Welcome to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agenc Essay Example For Students

Welcome to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agenc Essay Oil ys Oil Spill Program. This website provides information about the U.S. EPAs program for preventing, preparing for, and responding to oil spills that occur in and around inland waters of the United States. As a major industrial nation, the United States produces, distributes, and consumes large quantities of oil. Petroleum-based oil is used as a major power source to fuel our factories and various modes of transportation, and in many everday products, such as plastics, nylon, paints, tires, cosmetics, and detergents. On average, the U.S. uses over 250 billion gallons of oil and petroleum products each year. To meet this demand, each year the U.S. We will write a custom essay on Welcome to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agenc specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now produces an average of 125 billion gallons of crude oil and imports an average of 114 billion gallons of crude oil and other petroleum products. At every point in the oil production, distribution, and consumption process, oil is invariably stored in storage tanks. With billions of gallons of oil being stored throughout the country, the potential for an oil spill is significant, and the effects of spilled oil can pose serious threats to the environment. In addition to petroleum-based oil, the U.S. consumes millions of gallons of non-petroleum oils, such as silicone and mineral-based oils, and animal and vegetable oils. Like petroleum products, these non-petroleum oils are often stored in storage tanks that have the potential to spill, causing environmental damages that are just as serious as those caused by petroleum-based oils. To address the potential environmental threat posed by petroleum and non-petroleum oils, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has established a program designed to prevent oil spills. The program has reduced the number of spills from the total volume handled each year. The program is also designed to prepare for and respond to any oil spill affecting the inland waters of the United States. EPAs oil program has a long history of responding to oil spills, including several major oil spills, and the lessons learned have helped to improve our countrys prevention and response capabilities. The Oil Spill Program is administered through EPA headquarters and the 10 EPA Regions. Oilspill Home | Search Oilspill | Contact Us EPA Home | OSWER Home | Superfund Home URL: http://www.epa.gov/oilspill/overview.htm This page last updated on March 7, 2001 Bibliography: http://www. epa.gov/oilspill/overview.htm .

HIPAA Violation Research Paper Example

HIPAA Violation Research Paper Example HIPAA Violation Paper HIPAA Violation Paper Ever wonder what the acronym HIPAA stands for, how it relates to health care professionals, as well as you, the patient? Violations of the HIPAA Privacy rule greatly impacts health care professionals, specifically those working in a pharmacy, such as pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. Let’s read further to learn more about HIPAA, more specifically the Privacy Rule. The 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, better known as HIPAA, is a federal law that contains national standards, created to protect a patient’s medical and health information, among other things as well. All health care workers, including pharmacists and pharmacy staff, who have access to patient information must comply with HIPAA and the Privacy Rule (Christenson). In August 2002, the Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information or â€Å"Privacy Rule†, was established to implement the requirements of the HIPAA Act. This rule describes what health workers need to do to protect the privacy of their patients’ health information. The Privacy Rule was established to protect patient health information by placing limits on how patient information can be used or disclosed. The Privacy Rule is just one part of HIPAA, but nonetheless a very important part to health care workers, including pharmacy employees. (HIPPA for Pharmacy Staff) With the establishment of the HIPAA Privacy Rule, a patient’s right to have his or her health information kept private and secure became more than just an ethical obligation of physicians and hospitals t became the law. Protecting patients’ privacy must be part of the daily routine of a pharmacy and is the responsibility of the pharmacist, pharmacy technicians, and the entire staff, therefore the Privacy Rule affects the everyday practice of a pharmacy. To protect the rights of pharmacy patients, pharmacy technicians need to fully understand and be familiar with the laws of the Privacy Rule. As you perform your job, patient privacy needs to be protected. Patients expect privacy when they receive healthcare, including within a pharmacy. This means that they expect all of their medical information to be kept private and confidential. A patient’s privacy is violated when pharmacy staff or any other health care workers improperly use, disclose or allow unauthorized access to confidential health information. (HHS.  gov) You may ask yourself, â€Å"What is considered private health information and what type of information needs to be protected? † â€Å"Protected Health Information†, or rather PHI, is the common phrase referred to in HIPAA rules for the pieces of information which must be kept confidential. The most common protected health information a pharmacy keeps is the patients name, address and phone number, date of birth, age, Health Plan, Medicare or Medicaid ID number, Diagnosis or diagnosis code, and Social Security number. There are, of course, other pieces of information that is considered PHI. PHI is considered any piece of information that identifies an individual patient. Pharmacies keep records which contain PHI in order to care for patients, bill for products and services or operate effectively. Your pharmacy computer records, prescription files, dispensing reports and backup files all contain PHI. Privacy has to do with patient rights to control sharing of their PHI. Any person has the right to choose whether or not they want their health information shared with anyone except those directly involved in their health care. (HIPPA for Pharmacy Staff) Most of the time, health care workers do all they can to protect their patients confidential health information, but unfortunately there are times when a patient’s private medical information is used and disclosed in the wrong way, and violation of the Privacy Rule occurs. Consider the following scenario; Mary, a pharmacy technician working in a small community pharmacy, is on the phone in the prescription department joking with a friend about a patient named Jack, a 76-year old family friend who had just been prescribed Viagra. Jack’s neighbor and close friend overheard the technician’s conversation and became highly offended. She plans on telling Jack what she heard as soon as she gets home. Ask yourself this questions †¦ â€Å"has Mary, the pharmacy technician, just violated the HIPAA privacy rule? The answer is of course â€Å"yes†! Mary has violated a patient’s privacy by discussing health matters with someone who is not a health care worker and within earshot of other patients. (HIPPA for Pharmacy Staff) As stated before, protecting patients’ privacy must be part of the day-to-day work of the pharmacy dispensing staff as well as all employees who have access to patient information to protect against improper disclosure. Discussions about patient care and any personal medical information needs to be kept private to reduce the likelihood that those who do not need to know will overhear. Many times legal cases may occur involving violations of the HIPPA Privacy Rule. One such case is that involving the Rite Aid Pharmacy Corporation, which was cited for violation of the HIPPA Privacy Rule. Rite Aid was reported to have disposed of prescriptions and labeled pill bottles containing individuals’ identifiable information in industrial trash containers that were accessible to the public. Disposing of individuals’ health information in an industrial trash container accessible to unauthorized persons is not compliant with several requirements of the HIPAA Privacy Rule and exposes the individuals’ information to the risk of identity theft and other crimes. â€Å"It is critical that companies, large and small, build a culture of compliance to protect consumers’ right to privacy and safeguard health information. OCR is committed to strong enforcement of HIPAA,† said Georgina Verdugo, director of OCR. It was also noted that Rite Aid failed to implement adequate policies and procedures to appropriately safeguard patient information during the disposal process and Rite Aid failed to adequately train employees on how to dispose of such information properly. As a result of this violation, Rite Aid agreed to pay $1 million dollars to settle the HIPPA Privacy Case. This case clearly defines the importance of making sure that employees fully understand and are properly trained in all of the HIPPA rules and regulations when it comes to maintaining patient privacy and confidentiality. In Conclusion, the HIPPA Privacy Rule greatly impacts any health care professional, specifically relating to a pharmacy and its entire staff when dealing with patient information on a daily basis. As an employee working in a pharmacy, whether it is a community pharmacy, hospital pharmacy, or any other type of pharmacy, one of your jobs will be to help maintain privacy for patients as they receive care and help protect the confidentiality of their private information. There will be times when you will hear or see patient information and you are expected to not seek out information about patients unless it is job-related. When you do see or hear information in the course of doing your job, always remember that the information is should be considered confidential and you are not allowed to repeat it or share it with others. As a future pharmacy technician, I will come in contact with patients on a daily basis and will be required to use their personal information as a part of my job duties. Therefore it is my responsibility to fully understand and become properly educated with the HIPPA Privacy Rule in order to protect the privacy of all the patients I will encounter. Whether I am on the job or off the job, it is my obligation to adhere to the HIPPA privacy rule and keep every bit of a patient’s information confidential. Proper use of this information, using it only as needed for prescription use is required. In addition, I will also play an important role in developing policy and procedures for using patient information and identifying situations to which the Privacy Rule applies. A pharmacy needs to be committed to protecting patient privacy and confidentiality, and pharmacy technicians are just one important piece of the whole team to make sure that patient confidentiality is being maintained. The ultimate goal is to keep the patients best interest and treat them with the utmost respect and dignity. Understanding the HIPPA Privacy rule can be very overwhelming and confusing, but just remember that patient privacy should be top priority for pharmacy staff. HIPAA has many rules, but most are pretty much common sense and are pretty easy to follow.

Annexation of the Philippines

Annexation of the Philippines It is a controversial question, but I believe that it was a necessary and wise decision because it freed the Filipinos from the devastating Spanish force. It also benefited to the United States because they opened trade ports for various goods and services and broadened business interests. It also served as a fueling and repair station for U. S. naval vessels and ships. It also contributed to their imperialism, because if they annexed hadnt the Philippines, the countries of Japan, France would have possible seized the islands. Expansionism helps the United States grow as a country, and expansion into the Philippines would grant more power to the United States as a world leader. It was argued that after rescue from Spanish rule, USA could not simply leave the Philippines out in the cold to ultimately fail without assistance from a superior civilization. Another reason the United States should annex the Philippines is that with the Philippines the U. S. would have great natural benefits. Not only will there be many natural resources, but also the Philippines geographic location will benefit the U. S. in future warfare and trading. The Philippines would provide new markets and cheap labor, which would help the U. S. s overall economy. But annexing wont just help the U. S. The people of the Philippines would also benefit. The U. S. would establish a democratic society. People would work for wages and the economy would rise. U. S. inventions would be introduced to improve living conditions, such as, plumbing, electricity, and better structured homes. Some of the people of the Philippines may think that this process would be taking advantage of them, but they dont realize that both countries would benefit with the annexation of the Philippines.

Is Foreign Investment Good or Bad for USA Research Paper

Is Foreign Investment Good or Bad for USA - Research Paper Example Due to rapid growth in FDIs all around the world, much work has been done on determining the effects of FDIs on USA economy. There have been increasing concerns about these foreign investments and these have been criticized on many grounds by the critics as they believe there are many disadvantages of these investments like reduction in employment in USA, reduced or inhibited technological advancements, increased trade deficits. Some even argued that increasing presence globally can be a threat to national security and might make the country compromise on national sovereignty. On the other hand many discusses about the advantage that USA has obtained from these investments which mainly revolves around the general presumption of benefits and favors of free markets. (Graham, Edward M, and Paul R. Krugman) Foreign investments can be both inwards and outwards. It’s a common trend all around the world that the countries which owns cheap production facilities are the best for FDIs, since USA is a country where operating a production facility is fairly expensive when compared to countries like China, India, Brazil etc. the economy of USA is usually built upon the outwards FDIs. Being the host and home country both receiving and making foreign investments, USA faces benefits and disadvantages both. However since USA mainly focus on outward FDIs due to presence of many owned MNCs in USA; this paper will mainly focus on the outwards foreign investments made by USA in foreign countries. Inward Foreign Investments in USA: USA has been a focus of few MNCs from emerging nations due to its high technological advancements and high standard of living. Some reasons to allow FDIs to enter US economy can be relating to the capability of the country to produce certain goods. Modern technology is primarily needed by the country and hence FDI can prove to be beneficial when it comes to it. The capability of the country to produce certain goods may depend upon the availability of the funds and the expertise that is available in that particular country. FDI in particular can be helpful in these situations as it can provide the benefits to the country. If the United States invites different multinational corporations, it will be able to grasp upon the required sources so as to produce the necessary goods that can improve its economy. This can also benefit the country in terms of the realization of external economies. In the modern language of economics this benefit is referred to as ‘spillovers’. This can prove to be one of the most advantageous side of FDI in the United States. Moreover FDI can also prove to increase the existence of competition in the market and hence the existing companies would strive further to attain a better position in the market (Gonclaves, R; Magnus, B). Outward Foreign Investments in USA: The MNCs from USA have greatly benefited from the outward investments in other foreign countries. Location primarily can have an e ffect on the economy of the country in two ways. It can help the company to differentiate or vary its product according to the demand of the consumers with respect to the price and it can also help to lower the cost of value

Role and purpose of HRM Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Role and purpose of HRM - Article Example In the rapidly commoditizing PC industry, Dell continued to be profitable with its direct selling approach while older rivals like HP struggled. Sun Microsystems, arguably one of the most innovative companies in the computer industry, found itself in deep trouble. Clearly what works and what does not in business remains as unpredictable as ever while some seemingly mundane businesses managed by 'ordinary' people rewarded share holders handsomely, many 'high-tech' businesses which showed great potential when they started off, folded up. Indeed the changing environment and the speed of changes posing greater challenges to organizations. Changes in every aspect of the organizations have increased the uncertainties. Discussion: Changes in technologies have increased access accessibility, visibility and connection. The connected world is smaller, changing rapidly and has more open information customer have become increasingly segmented and persnickety. Investors have become increasingly attended to and actively concerned not about financial results, but intangibles. Employees represent increasingly diverse demographic backgrounds including not only race and gender but personal preferences, global and cultural backgrounds and orientation to work, competitors come from both traditional large global players and increasingly smaller innovators. And all of these factors occur in the context of global business organizations where what happens in one corner of the world affects business throughout the world. Many spend enormous amounts of time specifying these trends and their implications on work organizations. Most of these trends are outside the control of anyone individual or any one organization. They occur in both predictable ways. They affect all aspects of work organizations from how to fund an organization to how to position the firm in customer minds and how to engineer and deliver products. Apart from affecting other aspects of the organization, changes affect the human resources. To be effective in this boundless world, organization members need to adapt to customers, systems and techniques different from their own. Human resources must ensure that employees with the appropriate mix of knowledge, skills and cultural adaptability are available to handle any work assignment with in the organization. HRM must also develop mechanisms that will help diversified employees work together. It is the duty of the overall HR managers to make every effort to acclimate different groups to each other, finding ways to build teams and thus reduce conflict. It is increasingly being realized now by working organizations that due to rapid changes in technologies, world moves towards bord erless economies, and as businesses become global, one of the successful business is to understand and manage its human resources strategically and competently. Today HRM has acquired and even more central role in building sustainable competitive advantage for the work organizations. As a result of these developments, HRM has become a major thrust area where, the focus is on synergizing and propelling organizations to seamlessly integrate with the macro environment changing environment and hyper competitive situation forced work organizations to adopt quickly and HR systems and roles play vital role in surviving in such situations. The traditional HRM has changes a lot due to change in macro environment of business, Many

Indian Cultural Background Essay Example for Free

Indian Cultural Background Essay I have two cultural background which are Cherokee Indian and African American . Cherokee is really pronounced as â€Å"CHAIR-uh-kee† in our language. Cherokee comes from a Muskogee word meaning ‘speakers of another language’. Cherokee Indians originally called themselves Aniyunwiya â€Å"the principal people,† but today they accept the named Cherokee. But in their language it is pronounced Tsadagi . The Cherokees are original residents of the American southeast region, particularly Georgia, North and South Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Most Cherokees were forced to move to Oklahoma in the 1800s along the Trail of Tears. The Cherokee Indians who survived this death still live in Oklahoma today. Some Cherokees escaped the Trail of Tears by hiding in the Appalachian hills or taking shelter with white neighbors. These people live scattered throughout the original Cherokee Indian homelands. Trail of Tears was the Cherokee name for what the Americans called Indian Removal. During the 1800s, the US government created an Indian Territory in Oklahoma and sent all the eastern Native American tribes to live there. Some tribes agreed to this plan with no problem. Other tribes didnt like this plan at all , and the American army forced them. The Cherokee tribe was one of the largest eastern tribes, and they didnt want to leave their homeland. The Cherokees were peaceful with the Americans. So they asked the Supreme Court for help. The judges decided the Cherokee Indians could stay in their homes. But the President, Andrew Jackson, sent the army to march the Cherokees to Oklahoma . They werent prepared for the journey, and it was winter time. Thousands of Cherokee Indians died on the Trail of Tears. Many Native Americans from other tribes died too. It was a terrible time in history. There are three federally recognized Cherokee tribes: the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, the United Keetoowah Band in Oklahoma, and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina. Other Cherokee communities in Alabama, Georgia, and other states are considered unofficial by the US government. The Eastern Cherokee people live on a reservation. Indian reservations are lands that belong to Native American tribes and are under their control. The Oklahoma Cherokee people live on trust land, though many Cherokees call it a reservation anyway. The Keetowah Cherokee do not have a land base. Each Cherokee tribe has its own government, laws, police, and services, just like a small country. However, Cherokee Indians are also US citizens and must obey American law. In the past, each Cherokee group was led by one war chief and one peace chief. Cherokee chiefs were chosen by a tribal council. Cherokee war chiefs were male, but the peace chief could be a woman. Today, Cherokee tribal councils and chiefs can be either gender and are popularly elected, like senators and governors. Most Cherokee people speak English today, but 20,000 people also speak the Cherokee Indian language. Cherokee is a complex language with soft sounds. The Cherokee language has an innovative writing system that was invented by the Cherokee scholar Sequoyah. Sequoyahs writing system is a syllabary. That means one character represents each syllable. The other cultural background is African American .

African Proverbs :: African Proverbs

African Proverbs African proverbs are thought of much more than artistic sayings. They symbolize real life situations in just a few words that consummate great meaning. In cultures without literature, proverbs provide an array of values and knowledge. Proverbs often, also provide entertainment because they may consist of rhyme or clever allusions. African leaders have turned to proverbs for their wisdom, and to acquire support and respect from their people. Proverbs are unforgettable not only because they abrupt, but because they take a complicated life situation and sum it up into a few comprehensive words. African proverbs convey an amorphous truth or experience, usually about frailty and the way that people intermingle with one another. When you think of one woman trying to lift a car; that is just absurd, but when others pitch in and help then it works better. That is an example of an African Proverb. It symbolizes how one person can’t accomplish an abstruse task without the help of others: †If one finger tries to pick up something from the ground, it cannot.† In life we are faced with many disputes and sometimes may need help. As the proverb says you can’t pick something up without the help of others. This instills manners, togetherness, and the fact that you are willing to take or get help from others. For some people this is a big step. This distinction examines the impact of family. People tend to take others or things for granted. What are you to do if one day you get into an accident and you legs get amputated? Without the help the doctor, there is no medical way that you will make it through that obstacle in your life. Finally, the day comes when you are about to graduate from high school, about to go into the working world and continue to further your education; you need not to forget where you come from. This is one example of a proverb that examines this: â€Å"A river does not flow so far that it forgets its source? When you go through that phase in your life where you are finally out on your own, people tend to forget all about their past and go on with the future.