only for normal working hours. Most non-urgent cases actually occur out of hours which would actually increase this amount even further with even more potential savings. The above costings are currently being changed to new Health Care Resource (HRG) code costings which are slightly less which could reflect lower savings than those calculated.3,4 The choose well campaign North West estimated the national cost to the NHS of treating minor illnesses is  £2 billion a year.5 The new system will have 11 different HRG groups, opposed to the current three Groups. The new HRG codes mean you must code both investigations and treatments, as opposed to investigations alone6 (appendix 1). This review hopes to come to an understanding why these patients use the emergency department rather than GP surgeries, barriers to other forms of care and access to GP surgeries and therefore answering the question whether emergency departments should be able to turn away non-urgent cases. Other points which will be taken into account are the ethical dilemmas associated with potentially turning patients away and the potential repercussions of doing so. Method and literature review A search was performed using Lancaster Universitys metalib data base which searched Scopus, Springerlink, Science Direct and Ovid Medline and Pub Med data bases. After accounting for duplicates and reviewing titles and abstracts, papers were selected for review. Search criteria included the terms, non-urgent, emergency department, primary care. The date was initially limited to 1996 2010 but on further searches earlier articles were allowed in order to search for historical articles. The search was also limited to humans and English language. The Department of Health website and the Primary Care Foundation website were also used to find current legislation and data. Database Limits Results OVID Medline emergency department, non-urgent primary care year-1996-2010 humans, English 25 Pub Med 12 Springerlink 19 Science Direct 72 Why patients attend the emergency department There is no formal definition of what is deemed an appropriate attendee to the emergency department due to peoples own impressions of what they believe to be an emergency. This leads to inappropriate attenders who could have legitimately seen their own GP. The types of patient who attend inappropriately and their decisions to do so are complex and involve social, psychological and medical factors.7 Urgency is also a term which is difficult to define and to measure. Studies have been carried out which have measured urgency but there is such wide variation on what is deemed urgent the results are subjective. Due to this subjective nature when defining urgent it is important to be consistent and have appropriate and qualified medical professionals determining the urgency of a situation using set criteria. In an early study Lavenhar et al described an urgent problem as one that requires medical attention within a few hours.8 This definition is used in this review. It has also been found, what medical professionals deem as non-urgent is often not perceived the same in the patient and the urgency of the situation should be based on the presenting signs and symptoms and not the eventual final diagnosis.9 Patients have been seen to attend the ED for many reasons including, the following: They deemed their condition/illness to be appropriate for the ED They believed the GP would refer them anyway The GP surgery was too far to travel to The GP surgery was closed A friend or family member felt it appropriate For those patients who deemed their attendance to be appropriate for their illness or condition it would be very difficult to convince them otherwise and such patients generally attend the ED for reassurance that there condition is not serious and is not going to get any worse. Such patients also have high anxiety, and a sense of urgency and self diagnose yet have no formal medical knowledge.9-12 Those who believed that their GP would have referred them anyway thought they would cut out the middle man. The patients found to do this in a study carried out by Palmer et al deemed their condition to be bad enough and that their GP would refer them, and attending their GP prior to attending the ED would just be a waste of time13 this study also found that pain was a major factor patients took into consideration when deciding on where to attend. Pain itself being subjective and open to individual interpretation. Those that found the GP surgery to be too far to travel were patients who generally lived in rural areas where the distance to both GP and ED were significantly far away and patients therefore decided they may as well attend the ED rather than the GP to save time in the event that the GP would just refer them anyway. Those patients for whom the GP surgery was closed mainly attended out of hours or at weekends. These patients generally thought their condition was urgent and couldnt wait until the surgery reopened.11,12 For attendees who were advised by friends and family to attend the ED did so purely on this advice and the majority of which would not have done so without this advice. This included people advised by colleagues, first aiders and schools where responsibility for the patient was in someone elses hands and the person advising did so in order to protect themselves.12,13 Another major factor to consider when looking at why patients attend the ED is the decision making capabilities of the patients themselves. This would include social, psychosocial and medical factors. Padgett and Brodsky14 proposed a three stage model which outlined how the stages of decision making interacted between the three different stages within the model. The three factors were predisposing, enabling and need. The decision making stages being recognising the problem, deciding to seek treatment and the decision on where to get the treatment. Predisposing factors which are part of stage one included the age, sex, race, level of education, family and social support available. The enabling factors, stage 2 were the income of the patient, usual source of care, proximity of the source of care and the perceived accessibility of this care source and the factors contributing to the need, stage three, were symptom recognition, evaluation of need, level of distress and psychiatric co-morbidity. Padgett and Brodskys three stage model14 Barriers to Care The above predisposing factors are also forms of barriers to care and are dealt with by patients in many different ways. Patient education would be a major tool for breaking down such barriers.11 This is the aim of a local and national campaign called Choose Well. This is a campaign that is supported by the NHS and its staff and aims to ensure people who need advice and treatment for common complaints, get fast and expert care.5 The North West has seen an increase of 177,000 patients in the ED over the last two years and hoped the Choose Well campaign would reduce this over the winter of 2010/11. The North West NHS estimated that 1 in 4 ED attendances were due to patients who could have self treated or could have been seen by other health professionals elsewhere. Offering guidance in both GP surgeries and EDs would give patients the information for themselves to determine the urgency of their condition. This information could include what definitely should be seen at the ED and what definitely shouldnt. Where this is a good idea and has the potential to work well however it could potentially cause patients with urgent problems to believe that they are non-urgent therefore putting them at risk of harm. On the other hand it could also cause some patients to deem themselves urgent and attend the ED when they were initially happy to attend their GP practice adding to the non-urgent caseload. The Choose Well campaign briefly describes the types of conditions that should attend the ED as an emergency and gives contact numbers for patients to ring in order to get further information on where is best for them to attend. This may be difficult for some patients; particularly the elderly as navigating around a website may be difficult or impossible and at a time when you are not well or believe to be in an emergency situation this could be valuable time needed for treatment. It does however offer valuable advice for minor injuries and illnesses known not to be life or limb threatening and could possibly eliminate the need for these patients to enter the health service at all reducing overall numbers and costs. Does Choose Well make a difference? The Choose Well campaign North West sent out a survey (appendix 1) to determine the number of people who had made alternative decisions to attending the ED and whether the messages from the campaign had reached the local people. The survey results are not yet available but Merseyside NHS was successful in increasing the level of awareness amongst the people of Merseyside of the range of NHS services available to them over the winter of 2008 with 94,547 people using NHS Walk in centres in Merseyside, a rise of 18% from the year before and there was a drop in AE attendance of 6.4%, compared to the previous winter yet they still had high attendances to the ED with up to half of these potentially of the type that could have been treated by more appropriate NHS services.15   Many patients do not realise that there are cost implications and differences in cost between EDs and GPs and believe that it makes no difference whether they visit as all they want is a diagnosis regardless of who gives it to them.16 Many do not visit their GPs because of the appointment systems in place, and they are often unable to make an appointment and are therefore more willing to wait around in the ED where they are guaranteed to be seen rather than wait for an appointment at their GP practice. It has also been noted that when patients were unable to see their regular GP and were offered an appointment to see an alternative the decision was made to attend the ED rather than see the alternative.17,18 The opening hours of primary care facilities also do not satisfy the needs of some patients, those who work during the day may not be able to take time off from their daily activities to attend appointments which are set at the discretion of the GP practice rather than at the discretion of the patient such as in the evening, during the night and at weekends. Repeat attendees of the ED are found to make up a large proportion of cases. In a report by NHS Manchester19 who had registered 230,000 attendances per year at its three main sites showed that 13% of these attendances were frequent attendees (patients who attended the ED four or more times in a six month period) with the average number of times a frequent attender being 5.7 times. The report also suggested that this was inappropriate use of the ED and that patients needs were not being met by primary care providers. They decided to increase performance by putting in place best practice which was to include devising computer software that would identify the frequent attenders and allow GPs to see who they where so that they can make contact with the patients and inform them about their inappropriate use of the ED. The patients were sent letters stating key messages on the use of the ED and an information leaflet. The pro-forma letter which read An AE department is often not the best p lace to receive care for non-urgent problems or those that will need ongoing treatment. They do not have your medical records which included information about other medical problems both past and present, investigations, regular medication, and any allergies to medication. Not having this information can compromise the treatment you receive. The enclosed leaflet contains information about services other than AE departments which are available to you. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.AE departments should be used when the problem is an accident or requires emergency treatment. We would request that you contact the surgery first when you have a health problem that requires some advice and/or treatment.19 This intervention was found in one GP practice to reduce the number of repeat attenders by 20%19 even though studies have shown that this would be the number of frequent attenders that would over time stop attending anyway without any form of intervention.20,21 In order to validate the results found the intervention should be compared between surgeries with some surgeries having intervention and some not having the intervention. GP services within the ED There has been an increase in the number of primary care doctors in EDs or based closely to EDs over recent years. This has been found to decrease the numbers of non-urgent cases seeking ED treatment in favour of a GP and has also reduced the number of unnecessary admissions to hospital. This sort of initiative requires team work and close working partnerships with both EDs and GPs which at times has be proven to be tricky due to differences in culture and beliefs. The primary Care Foundation has carried out research commissioned by the Department of Health, the study, which was carried out in May 2009, looked at different models of primary care across England practising within and alongside EDs. The number of patients deemed to be primary care patients were identified. It found that around half of all EDs did in actual fact have some form of primary care presence working within the ED and that between 10% and 30% of attendees were classified as primary care candidates.22 Discussion Ethical dilemma of turning patients away The four principles of ethics developed by Beauchamp and Childress23 must be taken into account when coming to a decision as to whether to turn patients away from the ED. The 4 principles approach takes into account that whatever our personal beliefs, philosophy, moral theory or life stance the care of patients is the most important factor. It could be said that turning patients away from the ED was going against the ethics of the health service in that it is considered freely accessible to all at any time. The Four Ethical Principles Autonomy Patients must be respected and must not be deceived and must be given adequate information. If patients are turned away then they are not given all the required information regarding their condition. Even though they would be advised to see their GP they may not do so. Beneficence and non-maleficence It may be seen as causing the patient harm by turning them away, they may suffer further pain or psychological trauma by not being seen. Justice Justice or fairness may be breached if patients are turned away. The health service is free at the point of entry and patients that are turned away may feel as if they are being denied care or treatment, even though they would be offered it at their GP practice for some this may not be possible or an option therefore denying them any form of care at all. Conclusion From the articles and documents reviewed it can be seen that non-urgent attendees at the ED are a drain on public funds and a time of economic instability and when there is a keen focus on service cuts and delivering value for money. In spite of the evidence and from reviewing articles I feel that it could potentially be detrimental to the health and well being of patients if they were to be turned away from the ED for non-urgent or minor conditions that could be seen in general practice. Turning them away could make them stop seeking medical treatment and could make them lose faith in the health service altogether. I believe that more patient education and greater access to GPs and primary care health professionals is what is required in order to reduce the numbers and therefore the cost of treating such patients. It is not the duty of the treating professional to determine the perceived severity of illness or injury a patient attends with but to offer them the care and support they need in order for them to continue their lives as they would like to. It is however the duty of health professionals to educate their patients and offer support on how they should deal with such illnesses and injuries so as not to have to attend or re-attend the ED. This could come in the form of information leaflets or just by talking to the patients and finding out their reasons for attending the ED rather than GPs and how things can be put in to place and organised for future patients to overcome the barriers to other forms of care. In 2003/4 there was a change in the GP contracts, following this there was an increase in ED attendances. The new contracts made changes to the after-hours access to GPs and allowed GPs to opt out of this area of care, this then resulted in the increase of after-hours presentations to the ED of GP cases.24 So in order to increase access there would need to be more GPs not opting out of the after-hours work or changing the contracts to omit the option to opt out of such. Even though there are provisions such as walk in centres and out-of-hours services people attend the ED, this could be due to the unfamiliarity of such places and lack of knowledge of the facilities available. More patient education and promotion of such centres would be required to ensure they are made aware to everyone in the event of requiring such services. Also the integration of primary and secondary care could help improve services for everyone by bringing GPs into the EDs and from a closer working partnership. Appendix 1 HRG code HRG name Band AE tariff ( £) VB01Z Any investigation with category 5 treatment 1 183 VB02Z Category 3 investigation with category 4 treatment 1 183 VB03Z Category 3 investigation with category 1-3 treatment 2 133 VB04Z Category 2 investigation with category 4 treatment 2 133 VB05Z Category 2 investigation with category 3 treatment 2 133 VB06Z Category 1 investigation with category 3-4 treatment 3 78 VB07Z Category 2 investigation with category 2 treatment 4 110 VB08Z Category 2 investigation with category 1 treatment 4 110 VB09Z Category 1 investigation with category 1-2 treatment 3 78 VB10Z Dental Care 5 52 VB11Z No investigation with no significant treatment 5 52 HRG codes and tariffs6 Appendix 2 North West Choose Well Survey If you or a family member had a minor illness or injury (for example a sore throat, backache, cough or cold), which is the first NHS service you would use for advice and treatment? (Please select one answer) Y/N Y/N Pharmacy Minor Injuries Unit GP/Doctor Look for advice on the internet Phone NHS Direct or look on their website Dial 999 NHS Walk-in Centre Go to AE Urgent Care Centre None of the above, I would look after myself Other, please state below If your first choice service was unavailable, which other NHS service would you contact next? (Please select one answer) Y/N Y/N Pharmacy Minor Injuries Unit GP/Doctor Look for advice on the internet Phone NHS Direct or look on their website Dial 999 NHS Walk-in Centre Go to AE Urgent Care Centre None of the above, I would look after myself Other, please state below If you are a parent or carer for children under 16 years of age, please complete questions 3 4. Otherwise go straight to question 5. Which age group are your children in? Y/N Y/N 0 4 years 10 13 years 5 9 years 14 16 years If your children had a minor illness or injury (for example a temperature, a sore throat, cough or cold, a small cut or a sprain), which is the first NHS service you would use for advice and treatment? (Please select one) Y/N Y/N Pharmacy Minor Injuries Unit GP/Doctor Look for advice on the internet Phone NHS Direct or look on their website Dial 999 NHS Walk-in Centre Go to AE Urgent Care Centre None of the above, I would look after myself Other, please state below 5. If you have selected AE or 999 in answer to questions 1, 2 or 4 above, please answer this question. Otherwise go straight to question 6. If you have selected AE or 999 in answer to questions 1, 2 or 4 above, can you tell us why you would make this choice? (Select as many as apply) Y/N Y/N You will receive the best quality care and advice You know that you are guaranteed to be treated You will be seen quicker than any other service The AE is closest to where you live You do not know where else to go In the past your GP sent you to your AE or told you to call 999 You would have chosen a GP, but are not registered with one In the past you were told to go to AE or to call 999 by another health service, e.g. pharmacy/NHS Direct You would have chosen a GP, but it is difficult to get an appointment Other, please state below Which of the following services do you currently use your local pharmacist store for? (Select as many as apply) Y/N Y/N Picking up a prescription Advice if your child has a high temperature Advice and treatment for a headache Advice and treatment for backache and other aches pains Advice and treatment for an upset stomach Advice and treatment for a urine infection Advice and treatment for treating coughs, colds flu Contraceptive advice Other, please state below Did you know that your local pharmacist store provides a confidential consultation area? Yes/No Did you know that your local pharmacist can offer you confidential advice and treatment without an appointment? Yes/No Would you consider using your local pharmacist for any of the following? (Select as many as apply) Y/N Y/N Contraceptive advice Advice if your child has a high temperature Advice and treatment for a headache Advice and treatment for backache and other aches pains Advice and treatment for an upset stomach Advice and treatment for a urine infection Advice and treatment for treating coughs, colds flu Other, please state below Do you know where to find information about late night and weekend opening hours for your local pharmacist? Yes/No Choose Well is an NHS campaign that aims to help people in the North West to understand which NHS service to use if they need fast and effective treatment for minor illnesses and ailments; and how to use 999 and AE services appropriately. Have you heard of the Choose Well campaign? Yes/No If yes go to Q 12; if no go to Q 13 Where have you seen or heard about the Choose Well campaign? (Select as many as apply) Y/N Y/N Local newspaper Local news websites PCT website Community radio Local radio Life Channel (GP TV) Bus advert Leaflet Signs on ambulances Other posters Word of mouth (someone mentioned it to you) Other, please state below Have you heard any of the following messages? Tick as many as appropriate. The number of people using AE and 999 services is continuing to rise One out of every four people who go to AE could have either treated themselves at home, or used another local NHS service You can get three free text messages, with details of your three nearest pharmacies by texting pharmacy to 64746 Your local pharmacy provides expert, convenient advice and treatment for minor ailments AE and 999 services are for life-threatening and serious conditions such as heart-attacks, strokes, breathing problems and serious accidents Get the right NHS treatment As a result of seeing these messages, if you or a member of your family has a minor illness or ailment are you less likely or more likely to use the following services (please select as appropriate). Less Likely More Likely Your local pharmacy Your local GP NHS Walk-in Centre or similar service Minor Injuries Unit Urgent Care Centre NHS Direct NHS Choices Website AE 999 To help us to get our campaign right, it would be really helpful if you could give us some information about yourself. Which age group do you fall in to? Y/N Y/N Y/N 16 19 40 49 70 79 20 29 50 59 80 89 30 39 60 69 90+ Gender please delete as appropriate Male Female Please could you tell us the first part of your postcode e.g. M22 or SK6 Ethnicity Please can you select the group that best describes your ethnic background White Y/N Y/N English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish/British Irish Gypsy or Traveller Other, please give details Mixed/Multiple Ethnic Groups Y/N Y/N White and Black Caribbean White and Asian White and Black African Other, please give details Asian/Asian British Y/N Y/N Indian Bangladeshi Pakistani Chinese Other, please give details Black/African/Caribbean/Black British Y/N Y/N African Caribbean Other, please give details Other Ethnic Y/N Y/N Arab Other, please give details Thank you for your time we really appreciate your help. If you are willing to help us to develop this project further, please fill in your contact details below Name Address Tel. No. Email address Taken directly from the Choose Well questionnaire5