Istanbul Atatürk Olympic Stadium from my window

İstanbul Atatürk Olympic Stadium

Istanbul Atatürk Olympic Stadium during north bound take-off from Istanbul Atatürk Airport.

Day & Night

North bound take-off from Istanbul Ataturk Airport

North bound take-off from Istanbul Ataturk Airport

Same spot at the same speed during a morning take-off and a night take-off from Istanbul Ataturk Airport. We can often be at the same spot on a two dimensional space, but we can really rarely be at the same spot on a three - dimensional space.

Night Landing to Antalya - August 2013

Approaching for Antalya Airport for a night landing

In the picture, Konyaaltı and Boğaçayı regions are visible with their neat road networks. South bound over water approach and 180 degree turns are required for landings to two parallel 36 runways at Antalya Airport.

Colours of the sun at 30.000 feet over Burdur in Turkey - August 2013

Just before the sunrise - leaving the night behind

Flying towards North

Sunrise over Burdur at 30.000 feet

Sunshine

Bright sunshine towards the camera

Landing to Newark Liberty

Landing to Newark Liberty

Landing to Newark Liberty Airport in New Jersey as of February 1996. World Trade Center twin towers are visible as part of an old downtown skyline. The aircraft is Boeing 747-300, not much chance to see them landing there today any more. The blurred horizontal section towards the bottom of the picture is actually the real vision effect of the hot engine thrust. In the picture, Pulasky skyway, New Jersey Harbour, Manhattan, New York City, WTC and major rail lines are all visible. NJ harbour area and surrounding region usually gives a yellow colour from the air during winter months.

Road to Venice

Road to Venice

Landing path to Venice Marco Polo Airport gave me a very good view of both the highway and the railway leading towards the Island of Venice. After landing to Venice I used the waterway to the Island and watched the planes approaching from this same spot and altitude. It was a clear day in Venice when I flew there in July 2013.

Night approach to Istanbul Ataturk Airport

Night approach to Istanbul Ataturk Airport

Southern approach to Istanbul Ataturk Airport is performed over Marmara Sea. Planes coming from Europe first fly over western part of Istanbul then turn heading to Marmara Sea. Just at that particular transition to Marmara Sea, the approach path crosses the coast of Silivri. On this clear night in July 2013, the particular scenery shows the coast of Silivri ( a summer resort area of Istanbul ) with half moon and highway lights.

Sunset

My first picture in the "aviation photography" section of my blog was the "sunrise over the Atlantic". In this picture however, I have captured the sunset over Europe in July 2013. Again it is overcast weather outside. However we were not as high over the cloud level as we were in my first picture ( over the Atlantic ocean). Thus, the cloud layer seems pretty close to the plane but it still reflects the pink-violet sunset effect beautifully.

Taking off from Venice Marco Polo Airport - July 2013

The marsh area just next to Venice Marco Polo Airport gives an interesting view during take off from Venice. The land seems green however we are definitely over water.

Northern take off from Istanbul Atatürk Airport - August 2013

Picture shows Northern section of Küçükçekmece lake in Istanbul during northern take off from Istanbul Atatürk Airport.

Rosolina Mare, Italy - July 2013

Picture shows Rosolina Mare which is located in the Northern Adriatic coast of Italy. The descending path for airplanes approaching from the East and going to Venice, crosses very near Rosolina Mare. So almost at the beginning of the descending path, my window seat gave me a good view of Rosolina Mare at high altitude.

Sunrise over the Atlantic ocean

Sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean

I took this picture during a JFK - Amsterdam flight on a KLM Boeing 747-400. The picture shows the overcast weather during sunrise at a very early hour in the morning as we continue to cross the Atlantic Ocean on September 1, 1986. The camera is Voigtlander. Manual settings allow a sharp focus for far distances. The view outside looks quite new which is in fact from 1986.

Critical relationship between an organization (of a hospital) and a physician

Physicians may be reluctant for total quality management systems due to concerns that sensitive patient-physician relationships might be affected. The main reason is the fact that total quality management implies “standards”. However, according to the physicians every patient and medical case implies a distinct process and they can not be standardized. Thus quality management may restrict the resources allocated for patient care.

It is very important that those leaders that want to implement a total quality management model should clearly demonstrate and prove that total quality management is not an audit or control mechanism but it is a system that helps to investigate root causes of problems and find their solution methods.

Quality management team plan used at Michigan University Medical Center

1)      Define the process

2)      Arrange the data

3)      Analyze the root causes

4)      Determine alternative solutions

5)      Measure the change for solution

6)      Apply the alternative

7)      Plan for the future

Committees for quality assessment in hospital services

a)      Committee for medical review

b)      Board of directors

The number of committees in a hospital may change according to the size, capacity and staff of the hospitals.

Healthcare organization committees for the administrative services

a)      Committee for monitoring medical records

b)      Executive committee

c)      Qualification committee

d)     Security committee

e)      Committee for the systems

f)       Usage committee 

g)      Meeting committee

Healthcare organization committees for the medical services

a)      Committee for the quality improvement of medical staff

b)      Committee for the quality improvement of nursing services

c)      Committee for the inspection surgical cases

d)     Infection control committee

e)      Tissue committee

f)       Committee for the medicine administration

g)      Committee for the evaluation of blood use

h)      Clinical meetings committee

Important steps for restructuring the healthcare services

1)      Abandoning the processes that do not add value

2)      New services that add value for the patients and physicians should be added

3)      Continuity of the care should be maintained

4)      Clinical care should be strengthened

The difference between positive and negative organizational cultures

In positive organizational cultures employees are proud of to be a part of the organization and they can devote themselves for continuous quality improvement. They will help each other to meet the targets and they will enjoy the process. In this kind of organizational culture employees will feel that they can add value to the organization and processes and their ideas and opinions are important for the whole organization. Positive thinking is considered as the main energy source of the organization. Employees can envision new opportunities and are open for change. They believe that they can solve their own problems and they can take risks for improvement and learning.

On the other hand, in negative organizational cultures employees will prefer to defend themselves and they will spend their energy to confront each other. They will refrain from taking risks in fear of punishment. They will resist change and will try to maintain status quo.

Main process for organizational culture in healthcare services

1)      Top management meeting

2)      Formulation and modification of organizational philosophy

3)      Establishing customer and human resources task units

4)      Spreading the organizational philosophy

5)      Reflecting the philosophy in the daily routine actions

6)      Determining the culture gap via data gathering

7)      Data feedback

8)      Establishing the customer and human resources action teams

9)      Developing primary action items and programs

10)  Implementation of the program

11)  Behaviour model of the key staff

12)  Evaluation and feedback for determining the culture gap

13)  Determination and modification of the human resources system

14)  Determination and modification of other essential systems

15)  Evaluation and feedback for determining the culture gap

Organizational Culture

One of the main pillars of total quality management is the proper integration of employees with the system. The major accomplishment in organizational transformation is to eliminate the unconsciousness and to include everybody in the change process. This will enable the organization to establish new efficient forms. The key parts of an organizational culture are the norms. Norms can be considered as the unwritten rules and regulations that explain how employees should behave in an organization. On the other hand, values are the assurances that explain which results should be achieved and preferred.

Leadership qualifications for organizational transformation

1)      A proper vision

2)      Social responsibility

3)      Managing ambiguous situations

4)      Handling change

5)      Getting along with people

6)      Sharing information

7)      Interaction with customer values

8)      Dedication for improvement and change

9)      Raising awareness

10)   Dedication for education and training

11)   Willingness to give responsibility to subordinates

12)   Good relationships with suppliers and vendors

13)   To know oneself

14)   Ability for creative thinking

15)   Willingness to take risks

Leaders of healthcare organizations should answer the following questions in order to develop a new vision

1)      How should our organization look like? 

2)      Will customers like the organization when the vision is implemented? 

3)      Which are the most important values for us?
  
4)      Will the vision meet all our important values and customers’ interests? 

5)      Where will everybody be located in the future vision?

Key elements for implementing a successful total quality management system

1)      Customer oriented vision 

2)      Capacity for change 

3)      Reaching the threshold for change

4)     Making plan for change

Customer oriented continuous quality improvement philosophy

Key elements of customer oriented continuous quality improvement philosophy are summarized in Edward Deming’s plan that includes 14 items:

1)      Being devoted to the main goal for improving the product and service.

2)      Developing new approaches.

3)      Abandon putting blame on someone in order to obtain quality.

4)      Accentuate fidelity and trust.

5)  Continue to develop product and service system in order to improve quality and   productivity.

6)      Adopt on the job training.

7)      Adopt leadership. Audit should only aim for helping the employees.

8)      Avoid anxiety and fear at the work place.

9)      Remove the barriers between departments.

10)   Instead of advising the employees, demand new levels of productivity from them.

11)   Do not impose the amount of work.

12)   Remove any obstacles that might hamper the pride of employees.

13)   Encourage training and self-improvement.

 

14)  Encourage everyone in the organization to work for transformation.