Author Archives: Steven Okelley

DEFINE HEALTHCARE INFORMATICS

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Healthcare informatics is a multidisciplinary field that uses information technology and information science to support healthcare delivery, practice, research, and decision making. Some key aspects of healthcare informatics include:

  • Electronic Health Records (EHR): EHRs are digital versions of a patient’s medical charts. They contain the patient’s medical history, diagnoses, medications, treatment plans, immunization dates, allergies, radiology images, and laboratory and test results. EHRs allow healthcare providers to access a patient’s information from any location, which improves care coordination and eliminates paper waste. EHRs also facilitate population health management by allowing doctors, nurses, and public health officials to track health outcomes, costs of care, preventive care rates, and disease-specific indicators across groups of people.
  • Health Information Exchange (HIE): HIE refers to the electronic movement of health-related information among organizations. It allows doctors, nurses, pharmacists, other healthcare providers and patients to appropriately access and securely share a patient’s vital medical information electronically—improving health care services, while supporting the coordination of care and efficient workflow. Through regional HIE networks, authorized healthcare professionals can now have immediate access to patients’ clinical information from other organizations, which leads to better-informed medical decisions, continuity of care, earlier detection of public health threats, and reduced healthcare costs.
  • Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE): CPOE systems allow physicians and other healthcare providers to electronically enter medication orders, radiology and laboratory test requests directly into the EHR system instead of writing out paper orders. This reduces prescription errors and adverse drug events by enforcing dosing rules and guidelines, checking for drug interactions, allergies, duplicate therapies and laboratory result interactions prior to placing the order. Studies have shown that medication orders entered through a CPOE system have 25-65% fewer errors than written or verbal orders. CPOE also streamlines workflows for nurses, pharmacists and other staff involved in order fulfillment.
  • Clinical Decision Support (CDS): CDS refers to technology that analyzes electronic health data to help healthcare professionals make clinical decisions. By tapping into vast clinical knowledge databases and the patient’s unique health information, CDS systems generate personalized clinical recommendations and alerts to assist providers in deciding the best evidence-based course of care for a patient. CDS improves guideline-concordant care, reduces practice variation, and can help avoid preventable medical errors. Examples include drug-allergy and drug-drug interaction alerts, reminders for maintenance of chronic conditions, and recommendations for screenings or diagnostic tests.
  • Telehealth and Telemedicine: Telehealth uses information and communication technologies like videoconferencing to deliver virtual medical, health, and education services at a distance. Providers are able leverage telehealth modalities to monitor patients with chronic conditions in their homes, conduct follow-up visits with postoperative patients, or provide specialty consults to patients in rural areas with limited access to specialists. Telehealth improves care access and outcomes while reducing costs by avoiding unnecessary transportation, missed appointments, and delays in treatment. During public health emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth has enabled the safe continuation of non-emergency care.
  • Personal Health Records (PHR): PHRs allow individuals to access and manage their lifelong medical record and share their health information electronically. Just like EHRs, PHRs contain individual health data like medications, allergies, immunizations, lab results, problems, procedures, and more. Unlike EHRs controlled by healthcare organizations, PHRs are owned, managed, and shared by consumers/patients themselves. PHRs empower patients to be more actively engaged in their care by giving them convenient access to their comprehensive health history from any internet-connected device.
  • Population Health Management: Through aggregating and analyzing clinical, social, behavioral, lifestyle, and economic data from populations of patients, healthcare organizations can identify groups at risk for certain diseases or conditions. Targeted interventions and care management programs are then implemented to improve outcomes for these at-risk populations. The goal of population health management is to proactively anticipate patients’ healthcare needs, prevent disease/illness, minimize health disparities and create healthier communities. It realigns financial incentives around keeping people healthy rather than reactively treating sickness.
  • Mobile Health (mHealth): mHealth uses mobile and wireless technologies like mobile devices, wearables and sensors to deliver health services and improve patient outcomes. Examples include smartphones or tablets to retrieve lab results and medical records, devices to monitor vital signs and transmit data to providers, apps for medication adherence, smoking cessation programs, chronic disease self-management and remote patient monitoring. mHealth extends care outside of clinical settings and empowers greater patient engagement, promoting healthier behaviors and lifestyles.
  • Healthcare Analytics: Healthcare analytics refers to the qualitative and quantitative techniques used to analyze healthcare data for better administrative and clinical decision making. By applying predictive modeling, data mining, machine learning and other advanced analytic methods to EHRs, claims, and other patient-level data, organizations can uncover important insights. Analytics help improve quality of care, identify at-risk patients, determine best practices, optimize utilization of resources, detect fraud and abuse, and reduce costs. Real-time data streaming analytics also enables precision care by supporting clinical decision support at the point of care.
  • Biomedical Informatics: Biomedical informatics applies computing and information science to expand biomedical knowledge and improve healthcare delivery through integrated basic, clinical and public health research. It spans topics like natural language processing, image analysis, bioinformatics for personalized medicine, simulations for surgical planning, AI for medical imaging interpretation, and more. Biomedical informatics aims to uncover new biological insights and develop next-generation diagnostic and treatment methods through computation.

Healthcare informatics leverages information technologies across the entire healthcare continuum to support improved outcomes, lower costs, enhanced experiences for providers/patients, and advanced biomedical knowledge discovery through research. It sits at the intersection of clinical care, public health, computer science, and information science. With the continued digitization of healthcare and explosion of available data sources, the role of informatics in optimizing value-based care delivery will only continue growing in importance.

SUSTAINABILITY PROJECTS EXAMPLES FOR PET SECTOR

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Here are some examples of sustainability projects that pet companies and pet owners can implement:

Transition to renewable energy usage. The pet food and supplies industry relies heavily on electricity to power manufacturing plants, distribution centers, stores and more. Many companies are transitioning their operations to be powered by renewable energy sources like solar and wind farms instead of fossil fuels to reduce carbon emissions. Some install solar panels on facility rooftops while others purchase renewable energy credits to match a portion of their usage. This helps lower environmental impact.

Implement circular packaging design. Packaging waste is a major concern for the pet industry. Companies are redesigning packaging to be more circular in nature. For example, switching from plastic bags to boxes that can be recycled or introducing reusable and returnable packaging options. Chewy now offers plastic-free curbside recycling for customers to return unused bags and boxes through their recycling program. Ensuring packaging can re-enter the production cycle aids sustainability.

Offer post-consumer recycling programs. Many pet companies partner with recycling facilities and organizations to set up post-consumer recycling programs for products. For instance, recycling programs exist for dealing with used cat litter, dog toys, leashes, plastic food containers and more. These help keep materials out of landfills and find second lives. Companies promote recycling through their websites, with packaging messaging and community partnerships to increase participation.

Support urban farming and community gardens. The pet industry is supporting urban agriculture initiatives that provide access to locally grown produce while reducing environmental impacts. For example, some brands helped install pet-friendly community garden spaces in cities equipped with pet water bowls, poop bag dispensers and signage about keeping gardens safe and pet waste removal. These community assets aid in sustainability education too.

Launch green burial and cremation services. As pet companions pass away, their owners want dignified aftercare options. Many pet service companies now offer natural or “green” pet burial and cremation programs. Pets can be gently laid to rest in protected woodland areas using biodegradable caskets versus traditional cement vaults. Cremation services use alternative energy sources instead of fossil fuels to reduce emissions from the process. These options provide more sustainable farewell ceremonies for beloved pets.

Subsidize adoption of rescue pets. Pet overpopulation and the carbon footprint of breeding operations are ongoing issues. Many pet brands support eliminating euthanasia of rescue pets through subsidizing adoption fees or working with shelters/rescues on transport programs. For every rescued pet adopted, it saves energy and resources compared to the same lifecycle of a purebred from a commercial breeder. Subsidies incentivize adopting versus shopping and aid the rescue community’s work.

Transition delivery fleets to low-emissions vehicles. As product delivery is a major part of their operations, some pet retailers and food/supply companies are converting their fleets of delivery trucks, vans and vehicles to low or no emission options like electric, hybrid and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. This reduces toxic tailpipe emissions from frequent routes over time. Some companies also implement fleet practices like right-sized vehicles, optimal routing software and driver training to improve fuel efficiency. Cleaning up fleets through technology investments lowers environmental impact.

Develop water Stewardship and conservation practices. Industrial water usage for operations like cleaning, cooling systems and product formulation is significant for pet product manufacturers. Many are actively reducing water footprints through auditing consumption, closing water loops with recycling/filtration systems, shifting to low-water product formulations and employing groundwater management best practices. Some achieve certifications like Alliance for Water Stewardship standards by maintaining sustainable water usage and replenishment in manufacturing regions. Conserving water aids local communities too.

Launch agriculture education partnerships. To promote more ethical and environmentally-friendly food production practices, some pet brands support agricultural education initiatives. This includes providing learning materials, farm equipment/technology grants and scholarships for students pursuing sustainability-focused agriculture degrees. Example programs teach regenerative grazing, organic and no-till cultivation techniques, water protection methods, waste recycling and more. Investing in next-gen farmers boosts long-term supply chain resilience and Earth care.

PATHWAYS: LISTENING, SPEAKING, AND CRITICAL THINKING 4 ANSWERS

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Communication is fundamental to human interaction and is comprised of various complex pathways in the brain that allow us to listen, speak, and think critically. While often taken for granted, these pathways are sophisticated neurophysiological processes that have developed over thousands of years of human evolution to enable intricate social connections and the sharing of ideas. Though distinct capabilities, listening, speaking, and critical thinking are deeply intertwined and rely upon one another for effective communication to occur. Let us examine each of these pathways in turn while recognizing their interdependence.

The pathway for listening is multifaceted, beginning with the physical process of sound waves entering the ear, where they are collected and concentrated by the outer ear. These vibrations then pass through the auditory canal and eardrum, causing it to vibrate. This vibration is then transmitted through three tiny bones in the middle ear known as the malleus, incus, and stapes. These bones function to efficiently transfer the vibrations further into the inner ear. Inside the spiraled cochlea of the inner ear lies the organ of Corti, containing thousands of microscopic sensory hair cells that change shape in response to fluid waves stimulated by the incoming vibration. This physical movement triggers an electrochemical reaction that stimulates the auditory nerve fibers contacting each hair cell.

The auditory nerve then transmits signals from the cochlea to the brainstem and midbrain for initial processing. Signals first synapse in the cochlear nucleus, which extracts basic acoustic features like frequency and amplitude. They then continue onward through several brainstem structures including the superior olivary complex, lateral lemniscus, and inferior colliculi. Concurrently, a pathway called the medial olivocochlear bundle provides feedback to fine-tune cochlear function. At this point, signals have been preprocessed for basic acoustic qualities, but higher-level linguistic processing is still needed.

Signals then travel to the thalamus, which serves as a major relay and sorting station in the brain. Here, some thalamic neurons respond best to frequencies representing voice and speech. Projections from the thalamus terminate primarily in the temporal lobe, specifically structures like Heschl’s gyrus and lateral parts of the superior temporal gyrus within the primary and secondary auditory cortices. These areas extract and analyze increasingly complex features of sound like pitch, timbre, and phonetic elements of speech. From here, pathways diverge to association areas for even deeper linguistic analysis and context-dependent processing.

The planum temporale region, normally larger on the left side, aids in speech perception. Connections between Wernicke’s area and Broca’s area allow for comprehension of linguistic meaning, grammar, and complex cognition regarding language. Bidirectional pathways with other areas like the inferior parietal lobe aid in working memory during listening, while projections to limbic and reward centers motivate attention and interest. The prefrontal cortex monitors and coordinates the entire listening process. All of these areas work together dynamically and context-dependently to recognize, comprehend, and retain linguistic information heard through listening.

Areas involved in other functions get selectively modulated, such as visual cortex deactivating and memory centers activating as attention focuses inward during listening. The entire experience is also subjectively influenced by emotional state, past experiences, bias, and other higher-level factors governed by elaborate feedback and integration between listening pathways and other brain systems. Essentially, listening requires complex neurophysiological processes distributed throughout the brain in a highly interconnected network to extract meaningful information from sound waves. But listening alone does not accomplish communication – it must be paired with speaking.

The pathway for speaking also relies on intricate neural circuits and muscle control. Conceptual processing starts with forming thoughts in the prefrontal cortex based on memory, emotion, motivation, and other factors. These ideas are translated into linguistic representations within Broca’s area through its connections with Wernicke’s area and other language areas during internal speech planning. The motor cortex then precisely coordinates the over 100 muscles required for fluent speech. For example, special muscle groups control the larynx, tongue, lips, jaw, and breathing to produce the proper sounds during a continuous and timed sequence. These motor commands travel via corticobulbar pathways to lower motor neurons in the brainstem and face, tongue, pharynx to skilled control these muscles.

Feedback loops between auditory and motor areas allow for self-monitoring during internal rehearsal of planned speech and real-time adjustment during active speaking. The auditory pathway transmits signals from sounds produced by one’s own voice through specialized olivocochlear bundle projections that are distinct from external sound processing. Integration between motor planning and auditory monitoring theoretically allows speakers to unconsciously correct their own mistakes and get a sense for how they sound to others. Emotional centers and circuits involved in cognition, memory, and social interaction provide important inputs that shape speaking behaviors in contextually appropriate ways based on relationships, environment, and desired communicative goals.

Critical thinking relies on integration across diverse regions to analyze assumptions, evaluate evidence, detect inconsistencies, and draw reasonable conclusions. Working memory areas online information while inhibiting irrelevancies. Prefrontal regions support abstraction, modeling, and multi-step operations. The insula mediates representation of self vs. other perspectives. Temporoparietal junction considers beliefs separately from reality. Connectivity throughout the default mode, central executive, and salience networks supports flexible, coherent simulation and reappraisal of various viewpoints. Serotonin and dopamine neuromodulation incentivizes logical, desirous, and innovative lines of thought.

Human communication emerges from intricate neurophysiological systems spanning audition, language processing, emotion, motor control, cognition, and social function that have fortuitously integrated through evolution to allow meaningful sharing of ideas. While listening, speaking, and critical thinking can be teased apart conceptually, in reality they rely upon dynamic interactions between brain regions operating in parallel, sequentially, and recurrently. Understanding how exactly the brain manages this complex choreography remains a major target of neuroscience research, with implications for education, relationships, health, and more. Though mysterious in their details, the neural pathways that enable our communicative abilities exemplify the pinnacle of human information processing and social intelligence.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR CAPSTONE PROJECT

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Thank you for the opportunity to propose a conceptual framework for your capstone project. A strong conceptual framework is crucial to guiding meaningful research that addresses real issues and makes a substantive contribution. In developing this proposal, I have drawn from my cross-disciplinary education and applied research experiences to design a framework grounded in evidence, focused on tangible outcomes, and responsive to community needs.

The proposed topic explores strategies for advancing environmental sustainability and social justice through inclusive urban planning and community development. Current approaches to addressing issues like climate change, pollution, and unequal access to green spaces tend to be fragmented, with environmental and social problems treated separately rather than recognized as deeply interconnected. Low-income neighborhoods and communities of color face disproportionate exposure to various environmental hazards while also lacking equitable political influence and resources to shape decisions affecting their well-being. This scenario points to an urgent need for more holistic and collaborative approaches that remedy imbalances in political power and access to natural and economic resources across lines of race, class, and place.

To structure multilevel analysis of these dynamics, the conceptual framework draws from political ecology and environmental justice frameworks. Political ecology attends to the complex interplay between social processes and environmental change, recognizing how political and economic power differentially structure human-environment interactions and outcomes. Meanwhile, environmental justice centers equitable distribution of environmental burdens and benefits as a matter of basic civil and human rights. Bringing these lenses together can surface hidden connections between issues frequently addressed separately (e.g. air pollution and lack of job opportunities; unequal access to green spaces and barriers to civic participation). Recognizing such linkages is critical to crafting solutions capable of meaningfully addressing root problems rather than symptoms alone.

The framework also incorporates insights from theories of just sustainability, procedural environmental democracy, and community-based participatory action research. Just sustainability emphasizes fair distribution of environmental costs and benefits as an element of sustainable development, challenging technocratic and market-driven approaches that prioritize economic growth over social and ecological considerations. Procedural environmental democracy connects political participation and inclusion to equitable outcomes, recognizing the need for meaningful community empowerment and influence over decisions rather than tokenism or paternalism. Finally, principles of participatory action research guide collaborative, community-engaged methods that situate affected residents as equal research partners empowered to apply findings to real-world problem solving.

To operationalize this conceptual framework and focus inquiry, the proposed capstone would target a specific urban neighborhood currently facing intersecting social and environmental challenges. Through partnership with community organizations, the research would employ mixed qualitative and quantitative methods to:

1) Conduct a political ecological analysis of the socio-environmental history of the neighborhood to reveal how power dynamics have differentially shaped environmental conditions, social vulnerabilities, and civic engagement over time. Methods may include archival research, interviews with long-term residents, and analysis of relevant policies and plans.

2) Employ geospatial mapping and statistical analysis of demographic, health, pollution, land use, and other secondary socio-environmental indicators to characterize current inequitable patterns and disparate impacts. This spatial political economic analysis aims to surface relationships often obscured in aggregate data.

3) Carry out participatory asset mapping and visioning exercises with residents to center local priorities, knowledge, and visions for an ecologically just and socially vibrant future. Results will provide an equity framework and outline of community-defined solutions for the next phase.

4) Partner with community groups to design and prototype implementation of neighborhood-scale pilot projects and policy recommendations that directly address priorities through creative, cross-sector collaborations. Pilot initiatives may focus on initiatives like sustainable local food systems, environmental education, green job training programs, EJ policy advocacy campaigns, or investments in green and open space access.

5) Evaluate short-term pilot outcomes, conduct iterative planning to strengthen initiatives based on learning, refine equity-focused policy recommendations, and assist community partnerships in mobilizing support and resources for scaled implementation.

By centering community-defined visions of just sustainability, the conceptual framework aims to move beyond problem identification toward collaborative solutions that remedy inequities, empower residents as leaders and stewards, and realize more ecologically vibrant, economically just, and civicly inclusive neighborhoods. The proposed capstone offers an opportunity to make meaningful contributions addressing critical societal challenges at their intersectional roots through partnership, applied research, and support for grassroots innovation. I hope this proposed conceptual framework provides a thoughtful structure to guide meaningful inquiry.

LITERATURE SCOPING FOR MBA CAPSTONE PROJECT

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Literature scoping is a vital first step when beginning work on your MBA capstone project. The capstone requires synthesizing existing research and using it to support your own analysis, so it’s important to cast a wide net in exploring what others have already published on your topic. With properly conducted literature scoping, you can gain important insights that will help shape your project design, identify gaps where your work can contribute new knowledge, and find examples to support your arguments later on in the final paper.

To conduct effective literature scoping, start by brainstorming keywords and phrases related to your topic area. Consider the major constructs or variables involved, as well as synonyms. For example, if your topic concerns marketing strategy for luxury goods, some initial keywords could include “luxury brands, luxury marketing, brand positioning, product differentiation, consumer behavior.” Save these terms somewhere for future reference as your searching evolves.

The next step is selecting appropriate databases and directories to search. As an MBA student, focus first on business and management research databases like ABI/INFORM, Business Source Complete, and EBSCO. Don’t neglect cross-disciplinary sources like Google Scholar which can surface publications across many domains. Government and NGO sites may also offer reports relevant to your industry or issue. Thoroughly searching multiple databases increases the breadth and depth of sources found.

When searching selected databases, use controlled vocabularies and thesauri if available. This helps retrieve articles on closely related ideas that may not use your exact search terms. Apply appropriate filters like publication dates (focus on recent 5-10 years unless researching an historical topic), languages (usually stick to English), and document types (include journal articles, reports, books). Don’t eliminate sources based on their publication outlets until reviewing content – works from obscure or student journals occasionally present novel insights.

Taking good notes as you search and review results is critical. Capture the most pertinent details from each source in a standardized format like APA or MLA so they can easily be incorporated into your reference list later. As a minimum, record the author(s), year, title, publication information, and brief descriptive notes summarizing the paper’s main arguments or findings relevant to your research question. Saving or printing full-text PDFs of especially useful sources makes them readily accessible as you progress.

Organize and analyze the references you’ve collected using tools like bibliography software, spreadsheets, or coding/annotation features in PDF readers. Look for patterns in methodologies employed, gaps in existing research, and how findings do or don’t link together to form a cohesive picture of the area. You may find it helpful to group sources thematically to identify dominant perspectives or debates within the literature.

Iterating your searching with the new insights and questions that emerge from this analysis will yield an even richer set of sources. Discuss potential gaps or areas needing further exploration with your capstone supervisor early to refine your topic idea into a feasible research project. Well-executed literature scoping lays the foundation for situating your work within the published knowledge base, justifying your proposed contributions, and crafting a thoughtful research design capable of extending the discourse. With thorough scoping, you’ll be well equipped to craft a capstone proposal that demonstrates your command of the terrain.