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Idle thought 1:

If the “Writing with YOU” attitude is a basic tenet of the technical writing process, which YOU gets priority when editing or reviewing a document – especially when the two YOUs require contradicting things from the editor? The YOU who has written the document and to whom the review is directed, or the YOU who is paying for and receiving the document?

Idle thought 2:

In large organizations and bureaucracies, no decision is made by only one person. Apparently every decision must be reviewed by at least six people, at least one of which seemingly is either on vacation, on sick leave, or otherwise unavailable at any given time. Especially during the summer.

Furthermore, if stakeholders are not brought in to a project, bringing them onside later is difficult. Requests for help with unsolicited projects, no matter how beneficial they are to the stakeholder, are made extremely low priority. Getting people to care is difficult because saying no is easier than adding to a likely already-full plate.

Idle thought 3:

Because very few decisions are made unilaterally, assuming any prior knowledge is hazardous. Different knowledge levels leads to different understanding of a problem. Taking the time to ensure an obvious flow of information that shows where each point comes from is the best way to standardize opinion.  Not connecting the dots of the points made in the document, from the premise to the final conclusion, in an air-tight manner runs the risk of the project being abandoned because the logic isn’t apparent.

PROGRESS REPORT

To: Dr. Erika Paterson, UBC Department of English

From: Owen Picton

Date: 23 June 2017

Subject: Progress Report on Feasibility of Adding Physician Extenders to the St. Paul`s Hospital Emergency Department (SPHED) Fast Track Staff

Project Overview

For my formal report, I am investigating the feasibility of physician extenders (non-physician experts) to the St. Paul’s Hospital Emergency Department Fast Track staff in order to provide consistent, effective, and maximally efficient care to more patients who are assigned to the Fast Track area of the Emergency Department.

Tasks Completed

• Reviewed the scope of practice of many health care professionals (HCPs) and chose the HCPs who would be most appropriate to support the staff members currently working in the SPHED.
• Completed introductory literature search for instances where physician extenders are used in medical practices.
• Arranged interview with the St Paul’s Hospital Emergency Department Operations Leader.
• Developed questions for the staff survey and the patient survey.
• Sketched out the typical Fast Track patient care trajectory.
• Investigated the method of obtaining information from the BC Ministry of Health.

Tasks In Progress

• Investigating what general information about the SPHED requires clearance under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPPA) and which can be obtained without such clearance.
• Ensuring survey questions pass UBC ethical clearance.

Tasks to be Completed

• Administer survey to St. Paul’s Hospital staff and patients.
• Collate information gathered from surveys and examine trends in the data.
• Obtain FOIPPA-governed data and analyze it.
• Interview the St. Paul’s Hospital Emergency Department Operations Leader, the St Paul’s Hospital Physician Leader, and
• Analyze cost of hiring, training, and retaining physician extenders vs. nurses and physicians.

Completion Date:  The first draft of this document is due to be completed on 10 July 2017.

The report is currently behind schedule. However, once the FIPPA-protected information is obtained, the time should be able to be made up with no changes to the completion date needed.

Complications

• Obtaining data about patients and data from patients in a public hospital setting is an intricate, time-consuming process. St. Paul’s Hospital has a very strict policy regarding patient involvement in surveys due to privacy concerns.
• The staff is undergoing “investigation fatigue”—fatigue from the sheer increase in the amount of work each has to complete as well as the sheer number of different investigations into streamlining care and the number of trial initiatives that have been implemented and abandoned. Although they welcome any assistance in doing their jobs that they can get, they have been Six-Sigma’ed and LEANed to death already.
• The issues of scopes of practice and job descriptions are very apparent and prevalent. While some staff members welcome the idea of additional help, they also see the addition of non-nursing or non-medical staff to the department roster as a threat to their employment. They are very aware that changes to their job descriptions have the possibility of negatively affecting their ability to take on overtime shifts or even maintain their lines. They are willing to help in theory, but their willingness to potentially handicap their own efforts to get ahead puts the value of their help in question.

301 OP Progress Report

As someone who has been using words longer than the average undergraduate student, I think my expectations from the course are slightly different than most. Because I have been creating documents in the work world for a rather long time, I expect to become reacquainted with standard business documents, and I expect to learn current trends in technical writing as well as aspects I have not encountered. I also expect to learn about any tired and clichéd techniques that I currently use and need to retire as I move forward in my professional career. Likely I will need to divest myself of some bad habits as I go through this course as well.

I have expectations of myself and my fellow classmates too. I expect to work in and provide a respectful, professional, and collegial environment for everyone involved with this course. Should drama of any type arise, I expect each and every one of us to be patient, tolerant, and kind, yet no-one should be allowed to be disrespected or to shoulder issues that are not theirs to resolve.

I expect to be successful in this course as long as I put the effort in. I expect to put in sufficient effort to produce product that my classmates and I can be proud of. The corollary to that is that I expect my classmates to be as invested in this process as I am, and make a similar effort to mine.

Welcome to my Technical Writing blog!

The UBC Technical Writing course (also known as ENGL 301) is an on-line survey course designed for students across disciplines who wish to improve their business and technical communication skills.  It introduces students to the distinct formats and platforms through which concepts and ideas are communicated in contemporary academia, business, and industry.

Students who successfully complete the course will emerge with an appreciation for well-written technical and professional documents and will understand the processes that allow these documents to be created and shared. They also will have experienced the processes of generating ideas, creating and revising content, giving and receiving constructive criticism, and broadcasting content on current platforms. Experiencing these processes will make them better able to produce accurate, appropriate and readable documents in their professional lives, either as individuals or as part of a group.