Framing sustainable development through descriptive determinants in private hospitals - Orientation and organization.

PURPOSE: To frame the sustainable development in private hospitals, based on descriptive determinants of orientation and organization from the past to the present. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: Based on an inductive approach, judgmental sampling was used to target relevant health care organizations. Informants were assessed according to their knowledge of their organizations' sustainability initiatives. FINDINGS: Report the main determinants of orientation and organization revealed in relation to the hospitals' past and present sustainability initiatives, providing a foundation for describing their sustainable development. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS: Reveals a selection of descriptive determinants of sustainable development in private hospitals, all of which offers a basis for assessing whether the evolution of organizational sustainability initiatives is major, minor or non-existent. MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS: The sustainability orientation has changed from value-based initiatives to business-based ones. It has also resulted in the orientation changing from environmental initiatives to social ones, as well as a change from reactive initiatives to proactive ones. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: Contributes to framing sustainable development through descriptive determinants in private healthcare organizations. It also divides these determinants into two categories, namely the orientation and organization of sustainability initiatives.

Microbial diversity on commercial eggs as affected by the production system. A first approach using PGM.

A novel DNA-based technique (PGM) has been employed for first time to analyse commercial eggs with the advantage of allowing an exhaustive identification of the microbiota present. Eggs from two different production systems, i.e. a free range system and a cage system, were analysed. Twenty-one and twenty-two phyla were identified on the surface of cage system and free range system eggs, respectively. In both cases, Firmicutes was the dominant phylum (representing around 50% of total phyla), being found families frequently reported to be present in the intestinal microbiota of chickens or hens, such as Clostridiaceae, Ruminococcaceae and Lachnospiraceae. Additionally, other phyla and families not previously described in association with eggshells could also be identified in this work. Most of the potential pathogenic genera associated with eggs (Salmonella, Clostridium, Helicobacter, Pseudomonas and Staphylococcus) showed higher incidence in eggs coming from cage systems than in eggs coming from free range systems, although the abundance of these genera were very low in both cases (<5% of total bacteria).