An oasis of prosperity: solely an American phenomenon?
While economies worldwide falter, the United States remains steadfast. How did our nation get to be the land of milk and honey?
The accuracy of the BLS productivity measures
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has made sustained efforts to improve its productivity measures. The goals of these efforts have been to enhance the reliability of the measures; to facilitate analysis of economic performance; and to provide useful information to the public. 1 The BLS clearly recognizes that, despite the beneficial results of its program, there is room for further improvement. In the past several years, some have voiced concerns about the accuracy of the trends in the BLS productivity series, mainly to suggest that productivity growth for the business sector of the economy has been understated. The BLS has also been concerned about the accuracy of the major sector productivity trends and has devoted considerable effort to examining the accuracy of these trends. The concerns about possible underestimation of productivity growth have been focused on data for the business sector of the economy, and especially the services components of that sector. “Services,” broadly defined, include all producing activities outside the “goods” sector. The major services-producing activities are transportation, communications, utilities, retail and wholesale trade, finance and insurance, and various additional services rendered to persons and businesses. 2 Commentators have wondered why productivity in services has not grown nearly as rapidly as productivity in manufacturing, particularly in light of anecdotal indications of improvements in several types of services. Concerns have also been expressed about several measurement techniques used by the BLS to The accuracy of the BLS productivity measures
Nurse responsiveness to cancer patient expressions of emotion.
OBJECTIVE
This theoretically based study examined nurse responses to cancer patient expressions of emotion using a videotaped, simulated cancer patient.


METHODS
This study used an experimental crossover design with a videotaped patient expressing anger, sadness, and neutral emotion to elicit nurse responses. Seventy-four nurses from eight sites participated. Responses were coded using Roter interaction analysis system. Correlations explored relationships between variables that impact communication (age, gender, work experience, trait anxiety, work stress, self-efficacy). Regression models explored the effect of variables on nurse affective responsiveness.


RESULTS
Patient expressions of sadness elicited more affective responses than anger. Expressions of anger or neutral emotion elicited more instrumental behaviors than sadness. Variables such as age, work stress and work experience were significantly correlated. No variables predicted affective responsiveness to patient expressions of anger or sadness.


CONCLUSION
Nurse communication showed significant variation in response to patient emotional expressions. Understanding the relationships between demographic, personality, and work variables, and identification of new variables that influence nurse-patient communication, has implications for interventional studies.


PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS
Over 90% of the participants indicated that the videotape simulation would be a useful method for teaching and practicing communication skills with patients expressing emotions.