Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Voluntary Programs”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 559 records · Page 31Linked to original sources

Voluntary certification and the uniform guidelines on selection procedures: a potential problem for personnel managers.

Employers in health care sometimes rely upon various standardized testing procedures in selecting, promoting, and training personnel. Within the health professions, voluntary certification programs have developed to permit individuals to demonstrate competence and become recognized as qualified practitioners. This article addresses the problems which can occur, but are not widely recognized, when employers use voluntary certification examinations in the selection process. The impact of the federal government's "Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures" upon voluntary certification activities is uncertain at best, and frightening, at worst. While the Guidelines require employers to use only validated examinations where adverse impact upon protected minority groups exists, they do not effectively address the use of professional certifying examinations and fail to provide guidance for either certifying agencies or employers. This leaves great potential for conflict, since circumstances in which employment is terminated, an employee denied promotion, or even denied opportunities for entry into positions based on an employer's use of voluntary certifying examinations, are increasing daily. How does an employer validate a national certifying examination that he does not administer? How does the certifying agency protect itself from allegations of discrimination or anti-trust violations based on actions of an employer with whom the agency has no contact? This article offers no answers to these troublesome questions. However, it may help eliminate another problem noted by the author--widespread ignorance of the seriousness of these circumstances for employers and certifying agencies. From first-hand experience and research into the development of the Uniform Guidelines, the author points out many of the difficulties which await those who rely on non-validated examinations or choose to ignore the government's edict that examinations used in selection must have a demonstrated relationship to the job. Finally, the article proposes solutions to the dilemma faced by certifying organizations and suggests that, by becoming more aware of the Uniform Guidelines, employers and testing groups have the opportunity to protect themselves before a problem occurs.

Certification↗

Public health and bioethics.

Conduct that satisfies certain bioethical doctrines may come into conflict with the needs and ethics of public health. The growth of antibiotic resistance in bacteria and the spread of HIV both contribute to the difficulty of controlling infectious disease. These two sets of priorities need to be reconciled and this is likely to require a reassessment of prevailing ethical doctrines in the face of the needs of public health.

Bioethics↗

Sexual misconduct: is censure enough?

Although sexual relationships between medical practitioners and their patients have been forbidden by most professional and statutory bodies, the reported prevalence of sexual misconduct does not appear to have altered in the last 20 years. A recent Australian study has also suggested that psychiatrists are over-represented in comparison to others in the medical workforce. The reasons that may account for this finding are discussed, and issues which require further debate by the profession are outlined. These include the acceptability of post-termination relationships, the applicability of criminal statutes, the role of treatment in the management of offenders, and whether mandatory reporting of sexual misconduct should be considered.

Australia↗

The report of the U.S. Task Force on Organ Transplantation: criticisms and alternatives.

This article discusses the recommendations for the acquisition and distribution of organs in the Report of the U.S. Task Force on Organ Transplantation. It first considers several possible means of acquiring organs and offers a conception of the relations which a person, his or her family, and the state have to the bodily remains. The article then examines the idea of need for organs and considers certain principles for weighing outcome and need in distribution decisions. It also criticizes the report's recommendations for the distribution of blood type O material, offers a proposal for line-jumping, and criticizes the report's arguments for federal subsidy of organ transplantation.

Advisory Committees↗

Effect of informed parental consent on mothers' knowledge of newborn screening.

To determine whether knowledge was improved as a result of obtaining informed consent from parents for newborn screening of their infants for phenylketonuria (PKU) and other hereditary metabolic disorders, new mothers in seven Maryland hospitals were interviewed either before receiving a standard disclosure (n = 210) or after giving consent (n = 418). The mean knowledge score of the women interviewed after giving consent was significantly higher (P less than .001). Receiving the disclosure was a more powerful predictor of knowledge score, accounting for 40% of the variance, than demographic factors, which accounted for 9%. Women whose consent was obtained just prior to discharge tended to have lower knowledge scores than women whose consent was obtained earlier (P = .03). Women with higher knowledge scores were somewhat less likely to favor consent than women with lower scores. Although consent may not be appropriate for some low-risk procedures, informing parents can be easily and inexpensively accomplished.

Attitude↗