Grammar post #11

Who vs whom
This is one of those silly little grammar things that I've never gotten the hang of. I don't remember ever having it explained before. This site has the best and most simple explaination I've come across. Basically if you could replace the word with he use who, if you could replace it with him use the word whom. It seems completely obvious. Why did none of my English teachers ever explain this before?

Presentation Research

Here is some of the research I've got for our presentation on medical malpractice. These are just the titles and abstracts. I have the entire articles on my computer so we can access them anytime we need to.

Why isn't the medical profession policing itself?

How far should a nurse go when disagreeing with MD orders or treatment decisions? In the first case, a 7 1/2-month-pregnant 26-year-old woman arrived in ER with nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. She was sent to the OB unit and assessed by a RN. The patient's obstetrician was called and ordered laboratory tests, medication for nausea, and IV fluids. When test results were called to the MD, who was also informed of the patient's extreme pain, she diagnosed a urinary tract infection and ordered antibiotics and discharge. Shortly thereafter, the nurse again notified the MD of the patient's pain and questioned the discharge order. Morphine was ordered and the discharge order upheld. The RN suggested that a resident on duty see the patient and notified her supervisor of her concerns. The patient, who was discharged without being examined by a MD, was admitted 4 hours later with a perforated appendix, developed complications, and died 19 days later. The husband brought suit for medical malpractice against the MD and the hospital. The MD settled, but the hospital went to trial, lost, and appealed. The appellate court affirmed the judgment, finding "negligence of the hospital, acting through its employees, was not superseded by the negligence of the...physician." While the RN did report her concerns to the supervisor, it is unclear what, if any, action the supervisor took. In similar circumstances, the nurse should report the event up the chain of command to the hospital chief executive if necessary.In the second case, a charge nurse assessed an admitted patient to have a life-threatening infection, toxic shock syndrome. When the anticipated antibiotics were not ordered, the nurse repeatedly reported the situation to the Director of Nurses (DON) who instructed the nurse to "document, report the facts, and stay out of it." Following reporting protocol, the nurse later discussed the situation with the chief of medical staff. Appropriate action was taken but the patient died. The DON informed the hospital administrator that the nurse had offered to obtain medical records for the patient's family and had made a statement that the patient's physician was "paving her way to heaven." The administrator directed that the nurse be terminated. The termination letter stated cause for dismissal as statements that were untrue, detrimental to the hospital and medical staff, and exhibiting lack of support. The nurse filed for wrongful discharge. The circuit court granted the hospital's motion for summary judgment based on the employment-at-will doctrine. The appeals court reversed the decision and remanded the case for trial, holding that a public policy exception existed and the Nurse Practice Act provided a clear mandate for a "public policy that requires a duty on nurses to provide the best possible care for their patients." The court noted that failure to act in the best interest of the patient could be viewed as incompetence, gross negligence, or misconduct and subject to disciplinary action by the State Board of Nursing.

COCA Conference Call – A “Never” Event: Unsafe Injection Practices (March 27, 2008)

Calls for the accessibility of the National Practitioner Data Bank particularly to consumers who want to check on the involvement of their doctors in malpractice suits. Malpractice judgments and settlements below $30,000; United States General Accounting Office report; Proposed limitations on data bank by the American Medical Association.

More medical malpractice

Here is a link to an extensive paper about medical malpractice that might be helpful for our presentation.

Academic Success Workshop, Time Management

This was one of the first workshops of the semester and as a returning adult student who has been away from the academic scene for MANY years it was very helpful. The most important thing I learned was how to prioritize my life. I can't be everything to everyone all of the time. It's ok for me to say "no" when people ask for my time, infact it is often neccissary. My kids have learned that if mom is in the office she's doing homework and you don't bother her. Procrastination and organization are also points we discussed that I have have trouble with. If I'm struggling with something it's always easier to find something else to distract me and I'll find myself up til midnight the day before an assignment is do. As I've progressed through the semester my organizational skills are slowly improving and I have lists of things to do all over the house. Maybe by the time I finish my degree, four years from now, I'll have this all figured out.

My Proposition

Concurrent enrollment partnerships provide many benefits not only to high school students but also state finacial aid funds and the job market. Advanced students have the opportunity for rigorous postsecondary academic challenges in their own supportive high school environment and are evaluated with multiple and varied assessments, as opposed to one high-stakes test such as the ACT. Students may complete college earlier, saving the state both financial aid for funds for the student and support for the college. Studies have shown that concurrent enrollment increases the rigor of secondary education, strengthens the links between the secondary and post secondary education systems and can motivate students by making them familiar with college settings and courses. Students enrolled in concurrent enrollment programs are more likely than their peers to earn a high school diploma, and more likely to enroll full time in a four year institution, which generally leads to better outcomes in college. Once enrolled in college these students are more likely to stay enrolled and to have significantly higher grade point averages. A student who takes career-technical course work may also fulfill college certificate requirements. With these opportunities high school students have the ability to graduate with an Associates Degree or certificate, or at the very least complete their college degree sooner, and thus be able to move into the job market earlier with better skills.

Likewise partner schools reap the benefits of concurrent enrollment and Advanced Placement courses. High school instructors are provided with ongoing professional development led by college and university faculty. A.P. courses create spill over effects that raise the bar throughout partner schools, even in non A.P. courses. These partnerships also foster networks among secondary and post secondary educators that help provide a seamless transition for students as they move from high school to college. The advantages these programs offer to partnership schools are significant. These improvements are a benefit not only to A.P. and concurrent enrollment students but to the entire student bodies of the high schools and colleges that they attend.

Students from a broad spectrum of backgrounds benefit from enrolling in college courses while still in high school. According to the National Center for Education statistics all 50 states now offer concurrent enrollment programs. Over 680,000 high school students in 72% of America’s public high schools took concurrent enrollment courses in 2002-03. Concurrent enrollment opportunities increase student access to alternative venues for learning, which are lacking in many rural areas. Students who function better in the less structured environment of colleges often find appropriate courses in colleges. Access is available to a broad range of students when college courses are placed within high schools. Dixie State College, in conjunction with local area high schools, currently offers several options for the student who wishes to take advantages of accelerated learning opportunities. One of these options is concurrent enrollment. Concurrent enrollment allows high school students to be released from one or more class periods to attend college courses which provide credit for high school and college. The advantages of accelerated learning are obvious. High school students are able to earn high school and college credit simultaneously, allowing them to complete a college degree far quicker than can be done other wise.

Grammar post #10 Irregular verbs

No wonder the English language is so hard for people to learn!
Do you even know the difference between a regular and irregular verb?
The difference between a regular and an irregular verb is the formation of the simple past and past participle. Regular verbs are dependably consistent—the simple past ends in ed as does the past participle.

Infinitive	Simple Present	Simple Past	Past Participle	Present Participle
to laugh	laugh(s)	laughed	laughed	laughing
to start	start(s)	started	started	starting
to wash	wash(es)	washed	washed	washing
to wink	wink(s)	winked	winked	winking

Irregular verbs, on the other hand, can end in a variety of ways, with absolutely no consistent pattern.

Infinitive	Simple Present	Simple Past	Past Participle	Present Participle
to drive	drive(s)	drove	driven	driving
to feel	feel(s)	felt	felt	feeling
to put	put(s)	put	put	putting
to swim	swim(s)	swam	swum	swimming

The two most common errors made when using irregular verbs are to add and incorrect ed to then end of a word or, interchange the simple past and past participle.

Angie feeled like shopping yesterday, so she putted on her favorite shoes and drived to the mall where she buyed so much clothes that they wouldn't fit in her car.

This sentence gives examples that most of us know are obviously wrong but to someone trying to learn the English language how would they know?

This site lists many irregular verbs and how to use them.

Grammar post #9

For my post this week I chose to discuss run-on sentences.
This is a problem I constantly struggle with because I want to cram as much information in as possible into my sentence.
A run-on sentence consists of two or more main clauses that are run together without proper punctuation.
This may be ok when speaking because pauses in speech and changes in tone can give emphasis and keep things clear. When writing though it is much harder for a reader to understand what we are trying to say. Even a technically correct sentence can be much easier to understand if it is broken into shorter, more concise sentences.
I have learned to reread my writing specifically looking for run on sentences or sentences that need clarification.
This is a fun game to help learn to recognize run on sentences.