Assessments in a care environment Essay Example for Free

Assessments in a care environment Essay Although there are many hazards that could be potential risks in the food environment in a hospital, there are a few which have the highest risk of  occurring and could then cause the most harm to both the service users and service providers. Whilst preparing and cutting vegetables, there is a risk that someone could cut themselves with a sharp knife or cutting equipment. Although the likelihood of this happening could be quite high when there is a lack of training involved, the severity of the injury or damage to health would be quite low considering many injuries that occur this way would be easily seen to and treated by the first aider or the person in charge. However, to prevent this risk occurring at all, all staff should be supplied with the appropriate equipment they should use and training so they are aware of how to handle the equipment in the right manor. A low level of sanitation in a food environment could cause there to be a wider and much quicker spread of bacteria through the food and surfaces which could prove to be harmful, especially in a hospital environment. Due to health and safety regulations being followed by all caring establishments, the likelihood of this happening would be a 2. However if there weren’t regulations being followed by the hospital and this was to occur then the severity could potentially be a 4/5 as the spread of bacteria in a hospital setting would be made worse when considering the weaker people in the hospital and those whose immune systems wouldn’t be able to fight off bad bacteria as well as other and could get sick or their condition could worsen if they already are sick. To prevent this all supervisors should ensure legislations, policies and procedures are being followed at all times to ensure maximum sanitation and cleanliness. Due to the wide variety of people consuming the food in the hospital, it would be vital to take into consideration allergies some people may have and to ensure they are not given food that contains or has been made in the same area as the food they are allergic to. Although the likelihood of this happening is just a 3 due to the fact all staff should adhere to procedures and take into consideration peoples allergies anyway, the severity of this if it occurs could be a 4/5 due to the fact allergic reactions could potentially severe and some cases could even lead to death. To ensure all precautions are taken with these activities and to minimise the risks which could occur from the hazards there are many things that can be done or put into place and thus prevent patients, staff or visitors from  harm. Firstly, to prevent somebody cutting themselves while they are preparing food they should be given training before hand to ensure they are aware of how to use the equipment appropriately and make sure they know which piece of equipment is the most appropriate for the type of food they are preparing. Under the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) policy it states that all employers have duties concerning the provisions and use of PPE at work and should provide safety training to ensure no members of staff come to any harm (hse.gov.uk, 2015). To prevent the spread of bacteria and ensure the safety of everyone who is to consume the food available, all staff should also be given training on the appropriate ways and places to store food at the right temperatures to ensure the risk of bacteria growth is minimised. Managers of businesses or areas dealing with food have a duty to ensure all food is safe to eat, all harmful or out of date food is removed and unable to be consumed and records should be kept of where the food was bought from to provide evidence if needed. This emphasises the importance of how the Food safety act 1990 should be put into place to ensure the employers and employees stick to their duties to ensure maximum safety for service users. Also hand sanitiser should be provided and available around the hospital including the kitchen to prevent cross contamination that way (legislation.gov.uk, 2015). Finally, to ensure the safety of patients and minimise the risk of something fatal happening to them, all allergies they have to foods should be recorded down and available to all kitchen staff who will be preparing food. These records should be checked regularly and all food should be prepared on separate work surfaces or chopping boards to reduce the risk of cross contamination and any allergic reactions occurring. Physical exercise class Although many form of exercise and physical movement for many patients would be greatly beneficial to their health and wellbeing, it could also prove to provide more harm to health than good if precautions are not taken. Spilt water on the floor where someone may be exercising could prove to be harmful and cause damage to their health if it isn’t seen and cleaned up by someone. Although there is just a likelihood of just 2, the severity could potentially be 3 as an injury to someone in a hospital who could be elderly  could be fatal and cause serious damage to their weak bones and skin. To minimise to risk you could put control measures into place including not allowing any food or drink to be consumed in the exercise area and to have a separate room for them to be stored. Too much exercise for some patients could over work them and cause an injury to their health if it is repeated. Exercise can cause a vast increase in both heart rate and blood pressure and could lead to ma ny serious problems if an elderly patient is doing too much. The likelihood of this causing harm to patients is 1 as both patients and staff should be aware of when too much exercise is being done and if they’re working too hard. However, if this was to occur, the severity would be 5 as weaker elderly patients could suffer from a heart attack or stroke over time if they aren’t being monitored on what exercise they’re doing and the effect it is having on their health. To control this all service providers involved in the physical activities and wellbeing of the patients should know and keep records of any conditions the patients may have which could lead to adverse effects or weaken them. All patient files should have records of what exercise patients have done to ensure they do enough to stay health but not too much that they cause themselves harm or injury. There should also be multiple members of staff observing exercise sessions to keep an eye on those more likely to over work themselves. If patients are showed how to warm up and down properly then they could injure themselves more then what they would if they warmed up. Also, if the exercise is too harsh and causes patients to have to put a lot of effort in just to complete tasks then the severity should be decreased to allow them better health. This would also help prevent a majority of excess aches and pains that would come from treating their body too harshly. Because of possible high severity of an incident is water was spilt during an exercise class, precautions should be put into place to minimise this risk and decrease the likelihood of it ever happening and injuring a patient. If drinks are restricted to one particular area or room away from where the exercise is taking place then there would be a decrease in the risk of anything being spilt in certain areas. Also if patients doing the exercise were given regular breaks to have a drink and a rest they would prevent spillages as well as prevent any pains occurring by doing too much exercise.  Secondly, the amount of exercise each individual patient is able to do would be subjective on the individual and therefore not all the patients should be forced into doing as much as others may do if they are less capable. Each patients amount of exercise should be monitored and recorded to ensure they get the right amount but are not getting too much. Also by monitoring them it would be easier to identify if any of the patients are struggling with any of the exercise methods or are in too much pain to carry on. This also applies to the third point made. The patients shouldn’t be doing exercise which is too harsh for them to carry out or if they don’t completely understand what they are doing because they could do it wrong and injure themselves severely. By allowing them to warm up and down before and after they carry out exercises and by showing them how to carry it out appropriately would lower the risk of injury and allow them to enjoy it instead of being in pain. Visiting Times Visiting hours are the busiest times in a hospital and so could potentially have many hazards involved in allowing people in and out of the hospital without appropriate precautions taken. Poor sanitation from new visitors could potentially be a big problem in a hospital as bacteria will be being bought into the wards and could enhance the spread of infections or diseases. Due to the fact a hospital has a wide variety of patients including elderly and those who have recently had surgery (meaning they may also have open wounds) the spread of bacteria could be hazardous to their health and the healing process of their injuries/wounds. The Likelihood of this happening would be 2 which is significantly low considering the change of law in 1995 which ‘provided specific recommendations to promote improved hand-hygiene practices and reduce transmission of pathogenic microorganisms to patients and personnel in health-care settings’ (Cdn.gov,2014). However the severity of a lack of sanitation would potentially be a 4/5 as the spread of bacteria and therefore infections and diseases could be harmful to people’s health and if unable to fight it off, it could possibly even shut down some peoples immune systems. To minimise the risks of this there should be hand sanitizer and hand was stations placed all around the hospital with signs so the visitors remember to clean their hands and kill off unwanted  bacteria. Security is a vital party of a hospital to ensure the safety of everyone in the building. Without a high level of security around the hospital anyone would have access into and out of the building that may not be authorised. This could mean unwanted visitors may come in and read documents they are unauthorised to, or even confused elderly patients may get out without realising it and end up injuring themselves outside without anyone there to help. This hazard would have a likelihood of 1 and a severity of a potential 4/5 because, although it is very unlikely to happen in a hospital, if a patient were to get out they could get themselves into all sorts of trouble and not realise the danger of traffic outside causing fatal injuries or maybe even death. CCTV should be in place to monitor people in the hospital and all wards should be locked so only authorised people are able to enter and exit. Damage to property could occur during visiting hours as the hospital will be crowded with a variety of people, patients and staff which could cause some things to be damaged or broken, especially when there are a large number of visitors at one time. Although this would not directly affect the health of service users or service providers, it is a hazard to the hospital and would cost a lot of money in repairs each year if there are no control measures in place. CCTV would help monitor any damage that would occur and the person behind the damage; however there should also be signs around the hospital reminding visitors to stay orderly and respectful at all times on the wards and around the building. Due to the fact that so many different people will be entering and leaving the hospital, they could be carrying many different types of bacteria into the hospital which could cause a higher risk of the spread of infection. By providing hand sanitiser and making it widely available around the hospital and wards, all visitors and people who enter the hospital will be able to reduce the amount of bacteria they are bringing in and reduce the risk of infection. There is a hand hygiene policy which should be put into place in the hospital to ensure the safety of patients and visitors. It is well known that hand hygiene is one of the most important factors in preventing the spread of infection and the unwashed hands of all healthcare professionals and visitors is the most important route of cross-infection in the  healthcare environment (Ayliffe at al, 2000). Secondly, there should be an appropriate amount of security in and around the hospital to ensure only authorised people are getting in and out of the building. CCTV cameras should be working and placed all around the building and there should be security systems put in places at all of the entrances and exits to ensure the risk of unwanted visitors or patients getting out is minimised. This would also lower the risk of any property being damaged and if it does occur it would allow the staff to look back over the footage and identify who was at fault for any damages that occur. Although the likelihood of these occurring is predictably low, it would decrease the severity of incidents which occur as it would allow people to be identified and things could be managed before they get out of hand. Dispensing of medicines Prescribing and dispensing medicine is a vital role in hospitals to ensure all patients get the medication they need to help them recover, however there could be many possible hazards involved with dispensing medicines that could cause harm to patients and their health. Prescribing patients with the wrong dosage of medication is a possible hazard as it could lead to the patient having an overdose or having serious health problems afterwards. Although the likelihood is low the severity if this does occur is high as the health effects would be very negative and put patients health into a decline. To prevent this all patients records should be checked beforehand to ensure they are being prescribed the right amount, also the medication should be double checked before being handed to the patient to ensure no mistakes have been made. If medication is left on the side it could be consumed by someone who doesn’t need it, by a visitor not knowing what it is or even by a child who mista kes them for sweets. This could cause great harm as someone who takes them could overdose and it would have negative effects on their health if taken in large quantities, especially to a child. All medication should be locked away in a cupboard or be handled/observed by a nurse or doctor at all times to ensure no one can take them when they don’t need to or accidently. Needles could be a hazard in a hospital if not used correctly or if a nurse slips while holding one. If found left lying around someone could use one and pierce their skin injecting themselves with  something they don’t know about, or even risking infection by finding a dirty needle and using that. Also if a nurse slips whilst holding on they could injure themselves or the patient by accidently stabbing the skin. This isn’t very likely to happen as all nurses should be provided the appropriate training on how to handle needles and dangerous equipment so they don’t make a mistake. Also, all needles should be di sposed of immediately after use so they cannot be used again and cause cross-contamination. The severity for all hazards which could occur for dispensing medicines are all high and so to reduce the risk of anything serious happening or anyone being injured, policies and procedures must be put into place to ensure people’s safety in the hospital. All patient records must be checked before they are prescribed with a medicine to ensure they are provided with the right type of medicine and the right dosage. If this is done wrong it could potentially eventually lead to death for an unfortunate patient and so the dispensing of medicines policy should be put into place. The policy states that all medication should be stored, administered and disposed of appropriately to ensure minimum harm and training must be given to staff to make sure they understand how vital and critical their role could be (oxfordshireccg.nhs, 2013). All medication must be locked away and not left lying around the hospital to ensure only the appropriate staff members who have had training are able to access it and no children or vulnerable people are able to pick it up off the side and take medication which could make them sick. Finally, it is evident that needles are dangerous pieces of equipment if mishandled or in the wrong hands and so the dispensing of medicines policy should be ensured and put into place because of this fact also. All used and unwanted needles should be disposed of immediately instead of being left lying around and all staff should have training before they start in their role to ensure they know how to handle a needle and to make sure they don’t injure themselves or anyone else with one (goshospital, 2015). Moving patients between wards Naturally there would be many risks involved with carrying out this activity as there are a lot of precautions that would needed to be adhered to to make  it successful. There could also be many complications to consider if you were moving an elderly, weak or disorientated patient. The likelihood of any of the hazards occurring is low due to training the staff have and regulations they follow to ensure safety. Using the appropriate equipment is vital when moving a patient between wards as it would assist to lift and transport the patient without causing any harm to the health of either the patient or the member of staff. If a nurse is moving a patient on their own without a hoist or any help, they could injure their back by not lifting properly or injure the patient if they’re lifted in the wrong way. According to the manual handling regulations 1992 all staff should be provided with PPE and training on how to carry out tasks like these to avoid injuries or harm. The likelihood of any harm occurring is low if the regulation is followed however the severity could be 3 as the damage it could cause may need special attention. Dropping patients would be a risk if they are heavy or awkward to lift between one place to another. The severity of this if it happens would be quite high depending on the state of the patient, especially if the patient being moved is elderly or fragile, they could easily break a bone or more damage would be caused if they are dropped. Busy corridors during visiting hours could cause complications when moving a patient as it would make it a lot harder. If some of the corridors or lifts are busy you would not be able to move the patient as quickly and efficiently as liked/needed. Also, if there are people milling about the corridors it would be easier for the patient to be knocked over or injured by accident. The severity of something happening while a patient is being moved between the hospital is on average 2.5 which could be severe in the wrong situations and so staff must be provided with the right equipment and training to prevent the risk of injury or the likelihood of anything happening. Under the personal protective equipment policy it states that all staff members should be provided with the correct equipment to carry out tasks to prevent injury to themselves and the other person involved (hse.gov.uk, 2015). This could include someone like a hoist to prevent injury to the staff members back and to ensure that the patient is being lifted properly. Although dropping a patient has a low likelihood and may not happen easily, if it  does it could be severely fatal to the patient and cause them a lot of injuries. The risk of this happening would also be minimised if the correct equipment was provided to ensure the staff member doesn’t assert strain on their back/ body and it ensure that there is enough power to lift the patient, especially if the member of staff isn’t very strong. Finally to make it easier to move patients it should be done when the hospital isn’t busy so there are no visitors mulling around and getting in the way. References Hse.gov.uk, (2015). Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). [online] Available at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/toolbox/ppe.htm [Accessed 15 Jan. 2015]. Gov.uk, (2015). Food safety your responsibilities GOV.UK. [online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/food-safety-your-responsibilities/food-safety [Accessed 15 Jan. 2015]. Legislation.gov.uk, (2015). Food Safety Act 1990. [online] Available at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/16/contents [Accessed 15 Jan. 2015]. Hospital, G. (2015). Sharps: disposal of used sharps Clinical guidelines Health professionals Great Ormond Street Hospital. [online] Gosh.nhs.uk. Available at: http://www.gosh.nhs.uk/health-professionals/clinical-guidelines/sharps-disposal-of-used-sharps/ [Accessed 15 Jan. 2015].

Boating Fun :: essays research papers

Boating fun beached by regulations, letter,June 26. The author of this letter asks, "Remember when boating was fun?" I would like to offer some insight to the person who wonders why he can no longer speed around our waters with reckless abandon. There are many reasons to monitor "boating fun." The ecological reasons are numerous; irresponsible operation of motorized watercraft degrades our natural systems. For example, reckless boaters destroy seagrass beds, oyster beds and mangroves, which are vital nursery and feeding grounds for not only fish and birds, but are also essential to the existence of manatees, dolphins and sea turtles. Mangroves are not only important to wildlife, but also to people. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection Web site says that unnecessary boat wakes are harmful to the mangroves and oyster beds that stabilize our shorelines and prevent erosion. Mangroves also filter and prevent pollution from entering our waterways. Ironically, wave action produced by boating "fun" may eventually erode and diminish the letter writer's own waterfront property and may call for additional spending on seawall maintenance! Lastly, if you are still wondering why authorities are trying to "take the fun out of boating," here are a few interesting facts from the 2004 Florida Boating Accident Statistical Report from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission: In 2004, the state of Florida registered a record-breaking 982,907 vessels. Consequently, boating fatalities increased by 6 percent over the previous year, with a reported 68 fatalities. Pinellas County reported the highest number of boating accident fatalities at seven deaths. Rental personal watercraft were involved in 43 percent of personal watercraft accidents statewide (but the author wonders why authorities pay close attention to these rented vessels). Finally, according to the report, "41 percent of reported accidents were primarily caused by either carelessness/inattention or violation of a navigation rule.

Intellectual Capital

The competitive market and the rapid changes that occur almost dally require organization to stay abreast with learning and adaptation. The need to get the right personnel whether through recruiting or training is crucial in attaining the goals of an organization. The quest to assemble the necessary expertise needed in the various parts of the organization has become a daily strive for managers because of the demands of the consumer.According to Duncan (1 979), there are internal environmental components that need to be satisfied depending on a particular tutorial specification so as the output will conform to the necessary expectations. The composition of an organization remains critical to the realization of goals and achieving the expectations of stakeholders. In sustaining competitive advantage, the need to identify, enhance, and distribute the core competencies or the knowledge of an organization is critical (Passer & Rene, 2011).The knowledge or expertise needed to run an organ ization should be made available whether internally or by acquiring outside help. Internally, coaching, training and consistent supervision can transfer Information from one person to the next and that must be made as part of the business culture. The knowledge one attains through years of experience on the Job can be said to be invaluable, Xx (2013) shares that, human beings are endowed with different qualities and as such particular attention have to be paid to human resource especially in this knowledge-based economy.It is therefore imperative for organizations to develop mechanisms that will retain employees with knowledge that is Inherent. The knowledge and the skills of an individual or the collective brainpower f workers In an organization combined with the ability of the firm to create, collect, coordinate, retrieve, leverage, and collaborate forms the basis of Intellectual capital (Guppy & Sporadic, 2013). There can be diverse array of skills, expertise and knowledge across a given organization due to the differences in the type of work one is assigned to or the department an employee belongs.Employees have to meet set job requirements in order to be hired in the first place, however, the adjustments and adaptation of each person Is different and with time the level of knowledge fifers based on one's ablest. Definition of Intellectual Capital According to Stewart (1997), there are three forms of intellectual capital; the human capital comprises of skills, competencies, and abilities of individuals and groups.This type of capital relates directly with a person's knowledge or talent whether acquired on the Job or technical expertise from special training. The human capital therefore Is Inherent and organizations may not be able to claim ownership. An example of human capital is interpersonal skills, this may be listed as a core competence of a reticular position, but the degree of how each person exhibits may differ and as such there will be employees c onsidered as star performers when it comes to that.Transferring such capital is a task on its own sense it takes the consent as well as the ability to communicate effectively by the individual. Whereas human capital deals the company such as patents, copyrights, and trademarks, processes, methodologies, models, documents, computer networks and software (Steward, 1997). This can be said to be tangible knowledge and the organization can rely in the execution of their strategic plans. Customer capital deals with the value an organizations put on relationships with suppliers, allies, and customers (Steward, 1997).The image and reputation of organizations can be measured using relationships it has built over the years and the premium it places on customer service. Role In assessing intellectual capital, there is no one size fits all because organizations vary in their emphasis due to their past, the market, and their strategy to achieve their goals. The dynamics of the global economy wit h the rapid changes and advancement of technology makes intellectual capital an important factor for the success of an organization.Employing the different parts of an intellectual capital as a key system in an organization can function as the precursor to dealing with external changes that may impact the business. As stated above, the three parts of intellectual capital when managed can helped with issues from, employee training and that is utilizing the human component, building a strong culture through structural adherence and managing customer base and achieving the goals of the organization with the attendant profitability.Daisies (2013) in defining intellectual UAPITA stated that, organizations use the attributes of the intellectual capital as a resource to secure competitive advantage, and create Focusing on the intellectual capital of an organization can enhance the development of a competent workforce which has the capacity for action and creativity. So internally, this giv es the organization the area to invest more in terms of promotion or getting it to desired levels. Externally, the management of intellectual capital conforms to changes in market and the public perception of the image of organization (Daisies, 2013).There s therefore a significant value that can be assessed for an organization's intellectual capital which will correlate to the position and how investors make decision about the organization. The ability to have a quantitative value to intellectual capital as an asset drives the competitive advantage in the market place. Value Even though the term has been there for decades (since the sass's), the competitive global market brought about by the changes of the economic indicators from an agrarian to a knowledge or information based economy has made intellectual capital more relevant now than ever.According to Guppy and Sporadic (2013), the idea that the knowledge repository of an organization is the driving force behind its ability to survive, grow, and sustain its competitive advantage in the global marketplace has a long rich history. However, intellectual capital is now seen as key area where creativity, innovations are borne to sustain the competitiveness of the organization. Learning Organization The strategy of an organization to achieve its mission and goals depends on several factors.The direction of an organization to remain competitive given the market may all for an aspect of knowledge management that is intellectual capital. The use of intellectual implies the deployment of human resources, information technology, business strategy and employees participation in order to transfer the imperative experiences across the company (Be]inurn & larches, 2011). The onus is on recognize with distinct roles for such transfer to happen. The responsibility of facilitating this information sharing can be Herculean since it needs the buy in of the said individual and also the capability to teach others.Conclusion Th e dynamism of today's world such as high customer expectations, calls for organizations to stay abreast with changes in technology and evolution of new competitive ideas, with a workforce that has the skills and knowledge to adapt these changes. This concept of intellectual capital which promotes creativity and innovation is attractive to modern day organizations because of the value it brings in comparison to the competition. The saying that knowledge is power is indeed manifested with various mechanisms been put in place by organizations to enrich heir workforce to stay ahead of the game. Intellectual Capital The end of the 20th entry Is associated with the birth off new outlook on nature and science, that brings people a little closer to nature, a science that makes human intelligence and creatively an expression of a fundamental trend In the universe. Taking Into account this new perspective on the economy and on the society that Is based on knowledge, professor Quash from London School of Economics says that we live in a world that focuses on the economic value of intangible assets. This way, ideas worth billions, while the products still cost less.The society of the third millennium has employees who are valuable because of theirs knowledge. I n many of these companies, the value does not consist of tangible assets, but of the intangible ones. Intellectual capital is the combined intangible assets which enable the company to function effectively Judging from the information already provided, the essay focuses on the role of intellectual capital in the new economy. I chose this topic b ecause we are witnesses to the fact that the structure and dynamic processes of wealth generation are changing dramatically.In such an environment traditional methods are Inadequate, therefore I think that It Is Interesting but at the name time vital to find new methods. Not least what Is Important from my point of view is that people are regarded as the main resource in all sectors, which means 2. Definition of intellectual capital Since organizational knowledge is at the crux of sustainable competitive advantage, the burgeoning field of intellectual capital is an exciting area for both researchers and practitioners.Intellectual capital is conceptualized from numerous disciplines making the field a mosaic of perspectives. Accountants are interested in how to measure it on the balance sheet, information technologists want to codify it n systems, sociologists want to balance power with it, psychologists want to develop minds because of it, human resource managers want to calculate an ROI on it, and training and development officers want to make sure that they can build it .Intellectual capital is knowledge that can be exploited for some money-making or other useful purpose. The term combines the idea of the intellect or brain-power with the economic concept of capital, the saving of entitled benefits so that they can be invested in producing more goods and services.Intellectual capital can include he skills and knowledge that a company has developed about how to make its goods or services; individual employees or groups of employees whose knowledge is deemed critical to a company's continued success; and its aggregation of documents about processes, customers, research results, and other information that might have value for a competitor that is not common knowledge Some people mistake intellectual capital for nerds in a think-tank.Others confuse it with intellectual property (such as copyrights, patents and the like), which is actually merely a subset of intel lectual capital. To get a better sense of where the companies are heading to, we need to have a basic understanding of where they started and what forces are propelling change today. And then we need to keep our vision set on the path ahead. Although it has been around forever, intellectual capital was not identified as a key asset until a few years ago.In 1994, fortune carried several stories about intellectual capital (brainpower) based on pioneering efforts going on then in both the United States and Scandinavia. These articles helped generate awareness of intellectual capital in the mainstream of U. S. Business. Little by little several companies become interested on this topic and from all of them the representative is Canadians – the largest insurance company in Sweden – which, with the help of the first director of intellectual capital in the world, Life Dividends, developed a dynamic model and holistic reporting intellectual capital called Navigator.Under this model, intellectual capital was divided into human capital and structural capital as in the below diagram : The components of intellectual capital are defined as follows: ; Human Capital The stock of competences, knowledge and personality attributes embodied in the ability to perform labor so as to produce economic value. It is the attributes gained by a worker through education and experience . Many early economic theories refer to it simply as workforce, one of three factors of production, and consider it to be a fungible resource homogeneous and easily interchangeable.Other conceptions of labor dispense with these assumptions. ; Structural Capital: Knowledge means that remain in the organization when human capital is not taken into account. Is the knowledge that remains in the organization when people â€Å"go home†. The structural capital includes organizational capital and market capital. Unlike human capital, it may be subject to trade. ; Commercial Capital: It is the v alue resulting from the relations between the company and its customers. Organizational Capital: It includes the capacity of the organization under the form of hardware, software, databases, organizational structures, patents, trademarks and any other capacity of the organization that helps individuals sizing productivity by transmission and exchange of knowledge. ; Process Capital: It is represented by processes, activities and infrastructures used to create, exchange and transmission of knowledge that helps individuals sizing productivity of an organization. Innovative Capital This component of the intellectual capital reflects the ability of an organization and the current investments for business development: research and development, patents, trademarks. Between these components, the most important is represented by human capital. 4. Human Capital Basically, human capital is divided into educational capital (skills acquired by individuals in the training school, but outside it) and biological capital (physical abilities of individuals, summarized, usually by health condition).This type of capital caused difficulties because the experts did not know how to treat it: as an investment or cost. In general, it has been imposed the treatment of human capital as an investment because the abilities of human capital can be used practically any time, depending on the social and economic environment in which individuals can development (refresher courses or continuing education, for example) or maintain the capital stock (regular medical consultations, for example) . 5. Effects upon economyIn order to understand the effect the intellectual capital has upon economy let's take the example of an English relatively large company which was expected to raise some 2. Ban [pound sterling]. Although valued about six-times larger than Body Shop and significantly bigger than Dioxins (a British electrical retail giant), the company had no retail outlets, no factories, no physic al products and few staff. The business was altogether weightless. Its products could be reduced to a number of computer signals which could be flashed around the world for hundreds of millions of people to buy.It was a classic example of intellectual capital, an idea. Called Formula One, it was owned by Bernie Collections. The reason the idea was so valuable was that it regularly attracted about mm ABACI viewers worldwide. But intellectual capital is not only big ideas like Formula One. It is also millions of relatively small innovations which contribute to wealth and economic growth. Such capital will provide the future wealth of nations because international trade will increasingly be in intellectual capital.Alan Greenshank, chairman of the US Federal Reserve Board, recently pointed out that the weight of US output is now only little higher than it was a century ago but its value in real terms is 20 times higher. Although increased skills and a shift to service industries are par t of the story, much of the weightless portion of this trade can be defined as intellectual capital. Specialists sustain that future wealth creation and economic growth predominantly will depend on intellectual capital the generation of ideas which can be transformed into revenues..The element discussed is implicated in recent economic, managerial, technological, and sociological developments in a manner previously unknown and largely unforeseen. Whether these developments are viewed through the filter of the information society, the knowledge-based economy, the network society, or innovation, there is much to support the assertion that ICC is instrumental in the determination of enterprise value and national economic performance To suggest that prosperity no longer depends on building physical capital is not new.Indeed, much of the value of large knowledge-intensive corporations already stems from their patents – which are potential intellectual capital viewed as economic go ods. The importance of intellectual capital has been ender-emphasizes in business education. Once the necessary clarifications on the notion of intellectual capital have been made , it is necessary to emphasize the connection between it and the strategy of the organization. An important note is that the availability of some resources is vital to achieving the strategic goals of the organization.Briefly economists sustain that the strategy defines what kind of intellectual capital is required and the nature of intellectual capital defines successful directions of the strategy that the organization should take. Moreover it has to be mentioned that the advantage. This is why when it is released a strategy, it is important to know what valuable resources of intellectual capital are available, which are currently used, which are potential uses . 6.Uses of intellectual capital Intellectual capital is used: -to facilitate the formulation of strategy; -to assess strategy execution; -to assi st in formulating decisions for diversification or expansion of the company; -to be used as the basis for compensation; -to be communicated to external shareholders In conclusion properly managed, intellectual assets can reduce costs, place inventories with information, eliminate the need for expensive physical plant and improve corporate agility.

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