The Historical Context Of West African History - 1039 Words

For our final paper, we were to read Sundiate. This was my favorite book to read due to the fact that I have an interest in West African history. From reading this book we should know the historical context, who Songolon Kolonkan and Balla Fasseke are and what roles they play, what details show existence of long distance trade, what the universal religion is, and what we learned about West African history. The book really gave me a broad idea of what life would be like during that time. I can only imagine seeing thousands of traders coming into Mali with their camels and donkeys carrying what they had to trade. What is the historical contexts? Sundiate was born in the kingdom of Mali. He lived was born in 1217, and lived a short 38 years†¦show more content†¦Balla was there to help Sundiata whenever he got put into bad situations. The father of Sundiata ,Maghan Kon Fatta, also had a griot who went by the name of Gnankouman Doua (Sundiata, xvii). An interesting fact about gr iots is that their position moves down to their child. Balla basically was to teach and pass on the traditions of the Mali culture. Balla also played a major role in how Sundiata began to walk. Sundiata was tired of constantly having to crawl everywhere he went and had enough of everybody talking about him. Sundiata requested the Balla bring him an iron bar to assist in holding him up. It takes a lot of courage for someone to do that. Sogolon Kolonkan was the sister to Sundiata. She also protected and guided him. They have the same parents, so they are full blooded brother and sister. Sogolon wached over him. There were witches who were going to test Sundiata , but he ,unknowingly, had nothing to worry about. â€Å"Sogolon was very well versed in the art of witchcraft and watched over brother† (Sundiata, 26). Sogolon was not going to let anything happen that she did not think Sundiata couldn’t handle. What details shows existence of long distance trade? Mali sat right in the middle of the trade route that runs through West Africa. Trade was a booming in Mali. Traders traveled for hundreds of miles because of the variety of resources and items that were coming through. Due to that fact that the traders needed to carry many goods across far distance they

Darwin Destroyed the Concept of Human Specialness Free Essays

Darwin destroyed the concept of human specialness I would say I disagree quite strongly with the assertion that Darwin destroyed the specialness of humanity. For this relatively brief paper I am going to attempt to refute this claim and try to highlight some of the things that highlight how we have kept the same level of ‘specialness’ that we have always had. There are many people who would say that we humans are the only beings with full consciousness, in the words of a great many this would translate to having a soul. We will write a custom essay sample on Darwin Destroyed the Concept of Human Specialness or any similar topic only for you Order Now Humans surely have a soul-like property, a mind, something that separates us from the multitudes of lower species from the smorgasbord of earthly life. It isn’t my purpose for this paper to discuss whether or not we have a soul but I do intend to talk about what constitutes our mind, our selves. The fact that we as humans possess a high degree of consciousness to me spells a very special kind of existence. Can even our nearest intelligent creatures on the tree of life appreciate the magnificence of life? Can a chimpanzee sit back and admire the beauty of the sprawling life in the jungle? Does he marvel at his own bodies ability to repair itself after he has been in a bloody brawl with a rival? Can a dolphin be awestruck by the morning sun glistening on the surface of the water? Does he wonder what life would be like for him if he were one of those surface beings he often sees on boats in the ocean? Humans are extraordinary because, being the most advanced form of life on the planet, we possess brains larger than all other forms of life(save for some large mammals but even then ours are much bigger proportionally) With this we have evolved two magnificent features which can only set us worlds apart from and ahead of all other life forms. We have this amazing sense of self, sense of awareness- in a word -consciousness. This grants us the capability of knowing who and what we are (to a large extent anyway), and where we came from (Darwin is owed some credit in this field). It is the ability to see beauty in a sunset on a savannah, to hear the splendour in Tchaikovskys The Nutcracker, to read great works of literature and be able to travel the universe with our imaginations. The other great feature we have as a follow on from having large brains is the wonderful power of language. This splendid trait has gone hand in hand with consciousness to create the incredibly unique life form that homo sapiens has become. Our ability to understand the universe and our position in it is one of the glories of the human species. Our ability to link mind to mind by language, and especially to transmit our thoughts across the centuries is another (Dawkins 2008 p3) Our advanced cultures have truly become magnificent phenomena. We have complex, yet highly virtuous systems of ethics and values. Largely stemming from our aforementioned large brains and the use of language we have self evolved to create ways of living that set us apart from all the rest of earthly creatures, both those alive today and all the previous inhabitants of the earth including ones from bygone eras. Humanity is replete with themes of co-operation, love, compassion, altruism, sympathy for our fellow beings as well as for all other life forms. We have been capable of many such virtues for a long time, since we became human one could say. As John Eccles (1980 p204) reminds us, there are snippets of evidence that as far back as eighty thousand years ago Neanderthal man held ceremonial burials- a truly altruistic act. Or, as he also noted- the bones of two men dated from sixty thousand years ago which show they were incapacitated for up to two years yet they had been kept alive by caring tribes folk. There is other evidence from as far back as this of the compassionate behaviour between members of humanity and we all know only too well of absolutely countless examples of it in recent history and of course in present day. For all modern mans shortcomings and problems in our societies, we have always been gifted with a great sense of right and wrong, of cruelty and kindness. With this majestic property that is consciousness comes the boundless faculty of thought. We are capable to reason, plan, remember to a limitless degree. Technology today has become something we could never have imagined even one hundred years ago. We have invented the most ingenious and sophisticated equipment to be able to look inside our brains. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)scans and the more recent positron-emission topography(PET) scans are machines with wonderful capabilities for seeing goings on in the brain. We can monitor which parts of the brain are being used when we experience certain thoughts. We cannot however, as Ward highlights(2008 p147), even begin to monitor in advance what people are thinking. Our thoughts are far and away more complex and profound than any other animals (or machine) can hope to have and, importantly, remain ours and ours only. If we try to look at the bigger picture, the macroscopic view of things, are we still special? When we gaze up into the night sky and contemplate our place in the universe it is very easy to become overawed by the sheer scale of the cosmos and our relative minuteness in it. How can there be anything special about us when we are almost nothing in relation to the vast universe. I believe it is not that we are in the universe but that we are the universe. â€Å"Far from exposing human beings as incidental products of blind physical forces, science suggests that the existence of conscious organisms is a fundamental feature of the universe†(Davies 1992 p21). As Davies alludes to here humanity is actually an intrinsic part of the universe and, whether or not there are other advanced conscious beings far out in space, we are or are part of the pinnacle of life, of nature, and of the cosmos. If the universe is one giant living organism, a vast clockwork mechanism, a massive computer then we are its brain, its central cog, its CPU. I try to imagine the perspective of a person who would make a statement like the title for this essay. I can understand the point whereby humanity is seen as simply the result of a very long line of life adapting and developing or, to use the term elucidated and made famous by Darwin- evolution. Life is just mechanical, they might say they have learned from Darwin, it only instinctively drives to keep living. What’s so special about what is simply the as yet highest point of this unconscious , robotic like endeavour in nature. Are we more special than the animals below us on the food chain, or before us in eras like the dinosaurs. Was even the earliest amoeba not as special as us given its importance in the chain of events? This viewpoint, while largely correct in its facts and assumptions, doesn’t give any credence to what homo sapiens has become since he has evolved from the ape. Hopefully this paper has made some of a case as to why the two legged big brained organisms that we are have a deep specialness to them. Bibliography Davies, Paul. 1992. THE MIND OF GOD. London: Penguin Books Dawkins, Richard. 2008. MODERN SCIENCE WRITING. Oxford: Oxford University Press Eccles, John C.. 1980. THE HUMAN PSYCHE. Berlin: Routledge Ward, Keith. 2008. The Big Questions in Science and Religion. Pennsylvania: Templeton Foundation Press How to cite Darwin Destroyed the Concept of Human Specialness, Papers

Corporate Social Responsibility for OZ Minerals - myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theCorporate Social Responsibility for OZ Minerals. Answer: Introduction The business corporations are nowadays largely emphasizing on improving their social, economic and environmental performance for achieving sustainable growth and development. The businesses in order to achieve sustainable growth are developing their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reports that provide information regarding the benefits achieved by all the stakeholders through their measures taken for improving the social, economic and environmental performances. In this context, there has been development of GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) sustainability reporting guidelines to provide assistance to the business corporations worldwide for effective sustainable reporting (Schaltegger, Bennett, and Burritt, 2006). In this context, the present report aims to analyze the extent of two selected business entities complying with the sustainability reporting standards of GRI. The business entities selected for the purpose are OZ Minerals and Caltex and the report is prepared on the p erspective of an analyze working in a consulting firm seeking to develop expertise in corporate sustainability. Analysis of Sustainability Reporting of OZ Minerals and Caltex as per GRI Principles The GRI reporting framework is developed for providing a generally accepted framework to disclose the information relating to economic, environmental and social performance. The GRI principles contain both specific and general reporting principles regarding the sustainable performance of a firm that needs to be applied by wide range of stakeholders. The GRI guidelines consist of two parts that are, reporting principles and implementation manual (Fisher, 2009). The compliance of OZ Minerals with the GRI reporting principles can be analyzed as follows: OZ Minerals The OZ Minerals is an Australian mining company listed on ASX and mainly involved in operating copper-gold mine. The company as involved in mining operations has a major responsibility of taking all the measures for environment protection. In this context, the GRI 304 standards have addressed the importance of protecting biodiversity for promoting sustainable growth of an entity. As per the standard, a reporting entity should provide information about the measures adopted for protecting the genetic diversity and natural ecosystems (White, 2009). The sustainability report of OZ minerals indicates that it effectively complies with the GRI biodiversity standard as it has disclosed adequate information regarding the land and biodiversity conservation. The company has developed and implemented a biodiversity management plan for indentifying the potential impacts of its mining operations on flora and fauna. The emphasis of the plan is to protect the endangered species and develop the proce dures for prohibiting the unauthorized haunting or trapping of native species by its employees (OZ minerals: Annual Report and Sustainability Report, 2016). The GRI 306 principle has addressed the requirements for an entity to provide the information in relation to treatment of effluents and waste generated (Fisher, 2009). The OZ minerals also complies effectively with this standard as it has disclosed all the necessary information in relation to measures adopted for minimizing waste generation. The company has adopted adequate procedures or re-handing waste, promoting post-mining land use and effective disposal of solid and hazardous waste. It has designed the disposal facilities for managing the waste materials as per the licensing and statuary obligations. The waste rock produced is disposed in rock dumps within the mining areas and tailings are disposed off through the use of special engineered facilities. In addition to this, the GRI 306 standard directs the business entities to disclose adequate information in relation to occupational health and safety (Laasch and Conaway, 2014). The OZ Company is strongly committed to integrated highest standards related to promoting the health and wellbeing of the employees and local community. The company has implemented three policies in this regard, that are, health and safety policy, diversity and inclusion policy and ethics and human rights policy. Also, the company has adopted health and wellbeing performance standards and governance systems for monitoring the effectiveness of its occupational health policies. As per the GRI 413 standards, the company has also adopted adequate measures for promoting the development of local communities through its land rehabilitation and closure plan. The mine closure plan aims to achieve the designated land use after post-mining activities. The land disturbance and rehabilitation plans aims to achieve environmental stability in the area degraded through mining activities for promoting the development of local communities residing nearby the area (OZ minerals: Annual Report and Sustai nability Report, 2016). Thus, it can be said that OZ minerals effectively complies with the GRI 101 standard of including the stakeholders in carrying out all its business activities. As per the standard, the company has effectively identified its stakeholders and disclosed adequately the measures taken for creating value for all its stakeholders. The company has clearly explained its strategic mission of creating sustainable value for all its stakeholders underpinned by its there pillars of safety, capital discipline and strong values (OZ minerals: Annual Report and Sustainability Report, 2016). The company has aligned its sustainability context with the annual report in order to improve in its business operations through adequately disclosing the financial and non-financial information to all its stakeholders as per sustainability context of GRI (Laasch and Conaway, 2014). Caltex On the other hand, Caltex, an Australian chain of petrol station does not integrate the use of GRI standards for developing its sustainability reports. The company though has disclosed the sustainable measures adopted by it for improving its social, economic and environmental performance. The company takes appropriate measures for protection of environment but has not disclosed the measures taken by it for promoting the development of biodiversity as per the GRI standards (White, 2009). The company though implements various measures such as adopting the use of Australian Packaging Covenant (APC) for designing more sustainable packaging to reduce the waste generation but the information provided is limited and is not per the GRI 306 standard. The company also has provided information in relation to promoting the occupational heath and well being of employees through implementing the risk management framework that monitors the occupational risks faced by the employees (Caltex Australia : Annual Report, 2016). However, the disclosure provided by the company in relation to occupational safety measures is not as per the GRI 403 standards. The company also supports the development of its local communities through providing them financial assistance and undertaking programs aimed at providing information relating to their various community activities to protect them from any of their hazardous business activities. Thus, it can be stated from overall analysis of disclosure provided by Caltex in relation to its sustainable performance that it does not effectively follow the GRI reporting principles (Caltex Australia: Annual Report, 2016). Also, the company has not aligned its annual report with the sustainability report that will help in developing an insight into the sustainable performance of the company properly (Laasch and Conaway, 2014). Conclusion Thus, it can be stated from the overall discussion held in the report that OZ minerals effectively complies with GRI reporting guidelines. However, the Caltex Company needs to develop its sustainability report separately with its annual report for providing detailed information regarding its sustainable performance as per the GRI standards. References Caltex Australia. 2016. Annual Report. Fisher, D. 2009. Corporate Sustainability Planning Assessment Guide: A Comprehensive Organizational Assessment. ASQ Quality Press. Laasch, O. and Conaway, R. 2014. Principles of Responsible Management: Global Sustainability, Responsibility, and Ethics. Cengage Learning. OZ minerals. 2016. Annual Report and Sustainability Report. Schaltegger, S., Bennett, M. and Burritt, R. 2006. Sustainability Accounting and Reporting. Springer Science Business Media. White, G.B. 2009. Sustainability Reporting: Managing for Wealth and Corporate Health. Business Expert Press.

Marvin Hinton Essays - Interpersonal Relationships,

Marvin Hinton English 101.46 03/01/00 The Expository Essay During life, a significant factor is the relationship with another. There are many aspects to a relationship that will make it strong or long lasting. Looks may seem to be important but in the long run they prove not to be. Looks can be changed through surgery and can fade with age. There are four qualities that should be found in a good strong relationship. These four factors will never change no matter what kind of relationship one is in or what one looks like. The four factors that make a good relationship are commitment, trust, caring, and communication. In any relationship, if any of these four factors are missing then the relationship will not last long. Commitment is an important factor in building a strong and successful relationship. Commitment keeps a relationship together through the good and the bad times. Whether a partner in a relationship is suffering through hard times, the couple if committed will pull through. A strong relationship that is committed will make it through the major and the minor crisis of life. A minor crisis that could put a strain on a relationship could be considered as something simple such as the breaking of a date or one person having no money. A major crisis may be one partner going off to war or having to leave town for several months on business. If the relationship is committed then a couple will survive these crisis. Commitment is a step in building a strong relationship. Marvin Hinton 2 The second part of a successful relationship is trust. Trust is like the "I love you" of a relationship. Trust means that when one partner wants to go out for a night on the town with his or her friends that they will not cheat. When a couple is out together for a night that the other partner will not be flirting with other people in the room. A couple that trusts each other will give each other space to do their own thing. Trust allows a relationship to grow because there is not the constant worry of what the other party is doing. Trust is when there are selected responsibilities that each partner may have and makes sure are fulfilled. Responsibilities such as making sure the trash is taken out or the bills are paid on time. Building trust in a relationship could even consist of making sure that if there is a dinner date that both parties are on time. Even though destroying trust can happen in an instant, building trust takes lots of time. Building trust in a relationship takes time and effort while destroying it could be as simple as cheating or not showing up when a date is scheduled. The third part of a successful relationship is caring. There is no way to truly describe what caring is but it is an intimate part of any relationship. Caring is a feeling or emotion. Caring is a feeling or emotion that cannot be readily described in words but still a feeling. Caring is missing your partner when they are away or being sad when they are not feeling well. Caring in a relationship is an emotion that can only be described using other emotions. When two people care for each other in a relationship form a bond which is hard to break even when common sense tells them that they need to. This bond is so strong that even abusive couples will stay together. The couple thinks that they care for each other enough that the abuse does not matter. Caring is the fabric of building a strong relationship. The fourth and most important part of a relationship is communication. Communications is the problem solver of a relationship and could also be the destroyer of Marvin Hinton 3 a relationship. Communication is important because the beginning of any relationship. Any relationship starts with communication because that is how you meet the person. A relationship will not get started if the communication is not there. Communication separates a purely physical relationship with no meaning from a true strong relationship. Communication in a relationship should be honest. Communication makes two people one. When a couple knows each others likes and dislikes communication is strong. Communication lets a couple talk about their problems and can help resolve many of them. In a relationship with no communication a small problem can cause a rift which will lead to a break up. This is why communication is an

Theme Essy Essay Example

Macbeth/Theme Essy Essay Example Macbeth/Theme Essy Essay Macbeth/Theme Essy Essay Takierra Garth Block 50 March 13 2013 (Macbeth/Theme Essy) In the begging where it started off with three creepy witches cackling as they were discussing when theyll meet again, and decide to hook up When the hurly-burlys done, when the battles lost and won. (line 3-4) The implication is that theyve been up to something really bad. They let the audience in on their plan to meet some guy name Macbeth. And then cut to post-battle, where we learn that this Macbeth has been kicking serious tail in battle so much that King Duncan has decided to give him the title Thane of Cawdor. Hes prancing home on a dark and stormy night after defending King Duncan in battle with some skilled enemy-disemboweling. Understandably, hes feeling pretty good about himself. The witches then call out to Graymalkin and Paddock, or spirits that serve the witches. All three witches start to say, Fair is foul and foul is fair(line10-11) before going back about their business. Just then, him and his good friend Banquo run into three bearded witches who rhymingly prophesy that Macbeth will be named Thane of Cawdor and King of Scotland. Just as Banquo is curious about his knowing what he will become. And then they begin to say â€Å"lesser than Macbeth and greater but not so much happy, yet much happier thou shalt get kings. Though thou be none†. (line 65-68) And what they mean by that is he will be fortunate than Macbeth and be father to a long line of future kings of Scotland though he will not be king himself. The next thing we know, a guy named Ross shows up to say that, since the old Thane of Cawdor turned out to be a traitor and is about to have his head chopped off and displayed on a pike, so Macbeth gets to take his place as Thane of Cawdor then that takes care of the first prophecy. His ambitious wife, Lady Macbeth, prods him into acting like a man and killing King Duncan when the poor guy comes to Macbeths castle for a friendly visit. When Macduff finds the kings dead body, Macbeth kills the guards and conveniently accuses them of murdering the king. King Duncans two sons, Donalbain and Malcolm, find out what happened, then they ends up leaving out of Scotland so they cant be murdered too. Macbeth is now named king of Scotland. Now Macbeth starts to worry about the witchs prophecy that Banquos heirs will be kings. Macbeths not about to let someone throw him off the throne so, he hires some hit-men name Fleance to take care of Banquo and his son. Banquo is murdered, but Fleance escapes. As Banquo and Fleance live, his mind is full of scorpions. Lady Macbeth states that everybody dies, which may be a warning to Macbeth to cool it, or may be a self-reassurance that everyone has to go sometime, so her husband might as well murder their friend and his kid. At a park near the palace, the two murderers are joined by a third. Only a bit of light remains in the sky. Banquo and Fleance approach on horseback and dismount to walk the mile to the palace, as usual. Banquo starts up with a friendly conversation and is promptly stabbed. While being stabbed, he encourages Fleance to run away and eventually take revenge. In the meantime, the torch has gone out, and Fleance takes advantage of the darkness to escape. With Banquo dead and Fleance on the run, the murderers head off to the dinner party to report the half of the job theyve done.

Analysis Harold and Kumar

This is what really sets â€Å"Harold and Kumar† apart not just from â€Å"Stoner films† or the entire Comedy genre, but from every film ever made. Casting two â€Å"minorities† in the leading roles. The opening scene involves two â€Å"higher ups†, who we assume are Harold’s bosses, at an accounting firm who are trying to get out of doing their work for a night out. They pass the work on to our unsuspecting Harold, who reluctantly accepts the new task load because his job was threatened. This opening scene sets up Harold’s personal problems that at the end of the ovie, he over comes. This scene cuts between multiple shots of Harold’s bosses standing over Harold, and Harold looking up at them. They loom over Harold, looking down on him as a workhorse that they can pass their work loads to. Harold sits in his chair looking up at his two bosses, bewildered and somewhat frightened to stand up for himself. His two bosses are dressed in black suits which communicates to the audience that they are not only dominant but authoritative and for lack of a better term, evil. They are the first protagonists we see in the film. As they blast out of the office parking lot in their convertible, they justify their actions by saying that â€Å"those Asian guys love crunching numbers†. We quickly get the response to this with a cut of Harold standing in the office looking out the window the speeding convertible, angrily saying â€Å"Fuck†. From this we cut to a scene of Kumar being interviewed for acceptance into a medical school program at an undisclosed prestigious university. Kumar blatantly doesn’t care about the interview, or as we discover later, becoming a doctor like his father wants him to be. Kumar sits in the interview dressed in a disheveled suit and slouches in his chair. From these two scenes we are introduced into the typical roles that normally see in Hollywood movies. The quiet Asian being pushed around and the Indian guy trying to become a doctor. Each time though we see the problems that the characters have with both of these situations, this is the side that we don’t normally see in films. Harold hates his job because he feels like he isn’t respected, it is also learned later in the film that he basically fell into his job because that’s just how it went. Until the end of the film when Harold begins to take charge and stand up for himself, the audience has no problem believing that Harold just went with the motions and became an accountant. Kumar on the other hand is basically Harold’s polar opposite, yin and yang type situation, and resists falling into his â€Å"natural† role in society of becoming a doctor even though he is obviously very skilled in the field, by living off his fathers money (who is a doctor) and spending most of his days smoking pot. Throughout the movie there are scenes where a character is presented with a problem that in some way relates to a stereotype about their ethnicity. The movie deals with this in a joking manner, but the best part is that the character encounters it in a positive manner. Take for instance the character of Kumar, after visiting his father working in the hospital he steals an access card to steal medical marijuana, in the process of locating the marijuana, the duo find scrubs to disguise themselves in and in a mix up are confused as surgeons who are to operate on a gun shot victim. Kumar’s â€Å"natural† ability in health and medicine allows him to successfully operate on the victim and save his life. This ends up being the turning point in the film for Kumar where he decides to stop resisting his father and the typical role society expects of Indians, and become a doctor. For Harold, his turning point occurs at the end of the film when he stands up for himself at his destination, white castle. His two bosses show up at the White Castles from their night out with a pair of women, their attire has changed slightly, one has shed his black coat and the other is completely disheveled in his suit. Harold stands now, face to face with both of his bosses with a visibly angry face. He confronts his bosses and lets them know that he won’t take their bullying any longer. The two men look scared and are speechless since they were caught in a lie and that Harold has literally stood up to them, a contrast from the first scene of the film. About halfway through the film there is a scene where Neil Patrick Harris has stolen the car and leave Harold and Kumar stranded. The two are attempting to walk across the street at a completely vacant intersection. Kumar urges Harold to just walk across and disregard the street sign because there is no one around. As Harold takes his first step to cross, he is stopped by a police officer. The officer harasses the two of them and in a sign of blatant racism, he mocks Kumar and Harold’s ethnicities by asking if they have strange names. He asks Kumar if his name has â€Å"like five O’s or two U’s†. At this scene Kumar stands up for himself by belittling the officer and telling him he was loser in high school and is still one now. Although the officer has a much bulkier body type than Harold and Kumar, Kumar still stands face to face with the officer, representing his courage to go against someone he knows could take him to jail. I have seen â€Å"Harold and Kumar go to White Castle† MANY times before this paper and usually only watched it as it was presented, I laughed at the funny parts and would promptly move on to something else. Until this paper I had never thought to consider the representations the film portrayed of Harold and Kumar. I had never even noticed that the two leading roles were â€Å"minority† ethnicities. The way the film acknowledges the stereotypes that come bundled with the two characters and destroys them whilst making a completely mockery of them is quite fascinating. One of the more interesting facts is that the film was written by two Jewish men, and directed by a Caucasian man. They obviously didn’t want to make a comedy like any other with a white lead, they casted two very different men together and made an incredibly successful film. The film has spawned two sequels and each did very well in the box office. I would personally love to see a film cast more â€Å"minority† ethnicities in the lead roles, not just comedies but every film genre. I think that day is not too far ahead. Rangwala, Shama. Issue 5: Film Reviews.   Scope. Http://www. scope. nottingham. ac. uk/. Web. 06 Mar. 2012. lt;http://www. scope. nottingham. ac. uk/filmreview. php? issue=5gt;.

How informatics has altered nursing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

How informatics has altered nursing - Essay Example Additionally nurses, while already known in general for having a wide range of skills and competencies, must thus be able to adapt and learn newer skill sets in order to better discharge their duties. All in all, that more and more people in hospitals require intensive care from nurses means that there is an equally dire need for the succeeding generations of nurses to be as competent as they possibly can be. Taking all these things into account, it should not be surprising that nursing as a profession has become highly in-demand, or that nursing has and will forever be changing to adapt with the times – thanks in part to the existence of nursing informatics. It is for this reason that nurses have always been able to reinforce their practices with a constant flow of newer knowledge – which, in this day and age, is something that they will definitely need more than ever before. Nursing Informatics – Past/Present/Future Trends, Benefits of Such Practices Saba and M cCormick (2001) have defined healthcare informatics in general as the integration of the branches of health, computer, information and cognitive sciences in managing healthcare information. Nursing informatics is one of its three subtypes – the other two being health and medical informatics, respectively – and is in turn defined by Hannah et al (1985) as how nurses make use of information technology in carrying out their daily duties. And this definition, too, was further expanded by Graves and Corcoran (1989) as â€Å"a combination of computer science, information science and nursing science designed to assist in the management and processing of nursing data, information and knowledge to support the practice of nursing and the delivery of nursing care† (p. 227). There can be little doubt that it is thanks to this particular branch of healthcare informatics that nurses have always been able to maintain a certain level of quality when it comes to their work; in f act, as stated by Curran (2003), it is absolutely essential that nurses and clinicians alike have some degree of competence here so that they will continue to maintain their competence and the quality of the healthcare they administer. Ball (2003) helps provide an overview of the evolution of nursing informatics. Even as early as the mid-80s, nurses could make use of the then-existing laptop computers during seminars, but today these laptops have become accessible even up to the patient’s bedside. And despite the existence of laptops then, their steep price made them too expensive to be commonplace in hospitals – or anywhere else, for that matter. Typewriters had the advantage of being much less costly, and much easier to use, but the cost of correction fluid could get to be a headache at times – much more so for those nurses who happened to make lots of mistakes while working. However, for the longest time, most nurses – that is, those who neither owned computers nor could afford to spend on them – had to deal with these potentially cumbersome contraptions. This being the case, the advent of computer technology has been a definite godsend. Where a few years ago, a nurse would have to jot down every single detail on a particular patient’