The implementation of electronic health record

The implementation of electronic health record Only 4 percent of U.S. doctors are using an electronic medical record system (EHR) because of a diverse range of barriers and perceptions involved with implementing an EHR system. The health care portion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) called Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health or HITECH promotes the Meaningful Use of information technology in the form of EHR systems for every American by 2014 (Hoffman, 2009). Just having an EHR system is not enough; meaningful use means the system must improve the quality, efficiency, security, access, and communication in the delivery of health care among other functions. The United States government has provided $17 billion in available incentives to assist physicians and health care facilities implement certified EHR systems that meet Federal qualifications by the year 2014 (Blumenthal, 2009). This important health care issue affects everyone in this country because of the nature of private health i nformation. The U.S. government mandate for the implementation of electronic health records presents a wide variety of issues for and responses by physicians who want to retain their diversity relating to the way they practice medicine, while meeting the Meaningful Use requirements that will positively affect their investment and efficiency. Meaningful use depends on interoperability, which means that physicians systems will be able to communicate with each other for information exchange. Currently some physicians may have systems that are interoperable, but some may have invested in software that does not provide that function. Numerous vendors often market more than one type of system. Currently, estimates of physicians using a complete, fully functional EHR system are only at four percent (DesRoches, et al., 2008). This leaves the majority in need of researching software systems, purchasing, and implementing an EHR system to meet the Meaningful Use requirements. The practice of medicine is a highly individualized field where every physician has their own ways to provide for their patients. A general practitioner will have different software needs than a surgeon or obstetrician. An issue the physicians have to address is that they have to choose a certified EHR system that will provide the functions they need for their particular practice of medicine. Many physicians are starting with a basic system and customizing it to fit their practice needs (Baron, et al, 2005). HITECH will need to certify systems that provide functions that the physicians require with enough flexibility to meet the diverse needs of every type of practice. Some EHR systems are designed for primary care practices or large hospitals and may not meet the needs of a specialist. Physicians will have to choose a certified system that will have the required functions as well as those his practice will require. Whichever system a physician chooses will require training in order to benefit from the functions the software can provide. A basic knowledge of computer use is a skill many physicians do not even have. In fact, some physicians have technophobia when it comes to computers in their practice (Hayes, 2009). Statistics have shown that younger physicians are more apt to have a positive outlook on the EHR systems. Younger physicians also appear to have earlier adoption of an EHR system because of their prior exposure to computers. In-depth training to learn the functions and processes of the system are necessary to prevent severe disruptions in the workflow of the office. Many offices will train a few employees to be Super Users to be a resource for others in the office who have had less training. Super Users will be able to adjust the work processes when needed. Some physicians offices close for a period of days to bring the system online and prepare the office for going live. The diversi ty in computer abilities and comfort levels will affect the complexity, price, and amount of training required for each physician and his office staff for the chosen system. Cost is the biggest issue in the adoption of EHR systems. Cost estimates are between $12,000 and $24,000 to implement a fully functional EHR system (Baron, 2005). The equipment, software, training and one year of support can cost $140,000 or more (Baron, 2005). The HITECH incentives will cover some, but not all the cost of the conversion from paper to electronic records. Incentive payments can total $18,000 in the first year, for physicians implementing in 2011 and 2012 and will continue for 5 years at reducing amounts. The available incentive amounts will decline each year and end completely in 2016. In other words, physicians who adopt in 2011 could collect $44,000 over the five-year period while physicians who adopt in 2013 would receive $27,000 in incentive payments over 3 years (Blumenthal, 2009). The incentives will provide more funding for physicians that implement early. Surveys indicate that the incentives are a facilitator for approximately 55 percent of physicians who see the incentives as a reason to make the transition now, and receive maximum financial benefit (Blumenthal, 2009). The diversity in size of practices will affect how the physicians perceive capital costs. Due to the diversity in the types and ways physicians practice, issues that need to be considered and addressed, and the many solutions available, physicians attitudes and opinions on EHRs and Meaningful Use vary from very enthusiastic to resentful and wary. Studies have shown that physicians who have already adopted an EHR system are generally satisfied with their system and the benefits it provides. However, although the physicians will be the ones assuming approximately 89 percent of the cost of the system, they will not receive much of a return on their investment (Hoffman, 2009). The insurance companies will save money on reduced testing, streamlined billing, and overall efficiency. The government will save money on the same things as well as have a medium for monitoring fraud. Physicians will save some money on record storage, employee salaries previously paid for filing and transcribing records, and paper office supplies, but in comparison to the cost of the system, savings ar e minimal. Physician concern over return on investment is 50 percent for physicians who do not have an electronic system but only 33 percent for physicians who are already using an electronic system (DesRoches, 2008). The results may reflect Medicare and Medicaid patient numbers, size of the physician practice or perhaps the diverse perceptions physicians have over the dollar value versus the benefits to their actual income. Seemingly, the biggest numbers of implementers are the larger practices who are often better able to absorb the large investment than a small practice or single physician office. Statistics show that large primary care practices are more apt to implement EHR systems than other types of practices. These large group practices of fifty or more physicians were four times more likely to have a fully functional system than with physicians in practices of three or less physicians (DesRoches, 2008). The increased cash flow from a large practice makes the large capital expense less detrimental to the practice. This diversity in the size of physician practices is a significant basis for EHR implementation. EHR implementation itself will not provide for full Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement. In order for a physician to receive full reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid, an EHR system must meet the Meaningful Use requirements. Physicians who do not have an EHR system that meets the meaningful use requirements will see penalties in the form of reduced Medicare payments. The reduction of payments will start at one percent in 2015, increase to two percent in 2016, and increase again to three percent in 2017 (Blumenthal, 2009). Physicians with large amounts of Medicare and Medicaid patients will have a significant reason to implement a system that meets the Meaningful Use guidelines. This issue will not affect all physician practices and some physicians do not feel it is a significant impediment to their practice income to warrant the large expense involved with implementing an EHR system. The diversity in the types of patients a physician or practice routinely cares for will have an e ffect on their financial return and willingness to implement an EHR system. For those who may not see a financial return there are many other benefits to adopting an EHR system for patients, insurance companies, and the government, and to some degree physicians. One benefit for physicians is a more efficient and streamlined insurance claims process, which will aid in cash flow. Physicians will also be better able to provide for their patients because the patient record will be able to go where the patient goes, including to hospitals and specialists, resulting in better coordination of the patients care. The EHR will provide a reduction in clinical errors because of the ability of the EHR to provide clinical decision support and monitor medication dosing and contraindications, and allergies. However, a group of physicians feel that this is questioning their judgment and do not want the interference in the way they practice medicine. Of physicians who are using a fully functional EHR system 86 percent appreciate the avoidance of medication error function that their system provides. The diversity in the physicians response to clinical decision support may be due to age of the physician, the number of years he or she has been in practice or any number of reasons including the personality of the physician. Along with those benefits, there is disruption of the office workflow. This is a significant cause for physician concern (DesRoches, 2009). The learning curve for an EHR system slows down all the processes in the office. Some physicians are better able to deal with the chaos that ensues while converting to an electronic system. Everyone within the practice has to relearn his or her job processes. All the office procedures of the practice have to be redesigned to work with the EHR system and the practice requirements. There is a period even after implementation of changes and adjustments that must be made to customize the system to the practice. Physician practices have reduced their patient load as much as fifty percent during implementation to try to reduce the waiting time for patients (Braon, et al., 2005). This essentially means a reduction in revenues until everyone can perform their jobs smoothly and handle the normal patient load again. Estimates are anywhere from four to six months before normal patient load is fully resumed. Physicians have reported losing patients because the wait time to see the physician was too long during the early stages of implementation (Baron, 2005). This is a major barrier for 41 percent of physicians in making the switch to electronic records (DesRoches, 2008). Physicians are very busy by nature and a slowdown in the office creates a diverse level of frustration that has caused some physicians to put off implementation or even to reverse the work already done in adopting an EHR system and return to their paper system. Those who do make the switch from paper to electronic records will have to consider HIPAA requirements for security of an EHR system. EHR systems require the secure storage of EHRs, which contain patients private health information and interoperability requires secure access to patient EHRs. Some physicians will choose to be on an encrypted network to share information with their local hospital, laboratories, and other health care providers. A verification process will be required to allow authorized physicians access to patients private health information and to deny access to unauthorized persons. Security of patient records is a concern for many physicians. Some physicians feel this is something that needs more regulation before they will expose their patients to the risk of a breach. The diversity in the EHR systems in operation now creates issues for secured patient PHI with system interoperability. With all the diversity involved in implementing an EHR system, physicians perceive the challenges of the U.S. government mandate for the implementation of electronic health records in different ways. Some feel there are too many barriers to address before implementation of an EHR and others feel the benefits outweigh the barriers. There are as many opinions on the issues of switching to an EHR system as there are physicians themselves. Addressing issues such as cost, security, training without a major loss in cash flow, which stems from disruption to the workflow of the office, will all stress the doctor patient relationship at least for a time. This is important because it will effect how and when the physicians adopt and use the nationwide system. The diversity in the way physicians practice medicine is individualized and the approved EHR systems will have to be flexible enough to allow for that individuality. The one thing all physicians want is to practice medicine they way they always have and meet the required mandate for Meaningful Use so they may recoup some of their investment. References Baron, R. J., Fabens, E. L., Schiffman, M., Wolf, E. (2005, August 2). Electronic health records: Just around the corner? Or over the cliff? Annals of Internal Medicine, 143(3), 222-226. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/.aspx?direct=truedb=a9hAN=17875478site= ehost-live This article is written by physicians in a 4-internist practice describing the processes involved with converting from traditional paper medical records to electronic medical records. Baron and colleagues address the problems and issues involved, and how they worked through them. Some topics of interest include both planned and unexpected finances, training, workflow and accommodations and the overall office environment. The article describes the realized benefits and lacking areas of standardization and interoperability. I chose this source for its overall description of actual process of implementing an electronic records system. This article also addresses computer skills and requirements. Blumenthal, D. (2009, April 9). Stimulating the adoption of health information technology. New England Journal of Medicine, 360(15), 1477-1479. doi:10.1056/ This article describes the portions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) that pertains to health information technology. The article addresses barriers physicians have for implementing the mandated electronic medical record. Financial issues including incentives, costs and financial penalties are of adopting the mandate are covered. Other areas to promote and ease the transition, such as support systems, state and regional medical information exchanges, education initiatives, and extended HIPAA guidelines with regard to electronic records and transmissions are included in this article. This article explains the incentives for implementing the electronic records system. I chose this article to explain the diversity involved in the governments promotion for adopting an electronic health record system. DesRoches, C. M., Campbell, E. G., Rao, S. R., Karen, D., Timothy, F. G., Jha, A., . . . Blumenthal, D. (2008, July 3). Electronic records in ambulatory care: A national survey of physicians. New England Journal of Medicine, 359(1), 50-60. doi:10.1056/ This article is a summary of statistics and results compiled from a survey of physicians in the US regarding the adoption of electronic health records. Documented in the survey are physician statistics and opinions in areas of usage, implementation, and satisfaction with the electronic health record systems. Issues addressed are quality of care, age groups of physicians who have adopted an electronic system and size of practices more apt to adopt electronic health records. The positive effects on practice processes, barriers that hinder adoption of electronic health records, incentives for and reservations with switching to electronic health records are included in the survey. I chose this source because it provides actual statistics of the usage of electronic health record systems as well as the diversity in physicians perceptions of the process, the systems, the benefits, and problems associated with compliance. Hayes, F. (2009, February 2). No Rx for ROI. Computer World, 43(5), 40. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/.aspx?direct=truedb=a9hAN=36487540site=ehost-live In this article, the senior news columnist addresses the issue of return on investment (ROI) for the adoption of electronic health records. The definition of ROI is given and how it applies to aspects of electronic health record adoption for physicians and hospitals is examined. Risks to, benefits of, and improvements needed regarding electronic health records are noted. The author confirms that those assuming the expenses for electronic health records will not be the ones reaping the benefits. I chose this article because it covers reflects my opinion one of the most important reasons for physician resistance to implementing the government mandated electronic health record system. Hoffmann, L. (2009, November). Implementing electronic medical records. Communications of the ACM, 52(11), 18-20. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/.aspx?direct=truedb=a9hAN=45021143site=ehost-live In this article, a basic history of George W. Bushs goals for every American to have an electronic health record is presented along with the progress of the government in making those goals real. Usage of electronic records is briefly mentioned. The article focuses on some major barriers and concerns of physicians for implementation and usage. The article also addresses some of the positive aspects for electronic health records. I chose this article because it provides concise overall answers to who, what, when, where, and why answers to the implementation of the electronic health record and health information technology.

Feminism and Social Cognitive Theories Essay

The goal in this individual assignment is to apply the social cognitive theory and feminist theories to contemporary media content and to compare and contrast different theoretical perspectives. Attached to this paper there will be a print advertisement specifically chosen to analyze how and whom these theories reflect on in new media today. After analyzing the two perspectives, the theories will be compared and contrasted, showing the similarities and differences between them and their approach to the advertisement. Throughout the paper the usage of examples from the specific advert chosen will conclude to the appliance and defined terms to support the arguments that will be debated. The social learning theory furnishes a framework that allows usto analyze the human’s psychological functions that produce certain behaviors (A. Bandura, 1986). The concept describes the mental processes at work whenever a person learns (Bandura, 1944). The theory of socialization explains humans thought and the personal factors that make learning a cognitive process to all agents such as, social groups, parents and siblings, teachers, schools and religious leaders, neighborhoods and media.(Eyal, 2012)According to Bandura, the theoryproves that belief and behavior are determined by three different factors that interact and impact each other, known as the triadic reciprocal causation, examining behavior, personal determinants and characteristics such as cognitive and biological qualities like age, race, sex or height, and environmental factors or events (Bandura, 1944). Bandura’s social cognitive theory of mass communication and the broader social learning theory serve as the foundation for volumes of research in all areas of media effects study today (A. Bandura, 1986). A study of this theory presenting the process of modeling has been conducted by Albert Bandura during the study of the bobo dolls by including the four compon ent processes: attention, retention, motor reproduction, and motivation. Later to be discussed in relevancy to the advertisement chosen.Proving that a person that observes other peoples actions and the consequences of those actions can learn from what they have observed, called observational learning, which then can be reenacted by the observer, known as modeling (A. Bandura, 1986). According to the research done in the bobo doll studies, Bandura’s method was to create a lab experiment with kindergarten children, by exposing them to different versions of movies with aggressions toward a bobo doll. Focusing on the children in the experimental groups, these children were aware of what they have watched and this is where the modeling process originates. Attention has been elevated. The experimental group children sat and thought through the film alsopossessing the necessary components and skill, while perhaps thinking of their capabilities and self-efficacy perceptions,known as motor reproduction in terms of the process. In order to later imitate the aggressive acts, training what they’ve cognitivelylearnt and seen, known as retention, rehearsing of the act in order to properly mock the material exposed. In conclusion to the observational theory, children seemed motivated to model the behaviors they learnt in the film. Children who had watched the violent film were less inhibited about performing other violent acts they had learnt in the past, and not portrayed through the given film. The film therefore, had a disinhibitory effect upon the children who saw it (Bandura, 1963). â€Å"Disinhibitory effects disinhibit or lift previously learned internal restraints on certain behaviors (Bandura, 1963 p.73) as explained in the study Bandura conduced on the school kids and the fact they used the violence seen in the film, and not violence that has been shown to them throughout their lives. In addition, the theory also serves as a common denominator among many media effects and hypothesis today. It provides a framework explaining pro-social effects from mass media, social encouragement or persuasion, and transmission of an idea, message, or belief by way of figurative modeling (A. Bandura, 1986, p.70). The second theory that will be discussed, analyzed, compared and contrasted to my chosen advert throughout this paper will be the feminist theory. Focusing on, outlining the influences of a variety of critical feminist studies on the representation of women in popular media forms. The feminism study is part of a theoretical approach; it’s an actual theory equal to all other theories (Hay, 2012). A few theories that will be analyzed are â€Å"The beauty myth† by Naomi Wolf, â€Å"The Women Myth† by Roland Barthes, and â€Å"Women in films† by Laura Mulvey. Wolf claims that the quality called â€Å"beauty† objectively and universally exists. The most effective way to combat this epidemic, Wolf argues, is to show how what we call â€Å"beautifu l† is a cultural myth that has been framed for certain economic and political purposes. â€Å"In assigning value to women in a vertical hierarchy according to a culturally imposed physical standard, it is an expression of power relations in which women must unnaturally compete for resources that men have appropriated for themselves†(Wolf, N. The Beauty Myth, p.1). Barthes discusses â€Å"The women myth† as being everywhere, relating to culture, time, and change. It’s not something were born with,it’s something society socially constructs (Hay, 2012). He tells us that the image of beauty-â€Å"The rhetoric of the image† (Roland Barthes) changes according to where you are, who you’re with, and what environment your currently in, that can all reflect on the image. Last, Mulvey writes about the male gaze, â€Å"women in films†.The women’s appearance was created to serve male defense mechanisms against castration, and portrays women as visual objects through the media (Hay, 2012) Mulvey argues that cinema displays the i mage of women as a certain look, that feminist find humiliating; due to the element it displays the passivity of women, and the activeness of men complying the fact women will never have lead roles or be distinguished as greater than men (Hay, 2012). After explaining,defining and giving examples of both theories, the advertisement chosen will be analyzed and evaluated through these theoretical perspectives. In terms of feminism, the advertchosen will constructively reassure the myths and there theoretical approaches. The advertisement I chose represents, the alcoholic drink, SKYY vodka. Thereis a tan, thin women, in a bathing suit, with a big chest, lying on the sand at the beach trying to get some sun. The close up shot of her â€Å"dreamy† chest is likely to attract attention of men, possibly the aimed audience for this advertisement. Mulvey argues about â€Å"the look† or â€Å"the image† the media portrays a woman’s hypothetical appearance should be, usually categorized as young and skinny (Hay, 2012) which the advertisement assesses. The power through genders are used to catch the man’s eye, making the man see the women as a visual object, also known as the male gaze, leading the male to be come aroused, and in conclusionan intended effect of convincing the specified audience, men, to buy the product advertised. As Naomi Wolf mentions in â€Å"the beauty myth† the purpose of using the women as an object is for political and economic reasons. This doesn’t mean that everyone will be impacted in the same way due to sub-cultures, politics, and media, but society’s understanding of the add will hopefully conclude to more or less, the same objective and conscious feeling. In addition to the women’s bareness and attraction, the advertisement shows the man in a suit standing on top of the women, most likelyrepresenting ownership and power, a demanding authoritywhile glazing down on her from above. According to Mulvey, feminists see men as active and the women as passive, clearly shown in the advert. The man is not only trapping the women between his legs while she lays on the floor, but heis also blocking her from the sun, the reason she most likely came to the beach to begin with. Feminist argue that women are usually presented in a submissive way. According to feminists, the media has an important role and defines the women and how women should look, act and represents the power struggle between men and wo men today (Hay, 2012). The theory of Laura Mulvey shows that commercial wise, advertising women is usually conducted in a sexual manner relating them to sex items, and ignoring internal characteristics by focusing on just looks(Hay, 2012). In addition to how women were portrayed in programs, feminist critics charged media owners and managers with sexism (Cantor, 1988). They supported this claim with reports showing widespread discrimination against women in broadcast industry employment practices, as seen in the advertisement presented, as the women lays beneath the man and is gazed upon from above with feeling of power. Women in advertising are usually gently touching to looking at something, making it seem that they are not in control of that object, that they aren’t the true owner and masters of it, just participant(Cantor, 1988). In one hand the man is holding a bottle of SKYY alcohol, and in the other hand he is firmly holding 2 cups as to which the alcohol would be put inside to drink. The differences between the positioning of the genders in the advert really prove the feminist theories can be related to this, the masculine side of the man and his strong fists, and feminine side of the women is shown through the relaxation of her hands holding her sunglasses up, lying on the floor with her pure beauty and fertility.In the past, a lot of time advertisers used women to present women were they needed rescue. Alcohol can be considered a type of escapism, and by the man showing her what he has, once again, the women comes out to be the weak one that wants to be nurtured, and in feel of need, comfort and care by the man. Just like gender role portrayals in Disney princesses and there need of being taken care of by heroes, or prince charming. This advertisement focuses on a specific audience, in particular, perhaps SKYY vodka calls for people who enjoy drinking, probably youngsters that want to let loose try new things, students, and because of the main focus of the clos e up of the women’s breast, an educated guess would assume that the men population are most likely well off to be the best consumers. The social cognitive theory portrays many different theoretical approaches to the specific add chosen.Banduras social cognitive theory provides a framework to explain what the media’s effects are towards, violence, sexually explicit material, diffusion of an idea, message, belief by way of symbolic modeling, persuasion and so forth (Bandura, 1986). Human communication is built upon a system of shared meanings known as language that is shaped by various symbols, such as letters of the alphabet,† used to construct words which serve as a symbol to represent specific objects, thought or ideas† (Bandura, 1986 p.68).The word â€Å"SKYY† printed on the alcohol bottle doesn’t just cause the brain to think of the company SKYY vodka. When speaking about the sky in a metaphoric way, people relate the word to an unlimited effect, just like the quote many people use these days, â€Å"the sky is the limit†. The thought the drink may have towards specific audience mentioned earlier, triggers their brain to consider the non-boundary border. As seen in media today, a number of people like to go against the ordinary, and fight the status quo. Possibly now, when people see the word â€Å"sky†, the capacity of understanding and using this symbol allows them to store, process, and transform this observed experience into a cognitive model, which may guide them to the long term effect of buying the alcohol while thinking about the positive effects it may have and motivating them to buy this product. Advertisement in media today can be learnt from and modeled leading to positive or negative outcomes. Just like Banduras study with the bobo dolls, the major findings were disinhibitory effects, which concluded to children learning aggression. A disinhibitory technique, as mentioned earlier, â€Å"causes a transgressor to shift the responsibility for wrong doing to another.†(Brock & Bus s, 1962, p. 75) With diffusion of responsibility, a transgressor acts within a group and therefor doesn’t feel personally responsible for the subsequent act (Bandura, 1986). As seen in the ad, the bottle of alcohol is being advertised. As most people know, one of the most well-known laws in the U.S. states that the drinking age is 21+. In this case the add is relevant due to the fact a transgressor may influence an adolescent to consume the alcohol in this add showing him it’s the cool thing to do, leading him to another device, disregard of the consequences of action, in which the under 21 person,illegally performs what he is told, not thinking about the harm it might cause and only thinking of the thrill of the moment. Bandura identified four different self-reflective â€Å"modes† used in thought verification: the self-reflective capacity, meaning that a person has the ability to perform a self-check to make sure his or her thinking is correct (Bandura, 1986). One being the enactive mode: this means that a person calculates the agreement between thoughts and the result of actions (Bandura, 1986). For example, this add may influence people to buy SKYY vodka, especially men, since the advertisement shows that the man is over powering the sexy woman, an act in which most men usual want to achieve. After trying the alcohol, the effect it had on the man wasn’t what he thought would conclude to, assuming he would be able to mimic the character holding the alcohol bottle in the advert and is disappointed, having a destructive effect, and in this case his actions do not verify his thoughts and he must reassess his thinking. If, however the man had had the positive effects he was expecting after drinking SKYY brand alcohol, the man’s actions corroborate his thoughts and provide verification. The second â€Å"mode† used in the thought verification isvicarious mode: this means that the observation of another person’s experience and the outcomes of those experiences aid to confirm the accuracy of thoughts (Bandura, 1986). For example, a 17 year old boy that never tried alcohol might look at this advertisement and see that the man has total control over the women, the boy never thought about trying the beverage the man in the ad is holding, but due to positive assumptions, realizes he should. His thoughts about underage drinking could shock him into some kind of reassessment. The third â€Å"mode†, serving as the best demonstration of an effective advertisement is persuasion (Bandura, 1986): the act in which a person is influenced or encouraged in some way to change their thought. For example a man sees the SKYY vodka advertisement and it comes off to be eye catching and convincing. Even though he might already have a specific vodka brand he uses, the astonishment of the print add influences him to try new things in an alteration effect of buying the alcohol, maybe leading to a long term outcome of the continuity of buying the specific vodka, and the intended effect the company tried to portray. At last, the advertisement will be compared and contrasted according to the two theoretical perspectives. The media teaches society how to socially learn, whether it’s through observational and modeling, or how women should be, including all the individual differences (Hay, 2012). Whether the effect is direct or indirect, constructive or destructive, people observe others and their surroundings.One of the arguments the theories can express thesimilarities and differences in, is the effect manipulation or influence can have towards and depending on audience types. The social cognitive theory, the process of modeling shows that the advertisement can be portrayed and looked at as motivating for male audiences, catching there attention while seeing the amount of control and command the man has above the women, leading to arousal and motor reproduction of the customer, influencing them to similar actions. On the other hand, feminists look at the advertisement and find it discriminating how the media socially constructed the women to fit the image that Mulvey speaks about.The female audiences will see the degradation of the trapped women, looking up at a man, and specifically go against the consumption of that certain alcohol. Women don’t see the need to advertise the alcohol in such a provocative manner and want to fight the status quo of using women in the media for political and economic reasons, as Naomi Wolf’s theory applies. In conclusion, the social cognitive theory and feminist theories play a big role in media today. Providing a framework to academically understand where media came from in history, and how it has currently changes. Media serves as a theoretical basis that was learnt from in the past, and continues to be learnt from throughout years to come. References: Bryant, J., & Thompson, S. (2002). Fundamentals of media effects(Chapter 4). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill. Hodkinson, P. (2011). Media, culture, and society: An introduction(Chapter 11, pp.219-242). Los Angeles, CA: Sage. Wolf, N.The Beauty Myth. Cantor, M. G. (1988). Feminism and the media.Society, 25(5), 76-81. Social Cognitive Theory and Feminist Theories LiatSlomowits Raphael Recanti International School, Interdisciplinary Center Hertzliya T.A. – Yael Hay Introduction to communications liatipoo@aol.com

Creating TV Drama Essay

â€Å"The Public Defenders† – We all know about the lives of top-league lawyers who rake in millions of dollars settling class action suits or representing celebrity clients. We all also realize, somewhere back in our minds that for every high-priced lawyer who’s working to spin celebrity â€Å"Q-ratings† and turn high-profile crimes into high-tax bracket success, there are ten public defenders (PD’s) sweating out in the innards of some state or federal building, working for peanuts to save the dregs of society from an indifferent and often unjust legal system . â€Å"The Public Defenders† chronicles the toll that long hours and short pay take on the personal lives of four PD’s who walk a tightrope of action and suspense while balancing their self-sacrificing professional lives with their all-too-self-absorbed sex lives and driving ambitions. The viewer enters the world of â€Å"The Public Defenders† from the vantage point of the common citizen: first glimpsing the four PD’s in their professional roles. Each episode begins with four short but conflict-heavy â€Å"teasers†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ representing the beginnings of four distinct, but sometimes interweaving cases. The bulk of each week’s episode is devoted to the resolution of the four cases, by each of the PD’s respectively. In some episodes, a case will be left â€Å"hanging† to be resolved in a later episode or episodes. As in real life, the PD’s will often represent the same client or clients on repeated cases and it is likely that many defendants and clients of the PD’s will become running fixtures as minor characters throughout the series’ entirety. Each of the PD’s: Emmanuel Gonzalez: a young Yale graduate who chose to work in the trenches, student Jonathan Smith: a closet alcoholic, Sara Kentowitz: a compassionate but highly sexual do-gooder, and Joann Bonier: an ambitious but flawed attorney, becomes embroiled with their clients, often in sexual or romantic entanglements and sometimes, events unfold so rapidly and chaotically that the PD’s themselves may cross the lines of legality. The plot-lines for specific episodes are based on showcasing the thin line between subjectivity and objectivity. The scripts will show blatantly that attorneys are anything but neutral when it comes to pushing their cases and working for their clients. Instead they are either emotionally engaged or coldly indifferent form the start of their cases and their professional work shows the degree to which they are personally engaged, invested, and interested in their clients. Ongoing plot-lines which thread through all the episodes will help to flesh out the characters and add a linear narrative dimension to the episodic format. Emmanuel is dealing with the process of a complicated divorce from his wife of 7 years, coupled with a child custody battle while his soon to be ex-wife is dealing with extreme alcoholism. He is also defending a repeat offender on trial for murdering his brother. Sara deals with an abusive husband while defending a 16 year-old being charged with rape. Jonathan is scheduled to go before the disciplinary committee for a hearing followed by an altercation in court, and is currently the sole care-giver for is aging parents. His father is showing symptoms of the early stages of Alzheimer’s. His mother suffers with depression. Joann, who is single, struggles to balance her work-load with the needs of her co-workers and her desire to have a personal life. Each of these over-arching plot lines will continue to spin threads and exert influence over the individual episodes which, as previously mentioned, may or may not resolve individual plot-lines. To allow our targeted viewing audience to connect and identify with the characters, The Public Defender will be filmed in courtrooms, jail cells and in the homes of our characters, giving an in-depth real life feel for the struggles that the characters are dealing with. In stark contrast the â€Å"personal† scenes will be filmed in a romantic idealized style which emphasizes hope and humanity. The sub-text of these visual contrasts is that the shows characters draw their inspiration to keep fighting from their real life relationships and not from law-books or high-flying principles. In fact , The PD’s are willing to subvert principles and even laws to win cases that have moved them or touched them personally because they have to do so to win. The deck is stacked against them: the are over-worked, under-trained, and representing those who are least able to defend themselves. The depth of the real life affects on the characters is intended to attract eductaed audiences of a predominantly mature demographic. The target audience would be compatible with that of â€Å"Law and Order† or â€Å"West Wing. † However, many of the shows minor characters and sub-plots will be devoted to youthful issues and themes which impact younger people, so it hoped that 18-25 year-old college students may also find the show worthy of attention. Crime buffs, â€Å"CSI† fans, and fans of courtroom dramas should also be targeted with advertising and scheduling as much as possible as it is hoped that this demographic will also prove fruitful for â€Å"The Pubic Defenders. † The hook for taking viewers out of the competition’s time-slot is â€Å"The Public Defenders† no-holds-barred romanticism coupled with its no-hold-barred realism: the PD’s love hard, they play to win†¦ but they lose just as often and their clients pay the price. Airing this program will allow the network to not only capture the targeted audience but hold them for each and every episode. It will be the talk of the campus, the office and coffee shops everywhere. Those that miss these episodes will be looking to see when the reruns will be airing.

The Recession And The Credit Crunch Of 2008 - 1927 Words

International Business Economics The recession and the credit crunch of 2008 have affected almost all the countries in the world. It has been known as one the worst financial crisis happened since the Great Depression of 1929 – 1930. This paper aims at comparing the economies of China and India in the view of the recession of 2008. India and China both are emerging economies of the 21st century. â€Å"The emerging market economies are characterized as transitional, which means that they are in the process of moving from a closed to an open market economy† (Siddiqui, 2009, p.1). Together, China and India accounts for a population of 2.5 billion people (Sree, 2013). Hence both the countries play a major†¦show more content†¦In 2013 the total exports for India was at $313.2 billion whereas the import stood at $467.5 billion (CIA, 2014). India followed the Adam Smith model producing only what it was efficient at and imported the rest. There started a reversal in capital inflows which hit the expor t demand and posted a crunch in the domestic markets leading to a decline of more than 2% in India’s GDP in the fiscal year 2008-2009 (Kumar Vashisht, 2009). In 2008 India was already experiencing a high inflation rate, which reduced expenditure in the country. To address the crisis and its affects the Indian government and the banks introduced fiscal stimulus and relaxed monetary policies in order to boost domestic demand. The market interest rates increased to 20% and above suddenly. India had received a fiscal stimulus of $80 billion injected into the economy to ensure liquidity. India was loosing badly on FDI’s and remittances. During 2008, India’s FDI inflows experienced a negative growth of 2% (Kumar Vashisht, 2009). Remittances also are a major part of the capital inflows of the country, in 2008 the remittance inflow declined by more than 29% (Kumar Vashisht, 2009) as every country first wanted to protect jobs of its home citizens and there was a sever e lay off. Exports to USA is a major component of India’s GDP. After a sharp decline in the demand from the US, India had to lay off more than 300,000 workers instantly. There was a decline in exports of India by