Who Are These Guys? Non-Governmental Organizations in Humanitarian Relief Operations.
Abstract : The purpose of this paper it to provide an understanding of how to deal with nongovernmental organizations during a humanitarian relief operation. Examples and lessons are drawn from the following humanitarian relief operations: Provide Comfort in Northern Iraq in 1991 (helping the Kurds); Restore Hope in Somalia in 1992 and 1993; and Support Hope in Rwanda in 1994. I have described the players in humanitarian relief operations, described their interaction during the execution of relief operations, and provided some lessons learned for future relief and peacekeeping operations. An integral part of understanding of how the international relief community works is understanding the role of the various United Nations and United States agencies that coordinate relief efforts.
The Integration of Civil Relief Agencies Into Network Centric Warfare
Abstract : The U.S. military is currently in the process of undergoing a visionary transformation of its forces using technological advances with the goal of maintaining global superiority into and beyond the 21st century. The single most important technological advancement that will transform the military and allow it to attain full spectrum dominance will be the capability to effectively capture and integrate the vast amount of information on individual networks into a Common Operating Picture (COP). The military's vision is to accomplish this with Network Centric Warfare (NCW) through the integration of informational grids. The military, though, continues to maintain its focus narrowly on information obtained by military sources only and is neglecting to include another significant information source: civil relief agencies. In order to achieve true information superiority the information from thousands of civil relief agencies needs to be integrated into the COP. Over the past decade the U.S. military has been heavily involved with Military Operations Other Than War (MOOTW) which, by its nature, includes interaction with numerous civil relief agencies. Throughout all of these operations, the critical importance of efficiently sharing information between the military and these agencies has been proven over and over again. This is especially true in MOOTW, but as Operation Enduring Freedom has shown, it is also important in war. Therefore, to neglect developing methods to integrate the civil relief agencies' vital information into the COP could prove to be disastrous.
The problems of interprofessional healthcare practice in hospitals.
This article outlines the problems of interprofessional practice in the hospital setting. It examines the difficulties associated with competing ideologies and aims, inequalities in power relations, communication and role confusion and overlap. Within the hospital setting such problems often arise although the roots of the problem may go unacknowledged. The ways in which the problems occur in the hospital setting are considered, as is the underlying cause of such problems. Case studies will be used to analyse how the problems arise and ways in which they might be addressed.