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Several theorists have tried to explain the concern of short superintendency tenure. The interests of the researchers involved studying conflict management in relationship to superintendent turnover and congruency with the school board. One research study included all public school superintendents in the United States. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through the Thomas-Kilmann Inventory (TKI), an open-ended interview protocol, and the Organizational Leadership Effectiveness Inventory. The research study sought to answer questions related to the conflict management modes of superintendents. A Chi-square test was conducted to identify if there was a larger proportion than expected in any one of the five conflict management modes. The purpose of the second study was to determine if the congruence between the ideal/actual and expected/perceived roles of the superintendent [based on the eight State Board of Educator Certification (SBEC) standards between the superintendents and school board presidents in Texas] had an effect on student achievement. The subjects for this study were those responding superintendents and school board presidents, as identified by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB), that have served together for a period of three or more years as a district's leadership team. A Pearson-r correlation analysis was conducted to analyze the similarities between superintendent and school board responses. An ANOVA was also used to determine congruence between superintendents' and board members' responses pertaining to SBEC standards. Results reveal that public school superintendents have significantly different conflict management approaches. These differences in conflict management modes affect the manner in which superintendents relate to and interact with all facets of leadership. The data collected from the survey of superintendents and school board presidents revealed that there is a statistically significant difference between ideal and actual roles of superintendents and school boards. This lack of congruence could play a major role in the creation of conflict by external forces that must be managed by the superintendent. (Contains 2 tables.)

Background: Delivery of specialty healthcare to rural citizens in the United States remains largely unmet. The Veterans Health Administration is in a unique position to deliver specialty care to rural Veterans because it is mandated to deliver medical care to all eligible Veterans regardless of residence. To accomplish this, the VHA developed large national telehealth networks that provided over 1 million episodes of care in 2012. We investigated whether clinical video telehealth technologies can provide quality efficient neurologic follow-up care to Veterans living in the rural southwest United States., Patients and Methods: Veterans with chronic neurologic conditions living remotely in New Mexico, southern Colorado, eastern Arizona, and western Texas were offered follow-up teleneurology care at 11 rural community-based outpatient clinics following initial evaluation at the Albuquerque, NM, neurology outpatient clinic., Results: Over a 2-year period, 87% of 354 consecutive patients returned a performance improvement satisfaction questionnaire. Ninety percent of the patients were fully satisfied with their visit, and 92% felt teleneurology saved them time and money. We calculated an average time savings of 5 h and 325 miles driven, plus at least $48,000 total cost savings. Ninety-five percent reported they wanted to continue their neurologic care by teleneurology., Conclusions: Our study confirms earlier pilot studies of successful follow-up care through telemedicine. Our patients were highly satisfied with the convenience and quality of their teleneurology visit, and the neurology providers were convinced that neurologic care to both teleneurology and clinic follow-up patients was equivalent. Teleneurology to rural Veterans can provide quality neurologic care and overwhelming patient satisfaction and save considerable time and money.

This article discusses how the experience of instituting preceptored clinical experiences throughout an undergraduate baccalaureate nursing curriculum resulted in a partnership between academia and service. The collaboration between academia and service built on the strengths of each institution to reach a common goal. Integration of the preceptor clinical model is unique in that implementation occurs in the second semester of a four-semester curriculum. Advantages and disadvantages to the model for students, preceptors, and faculty are presented. Unanticipated benefits to both institutions and ideas to help other programs and facilities develop a collaborative partnership for the education of baccalaureate nursing students are provided.

The middle ear status and hearing sensitivity in 483 normal infants have been closely monitored as part of the Dallas Cooperative Project, University of Texas at Dallas, effort to assess the effect of early otitis media with effusion on speech and language development. At least one episode of otitis media with effusion occurred in 73.5% of the children between the ages of 6 and 18 months. Almost a quarter of these were discovered at "well-baby" checkups and were appropriately classified as "silent." The hearing levels, the methods of hearing assessment, and the implications of these data are described.