Comparison of Dulce et Decorum Est and Charge of the Light Brigade Essa

Comparison of Dulce et Decorum Est and Charge of the Light Brigade Compare and contrast the two poems Dulce et Decorum Est (Owen) with Charge of the Light Brigade (Tennyson), paying particular attention to the writers’ attitude to war. The attitudes of poets towards war have always been expressed vigorously in their poetry, each poet either condoning or condemning war, and mitigating their attitudes in whatever way possible. I aim to explore the change in the portrayal of war before and during the twentieth century, and also the structures and devices poets use to convey their views persuasively, and justify them. For this job I have chosen to write about â€Å"Charge of the Light Brigade† written by the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson and â€Å"Dulce et Decorum est† by the poet Wilfred Owen. These two poems describe war, and scenes from war, with varying levels of intensity and reality and also from different viewpoints. Written during the Crimean War Tennyson’s â€Å"Charge of the Light Brigade† mirrors the sentiments expressed in the Battle of Balaclava. This event took place in 1854 and is still remembered as one of the most famous triumphs in British history. The truth is that Lord Raglan suicidally led his troops " Into the valley of Death ", where they were massacred. Lord Tennyson was the poet Laureate at the time of the Crimean war, but did not witness any fighting and was not involved in it but his clever and effective use of literary devices in his poem ensure that this military fiasco was remembered as a glorious victory. Tennyson puts across a message to remember, respect and honour the soldiers for what they have given up their lives to do for their country. â€Å"Dulce et Decorum est† however, was writt... ... suggesting that the writers of glorious war poems have even lied to the young people, and sent them to the front line to die in their millions, in awful conditions and distressing situations. Having explored both poems, I feel that the one which brings about the biggest response from me is â€Å"Dulce et Decorum est†. This is because of the striking graphic imagery he uses, the way he describes the effects of the war on him, and also because of the way he directs the poem at the reader personally, using phrases such as â€Å"you† and â€Å"my friend†. In my opinion, â€Å"The Charge of the Light Brigade† does not have the impact and the realism to convey the opinions contained in it effectively and forcefully. I feel is a more imaginative, outlook on war than Wilfred Owen’s graphic poem. The thing I did like about Tennyson’s poem was the excitement and passion and pace.

Celibacy and Catholic Priests Essay

In today’s world, many wonder why Catholic priests can’t get married and have a family of their own. This issue and question can be boiled down into one word: celibacy. Being celibate is defined as being â€Å"One who abstains from sexual intercourse, especially by reason of religious vows,† according to thefreedictionary.com. This definition is not understood by many because the thought of having a life without sex is unbearable, especially in today’s society. By exploring this topic in depth, one can understand why celibacy is an important factor of the Catholic priesthood. According to Father Kenneth Doyle of the Catholic News Service, priests hold this sacred vow for three particular reasons: it closely resembles Christ Who was unmarried, it shows and proves that love can be present without being physical, and it allows a man to give all of his energy to the Lord rather than to a family. In understanding how celibacy became so important, we have to look at its history, particularly at the third, fourth, eleventh, and sixteenth centuries, according to John O’Malley in his article Some Basics About Celibacy (8). In the third century, within the early Church, many priests and even most of the apostles of Jesus were men with wives and families. It was a common feature among the early Church, and even some of the Holy Fathers, or Popes, were known to be married and have children. It is clear that during this time period, the patristic era and early Middle Ages, celibacy was not enforced and not important within the Church. Early in this century, Constantine’s recognition of Christianity brought about status change for all Christians: because they were not being oppressed and martyred they looked for new ways to follow Christ and challenge themselves to give their lives for Him. John W. O’Malley writes, â€Å"With St. Jerome (345-420), as well as many others, virginity for those espoused to Christ began to be extolled with new fervor and consistency.† This became the building block for legislation and more teachings on the subject of celibacy (9). O’Malley points out that the fourth century brought about more change for Christians as they came out of hiding in the catacombs (9). The Council of Elvira was held in 305, which consisted of nineteen bishops as well as a number of priests, deacons, and laypeople. O’Malley writes that Canon 33 was a product of this council and that it was the first piece of legislation that dealt with the issue of the clergy and marriage. It reads: It has seemed good absolutely to forbid the bishops, the priests, and the deacons, i.e., all the clerics in the service of the ministry, to have relations with their wives and procreate children; should anyone do so, let him be excluded from the honor of the clergy. (9) This decree changed things, because it made a tradition into a law, and any who violated it would be punished. This decree was really meant to put continence or self-restraint on married clergy, because the idea of mirroring Christ and having complete dedication to the sacraments was becoming more important, as well as trying to lead by example as clergy to the laypeople. This was very important in setting up what would change in the eleventh century as more authoritative figures wanted to establish order and set things right within the Church (9). According to O’Malley, the eleventh century sought to recover from the Dark Ages and was able to retrieve patristic era canon law collections (10). These recovered canon law collections contained laws related to the idea of celibacy and acted as maps or blueprints for a series of holy and zealous popes for thirty-five years, who were determined to set order in the Church and society (10). During this time the papacy established a rule of authority and power, which far surpassed anything that preceded it, and began reforming the Church. The reformers had the main goal of trying to get the clergy’s behaviors and actions to mirror the ancient canon laws interpreted by the reformers, and were striving to make the clergy and the Church more holy in nature. One of the greatest popes in history was Pope Gregory VII who came into office towards the end of the movement. Thanks to his efforts, the law of celibacy began to appear in the form that would most resemble today’s form, which is the prohibition of the ordained from being married before or after ordination (10). The sixteenth century saw the beginnings of the reformation, where the idea of celibacy was challenged and questioned by Luther and others, who broke away from the Church and who were also married. The Council of Trent was the Church’s response to the Protestants; it solidified what celibacy means today for the Church and condemned three thoughts on celibacy. According to O’Malley, these were as follows: â€Å"First, that clerics in major orders and religious priests who have made a solemn vow of chastity can validly contract marriage; second, that the regulation of celibacy is a disparagement of marriage; and third, that those who, after making a solemn vow of celibacy, cannot observe it are free to contract marriage† (11). O’Malley points out that the law has been modified. Canon 277, which is observed and practiced today, reads: Clerics are obliged to observe perfect and perpetual continence for the sake of the kingdom of heaven and therefore are obliged to observe celibacy, which is a special gift of God, by which sacred ministers can adhere more easily to Christ with an undivided heart and can more freely dedicate themselves to the service of God and humankind. (11) Continuing to dive deeper into the topic of celibacy, it is important to make a distinction between the Catholic teachings of dogma and discipline. According to Catholic Answers, dogmas are teachings within the Catholic Church that will never change, and a discipline can change. As Catholic Answers points out, because of the many different variations of celibacy in the Eastern Rite Catholics, Orthodox and Oriental Christians where married priests are quite common, celibacy is a disciplinary rule, not a dogma like the Trinity is. Of course there are rules and regulations on marriage and being ordained in those areas that have married clergy, but it is the tradition in the Western or Roman Catholic Church that their clergy take a vow of celibacy; exceptions can be made for Roman Catholic Priests who are married because they converted after being Lutheran or some other denomination. Many Fundamentalists attack celibacy as being a discipline or practice that goes against the Holy Bible and against nature itself because Genesis 1:28 says to, â€Å"Be fruitful and multiply.† As Catholic Answers points out, many also argue that celibacy itself leads to perversion or that it can cause illicit sexual behavior, which is simply not true. It is true that many people are called to be married in their lives, but Catholics Answers states, â€Å"†¦The vocation of celibacy is explicitly advocated—as well as practiced—by both Jesus and Paul†. Thus, it is easy to see why celibacy is a very intricate and important part of the priesthood, because it allows the priests to be more like Jesus and have a more connected relationship with the Father and the people they minister to, just like Jesus Himself. Paul understands the importance of celibacy and complete dedication to the Lord by saying in First Corinthians 7:32-34 that, â€Å"I should like you to be free of anxieties. An unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord. But a married man is anxious about the things of the world, how he may please his wife, and he is divided†. Being celibate is neither unnatural nor against the Bible. Jesus and Paul practiced and advocated it in their times; clearly, it is not wrong. Catholic Priests are extremely important in today’s world because they provide us with the seven sacraments: Baptism, Eucharist, Reconciliation, Confirmation, Marriage, Holy Orders, and Anointing of the sick. Being celibate helps priests to perform these sacraments in the most holy manner and with complete connection to God. Unfortunately, in today’s world the idea or discipline of celibacy is becoming something that is very hard for some to understand and practice, even for priests. In her article entitled On the Verge of Ideological Mutiny: Celibacy and the Roman Catholic Priesthood, Cathleen M. Falsani said that, â€Å"The debate about mandatory celibacy for priests raises ire and eyebrows, as the Roman Catholic Church experiences a daunting shortage of priests and a declining interest in religious vocations, while stories of sexual indiscretion and abuse abound† (16). It is true that today, many people blame celibacy as the main cause of shortages to the prie sthood and many argue that celibacy shouldn’t be forced onto someone and instead be a personal choice. This issue takes a toll on the entire Church and can threaten the availability of the Mass and sacraments if shortages of priests continue (16). Many also take the Church’s view on sex as a negative thing in that sex is a bad thing and that its only use is to create children, which is why many believe that celibacy is in place for Catholic priests, according to Falsani and Bob McClory a former Catholic priest (16). As Falsani points out, the Church has responded to this view with Blessed Pope John Paul II’s papal letter which stated that, â€Å"The heart of a priest, in order that it may be available for this service, must be free. Celibacy is a sign of a freedom that exists for the sake of service†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (17). This really is what celibacy for those in the priesthood is all about: it allows them to be focused and be married to the church and God in a way that many simply many can not comprehend nor understand. It is about complete sacrifice and giving of one’s self for the greater glory of God and heaven, which allows them to administer and perform the seven holy sacraments in a way that reflects Jesus Christ Himself and His apostles who followed Him and gave up their lives for Christ’s glory. Yes, many of the apostles may have been married; nonetheless, they began to develop a greater love and meaning to what it means to be a servant of the Lord to others and to truly give up their lives in service to Him. Celibacy is not against Church teachings. Contrary to many people’s beliefs, it actually helps strengthen and reaffirm practices within the Catholic Church and proves that life is possible without giving in to worldly desires. In his article Why Celibacy Makes Sense, Robert Barron says that, â€Å"Celibacy†¦is a form of life adopted by people in love with Jesus Christ† (19). This is exactly what drives priests in their ministry and enables them to continue their work with great fervor and zeal. The Catholic priest is a person who is able to prove that being in control of one’s own desires is possible, especially in a world that is filled with sex around every corner. They are able to be that bright light within the darkness that emulates Christ and His purity and love. Imagine if Roman Catholic priests were all allowed to be married in today’s world. This would not raise any eyebrows like it does now; instead, it would just be another thing that is am ong the norm in society. However, it is precisely because of this abnormal thing called celibacy that people do raise their eyebrows at these holy men living in a world that desperately needs people to stand out and be different than what society expects them to be. This is exactly what Jesus did. He was someone Who stood out like a sore thumb during His time, but this allowed Him to lead by example and show everyone who turned their heads that a life with Him and the Father was worth living, no matter how different it was from everyone else’s in society. In The Theological Basis for Priestly Celibacy, the theologian Max Thurian writes, â€Å"Observing celibacy for the sake of the kingdom of heaven does not mean being any the less a man; by renouncing a natural form of existence, the priest discovers life in all its fullness. Christ was certainly no less of a man because he did not have affections other than those for his brethren, and a bride other than the Church.† This sums it up very well: priests try to be leaders of men and are fully committed and faithful to their bride, the Church, and to the flock of people that they minister to. The call to celibacy and the priesthood is a supernatural one, and one which the world sees as unnatural. Contrary to popular belief, celibacy and the call to be a priest is not for those men who have no attraction to women, because like everyone else, priests are human beings and men who still have wants. In his study entitled Seminarians Today, Paul Stanosz writes that sociologists Dean Hoge and Jacqueline have reported that seminarians and young priests view themselves as, â€Å"Men set apart† (19). Many priests are men who really wanted to have a family and children but decided to heed the call to sacrifice this desire and instead be fathers within the Church. The most important tool for priests and seminarians to stay strong in their training and ministry is personal prayer, and Paul Stanosz writes that, â€Å"When asked what they looked forward to as priests, the students mentioned having time for personal prayer and for leading others in prayer† (22). The main reason that seminarians and priests enjoy their personal prayer so much is that they are able to enter into a deeper prayer state because of their total commitment to the Church and not to a wife or children. Celibacy is a practice that allows priests and seminarians to be more connected with the Lord, and thus they can enjoy prayer more and get more out of it. In fact, they can draw others to it as well, because of their mirroring of Jesus Christ’s life and their connection to their unique calling. This truly makes Catholic priests â€Å"Men set apart† and is exactly what is needed in today’s world and what needs to continue within the Roman Catholic C hurch (19). As we have examined, celibacy is a topic that many do not understand because it is one that goes against the social norms of today’s society. Ultimately, it is a very big sacrifice and one that is necessary for Roman Catholic priests to effectively minister and be different from every other man in society. It is something that creates a unique bond between the celibate priest and his ministry and continues a tradition that has been handed down through history and advocated by the Church’s most prominent leaders. As mentioned at the start of this paper from Father Kenneth Doyle, celibacy allows for priests to closely resemble Jesus Christ as the leader and model of the church, it allows for love to exist and be present without being physical, and it allows priests to focus all their energy on the Church rather than on a family or children. This commitment is very grave in nature. According to the Catholic encyclopedia at newadvent.org, during the beginning of the priestly candidates’ ceremony, the bishop tells them just how significant this commitment is by saying the following: You ought anxiously to consider again and again what sort of a burden this is which you are taking upon you of your own accord. Up to this you are free. You may still, if you choose, turn to the aims and desires of the world. But if you receive this order it will no longer be lawful to turn back from your purpose. You will be required to continue in the service of God, and with His assistance to observe chastity and to be bound for ever in the ministrations of the Altar, to serve who is to reign. This is what it means to be celibate: to go against the grain and serve the Lord and the Church with all that one can offer as a priest and as a true man and disciple of Jesus Christ. Bibliography Barron, Robert. â€Å"Why Celibacy Makes Sense.† Commonweal 132.14 (2005): 17-9. ProQuest Religion. Web. 17 Oct. 2012. â€Å"Celibacy and the Priesthood.† Celibacy and the Priesthood. N.p., 10 Aug. 2004. Web. 15 Oct. 2012. . â€Å"Celibate.† The Free Dictionary. Farlex, n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2012. . Doyle, Father Kenneth. â€Å"CatholicPhilly.com: News from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Powered by The Catholic Standard & Times and Phaith Magazine.† Explaining Celibacy for Latin-rite Priests. N.p., 24 July 2012. Web. 15 Oct. 2012. . Falsani, Cathi M. â€Å"On The Verge Of Ideological Mutiny : Celibacy And The Roman Catholic Priesthood.† Daughters Of Sarah 22.1 (1996): 16-19. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials. Web. 17 Oct. 2012. Griffin, Patrick. â€Å"Rites.† The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 11 Sept. 2012 . O’Malley, John W. â€Å"Some Basics About Celibacy.† America 187.13 (2002): 7. Academic Search Premier. Web. 17 Oct. 2012. Stanosz, Paul. â€Å"Seminarians Today.† Commonweal 132.14 (2005): 19-23. ProQuest Religion. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. Thurian, Max. â€Å"The Theological Basis for Priestly Celibacy.† The Theological Basis for Priestly Celibacy. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2012. . â€Å"The Catholic Holy Bible: New American Bible.† The Catholic Holy Bible: New American Bible.

Coffee and Starbucks Essay

Gordon Bowker, Jerry Baldwin and Ziv Siegl founded Starbucks in 1971. Their goal was to sell the finest quality whole beans and ground coffees (Starbucks timeline and history, 2004). In 1982, Starbucks had grown to five stores and started serving coffee to restaurants and espresso bars. Harold Schultz was employed as the director of retail operations and marketing. Harold Schultz convinced the founders of Starbucks to open a downtown Seattle coffee bar, which opened in 1984. With the success of Seattle coffee bar, Schultz left Starbucks to start his own company named Il Giornale. In 1987, Il Giornale acquired Starbucks retail operations for 4 million dollars. In addition, Il Giornale changed its name to Starbucks Corporation and open locations in Chicago and Vancouver, B. C. (Starbucks timeline and history, 2004). Starbucks continued its expansion throughout the late 1980 and beyond. In 1991, Starbucks became the first privately owned U. S. Corporation to offer stock options to part time employees (Starbucks timeline and history, 2004). In the early 1990s Starbucks started setting up coffee shops in Nordstrom?  ¦s department stores, Barnes & Noble bookstores and ITT/Sheraton hotels. In 1995, the corporation began selling compact discs and formed an alliance with the Canadian bookstore, Chapters Inc. In 2000, Schultz promoted Orin Smith to the position of CEO. Schultz remained chairman for the corporation. This allowed Schultz to focus on Starbucks?  ¦ global strategy. Starbucks operates and licenses more the 7,500 coffee shops in more than 30 countries. Coffee Industry In the United States, coffee is the second largest import (Roosevelt, 2004). Furthermore, the United States, consumes one-fifth of all the worlds?  ¦ coffee (Global Exchange, 2004). The present industry is expanding. It is estimated that North America? ¦s sector will reach saturation levels within 5 year (Datamonitor. n. d. ). According to National Coffee Association (NCA), 8 out of 10 Americans consume coffee. In addition, it is estimated that half of the American population drinks coffee daily. The international market remains highly competitive. It is estimated that 3,300 cups of coffee are consumed every second of the day worldwide (Ecomall, n. d. ). The latest trends included dual drinkers, an increase in senior citizens consumption and a shift in consumption away from home. There has been a significant increase in the consumption of dual drinkers (NCA, 2004). Dual drinkers are people who drink both traditional coffee and gourmet coffee. According to NCA, 54% of America?  ¦s coffee drinkers are dual drinkers. Gourmet coffee is experiencing substantial growth with senior citizens. According to NCA, senior citizens coffee consumption leaped from 9% to 13%. Another trend is coffee consumption is moving outside the home. Coffee consumption away from home increased by 6%. Mission Statement The current mission statement is ?  §Establish Starbucks as the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining our uncompromising principles while we grow. This mission statement fits well with the general direction and the future strategies of Starbucks Corporation. Principles The following principles compliment both Starbucks mission statement and their strategies. Our recommendation is to keep the current mission statement and principles. ?aProvide a great work environment and treat each other with respect and dignity. ?aEmbrace diversity as an essential component in the way we do business. ?aApply the highest standards of excellence to the purchasing, roasting and fresh delivery of our coffee. ?aDevelop enthusiastically satisfied customers all of the time. ?aContribute positively to our communities and our environment ? aRecognize that profitability is essential to our future success. SWOT Analysis StrengthWeakness ?aFinancial Resources ?aGlobal Presence ?aBeverage Innovator ?aReliance on US Domestic Markets ?aReliance on Beverage Innovation ?aInternational Expansion Problems OpportunitiesThreats ?aInternational Operations ?aContinued Growth of Gourmet Coffee Market ?aExpanding ? V Unit Clustering ?aSupply Risk/ Dependence on Trading Companies and Exporters ? aUS Market Reaching Saturation Levels ?aCompetition Internal Strength. A few of Starbucks strengths included strong financial position, name recognition and being creative beverage innovators. Starbucks has reported revenue from January to July 2004 as 409 million dollars, which gives the company a strong financial position. Starbucks has a strong global presence from its many stores and licensees units, which has made Starbucks a household name. Starbucks is known for their creative innovations of beverages. Starbucks is not afraid to experiment and test new drinks in their stores. Some of the beverages introduced are Fappuccino Blended Beverages or Iced Shaken refreshments. Internal Weakness Some of the weakness the corporation faces includes international expansion problems and dependence of the United States markets and beverage innovations. The corporation was forced to close a number of stores. These stores failed to entice potential customers and Starbucks was forced to end a joint venture due to the lack of success. Starbucks has a dependency on beverage innovation and US markets. It is estimated that 85% of the corporation revenues come from the United States (Datamonitor, n. d. ). Starbucks contributes its growth based on beverage innovations (Datamonitor, n. d. ). External Opportunities One opportunity deals with clustering its business units. Starbucks uses clustering to ensure domination in chosen geographical areas. This practice allows Starbucks to bring conveniences to customers and at the same time preventing new business from entering the market. The last two opportunities are profitability of international operations and the expected growth of the specialty coffee market. The profitability of international operations and the expected growth will give the company greater leverage into the world market and will promote new market expansions. External Threats. One major threat is the lack of superior coffee beans. The expansion of Starbucks operations and limited quantity of superior coffee beans may result in a shortage of supply. Other factors, which could affect the coffee beans, are weather, political and economic conditions. Organizations like Fair Trade could change or alter the coffee industry. Another threat to Starbucks is the dependence on trading companies and exporters for their supply of superior coffee beans. Although Starbucks has limited the risk by paying above average prices for the superior coffee beans, the risk is still there. The last threats are competition and market saturation. The success of the coffee industry will attract more competitors. A competitor with a serious financial backing and resources could compete against Starbucks (Datamonitor, n. d. ). It is estimated that if the current market growth continues saturation levels will be reached in five years (Datamonitor, n. d. ). Customer Satisfaction Customer Satisfaction is defined as the measure or determination that a product or service meets a customer’s expectations, considering requirements of both quality and service (www. eglin. af. mil/46tw/StrategicPlan/glossary.htm). A customer?  ¦s expectations of product quality, service quality, and price, then a firm will achieve high levels of customer satisfaction. On the other hand, if the customer?  ¦s expectations are not met, the customer will be disappointed and this is likely to lower the satisfaction level. Due to lowered satisfaction, the customer could choose to stop buying from the firm/company. There have been many studies done that have shown that high customer satisfaction increases the likelihood of corporate profitability. It also showed that the costs incorporated with keeping an existing customer are five times that of getting new ones The Starbucks Customer The Starbuck?  ¦s Corporation is the leading retailer in the coffee industry. The market size of the coffee industry in the United States for 2003 is near 18 billion. The company?  ¦s sales have increased 23. 9% in the year 2003. These statistics show how many people in the U. S. are drinking Starbucks coffee. Starbucks attracts a cult-like following, serving 25 million drinks a week at nearly 7,000 locations worldwide. At one time or another, just about everyone has been a customer at a Starbucks retailer. Based on research done on the Internet, we have identified who the typical Starbucks?  ¦ customer is. A typical Starbucks customer is a male or a female, age ranging from 18 to 55. In most cases, the Starbucks?  ¦ customer is a college student, businessperson or someone in their mid to late fifties. A Starbucks customer tends to be very loyal to the company and will not accept substitutes. The usage level of a typical customer is at least three times a week, for some; it is every day. The benefits sought by customers range from enjoyment, relaxation, energy, and reward. Those who are not in a hurry like to sit down for a cup of coffee, listen to the relaxing songs played at the shops, enjoy a conversation with a friend, or just way to be alone and study. Another important characteristic of a typical customer is that most of the customers are financially stable enough to be able to afford to spend at least $2. 50 for a small cup of coffee. A typical Starbucks?  ¦ customer spends and average of $40 to $65 a month for coffee drinks. However, there are many customers who spend well over $65 a month. Improving Customer Satisfaction According to Schultz, ? §our success is based on their continued trust in our people and our environment over long periods of time. † Redefining the industry you’re playing in doesn’t just mean hiring an agency to think up a fancy new slogan. To make it work, you have to offer high-quality new products and services that customers actually want, and that will reinforce the value offered by your core brand and expand the emotional connection your customers feel with it ( www. fastcompany. com from Issue 84 July 2004, Page 50 by:Alison Overholt). To continue the success that Starbucks had over the years, there must be ways to measure the customer? ¦s perceptions of the company. The customers are what make Starbucks what it is today, and to keep them we need to know what they expect from us. Based on research done on starbucks. com, it is evident that Starbucks values their customers. On the main page of the website there is a link to Customer Service; here the customer can ask questions or leave comments. This tool could be much more beneficial to the company if questions and/or comments could be asked by the customer. In the area of questions/comments-there is a drop down list of freqeuntly asked questions/comments, from this list the customer must pick. There could be many times when a customer has a question/comment, but it is not included on this list. The idea of having this link makes the customers feel that their opinions are valued, but there are a few areas that could be improved on that would be much more beneficial to the company. It is important that Starbucks asks for the opinions of their customers, but why only offer this online? Even though we have become such a computer savy world, there are still many people out there that are not computer literate. Many do not have access to computers, or some just do not know how to use them. This does not mean that these people don?  ¦t drink Starbucks coffee. To increase overall customer satisfaction, we should also incorporate a general product/service survey or some type of comment card in the retail stores. Surveys may seem tedious at times, but to help us find out information that could help our company in the long run, it is worth it. Surveys will give us an idea of how we can improve our product and service to satisfy the customer. Typical customer surveys are designed to measure: ?aOverall satisfaction ?aProduct-level satisfaction ?aImportance vs. satisfaction ? Timeliness of delivery ?aCustomer service process satisfaction ?aReturns and exchange process satisfaction ?aInterest in new potential products and services Included is sample survey that could be used to get a general idea of how our customers feel about our products and services. The main goal to achieve customer satisfaction needs to be: to find ways to deliver a great customer experience around your product or service. Customer expectations may be set, the idea is to exceed those expectations that they might already have. The recipe for a great cup of coffee includes four fundamentals, proportion, grind, water and freshness. Using the right proportion of coffee to water is the most important step in making great coffee. The shorter the brewing process, the finer the grind. The amount of time the coffee and water spend together affects the flavor elements that end up in your cup of coffee. Using fresh, cold water heated just off the boil is perfect for extracting the coffee?  ¦s full range of flavors. Use fresh ground coffee by grinding beans each time you brew the freshness is preserved. Starbucks quality is dependent on trading companies and exporters for its supply of green coffee. The company is looking to secure long term supply contracts, and in some cases has had to pay inflated prices in order to obtain such contracts. Starbucks responded to world coffee prices reaching 30-year lows during fiscal 2001 by offering suppliers more money to guarantee supply, and as such the risk of non-delivery on such purchase commitments is low. However, the nature of the business dictates that the company?  ¦s dependency on suppliers does put it at risk. Starbucks quality is at risk to the volatility of the supply and price of coffee. The company?  ¦s search for the superior standard coffee mean in can be adversely affected by multiple factors in the producing countries, including weather, political, and economic conditions. In addition, green coffee prices have been affected in the past, and may be affected in the future, by the actions of organizations and associations that have in the past attempted to influence prices of green coffee through agreements establishing export quotas or restricting global coffee supplies. The actions of these associations could cause a degree of costly disruption to Starbuck?  ¦s operations. Purchasing Guidelines Starbucks has also introduced coffee purchasing guidelines. The goal of these guidelines is to support Starbucks commitment to purchase coffee that has been grown and processed by suppliers who meet environmental, social, economic, and quality standards. Global coffee production can only be sustainable if it is economically viable, socially responsible, and environmentally sensitive at all levels of the supply chain. Over the past few years Starbucks has been working on the sourcing guidelines and they feel that is an important step that will help increase the production of high quality coffee and improve the health of the specialty coffee industry. With these guidelines, Starbucks is taking a leadership role in addressing the environmental and social issues surrounding the global coffee industry. This initiative is part of a long-term partnership between Starbucks and Conservation International to promote methods of coffee production that help to conserve global biodiversity. To launch these guidelines, Starbucks will enlist the support of coffee suppliers who are sustainable advocates. Starbucks has instituted a flexible point system that rewards performance in sustainable categories. Points will be accrued based on a supplier?  ¦s ability to meet sustainability guidelines, and suppliers who earn more points in the program will receive higher purchasing preference when Starbucks purchases green coffee. Starbucks has a long-standing practice of paying premium prices for coffee, and has always paid an average of at least $1. 20 per pound. As part of this practice, Starbucks will provide additional premiums of up to ten cents per pound to vendors based upon how well their coffee samples meet the standards. These financial incentives will help defray the costs incurred by participating suppliers. Suppliers wishing to participate will be required to provide independent, third party verification of their performance against the guidelines. Starbuck?  ¦s hopes that the success of this program demonstrates to the rest of the coffee industry that they can benefit by producing coffee in a way that protects global biodiversity and improves the livelihoods of coffee farmers. The Three Keys to Quality Coffee The three keys to quality coffee are: 1)Quality Green Arabica Coffee – The best coffee beans produce the best cup of coffee. 2)Fresh Roasted – Great tasting coffee relies on how soon the coffee is brewed, and consumed after roasting. For coffee to be fresh, and best, it must be consumed within five days after roasting, three hours of grinding, and fifteen minutes of brewing. The first sign that coffee is stale is a bitter taste. 3)Proper Brewing ? V Temperature and time, brewing is the extraction of coffee flavor oils from the roasted grounds using water. The best temperature for optimum extraction is water just off the boil (195 degrees to 205 degree Fahrenheit). This temperature will extract the full range of flavors from fresh roasted beans. Time is a function of brewing method and grind size. There are many ways to brew good coffee. Steeping and espresso are the two best methods. Financial Analysis Total net sales for Starbucks Corporation were analyzed for 2001, 2002, and 2003. The company had a total net sales increase of $639. 9M between the years 2001 and 2002. Another net increase of $786. 6M in sales occurred between 2002 and 2003. This is a positive sign because in a growing company, of course, we would expect a consistent increase in sales. A result of the increase in sales in part is due to a recent innovation of drive-throughs being added for the convenience of its many customers. Net income increased substantially to 215. 1M in 2002. This was due to the boom in sales and good control of its cost of goods sold. Net income increased to $53. 2M in 2003. The coffee giant acquired Seattle Coffee Company from AFC Enterprises for $72. 0M in 2003, as well. Income from operations took a boost up from $281. 0M in 2001 to $318. 7M in 2002, a difference of $37. 6M. Income from operations saw a considerable upturn of $424. 7M in 2003. In a growing company we would expect income from operations to grow from year to year. Cost of sales continued to increase $237. 2M between the years 2001 and 2002 and it peaked again $335. 9M between 2002 and 2003. This is normal when sales are increasing significantly. Management Strategies From cappuccinos to lattes to just regular coffee, the quality of Starbucks fine coffee beverages is worth the cost in dollars. An article from the Internet stated ?  §At $43 in mid-June, a share of Starbucks (SBUX) cost 47 times what Wall Street analysts expect the coffee-shop chain to earn per share this year. The typical stock in the S&P 500 index trades at just 19 times earnings (Rosato, D. , 2004, p. 124). The article continued to state that management is projecting Starbucks earnings to grow to 20% every year for the next three to five years. With an amazing growth rate like that its no wonder that their growth far exceeds the typical S&P stocks growth rate by as much as three times. Starbucks has a very strong balance sheet. It has little long-term debt and $380. 0M in cash. It continues to expand its long-term assets and finances them from its own cash flow. If a company is in a state of expansion, we would expect long-term assets to increase. The total current assets for the year ending September 29, 2002 for Starbucks Corporation were $847. 5M. For the year ending September 28, 2003 total current assets grew $76. 5M. This gives us a good indication that the company is expanding. Inventory increased from $263. 1M in 2002 to $342. 9 in 2003. In a growing company, we would expect inventory to increase. An article in the Internet stated that in November 2001, Starbucks offered their own Starbucks card. It was a convenient way for coffee drinkers to pay quickly and easily for their morning cup of coffee (Kuykendall, 2004, p. 7). Starbucks sold roughly $18. 0M of these gift cards. This strategy is a great way to increase volume and unlike other cards Starbucks said, ?  §It had never charged the fee noted on its cards — $2 a month after on year ? V to anyone (Kuykendall, 2004 p. 7). Another vision to increase its financial strategy was the introduction of the Duetto combo prepaid/credit card in late 2003. An article on the Internet stated how the Chicago based Bank One Corp. called Duetto worked with Starbucks to generate a program where cardholders would receive rewards based on their spending habits. Starbucks conducted a survey to determine the gift that was most attractive to customers and Colette Courtion, director of Starbucks Global Card Services stated, ?  §Duetto cardholders receive a one-time $10 ?  §preload and 1% in so-called Duetto dollars that are automatically loaded on the stored-value side each month for every Visa purchase made. Starbucks also donates $5 to the Starbucks Foundation, after every customer?  ¦s first Starbucks Card Duetto Visa purchase (Martin, Z. , 2004, p. 22). A half-pound of coffee was one of the great appealing rewards, as well. Bank One and Starbucks were very well pleased with the markets positive response to the Duetto card. We are in agreement with these financial strategies and as a team, we concur that Starbucks Corporation should continue the card services as a strategic process that gives their company a great competitive advantage. A key strength of Starbucks is being a disciplined innovator. Frappuccino blended beverages and iced refreshments were new innovations and helped the growth of Starbucks. Starbucks should continue coming up with new kinds of beverages, as that is its core product. Perhaps a vegetable drink that is geared more toward the healthier population like a low calorie, low fat, and low sugar carrot drink that is actually providing the body with good vitamins and minerals. According to information retrieved from the Factiva database, Starbucks Price/Earnings ratio in the last twelve months was 56. 9 and its current ratio was 1. 8. Starbucks is on the right track with their strategies and they have done such an excellent job so far that we believe these strategies will continue to bring revenues for many upcoming years. Growth Starbucks Corporation has a good strategic growth plan currently to enhance their business and gain market share over their competitors. In this section of the report, it will go over Starbucks current ideas about their growth and give different recommendations in how some other ideas may increase their current and future growth. In the current high completive coffee market Starbucks has a good market share and are opening location across the world. Starbucks have opened their location in markets before any of their competitors has any of their location even around that market. Starbucks has a global brand name over their competitors. Starbucks Corporation has roughly 7,500 retail locations across the world, with majority are owned and operated in the United States of America. Starbucks currently has locations across 30 different countries to set their business in the market before any competitors due. Even with Starbucks aggressive move to open many locations across the world they have very little profit with their business. The reasons that Starbuck?  ¦s profitability is low because they?  ¦re trying to cease the market first. In the fiscal year of 2003, the company has a total of nearly 1,300 licensed retail stores, with 1,000 in Asia-Pacific region, 176 in Europe/Middle East/Africa and the remainder in America, excluding North America (Canada, Hawaii, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Peru and Chile). Starbucks is headquartered in Seattle, derives approximately 85% of its revenues and substantially all of its profits from its domestic US market. The US market is the market that gives them the most profit of all markets. Starbucks started most of their locations at cold states based that more coffee drinkers live in cold states. With the new innovation of the cold flavored coffee drinks increased their chance to open more location in warm clement locations. Even with the rapid growth of coffee businesses in the US Starbucks has a large market share and with any change the Starbucks may due their competitors looks to target. Starbucks looks to enhance their brand image in the US market to increase their product sales from the stores that carry Starbucks coffee drinks, like Seven Eleven that carry only Starbucks coffee only. Starbucks reliance on the beverage innovation is important for the Starbucks future growth. With the increase for coffee store based on the need for coffee because of the new flavors, coffee market is growing but Starbucks looks to bring a new innovation to the market. The only problem at hand would be how long will the need and growth of the market last. In the international markets need less innovation then the US market based that there are less competitors in the market. International markets may need to have certain products for their taste. Most often different countries have different customs and life styles that could change the need for each custom. By the fiscal year of 2004, Starbucks international market will achieve profitability. About 23% of the company?  ¦s stores locations that are profitable are located in North America markets that include UK and Japan. Currently the specialty coffee sector accounts for 15% of the US retail market, and which is already worth $21 billion. By 2005, the retail coffee market will be worth $22 billion, and the specialty coffee will account for 41% of the market. Also Starbucks are looking to invent a coffee ice cream and ice cream coffee drink. All of the ice cream has many different flavors and if the newly product takes of like it?  ¦s planned on doing. The specialty coffee products are now sold even at retail store based on the growing need for it. Starbucks is looking to open coffee and ice cream combined stores in start a new market. Starbucks currently sees that more and more coffee business are opening threw out the US by small business owners, so Starbucks is selling more stores to lessen the opening of small businesses. Starbucks feels that if they sell their name that more small business owner would rather have a well-known name to enhance their chances in doing well. Starbucks owners will learn and gain from the innovation and marketing ideas that Starbucks will give. Starbucks will grow faster if they sell of most or all of their location because their will be less need in maintaining their stores and more need in bring new ideas to the market. Now their competitors are franchising their location to. Most of the Starbucks locations in malls or in strip malls across the world. Currently Starbucks are building freestanding locations and designing a drive threw so their customers can have a more convenient way when needing their service. With these newly developed locations will have a food line. They?  ¦re looking to have hot food and cold food to compete with the Tim Horton coffee business. They are also looking to stay open 24 hours, seven days a week. Starbucks is looking to carry donuts, breakfast sandwiches, bagels and other morning food. Starbucks interest to change to compete with Tim Horton?  ¦s may hurt their business or help their business based on the cost involved in the change. Starbucks has concerns regarding the US store growth potential. Currently if the growth continues, saturation levels within the North American retail division will be reached inside five years, the reasons why Starbucks has some concern is that about 75% of the companies revenue growth and a greater portion of its profit. Before the US market becomes saturated, the US market sales growth will grow slowly over the next three to five years. With this change of saturation point coming, the pressure will be on the international Starbucks division will need to grow faster. Currently Starbucks global coffee market is very competitive, and must compete against the likes of restaurants, coffee shops, and street carts. Any major competitors, with a large financial background and the same resources as Starbucks can enter the market at any time and compete directly against the company. Starbucks feels that they have a good market share and are aware of competition on all levels and can maintain its operational performance if its to maintain its status as the world?  ¦s leading specialty coffee retailer. Starbucks was one of the first coffee businesses in the market and will try to be one of the last to leave. The recommendation to Starbucks Coffee that if they are going to grow in the market faster than their competitors is not to change their business to be more like Tim Horton?  ¦s and have their own identity. Currently Starbucks started the wireless Internet access in their stores and now every competitor is doing it. Also, it will help Starbucks if they would enhance the online service to provide laptops and other computers at their locations. They should have online ordering of coffee so when business people need to go fast they can order online and pay online to have a faster way in getting there coffee. With the innovation of new products, Starbucks should think in expanding in creating a coffee machine that can be place at schools, hospitals, and other companies that may need coffee and late hours or that don?  ¦t need a store. They currently market their own coffee brand coffee to purchase at other store but they should have it accessible online to order. The best thing that Starbucks has going for them is that none of its direct competitors are selling their product at store and online. With the increase in people that drink specialty coffee, Starbucks should innovate more different flavored coffee to increase their potential growth currently and in the future. The international looks to be the best growth for their business and they should invest more into locations and countries. Summary In order to ensure future success, we feel that Starbucks should implement the following suggestions. To improve customer satisfaction, Starbucks should include a section where customers actually ask questions and/or leave comments both in store and at their website. In addition, Starbucks should incorporate a survey to measure customer satisfaction. To ensure quality, Starbucks should continue its current practices. The practice includes securing long-term contracts, paying premium prices for coffee and additional premiums to suppliers to ensure quality needs are meet. To guarantee financial security, Starbucks should continue its role as a disciplined innovator. Starbucks should continue to promote the use of Starbucks cards and Duetto combo prepaid credit cards. An important part of Starbuck continued growth is emphasizing their unique image and to continue to provide the latest technical advancements. Starbucks should start expanding by providing coffee machines at schools, hospitals and other similar organizations. These strategies will continue to promote Starbucks as a leading retailer in a highly competitive coffee industry. Starbucks Customer Survey Dear Customer: I want to thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve you. Please help us serve you better by taking a couple of minutes to tell us how we are doing. We appreciate your business and want to make sure we meet your expectations. Attached you will find a coupon good for 1 free coffee.   

Addressing Medication Errors Occurring in Nursing

In any healthcare scenario, the process of achieving effective therapeutic outcomes depends on various factors like treatment process, patient safety, communication, nursing care, drug interventions etc. (Fletcher, Fletcher & Fletcher, 2012). Any kind of minor or major mistake in any of these factors can lead to drastic loss of patient health and healthcare organisation. Out of these factors drug intervention or medication is the most fundamental requirement to achieve treatment. Any kind of mistake or negligence in drug intervention process can result in direct side effect on patient’s health (Grove, Burns & Gray, 2014). According to Raban & Westbrook (2014), medication error is reported to be a reason for thousands of demises and millions of hospitalisation globally. Hence, fixation of any medication error becomes a fundamental requirement in healthcare scenario. The medication administration and management is one of the fundamental nursing roles that critically depend on the nursing skills and knowledge. The nursing staffs have the responsibility to administrate, monitor and manage the drug intervention for hospitalised patients. Therefore, continuous observance, alertness and approaches are required in healthcare scenario to avoid the potential chances of medical error (Grove, Burns & Gray, 2014). According to Unver, Tastan & Akbayrak (2012) studies the proper definition for medication error is â€Å"any avoidable incident that risks to incongruous medication use causing or leading patient harm, although being under the control of medical professional, carer or consumer†. The medication error incidences are related to healthcare products, medical practices, medical prescriptions, procedures, nursing practices, product labelling, compounding, distribution, education, dispensing, monitoring, utilisation and communication. Any kind of negligence in these events can lead to medication errors. Therefore, adopting best possible strategies to avoid this medication error in healthcare scenario is one of the major priority concerns (Fletcher, Fletcher & Fletcher, 2012). As a registered nurse, it is been noticed in my clinical scenario that issue of medication error is gaining a possible position where around 60% risk event in hospital occur due to medication negligence’s in the nursing care unit. Some of the most common factors related to these medication errors are new staff, insufficient training, incorrect administration technique, prescription errors (incorrect dosage), expired medication usage, wrong patient identification, and preparation errors (mixing incorrect multiple medications, dose calculation errors). These factorial causes of medication error indicate nursing medication negligence in the clinical scenario. Therefore, it is critically required to minimise these events and manage medication error to improve medical care facility provided by nursing care unit. This Quality Improvement Project is specifically designed to manage this issue of medication error in healthcare scenario. The various negligence’s and issues in nursing care will be addressed as per the quality improvement process provided in this project to get a control over events of medication error in the organisation. The medication errors described above are clearly indicating the lack of knowledge, calibre and guidance provided to the nursing staff of the hospital. The administration, prescription and preparation errors directly specify the issue in nursing skills and practice. Therefore, this quality improvement project will work to improve the nursing skills by providing a Short-term Periodic Training (STPT) Program that will acknowledge the staff about different strategies to avoid such medication error while dealing with patients in the hospital. This nursing training program is safe and specifically developed to improve nursing practice within the short duration of time to improve medical care. The aim of this quality improvement project will be to implement Short-term Periodic Training Program (STPT program) to overcome nursing issues and mishandling that are increasing the risk of medication errors in healthcare scenario of selected organisation. The medication error is always considered to be a major clinical issue because it directly affects the patient safety and treatment process. Any kind of minor negligence in medication process is prone to develop major clinical consequences (Fletcher, Fletcher & Fletcher, 2012). This project will help to decrease the risk cases occurring due to medication errors caused by mishandling and negligence’s of nursing staff in the healthcare organisation. The Short-term Nursing Program will work to overcome the identified factors leading to the medication error in nursing care unit causing high risk to patient safety. Hence, this quality improvement intervention will help to overcome the medication error harming medical care process. The establishment of patient safety and health betterment is the very first priority of quality healthcare services management. There are various faults and errors that lead to the imbalance in quality outcomes where medication error holds a top most position. After doctors prescribe a medicine the major role players are the nurses whose fundamental work is to manage the treatment of their patient (Grove, Burns & Gray, 2014). According to a recent study related to Medication Safety in Australia provided by Chiang et al. (2010) the faults in nursing administration leads to 70% medication errors. Faults like wrong dose, wrong rate, wrong volume or dose incompatibility were reason of 90% medication error in nursing care unit resulting in surgical requirement, long patient stay and permanent health defects in the patients. Unver, Tastan, & Akbayrak (2012) studied the causes of medication error as per nurse’s viewpoint where the findings indicated more than ten leading factors of medication error responded by paediatric nurses. The major once were stress (70%), burnout (45%), complicated prescription (30%), unfamiliar medicines (40%), work pressure (35%), knowledge deficiencies (20%), and lack of facilities (4%). Further, in a survey studied by Pham et al. (2012) indicated that majority of nursing staff is not aware of the correct form of medication error. Only 20% nurses mentioned medication error as the wrong dose, incorrect time of dose, and wrong mode of transmission and wrong administration process. However, rest 80% of nurses mentioned medication error as lack of documentation and reporting as the medication error. Hence, this literature indicated a lack of proper nursing education that detects the wrong perceptions of nurses about medication error. Kalisch & Aebersold (2010) indicated that nursing experience and education is one of the critical factors that is directly linked to medication error. The less experienced and skilled nurses cause 50% of medication errors that includes wrong patient, incorrect dilution calculations, incorrect dosage, incorrect administration and improper reporting. Seys et al. (2012) supported by indicating that naà ¯ve nurses are generally not able to recognise their medication error as well as they lack proper knowledge in warrant reporting. This indicates a lack in professional training system of the healthcare organisation. In the study of Sears, Goldsworthy & Goodman (2010) related to nurse’s viewpoint on medication error, it is clearly indicated that lack of pharmacological knowledge is a major reason for medication error as per viewpoint of 237 professional nurses. Hence, this directly indicates a requirement of improved training intervention in nursing practice. Chhabra et al. (2012) studied in a survey that 80% of new nurses commit medication error in first six months of their nursing practice where 70% remained unreported by them and 10% caused serious health hazards to the patient. There are different strategies and programs implemented at various organisations in a different manner to cope up with the medication error. Agyemang & While (2010) Opine the use of different strategies to avoid three major causes that are knowledge gaps, performance lapse, and failure of the safety system of medication. The strategies of MEDMARX program are described below: - Further, Mueller et al. (2012) studied that E-learning is the most contemporary form of nursing education with the help of which nurses can get instant solutions for their issue related to medication process. This e-learning strategy helped to improve pharmaceutical knowledge and dosage calculation for nurses. The E-learning facility is new to nursing practices but possesses potential positive outcomes. Seys et al. (2012) studied the use of one nursing education program named as SCRIPT study that was developed to improve the issues like unreadable prescriptions, improper antibiotics documentation, and poor communication leading to medication error. The SCRIPT abbreviation was used in a manner to detail educational message about the program that indicated, S : Senior doctor cross-check, C: Check allergies, R : wRite indications for antibiotics, I: (Initial Date) of charting medicine in parenthesis, P: PRINT and sign your name, T: Appropriate Targets for infusions in the nurs ing practice. The post education results indicated a decrease in prescription error, dose infusions and communication errors. Mohammad et al. (2010) studied an Evidence-based quality improvement program (IQ program) used in hospitals of sixteen states where 30% of 616 critical care hospitals participated in program implementation. The findings indicated that project was successful in improving medication quality and safety in 90% of hospitals. The program used five strategies that are maintaining skilled nursing and pharmacist staff, use of pharmacological reconciliation techniques, implementing technological software’s (telehealth), improving nurse workflow and improving cultural defects in the organisation. Kwan et al. (2013) indicated that reviewing and updating service techniques with education and training on the periodic basis is effective to refine the nursing staff as per dwelling issues and problems in healthcare. This periodic training program can help to regularly update healthcare services as per the changing environmental complex situations. This Quality Improvement research proposal will work to rectify the on-going medication errors that clearly highlight a lack of pharmaceutical knowledge, skills and training in the nursing staff of the organisation. The identified issue are insufficient training, incorrect administration technique, prescription errors (incorrect dosage), expired medication usage, wrong patient identification, and preparation errors (mixing incorrect multiple medications, dose calculation errors) that are leading to medication error establishment. Therefore, to overcome these factors that dwell medication error a Short-term Periodic Training Program (STPT) will be proposed in this project that will help to overcome these issues in the clinical scenario. This STPT will be a short-term 5 days training that will be provided to nursing staff of organisation in every six months to address the identified medication errors. As per the detected causes of medication error, this STPT will be designed and modified in every 6 month period by the experts to upgrade the nursing education and knowledge to cope up with changing healthcare environment and to address the medication errors for medical care improvement. This STPT program will involve an array of five strategies where each strategy will be guided to nurses on each day of the program. These strategies will be produced as per the identified medication error and mistakes in healthcare functionality. The establishment of STPT program will help to achieve equilibrium to manage the regular issues in medication services as well as the program will work to regularly upgrade the skills, education and knowledge of nursing staff within the organisation. Hence, this intervention will provide a regular process to control the medication complexity and establish the proper working environment. This quality improvement intervention will be planned using PDSA approach to regularly analyse the outcomes of this program. According to Nakayama et al. (2010) P-plan, D-do, S-study and A-act is a cycle that helps to analyse the impact of any trail or change in particular scenario. The planning phase involves the planning of change, do phase involves the implementation of change, study phase is accessing or studying the outcomes of change, and act phase involve determining the modification required in next change cycle. PDSA is considered as the ideal model of improvement. Figure 1: PDSA approach for quality improvement (Source: Nakayama et al. 2010, p. 337) In this project, PDSA cycle will be used to implement and test the effect of STPT program for addressing medication error. The below provided is the PDSA design and processes that will lead to development and evaluation of quality improvement program STPT for addressing the medication error in the present clinical scenario.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Determining the current approach  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Identifying the potential solutions For the planning phase, the required authorities that include management committee, medical specialists, senior nursing staff and senior pharmacist will be invited to attend a meeting where the medication issues identified will be discussed in details. The aim statement will be to educate nursing staff as per the identified medication error causes in the clinical scenario. The issues will be identifies using the baseline performance audit and health information data of the involved patients. As per the discussion, possible solutions or strategies will be identified to manage these issues. As the current issues are lack of pharmaceutical knowledge, skills and training in nursing staff the proposed training and education strategies are: -  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Educating about five rights of medication administration that are the right drug, right patient, right time, right route and right dosage.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Educating about reconciliation procedures  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Educating about e-learning process to improve knowledge  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Educating about process to documenting medication information and reporting medication error  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Guiding about the use of drug guide and suggesting to carry it all the time (Jones & Treiber, 2010).  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Analyse the improvement theory  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Initiate the STPT program intervention  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Collect the data to analyse  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Document the collected information The education program will be conducted with complete medical, pharmaceutical and surgical nursing staff. The program process will be carried for five days (2 hours) where each day a particular strategy will be taught by nursing teachers to the staff using audio-visual presentations. The education program will be designed as time efficient and simple. After the completion of the program a feedback form will be generated that is required to be filled by each participant of the program. This feedback data will help to analyse the effectiveness of program among audiences. After the completion of the educational program, a post-intervention will be checked for next five-week to detect the improvements in medication errors.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Studying and analysing the collected data  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Identifying the errors and improvements In this phase of PDSA analysis, the collected feedback and audit information will be analysed to detect the improvement in medication error factors, mortality and serious hospitalisation, and impact on nursing staff for the implemented STPT program.    ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Re-analysing the STPT program strategies  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Establishing future strategies This phase of PDSA cycle is to re-examine the error in program development and implementing the possible solution for mistakes detected as per analysis. The modifications will be made in program education strategies in the next STPT program as per the identified medication errors in clinical functionality. As per this quality improvement project of implementing a Short-term periodic training program to overcome medication error in organisation, it is expected that findings will demonstrate a clear decrease in the medication error events and improvement in patient safety. The PDSA approach applied for quality improvement development and analysis allows reviewing the program strategy in every periodic repetition of STPT program. Hence, this technique can be modified as per post education intervention outcomes using PDSA model of quality improvement. Fletcher, R. H., Fletcher, S. W., & Fletcher, G. S. (2012).  Clinical epidemiology: the essentials. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Grove, S. K., Burns, N., & Gray, J. R. (2014).  Understanding nursing research: Building an evidence-based practice. Elsevier Health Sciences. Agyemang, R. E. O., & While, A. (2010). Medication errors: types, causes and impact on nursing practice.  British journal of Nursing,  19(6). Chhabra, P. T., Rattinger, G. B., Dutcher, S. K., Hare, M. E., Parsons, K. L., & Zuckerman, I. H. (2012). Medication reconciliation during the transition to and from long-term care settings: a systematic review.  Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy,  8(1), 60-75. Chiang, H. Y., Lin, S. Y., Hsu, S. C., & Ma, S. C. (2010). Factors determining hospital nurses' failures in reporting medication errors in Taiwan.  Nursing outlook,  58(1), 17-25. Jones, J. H., & Treiber, L. (2010). When the 5 rights go wrong: medication errors from the nursing perspective.  Journal of Nursing Care Quality,  25(3), 240-247. Kalisch, B. J., & Aebersold, M. (2010). Interruptions and multitasking in nursing care.  The joint commission journal on quality and patient safety,36(3), 126-132. Kwan, J. L., Lo, L., Sampson, M., & Shojania, K. G. (2013). Medication reconciliation during transitions of care as a patient safety strategy: a systematic review.  Annals of internal medicine,  158(5_Part_2), 397-403. Mohammad Nejad, I., Hojjati, H., Sharifniya, S. H., & Ehsani, S. R. (2010). Evaluation of medication error in nursing students in four educational hospitals in Tehran.  Iranian Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine,  3, 60-69. Mueller, S. K., Sponsler, K. C., Kripalani, S., & Schnipper, J. L. (2012). Hospital-based medication reconciliation practices: a systematic review.Archives of internal medicine,  172(14), 1057-1069. Nakayama, D. K., Bushey, T. N., Hubbard, I., Cole, D., Brown, A., Grant, T. M., & Shaker, I. J. (2010). Using a plan-do-study-act cycle to introduce a new OR service line.  AORN journal,  92(3), 335-343. Pham, J. C., Aswani, M. S., Rosen, M., Lee, H., Huddle, M., Weeks, K., & Pronovost, P. J. (2012). Reducing medical errors and adverse events.  Annual review of medicine,  63, 447-463. Raban, M. Z., & Westbrook, J. I. (2014). Are interventions to reduce interruptions and errors during medication administration effective?: a systematic review.  BMJ quality & safety,  23(5), 414-421. Sears, K., Goldsworthy, S., & Goodman, W. M. (2010). The relationship between simulation in nursing education and medication safety.  Journal of Nursing Education,  49(1), 52-55. Seys, D., Wu, A. W., Van Gerven, E., Vleugels, A., Euwema, M., Panella, M., ... & Vanhaecht, K. (2012). Health care professionals as second victims after adverse events: a systematic review.  Evaluation & the health professions, 0163278712458918. Unver, V., Tastan, S., & Akbayrak, N. (2012). Medication errors: perspectives of newly graduated and experienced nurses.  International journal of nursing practice,  18(4), 317-324.

Final Project Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Final Project - Research Paper Example There is a continued rise and development of companies throughout the world. This is mainly due to the increase in demand of various services that range from social amenities to business. Organizations have used a strong business strategy to take advantage of the developing markets to increase their profits. Real estate is one of the fastest growing sectors in India with an average of 14% annual pegs returns because of the Indian BPO boom. In addition, the housing sector has been growing at an average of 34% annually while the hospitality sectors have had a growth of 15% every year (Sarathy, 2011). It is anticipated that the real estate industry in India is purposed to grow exponentially in the future promising a potential market for investment. Therefore, real estate business is one of the key drivers of growth in India, with companies trying to consolidate their positions and trying to find effective means of suitable growth, the management of the real estate has emerged as one of the key challenges for the corporate sector. The Merlin Group is one of the real estate investors in India that have taken advantage of the rising real estate market to increase its profits. The company has developed a strategy to take advantage of the market boom to position its business in the most competitive manner. By conducting a PEST analysis of the India’s real estate industry, it is possible to evaluate the effectiveness of the market strategy that Merlin Group has employed to promote its business in this dynamic market. For the purpose of this research, the various factors influencing the Indian real estate business will be investigated, identified and evaluated. This section of the outline will discuss into details the history of real estate development in India and the rest of the world and how the industry have come to contribute to the high rate

Operation and finances Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Operation and finances - Research Paper Example The price of the product must always be in consistence with the fixed price within the area. There is a need for the company to identify the fixed price of the product so that it finds ways of adapting their operation to the prices without realizing losses (Handlechner, 2008). Further, the company would need to determine the correct discount value that they should be offering on their products. Identifying the right place for marketing is beneficial because it would determine the number of the customers that would be buying the products. The company would have to identify the strategic places where the customers will assess the product easily. The business would have ease in establishing the effective distribution channel after determining the right place. It would also have to determine and study the competitors within the place of establishment. Studying the competitors will help in identifying the weakness of the competitors subsequently looking for the better way of outcompeting the m in the market. Identifying the place would also help the business in determining whether they would use a sale force or the trade fairs depending on the customers residing in the place. Determining a suitable sales strategy involves a company determining the suitable plan of making its product gain a competitive advantage. The company would focus on the identifying a sales strategy that help the sales in focusing the target market. Since the company is still new in the market, the best selling strategy in the market will be direct selling (Handlechner, 2008). This is because the business would have to identify with their customers before introducing their products and services in the market. The indirect selling is not suitable since it will involve analysis of the competition that will be unnecessary to the business. It will only need indirect selling once it has established itself in the market and have enough

Not using plastic grocery bags Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Not using plastic grocery bags - Research Paper Example Such matter is non-biodegradable when disposed in the environment because it does not break down, dissolve, or rust at any timeframe. The bags could also be made from biodegradable polymer, polylactic acid derived from Lactic acid. The amount of plastic that the world consumes has steadily risen through the past years due to increased industrialization (Freinkel, 2011, p.7). Attribute to success Due to the excessive environmental degradation through the constant use of plastic grocery bags, other alternative measures were incorporated in order to reduce environmental pollution. Use of paper bags made from synthetic natural paper for carrying of goods from one point to the other. Such papers are biodegradable, can easily dissolve, and they are destroyed by water hence causing no harm to the environment and the living organisms. The governmental legislation policies on plastics ensured that there was a reduced production of plastic bags until there was a total ban on plastics, this led to decrease in the demand, and use of the plastics, and hence the adoption of alternative means for carrying goods. Increased production and introduction of biodegradable bags into the market at a manageable cost in the first place promoted a quick adoption of such carriage materials, which were convenient to carry and use. The national environmental management authority (NEMA) giving out stern policies with respect to using plastic bags and the hazards caused by carrying goods in them promoted a change of heart to reduce the health hazards and risks coming with the constant use of plastics. Challenges The other bags used for carrying goods are expensive compared to the price of plastics, because they are made of expensive synthetic materials. Such bags are not as durable and tough as plastic bags, which are made of combination of tougher material. These other synthetic bags cannot be used to cover and safely store certain contents unlike plastics, which could be used to cover cert ain contents. It takes a lengthy period to adapt using other paper bags after the drastic decline of using plastics. The plastics were available in a variety of sizes to accommodate numerous goods, but the introduction of other paper bags in limited sizes has impacted the way a variety of goods are carried and sometimes extra costs are incurred purchasing more than one paper bag for carrying goods that would fit within one plastic bag. Such biodegradable bags are not readily available in the rural settings because of poor communication channels that would enable effective transportation and shipment of such consignments to be available to the consumers. Environmental impact Following the decline of using plastic grocery bags, there has been a variety of impacts to the environment. Since plastics litter the environment, there has been reduced distribution of plastic litter (misplaced solid waste) within the environmental surrounding; soil profile and aeration have been improved due t o limited non-biodegradable plastic material. There has been reduced water pollution and infections to animals and human beings caused by the consumption of unpalatable plastic material, and air pollution caused by the burning of plastics, which eventually produce chlorofluorocarbon elements that contaminate the air, and causes global