Silent reading skills

Introduction A fluent reader has automatic word recognition, which promotes phrasing and intonation. Automatic word recognition enhances smooth, fast and expressive reading. Consequently, a student will develop silent reading skills, which is a fast reading method compared to oral reading. Good reading approach requires comprehensive gradual learning steps. This paper outlines a three- day fluent teaching and reading plan.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Silent reading skills specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Reading Lesson day 1 The objective of this lesson is to enhanced students’ word recognition capacity. Additionally, the lesson is structured to build reading speed. The lesson is designed to meet the needs of children with poor word recognition and slow in readers. Lesson Activity A teacher selects a passage, which the students will read in class. The passage should be between 100-200 words. Additional ly, the selected passage should be taken from a book of slight higher language level than the students. The teacher then has each student read in turn. While a student reads, the teacher time and record all mispronounced words. A teacher should have a normal reading standard time and expected number of word pronunciation errors. The teacher may apply different coloured pencils to mark time and errors. After a student is through with passage reading, the teacher help the student identify his/her errors and make him or her repeat the words. The student is taken to the passage again. The process of timing and marking errors is repeated. The teacher then evaluates the student’s performance through a table as shown below. He/she is made to repeat the passage as a teacher corrects him/her until the whole passage is read successfully. Reading Evaluation Table Advertising Looking for essay on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Reading Rationality Repeated reading has shown a lot of success in promoting reading fluency. Mather and Goldstein say, â€Å"Through repeated reading, fluency can be improved as long as students are provided with specific instructions and procedures are used to monitor their progress† (Mather Goldstein, 2001, P.236). Repeated reading technique also allow a teacher to monitor each and every student’s performance. Finally, it is an effective method in wide peer tutoring program (Gunning, 2010). Reading Lesson day 2 This reading’s objective is to develop student’s reading fluency through audio-learning devices. The student will be able to learn through listening to tapes and later repeating the same passages. Audio learning enables students to develop their fluency through practicing to imitate the voice while following their passage. Lesson Activity A tutor picks up an appropriate passage and voice records. While recording, a tutor should ensure t hat the voice prompt starts and ends with the passage, without lapse times. Voices should be recorded about 7 inches away from the microphone. While recording, a teacher will show a lot of interest in the passage to capture students’ interest. After recording, a teacher plays the voice repeatedly. Consequently, the student is made to follow the passage silently. The student is then made to read the passage, first silently and then loudly without the voice aid. The process should be repeated until the student perfectly reads the passage. The rationality behind this method is that following voice helps a student to master word pronunciation. Consequently, a student’s word recognition speed increases while he/she tries to keep up with the voice speed. A teacher will be able to evaluate the student performance when he/she reads loud. Reading Lesson 3 The objective of this reading is to enable students improve their word intonation and phrasing. When students’ master s word phrasing and intonation, they will be urged to carry out more reading by themselves. Most students who have undergone through choral reading, develops a lot of confidence and always try lots of different materials.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Silent reading skills specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Lesson Activity A teacher selects a passage and writes it on the board. With the aid of a pointer he/she reads aloud for all the students to repeat after him/her. The pointer must move with the words being pronounced. The teacher start reading slowly and gradually increases speed. The process is repeated several times. To evaluate the students’ performance, a teacher selects a reader randomly to read with the aid of the pointer. In case of errors the teacher points out the word and makes the student repeat. The teacher must make all the students to read. The teacher should ensure that the students†™ connect the words while reading. According to Mather and Goldstein, â€Å"when necessary, remind the student to keep his or her eyes on the words. Successful decoding requires the reader to connect the flow of spoken language with the flow of text† (Mather Goldstein, 2001, p.241). Choral reading has been used by many teachers successfully. It builds learners confidence in reading through individual practice. Students will develop reading speed, effective intonation of words and good phrasing while reading. When students are made to follow after the teacher severally, they are exposed to automatic word mastery. Word learning become simpler since the students can join several words that make senses by use of a pointer (Harris Hodges, 1995). References Gunning, T. (2010). Creating literacy instruction for all students (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon/Pearson Education. Harris, T., Hodges, R. (1995). The literacy dictionary, the vocabulary of reading and writing. New ark, DE: International Reading Association.Advertising Looking for essay on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Mather, Goldstein, S. (2001). Learning Disabilities and Challenging Behaviours: A Guide to Intervention and Classroom Management. New York: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co. This essay on Silent reading skills was written and submitted by user David Maldonado to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

habeus corpus essays

habeus corpus essays A Confederate Soldier, on leave from war, was captured, imprisoned and denied any right to a trial. Though summoned by the Chief of Justice of the United States of America, John Merryman, by right of Habeas Corpus was denied a trial (Britannia Sec.1). In 1679 the incorporation of Habeas Corpus was granted to all citizens, authorizing judges to review a court case for all imprisoned perpetrators. At the outbreak of the Civil War President Abraham Lincoln repealed the original writ of Habeas Corpus and suspended the right stating that it could be revoked in a case of rebellion or invasion if the public safety may require it(Britannia sec.1). Through years of examining the United States government in school, I never fully understood the proceedings and the rights to a fair trial. After reading Habeas Corpus, an article reviewing the changes of the writ, I realized what might seem fair and honest never truly is. This article stunned and intrigued me. I was able to connect Lincolns alter ation of this writ to that by President Roosevelt and in 1996 by President Bill Clinton (A.PA9). William Rehnquist, author of, All Lies But One, believes that Abraham Lincoln had an obligation to suspend the right of Habeas Corpus in 1861 at the offset of the Civil War, as did Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II. I would have agreed with his [Lincoln] view as to suspending the writ of habeas corpus, I think, because that seemed to be a real threat to the union(Gergen 3). I both agree and disagree with Rehnquists statements and beliefs. Abraham Lincoln and Roosevelt had justifiable motives for suspending the law, but should have submitted the proposition to congress for final authorization. I believe President Bill Clinton enacted to same proposition, but altered the formality of it. The Death Penalty and Public Safety Act of 1996 was proposed by the congress and finalized by the president after...

When Do College Acceptance Letters Arrive for Regular Decision For Early Decision or Early Action

When Do College Acceptance Letters Arrive for Regular Decision For Early Decision or Early Action SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Applying to college is a confusing and stressful process, but waiting to hear back from the colleges you applied to can be just as anxiety-inducing. When do college acceptance letters arrive? In this guide, we explain when to expect to receive your college decision notifications. We also give you a chart of estimated college acceptance dates for 2019 and offer helpful tips on what to do as you wait for your college acceptance letters. When Do College Acceptance Letters Arrive, Generally? First off, when do college acceptance letters arrive, broadly speaking? While the answer to this question really depends on what colleges you’re applying to, in general most decisions come out in the springtime, that is, in either March or early April. The latest you might hear back from a college will be the first week of April. This is because most schools require decisions from applicants on where they want to attend by May 1. Some colleges work together to release their decisions at the same time. The Ivy League, which is composed of eight highly prestigious colleges, releases its decisions on "Ivy Day," a specific day at the end of March (note that the exact date changes each year). But what if you applied to a college early action or early decision? In these cases, since applications are due earlier (usually in November), you can expect an earlier decision notification as well- usually around December. Some schools offer secondary early decision plans called Early Decision II for which applications are due a little bit later, usually in January. For these plans, decisions should come out around February. Here is a chart showing the general trends of when college acceptance letters come out: Application Deadline Estimated Decision Notification Date November (Early Action/Early Decision I) Mid- or late December January (Early Decision II) February December, January, or February (Regular Decision) March or early April These days, most college acceptance letters will arrive as either an email or application status update on a college’s own application portal. Afterward, you’ll usually receive a hard copy of your acceptance letter in the mail and further updates via email or mail. An Aside: What If You’re Waitlisted? Sometimes, instead of getting a college acceptance letter or rejection, you’ll get a letter stating that you’ve been waitlisted. This means that the college is still considering you for admission depending on how many admitted applicants choose to enroll. As a result, you’ll need to decide (typically by May 1) whether you want to stay on the waitlist to see if you get off it, or take yourself off the waitlist, thereby eliminating your chances of getting in. If you decide to stay on the waitlist, you won’t get a college decision notification until possibly as late as August, right before the school year starts. When you hear back ultimately depends on the school and how quickly it's able to fill up its new freshman class. College Acceptance Dates 2019 We have a general understanding of when college acceptance letters arrive. But when do college decisions come out in 2019? And how do these decision dates differ depending on the college? To answer these two questions, we put together an extensive list of popular schools and their reported or estimated college acceptance dates for 2019. All dates below represent the last day by which you should receive an admissions decision notification (unless otherwise noted); thus, it’s possible you could receive a decision earlier. All schools are listed alphabetically. School Early Action/Early Decision Regular Decision Amherst ED: Mid-December 2018 April 1-7, 2019 Boston College EA: December 20, 2018 Spring Freshmen: December 15, 2018 April 1, 2019 Boston University ED: December 15, 2018 ED 2: February 15, 2019 Late March to early April 2019 Brown ED: Mid-December 2018 March 28, 2019* Caltech EA: Mid-December 2018 Mid-March 2019 Carnegie Mellon ED: December 15, 2018 Early Admission (juniors only): April 15, 2019 April 15, 2019 Columbia ED: December 15, 2018 March 28, 2019* Cornell ED: Mid-December 2018 March 28, 2019* Dartmouth ED: Mid-December 2018 March 28, 2019* Duke ED: December 15, 2018 April 1, 2019 Emory ED I: December 15, 2018 ED II: February 15, 2019 Scholar Programs: March 1, 2019 April 1, 2019 Georgetown EA: December 15, 2018 April 1, 2019 Harvard EA: Mid-December 2018 March 28, 2019* Harvey Mudd ED I: December 15, 2018 ED II: February 15, 2019 April 1, 2019 Johns Hopkins ED: December 15, 2018 April 1, 2019 MIT EA: December 15, 2018 Mid-March 2019 Northwestern ED: Mid-December 2018 Late March 2019 Notre Dame EA: Mid-December 2018 Late March 2019 NYU ED I: December 15, 2018 ED II: February 15, 2019 April 1, 2019 Penn ED: Mid-December 2018 March 28, 2019* Pomona ED I: December 15, 2018 ED II: February 15, 2019 April 1, 2019 Princeton EA: Mid-December 2018 March 28, 2019* Rice ED: Mid-December 2018 April 1, 2019 Stanford EA: December 7, 2018 April 1, 2019 SUNY System ED: December 15, 2018 EA: January 1, 2019 Rolling Tufts ED I: Mid-December 2018 ED II: Mid-February 2019 April 1, 2019 UC System - Mar 1-31, 2019 UChicago EA: Mid-December 2018 ED I: Mid-December 2018 ED II: Mid-February 2019 Late March 2019 UMass Amherst EA: Starting mid-December 2018 Spring Applicants: Starting mid-December 2018 Starting early March 2019 UNC Chapel Hill EA: End of January 2019 End of March 2019 University of Florida - Mid-February 2019 University of Illinois EA: December 14, 2018 March 1, 2019 University of Michigan EA: December 24, 2018 Early April 2019 University of Rochester ED: December 15, 2018 April 1, 2019 University of Washington - March 1-15, 2019 USC Merit Scholarship Applicants: February 1, 2019 April 1, 2019 UT Austin Priority: February 1, 2019 March 1, 2019 UVA EA: End of January 2019 End of March 2019 Vanderbilt ED I: Mid-December 2018 ED II: Mid-February 2019 Late March 2019 Vassar ED I: Mid-December 2018 ED II: February 1, 2019 Late March 2019 Wake Forest ED: Rolling (as early as December 1, 2018) ED II: February 15, 2019 April 1, 2019 William Mary ED I: Early December 2018 ED II: Early February 2019 April 1, 2019 WUSTL ED: December 15, 2018 ED II: February 15, 2019 April 1, 2019 Yale EA: Mid-December 2018 March 28, 2019* *Estimated Ivy Day 2019 based on the patterns of previous years. Ivy Day is always at the end of March. See our guide to Ivy Day for more info about how we came up with this date. Want to build the best possible college application? We can help. PrepScholar Admissions is the world's best admissions consulting service. We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League. We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools. Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in. Waiting for College Acceptance Letters? 3 Tips for What to Do We've given you the general dates you can expect to receive your college admission decision. But what should you do in the meantime, after you’ve submitted all your applications and are waiting for decision notifications from colleges? Here are three essential tips to keep in mind during this time. #1: Focus on School One of the most important steps you can take is to focus on school and keep up your grades. Try your best not to let senioritis hit you, especially considering that most colleges will want to see your final transcripts before you get to campus- even after they’ve admitted you. If you have any big dip in your grades senior year, a college could rescind your acceptance and reject you instead. Do not take any chances at this time! Continue to work hard, study for all the tests you have, and finish your homework on time. Keep making school a priority. Finally, continuing to do well in school is especially important if you plan to take any AP tests at the end of senior year. You want to keep up your studying so that you can earn a passing score on the tests you’re taking, hopefully earning you some college credit. Resist senioritis- keep up with your studies. #2: Apply for Financial Aid and Scholarships If you know you’ll need some help with money in order to attend college, these months of waiting for decisions to come out are an ideal time to shift your focus from college applications to FAFSA and scholarships. Applying for FAFSA makes you eligible to receive federal-, state-, and/or college-sponsored financial aid, including loans, grants, and work-study. If you’re interested in winning free scholarship money, I'd advise you to do some research on any college scholarships you might be eligible for. These scholarships can be based on merit, such as your GPA and SAT/ACT scores, or financial need (or both). For more tips on how to find and apply for scholarships, check out our financial aid blog posts as well as our most popular scholarship and aid guides: Simple Guide: How to Apply for Financial Aid How to Find Scholarships for College: Expert Guide Top Scholarships for High School Seniors The Easiest Scholarships to Apply For Easy Scholarships to Win: How to Find and Apply The Complete List of Community Service Scholarships Amazing Full-Ride Scholarships You Can Win Complete List: Weird Scholarships You Can Win How to Get a Merit Scholarship: 6-Step Guide #3: Keep Tabs on Your Email and Application Status As you wait for college decisions to come out, it’s important that you routinely check your email (whichever email you put down for your college applications) and application status on the school's website. Some schools will only announce their decisions online through their application portals, some will email their decisions directly, and others will mail their decisions before sending out emails (this is becoming less common, though). Even if you’re not expecting to get a college decision anytime soon, try to keep tabs on your inbox and application status. This will help ensure you’re not missing any application materials and that the college isn’t trying to contact you about any last-minute problems with your application. Conclusion: When Do College Acceptance Letters Arrive? There are many answers to the question, "When do college decisions come out?" In general, most college decisions are released online by email or through an application portal in March or early April. If you applied early action or early decision, you can expect to hear back about your application status in December (or around February if you applied Early Decision II). The latest you’ll get a college acceptance letter is the first week of April, since most colleges require admitted applicants to submit their decisions about where they want to attend by May 1. If you get waitlisted at a college and choose to stay on the list, you won’t receive an official decision until possibly as late as August. Once you’ve submitted your applications and are waiting to hear back from colleges, be sure to take these three steps: Focus on school and continue to keep up your grades Apply for financial aid and scholarships, including FAFSA Keep tabs on your email and application status by routinely checking your inbox and the school's application status page As a final tip, stay positive- you never know where you're gonna get in! What’s Next? What do college acceptance letters look like? Learn what a typical college acceptance letter says and how it looks with our in-depth guide. Got rejected from your top-choice school? Or scared of getting a rejection letter? Read our guide to get tips on how you can get through a college rejection and what you can do to improve your chances of getting in. The key to getting a college acceptance letter is having a great application. And the best way to ensure you have an impressive application is to know what looks good on it. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

John Stuart Mill Utilitarianism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

John Stuart Mill Utilitarianism - Essay Example He argues that the principle of utility should be seen as a tool for promoting general happiness. Most of our actions, according to him, should be judged according to this principle. In his illustration of the utility theory, Mill thinks that we should appeal to the principle of utility only when we face a moral dilemma between two secondary principles. The basic assumption of the utilitarian theory, as advocated by Mill, is that "we should each act so as to promote the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people." These important ethical views of Mill can be applied in almost all fields of our lives. That is, a utilitarian advocate may judge any act or behavior according to the amount of happiness or sadness it will produce for the greatest number of people. While this seems a claim that would be approved by all people, the question that emerges here is: "who are the persons to whom the actions should promote happiness?" According to the utilitarian theory, in order for any action to be right and ethical, it should promote happiness to the maximum number of people involved (Cain). ... Utilitarianism, as a form of the consequentialist theory, can be defined as a moral theory according to which an act is right if it conforms to the notion of usefulness or utility of the group. That is, an act conforms to the notion of utility if its performance will result in the maximum pleasure for the maximum number of people. So, the value of the consequences of an act, according to utilitarianism, is determined entirely by the welfare of everyone concerned in the action. On the other hand, a non-consequentialist theory judges the rightness or wrongness of an action based on properties intrinsic to the action, not on its  consequences. Relevant to the non-consequentialist theory is the categorical imperative approach, advocated by the eighteenth century German philosopher Immanuel Kant. According to the categorical imperative theory, an action is moral only if the rule that governs it can be generalized to all human beings on earth. That is, the will should be influenced only by universal considerations, and not by subjective considerations, identified by the one involved in action. Therefore, ethical egoism and utilitarianism are two classical contradictory philosophical theories that attempt to explain the behavior of individuals, families, and governments. According to utilitarianism, an act is ethically right if it conforms to the notion of utility, and an act conforms to the notion of utility if its performance will result in the maximum happiness for everyone concerned (Mill). That is, utilitarianism maintains that the ethical standards of each action is to be determined according to the favorable or unfavorable consequences of that action. In Mill's words, utilitarianism refers to "the creed which accepts

Stock Market Development in Qatar Economy Essay

Stock Market Development in Qatar Economy - Essay Example It is believed that inflation bears a positive influence on common stocks. This is so because the shareholders tend to earn more money for their goods and services when they sell them during the time when there is a high inflation rate in the market. This gives a positive relationship between an inflation and the stock market prices. When one, therefore, tries to assess the impact of inflation on the stock prices performance, there is a positive relationship which is achieved between the two. Economists measure economic growth in through the use of an increase in the size of the economy of a nation. Gross Domestic Product is a widely used measure of an economic output. The term is normally used to refer to the total value found from the final goods and services that are produced within a country’s borders within a given year. When measuring GDP, normally the ownership of a particular goods and services are not normally considered. The measure, however, considers the only the f inal goods and services that consumed by the final user but not those goods and services that were used as inputs in the production of other goods and services. Researchers have found out that there lies some relationship between the stock prices and the future growth of the real GDP. Two explanations exist to prove this fact, and the first explanation is the one that states that there are changes in information that might occur in the future about the RGGDP, and such changes in information can change today’s prices in the stock market.

Health and Social Care Essays red dot system

Health and Social Care Essays red dot system Introduction In the frequently frantic and universally pressured world of the AE departments of this countrys hospitals, mistakes get made. This is a fact of life. In any human endeavour this is sadly true. Until recently, the blame culture that was prevalent within the NHS, made certain defensive behaviour patterns amongst staff almost endemic (Vincent, 1994). It is one of the characteristics of a professional life that you have to take responsibility for your actions. If you take the wrong action, you will be criticised. This defensive attitude was, to a large extent, fostered by the professional health insurers who, worried about paying out large quantities of their funds, demanded secrecy, no apology and a defensive stance from those that they insured.(Clinical Services Committee) It became apparent to those who were in a position to have an overview of the situation that such a situation was actually in nobodys interest (Barley, 2000). Healthcare professionals were practising defensive medicine, patients were being kept in the dark when mistakes were made, and most important of all, because problems were not examined in an open and constructive way, productive lessons were not learnt. All that was happening was that defensive stances were becoming entrenched. The advent of the no-blame culture is helping to erode these stances and attitudes (Aldridge 2000). It is allowing the development of practices which may help the efficiency of our hospitals and provide the patient with a better service. The red dot system arose as a product of both of these factors. The pressure on the AE department staff is often relentless and great. The structure of the system is that many decisions are taken by comparatively inexperienced staff members and often not the most appropriate for the decision that needs to be taken. Huge numbers of X-Rays are seen by junior doctors and decisions regarding treatment are initially made before a senior specialist has a chance to oversee them. It would follow, by any common sense analysis of the situation, that any measure that could help in the decision making process should be welcomed. This argument is taken further by the article by Vincent et al. (1988) . In the days before the red dot system was seriously considered, Vincent and his colleagues carried out a study of the radiological errors made by junior hospital doctors. They found an error rate of 35% when the X-Ray was assessed by the SHO alone. For errors with a clinically significant impact the rate was 39% (of abnormal films). The red dot system represents a mechanism to try to address this gap. It involves the radiographer usually, but not always, the one who has taken the film giving the clinician some feed back. Radiographers see many thousands of films and are generally very familiar with the structures that they show. Quite apart from their formal training, simply by everyday familiarity and experience, they get to know what is normal and what is not. The radiographer is therefore well placed to recognise an abnormality even though they may not fully appreciate the full clinical significance of what is on the film. The same argument can be applied to the clinician, who can generally recognise pathology in a patient but may not be so familiar with the X-Ray changes. The red dot system requires the radiographers to examine the film after it has been ordered by the clinician. If they feel that there is an abnormality on it they will place a self-adhesive red dot on it to denote that they believe that it contains an abnormality. Clearly this does not relieve the clinician of the responsibility of examining the film as, the legal responsibility for interpreting the film must rest with him. This is only reasonable since even the most experienced radiologist would only give a report on what he could see on the film, the full significance of the changes seen can only be fully assessed by a healthcare professional who has also seen and assessed the patient. As we will discuss later, the converse argument that the absence of a red dot does not imply that there isnt an abnormality it only denotes that the radiographer hasnt seen one. The red dot system In a letter to the BMJ Keith Piper (2003) outlined the case for the red dot system and the radiographer reporting system (See on). It was initially suggested by the Audit Commission in 1993 that radiographers could be trained to interpret certain images and this was found to be of particular interest in view of the difficulties that some departments currently experience with the reporting service The first accredited course was run in 1994 many radiographers have since been reporting on primary skeletal X-Rays in AE departments Piper points out that the system is designed to reduce errors in reporting X-Rays. It is ultimately totally reliant on the radiographs being finally reported by a senior radiologist in a timely fashion. Unfortunately, this is not always the case as Beggs pointed out in 1990 when it was found that over 20% of UK teaching hospitals did not report on all accident and emergency films With specific reference to the red dot system, the letter by Aldridge and Freeland (2000) passes comment on the system which is in use in their hospital and, having audited it, they present their results. The system in use conforms to that currently outlined by British Association of Accident and Emergencys guidelines (1983). The important facets of their system include The rapid return of X-Rays to the requesting clinician Reporting of X-Rays by a consultant radiologist within 24 hrs. Telephone recall of patients who have mistakes picked up The use of the red dot system by the radiographers The use of such X-Rays for teaching purposes for staff As far as the audit of the red dot system was concerned, they report the last audit showed an 1.5% false positive result, 2.0% false negative result with the rest categorised as true positive or negative results. The authors felt that this represented an excellent approach to what they described as an error prone activity, reducing mistakes by accident and emergency staff (often junior), increasing patient satisfaction, and reducing long term patient morbidity and litigation. This letter is a significant piece of evidence as it is written by two clinicians who are clearly anxious to assess the system and to make it work. They appreciate the problems, quantify them and address them by placing safeguards to minimise problems. Significantly, they suggest the use of the red dot system where it has picked up omissions by the clinical staff to be the basis of teaching junior staff in an attempt to further reduce potential problems. These results should be seen in the context of a study by de Lacey et al.(client to supply date) who considered the accuracy of casualty officers interpretation or X-Rays in their departments. They found that by comparing the casualty officers interpretation with that of a radiologist, it only compared favourably in 83% of cases. The 17% discrepancy clearly represents a major burden in terms of clinical implications for the patient, financial implications for the hospital and possibly litigation implications for the casualty officer. The study also examines the implications of a delayed reporting system (by the radiologist). It was found to reduce their workload by 25% by restricting their reporting to those films which the casualty officer was unsure or thought may have an abnormality. It clearly follows from this that any measure that is likely to increase efficiency inaccuracy of reporting is likely to have benefits of both economy and patient suffering. We therefore need to exami ne the premise that the red dot system does exactly that. These figures are clearly worrying insofar as the 17% discrepancy is a wide margin. The figures still have to be viewed in context however as, although they represent the interpretation of as specialist (the radiologist) as compared with that of the non-specialist (the clinician), the paper does not draw any distinction between the experience levels of the two groups. The clinicians may be comparatively inexperienced casualty officers and the radiologists probably are consultant grade. If that is the case, then the figures are much less alarming. This point is discussed in detail further on in the piece (Williams et al 2000) where radiologists in training are compared to radiologists of consultant grade. The point is brought into sharper focus by consideration of the next two papers. Before we consider this aspect however, we need to evaluate the accuracy of reporting in the AE Department environment. Benger and Lyburn (2003) attempted to investigate exactly that. They scrutinised the X-Ray output of an AE Department over a six month period (nearly 12,000 films). They identified the films which had discrepancies in reporting between the X-Ray staff and the AE Department staff. From the 12,000 films they found (only) 175 discrepancies. In clinical terms, this equated to a rate of 0.3% of patients who needed a change of management as a result. In all our deliberations on the subject, perhaps it is this that actually is the subjective criteria for whether a system works within tolerable limits or not. Different studies may find different discrepancy rates in interpretation of X-Ray films, but what is of practical value is the actual number of patients who require a change of management as a result. If a minor degree of subluxation of a proximal interphalangeal joint is missed by a casualty officer and subsequently picked up by a radiologist, it will appear on inventories of discrepancies such as the ones discussed above. In terms of patient care or treatment, it will not make a scrap of difference. This point is made, rather more eloquently and in a different context, by Fineberg (1977) and the Institute of Medicine (1977). This point should not be taken lightly and indeed, it goes to the core of this piece. Academic studies may show different abnormality detection rates between the different professional groups. While recognising that these are clearly important, they are not the yardstick by which we must judge the red dot system. We have already examined two papers on the subject that have reported differences in abnormality detection at each end of the spectrum one of 17% and one of 1.5%. We should not be blinded by these figures themselves. What actually matters is the number of patients who have a change of management decision as a result of this discrepancy. The paper quoted above (Benger and Lyburn 2003) is one of the few which actually gives us this information. They quote an observed change of management in only 0.3% of patients which, for any system, is a very tolerable level of error. This is clearly a very fundamental point and one that we need to examine further. The next paper that we sh ould consider looks at exactly this point and examines it in great detail. Taking a more academic approach Brealey and Scally (2001) tackle the difficult issue of just how to interpret the findings of a study that purports to evaluate the reading of X-Rays by two or more different professional groups. This is a very technical paper and is included here for the sake of completeness. It examines all of the possible margins for error and bias when reporting a trial. It throws little direct light onto our deliberations here because of its very technical nature, but it would be of considerable importance to one who wished to interpret the findings of a major trial independently. The point needs making that the trial design can influence the outcome of the trial (and therefore its usefulness) to a great extent. As we have made the point above, the actual figures produced at the end of the trial must be interpreted in the light of the trial design. Actual detected differences in readings between two groups of professionals may be of academic interest, but in the c ontext of our examination of the red dot system, they are not nearly as important as a critical examination of the discrepancies which resulted in a change of patient menagement. On the direct issue of the red dot system, an almost immediate precursor to the system was reported in the BMJ in 1991 by Renwick et al. . He discussed a system that was tried out of getting radiologists to indicate their diagnoses on the pre-reported X-Rays, in order to guide the casualty officers in their decisions. The conclusions of the study were that, because of the high rate of false positive reporting (7%) and higher rate of false negatives (14%) it was appropriate for radiologists to offer useful advice but to take no more responsibility than that. We shall discuss the issues of false positives and false negatives further on in this piece and clearly they are an inherent problem with the system. It follows that we should, perhaps, address the reasons why there are these discrepancies and use them as a learning exercise to try to reduce the gap. In the excellent and concise article written by Touquet et al. (1995) the authors address the Ten Commandments of AE Department radiology. They discuss the red dot system in the following terms. Inexperienced doctors will inevitably come across injuries that they have never seen before. In these cases it may not be possible to make a diagnosis but you will notice that the films do not look quite right. Good examples of this are lunate and perilunate dislocations of the hand. It is important to seek senior advice and also to listen to the radiographer. Many departments operate a red dot system, in which the radiographer flags up an abnormality. An experienced radiographer may be as good as or even better than a junior doctor at interpreting films. The problem with this system is that the absence of a red dot does not necessary mean that there is no abnormality. This is important to remember because the final responsibility lies with the doctor, and not the radiographer. Therefore never accept poor quality or inadequate films. The most salient point of this article is in the last paragraph. The absence of a red dot does not mean the absence of an abnormality and the liability lies with the doctor not the radiographer. This is clearly proper, as any experienced healthcare professional will state, any investigation (particularly an X-Ray) is only an adjunct to diagnosis, it is the person who is clinically in charge of the patient who has to assimilate all the available evidence to make a diagnosis. The radiographer has not seen the patient to examine, and certainly will not have to hand all of the other potential diagnostic aids that are available in a modern AE Department. It is entirely reasonable to ask for his opinion on an X-Ray film, but it is not reasonable to hold him responsible for its definitive interpretation when he has not seen it in the context of the patient. This statement is behind the reasoning for the legal responsibility of X-Ray interpretation. It would be clearly inappropriate to ask a radiographer for his opinion on a film and then make him responsible for any subsequent management decisions that were based on that opinion. Some commentators have criticised the red dot system for its clear lack of apportionment of responsibility to the radiographer. We would suggest that this shows a fundamental lack of appreciation of the problems involved. The radiographers are trained to be experts in taking X-Ray films. They are not, and do not pretend to be, trained in the biological sciences and their applications to pathology and the human disease processes. It is quite appropriate to ask their opinion in an area of their expertise (the interpretation of the X-Ray film), but it is quite inappropriate to ask them to make clinical management decisions. For this reason, all questions of liability always rest on the clinician in charge of the p atient, and it is only right that this should be the case. It is fair to say that some of the views reviewed so far have been old school necessarily so, as the intention was to document the evolution of the red dot system. It is equally fair to state that we have only considered the use of the system in the AE Department. The truth of the matter is that in the recent past, the status of the radiographer has increased in professionalism both within their own speciality and within the NHS as a whole. Many of the comments made in some of the earlier papers quoted will therefore, now seem rather outmoded and not consistent with the modern experience of working in the NHS. To redress the balance we shall look at an article from Papworth hospital by Sonnex et al; (2001) . The authors describe a system currently in use at an acute cardiothoracic unit. Radiographers were asked to assess all the X-Rays taken over a six month trial period. Those that were assessed as showing acute changes had a red dot placed on them to denote an abnormality and these were then assessed by a radiologist. The success or failure rate was then measured against this standard. The figures are rather different from the figures quoted in the studies that looked at skeletal X-Ray in AE Departments. The reason for this is almost certainly that a chest X-Ray is notoriously hard to interpret, even more so when it is a post operative X-Ray. The results were reported as a total sample of 8614, of which 464 (5%) had red dots applied. Over 100 of these were considered inappropriate. 38 X-Rays which were abnormal were not picked up. It would appear that radiographers tend to err on the side of caution when reviewing an abnormal chest X-Ray, even more so when previous comparative films were not available for comparison. This particular study had a high false positive rate. One should not lose sight of the fact that the radiographers concerned were dealing with a different population to those that we were considering earlier. The patients were generally very ill and often in a post operative state making assessment far more critical than perhaps the colder X-Ray of the AE Department where decisions could reasonably be delayed safely for 24-48 hrs. there was therefore perhaps far more pressure on them to report any possible abnormality. It is also appropriate to comment that this was the first stage of a study which then went on to review the radiographers performance after a further period of training. One would reasonably anticipate a higher agreement rate after appropriate training. As we have already seen the red dot system has evolved in several different variants. The basic premise is the same in each case how is it possible to minimise the potential sources of error caused by inexperience? A further variant is outlined by Williams et al (2000). His paper title specifically involves the cost effectiveness of the scheme as well as the overall impact on patient management. In this scheme ( which was running at the Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford) the original AE Department films were reviewed by radiologists-in-training. They identified 684 incorrect diagnoses over a one year period. These were then called red reports and reviewed by a consultant radiologist. During this process 351 missed fractures were detected with ankle, finger and elbow fractures being the main areas where pathology was missed. Williams also reported 11 incidences of pathology on a chest X-Ray as being missed. This amplifies the point made earlier that the radiologists-in-training tended to produce false positives at a rate of about 18% when compared to the subsequent, more expert opinion. In this particular study, further action was taken by the AE Department staff in 42% of those cases although no operative intervention was required in any patient as a result of the missed diagnosis. Despite these figures, it must be noted that these cases form a very small percentage of the X-Rays taken in a busy AE Department False positives and false negatives We have looked at a number of studies that have compared radiographers interpretations of X-Ray films against that of a Consultant Radiologist who has generally been used as the Gold Standard. The difference between the two sets of interpretations is then subdivided into false positives and false negatives. This group is actually the most important as it is firstly an indication of the usefulness of the whole system of red dot reporting and secondly it is also an indication of how much more training any particular reader (radiographer or casualty officer ), of the films has to undergo, in order to make fully competent assessments. The false positive is the situation where the radiographer has identified a problem that is not there. Conversely, the false negative is when they have missed pathology that is there. In most of the assessments that we have seen, there are more false positives than negatives. This implies that the radiographers are being over cautious when confronted with an equivocal film. Several of the papers that we have seen so far have stated (either explicitly or otherwise) that the absence of a red dot does not imply the absence of any pathology. Any common-sense analysis of the situation would suggest that this is clearly self-evident. It must be the case where two highly trained but clearly not expert healthcare professionals are looking at a film for pathology, they are probably more likely to arrive at the right answer than one alone. Brealey (2005) produced a Meta-analysis of studies involving radiographers input in interpreting films and found that radiographers involved either in the red dot system of X-Ray reading improved with experience and with training, acquired an accuracy approaching that of radiologists when dealing with skeletal X-Rays. The red dot system is designed to utilise the expertise of specially trained radiographers to interpret plain X-Rays. From the evidence presented above we can say that there is evidence that radiographers are clearly more expert in interpreting plain skeletal X-Rays than chest X-Rays or visceral radiographs. The red dot system appears to be a growing movement within the profession. A paper by Brealey (2003) pointed out the fact that between 1968 and 1991 the radiologists workload increased by 322% but the number of posts increased by only 213%. As a result of this the number of films successfully reported within 48hrs fell to 60%. As a result of this trend the Royal College of Radiologists decided to endorse the trend of radiographers giving indications of pathology on X-Rays . Brealeys paper examines the initial cohort of radiographers who were trained under this scheme and found that, statistically, there was no significant difference between the reading of an X-Ray by a radiograph er or a radiologist (in the case of plain skeletal X-Rays) which supports the view that the red dot system is viable. Any examination of this issue would be incomplete without a consideration of the detailed and analytical paper by Friedenberg (2000) which he provocatively entitled The advent of the supertechnologist. It is particularly relevant to our consideration of the red dot system and the role of the radiographer as it looks at the background to the whole issue. Friedenberg uses the term Skill mix as a specific term to define the current trend in medicine away from specialisation and departmentalisation and towards the communal utilisation of expertise from different individuals in related fields to complement or increase the expertise available to patients. He points out that this is not actually a new concept and cites the optician who relieves the workload of the ophthalmologist and the nurse specialist anaesthetist who relieves the anaesthesiologist by performing uncomplicated procedures. He quotes a whole host of paramedical providers who now assist the physician, in most cases without p roblems Loughran et al (1996a, 1996b, 1992) have specifically looked at the practicality of utilising the skills of the radiographer to better advantage than just taking the films. He contrasts the difference in practice between the UK and the USA, citing the cause of the complete separation of the roles of radiographer and radiologist in the USA as being due to the fact that in the USA, the radiologists still operate largely on a fee-per-service basis whereas in the UK the pressure is primarily on clinicians to become more efficient and to keep costs down. Friedenberg, interestingly also examines the evolution of the legality of the roles of radiographer and radiologist. Between 1900 and 1920, there was competition between radiographers and radiologists with regard to the performance of radiography and the interpretation of radiographs. In the middle 1920s in England, radiographers were prohibited from accepting patients for radiography except under the direction of a qualified medical practitioner (Quotes Larkin 1983) After this the professions came closer and by 1971 Swinburne (1971) was suggesting that radiographers could perfectly well separate normal from abnormal films, which after all is the basis behind the red dot system . As we have discussed earlier, this move then progressed into the first formal appearance of the red dot system in North Park Hospital in 1985. The first trials of the system found that approximately half of the abnormalities that were not picked up by the junior casualty officers were detected by the radiographers. The early safe guards were outlined by Loughran (1996) as follows: 1. It is made clear to the referring physician that the report is a technologists report. The physician is encouraged to consult the radiologist if there is a lack of clinical correlation. 2. The technologist must consult the radiologist if he or she is in doubt. 3. The physicians, radiologists, and technologists have devised a set of guidelines to create a safe environment for this practice. 4. Initially, the technologists practice is monitored on a regular basis. After the technologist is experienced, however, monitoring is no longer performed. Such monitoring should be performed if a new technologist enters this practice. Interestingly, Loughran also subsequently produced a set of guidelines for the radiographer : 1. The technologist should be confident in his or her report. 2. In cases of doubt, a radiologists opinion should be obtained. 3. In such cases, although the report may be issued by the reporting technologist, the consultants name should be appended to the report. 4. All reports by a technologist should be clearly designated as a technologists report. 5. If the patient re-presents for radiography of the same body part within 2 months, this should be reported by a radiologist. 6. Non-trauma examination findings should be reported by the radiologist. 7. All accident department images in patients who are subsequently admitted as inpatients should be reported by the radiologist. 8. Clinicians are to be advised to consult the radiologist if clinical findings do not match those in the technologists report. 9. Regular combined reporting sessions are to be held with the consultant radiologist. Robinson (1999) Defines the ideal areas for radiographers and radiologists with the following definition between cognitive and procedural tasks thus: Procedural tasks can be described, defined, taught, and subjected to performance standards that make them transferable to other staff with appropriate training. Cognitive tasks that are related not only to the interpretation of images but also to decisions about differential diagnosis and appropriate choice of further investigations are more difficult. We have examined the evolution of the red dot system and there have been moves towards the logical progression beyond the radiographer simply indicating that there may be a problem to the situation where radiographer who have undertaken further training have developed their skills in other ways as well, but this is beyond the scope of this piece. Perhaps we should leave the last thought to Friedenberg who envisages the future as being the era of the Supertechnologist and it is the specialist who is left to do a small number of very highly specialised procedures. References 1. Jonathan Aldridge, Peter Freeland, (2000) Safety of systems can often be improved BMJ 2000;321:505 ( 19 August ) 2. The Audit Commission (1995). Improving Your Image How to manage Radiology Services More Effectively. London: HMSO.1995 3. Victor Barley, Graham Neale, Christopher Burns-Cox, Paul Savage, Sam Machin, Adel El-Sobky, Anne Savage (2000) Reducing error, improving safety BMJ 2000;321:505 ( 19 August ) 4. Beggs I, Davidson JK 1990. AE reporting in UK teaching departments. Clinical Radiology, 41, 264-267. 5. J R Benger, I D Lyburn (2003) What is the effect of reporting all emergency department radiographs? Emerg Med J 2003; 20:40-43n. 6. Benger JR. (2002) Can nurses working in remote units accurately request and interpret radiographs? Emerg Med J. 2002 jan;19(1):68-70 7. S Brealey, A J Scally (2001) Bias in plain film reading performance studies British Journal of Radiology 74 (2001),307-316 8. S Brealey, D G King, M T I Crowe, I Crawshaw, L Ford, N G Warnock, R A J Mannion, S Ethell,(2003) Accident and Emergency and General Practitioner plain radiograph reporting by radiographers and radiologists: a quasi-randomised controlled trial British Journal of Radiology (2003) 76, 57-61 9. Brealey S, Scally A, Hahn S, Thomas N, Godfrey C, Coomarasamy A. (2005) Accuracy of radiographer plain radiograph reporting in clinical practice: a meta-analysis. Clin Radiol. 2005 Feb;60(2):232-41 10. Brennan TA, Leape LL, Laird NM, Herbert L, Localio AR, Lawthers AG, (1991) Incidence of adverse events and negligence in hospitalised patients: results of the Harvard Medical Practice study. N Engl J Med 1991; 324: 370-376 11. Clinical Services Committee, British Association for Accident and Emergency Medicine. X-ray reporting for accident and emergency departments. London: BAEM, 1983. (Currently under revision.) 12. C K Connolly (2000) Relation between reported mishaps and safety is unclearBMJ 2000;321:505 ( 19 August ) 13. Fineberg HV, Bauman R, Sosman M. (1997) Computerised cranial tomography: effect on diagnostic and therapeutic plans. Institute of Medicine. Policy statement: Computed tomographic scanning. Washington DC: National Academy of Sciences, JAMA 1977;238:224-7. 14. Richard M. Friedenberg, (2000) The Role of the Supertechnologist Radiology. 2000;215:630-633.) 15. Johansson H, RÃÆ'Â ¤f L. (1997) A compilation of diagnostic errors in Swedish health care. Missed diagnosis is most often a fracture.Lakartidningen 1997; 94: 3848-3850 16. Pia Maria Jonsson, GÃÆ'Â ¶ran Tomson, Lars RÃÆ'Â ¤f, (2000) No fault compensation protects patients in Nordic countries BMJ 2000;321:505 ( 19 August ) 17. G de Lacey, A Barker, J Harper and B Wignall An assessment of the clinical effects of reporting accident and emergency radiographs 18. Larkin G. (1983) Occupational monopoly and modern medicine London, England: Tavistock, 1983. 19. DD Loughran CF, Alltree J, Raynor RB, (1996) Skill mix changes in departments of radiology: impact on radiologists workloadreports of a scientific session.

Research Paper: Paternity Leave Essay

There is about a six week to six month period right after a child is born where forming a bond with your child is quite significant. This period of time will help the child with setting a certain healthy routine, getting the house set for the child, and adjusting to the new life in the household. The value of having both parents by the child’s side can make a difference in how the child is raised or even how the child may perceive their own life. There has been occurrences where people feel worthless without one parent in their life. The bond that you create with your family in those six weeks or so is important to uphold and will make for stronger families. Those children that have been through divorces or not even knowing who one parent is in the first place may be pressed with difficulties in their life. In â€Å"Leave Practices of Parents after the Birth or Adoption of Young Children† it is explained, â€Å"Children whose mothers did not report taking any leave (10 % of the total) were more likely to be from a lone-parent family.† I was raised by a single mother and when I was born my mother did not take any leave from work or school. She had me on the weekend and was back on a Tuesday. I was raised mostly by my grandmother at the beginning of my life. Growing up without a father has always been a difficult obstacle for me to overcome. When I was younger I could never understand why it seemed like everyone else had something I could never have. There have been men who come into my life and try to fill the role of a father to me, but there is always still a void. There is not a day in my life that I don’t think about my father: who he is, how he looks, or if I have brothers and sisters. Many people that I have come by in my life have a bond with their father that seems unrealistic to me because it is unattainable. Even though I do not have a father, I can tell that bond is extremely important. Paid paternity leave is an exceptional way to promote a healthy family and be able to form that very special bond. According to the Oxford English Dictionary paternity leave is, â€Å"a short period of authorized absence from employment granted to a father after or  shortly before the birth of his child.† Paternity leave is very close in definition to maternity leave but it is the leave taken by the father instead of just the mother. I believe that the father should always be able to take his six weeks and have it be paid for so that the he can still help support the family. Another term that is very pertinent to my argument is explained on the United States Department of Labor website. The term is the Family and Medical Leave Act which discloses, â€Å"The FMLA entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons with continuation of group health insurance coverage under the same terms and conditions as if the employee had not taken leave.† The website also discloses that employees will get twelve work weeks of unpaid leave within a twelve month period. Even though this act is beneficial to working parents, it does not entitle parents to any sort of paid leave. Even though there isn’t much evidence of the impact of men at home, the bond created between the parents and the child is not replaceable by any means. In the article â€Å"Fathers, Parental Leave Policies, and Infant Quality of Life: International Perspectives and Policy Impact† the author Margaret O’Brien states, â€Å". . . parental leave has the potential to boosts fathers’ emotional investment and connection with infants as well as the support of their mothers.† There is a couple I know personally where the father was only given a total of three days after his son was born. He has already taken all of his vacation days for work and could not call off even if he wanted to. Those vacation days were not even paid for and sometimes it caused their family to have to struggle to make ends meet. Situations like this could be avoided if men wer e always given the choice of paid time off. In time past, paternity leave has not been socially acceptable in the workplace. Men were to provide for the family, while woman were supposed to be the caretakers. As everything in our world is becoming more modern the idea of paternity leave is becoming more acceptable for men to take but it is not exactly what men always do. The article, â€Å"Without Taking Away Her Leave†: A Canadian Case Study of Couples Decisions on Father’s Use of Parental Leave† explains, â€Å"More than one in four Canadian fathers now takes some paid leave at the birth of a child.† While this certain explanation is shown in a positive perspective, more fathers in the workplace should be taking hefty advantage of paid parental leave  particularly to form the bond in the first six weeks. While in countries like Canada in the province of Quebec, paternity leave is more accepted by men than it is in countries like the United States. In the United States it is more likely for a father not to take any time off after his child is born. One might argue that taking too much time off after the birth of a child might take away opportunities in the workplace, but because paternity leave is becoming more accepted, it will be normal for a man to take time off. It is likely that they will have to use vacation time which might leave room for not being able to call off for an emergency. In most cases, taking twelve weeks unpaid could really hurt a family. That is why those first six weeks should be paid for. The idea will become even more accepted, more men won’t feel as obligated to not be around as much as they want to. Ariane Hegewisch, and Yuko Hara, the authors of â€Å"Maternity, Paternity, and Adoption Leave in the United States†, express, â€Å"Job-protected parental leave is crucial for the health and economic security of pregnant women, and new mothers, and their families.† That security is what will represent a stronger family. Men will be more involved with their children and create a bond with that child in the same way that a mother does. It will help the mother and father see eye to eye and make decisions for the child together. A reporter from CNN interviewed a father, Joe Schroeder, about his three month paternity leave in the article â€Å"Paid Leave Lets Dads Build Parenting Foundation†. Joe stated, ‘†It made me a lot more aware of how fundamental parental leave is to family stability,† Schroeder said. ‘It made me lament the fact that it’s not a right that everybody shares.’ This quote from this man shows how important it ca n be to take paternity leave in the case of building a stronger bond. He also helps reveal the importance of issue of men not being able to have this right. There are instances where even women do not receive a parental leave as well and if they do they may not even receive pay. If men take paternity leave it will help support women in the workplace. Women will more likely return to work, and men will also become more involved with their kids and be caretakers as well. Women won’t feel so pressured to stay at home if the father helps her out the first few weeks  setting up the foundation of the child’s routine and feeling stable enough to come back to work. The article â€Å"The Daddy Track† positively reinforces this statement. The article states in reference to paternity leave, â€Å". . . is a brilliant and ambitious form of social engineering: a behavior modification tool that has been shown to boost male participation in the household, enhance female participation in the labor force, and promote gender equality in both domains.† Fathers will be more likely to help around the house; they may help clean, and spend lots more time with the child or children. The women will more likely return to their job which could lead to more raises, and job advances. Women will also more likely not have postpartum depression because they will not feel as pressured. If the paternity leave that the man took was paid for, it wouldn’t lead to women never returning to work because they would still have financial security. In the article, â€Å"Who’s Bathing the Baby? The Division of Domestic Labour in Sweden†, the authors provide explanation to my last point as they conducted a case study on parental leave. The study revealed, â€Å"Men’s participation in child care and household chores increased as the women went back to work, most dramatically when women returned to work. . .† In the past, there has been inequality between men and women. Promoting paid parental leave for both sexes will definitely help balance the scale and will give the workplace more of a sense of equality. The United States is more of a modern country than most other countries but is actually one of the least evolved in paid paternity leave. Countries such as Sweden or territories in Canada promote an extended amount of time of paid paternity leave. According to the Pew Research Organization, â€Å"At the other end of the spectrum, Poland, Estonia, Spain, Lithuania, The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Hungary, France and Finland offer three years or more of protection for leave related to motherhood. The median amount of protected leave for new mothers among these countries is about 13 months.† The Pew Research Center is comparing these other countries to the policy that the U.S. has. The U.S. provides the least amount of time and doesn’t even make paid parental leave required by companies. It is surprising that the United States isn’t as evolved in parental leave policies as other countries since it is such a modernized country that tends to promote  equality . The men and women should have equal roles in a household, and a child should be able to feel close to both parents. Research shows that the longer amount of parental leave will help the fathers take more time off, as well as what was stated before, help more around the house. The country that I want to focus on most is Sweden. They have a large amount of time given out to parents for leave, and it is paid for. Men are required to take a certain amount of days to care for their child and promote the women taking on roles in the workplace. â€Å"The Best of Both Worlds? Fatherhood and Gender Equality in Swedish Paternity Leave Campaigns, 1976-2001† states that, â€Å"Moreover, a significant feature of paternity leave campaigns, 1976-2001, was the frequent reminder of what men could gain by using their right to paternity leave.† The campaigns in Sweden for paternity leave promoted many aspects of why taking paternity could help no only the child but the father as well. If the United States adopted more of a leave policy like Sweden, there would be more acceptance of the policy with many great benefits not only in the workplace but at home. There are the stereotypes in the image of the family. The father is to take care of the family by going to work and bringing home the money. The mother is to take care of the children, and take up household chores. According to Wall Street Journal one of these stereotypes said by Jennifer Berdahl is, ‘Active fathers are seen as distracted and less dedicated to their work—the same perception that harms career prospects for many working mothers. . .’ Our country has advanced from these types of stereotypes. Men should be able to feel they can take paternity leave despite the stereotypes of before or now. Promoting the use of paternity leave can be the basis for equality in the workplace and at home. The women will also be supported in the workplace and that will also promote equality. Also the first six weeks should be paid for because the idea of the stereotypes will be shed; it will also help with the stability and strength of the family. Compared to other countri es, the United States is lacking in its parental leave policies. Evolving the policy to have six weeks paid off, will help make advances in the work world and social aspects as well.