This honors thesis project focuses upon the PEMS EMPRA program. The research question that the project seeks to answer is the following: what are the current recruiting, training, and quality control practices of the PEMS EMPRA program and how can these said practices be improved? The interest in this topic lies in providing an insightful, multi-faceted view of the day-to-day operations of a medical scribe program. The main goals of this project are to give a complete assessment of the present recruitment, training, and quality control practices of PEMS as well as provide insights and suggestions for improving the program as a whole.

Service corps and service-focused leadership programs are popular approaches for higher education institutions to prepare their students to become civically engaged future leaders. It is established that integrating diverse students into higher education produces better educational outcomes through active thinking and decision-making as well as introducing students to new perspectives. This study aims to evaluate how effective recruitment practices in Arizona State University’s Next Generation Service Corps (NGSC) are at attracting diverse students. By reviewing the current literature on recruiting diverse candidates, best practices can be established. Data was collected through interviews with NGSC staff on their current recruitment strategies and personal concepts of diversity. Data was also collected from the current students in the program to determine the common channels of recruitment and reasons for their application. There was a misalignment in staff reported recruitment strategy and how students reported finding out about the program. A misalignment in the recruitment strategy and application questions with NGSC staff’s desired traits for applicants was also found. With this in mind, this research provides staff with a full picture of the current state of their recruiting practices and identifies areas for improvement.

Much like neighboring nations, living in close proximity can often lead to conflict over limited resources for social insect colonies. As with warring nations, conflicts among insect societies can also result in one colony attempting to invade the other. Though emigrations are common and well understood in social insects, the process of emigration in the context of conflict is not known. During emigrations of the ant Temnothorax rugatulus, colonies first employ the use of scouts, who search for new nest locations. These scouts then recruit naïve workers to these nests resulting in a ‘voting’ process through which colonies can collectively choose the best nest site. Once the decision is made, the selected nest is rapidly populated by workers who physically carry the queen(s), brood, and remaining naïve ants to the new nest. Invasions occurring during inter-colony conflicts bear a striking resemblance to this process. The state of the final nest suggested merged colonies, and statistical models were used to test for the likelihood of this. Here we test whether colonies of T. rugatulus use the same mechanisms during invasions as those used in emigrations by observing conflicts between colonies of T. rugatulus ants and tracking instances of scouting and recruitment, transport and changes in populations in each nest. Our results support the predicted order of behaviors starting with scouting, followed by recruitment and transport last. In addition, presence of the quorum rule, which determines the switch from recruitment to transport, is confirmed. Furthermore, evidence showed that the colonies were merged at the time of transport. While ant emigration patterns are well understood, there is a gap in understanding conflict driven emigrations/invasions. Our results serve to better understand conflict in social insects by further understanding the mechanisms used during conflicts.