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This article examines Storylab, a collaborative learning project between the journalism programme at Stockholm University and the engineering programme in media technology at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, designed to combine journalistic storytelling with pervasive media technology. The aim of the study is to identify and reflect on the challenges associated with the approach. The methods used are a survey and semi-structured interviews with the students. The analyses draw on research concerning the current main challenges for the news industry and journalism educators. The results show that Storylab was highly appreciated, and provided students with useful skills for their professional lives. However, not all groups worked well together, and some students wished that the collaboration had been more extensive. Differences in motivations and priorities were mentioned as restraining factors. Therefore, it is argued that for a sustainable media landscape, journalists and engineers must collaborate, and that this cooperation can be brought about during professional training.

Hospitals in Sweden differ greatly in their use of laboratory tests. These differences seem to be due to traditions and regional differences. The cost of a single laboratory test is often low, but since many tests are used in great numbers, the consequences of false or misleading results can be very costly. Recently, several intervention studies have been carried out in Sweden with the aim of optimizing clinical chemistry testing routines in primary care. These studies show that it is possible to reduce the cost to primary care by SEK 100 million per year while increasing clinical utility. SEK 100 million is approximately 10% of the total cost of clinical chemistry testing in primary care. It should also be possible to reduce this cost in secondary and tertiary care. Hospitals order more tests than primary care, and thus the potential savings are larger. We have studied ordering routines at eleven Swedish hospitals. Comparisons were made in the form of ratios between related laboratory tests, in order to reduce the effects of differences of scale between the laboratories that were studied. The large variation between hospitals indicates that an ongoing discussion between clinicians and laboratories could reduce costs. We have used the figures from this comparison and calculated the potential savings for seven frequently used tests. The potential yearly savings in Sweden for these tests alone is approximately SEK 150 million. We estimate that this is just half of the amount that could be saved if all tests were included.

There are large differences in the use of laboratory tests between hospitals in Sweden. These differences are not only due to differences between the patients treated but also to differences in practice. Use of laboratory test seems to reflect local traditions to a large extent. These large variations in practice are not compatible with the objective of providing care on equal terms and reduce the cost-effectiveness of clinical chemistry. Recently, several intervention studies have been performed in Sweden with the aim to optimise the use of clinical chemistry tests in primary care. The results show that it is possible to reduce the cost in primary care by SEK 100 million per year while increasing the clinical usefulness. This constitutes approximately 10% of the total cost for clinical chemistry tests in primary care. It should also be possible to reduce the cost for clinical chemistry tests in secondary and tertiary care. Hospitals order more tests than primary care and the potential savings are thus greater. We have studied the ordering habits for eleven Swedish hospitals. The comparison was made in the form of ratios between related laboratory tests to reduce the effects of differences in size between the studied laboratories. The large variation between hospitals indicates that a continuous discussion between the clinicians and the laboratories could reduce the cost. We have used the figures from the comparison and calculated the potential savings for seven frequently used tests. The potential yearly saving in Sweden for these tests is approximately SEK 150 million.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the use of clinical laboratory tests in primary care and to evaluate if it is possible to improve the cost-effectiveness of laboratory testing by a short-term education programme. Our main goal has been to lower the total costs of care., Design: An education programme that was monitored by laboratory test ratios., Setting: Primary health care., Subjects: 63 primary care doctors at 19 primary care centres in the county of Uppsala, Sweden., Main Outcome Measures: The effects of the education programme were monitored by laboratory test ratios (e.g. ASAT/ALAT) of individual doctors before and after the education programme., Results: The education programme resulted in significant changes for the majority of the ratios studied. The savings on direct laboratory costs were approximately SEK 400,000 for assays that were recommended to decrease. The increased cost for assays that were recommended to increase was approximately SEK 140,000 but was considered cost-effective., Conclusion: It is possible to achieve significant changes in clinical chemistry test ordering habits of primary care doctors with a 2 day education programme. It resulted in cost savings and a better use of clinical chemistry tests in primary care. The effects were sustained for at least 6 months.

This study investigated whether there is a relationship between high physical work load and adverse psychosocial work factors, and whether this relationship is different for women and men. Separate analyses for female registered nurses and assistant nurses were made because these are common occupations involving high physical and psychological demands. This study was part of the MUSIC-Norrtälje study, a population study with the overall aim of identifying risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders. The respondents, 1423 gainfully employed men and women, were randomly selected from the study population. The exposure assessments referred to a typical workday during the previous 12 months. Physical exposure was investigated by interview, psychosocial work factors by interview and questionnaire. For the women, but not the men, mainly routine work and a job strain situation, according to the model of Karasek and Theorell, increased the probability of having a high physical work load, assessed as a time-weighted average of energy expenditure in multiples of the resting metabolic rate. Results indicated that in female-dominated occupations, high physical work load might also imply adverse psychosocial conditions. A higher frequency of high physical work load and job strain was observed among assistant nurses compared with registered nurses. Covariance between physical and psychosocial demands makes it difficult to determine the relative influence of each in health problems. Results of the present study imply that this is a larger problem in studies of women than men.

Infectious disease care, psychiatric care of drug addicts, and social care were combined in a ward for drug addicts with infectious diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects on the personnel (n = 22). One ward with infectious disease care of HIV and AIDS patients (n = 24) and another with nonsomatic care of drug addicts (n = 18) were selected to make comparisons possible. The questionnaire concerned psychosocial work environment and health. The personnel at the new ward also participated in a semistructured interview. The personnel at the special ward experienced a significantly higher degree of emotional exhaustion and lack of ability to concentrate than the comparison groups. They also reported a higher degree of lack of clarity, more job strain, and more difficulties due to demands from patients. The combined care is probably associated with heavier psychological burdens than other forms of care. In spite of this, the personnel experienced their work as meaningful and mentally stimulating.

Objectives: This study explored the relationship between psychosocial work environment and the musculoskeletal pain among health care personnel., Materials and Methods: Ninety registered nurses and nurse's aides working in different hospitals in or just outside Stockholm and working in different kinds of care constituted the study group. Data were collected by means of questionnaires, including questions about symptoms (low-back pain, pain in the neck, and pain in the shoulders), the perception of social support from co-workers and superiors, conflicts, feelings of isolation, poor relations with superiors, psychological demands, authority over decisions, and skill utilization (job-strain factors)., Results: An ordinal univariate logistic regression analysis showed that psychological demands, authority over decisions, skill utilization, and support at work had a statistically significant effect on symptoms from the lower back, while symptoms from the neck and shoulders were related to support a work only. When support at work and job strain were entered into a multivariate logistic regression model, a difference in the patterns of associations between low-back pain and symptoms from the neck and shoulders was found. Symptoms from the back were significantly related to job strain--the higher the strain, the more symptoms in the low back. Symptoms from the neck and shoulders on the other hand were more associated with social support at work--the lower the support score the more severe the symptoms., Conclusions: Low-back pain seemed to be related to job strain, while symptoms from the neck and shoulders were to a greater extent related to relational and emotional factors.

The effects of physical and psychosocial work environment factors on emotions, psychosomatic and endocrine (cortisol and testosterone) states, back pain, symptoms of degenerative joint disease, and absenteeism for sickness, were studied in 147 men and 60 women in six occupations representing widely different physical and psychological activities. In most subjects, measurements were carried out twice to four times over one year. Statistical analyses were performed of the associations between different factor levels, such as age, gender, height, body mass index, and physical stressors at work. It was found that psychological work demands were associated with physiological indicators of strain (plasma cortisol and self-reported muscle tension) and that self-reported muscle tension was associated with several emotional reactions as well as with symptoms from the back, neck and shoulders. Little possibility for decision-making was associated with a high rate of absenteeism for sickness. In men, a high plasma testosterone level was associated with self-reported muscle tension. The results indicate that work environment factors influence mood, bodily tension and somatic symptoms, but that load on the locomotor system and opportunity to influence decisions play an important and more direct role in absenteeism for sickness.

A sample of 73 men and women aged 22-63 years and working in six different occupations (air traffic controllers, waiters, physicians, symphony orchestra musicians, baggage handlers, and airplane mechanics) participated in a longitudinal study four times during a year. The spontaneous variations in job strain (determined as the self-reported ratio between psychological demands and decision latitude) were substantial. The average difference between the occasion with the highest level of strain and the occasion with the lowest level was 25% of the total mean. Systolic blood pressure during workhours, as well as self-reported sleep disturbance, increased when demands increased in relation to decision latitude. Among men with a depressive tendency (according to a diary) morning plasma prolactin levels increased markedly with increasing job strain. Among subjects with a positive family history of hypertension the increase in systolic blood pressure at work was particularly pronounced, and among the men in this group a lower than expected level of morning cortisol was found measured during the period with the highest level of strain.

The purpose of this study was to gather knowledge in order to provide a basis for the future planning of local nursing homes in Sweden. A total of 306 patients, residents and staff of six nursing homes and four old age homes were interviewed. The interview was combined with questions regarding a model for the design of a nursing home. The subjects were found to have opinions on the designs on the design which, in some cases, differed significantly from what is generally assumed to be true today in Sweden.

Central axis depth absorbed dose distributions of the electron beam from a medical microtron accelerator have been measured. The measured distributions differ from those of existing betatrons and linear accelerators. A larger absorbed dose build-up and a sharper dose fall-off are obtained in close agreement with theoretical calcuations for monoenergetic electron beams. The differences from other accelerators are explained by the narrow energy spectrum, the clean geometry and the small amount of scattering material in the electron beam of the microtron.