‘ Rewiring’ institutions to create a more gender equal society
DR PANOS KAPOTAS AND PROFESSOR KAREN JOHNSTON
Portsmouth is the UK lead university of an international project to empower women and girls. We’ re seeking to understand the root causes of gendered power hierarchies – and to make a powerful contribution to eliminating gender gaps, discrimination and biases.
The EU-funded‘ Realising Girls’ and Women’ s Inclusion, Representation and Empowerment’( RE-WIRING) project brings together researchers from a wealth of different disciplines, across six European countries and South Africa. Together we’ re mapping how interrelations of power and specific barriers shape gender( in) equality and exclusion within the political, social, economic and cultural spheres. And figuring out how to make change happen.
Portsmouth leads on gender equality in employment and enterprise, researching how to address gender gaps in representation, pay, worklife balance, and protection from sexual harassment across the labour market. Our research team is working to drive societal change. It has already developed a toolkit to improve understanding of gender inequality and help organisations improve representation of women at every level.
Keeping patients safe and making nursing more efficient
PROFESSOR JIM BRIGGS
A team of researchers has identified factors in how often hospital patients should have their vital signs monitored by staff. The goal of the research was to determine the ideal frequency of observations for keeping people safe, while avoiding unnecessary extra work for busy nursing teams.
Usually a patient’ s vital signs( including blood pressure, temperature and pulse) are checked every few hours and converted into a score, using a system designed here in Portsmouth. But checking too often can interfere with patients’ rest and sleep, delaying their recovery. Nurses also need to plan their time well to look after patients who need care.
The study used data science to find that patients with a low overall risk score could safely have their signs monitored less frequently. This could free up nursing time to focus more on monitoring those with a higher score, without compromising on the safety of the rest.
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