Newsletter 48 from the Head of Department
Dear All, I hope you are well back and had a good holiday.
INTERNAL NEWS
Workplace assessment: Good well-being and meaningful tasks - but too little time to solve them and still experiences with abusive behaviour
The results of the department's workplace assessment (APV) have arrived, and in the APV follow-up group [in Danish] we have taken a closer look at them.
Here is an overview:
The APV 2022 shows that we are generally in good well-being and satisfied with our jobs, have meaningful tasks, and show respect for each other's competencies. Despite the busy days and the pandemic, we have maintained the 2019 level with good results on four key topics in the APV survey (figures from 2022; 2019) on a scale of 1-5:
- Overall satisfaction (4.1; 4.1)
- Motivation and commitment (4.2; 4.2)
- Loyalty (4.3; 4.4)
- Willingness to recommend the workplace (4.0; 4.1)
It is good and important, and we must care for it. But what also catches our attention are the areas where we score less.
Stress and offensive experiences
In our department, at the Faculty of Health, and at the rest of the university, our APV results also show that stress and the balance between assignments and the time available is still a challenge. This is also reflected in sickness absence, which is on a par with the rest of the university (8%) and is to a large extent linked to workload (73% of the 8%).
There is one area in particular that stands out in our APV results, and that is abusive behaviour. The survey shows, among other things, that 14% have experienced rude, offensive or patronising speech. It is the same level as in 2019, and it is higher compared to the Faculty of Health and university level. We have had a special focus on abusive behaviour since the APV survey in 2019, but we have not brought the problem to life - or the 2022 APV reflects that we are working on the problem and talking about it - bringing it into the light.
Either way, it is important that you as an employee at IOOS can feel safe when you are at work and that you do not get sick from being at work. Therefore, after all, it is positive that a larger proportion of those who have experienced abusive behaviour have now reported that the problems with abusive behaviour have been solved (2019: 24%; 2022: 36%), and that 64% have spoken to a leader about the offensive experience.
Overall, our APV is in line with the results for the Faculty of Health and for the university. You have access to both the IOOS report and the sub-reports from your respective areas on Aarhus University's APV website, if you would like to dive into the results.
We follow up
At IOOS, we have seen an increase in the response rate from 72% in 2019 to 76% this year. It gives us a strong data base and a good foundation for the follow-up work, which begins now. We start with a joint workshop for everyone with leadership responsibilities at IOOS, our Local Liaison Committee (LSU) and our Local Occupational Health and Safety Committee (LAMU) on Monday 25 April, and then your nearest leaders will hold local dialogue meetings with you, where you take a closer look at the APV results. At the workshop, we identify key APV problems and themes on IOOS, which you can choose to include in the local dialogue meetings. Based on this, the APV follow-up group will start preparing action plans for solving the issues that have arisen, and when the action plans are ready, you will of course hear about them and about how we should get them into action in everyday life.
Thank you for participating in the workplace assessment!
The results are important tools that can help us on the way to a good workplace and a good and healthy work environment.
And then to something else healthy - green Tuesday and Thursday in the canteen
From 1 January 2021, Jesper's Torvekøkken took over the lease of our canteen, and as you may have discovered, the vegetarian kitchen now takes up more space - in fact, both Tuesday and Thursday are completely meat-free days. Bon appetite!
RESEARCH, EDUCATION AND TEACHING
Business collaboration: Lars Schropp has improved the referral options
Associate Professor Lars Schropp and the Section for Oral Radiology have for a long time had a sparring collaboration with the company Nasure, which has the EDI Portal (secure exchange of digital health data across the health care system). We use the EDI Portal e.g. for X-ray referrals, and here Lars Schropp has prepared a new referral template that better suits IOOS' needs and workflows - and it has now been implemented by Nasure and the EDI Portal for the benefit of us and all other users of the portal. With the improvements, it is now possible, for example, to send large files (such as image files) via the referral, where before you had to send them as separate files, which gave cumbersome workflows and a greater risk of errors.
See more about the collaboration and referral updates in the article on Nasure's website [In Danish].
Fábio Leite is behind one of the most cited articles in 2020-2021
In March, the scientific journal ‘Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology’ congratulated Associate Professor Fábio Leite, Section of Periodontology, as the first author with equal contributions from Associate Professor Gustavo Nascimento, with one of the journal's most cited articles in 2020-2021. It is the article ‘Collider bias in the association of periodontitis and carotid intima-media thickness’, which challenges the methods and statistical approaches used to analyse oral and systemic health relationships. Great work and exciting reading.
NEWS ABOUT NAMES
Jan Wolff provides additional electricity to surgery with a grant of DKK 4 million
Professor Jan Wolff, Section for Maxillofacial Surgery and Oral Pathology, has applied for and received DKK 4 million from the Aarhus University Research Foundation (AUFF) to investigate how artificial intelligence, virtual reality and 3D printing can support the surgical procedures. Among other things, the funding will go to expand the research group with two PhD students.
Read the news ‘Virtual Reality and 3D printing should be a permanent part of the surgeon's work’.
Line Staun Larsen is in INTERPOL's spotlight
Assistant Professor Line Staun Larsen, who has a shared position with us and the Department of Forensic Medicine, received an AUFF grant in March for the project ‘3D data can improve the identification of the victims of major disasters’. The press release about the grant and project was also sent out to international media, and Line Staun Larsen was shortly after contacted by the editor of the American Forensigmag, who wrote an article for their newsletter. After this, it has spread, and the news has reached INTERPOL itself.
If you receive a grant of more than DKK 200,000 remember to contact our communication partner Lise Wendel Eriksen, who helps with publicity of your research both at the Faculty of Health and around the world.
Greetings from a former patient: 50th anniversary of a bridge
Just before Easter, I received an email that began like this: “I think you as head of department should have a little good story about the school's solid work. On April 13, 1972, I left the School of Dentistry provided with a seven-units gold bridge in the upper jaw after a course of treatment that had stretched over 39 sessions spread over almost 2 years. It has served me faithfully ever since. ”
The greeting came from a former patient, Mogens, who is incredibly pleased with the solid technical work we had performed in 1972, and who now, 50 years later, took the time to tell us about it. He further writes:
“For a number of years, changing dentists told me that I should be happy if the bridge lasted for 25-30 years. When those years had passed, they wondered why it still held. It still does and on Wednesday I can celebrate my 50th bridge anniversary.
It goes without saying that over the years I have been happy with my bridge and that I am deeply impressed by the good workmanship that was performed 50 years ago.
I was a student at the time, and an extra little twist on the story is that the School of Dentistry, on my behalf, applied to the municipality for an economic subsidy, similar to what it gave to pensioners.
Now I myself am a pensioner, and have never heard back from the municipality, so I have never paid as much as a penny in "bridge toll"."
I have, of course, obtained consent from Mogens to share his joyful story with you all, and could on the same occasion tell him that I am four days older than his bridge.
Good weekend,
Siri