Human Resource procedures Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Human Resource procedures - Assignment Example Responding to this phenomenon, the tutor who is responsible for the Human Resource Management course of Swinburne University has tried to teach students in regard to both the theoretical and practical aspects of HR activities and processes. A series of tasks has been developed within the classroom for helping the students to understand the nature of HR procedures and their contribution in practicing HR activities. The Classroom activities related to the above course are presented below. The literature published in this field has been also employed for explaining the value of HR procedures and the challenges that a person who aims to work in this area is expected to face. Section A - HR procedures used in practicing HR activities HR procedures – overview HR procedures are partially standardized. This means that the forms of HR procedures used worldwide tend to be similar, based on frameworks and principles that have only minor differences. There is no specific definition in reg ard to HR processes. Rather, the role and the characteristics of these processes can be understood by checking their position in the context of HR management. The HR management, as a concept, has a series of functions, which are divided into categories, such as ‘political, environmental, social and so on’ (Mathis and Jackson 2010, p.6). ... Selection process The selection process has a vital role: it aims to identify the level at which a candidate is appropriate for a particular role, i.e. whether the candidate meets the requirements of a position, as these requirements have been already set using the Job Analysis Process (Armstrong 2012). The success of the selection process is depended on the effectiveness of the schemes chosen for developing the above process. Interviews are commonly used as a tool for selecting employees (Armstrong 2012). Interviews have been related to a series of advantages: a) the interviewer has the chance for a face-to-face discussion with the candidate, a condition that it is necessary in order to check the candidate’s perceptions in regard to a series of issues and to understand his readiness to identify solutions for emergent problems, as these problems can be set, as examples, by the interviewer (Armstrong 2012); b) through the interview the interviewer is able to check whether the c andidate would fit in the business environment and in the position to which the interview refers (Armstrong 2012), c) during the interview the candidate has the chance to set questions in regard to the organizational environment and the characteristics/ demands of the particular position (Armstrong 2012). However, the interview has also certain disadvantages, such as the excessive dependency on the interviewer’s skills and the risk of developing false impression for the suitability of a candidate for a specific position (Armstrong 2012). The risks to which interviews are exposed could be minimized by using structured interviews, i.e. ‘interviews based on a defined framework’ (Armstrong 2012, p.230). It should be noted that in each

Predictors of Medication Errors in Elderly in Nursing Homes Research Paper

Predictors of Medication Errors in Elderly in Nursing Homes - Research Paper Example The National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention (2011) explains that "A medication error is any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use while the medication is in the control of the healthcare professional, patient, or consumer.† This means that medication errors do not only occur at the hands of medical professionals. In this essay, the writer review predictors of medication errors in elderly in nursing homes. This means that the bulk of the writer’s attention shall be based on factors that medical practitioners in nursing homes and taking care of elderly people can use to predict possible medication errors. As seen in the definition of medication errors, the writer’s view of predictors shall be varying and widespread, not centering only on the health practitioner but on all other causative factors including patients and consumers. Predictors of Medication Errors in Elderly This section of the essay reviews five major predictors of medication errors that can take place among elderly people in nursing homes. Number of Home Medications The fact that elder people under consideration are based on nursing homes should not eradicate the possibility of medication error occurring as a result of a number of home medications. Nursing officers and other health professionals taking care of elderly people in nursing homes must predict the fact that once admitted at the home, the history of a number of home medications received by patients before their admission at the nursing home can interfere with the efficacy and functions of medications administered to them at the nursing home. For this reason, it is rightly appropriate that nursing and other health professionals have a fair idea of medications patients on admission might have received at home before being admitted. Over the years, it is because nursing practitioners have been negligent of the need to assess the number of home medicati ons taken by elderly patients admitted at the nursing homes that Prasanatikom and Madigan (2004) concluded in a research that â€Å"incidence of medication error was highest at the first visit (23.5%)† Self-administration of medication Self-administration of medication is something that is common among elderly patients in nursing homes. Pollick explains that self-administration of medication or self-medication is the â€Å"practice of using illicit or legal drugs without proper medical supervision is known as self-medication.† The commonest cause given to the problem of self-administration of medication among elderly patients in nursing homes has been found to be over anxiety among the elderly patients (Akakpo, 2003). As a matter of fact, due to degeneration psychological problems among elderly patients, they tend to be very anxious about their health and always have a feeling that taking medications in overdose or taking extra medications aside what is prescribed for them may lead to a quick recovery of their health. Health practitioners in nursing homes must, therefore, have a forecasted knowledge that if self-administration of medication takes place among their patients, the patients risk the problem of medication error because there is the tendency of self-medicated drugs conflicting with the functions of prescribed drugs.