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Safeguarding Patients: Strategies to Prevent Wrong Site Surgery

Introduction

Wrong site surgery is a problem that has existed for as long as surgery has been used to treat various conditions. When surgeons perform surgery on the wrong part of the body, it is deemed as wrong site surgery. Wrong site surgery covers the following categories:

  • Surgery carried out of paired organs such as kidneys, eyes and even limbs. Here, the surgeon operates on the wrong organ. For example, instead of operating on the right eye, the surgery is completed on the left eye.
  • The second category is where the right organ is operated upon but the surgery is done in the wrong location. This occurs where the anatomies of the particular body part are quite similar. For example in the same eye surgery, surgery is done on the correct eye but he wrong eye muscle.
  • Finally surgery could be done on the correct part f the body, the correct anatomy but the wrong procedure. This is especially where the surgeries may sound and/or look the same. For example resecting a muscle rather than recession of the same.

In recent times, researchers have added two new categories which include the wrong patient surgery where the individual operates upon happens to be the wrong individual. It also includes the wrong procedures a condition and situation that is becoming more common than all the other categories.  For a long time wrong site surgery was considered a problem of orthopedics where surgeons were most likely to operate on the wrong limb. However, recent reviews have shown wrong site surgery is more of a system problem. Hospitals and health care professionals are becoming more concerned with prevalence of wrong site surgery.

 

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Background of the Problem

Although the problem has existed for many decades, it is not until the beginning of the millennium there was no singular way of tracking the deaths and injuries resulting from the same. Clinicians and health care specialists rarely if ever heard of the wrong site surgery. However, a report published in 1999 “to err is human” highlighted a problem that has previously been considered a form of weakness. The report allowed hospitals to establish a way of recognizing and reporting wrong site surgery cases. Special concern and attention is being directed to invasive surgery that could easily be detrimental to a patient’s health. The main focus for researchers and professionals is not just directed at reducing the cases of wrong site surgery but also at ensuring immediate recognition and therefore developing more effective measures of correcting the same.

In history the first sighting of wrong site surgery was often considered when doctors and surgeons cut off the wrong limbs during amputation. Before the 19th century, several cases existed where patients had not only lost one limb but in many cases both, and sometimes endured more than one surgery. Many more died or were severely incapacitated by the experience.

Review Of Literature

Technology has allowed cases of wrong site surgery to become more exposed. Such cases have garnered more than enough national attention.  The review of literature shows that cases of wrong site surgery are hard to track. Surgeons in themselves are often less than honest when it comes to reporting cases and patients are more concerned with seeking liability. Both these factors make the availability of the literature minimal. Majority of the literature available often blames WSS on the system. Hospitals and surgery bookings are often done through the system. In majority of the cases, the surgeon has not interacted with the patients. If such a system breaks down, the chances of wrong site surgery become higher. The Joint Commission allows surgeons to record and report voluntarily cases of wrong site surgery. However, the numbers recorded have been dwindling in the past year.

The most common source of data for the wrong site surgery is the legal claims. This number is not accurate enough because majority of the cases are not reported. (O’Neill and Klein 2014) indicated that wrong site surgery is not as a result of bad people doing bad surgery, but rather very good and skilled doctors working with poor systems. In 84% of the reported cases, doctors and other healthcare professionals cited errors in the system or some sort of disruption that in turn led to patients being given the wrong surgery

The universal goal of all wrong site surgery is improvement of safety in hospitals. Injuries and even deaths resulting from wrong site surgery has been on the increase. Canale (2005) shows that As procedures become more and more delicate, a simple error could be detrimental to the patient. The effects of wrong site surgery are not only felt by the patient, they also affect the surgeon. The theatre is a precise arena, and the surgeon in most cases is already dealing with an environment that demands preciseness an error such as this one could be quite defeating to his own skills.

What can be done to prevent WSS

One of the most effective ways of preventing WSS, is through the surgeon. Technology and the involvement of many healthcare professionals means that the surgeon rarely meets the patient. Interaction between the patient and the surgeon is vital. Before the surgery, the doctor should mark the path he intends to take with a permanent marker. This reduces the chances that during surgery he will take the wrong path. Further, it is important for nurses to confirm the markings of the surgery path with the doctors so that everyone is aware, (Fraser and Adams, 2006). Commonly when the patient has been moved to the theatre both the doctors and nurses are more concerned with completing the surgery.  Many hospitals have introduced a simple briefing involving the team for the surgery. During the briefing, team members are able to confirm the procedure an even the area of surgery.

Kwaan et al (2006) have agreed that majority of the WSS issues arise not from surgeon’s era but system failure; there is need to put measure to counter the challenges and weakness of each system. This means mastering the system to understand where the loopholes.

Effect on nursing

One of the main effects of WSS is that nurses are now more commonly faced with the dilemma of reporting cases. On the one hand they have an obligation to the patient should an error occur while on the other hand, they have relationships with the surgeons. Nurses often find themselves torn between supporting patients and on the other hand reporting wrong surgery.

Secondly, nurses are now obligated not just to master the aftercare treatment of patients but also the specific surgery that the patients have been booked for.  In the past, nurses were only obligated to follow the instructions of the doctor. However, Rothman (2006) states that today there is need for them to learn the various procedures, communicate and support the surgeon before and after the surgery bearing the right information.  During the briefing, they are required to produce the right information and support the team in understanding and ensuring WSS is prevented.

Muth and Bellinir (2002) indicate that A big impact on nursing has been the importance of understanding the hospital systems. Nurses are often in charge of keeping and maintain the patient records. By taking detailed records, they can prevent the few chances of WSS occurring. Further, should something go wrong with the system surgeons are often forced to double check and confirm the information they have with the nurse’s records.

Nurses are often in charge of ensuring that all protocols are followed before and after the surgery. While the surgeon maybe exhausted from carrying out the surgery, the team looks up to the nurse to ensure protocols put in place to prevent WSS are followed clearly. The nurse brings the team together ensuring that each team member is aware of what is to be done, how it is to be done and the role to be played by each one of  the team members.

Conclusion

It is important to note that WSS is a condition and situation that is garnering even more attention. With the health of an individual on the line, surgeons are often called upon to be strict in their theater regime ensuing all protocols are adhered to.  WSS has been cited in the payable malpractice injury claims. WSs does not only cause physical injury but also psychological and emotional injury to the patients as well as the surgeons.

Nurses are called upon to follow the universal protocol and speak up when the safety of their patients is in question. The first obligation is to the care of their patients and should something jeopardize the same they are expected to take action. Cases reported are dealt with immediately, in many cases if the problem is established during surgery it can be corrected immediately. However, further treatment and disclosure maybe required when the error is discovered after the surgery. All in all WSS can be easily prevented with a few simple steps.

References

Canale, S. T. (2005). Wrong-site surgery: a preventable complicationClinical orthopedics and related research433, 26-29.

Fraser, S. G., & Adams, W. (2006). Wrong site surgery. British journal of ophthalmology90(7), 814-816.

Fraser, S. G., & Adams, W. (2006). Wrong site surgery. British journal of ophthalmology90(7), 814-816.

Muth, A., & Bellenir, K. (2002). Surgery sourcebook: Basic consumer health information about inpatient and outpatient

surgeries. Detroit, Mich: Omnigraphics.

O’Neill, P. A., & Klein, E. N. (2014). Wrong-Site Surgery. In Patient Safety (pp. 145-159). Springer New York.

Rothman, G. (2006). Wrong-site surgery. Archives of Surgery141(10), 1049-1050.

 

5/5 - (7 votes)

Strategies for Strengthening Union Support and Membership in Canada

Improving the Governance of Employment and Training Policy in Canada by Wood & Klassen

Wood & Klassen (2011) proposed modifications to governance based on their analysis of the past experiences and other policy areas. The essay partly agrees and partly disagrees that the proposals made by Wood and Klassen (2011) will address the problems with Canada’s “system” for labor market training adequately. The governance models proposed stressed policymaking that is evidence-based with considerable information dissemination to stakeholders and the public, a situation currently in Canada does not exist with training policy and employment. Moreover, in Canada, there are no processes defined for employer views or feeding evaluation results into active programming of the labor market, apart from on a basis of province-to-province.

 

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The governance model by Wood and Klassen (2011) has four features: the first was the establishment of the national agency referred to as the Canadian Labor Market Information Agency. In addressing the problems with Canada’s “system” for labor market training, the body will improve the transparency, quality, and usefulness of labor market analysis, reporting, and information. The body will have the responsibility of identifying, disseminating, and maintaining information on the labor market, gathering data and comparative research analysis across the provinces, assessing policies and trends across Canada and even internationally, sharing and monitoring best practices, evaluating program results of the labor market and comparative research. However, to some extent, this proposed agency’s role has been done by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) historically. Moreover, these roles today continues with Ottawa’s federal officials and also the analysis of the labor market in regional Canadian offices in the country. Therefore, this proposal will not bring any change but is just redundancy of what already exists and is operating efficiently.

The second was the establishment of the expanded and reformed Forum of Labor Market Ministers (FLMM) which will be mandated to act as a pan-Canadian intergovernmental, multilateral forum. This will be charged with the duty of collective determination of all employment aspects and Canada’s training policy. According to Wood and Klassen (2011), FLMM will be the Canadian Labor Market Information Agency governing body and will have the responsibility of negotiating for labor market agreements that are comprehensive. This will help in addressing the problems with Canada’s “system” for labor market training.

The proposal by Wood and Klassen (2011) was the consolidation of the separate existing bilateral provincial-federal agreements into one whole comprehensive agreement between each province and the federal government. This will help address the problems with Canada’s “system” for labor market training since every province will only have one agreement of the labor market with the federal government, with a universal set of reporting and accountability requirements. This proposal will help in addressing the issues. However, it would be more appealing if the proposal made a complete devolution of responsibility to each province, for instance, through block funding arrangement. Extracting the federal government from the policy field fully and permitting the provinces to independent and autonomously proceed simple and appealing.

The fourth proposal as part of agreement consolidation and in keeping with the multilateral decision making at large, the programs for the persons with disability and the youths will be transferred by the federal government to the provinces. The provinces in turn will support and accept a federal role that is enhanced in areas such as pan-Canadian reporting, comparative benchmarking, and research.

Up Against the Wall: The Political Economy Of The new Attack on the Canadian Labor Movement by Andrew Jackson

The author’s view of the relationship between union density and social inequality

Union density can be defined as the proportion of the workers who are paid and are members of unions (Jackson, 2011). According to Andrew (2013), from the perspective of social justice, unions are an important force for workers’ economic equality. The collective bargaining of the unionized workers raises the unionized worker’s wages relative to the workers who are non-union especially the workers who are paid lower. Moreover, unions compress differentials in wages in the unionized sector, including the differentials that are based on race and gender. These impacts of equalizing spill over to the non-union workers who are lower paid in countries and communities where union density is high (Card, Lemieux and Riddell 2004; Jackson 2011). Therefore, the wage distribution is greatly more equal in jurisdictions of high union density, and the declining unionizations have been the greatest cause of the rapidly rising inequality in wages since the 1980s, particularly among men. Andrew (2013) stated that it is of great importance to note that the labor movements’ goal should be to narrow wage differentials overall instead of raising the wages of the elites in the union relative to the non-union members. However, Card, Lemieux, and Riddell (2004) pointed out that as the union density shrinks, inequality can be increased by the unions by increasing the wages of the relatively unionized workers who are well off without increasing the relative wages of the workers who are lower paid.

Assess his suggestions for increasing union support and membership put forward in his “Concluding Reflections” to the article

The suggestions of increasing union support and membership, as put forward by Andrew, is significant since the future of unionism in the public sector is in doubt since the private sector is declining continuously. There is a need to increase increasing union membership in certain geographical locations/ specific sectors to improve conditions and raise wages. For instance, organizing hotel and cleaning workers on a city-wide basis and also organizing the workers who work in the community service like the homecare and childcare. This can be done through community-based campaigns to win the support of the local, provincial, and state governments (Milkman and Wong 2001; Kelleher 2008).

Similarly, the suggestion by Andrew (2013) for the need for the law reform for promoting multi-management went for a strategy known simply as satisficing to make the decision. Normally managers are forced by their employer and sectoral bargaining and certification to support union support and membership is sound. This is practical as can be seen from the achievement of high union density in Quebec among workers of child care. Moreover, the suggestion of increasing union support and membership as suggested in the article of Andrew by unions cooperating, perhaps through the labor councils at the local levels conducting community campaigns is also workable and practical from the assessment.

Are they sufficient in light of the challenges identified in the article? If not, why not; if yes, why?

The suggestions provided in the article for increasing union support and membership are not sufficient in light of the identified challenges in the article. The suggestions provided are few compared to the diverse problems unions face ranging from political, economic, and social challenges. The suggestions include increasing union membership in certain geographical locations/ specific sectors to improve conditions and raise wages, and law reform for promoting multi-employer and sectoral bargaining and certification to support union support and membership. These suggestions are less compared to the diverse and numerous challenges that face unions in Canada currently. The increased attacks on unions are a result of their weakness and this can be resisted by increasing their bargaining power and union density in the private sector rather than particular geographical locations, communities, and passing vague laws.

References

Andrew, J. (January 01, 2013, Up Against the Wall: The Cold War many developing countries were ruled by authoritarian regimes. Dictatorships tend to repress labor and mollify its Political Economy Of The new Attack on the Canadian Labor Movement. De Arte, 76, 4-20.

Card, D., T. Lemieux, and W.C. Riddell. 2004. “Unionization and Wage Inequality: A Comparative Study of the U.S., UK, and Canada.” Journal of Labor Research 25:519-59.

Jackson, A. (2011). Work and Labour in Canada 2nd Edition. Toronto: CSPI

Kelleher, K. (2008). “Growth of a Modern Union Local: A People’s History of SEIU Local 880.” Just Labour 12:1-15.

Milkman, R. and K. Wong. (2001). “Organizing Immigrant Workers: Case Studies from Southern California” Pp. 99-128 in Rekindling the Movement: Labor’s Quest for Relevance in the Twenty-First Century, edited by H. Katz and R. Hurd. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Wood, D., & Klassen, T. (January 01, 2011). Improving The Governance Of Employment And Training Policy In Canada. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 19-22.

5/5 - (6 votes)

Enhancing Personal Well-being: Strategies for Optimal Health

Introduction

Health is the physical, mental, social and spiritual well-being. Growing up a number of members from my family were diagnosed with blood pressure and diabetes. Being the eldest in the family, I have always had the responsibility of taking care of others. Therefore, I would  acompany my aunt in most of her doctor’s appointments and would listen keenly as the doctors advised her how to live a healthy lifestyle. Therefore, my family became a great influence to my personal health. To this day, I have devoted to take my personal health with utmost responsibility. The health of a person is usually is in the dimensions of physical, emotional, spiritual and social health.

 

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Since the beginning of this year, I have taken my personal healthcare seriously. This health assessment shall involve all the dimensions of health mentioned above. An example of physical healthcare is exercises will be walking, swimming and aerobic exercises. Benefits of physical health are body weight management, psychological benefits and achievement of mental fitness. There is also reduced risk in heart diseases that are usually as a result of fat deposits in blood vessels, others are reduced risks of diabetes. Apart from physical health, there is social health, which is achieved by building strong family and friend ties. Social healthcare is based on the social relationships. It involves being friendly, a good listener and improving my communication skills. Another dimension I will look at is improving my spiritual healthcare, here I will pray more often seeking guidance from God in every situation in my life. Human spiritual healthcare helps develop the health of the body, mind and spirit (Srivastava, 2014). The last dimension sis my emotional health, which is related to mental health. The primary strategy in maintaining emotional health is to ensure that is eradicate and avoid any stress in my life. This paper outlines my personal health assessment and strategies to improving all the four dimensions of my health.

Physical Healthcare

As mentioned earlier, this kind of health is attained from regular physical exercises. The exercises I intent to engage in are swimming, jogging and kickboxing. With regular exercises, I will be able to avoid chronic illness like high blood pressure and diabetes. Physical activities are important to prevent diabetes and other chronic diseases. Through exercises, I will manage my body weight. Aerobics and cardiovascular exercises reduce the risk of heart diseases by minimizing the fat deposits in the blood vessels. Vitamin and mineral supplements are good additional to physical fitness. Together with regular exercises, consumption of substances that may affect the well-being of an individual must be reduced. For example, avoiding drugs such as tobacco and alcohol is not only harmful to the smoker but to those around them. With this in mind, to maintain my physical health, other deterrence of good health are alcohol and smoking. I will reduce my alcohol intake until I am able to quit, additionally I will quit cigarette smoking. Taking an insurance policy is another step to ensuring that I am fully covered incase of any medical emergencies.

Emotional or Mental and Spiritual Health Assessment

Being emotionally healthy means having a stress free mind and life. One would argue that it is not possible to have mental exercise. However, in my research I have realized there is a wide range of mental exercise. Some of them are word puzzles, playing chess, mental calculations and learning a new concept every day. Inclusion and proper understanding of the stress management techniques is important. When one is stressed, it means that they are unhealthy emotionally, emotional unhealthiness results to skin breakout, loss of body weight and hair loss. Emotional unhealthiness also affects spiritual health. I will manage my stressful encounters by relaxing. I intent to relax more often to reduce my level of anxiety and lower my blood pressure (Jacobs, 2001).

Emotional health can also be managed by accepting things the way they are or things we cannot change. In a way we avoid having high levels of expectation hence no disappointment way is proper and enough sleep, it is said a human being should have 6-8 hours of sleep. Since emotional health is directly related to spiritual health, I will pay more attention to my spiritual health. Meditation and yoga are excellent strategies of managing physical, spiritual and emotional health.

Social Health

Social health is intricately intertwined to physical and emotional wellness. For example, if one has healthy work and family relationships, then it will result in their positive general well-being. Equally, abusive relationships will result to increased diseases. When one is healthy socially, it means they leave in harmony with others. One is also able to learn new social skills and have a good support system from friends and family. Social healthiness entails having a great connection with those around us, for example, family, friends and even strangers.

One way of improving social health is by having good communication skills. Additionally, it is drawn from the way we relate to others. Communication helps us express how we feel about others. When we do not communicate, we tend to let in all the stresses of life, hence overwhelming our emotional health. For a while now I have been trying to improve with the way I communicate with my husband. In case we have a disagreement, we have both agreed that the matter will be solved before we sleep. In this way we avoid postponing problems hence reducing stress.

Friends are important parts of our lives, they help us grow and rediscover ourselves. Most of the time my friends have complained that I do not listen to them. I intent to develop my active listening skills by not being judgmental. With the advent of technology face-to-face conversations with my friends has reduced. I realized that when you talk to someone and see his or her face it creates more impact that texting. For this reason I intent to meet with my friends at least once a week to have a more fulfilling conversations (Umberson & Montez Karas, 2010).

Unhealthy social relationships are also as result of not recognizing limits. When boundaries are crossed, it results to unhealthy relationships. I intend to treat people gently, recognizing that they are human and bound to make mistakes. Mutual respect is another important aspect in recognizing our limits in relationships. For example, in arguments I intent to refrain from personal attacks by sticking to the topic. Setting up of realistic goals in a relationship is important, when our relationship goals are easy to achieve there is little stress. Trust is an important aspect in all kinds of relationships. Trust is earned and not demanded or expected. If the relationship is characterized by unfair balance, disrespect and dishonesty then the relationship is socially unhealthy.

Conclusion

Physical, emotional, spiritual and social health are all intricately intertwined. Regular exercises, balanced meals, using vitamin, and mineral supplements. Through exercise, we are able to control our body weight and prevent chronic diseases. Spiritual healthiness is putting God first. Having a clear mind and no stress in life leads to emotional healthness. Through stress management skills, one will be emotionally healthy. Additionally, mental games such as learning a new concept every day, playing puzzles and Chess is a good way of exercising the mind. Good communication skills and being a good listener are essential elements of social health. Active listening involves not judging others and putting ourselves in the shoes of others. Social health is also achieved by having trust in a relationship. Relationships that lack trust are strenuous to both the body and mind. I will analyze all my relationship to determine if they are abusive and dysfunctional. Unhealthy relationships with both a stranger and family have a negative effect on our emotional health. To achieve my personal health, I intent to create a balance of social, emotional, spiritual and physical health.

Bibliography

Jacobs, D. ( 2001). The Physiology of Mind–Body Interactions: The Stress Response and the Relaxation Response. Journal of Alternative and Complimentary Medicine, 7(1), 83-92. Srivastava, P. S.(2014). Human Being and Spiritual Education.International Journal of Multidisciplinary Approach and Studies, Volume 01, No. 6.

Umberson, D & Montez Karas, J (2010). Social Relationships and Health: A Flashpoint for Health Policy. Journal of Health and Social Behavior November 2010 vol. 51 no. 1 suppl S54-S66

Varvogli1, L., & Darviri1,C.(2011). Stress Management Techniques: evidence-based procedures that reduce stress and promote health. Health Science Journal, Volume 5 Issue 2.

5/5 - (7 votes)

Exploring the Complex Character of Amadeo in Isabel Allende’s ‘If You Touched My Heart’

in “If You Touched My Heart,” Allende tells a story where the main character is Amadeo. Amadeo is thirty years old, a young man who has been forced into a life that he did not want. In essence the books centers on the tragedy that is Amadeo’s life. It seems that though he is successful, he can never find true happiness and in the end his own success destroys him. Though a humble, happy boy at the beginning of the story, he quickly transforms into the villain that his father desired. It is important to note the contrasting background, while Amadeo does not make decisions with his own will, he is rich and pretentious; on the other hand Hostensia comes from a poor home and background which sets her fate seemingly.

 

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Obedient: the main trait seen with regard to Amadeo is that he is obedient at least to his father. Cox (2003) states that the obedience of Amadeo has been a point of controversy for main critics. On the one hand, his obedience is seen as a sign of respect while on the other hand it is a sign of fear for his father. Unable to contradict and say no to his father, Amadeo is forced to slowly seduce a village “sweetheart”. The relationship that develops thereof is as a result of seeking his father’s approval. He seeks a woman he has no desire for, seduces her and a relationship ensues just so that he does not disappoint his father.

Gullible: Amadeo seems less strong willed and gullible as the story progresses. First, he begins a relationship with a woman simply because he is afraid to stand up to his father. He then joins life as a ruffian even though he does not approve or like the life he has been drawn to simply because all the male members of the clan are ruffians. In later years, we see Hostensia playing to his gullibility by begging him to rekindle their romance which leads to a complicated life for both of them. However, as Amadeo spends more time with Hostensia, in the cellar we see him develop a completely opposite side to the gullibility. Instead, he develops a villainous, manipulative side; convincing Hostensia who is locked in a cellar that despite the treatment he has granted her, he actually loves her (85).

Protective: while many critics view Amadeo’s actions, locking up Hostensia as a growth in his villain character, it seems more protective as one becomes aware of his intentions. In (pg78), it is seen that he has locked her in the cellar simply because he has a ravishing appetite for her and he fears she will be discovered by both the villagers and the gang of ruffians. However, it’s not just protection he is concerned about, Baldick (1992) states that this is just a front. Amadeo is more afraid that the villagers and the gang of ruffians would take away Hostensia from him. Since he has a ravishing appetite, and he thinks he cannot survive without her, he locks her up in a cellar where she cannot be found.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Amadeo’s character in “If You Touched My Heart” is a testament to the complexity of human nature. Though initially presenting himself as obedient and gullible, he undergoes a profound transformation that defies expectations. While his actions may be perplexing and at times morally questionable, they reveal the depth of his desires, fears, and the intricate web of emotions that shape his decisions. Amadeo embodies the inherent tragedy that exists within the world, where individuals grapple with conflicting forces, societal expectations, and their own internal struggles. Through his journey, Isabel Allende prompts us to ponder the enigmatic nature of human existence and the profound impact our choices can have on our lives and the lives of those around us. Amadeo serves as a poignant reminder that understanding the complexities of individuals is no easy task, as they possess the capacity for both transformation and tragedy, mirroring the intricate tapestry of the human experience.

References

Baldick, C. (1992). The Oxford book of gothic tales. Oxford [England: Oxford University Press.

Cox, K. C. (2003). Isabel Allende: A critical companion. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.

5/5 - (6 votes)

Language Proficiency and Critical Thinking Performance

Critical analysis of “How might language affect critical thinking performance?”

Introduction

The critical analysis mainly examines the article or others’ work of the researcher to determine how effective the piece is at making a point or argument. It helps to express the opinions of the writer and in the evaluation of the respective text. The analysis is mainly meant to break down and study the necessary parts of the article or other work of the researcher. For a critical analysis, the researcher needs to do two tasks: critical writing and critical reading. The critical analysis helps to point out the necessary decisions to what extent a finding or statement is in the respective research paper—the school pipeline to prison. Ecenbarger (2012) believes that evidence is being taken from various sources that contradict and agree with the argument. As said by Manalo and Sheppard (2016), in this research, the research will do both critical analysis and evaluation of the article, and the name of the article is “How might language affect the critical thinking performance?”

 

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Critical Analysis

In the chosen article, the author mainly examines language proficiency and the structure of language that could affect the ability for critical thinking among students. The author divided the study into two groups for critical thinking performance. The first is the structural limitation in non-native students’ first language, and the second is language proficiency. The researcher mainly focuses on analyzing two studies. In the case of the first study, the authors had taken about 100 Japanese. The students selected for the first studies were second-year Japanese students, and these students had received guidelines in the case of the academic expatriate for critical evaluation. They did not face any difficulties speaking their native language, Japanese. However, the language has a more indirect structure, making critical evaluation difficult for them. Manalo and Sheppard (2016) said that language proficiency between Japanese and English was found to correlate, which could affect the use of critical evaluation. In the case of Study 2, the same task was provided but among 43 students who were from the first year.

The first-year students did not receive instruction from the author for using critical evaluation statements in the report for the language L2, that is, English. The analysis provided the same pattern in the written word. However, it was being provided at the lower level. As said by Dwyer et al. (2014), the evidence provided by the first-year survey by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, average a pharmacy student borrows an average of 0,000. Most students do not provide any correlations between their evaluative statement production and language proficiency scores. The research that the researcher found aimed to find out if the additional guidelines provided to the stud made any difference or not. For this reason, the author has taken one group of students who are being provided with the production of evaluative language. The other group was not provided with any knowledge.

Study 1 mainly focuses on two hypotheses: “evaluative statements were being provided in both English and Japanese that could differ,” and the second hypothesis is “student’s proficiency in a respective language.” The first participants who are being selected are 110 Japanese students from the second year. These students are mainly focusing on the English communication skills development course. It has been found the first group was provided with class textbooks, instruction, examples, explanation, and proper practice in the use of proper languages for critical evaluation. The students were also provided with a single-page textbook translation to understand how to provide valid arguments. The students were given two consecutive 90 minutes classes on Space Shuttle Challenger disaster and the Titanic. The students were asked to write two reports explaining the important causes of each disaster. The author has scored and counted in the written work of students. Kettler (2014) said that language proficiency was measured with the help of students ‘TOEIC-IP scores and the complexity of students’ sentences. It has been produced in Japanese and English. TOEIC (The Test of English for International Communication) provided great help for the author in analyzing the report written by the respective students. The verbs are easy to compare in the Japanese and English languages. As said by Chukwuyenum (2013), the good use of verbs is a good indicator of the structure of the complex sentence. The data has been calculated with means help with their respective standard deviation provided in brackets.

The correlation coefficients between second-year writing complexity and TOEIC scores are also provided in the result. Study 1 shows that about 3.46 mean values students can evaluate in English from a total mean value of 20.31. In the case of the Japanese language, about 3.75 mean values were evaluative from the total mean, which was equal to 18.68. The correlation was equal to the proportions of sentences that had been evaluated and produced by students in the case of Japanese and English, r =0.72 and p<0.0001, R to the power 2 = 0.518. This means students evaluated more critically in a single language demonstrate greater critical evaluation in more foreign languages. Study 2 mainly analyses three hypotheses. For the first hypothesis, the lower use for targeting the language for evaluation of the students from the second year would be obvious. The second hypothesis provides the distinction in evaluative language that is consistent between the language Japanese and English. It was evident that the students from the first year would use the Japanese language more than the English language. For the first language proficiency test, the author Martherthe ked the Japanese language as L1, and for the English language, the author marked it as L2. For Study 2, 43 first-year Japanese students were chosen. The students were given the same homework to write two reports on two related topics provided in Study 1. The report of both groups is being studied and measured with the help of ANOVA. As Pitt et al. (2015) said, ANOVA is a very useful research tool that helped the author with thorough research about the language structure and proficiency of first- and second-year students.

The researcher conducted a correlation analysis to analyze the relationship between the students’ proportion of evaluative language and language proficiency scores. The result has been found that the students are more comfortable providing a report in their native language or Japanese than in English. The author has mentioned that the use of critical thinking helps to improve the non-native speaker when comes to the English language. This will help to lower the perceived deficiencies in the case of people from Asian countries and other international students’ critical thinking. As said by Ghazivakili et al. (2014), the study also helps to indicate proper instruction in the classroom, which is important for developing students’ abilities to demonstrate proper critical thinking competencies.

Critical Evaluation

The research provided by the author was a great success for them. They could compare the language proficiency and structure of the students of both years. The main limitation of this study is that the author had only analyzed the Japanese students and not other international students. Chan (2013) states that the author needs to analyze this research among other non-native speakers to find better results. This is because more people have different languages, different critical thinking, and different cultures. The author requires more time to analyze the research more thoroughly. The researcher must analyze the language structure and proficiency with the help of different written tests and listening tests.

The author must take debate, group discussion, and process all job-related important information. It is a procedure by which duties, nature of jobs, and people to be hired are determined. The information can be used in writing and listening skills among the students to gain more data about how language could affect critical thinking performance. The two languages related explanations made an apparent difference in the critical thinking performance. Students from different cultures mainly manifest it upon arriving in the United States. These students must understand their cultural backgrounds. The author can also take personal interviews with the students. The author can take interviews with the help of two languages. As said by Kong (2014), the overall finding that has been found in English proficiency among the chosen students is mainly the potentially limiting factor. The use of critical thinking skills is needed to be highlighted more thoroughly for the improvement of the proficiency of the English language among non-native speakers.

The strategies need to be implemented to reduce the perceived deficiencies among international students. For this reason, more thorough research is important. The author must need to provide this analysis to other international students to understand their performance in critical thinking and evaluation. As Heijltjes et al. (2015) said, without receiving explicit instruction, most students do not understand how critical evaluation in daily activities or work needs to be demonstrated. The literature review has highlighted the necessary principles and skills related to the critical evaluation of the research paper. However, the main problem that the researcher can face in further studies is taking more different language-speaking natives to implement the research.

The ANOVA test of the analysis of the variance is limited and very complex. Calculating and analyzing the data with the help of the analysis of variance or ANOVA is very time-consuming. Any small mistake in the data can provide a great problem for the author. Two studies are limited in the case of the analysis of Variance. As Dwyer et al. (2015) said, studying more groups will be a great problem for the author. There is also the limitation on the total investment and time constraint of the research. F-test will greatly help for studying the respective research. This is because the author can use the F statistic for comparing two variances, s2, and s1, by dividing them.

Conclusion

From this analysis, it has been found that the author successfully measured the critical evaluation performance among the 1st- and second-year students. The authors’ chosen topic and research study are very important for all non-native speakers. This research study will provide a great amount of improvement for all international students. The universities will be able to learn more new techniques for improving the student’s critical evaluation performance.

Reference

Chan, Z. C. (2013). A systematic review of critical thinking in nursing education. Nurse Education Today33(3), 236-240.

Chukwuyenum, A. N. (2013). Impact of critical thinking on performance in mathematics among senior secondary school students in Lagos state. IOSR Journal of Research & Method in Education3(5), 18-25.

Dwyer, C. P., Hogan, M. J., & Stewart, I. (2015). The effects of argument mapping-infused critical thinking instruction on reflective judgment performance. Thinking skills and creativity16, 11-26.

Dwyer, C.P., Hogan, M.J. & Stewart, I., (2014). An integrated critical thinking framework for the 21st century. Thinking Skills and Creativity12, 43-52.

Ghazivakili, Z., Nia, R. N., PANAHI, F., Karimi, M., Gholsorkhi, H., & Ahmadi, Z. (2014). The role of university students’ critical thinking skills and learning styles in their academic performance. Journal of advances in medical education & professionalism2(3), 95.

Heijltjes, A., van Gog, T., Leppink, J., & Paas, F. (2015). Unraveling the effects of critical thinking instructions, practice, and self-explanation on students’ reasoning performance. Instructional Science43(4), 487-506.

Kettler, T., (2014). Critical thinking skills among elementary school students: Comparing identified gifted and general education student performance. Gifted Child Quarterly58(2), 27-136.

Kong, S.C., (2014). Developing information literacy and critical thinking skills through domain knowledge learning in digital classrooms: An experience of practicing flipped classroom strategy. Computers & Education78, 160-173.

Manalo, E. & Sheppard, C., (2016). How might language affect critical thinking performance? Thinking Skills and Creativity21, 41-49.

Pitt, V., Powis, D., Levett-Jones, T., & Hunter, S. (2015). The influence of critical thinking skills on performance and progression in a pre-registration nursing program. Nurse education today35(1), 125-131.

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