Night World : Witchlight Chapter 1

The mall was so peaceful. There was no hint of the terrible thing that was about to happen. It looked like any other shopping mall inNorth Carolina on a Sunday afternoon in December. Modern. Brightly decorated. Crowded with customers who knew there were only ten shopping days until Christmas. Warm, despite the chilly gray skies outside. Safe. Not the kind of place where a monster would appear. Keller walked past a display of â€Å"Santa Claus Through the Ages† with all her senses alert and open. And that meant a lot of senses. The glimpses she caught of herself in darkened store windows showed a high-school-aged girl in a sleek jumpsuit, with straight black hair that fell past her hips and cool gray eyes. But she knew that anybody who watched her closely was likely to see something else-a sort of prowling grace in the way she walked and an inner glow when the gray eyes focused on anything. Raksha Keller didn't look quite human. Which was hardly surprising, because she wasn't. She was a shapeshifter, and if people looking at her got the impression of a half-tamed panther on the loose, they were getting it exactly right. â€Å"Okay, everybody.† Keller touched the pin on her collar, then pressed a finger to the nearly invisible receiver in her ear, trying to tune out the Christmas music that filled the mall. â€Å"Report in.† â€Å"Winnie here.† The voice that spoke through the receiver was light, almost lilting, but professional. â€Å"I'm over by Sears. Haven't seen anything yet. Maybe she's not here.† â€Å"Maybe,† Keller said shortly into the pin-which wasn't a pin at all but an extremely expensive transmission device. â€Å"But she's supposed to love shopping, and her parents said she was headed this way. It's the best lead we've got. Keep looking.† â€Å"Nissa here.† This voice was cooler and softer, emotionless. â€Å"I'm in the parking lot, driving by theBingham Street entrance. Nothing to report- wait.† A pause, then the ghostly voice came back with a new tension: â€Å"Keller, we've got trouble. A black limo just pulled up outside Brody's. They know she's here.† Keller's stomach tightened, but she kept her voice level. â€Å"You're sure it's them?† â€Å"I'm sure. They're getting out-a couple of vampires and†¦ something else. A young guy, just a boy really. Maybe a shapeshifter. I don't know for sure; he isn't like anything I've seen before.† The voice was troubled, and that troubled Keller. Nissa Johnson was a vampire with a brain like the library of Congress. Something she didn't recognize? â€Å"Should I park and come help you?† Nissa asked. â€Å"No,† Keller said sharply. â€Å"Stay with the car; we're going to need it for a fast getaway. Winnie and I will take care of it. Right, Winnie?† â€Å"Oh, right, Boss. In fact, I can take 'em all on myself; you just watch.† ‘You watch your mouth, girl.† But Keller had to fight the grim smile that was tugging at her lips. Winfrith Arlin was Nissa's opposite-a witch and inclined to be emotional. Her odd sense of humor had lightened some black moments. â€Å"Both of you stay alert,† Keller said, completely serious now. â€Å"You know what's at stake.† â€Å"Right, Boss.† This time, both voices were subdued. They did know. The world. The girl they were looking for could save the world-or destroy it. Not that she knew that†¦ yet Her name was Iliana Harman, and she had grown up as a human child. She didn't realize that she had the blood of witches in her and that she was one of the four Wild Powers destined to fight against the time of darkness that was coming. She's about to get quite a surprise when we tell her, Keller thought That was assuming that Keller's team got to her before the bad guys did. But they would. They had to. There was a reason they'd been chosen to come here, when every agent of Circle Daybreak in North America would have been glad to do this job. They were the best. It was that simple. They were an odd team-vampire, witch, and shapeshifter-but they were unbeatable. And Keller was only seventeen, but she already had a reputation for never losing. And I'm not about to blow that now, she thought. â€Å"This is it, kiddies,† she said. â€Å"No more talking until we ID the girl. Good luck.† Their transmissions were scrambled, of course, but there was no point in taking chances. The bad guys were extremely well organized. Doesn't matter. Well still win, Keller thought, and she paused in her walking long enough really to expand her senses. It was like stepping into a different world. They were senses that a human couldn't even imagine. Infrared. She saw body heat. Smell. Humans didn't have any sense of smell, not really. Keller could distinguish Coke from Pepsi from across a room. Touch. As a panther, Keller had exquisitely sensitive hairs all over her body, especially on her face. Even in human form, she could feel things with ten times the intensity of a real human. She could feel her way in total darkness by the air pressure on her skin. Hearing. She could hear both higher and lower pitches than a human, and she could pinpoint an individual cough in a crowd. Sight. She had night vision like-well, like a cat's. Not to mention more than five hundred muscles that she could move voluntarily. And just now, all her resources were attuned to finding one teenage girl in this swarming mall. Her eyes roved over faces; her ears pricked at the sound of every young voice; her nose sorted through thousands of smells for the one that would match the T-shirt she'd taken from Iliana's room. Then, just as she froze, catching a whiff of something familiar, the receiver in her ear came to life. â€Å"Keller-I spotted her! Hallmark, second floor. But they're here, too.† They'd found her first. Keller cursed soundlessly. Aloud, she said, â€Å"Nissa, bring the car around to the west side of the mall. Winnie, don't do anything. I'm coming.† The nearest escalator was at the end of the mall. But from the map in her hand, she could see that Hallmark was directly above her on the upper level. And she couldn't waste time. Keller gathered her legs under her and jumped. One leap, straight up. She ignored the gasps- and a few shrieks-of the people around her as she sprang. At the top of her jump, she caught the railing that fenced off the upper-level walkway. She hung for a second by her hands, then pulled herself up smoothly. More people were staring. Keller ignored them. They got out of her way as she headed for the Hallmark store. Winnie was standing with her back to the display window of the store beside it. She was short, with a froth of strawberry curls and a pixie face. Keller edged up to her, careful to keep out of the line of sight of the Hallmark. â€Å"What's up?† â€Å"There's three of them,† Winnie murmured in a barely audible voice. â€Å"Just like Nissa said. I saw them go in-and then I saw her. They've got her surrounded, but so far they're just talking to her.† She glanced sideways at Keller with dancing green eyes. â€Å"Only three-we can take them easy.† â€Å"Yeah, and that's what worries me. Why would they only send three?† Winnie shrugged slightly. â€Å"Maybe they're like us-the best.† Keller only acknowledged that with a flicker of her eyebrows. She was edging forward centimeter by centimeter, trying to get a glimpse of the interior of the Hallmark shop between the stockings and stuffed animals in the display window. There. Two guys in dark clothing almost like uniforms-vampire thugs. Another guy Keller could see only as a partial silhouette through a rack of Christmas ornaments. And her. Iliana. The girl everybody wanted. She was beautiful, almost impossibly so. Keller had seen a picture, and it had been beautiful, but now she saw that it hadn't come within miles of conveying the real girl. She had the silvery-fair hair and violet eyes that showed her Harman blood. She also had an extraordinary delicacy of features and grace of movement that made her as pretty to watch as a white kitten on the grass. Although Keller knew she was seventeen, she seemed slight and childlike. Almost fairylike. And right now, she was listening with wide, trusting eyes to whatever the silhouette guy was saying. To Keller's fury, she couldn't make it out. He must be whispering. â€Å"It's really her,† Winnie breathed from beside Keller, awed. â€Å"The Witch Child. She looks just like the legends said, just like I imagined.† Her voice turned indignant. â€Å"I can't stand to watch them talk to her. It's like-blasphemy.† â€Å"Keep your hair on,† Keller murmured, still searching with her eyes. â€Å"You witches get so emotional about your legends.† â€Å"Well, we should. She's not just a Wild Power, she's a pure soul.† Winfrith's voice was softly awed. â€Å"She must be so wise, so gentle, so farsighted. I can't wait to talk to her.† Her voice sharpened. â€Å"And those thugs shouldn't be allowed to talk to her. Come on, Keller, we can take-them fast. Let's go.† â€Å"Winnie, don't-â€Å" It was too late. Winnie was already moving, heading straight into the shop without any attempt at concealment. Keller cursed again. But she didn't have any choice now. â€Å"Nissa, stand by. Things are going to get exciting,† she snapped, touching her pin, and then she followed. Winnie was walking directly toward the little group of three guys and Iliana as Keller reached the door. The guys were looking up, instantly alert. Keller saw their faces and gathered herself for a leap. But it never happened. Before she could get all her muscles ready, the silhouette guy turned-and everything changed. Time went into slow motion. Keller saw his face clearly, as if she'd had a year to study it. He wasn't bad-looking-quite handsome, actually. He didn't look much older than she was, and he had clean, nicely molded features. He had a small, compact body with what looked like hard muscles under his clothes. His hair was black, shaggy but shiny, almost like fur. It fell over his forehead in an odd way, a way that looked deliberately disarrayed and was at odds with the neatness of the rest of him. And he had eyes of obsidian. Totally opaque. Shiny silver-black, with nothing clear or transparent about them. They revealed nothing; they simply threw light back at anyone who looked into them. They were the eyes of a monster, and every one of Keller's five hundred voluntary muscles froze in fear. She didn't need to hear the roar that was far below the pitch that human ears could pick up. She didn't need to see the swirl of dark energy that flared like a red-tinged black aura around him. She knew already, instinctively, and she tried to get the breath to yell a warning to Winnie. There was no time. She could only watch as the boy's face turned toward Winnie and power exploded out of him. He did it so casually. Keller could tell that it was only a flick of his mind, like a horse slapping its tail at a fly. But the dark power slammed into Winnie and sent her flying through the air, arms and legs outstretched, until she hit a wall covered with display plates and clocks. The crash was tremendous. Winnie! Keller almost yelled it out loud. Winnie fell behind the cash register counter, out of Keller's line of sight. Keller couldn't tell if she were alive or not. The cashier who had been standing behind the counter went running and screaming toward the back of the shop. The customers scattered, some following the cashier, some dashing for the exit. Keller hung in the doorway a second longer as they streamed out around her. Then she reeled away to stand with her back against the window of the next shop, breathing hard. There were coils of ice in her guts. A dragon. He was a dragon.

Interdiction about Hinduism and Influence in Healthcare Essay

Interdiction about Hinduism and Influence in Healthcare - Essay Example Karma is discussed by Hindu scriptures as a law of cause and effects, thereby facilitating the creation of destiny through their thoughts, dealings, and expressions. There is a conviction that illness and other health related issues emanating from karma. Therefore, it offers a chance for purification of karma and spiritual evolution that is established through illness and difficulties in life. Moreover, karma is considered a universal law that subjects people to either bad or good. Furthermore, it is described through experiences undergone by people in order to balance their soul. For instance, in a situation when a person loses his leg through an accident, there is a notion that this occurred due the fact that he made someone lose a leg. Hinduism upholds great respect to medical professionals, though numerous Hindus are distressful of drugs. In fact, in a situation where drugs are prescribed to a patient, Hinduism requires the physician to offer a reliable explanation of the effects of the drugs. Western medicines are acceptable to the Hindus, but numerous people have a high preference to seek treatment from their temples (Verma, Inamdar & Kumar, 2009). Hinduism promote to seeking health care services from the temple due to inexpensively and the good treatment and environment. Moreover, Hinduism has been influencing people to avoid seeking services from government hospitals. In addition, Hindus have a high preference of natural and homeopathic medicine over the drugs and surgery offered in numerous hospitals. 6. Are there thing that your religion help you to engage to healthcare? There is like food habit, exercise, timely exercise, diet and yoga. In fact, most of the Hindus are vegetarians, while others have found a necessity of eating eggs and fish occasionally in the contemporary urban Western life. Nevertheless, Hindus are fond of serving rise and tea at their every meal, while numerous Indian have adopted Western style

Community Health Nursing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Community Health Nursing - Essay Example Parish nurse links faith and health care to advocate ministry and this includes preaching in addition to healing people. School nurses are those who are based in academes who attend to the medical needs of students and school employees. I would ask them to coordinate with their local health professionals and seek to advise on how to properly take care of their health such as practicing good sanitation, eating right, exercising regularly, etc. Young children and senior citizens are typically vulnerable to communicable diseases because their immune system is weak. But with the spread of HIV, perfectly healthy people are also vulnerable. For young people, I would always advise them to practice good hygiene and sanitation not only with their bodies but with their surroundings as well to prevent the transfer of communicable diseases. With regard to HIV, I would advise people to wear protection during sex. Active immunity is the immunity that develops after giving the primary immune response which is the exposure to live pathogen and development of symptoms. The cells that are produced by active immunity is the antibodies themselves. Passive immunity is the form of immunity that a person gets by getting immunization such as folio vaccine whereby the antitoxin or antibodies are injected into the person. Primary prevention involves the avoidance of contraction and/or transmission of diseases. They could be done through a set of preventative measures such as practicing good personal hygiene and sanitation, receiving vaccines etch. Secondary prevention includes the early detection of diseases so that prompt intervention may be administered to control the disease and minimize illness and deaths. This could be done through screening, etch.

Health and medecine Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Health and medecine - Essay Example cial model of health is based on the principle that the two determinants must be involved while considering the other factors that influence the health of a person such as biological as well as medical aspects, for enhanced health and wellbeing to be accomplished. The social model of health allows flexibility in the society to develop its own principles regarding what the meaning of health is. Through such an approach, the people determine what is good and bad for their health based on the societal perspective (Nettleton, 2006). Several factors such as the societal engagements, economic wellbeing, culture and other activities in which an individual interacts with other people are considered to have a significant impact on health in the social model. The model provides a theoretical framework that offers guidelines for people to understand ways in which good health can be maintained in the society by avoiding prejudice and stigma in the society, as well as maintaining equality and justice for all (Dalton et al. 2007). There are various differences between the social model and the biomedical model that has many limitations. The model points at the interaction societal, financial and individual aspects as the combination that determines the health of a person. These are viewed as the factors that should be considered for improved health to be accomplished. A change in the people’s way of life is the most significant way to deal with the illness. On the other hand, the medical model is focused on the factors that cause a deviation from the normal body functions, making an individual unable to perform the normal day o day activities (Jones & Creedy, 2009). Such factors include biological abnormalities such as genetic make up or physiological disorders. The medical model highlights diagnosis of disease and the use of medication as the appropriate way of dealing with illness. The medical model views the disease causing organism as something that can be removed from

Balanced scorecard evaluation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Balanced scorecard evaluation - Essay Example It should be able to in a good position to predict the future performance of the organization, and/or control and manage the organization’s strategic plan. A balanced scorecard is one of best management styles that capture this information in details. This paper gives an analysis of the purposes for non-financial performance measures. It also analyses the current performance measure adopted in Atlantic Tele-Network, Inc (ATN), the extend to which their performance measure captures the Kaplan and Norton’s balanced scorecard and its present strength and weaknesses. Purposes for non-financial performance measure Kaplan and Norton (1996) state that by analyzing the non-financial perspectives of an organization, managers are in a position to translate the strategy of an organization into actionable objectives. It also enables them to get an insight of how the strategic plan of the organization is being executed. According to Kaplan and Norton (1992), a balanced scorecard (BS C) maps the strategic objectives of an organization into performance metrics. This is done in four perspectives namely learning and growth, customers, financial and internal processes. The four perspectives of a balanced scorecard provide important feedback that explains how well the company’s strategic plan is being executed. From this feedback, managers are able to identify necessary adjustments that can be made to ensure that the company achieves its outlined goals and objectives. BSC is a financial and non-financial performance measurement tool. This means that apart from measuring the current performance of a company in terms of finances, a BSC as evaluates the efforts of a firm to make future improvements using customer, process and learning and growth metrics (Niven 2006). As noted in the above discussion, the three major perspectives that make up the non-financial performance measures/BSC of a company are learning and growth, customers and internal processes. Accordin g to Kaplan and Norton (2004), an analysis of the objectives of an organization’s internal processes helps the management of an organization to understand and choose type of process that are very important for satisfying its shareholders and most importantly, its customers. Basically, this performance measure outlines the main processes which an organization must focus its efforts for it to excel. An analysis of the learning and growth perspective of a BSC enables an organization to understand how it must learn, improve and innovate for it to achieve its objectives. A significant portion of this perspective is employee-centered. Some of the learning and growth measures will include manufacturing learning, time to market and product focus Douglas (2007). The customer perspective of a BSC enables an organization to understand how it is being viewed by its customers. It also enables it to know how well it is doing in terms of serving its target customers in an effort to meet its financial objectives. The main objectives here will be those that focus on new products, how to become a preferred supplier, becoming a responsive supplier and customer partnerships. Generally, a BSC enables a company to translate its vision into practical goals and adjust its strategy accordingly to the feedback and the learning received. The

Cultural Competency and Cultural Humility in Nursing Practice Essay

Cultural Competency and Cultural Humility in Nursing Practice - Essay Example Therefore, they have to ensure that the cultural, racial and ethnic diversity does not jeopardize their working criterion (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2008). Similarly, the ethnic and cultural diversity should not affect the quality of their services. This calls for undivided attention from the nurses in getting to know the cultural affiliations better. This will ensure the nurses give unparalleled services to the people that need them. In essence, the nurses have to slot various approaches in giving equal services to the people from different cultural affiliations. This will ensure the nursing profession is offering top notch services that are not affected in any way. However, if nurses do not create a perfect approach in serving people from different cultures, they will not be in a position to give the best services to the different ethnic and cultural groups that need these services. The first preparation for the nurses and practitioners is initiated by the instit ution and governing bodies to ensure the services that are offered in the institutions are not jeopardized. This has been the situation in many institutions as they look for better ways to prepare the nurses and medical practitioners on how to serve the people that need these services (Anderson, Calvillo and Fongwa, 2007). ... With such preparations, most of the institutions are prepared to give the best services dispute the presence of different cultural and ethnic groups. In many instances, most of the institutions have incepted the idea of multicultural training of the physicians, nurses and medical practitioners. This approach has yielded substantial results to the nursing profession in reflection from the results. The multicultural training has been influential in changing nursing profession perspective to different ethnic and cultural groups. Many people have come up with models that try to explain the need for cultural humility and cultural competence in the nursing sector. Some of these models are explicit in their statements while other models bank on the basics of cultural competence. Therefore, for a nursing institution to achieve the best, it has to use a model that will ensure all the vital aspects are put into consideration (Tervalon and Garcia, 1998). The most prevalent model among the cultu ral care models is the self reflection and lifelong learner model. This is a model that has been used a number of times in the nursing profession to ensure people from different cultural affiliations are having the best services (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2008). In many instances, there is need for the nurses to understand that the people they are serving are from different cultural affiliations. Therefore, they will have to ensure they give all the people high class services despite their difference in cultural affiliations. With such actions, it is likely that the nursing profession will be recording an improvement over time. The first aspect in this model is to have knowledge of all health beliefs and many other

Change and Culture Essay Example for Free

Change and Culture Essay To adjust to greater competition and pressures of obtaining increased organizational efficiency and cost containment, many organizations have begun to examine strategies related to restructuring and downsizing to maintain organizational viability. These processes have included mergers and acquisitions, and redefining occupational roles of workers within the organization. Consequently, successful management of the structural change process can be daunting and overwhelming if not handled in an organized and thoughtful process. Those who are responsible for the process must recognize the barrier that may be hindrances to conception and implementation of the change process These barriers include: (a) lack of concise and coordinated planning/goals, (b) resistance to change within the organizational workforce, (c) failure to consistently evaluate the progress of the proposed change within context of the entire system, and adjust methodology as necessary. Thus, in order to achieve a balance between achieving organizational goals and addressing the uncertainty that may occur in the workforce, organizational leaders are tasked with the responsibilities of finding creative means to facilitate the mandated objectives while at the same time finding vehicles to maintain adequate levels of employee satisfaction and productivity in order to facilitate the ability to service their respective consumer base. It is the purpose of this paper to re-examine the fictional organization created in the week number four Culture Case Study I, and determine the means to facilitate a redesign in workforce brought on by a mandated reduction in work force. This paper will examine the concept of the universal worker as part of the proposed redesign, with further evaluation of the communications and organizational process that will have to be implemented in order to facilitate successful achievement of administrative goals and employee adoption of their new roles. Case Study In an attempt to achieve increased cost containment, six months after the merger of Charles Drew and Florence Nightingale Hospitals, the managerial hierarchy has proposed a significant reduction in workforce. Subsequently, a decision was made that the best way to facilitate continued safe patient care was to redesign the patient care delivery workforce. As recommended by the administration, the initial proposal for redesign was that of the universal worker. As understood, the paradigm of the universal worker would allow remaining employees to be cross trained in different job duties; thus, allowing more flexibility in staffing and personnel assignments (web. Answers. com, 2011). Through examination and implementation of the concepts of the universal worker, along with consideration of other strategies, the thought is that assigning additional duties to remaining personnel would allow continued adequate delivery of many support services. Past experiences in attempt to implement this type of change has proven to be met with resistance by personnel, and difficult to implement when introduced at other organizations; nevertheless, the administration has charged the mid-level management team with successful achievement of the proposed redesign in order to meet organizational objectives. The Change Process When beginning the process of job redesign within this organization, it will be important for those who are responsible for implementation of the change to understand the overall mission and goals of the organization and the global ramification of the change within the institution. It will be important to understand that a change in one area can have either a positive or negative impact on other areas within the organization (Leadership and Motivational Training, 2012). Thus, in viewing the potential upheaval that a reduction in workforce can create, and the subsequent potential for feelings of job insecurity that may be experienced by the remaining workforce, it will be important to allay these fears and allow enhanced empowerment of employees being affected by this process. This can be facilitated through inclusion of employees in the redesign process (i. e. implementation of work teams) and establishment of clear channels of communication within the system. Managing this process of job redesign and change can be successfully implemented through the initiation of a defined process to guide the change and an assigned change leadership team (Resnick, 2012). Through this process not only will the affected employees be allowed to have input to the process that will affect the their individual stake in the organization, they will also have the opportunity to implement substantial and lasting change for the overall system and the culture of then organization. As described by Peter Senge in his postulates regarding organizational culture, this inclusion, empowerment and open communication among those in leadership and front-line employees will work to facilitate what he described as the learning organization and systems thinking (Smith, 2001). Inclusion of work teams into the change process, and the subsequent implementation of the cross training of employees into various departmental roles, the concept of the universal worker among the care provision staff will allow the reshaping of the organization into one that has the flexibility to adapt to the rapid change that may be incurred, and foster an atmosphere of collegiality – where people are continually learning to see the whole together (Smith, 2001). Measuring Processes and Expectations Post Redesign  Once the redesign process has been completed it will be very important to implement measures to review the process of performance and if the predetermined goals of the change are being met. Since employees will potentially be relied on to increase performance and acquire additional employment duties, it will be important to examine how the implementation of change will impact employee satisfaction. It can be said that if an organization can meet the need for a satisfying work environment, then the employee will have a greater propensity to be more motivated and productive. As a consequence the satisfaction will have a greater correlation to improved outcomes and patient satisfaction. Examination of outcomes can be achieved through the â€Å"utilization of the creation of a balanced scoreboard-or dashboard- of the key internal and external measures that provide a comprehensive view of the organizations performance, with as much insight as possible regarding the implication of the change for the future† (Resnick, 2012). Examples of these tools could include utilization of employee satisfaction surveys, provision of strategically placed employee eedback boxes to solicit employee input to parameters for ongoing improvement, and implementation of employee councils to examine how to best meet the needs for improving overall workplace satisfaction and employee morale. With completion of the tools for review of performance, the organization will have a balanced understanding as to how the implementation of the job redesign has impacted organizational goals and desired outcomes -i. e. decreased attrition rates of employees, decreased sick leave utilized, increased patient safety and patient satisfaction scores – (Ugboro, 2006) . Creation of a Learning Organization As the paradigm begins to change in the organization, and implementation of change becomes manifest within the organization, it will be important to foster structures that will provide for a cohesive and well-rounded workforce. As a result, it will be important that all employees have a thorough understanding of what is meant by a learning organization, and how this concept will be imperative e to the ongoing success of current and future change. As described by Peter Senge, the learning organization can be viewed as a structural environment in which the employee is empowered to create the outcomes that they truly desire. In this type of environment, the employee is allowed the room of creativity to redefine not only themselves within their organizational role, but also the organization itself. This paradigm shift differs from the previous downstream constricted organizational structures in that it moves the process for acquiring new organizational traits and skills from learning a means of survival to one that embraces learning that enhances the capacity to create and innovate (Smith, 2001). As such, this paradigm allows progress of the employee to have a greater role in obtaining self-actualization through growth of objectively understanding how change and the end-results of proposed change will affect the organization and the system as a whole. Additionally, it changes the view of management from one of overseer, to one of fostering learning opportunities and helping employees develop systemic understanding (Smith, 2001). In relation to the mandated job restructuring that will take place within this merged organization this change will be facilitated through the creation of interdisciplinary teams of care providers that will comprise the teams that will be responsible for the redesign of the care delivery model. In context of the proposed reduction of staff, it can be assumed that the employees affected by the ensuing change will be instrumental in facilitating this change if allowed to be part of the redesign of priorities and duties. Consequently, with each group bringing their individual and collective spheres of knowledge, there will facilitation of the exchange of ideas, expansion of personal mastery, enhancement of mental models, and a building of a shared vision. All of which are characteristic of the described learning organization. In this case, enactment of the concept to the universal worker will require cross training of employees into potentially new areas of responsibility, or areas in which personal mastery has not been achieved. As such, training can be perceived by employees as a measure of the organizations commitment to them. Subsequently, training is one of the most powerful vehicles for an organization to create change. As stated by Resnick (2012), â€Å"First, it builds alignment to the desired change. Second, it provides individuals with the knowledge and skills to implement the change. Third, it creates the opportunity for cross-functional communication in the implementation of company-wide initiatives†. As this process evolves, management can ensure that continual educational opportunities exist for employees to grow technically and professionally in their respective duties. As these opportunities are allowed, evaluation of individual mastery should be evaluated and opportunities for individual employees to become mentors or resources for fellow employees should be encouraged. By facilitation of this process of collaborative self-management, satisfaction within the process will be enhanced and peer-to-peer sharing can take place. This will allow greater cohesiveness among the teams and a greater sense of inclusion among all team members. As stated by Smith (2001), â€Å"when teams learn together, not only can there be good results for the organization, members will grow more rapidly than could have occurred otherwise†. Measurement of Individual Satisfaction Measurement of individual employee satisfaction can be facilitated through many means. Standard traditional measurement tools could include employee surveys, employee feedback solicitation, and input gained during annual performance reviews. Although these means may allow the management team to gain greater insight to employee satisfaction with change, they are primarily founded in anecdotal response, and may be difficult of quantify. Thus, alternative measurements of satisfaction can be employed. These include monitoring of employee retention rates, review of utilization unscheduled employee leave, and patient provided satisfaction surveys. As indicated by Plowman (2009), â€Å"many studies suggest that the cost of turnover is on-and-a-half times an employee’s salary, when considering recruitment, selection, and training costs. Therefore, to monetarily measure the impacts of reduced turnover, one can calculate the expected cost of replacing employees who chose not to leave as a result of increased employee satisfaction†. Furthermore, enhanced patient satisfaction and outcomes may have a direct correlation to enhanced satisfaction in that increased individual productivity may be a sign of an employee who has taken ownership of his or her role in relation to change. Conclusion In today’s environment of organizational change, and redefining of traditional job functions and roles, it is imperative to create new paradigms within the organizational structure. Along with the changing responsibilities for employees, management must provide the means to promote atmospheres of renewed learning and assist the empowerment of employees in actualizing the larger systemic needs of the organization, and their role in the facilitation of making lasting change. Successful implementation of these concepts, along with meeting the needs for maintaining employee fulfillment and satisfaction will be essential for the economic longevity of all business organizations that provide essential services to the public.