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Cumulative Trauma Injuries

Cumulative Trauma Injuries

A cumulative trauma injury essentially refers to injuries that affect the musculoskeletal system and occur due to repetitive minute injuries which develop due to the over use of a body part, or due to the wrong use of that particular body part. At times repeated minute injuries due to the application of an external force can also lead to cumulative trauma injuries. At times, a micro trauma may weaken that particular part of the body to the extent that a macro trauma experienced causes more damage than it would in a perfectly healthy body and vice versa. In most cases the trauma occurs due to repetitive stress on the particular body part, causing constant trauma and as a result the injury builds up. Examples of cumulative trauma injuries include carpal tunnel syndrome, epicondylitis, trigger finger, knee bursitis and hand-arm vibration syndrome among others.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

The Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is usually characterized by irritation and swelling of the tendons and nerves running into the wrist, due to the application of added pressure onto the nerve. The median nerve and tendons run through a tunnel (carpal tunnel) created by carpal ligaments at the top and the wrist bones at the bottom. Irritation and swelling of the tendons and the sheath compress the median nerve and lead to loss of feeling in the hand as well as in the fingers. This irritation or swelling is usually caused by overextension or overflexion of the hand, repetitive motions, trauma and injuries as well as genetic predisposition. Flexing a hand or a finger usually causes irritation which if allowed time, normally heals, repetitive motions do not allow such time and as such lead to cumulative trauma and as a result carpal tunnel syndrome.

Symptoms

CTS leads to loss of hand strength, reduced muscle development, difficulty in holding or pinching as well as weakness of the thumb. Sensory symptoms usually include stiffness, tingling, numbness as well as pain, more so at night.

Treatment/Management

Preventive measures usually include: Modifying workstations or adjusting the length of time one spends on activities that can aggravate the wrist.

A resting splint may be applied in order to relieve symptoms more so at night.

Physiotherapy can be utilized in the initial stages of carpal tunnel syndrome

Surgery may at times be required for the advanced stages of carpal tunnel syndrome.

It is well accepted that carpal tunnel syndrome is a work related disorder and currently insurers companies are catering for medical expenses of workers. It is therefore currently accepted as a compensable work related injury, with the average figure of compensation being about $33,000 per case. The syndrome contributed to 3.7% of compensable claims from the state fund.

Epicondylitis

Simply refers to elbow pain resulting from inflammation at the epicondyle, due what can be referred to as over use of the forearm or arm. There usually is injury to the attachment point of the muscles and tendons, and can occur laterally or medially, commonly called tennis and golfer’s elbows respectively. This condition is most commonly seen in manual laborers or sports participants, more so painters, carpenters, gardeners, plumbers, racquet game players, golfers and fencers, due to the repetitive use of the arms and forearms in these fields.

Symptoms

Pain radiating to the forearm

Pain that worsens when lifting objects

Pain worsens with wrist movement

Pain on the outside of the elbow, in most cases affecting the dominant arm, or the one used the most.

Swelling around the elbow

Management

In order to avoid worsening the pain, counter force braces such as elastic bands may be wrapped around the forearm

Avoiding overuse of the wrist through tight gripping or such activities.

Treatment

Resting of the affected arm

Application of ice to the inflamed area

Application of cortisone either topically or through injection directly to the site

Use of non steroidal anti inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen

In serious cases surgery may be used

Epicondylitis is accepted as an occupational health problem and is compensable, with total compensations for the disorder accounting for 0.4% of compensable claims due to work related musculoskeletal disorders in 2002.

Trigger Finger

This condition refers to the locking, catching or snapping of a finger tendon resulting in pain or dysfunction of the involved finger. This therefore results in difficulty extending or flexing the finger which is accompanied by a popping sound when the finger unlocks similar to the sound achieved when the trigger of a gun is released. The locking usually occurs due to the development of nodules and thickening of the flexor tendon, due to repeated irritation making it harder for the tendon to slide smoothly through its tunnel (the tendon sheath. The locking is therefore as a result of the tendon momentarily getting stuck at the mouth of its sheath, with passage and sudden straightening being accompanied by the customary pop. The condition commonly occurs due to activities that strain the hand and in individuals with conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis or diabetes, although its particular cause is still unknown.

Symptoms

The symptoms usually are of sudden onset and no accompanying injury, although a period of heavy hand use may precede the symptoms.

Swelling

The appearance of a tender lump in the palm

A Catching, locking or popping sensation in the thumb or finger joints

Pain resulting from straightening or bending of the fingers.

The catching or locking worsens with inactivity

Treatment

Resting of the affected finger using splints

Use of non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs

Use of injectable corticosteroids

Surgery aimed at widening the tendon sheath.

Trigger finger is on the list of compensable work related injuries, with a solicitor in the United Kingdom setting the sum of compensation per case at about 1200 to 15000 pounds, depending on the severity of the condition and whether or not surgery is required.

Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome

HAV is a condition in which circulation and the motor and sensory nerves of the hand and fingers are affected and at times even damaged due to exposure to vibration. The condition is commonly caused by tools which produce high levels of vibration, ranging from chain saws, grinders, chipping hammers to road drills. This commonly leads to a vasospastic disorder with accompanying discoloration of the fingers and narrowing of blood vessels, usually referred to as secondary Raynaud’s phenomenon.

Symptoms

Whitening of the fingertips with accompanying numbness and prickly sensations due to spasms in the blood vessels during episodes.

Pain and ulceration of the finger tips with gangrene in some severe cases.

Reduced grip strength

Prevention

Use of impact absorbing and antivibration gloves

Use of wrist supports

Treatment

Use of vasodilators such as calcium channel blockers

Surgery to correct the narrowed blood vessels.

Compensation usually depends on the determination of whether the Raynaud’s is primary or secondary, with secondary Raynaud’s phenomenon usually a compensable work related disorder.

Current Domestic Issue Policy Paper Obamacare

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Current Domestic Issue Policy Paper: Obamacare

There have been current media debates about the performance and effectiveness of the Patient Protection and Affordable care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare, following its passage and implementation after bitter counter arguments by the economists, medical practitioners, media and the political class. The United States Health Care system were the subject of political campaigns for decades as regime after regime seeks to improve the terms of the Medicare and Medicaid Act that was passed in 1965. The US citizens have time after time demanded from the federal government, a healthcare plan that would guarantee equitable access to health care insurance and healthcare facilities. On March 23, 2010, president Barrack Obama signed into law United States federal statutes that seek to satisfy these demands from the people of America. The Patient Protection and Affordable care Act, commonly called the Affordable care Act of “Obamacare,” was a new regime’s answer to a problem that has dogged the US for nearly half a century. Together with the Healthcare and Education Reconciliation Act, it represented the most significant overhaul of the US healthcare system. However, this Act has been met by both support and critics. Whereas proponents of the Act praise the affordability and increased access to health care it accords citizens, its adversaries have taken to more political and economic dissection of the Act. It is no wonder that to date this Act continues to be a hot subject of debate and contention between different political wings.

None has been more critical of President Obama’s Healthcare plan than the Republican Party members. The Republicans have continued their assault of the “Obamacare” accusing the president of betrayal of the Americans. According to Landler and Michael, “there have been counter election-year attacks by Republicans on the law’s success and viability” (1). For example, in the party’s weekly address, the Indiana representative Todd Young passed on stories from residents in his state who were concerned that their insurance had been cancelled as a result of the affordable care Act. Todd’s rage seems to have been sparked by president Obama’s repeated reassurance of the public, in his speeches over the past four years, that they could keep their insurance plans if they liked them.

The scrutiny on the law recently emerged again following sustained audit. Obama recently tried to qualify that statement arguing that his meaning was that the people of America could keep their existing healthcare insurance. April 2014 Statistics shows that “the total number of enrollees exceeds by a million the target set by the administration” ( Landler and Michael, 1). However, even when the president tried to apologize for the Affordable Care Act’s rollout problems, the Republicans still could hear none of his apology. They kept on with the attacks and Wisconsin senator, Ron Johnson, sponsor of a bill to let people keep their existing healthcare insurance, used another one of the Republicans’ weekly address to call president Obama’s acknowledgement of the problems facing the rollout of the new healthcare plan a “phoney apology”. Johnson embarked on a mockery of the president’s speech criticizing that his fumble acknowledgement was like telling a dog owner you were sorry his dog died, but not acknowledging you had run over the dog. While acknowledging the problems facing the rollout of the new healthcare plan, president Obama revealed some progress made in ensuring reduced dependence on foreign oil significantly, Johnson focused on the challenges of the healthcare reforms. He argued that Obama was playing political fraud and that the US needed long-term solutions to Obamacare debacle.

On the other hand, the Democrats rallied behind the commander-in-Chief arguing that the problems with the disastrous rollout of the Affordable care Act will be fixed in good time to achieve the intended goals. The house minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, was quick to caution that this was not going to be an easy task. She insisted that what mattered most was the events that went on in the kitchen tables of the American people and how they would have more “affordability, more accessibility, better quality care, prevention, wellness, a healthier nation” (Rushe 1). The rollout of the “Obamacare” has been dogged with serious problems, especially with the federal website healthcare.gov ( PBS, 1). Coupled with uproar concerning Obama’s statement that no one would lose their health plan under the new reforms, the program has attracted criticism from both the Republican and Democrat quarters. Indeed, 39 House Democrats, under fear of being victimized in the 2014 midterm elections, voted for the Republican “Keep you Plan” Bill ( Rush, 1.). It is this event that prompted key democrats, including Pelosi, to publicly come out and support Obama’s healthcare reforms. Pelosi advises that this is an issue that ought to be dealt with, but did not warrant political asylum seeking. Her rationale is that the reforms were too valuable for the people of America and politicians should not be thinking about who gets re-elected in 2014. Instead, they should only see to it that Americans are well served by the new healthcare reforms. She rightly observes that nobody can foretell what will happen next year. However, she promises “democrats stand tall in support of the Affordable care Act” (Rush, 1).

In a possible move to resolve the existing problems with the Affordable care Act, president Obama seems to have yielded to pressure from both his party and the Republicans when he announced changes in the Act to address the rampant cancellation of insurance policies. While the move was meant to address a staunch problem that had threatened to ruin the president’s reputation and credibility in the eyes of the public, it raised a number of questions. The issues include; whether insurers would adjust, whether customers would need to pay higher premiums and whether the states would make the fix available. In his announcement, president Obama admitted that he was in the dark about many aspects of his crowning achievement of his presidency. Obama has appreciated that the federal government rules were an impediment to individual political ambitions and lamented the political damage he had caused for members of his party (Eilperin, Goldstein and Sun, 1).

Despite the many critics and support, facts about the Affordable care Act show better results. The Act had the intention to enhance access to cheap, valuable health insurance. Contrary to widespread myths, the Act has bettered healthcare quality and affordability since its enactment. Its specialized form of operation has also seen it help specific target groups. Among the most benefited are the elderly through a clause to improve community healthcare centers to help those who cannot access private healthcare services. “Eight million older Americans have saved $10 billion because of lower prescription drug costs under the law” (Landler and Michael, 1). In South Carolina, the Act has been implemented successfully. In the region, “18 districts are already implementing Aesop, [and they] have decided to employ additional personnel to keep up with the requirements are paying up to $43,000 a year” (Frontline, 1).

Judging from these facts, it is inevitable to conclude that the controversy that surrounds the Affordable care act was primarily a factor of a political interplay rather than a factor of merit. The Act in its bare essentials has the good of the American people at heart. However, this cannot be achieved without stepping on to some mighty shoes. These revelations show that the decision on the suitability or unsuitability of the Act ought to be left to the individual citizens rather than their political representatives. The current news coverage and debate in the Act is very healthy. The process should continue to enhance transparency and accountability in management of the program.

Works Cited:

Frontline Orangeburg Approves Aesop to Help With Healthcare Reform Requirements. Frontline

News. May 2, 2014. Washington D.C.

Landler, Mark and Michael, Shearapril “Enrollments Exceed Obama’s Target for Health Care

Act”. New York Times. 17 April, 2014. New York.

Rushe, Dominic. “Democrats rally behind president in defense of Obamacare.” The Guardian,17 November 2013. New York.

Eilperin, Juliet; Goldstein, Amy and Sun, Lena H. “Obama announces change to address healthinsurance cancellations.” The Washington Post, November 14, 2013.

PBS. at enrollment deadline, affordability may be real test of Affordable Care Act. The News

Hour 31, March, 2014.

Current Events and the U.S Diplomacy

Current Events and the U.S Diplomacy

A presidential doctrine is usually an ideological platform, which is used by a president in order to advance a certain policy towards a region or a country. The doctrine is for the purpose of accomplishing established goals and policy on behalf of the United States. American interest in Greece as well as its people has existed for quite a long time even before the Truman Doctrine came into place (Frazier, 1999). The relationship was in both in unofficial and official levels as it had been witnessed. American government policies and public attitudes directed towards Greece have existed for a long time.

Washington saw a reason to ensure that Greece did not end up under the domination that the Soviet Union wanted to impose on them. Before, the Truman doctrine, the American government was not quite active in trying to support the efforts of the Greek. For a long time, American philhellenes had protected and supported the Greeks in their struggle for independence. America saw modern Greece as being a nation filled with many virtues and thus a suitable counterpart. Some of these virtues included republicanism, love of the arts and beauty, knowledge, freedom of thought and human dignity. Therefore, American policy makers worked hard to ensure that they accommodated Greece in every way possible (Spalding, 2006).

The Pre-Cold War association between Greece and America was motivated by the fact that both nations would benefit from each other’s political culture. The United States was indebted to quite some extent to ancient Greece because of its numerous democratic institutions. The philhellenes believed that they had to ensure that Greece was impacted by blessings of liberal and free institutions. Therefore, when America became aware of the intentions that the Soviet Union had for Greece it knew that it had to help its ally. It thus came up with the Truman Doctrine, which would ensure that military and economic aid would be provided to Greece. Truman told the American congress that the Doctrine was meant to ensure that people who were free were supported, as they were resisting subjugation attempts from outside pressures and armed minorities (Spalding, 2006).

Many nations in Western Europe came to believe that Truman was one of the best American presidents, especially after he came up with the Truman Doctrine. Countries that were affected by communism would be supported by the United States, and in the year 1947, the Marshall plan came into existence. It ensured that struggling countries in Western Europe would be provided with an economic foundation. Furthermore, the 1949 Atlantic Treaty ensured that the western nations would be supplied with military assistance as this would help in resolving the political and economic chaos of post Second World War. The measures would be effective in preserving Western Europe democracy and thus maintaining American freedom. Some of these western European nations were Italy, Iceland, France, Denmark and Belgium, among others (Lykogiannis, 2002).

Currently, it is evident that Greece is facing a debt crisis that has greatly affected its economy. However, it seems that the situation as well as the relationship that existed during the Truman Doctrine time has changed between the two countries. It seems that president Truman has been the only president who was interested in matters that affected Greece. The other presidents since then did not do anything to help Greece. Now that Greece is facing a crisis, the current American government is not doing much to assist it. There is no enough support being given to Greece because at the moment, the United States gains nothing by assisting Greece. This is opposed to the past when there was a Cold War and America had to ensure that it met its interests.

The Domino effect theory provided a good explanation as to why the United States wanted to help Greece so that other countries in Western Europe would embrace it as well. Turkey and Greece were the only obstacles that were preventing the Soviet Union from having control over the Mediterranean, a strategic and economic area. On the other hand, Truman saw this as an opportunity to use its military and economic strength in order to gain control over the Mediterranean region (Merrill, 2006). If they were to succeed, America would then find it easy to take over and control other countries, and especially those ones located in Western Europe. Therefore, the Doctrine was meant to change the behavior of Greece so that other countries would be influenced by it and thus be receptive of the American government. The Truman Doctrine was therefore a means for the United States to ensure that it would have more power than the communists.

In conclusion, the Truman Doctrine assisted Greece when it was experiencing many problems. In turn, the United States took advantage of the situation to make its might known. However, it is unfortunate that the Truman Doctrine is now no longer relevant as Greece is facing a crisis and nothing substantial is being done to help it. Indeed, the American intervention plan to help stop spread communism in Greece succeeded because of the Truman Doctrine.

References

Frazier, Robert. (1999). Acheson and the Formulation of the Truman Doctrine. Journal of Modern Greek Studies, 17, 2, 229–251.

Lykogiannis, Athanasios. (2002). Britain and the Greek Economic Crisis, 1944–1947: From Liberation to the Truman Doctrine. Missouri: University of Missouri Press.

Merrill, Dennis. (2006). The Truman Doctrine: Containing Communism and Modernity. Presidential Studies Quarterly, 36, 1, 27–37.

Spalding, Elizabeth. (2006). The First Cold Warrior: Harry Truman, Containment, and the Remaking of Liberal Internationalism. Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky.

Current Events and U.S. Diplomacy. The importance of foreign policy of a country

Current Events and U.S. Diplomacy

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Institution

Introduction

The importance of foreign policy of a country cannot be gainsaid as far as the stability and economic well being of the country is concerned. This is especially considering the interconnectedness of countries, where it has been recognized that countries cannot live in isolation, rather they have to interact and depend on other countries and collaborate with them on varied issues. However, there are varied threats that the United States has come across in its history, which have necessitated a change in its foreign policy, as well as specific spelling of the same (Ferrell, 2006). These are, essentially, presidential doctrines, which reveal the United States attitudes in its approaches and dealings with its political goals, as well as approaches against foreign military and national economic policies (Jeffery, 2000). A large number of presidential doctrines were made during the Cold War and, in fact, are related with the same, while others are a reflection of the problems, as well as emerging problems pertaining to their time (Ferrell, 2006). Indeed, they underline a foreign policy ideology that is more consistently applied at a given time, as was the case for the Truman’s Doctrine.

The Truman Doctrine was crafted in an effort to curb the likelihood of a communist insurgency in Turkey and Greece (Jeffery, 2000). In the doctrine, President Truman requested the United States Congress to offer economic and military aid amounting to $400 million, so as to curb this insurgency. The doctrine was based on the requests by England, which, after being considerably weakened by the two World Wars, had abandoned its commitment to Turkey and Greece (Jeffery, 2000). In this regard, it urged the United States to step in and save the two countries from being subverted into communism. In this regard, President Truman, in 1947 lobbied the United States Congress to come to the aid of the two Mediterranean countries through the provision of $400 million (Jeffery, 2000). The statement used in justifying the doctrine, as Truman told the Congress, was that that the United States must have the policy for supporting free people that are resisting any attempts of subjugation by armed minorities, or even outside pressure.

The United States and Greece relations before Truman’s Doctrine

A large number of studies pertaining to the relations between the United States and Greece focus primarily on the Cold War period after the Truman Doctrine. However, the two countries interacted on a number of fronts prior to the world war. The interest of the United States on Greece has been longstanding, although it has primarily been on the unofficial and informal level (Ferrell, 2006). Prior to the cold enunciation of the doctrine, the United States government had not been in active support of the Greek efforts. Indeed, the American philhellenes had been in support of attempts to protect and achieve Greek autonomy (Smuckler, 2001). They viewed contemporary Greece as an embodiment of virtues pertaining to its classical counterpart (republicanism, freedom of thought, human dignity, and knowledge among others), and worked in a diligent albeit unsuccessful manner to push policymakers in the United States to enhanced official concern for and interest in Greece (Jeffery, 2000). Scholars have noted that pre-Cold War intervention by the United States in Greek affairs was primarily motivated by perceived associations among the Greek and American political cultures (Bostdorff, 2008). The American Philhellenes felt that they were indebted to ancient Greece especially with regard to their democratic institutions, in which case they believes that they have a duty and obligation to impart the blessing pertaining to liberal and free institutions in Greece, as they considered this to be the land where these ideals had initially been conceived (Smuckler, 2001). The two countries had fought together in the World Wars, had similar ideals and had participated in NAT, the OSCE, as well as other international treaties that have formed strong basis for strategic cooperation between the two countries (Bostdorff, 2008). Underlining this cooperation is the fact that the United States has maintained Naval Support Activity in Souda bay in Crete, which underlines intense military cooperation. On the same note, Greek citizens are allowed to visit the United States for professional reasons and tourism without necessarily having a visa (Smuckler, 2001). The European Union- United States relations in the framework of Transatlantic Dialogue encompass a wide range of commercial, political and economic issues, not to mention institutionalized contacts, security issues, as well as coordination on varied levels (Smuckler, 2001). On the same note, the two countries have been undertaking government-to-government level interactions, especially considering the high-level Greece-United States Economic and Commercial Cooperation Committee (ECCC), which has become a strategic tool for the two sides to enhance their trade flows and bilateral economic cooperation (Bostdorff, 2008). Indeed, efforts are being undertaken in the business sector to enhance B2B cooperation between the two countries with the aim of facilitating or allowing for the access of enhanced markets in the Middle East, Southern Europe, Black Sea and Caucasian Region. This has been beneficial to the two countries as it has leveraged the United States business and technological leading edge, as well as Greece’s strategic geo-economic position (Spalding, 2006). All these elements of collaboration had their foundations formed by the Truman doctrine, which allowed for enhanced participation of the United States in Greece’s affairs.

Effects of the Truman Doctrine on Global Affairs

The Truman Doctrine had far-reaching effects on the United States, as well as the global affairs. First, it defined the manner in which the United States and other countries under the United Nations approach foreign interventions (Bostdorff, 2008). The doctrine argued that failure to secure the welfare and stability of people in any part of the world would, essentially, be endangering the welfare and stability of the free world (Spalding, 2006). This line of thinking was instrumental in the formation of the United Nations, which has underlined the fact that local threats come with worldwide consequences.

In addition, the Truman Doctrine acknowledged the fact that foreign interventions were joint military, political and economic ventures. It underlined the fact that foreign interventions did not necessarily have to be reliant on military action (Bostdorff, 2008). Today, countries such as United States, and European countries have adopted economic and political sanctions as part of their foreign policy, thereby allowing for their achievement of international goals without the use of coercion or violence (Spalding, 2006).

Moreover, the Doctrine cemented the place of the United States in the frontline in the international community (Spalding, 2006). The country’s leadership is extremely crucial in spreading democracy, prosperity and peace around the globe. It is, therefore, no wonder that the United States has been intervening in varied countries even without the participation of the United Nations.

References

Bostdorff, D. M. (2008). Proclaiming the Truman Doctrine: The Cold War call to arms. College Station: Texas A & M University Press.

Ferrell, R. H. (2006). Harry S. Truman and the Cold War revisionists. Columbia: University of Missouri Press.

Jeffery, J. S. (2000). Ambiguous commitments and uncertain policies: The Truman Doctrine in Greece, 1947-1952. Lanham: Lexington Books.

Smuckler, R. H. (2001). The Truman Doctrine in Greece.

Spalding, E. E. (2006). The first cold warrior: Harry Truman, containment, and the remaking of liberal internationalism. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky.

Current Events Employees Turnover Rate

Current Events: Employees’ Turnover Rate

According to a research by CareerBuilder, approximately 21 percent of the full-time employees have diverse plans of changing their jobs in 2014. This proves to be the largest percentage of expected turnover in relation to post-recession era. Some of the factors contributing to this massive increase in the percentage turnover rate among employees include job dissatisfaction, work-life balance, and lack of promotion opportunities (Chad, 1). Employees cite lack of value and salary issues as main reasons for their job dissatisfaction. It is essential to illustrate that about 58 percent of the employees are dissatisfied with their jobs while 45 percent of the workers seeking new jobs cite dissatisfaction with advancement opportunities. In addition, 39 percent of the employees note their dissatisfaction with work-life balance hence the need to acquire new employment opportunity. According to Haefner, human resources expert, there is need to offer frequent recognition, merit bonuses, defined career paths, and training programs to illustrate the importance of employees within the organization. Moreover, this trend illustrates the fact that the labour market is warming up thus existence of a healthier economic cycle (Chad, 1).

I think employees’ turnover rate should be one of the essential reasons for an organization to review and re-examine its programs, processes, systems, and structures with the aim of addressing issues affecting employees. Employees are vital factors of production in the current society and economy. Some of the factors that organizations need to eliminate include job dissatisfaction, under-valuing employees, discrimination, and poor working conditions. Employees need to feel important and operate in an appropriate environment to maximize their potential and output for the benefit of the shareholder and stakeholders. This would be an effective approach towards limitation of the looming employees’ turnover rate in 2014.

Work Cited

Chad Brooks, “I Quit, Will be Familiar Refrain in 2014”, Business News Daily. Retrieved from <http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5745-employee-turnover-expected-to-spike-this-year.html> on 22nd January 2014.

Current Events Paper, IS-LM model typically used in macroeconomics

Current Events Paper, IS-LM model typically used in macroeconomics

Name

Economics

Instructor Name

11 July 2012

The essay examines at least three publications both online and offline, directly linked to the IS-LM model typically used in macroeconomics. The chief aim of the essay is to analyze one the current economic issues using the IS-LM model.

IS-LM is typically used as an acronym in the macroeconomic theory whereby the IS curve represents investments and savings. The latter refers to the amount that individuals save out of income after incurring their consumption expenditure. In line with this, savings represent the income that is not consumed but rather kept in a bank so as to earn an interest. Economists believe that savings and interest rates are highly correlated. On the other hand, investment refers to the addition to the nation’s physical stock of real capital assets. The LM curve represents the liquidity preference and the money available for investments3.

In short, the IS curve shows combination of interest rates and output that clear the goods in the market during the short run period. This means that the spending by both the government and the consumers equals to the total production in the economy. Consequently, the LM curve demonstrates all combinations of incomes and interest rates that bring about equilibrium between the money supply and the money demand.

The IS-LM curve could be used to analyze the economic problems that face several countries. The writer of the essay examines the economic problems facing Sudan, a country adjacent to Kenya. After a close examination of the market information in Sudan, it was realized that the price levels have of late skyrocketed and thereby forcing the policy makers to device ways of correcting the situation. Due to increased prices of virtually all commodities in the market, there has been a huge deficit in supply thereby bringing a shortage of commodities in the country. As a result of the shortage, both consumer’s and government’s spending have radically increased and the aggregate demand is no longer equal to the total supply.

Economists think that by use of the IS curve, various combinations of interests and outputs can be set so as to bring about an equilibrium between the demand and supply. With increased interest rates, the investment levels are significantly reduced hence the aggregate demand in the country. As a consequence of continuous increase in interest rates, the aggregate demand falls and finally equates to the supply in the economy. In this case, the prices of commodities also fall and consequently, the inflation level1 .

On the other hand, the money stock in the country is quite large and this has in fact, led to high inflation levels in the country. It is surprising that the country’s inflation level stands at 70 percent which has significantly affected the value of the country’s currency. In relation to the US dollar, the country’s currency has really depreciated and economists think that something needs to be done to help reduce the alarming rates of inflation2.

Indeed, the policy makers are pretty sure that the galloping inflation rates will be reduced, if proper economic measures are put in place. In this case, the LM curve model could be very effective in correcting the disequilibrium that subsists between the money supply and money demand. As indicated above, the LM curve is used to show the various combinations of incomes and interest rates. Perhaps, the policy makers in the country need use effective monetary and fiscal policies to help achieve the equilibrium between money supply and money demand4 .

However, the policy makers in Sudan could combat these problems by prudently applying both the fiscal, as well as monetary policies in the country. In line with this, the Sudanese government has imposed measures to curb excess liquidity and at the same time the deficits in the economy. Such measures include increasing the bank interest rates for the borrowers and at the same time encouraging savings so as to reduce the money supply in the economy.

Besides, it is also possible to reduce the money supply, in the economy, by increasing the cash reserve ratio for banks which will inevitably reduce the supply of money available for lending in virtually all commercial banks, in the country.

Further, the Central bank could increase the interest rates which will in turn discourage investments and consequently increase the marginal propensity to save while, on the other hand, lowering the marginal propensity to consume by the residents in the country.

With such measures, the Sudanese GDP in the country will equate to spending by both consumers and the government. On the other hand, the measures will bring about equilibrium in money supply and money demand hence stability in the economy.

Consequently, a stable economy will ensure that investments are increased hence more output in the economy. With increased output, the prices of basic commodities lower hence the living standards in the economy. When the inflation rates reduce, the production costs of the various goods also reduce, and this encourages domestic production thus economic development. In line with this, the surplus commodities could be exported to other countries hence increasing the export revenues and hence the terms of trade within the country. In addition, the Gross National Product increases due to an increase in the net export3.

In conclusion, it is crystal clear that the IS-LM model could be used to indicate the various equilibriums necessary for economic stability. This could be done by using the IS curve that equates production and consumption within the economy as outlined.

Consequently, the LM curve could be used to indicate the desired equilibrium level in money supply and money demand by controlling the incomes and the interest rates prevailing in the economy.

As outlined above, the equilibrium in production and consumption brings about stability in the economy such that all the commodities produced in the economy are demanded by the residents of a country. In addition, it is necessary to control the money supply in the economy so as to curb inflation levels within the economy. This could only be done by ensuring there exists equilibrium between money demand and money supply.

Work Cited

FAO. Inflation in Sudan. 07 02, 2012. www.fao.org/es/esc/prices (accessed 07 13, 2012).

N.a. Air Defence: Aegis gets better. 07 06, 2012. http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htada/201220705.aspx (accessed 07 13, 2012).

Nordhaus, Samuelson. Economics. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008.

Weepana, Akila. IS LM Curve. 07 22, 2004. www.wellesley.edu/economics/weerapana/econ213/econ213pdf/lect213-08.pdf (accessed 07 09, 2012).

Current Macroeconomic Situation

Current Macroeconomic Situation

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Professor

Institution

Course

Date

Part 3, Omnivore’s Dilemma

While the author is much interested in mentioning the read, his argument does not seem to augur well with what he preaches. Most of his writings were pointing away from the bread. However, he tends to preach more the meat and actually goes to actualize the meat diet just as Atkins diet recommends. However, personally am a fan of the Atkins meat diet, I must admit that I do not know how it works. For example, i fear that the Atkins diet only recommends taking meat but does not convince one on the reasons for the preference. The argument that of one takes only eat and no pasta or read, one is likely to lose weight. I think the argument is that the pasta and bread only add up to carbohydrates.

The Atkins diet suggest eating meat only and no bread, I think there is a lot of other risk associated with a lot of protein. Dr Robert C. Atkins may have , have invented the Atkins diet, nut I must question how it happens that people still prefer taking sliming pill or other fad diets. Though this may be the best diet, it does not make sense because; people need energy as source of energy boosters. Fat and sugar and sources of energy, but the Atkins diet fails to recommend them. Perhaps the argument fails to consider the fact that carbohydrates are not the main cause of weight gain

There are many types of foods that people think contribute to the overweight, this feeling is true but it is just how much and how often one takes them. For example, fast foods contributes significantly to overweight especially if one consumes them more often and on a daily basis; on the other hand, irregular consumption of fast foods do not have much effect on the body as fast as weight gain is concerned, it is just important to consider consuming recommended quantity of such foods. Based on the above argument, it is healthy to argue that the omnivores argument is wrong as not all foods contraindicated by the omnivores are bad. In fact, all those foods have well for health and they contribute to a healthy you. It is also imperative to note that the countries that the omnivores argue to have a positive diet have overweight people, and if the omnivores thinks slimmer is healthy, I am a little confused because that is not what healthy means

Having read Rousseau’s, a lot seems to be misplaced because the information does not add u at all. For example, most of the works are borrowed from other texts and this does make Rousseau an expert. Additionally, his argument is not sounding like those of an expert. Rousseau, introduces the consumption of mushroom and does not come clean where mushroom fits in. for one, he mushroom is a vegetable that is relatively harmless but harmful if the wrong specie is taken. The fact that most of the text in these books does not make them authors because nothing in these books are original content but other people works. This only makes their work vague. There is also the feeling that their work is mainly commercial because there is a lot of reference to the availability of the foods in supermarkets. This may be marketing gimmick. There are many mistakes in ignorance, for example, people tend to each whatever they come across without knowing the consequences of their diets and this may not be easy to change considering that, they are ignorant. People will easily eat what they want as long as they can afford these foods. It is just ingrained in the mind of people to eat what they desire and this may not be easy to change

As the supermarket is Commercial entities, they are much into business and are focused on profitability. Most supermarket are only sell the products brought by their suppliers are may not be interested in knowing how their foods contribute to the health of their customers. Therefore, it is the duty of the customers to determine the nutritional contents of the foods that the supermarkets sell to them. The customer needs to take responsible for their health. It is advisable for the consumers to realize that there are also consequences related to the foods they consume. For example, these who prefer eating lot of meat and those whom prefer not to take meat are better be careful for as the alternative foods that they eat may have impact on their lives

Should be responsible for the consequences of eating a fad diet.

Conclusion

Food is important for life but the right diet is important for health, therefore, it is important for people to know the dietary value of the foods that they consume. Additionally, fast foods are relatively harmful for health depending on the frequency and the quantity of food consumed. The Atkins diet of meat only is good but there are consequence related to lack of carbohydrates in the diet, therefore Atkins diet is not advisable.

Current Market Trends Risk Management

Current Market Trends: Risk Management

Critically assess the most important trends in global financial crisis that have affected financial markets, institutions and the economy from 2007 to 2009

Important lessons that can be learnt from the recent global economic crisis are purely based on risk prepared and management practices capable of averting any financial challenge. A general reluctance to handle risk with caution can be translated by all facts to have been the cause of economic downturns observed from 2007. According to Hubbard (2009, p6) reluctance to employ the best risk assessment techniques prevents the management from realizing how potent and hazardous a risk would be. The author therefore attributes failure to mitigate risk to wrong technique for measuring the risk and its gravity. To illustrate this position, the author finds fault with the manner in which top risk management firms and federal agencies conducted their risk assessment resulting in wrong approach to mitigate the risks. A cascade of ill-informed interventions could only worsen the case for the economic crisis that hit the financial markets for the better part of 2008 through 2009 and whose impact is still being felt to date. It is clear that the most important trend in the modern economic world entails risk assessment, which must be done right at all cases to avoid miscalculations resulting into multiplier disasters.

House ownership was at the centre of interest for the financial markets, having been established in the USA to such low risk levels that the major global financial players willingly ventured in it. As Fraser and Simkins (2010, p272) observe, a high demand for housing attracted high prices and supply was fast catching up to share in the benefits. The Federal Reserve was allowing the lowest interest rates for the first time in the history of the market.

Modern operations of the financial market must have mechanisms of interest-rate regulation and mitigation (Crouhy, Galai and Mark, 2006, p184). According to the author, volatility of the market should dictate the amount of caution that the management takes to mitigate the associated risks. For instance, the lending institutions should be aware of interpreting the balance sheet indicators of a possible risk. This should assist in determining when to conduct a review of the risk assessment technique and its timing. Effects of interest rate on the balance sheet assets, regarding their movements, are manifested in liabilities and should be used to translate the changes in a risky environment. Mitigation of possible risk should be approached from the perspective that emphasizes on the level of volatility of the market using such indicators. Interest rate volatility should be used by the management to set the limit that an institution can accommodate comfortably regarding the targeted earnings in the volatile market. Volatile market limits are set regarding the capacity of the institution, usually done on worst-case scenarios (Lo, 2010, p34). Interest rate and liquidity risks are calculated in volatile scenarios to such an extent that the management can shield the institution from unprecedented flux in the market. Using the above explained worst-case scenario mitigation technique, net interest income (NII) and net worth (NW) figures of the institution become very important (Hubbard, 2009, p183). Using the projections of the volatility of the financial market, the management can set worst-case scenarios of for instance Maximum Negative Impact (MNI) of about 2 billion US dollars from the NW or about 300 billion US dollars from NII of the institution. To assist risk assessment and mitigation procedures, computer packages that apply simulations using the institutions’ NII or NW are now available.

According to Das (2005, p400), liquidity is very important in determination and mitigation of financial market risk in the modern age. Possibilities that the recent economic crisis was influenced by liquidity values lie in the premise that market risk and liquidity have a strong link that can be used in advance to avert looming danger.

According to Ryan (2008, p1), the American financial market is founded on mechanisms of credit and its control, which can be used to create unlimited opportunities out of derivative assets. The financial market was fast adopting the trend of creation of new forms of credit which made the financial market a challenge to control. The new lines of revenue that the financial market initially had were then to decline fast, exposing the market to lack of sustainability. Mortgage lending opened up a series of other lending instruments which opened up loopholes in the initial mortgage lending causing a dramatic fall in interests. Cheap credit was fast to appear in the market and the uptake exposed the market to risks that the market could not respond to within the short time available. The trend in the market at the time was characterised by the presence of only one type of commodity; housing. The demand for housing increased to overwhelm the supply and effectively induce a bad form of inflation.

Poulou (2010, p1) cites the bailout pattern adopted by governments to rescue the financial system as one of irresponsible reactions that the financial crisis requires. With the high levels of unemployment in the population, the author expects that more stringent steps ought to have been put in place. It is clear that the category of players to whom the blame for swollen risk can be attributed have not been indicted. According to the author, the Wall Street and investment banks ought to be answerable to the financial crimes that they perpetrated to the world economy by tampering with the core of the global financial system. Comment on the role, application and failures of credit defaults swaps in risk management practice in financial institutions or corporations

The most infamous application of credit default swaps (CDS) and its failure in the context of 2008/9 economic crisis is perhaps the one observed at American Insurance Group (AIG). According to Hubbard (2009, p58), CDS is a market instrument whose application by mortgage banks is aimed at reducing possible risk of mortgage customers from defaulting. In simpler language, the author relates CDS as an insurance cover that mortgage lending banks take to protect themselves in case the borrowers fail to obey their repayment obligation. Regulations for a standard insurance cover are however fundamentally different from those of CDS. This implies that the risks involved for the two instruments are also fundamentally different. Failure to account for the risk involved by insurance companies, such as the giant AIG, proved to be a bitter pill to swallow for its actuaries. The assumption that the mortgage business as a risk stood the same chance of probability as ordinary insurance risk is a major inaccuracy that anybody would have spotted from afar.

According to Hampton (2009, p60) the banks immediately started to venture into dangerous ground by offering virtually new form of mortgages that nobody thought would be risky. Adjustable interest rate mortgages (ARMs) were on offer in the market, with assurances to borrowers that any mortgage out of a customer’s financial ability could now be approved, for the first time in the history of the mortgage market. Initial package was irresistible since the interest rates were very low for the initial couple of years. The lucrative part came on the mechanism of the clearance of the debt when it became necessary to raise the interest rates later on in the program. The owner would sell the house if the occupant defaulted, selling it at a profit.

Capital available to the banks with regard to regulation of the limits of lending that banks have, it became apparent that there was no boundary Hampton (2009, p61). Unregulated financial players in the nature of financial banks started to enter into the mortgage business having realized that the mortgage industry was entering a lucrative era in the USA. Further developments were in the offing when these unregulated global players of the financial market bought numerous mortgages and issued them as packages referred to as collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). The operation of the mortgage market changed since banks could now venture elsewhere with the arrival of investment banks. Stated income loans became the next line of business.

Subprime credit was the other alternative that the financial institutions were dealing with in large scale prior to the collapse of the system (Haslet, 2010, p437). The Treasury allowed borrowing to such risky levels that when the system collapsed, nothing could have been used to stop it. Bankruptcy was looming due to the heavy lending, coupled to the unbalanced mortgage lending that had dramatically changed attracting lucrative securities earnings. Huge financial players from across the globe had made their entry into the US mortgage business and their misfortune was to be transferred back to their mother companies. According to Haslet (2010, p439) securitization of instruments led to the unbalanced lending patterns whose risks rose to unprecedented all time high. It is therefore in this mix-up that credit defaults swaps (CDS) and other securities got caught up in a risk related puzzle that no one was in the capacity to solve.

With all the uncertainty of the cascade transactions outcome, tension then began to grow form where the mortgage market revealed the cracks that analysts refused to appreciate. It was too late to initiate measures to salvage the situation and secure economic fortunes at the global arena.

References

Crouhy, M., Galai, D. & Mark, R. (2006) The essentials of risk management. New York, NY: McGraw Hill Professional

Das, S. (2005) Risk management: the swaps & financial derivatives library. Clementi Loop, Singapore: John Wiley and Sons

Figlewski, S. & Levich, R. M. (2002) Risk management: the state of the art. Norwell, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers

Fraser, J. & Simkins, B. (2010) Enterprise risk management: today’s leading research and best practices for tomorrow’s executives. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons

Hampton, J. J. (2009) Fundamentals of enterprise risk management: how top companies assess risk, manage exposures and seize opportunities. New York, NY: AMACOM Div American Management Association

HYPERLINK “http://books.google.co.ke/books?id=gMshgNePRzUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=risk+management&hl=en&ei=_zaJTaQ9iLJxgLKYsQw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CFUQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=crisis&f=false” Haslet, W. V. (2010) Risk management: foundations for a changing financial world. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons

Hubbard, D. W. (2009) The failure of risk management: why it’s broken and how to fix it. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons

Lo, A. W. (2010) Hedge funds: an analytic perspective. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press

Poulou, P. (2010) Documentary Explores Roots of Financial Crisis. [online] Available from: <http://sofiaecho.com/2010/12/19/1013934_documentary-explores-roots-of-financial-crisis> [accessed 24 March 2011]

Ryan, G. (2008) The 2008-9 Financial Crisis- Causes and Effects. [online] Available from: < http://cashmoneylife.com/economic-financial-crisis-2008-causes/ > [accessed 24 March 2011]

Current State Organizational Strategy

Strategic Plan

Name of Institution

Name of Student Chapter III

Current State Organizational Strategy

This section is about the current state strategy, which has contributed to the good position of the Orlando Health currently. The chapter also describes the major flows and processes and environmental impacts that have resulted to the current shape of the organization. First, the organization has a core objective and a system of goals to guide its operations. The current and former human resources are accountable for the development of the health Orlando Health has united specialists who are dedicated to improve the quality of life and health of people within the communities serviced by the healthcare. The non-for profit healthcare organization serves the health care need of people from and beyond Central Florida. The health care organization is currently serving more than 1.6 million individuals from Central Florida and serves thousands of international patients on annual basis. It has developed to a point of treating a significant number of indigent patients a factor that has made the health benefit from special funding. It is special to a point of being the only healthcare organization with qualifications of participating in the region’s Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida, commonly known as SNHAF. SNHAF is made up of fourteen hospital systems. Hospitals making up the SNHAF consist of about 10 per cent of hospitals in Florida but they offer more than 50 per cent of health care in the region.

The main campus of the healthcare organization is located in the south of Orlando. This main campus is the Orlando Medical Center, which is a tertiary hospital with a capacity of eight hundred and eight beds and part of the Orlando system. Another major centers include the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, which is a pediatric hospital having at least 158 beds. This medical facility is located Orlando, Florida as part of the Orlando Health. It gains support from Arnold Palmer Medical Center Foundation and it is one of the top Pediatric hospitals dealing with heart care as well as heart surgery. This health care facility operates under a specialized strategy that aims at improving health care services in a specialized way. This kind of specialization has made it acquire a top ten position among the top pediatric hospitals in the United States (Health Central Hospital, 2012). It has an added advantage of being the only hospital in central part of Florida emergency services to pediatric patients with trauma problems.

The main stakeholder of this facility is Miami Children’s Hospital, which formed partnership with hospital to create a Congenital Heart Institute developed to offer quality pediatric cardiovascular services. This stakeholder has generated an impact in the kind of services offered in Orlando Health. In this branch of the Orlando Health System, contribution to its development and advancement in specialized medical services in cardiovascular services. The human capital employed assist in offering high quality services in specialized medical services. The kind of specialization also assists the management in developing greater services in medical health. The key skilled personnel include a group of cardiologists, cardiovascular surgeons, cardiac anesthesiologists, physicians, as well as nurses and intensivists. The hospital also employs a team of technicians who offer diagnosis and treat infants or children suffering from various hear diseases and congenital disorders of the heart. This hospital facility incorporates a combination of technologies to assist it pediatric activities and offer quality services. It has increasingly kept a top position in technology and by the year 2012, the hospital was the only hospital offering surgical out data that is web-based (Health Central Hospital, 2012).

Another major facility of the Orlando Health is the Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies. This branch opened in 2006 after breaking from the formally known as Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children and Women. It currently has a two hundred and eighty-five-bed capacity, still located in Orlando in Florida. It deals in specialized services to serve the health needs of women and babies. Common services include women delivery health problems related to newborn babies. This hospital is grouped together with the M.D. Anderson Center Orlando to form the main campus of Orlando Health. Other centers of the Orlando Health include Orlando Medical Regional Center with a bed capacity of 808, located in Orlando, the Lake Nona Medical City, Dr. P. Philips Hospital, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Florida Hospital East, Florida Hospital Orlando, and Naval Hospital Orlando. The hospitals form the Orlando Health. Each hospital is designed to offer specialized medical treatment as part of market product differentiation. The structure of Orlando Health is designed in a way that would enable a patient suffering from a certain disease know which hospital to attend in order to get access to specialized medical treatment (Orlando Health Physician Group, 2011).

Each of the Orlando Health hospitals facilities incorporate an array of laboratory services and pathology services that assist in finding out medical problems facing patients. The laboratory services and programs are varied depending on the kind of specialization in each hospital making up the Orlando Health. Laboratory services are offered under a number of lab testing and treatments programs. The central Processing Department receives specimens from all centers and specifically from their wards. This happens through the incorporation of Orlando Health network system. This system of networks not only has all hospitals and departments interconnected but the entire health enterprise’s laboratories (Orlando Health, 2012). The health care enterprise has a system of partnership that offers assistance in analyzing lab specimens from various centers.

Orlando Health is committed in offering a variety of laboratory services. These services are comprehensive to ensure that all patients’ problems are identified for the necessary health care service to be provided. Highly skilled technologists and technicians provide laboratory and medical services by being dedicated to provide their best services possible to patients. The technical capabilities of the certified pathologists in medical laboratory services include Coagulation, Anatomy Pathology, Cytology, Flow Cytometry, Electron Microscopy, General Chemistry, Immunology, Hematology, Microbiology, Mycology, Paracitology, Therapeutic Drugs, Toxicology, and Virology (Orlando Health, 2012). These services are done with the use of the latest available technologies especially through computerized laboratory systems. Orlando has a number of primary testing sites and these sites are open twenty-four hours a day. The laboratory services are to advance in technology and specifically unique such that no other competitors in the region offer the same services. This uniqueness is also a source of Orlando Health’s victory in health and medical services. The medical laboratory services include on-site test capabilities, historical record tracking, web-based technology for retrieving results, and availability of online order entry. Patients also have the option of calling pathologist at any given time of the day. Each outpatient’s laboratory location has at least one or more experienced phlebotomists. The lab locations are made convenient to all patients for easy access. The laboratory services are incorporated with other services like home health agency, nursing home care, laboratory customer support, and customer support department (Orlando Health, 2012). The customer care department also includes a team of professionals in various medical fields, who can respond to various health care service needs of customers. Such service can include testing of results, fixing lab results, addition of tests to the existing specimens, responding to patients’ concerns, billing information, and supplying requests. The laboratory services make one of the key services tuning the shape of Orlando Health and making it has a promising future in medical services and market.

The human resource facilitating the growth and development of the Orlando Health as a multi-hospital institution are also specialized and are incorporated in the Orlando Health Physician Group Model. This model consists of employed physicians who are clinically integrated. This Group of clinically integrated physicians forms one of the models used by Orlando Health to develop its medical operations and services (Elswick, O’Donnell, Dinon, Stachnik, & Rippe, 2011). This model is based on an advanced technology that aids communication among all the facilities and departments making the Orlando Health. The other model used by Orlando Health is the Orlando Health Physician Partners. This model consists of private medical partners, which can collaborate with the Healthcare organization or contract with the organization in exchange for services that would meet defined quality metrics. The model is also initiated to assist in participating in market pools with managed healthcare pricing (Elswick, O’Donnell, Dinon, Stachnik, & Rippe, 2011). The two models brings confidence to health care patients and provide them with an assurance that the organization has physicians who are ready to offer the highest quality in healthcare services in central Florida.

All hospitals making Orlando Health are organized systematically to offer integrated medical services and healthcare one of its critical strengths. The healthcare management understands the daily trends in actions and habits that profoundly influence the short-term shape and long-term health as well as quality of life (Elswick, O’Donnell, Dinon, Stachnik, & Rippe, 2011). The increasing demand of improved health care in Central Florida and from all over, the world forms an important opportunistic ground for Orlando Health. One of the key organization’s aspirations is to help individuals in making more and positive informed choices in health care and medical services. Orlando Health is a health care system that incorporates lifestyle medicine and various concepts into its main medical operations and health care services meet its objectives and aspirations. This system and model of operation has seen the organization have a system of development and achievements in healthcare despite it challenges in health care sector as part of its aspired results since its establishment. The business trend within the enterprise has turned to be an inspiration to other health care organization throughout the United States and beyond. One of the major inspirations is the incorporation of lifestyle medicine into the organization’s culture and its operating principles (Elswick, O’Donnell, Dinon, Stachnik, & Rippe, 2011).

While the organization has been working to achieve such good results under the prevailing opportunities and strengths, there are various factors influencing its success positively and negatively. The external factors include high competition from other top hospitals in Florida and specifically Central Florida. The organization is ranked among the top best health care organizations in the states in specialized healthcare, which means that the top most health care organization provide a great challenge to Orlando Health. Location of Orlando is at the central position of Florida, an implication that the organization will ever maintain a top position in healthcare since patients find it very accessible. Other factor like technology affects the organization in two ways. The organization faces pressure to maintain high technology in order to maintain its competitive position throughout its service life. This increases its cost of operation (Jameson & Sentinel, 2013). Technology has also enabled the organization to maintain a top position in health care in Central Florida and in the US in general. These factors together with internal factors like a good system of management, high skilled employees, and good patient relations have shaped the organization to what it is today.

The management system in the Orlando Health is a centralized system of management consisting of President, a Senior Vice President, and Vice presidents in the various sectors of the organization. Other lower ranks include the Chief Administrative Officer, Corporate Director of Access, Chief Quality Officer, and Chief Financial Officer (Orlando Health Physician Group, 2011). Currently, the Orlando Health Physician Enterprise President serves by overseeing the integration of physicians. The Health Enterprise has more than four hundred integrated physicians, who represent more than 40 specialties while focusing on deliverance of best quality in health care within the region. The president ensures that the integration is up-to-date and that all hospitals within his enterprise are in good operation condition. The Senior Vice President to the Health Enterprise is also a member of the organization’s Executive Committee (Orlando Health Physician Group, 2011). The Key role of the Senior Vice President is to have an oversight of Orlando Health Physician Group. The enterprise has more than 500 employed physicians. He oversees the physicians as well as a number of residents of the organizations. He is also obligated to lead an executive team that directs the organization’s clinical integration and that creates an Accountable Care Organization for Orlando Health (Orlando Health Physician Group, 2011). The Senior Vice President is also a member of the Organization’s board strategy and a committee that investigates on quality of Orlando Health Care Services.

Other leadership offices overseeing the general operation of Orlando Health from a central management level include the Vice President for the organization’s clinical integration. The personnel in this position are responsible for the organization’s operations as well as business development of the health enterprise. Again, the person in the Chief Administration position is responsible for overseeing the business and market operations of the entire enterprise. The Chief Financial Officer is responsible for the financial position and control of the organization. Other general position includes the Human Resource Manager whose work is to ensure that the team of employees employed to serve in Orlando Heath have the right qualifications. The collaboration of the Human Resource Officer and the Chief Quality Officer ensure quality with the Orlando Health (Orlando Health Physician Group, 2011). The Chief Quality Officer ensures that all hospitals and various facilities are within the prevailing technology and that all professionals provide quality services. The Corporate Director of Access serves to improve access to health care by patients and is in charge of extending this role to all hospitals making the Orlando Health. The officer in this position has a general role in both the hospital system and the enterprise (Orlando Health Physician Group, 2011).

Centralized management in Orlando Health

Chapter IV

The current model incorporates a Patient Center Medical Home, which opens to the future success of Orlando Health as a growing enterprise. This model incorporated technologies and healthcare facilities, as well as services that would increasingly patients think of Orlando Health as the best place to acquire all medical need. The model is designed with a goal of making it easy and comfortable to all patients (John, 2012). The model also encourages partnership between the patients and the health care team as a way of incorporating a healthy patient to physician relationship. The incorporated model that would help in improving quality of services and assist in the advancement of Orlando Health competitive position in healthcare is as provided below.

From the model, health care safety is given the highest priority in which patients would be provided with health care and medical services that are highly monitored and observed to evade any cases of risks, and any kind of hazardous environment. Health care is also developed to be coordinated and integrated. Integrated health care ensures easy communication between departments and medical practitioners in various health departments (John, 2012). This comes as an advantage for Orlando Health to develop into a larger enterprise as more patients are attracted into the various hospitals making up the Orlando Health Enterprise. In essence, there is an increased access to healthcare within Orlando Heath through the organizations department of Corporate Direct Access headed by the Corporate Director access. This director governs the accessibility into all Orlando Health facilities and hospital branches by all patients. The aim in this case is to see an increasing trend in health care accessibility in Orlando Health and become the leader not only in the quality of services provided but also in the number of patients attending the facilities.

The future trends of organization seem to be better than the current services available. The number of patients are increasing not from the fact that more individuals are getting ill but because patients are increasingly finding better health care and medical services in Orlando Health. The enterprise is also offering personal physician services while ensuring whole person orientation. Most of the services provide are more valuable than the amount of money paid by patients as compensations. The enterprise has developed to allow payment for added value (John, 2012). Orlando has all these opportunities from which it has worked through a well-guided management to achieve much currently, increasing its competitive advantage over other health organizations. While it offers quality services, the definition of quality could differ from one person to another. This aspect brings a controversy whenever it comes to stakeholder. The key stakeholders to Orlando are providers, patients, employers, and payers. The conflict in this case is expected to arise between patients and employer as well as providers and payers. These conflicts have an impact to the operations or the success of Orlando Health and its future trends.

Patients may expect the employer in Orlando Health to ensure a wider variety of options in health care and customize then options into the specific need of the patients. Given a situation whereby Orlando Health can hardly supply the required variety in Health care, and customize the services into specific need of patients, these patients are likely find solutions to their health problems elsewhere. Most of the patients look for Orlando Health to provide relatively cheap health services while ensuring quality. These requirements are available with Orlando Health. The enterprise maintains a lead in healthcare technology, good system of management, and quality services from a wide variety. Health services are customized to meet the increasingly varying need of consumers of health services (Calhoun, Wrobel, & Finnegan, 2011). The conflict between the patients and employer or management would happen if the costs of operation were being reduced for the organization to increase its profit margins. This problem hardly happens to Orlando and it is not likely to happen in future since the healthcare enterprise is not-for profit organization. The stakeholders providing the hospitals with health care operating requirements want to offer the best to Orlando Health with the use of the most appropriate but payers want to acquire all services at the minimum cost possible and acquire the best services possible.

Shareholders constitute part of the enterprise ownership although they have no major influence on the operation of the organization. Shareholders can mainly affect the heath care enterprise if they demand compensation or the sale of shares goes down freezing the price of each share. The government is also part of the stakeholders who can have a negative impact on the Orlando Health as an enterprise. The government observes the enterprise through business regulations as well as regulations within the Healthcare sector. The power of the government can render the health enterprise less successful by increasing health and business regulations to limit its operations. The Enterprise should be observed from the perspective of shareholders impact in order to work towards the accomplishment of its strategic goals and objective (Elswick, O’Donnell, Dinon, Stachnik, & Rippe, 2011). The market trend is welcoming good fortunes for Orlando Health as technology and innovativeness with the health sector places the enterprise in greater heights than its competitors are. The newly adopted and emerging technologies are landmarks for future success and increased competitiveness of Orlando Health. The Orlando Health Enterprise can come up with a strategic map focusing on its future success by minimizing any negative impact from stakeholders as well as increasing trust from the local communities.

Strategically, Orlando would fight through any forthcoming barriers by creating a strategic map that would bring more light to the enterprise’s health and business operations. It should increase its focus on early efforts ever identified such as community connectedness, diversification of its operations, and offering strength to families and children. It can develop a spectrum for providing training opportunities specifically for community trustees and increase the number of stakeholders from the community. These stakeholders have to be committed to the Healthy Community movement. The strategic map should also include facilitation of development in information resources. In this case, the organization would ensure that there is ensured centralization as well as accessibility to the local community (Health Central Hospital, 2012). This would also be incorporated with integration of the latest technology in healthcare and advertisement as way of informing people about the availability of specialized health care in the organization. Finally, Orlando Health should provide various programs such as celebration, revitalization, and recognition programs for the community trustees. This would place the enterprise in a better position since the possibility of facing a negative impact from stakeholders would be minimized greatly but the cycle should continue in a way that the organization keeps on reviewing its earlier efforts to make updates or to provide basis for changing its strategy.

References

Calhoun, J. G., Wrobel, C. A., & Finnegan, J. R. (2011). Current State in U.S. Public Health Competency-Based Graduate Education. Public Health Reviews 33(1) , 148-167.

Elswick, S., O’Donnell, L., Dinon, N., Stachnik, A., & Rippe, J. (2011). Incorporating Lifestyle Medicine Into a Large Health Care System: The Orlando Health Experience. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine , 192-200.

Health Central Hospital. (2012, April 03). Orlando Health completes acquistion of Health Central. New Board of Directors announced. Retrieved May 03, 2013, from healthcentral.org: HYPERLINK “http://www.healthcentral.org/about-us/news/2012/apr/03/orlando-” http://www.healthcentral.org/about-us/news/2012/apr/03/orlando-health-completes-acquistion-health-central/

Jameson, M., & Sentinel, O. (2013, January 2). Physician Associates officially sold to Orlando Health. Retrieved May 3, 2013, from HYPERLINK “http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2013-01-” http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2013-01-02/news/os-physician-associates-sold-20130101_1_orlando-health-physician-associates-hospital-system

John. (2012, December 6). New Model of Care: Patient Centered Medical Home. Retrieved May 3, 2013, from orlandohealthdocs.com: HYPERLINK “http://www.orlandohealthdocs.com/orlandointernalmedicinegroup/2012/12/06/new-” http://www.orlandohealthdocs.com/orlandointernalmedicinegroup/2012/12/06/new-model-of-care-patient-centered-medical-home/

Orlando Health Physician Group. (2011). Leadership. Retrieved May 3, 2013, from orlandohealthdocs.com: http://www.orlandohealthdocs.com/leadership/

Orlando Health. (2012). Orlando Health Clinical and Outpatient Laboratory Services. Retrieved May 5, 2013, from HYPERLINK “http://www.orlandohealth.com/orlandohealth/OrlandoHealthClinicalandOutpatientLabora” http://www.orlandohealth.com/orlandohealth/OrlandoHealthClinicalandOutpatientLaboratoryServices/OrlandoHealthClinicalandOutpatientLaboratoryServices.aspx?pid=6322

Curriculum is defined as the set of courses and their content which refer to the deeds and experiences through which children

Curriculum is defined as the set of courses and their content which refer to the deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature and responsible adults. It is based on a general syllabus agreed upon in a country. A syllabus is an outline of topics to be covered during an education or a complete training course (Thornton & Flinders, 2009). It is descriptive in nature and is often set up by the examinations board or the professor in charge of course quality. Syllabus and curriculum are often fused and given to a student during the first lesson to provide guidelines on how to achieve the objectives set. A curriculum is however prescriptive and that is why the syllabus is used to specify what topics are to be covered when and at what level (Stenhouse, 2005).

Learning is the acquisition of behavior, values, skills, preferences or knowledge and is usually involved in synthesizing the different of types of information that may be offered. Learning may occur in part as training, education or personal development depending on where the learning is taking place (Holt, 2006). There are different types of learning that may used by an individual to grasp what is required. There is the simple non-associative learning which is either habitual or sensitization; there is the associative learning which includes the classical conditioning; there are observational learning, e-learning; imprinting and many others.

The curriculum is basically meant to augment all these types of learning to create a society that is learned. Therefore, those mandated with the creation of these curriculums must set out objectives on their exact goals and aims that they wish to achieve throughout a training course. Proper research needs to be carried out to ensure that the goals of the education system are meant and achieve the needed task of imparting knowledge (Rogers & Freiberg, 2007). The course outline should always be geared towards the generation of qualities that assist an individual to be a desirable member of a certain community. In formal schooling, therefore, curriculum describes a specific learning program. That means it collectively embodies the teaching, learning and assessment materials that are available for that course of study. These curriculums are set up on the basis that they engage the students in active learning in relation to their educational environment. In addition, curriculum is left to define the course objectives that will be used to address the learning outcomes expected and those achieved.

In these curriculums, there are assessment strategies that are mapped out by those in charge of curriculum drafting. They group them in units or modules from which a specific, specialized type of curriculum is applied. Assessment is taken as the process of documenting skills attitudes, beliefs and knowledge in measurable terms. It focuses on either an individual or an entire learning community as may be designed to fit (Atherton, 2010). Different standards are applied when evaluating what is learnt and is required from a particular point of view. It is done in several ways and for different reasons altogether. There is the formative assessment which is generally carried out within an entire course or project. It is used to aid learning by providing information and feedback on a student’s work. There is the summative assessment which is carried out at the end of a course and is evaluative in nature. They are used to measure the amount of skills acquired within a particular learning period. There is also the objective kind of assessment that requires a single correct answer is expected during an examination. Subjective kind of assessment is defined as the form in which different answers in terms of ways of expressing it. This may be in the form of essays while objective assessment questions are either multiple choice or matching questions or true/false answers (Weeden, 2002).

Assessment is done with different meanings attached to it. The summative type of assessment is done to offer a basis for grade allocation in a school system. It acts as a means of gauging the student at a particular point in time in relation to the content standards. Certain aspects of the learning process are determined by performing examinations at the end of the course to evaluate the effectiveness of the educational learning programs in schools (Atherton, 2010). It provides information of where change is needed, whether at the classroom level or an academic stage. Further, this type of assessment gives instructional adjustments and interventions for that particular learning process. Formative assessment is used to accomplish interventions cited during a review of the summative assessment. This is due to its applicability during an instructional process. They target standard-based learning goals within a set period of time. It provides teachers with the required feedback about the students while at the same time provide vital information to the student on their own capabilities (Weeden, 2002). It gives the students a chance to identify achievement within a particular period of time and identify areas for further work.

Assessment should be carried out considering the learners capability and abilities. Providing a standardized test for all students is good start towards the right direction. Validity and reliability are some of the important aspects that require to be carried out speculatively. However, different types of learning occur during a period of time. When formative assessment is carried out, the learners may be tested on one particular aspect of learning which may not encompass all the desired cognitive activities (Atherton, 2010). Thus, there is need to create an assessment that generally involves all the cognitive aspects of an individual instead of favoring those with memorizing ability and disadvantaging those with a more synthesizing type of capability. Examinations should enhance comprehension, synthesis f information and ability to apply it in day-to-day life. Those setting these types of examinations are required to evaluate the benefits expected, the meaning of the examination to both the student and the teacher as well as the conceptualize implication of the assessment results.

The benefits of studying assessment are immense. There is need to create an environment that excites the learners and creates an environment from which this is possible (Brown, 2007). With the continued dynamism of education pedagogies, it is important to map out the most relevant of them for our students. The only way that this can be fused with the learning environment is by understanding how they react and feel about a certain method of learning. This implies that assessment must be done at a level from which both the students and the teachers get to understand what to and what not to do during the learning process (Brown, 2007). Assessment thus offers a basis from which curriculum changes can be effected and towards which direction or field. It also helps develop significant intellectual skills which develop to different extents in different children.

Arising from the research are a number of issues. First, examination is turning out to be the sole objective of education. Children are being trained towards achieving examination excellence, neglecting other core functions of the education process. This undermines the existence of a school curriculum and the objectives therein. Objectives meant to achieve learning outcomes are being sidelined to accommodate different points of view (Weeden, 2002). This means that teachers are preparing their students for examinations rather than their future life outside the classroom. Secondly, schools are being discriminated against in relation to their performance in national examinations. This creates a discrepancy between what is being taught and what is being seen in terms of results. Does it mean that there is no learning that takes place in schools that score poorly in examinations? Or does it imply absence of knowledge on the part of the students? These questions have not yet been answered and this criterion ought to be changed to accommodate other types of learning that help nurture a student towards self-reliance (Weeden, 2002).

Thirdly, assessment is not being utilized fully to encompass all the cognitive domains of an individual. As a result, emotional enfeeblement and moral degeneration are becoming a defining characteristic of our generations in the recent past. Students at institutions of higher leaning run berserk vandalizing property due to small misconceptions or misunderstandings (Weeden, 2002). Fourthly, tests have been seen to cause anxiety and sickness in teachers due to the fear of failure. This is because, the students risk being denied their diploma certificates for failing in a test or for not knowing the required material. Similarly, several factors could come into play that would cause the failure of a student which are never discussed or put into consideration when classifications are being made (Black, 2003). For instance, a student who cheats in an exam will not fair the same with one who is not. A student who is sick during the examination will also not perform as they would if they been healthy. Students from less disadvantaged schools with fewer facilities cannot perform at the same level as those that are centers of excellence. These factors and others undermine the art of assessment as it casts doubts on how summative it really is and how informative the results will prove to be.

Thus, assessment in a school is supposed to be a creation of the present and a reflection of the students’ real capability as opposed to memorizing capability of the student. Different approaches should be used to eliminate these kinds of failures and produce substantive results from assessments conducted during and after the course.

References;

Atherton J S (2010) Assessment: Learning and Teaching; [On-line] UK: Available: http://www.learningandteaching.info/teaching/assessment.htm Accessed: 5 November 2010

Black, P. (2003) Assessment for Learning: Putting it into practice. Berkshire, England: Open University Press.

Brown, H. Douglas (May 6, 2007). An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy: Teaching by Principles (Third ed.). Pearson ESL

Holt, J. (2006). How Children Learn. UK: Penguin Books.

Rogers, C. and Freiberg, H. J. (2007) Freedom to Learn (3rd edn.), New York: Merrill.

Stenhouse, L. (2005) An Introduction to Curriculum Research and Development, London: Heinemann.

Thornton, S. J. and Flinders, D. J. (2009) The Curriculum Studies Reader, London: Routledge.

Weeden P. (2002) What’s in it for schools?: Assessment, London; Routledge,