Congruity in Quality Indicators and Laboratory Performance

Proficiency of laboratory services is the mainstay in clinical medicine in providing error free diagnostic results. The efficiency of the laboratory needs to be evaluated as per standard international criterion. The quality indicators of the different phases of total testing process are considered the fundamental measurable tool for evaluation of laboratory performance. In order to optimize the laboratory’s proficiency and accreditate it as per international standard in our newly established lab, the study was conducted to evaluate the frequency of errors incurred by laboratory and nonlaboratory professionals during the whole testing process. Retrospective analysis was done for data received from April 2016 to Dec 2016 in our lab. Total number of samples received was 61,674, out of which 43200 samples could be analyzed for quality indicators. Total numbers of tests processed in these samples were 172,800. In the study samples, 26.5% errors were due to pre-analytical factors whereas 9.4% of errors were contributed by analytical phase and 18% by post-analytical phase. Inappropriateness of test requisition was observed to be the major attributing determinant for pre-analytical errors. Instrumentation efficiency in form of frequent breakdown (~7%), greatly affected the proficiency of analytical phase in our lab. 12% of post-analytical errors were ascribed by excessive turn-around-time. However, timeliness of critical value call out and reporting for STAT samples revealed high proficiency up to 97%. High error rates were observed in pre–pre- and pre-analytical phases that also accorded for high error frequency in post analytical phase. This emphasizes urgent need to formulate guidelines for processing all steps of total testing process and initiate strategic measures for reducing risk of errors and increasing patient safety.     

Information recall of younger and older skilled athletes: The role of display complexity,attentional resources and visual exposure duration

This study was concerned with the interactive role of experience of athletic skill with other relevant environmental variables (display complexity, attentional resources, exposure time of stimuli) on perception (recall) of structured handball game situations. Nineteen experienced (older) and 19 less experienced (younger) handball players were assigned randomly either to ball‐bouncing (diverted attention) or to calm seated (focused attention) conditions. In each of the two conditions, the subjects were exposed to a total of 36 slides containing 2–3, 5–6 and 8–10 players. Eighteen slides were exposed for 0.5 s and 18 for 1.0 s. All the slides contained structured defence and offence situations. Recall scores were subjected to repeated‐measures ANOVA using attention condition and age as between‐subject factors and task complexity and exposure duration as within‐subject factors. The results showed that the recall of less experienced players deteriorated more than the recall of more experienced players following exposure to complex displays (≥ 8 players) while engaging in a secondary task (bouncing). The findings suggest that research paradigms should be applied in the field of sport which share both ecological validity and a potential to discover the cognitive substrates underlying experience and age in skilled motor performance.     

Development of Religious Thinking

Over the last fifty years, in three distinct waves of research, psychologists have investigated the religious thinking of children and adolescents. However, they have differed substantially in their conceptual frameworks, methods, and conclusions, making it difficult for educators to determine the overall implications of their findings for educational practice. In this article, the author reviews this research, identifies points of agreement and contention, derives tentative conclusions about the nature of religious thinking and its development, and discusses their educational implications.     

Locating Transgender Within the Language of Queer in Teacher Education

Queer is difficult to pin down conceptually; it is willfully disruptive, intentionally destabilizing everything from identity to knowledge to politics to power. The intent of this article is to illuminate some of the ways teacher educators are conceptually connecting queer to transgender identities and experiences in their classroom curriculum and pedagogical strategies. The data discussed in this article refers to three courses designed for pre-service teachers and include transgender content. A syllabus analysis and interviews illuminated the various ways queer is being conceptualized in different ways by each teacher educator. Trans identities and experiences were affirmed to various degrees through the participants’ conceptualizations of queer as an identity, queer as an embodiment/expression, queer as an analytical approach, and queer as a political project. Fundamental to the instructors’ understanding of queer was an intentional subversiveness, an affinity for non-conformity and disruption, and a commitment to anti-assimilationist practices. Furthermore, the participants saw trans and queer connecting through a common gender socialization experience and social positioning outside gender norms, and through a mutual vulnerability to heteronormativity as a system of oppression—particularly those who are both trans and queer.