The follow
ing post has two assignments namely;
1.Children's studies
1. What role does race play
in the global def
inition of childhood
in the 20th and 21st centuries? Please explore this question across multiple nation-states or regions of the world.(at least three different national/regional perspectives on children and/or childhood)
2. What rights should children be granted across the contemporary world, and why? (You may also address why certa
in rights are or are not granted
in practice.) Please explore this question across multiple nation-states or regions of the world.(at least three different national/regional perspectives on children and/or childhood)
3. At what age, or with what actions/rituals/transitions, does childhood end
in the contemporary world? Is there an
intermediate stage (adolescence, “youth”) between childhood and adulthood which might complicate this question? Or, does it vary depend
ing on where/whom we are talk
ing about? Please explore this question across multiple nation-states or regions of the world.(at least three different national/regional perspectives on children and/or childhood)
2. Business Statistics
Read the follow
ing case study.
Ben Davis had just completed an
intensive course
in Statistical Th
ink
ing for Bus
iness Improvement, which was offered to all employees of a large health ma
intenance organization. There was no time to celebrate, however, because he was already under a lot of pressure. Ben works as a pharmacist's assistant
in the HMO's pharmacy, and his manager, Juan de Pacotilla, was about to be fired. Juan's dismissal appeared to be imm
inent due to numerous compla
ints and even a few lawsuits over
inaccurate prescriptions. Juan now was ask
ing Ben for his assistance
in try
ing to resolve the problem, preferably yesterday!
"Ben, I really need your help! If I can't show some major improvement or at least a solid plan by next month, I'm history."
"I'll be glad to help, Juan, but what can I do? I'm just a pharmacist's assistant."
"I don't care what your job title is; I th
ink you're just the person who can get this done. I realize I've been too far removed from day-to-day operations
in the pharmacy, but you work there every day. You're
in a much better position to f
ind out how to fix the problem. Just tell me what to do, and I'll do it."
"But what about the statistical consultant you hired to analyze the data on
inaccurate prescriptions?"
"Ben, to be honest, I'm really disappo
inted with that guy. He has spent two weeks try
ing to come up with a new model
ing approach to predict weekly
inaccurate prescriptions. I tried to expla
in to him that I don't want to predict the mistakes, I want to elim
inate them! I don't th
ink I got through, however, because he said we need a month of additional data to verify the model, and then he can apply a new method he just read about
in a journal to identify 'change po
ints
in the time series,' whatever that means. But get this, he will only identify the change po
ints and send me a list; he says it's my job to figure out what they mean and how to respond. I don't know much about statistics -- the only th
ing I remember from my course
in college is that it was the worst course I ever took-- but I'm becom
ing conv
inced that it actually doesn't have much to offer
in solv
ing real problems. You've just gone through this statistical th
ink
ing course, though, so maybe you can see someth
ing I can't. To me, statistical th
ink
ing sounds like an oxymoron. I realize it's a long shot, but I was hop
ing you could use this as the project you need to officially complete the course."
"I see your po
int, Juan. I felt the same way, too. This course was
interest
ing, though, because it didn't focus on crunch
ing numbers. I have some ideas about how we can approach mak
ing improvements
in prescription accuracy, and I th
ink this would be a great project. We may not be able to solve it ourselves, however. As you know, there is a lot of f
inger-po
int
ing go
ing on; the pharmacists blame sloppy handwrit
ing and
incomplete
instructions from doctors for the problem; doctors blame pharmacy assistants like me who actually do most of the computer entry of the prescriptions, claim
ing that we are
incompetent; and the assistants tend to blame the pharmacists for assum
ing too much about our knowledge of medical term
inology, brand names, known drug
interactions, and so on."
"It sounds like there's no hope, Ben!"
"I wouldn't say that at all, Juan. It's just that there may be no quick fix we can do by ourselves
in the pharmacy. Let me expla
in how I'm th
ink
ing about this and how I would propose attack
ing the problem us
ing what I just learned
in the statistical th
ink
ing course."
Source: G. C. Britz, D. W. Emerl
ing, L. B. Hare, R. W. Hoerl, & J. E. Shade. "How to Teach Others to Apply Statistical Th
ink
ing." Quality Progress (June 1997): 67--80.
Assum
ing the role of Ben Davis, write a three to four (3-4) page paper
in which you apply the approach discussed
in the textbook to this problem. You'll have to make some assumptions about the processes used by the HMO pharmacy. Also, please use the Internet and / or Strayer LRC to research articles on common problems or errors that pharmacies face. Your paper should address the follow
ing po
ints:
1. Develop a process map about the prescription fill
ing process for HMO's pharmacy,
in which you specify the key problems that the HMO's pharmacy might be experienc
ing. Next, use the supplier,
input, process steps, output, and customer (SIPOC) model to analyze the HMO pharmacy's bus
iness process.
2. Analyze the process map and SIPOC model to identify possible ma
in root causes of the problems. Next, categorize whether the ma
in root causes of the problem are special causes or common causes. Provide a rationale for your response.
3. Suggest the ma
in tools that you would use and the data that you would collect
in order to analyze the bus
iness process and correct the problem. Justify your response.
4. Propose one (1) solution to the HMO pharmacy's on-go
ing problem(s) and propose one (1) strategy to measure the aforementioned solution. Provide a rationale for your response.