Business Law. In some organizations, training is a stand-alone function or department. In most organizations, however, training or human resource development is part of a larger human resource management department. Human resource management (HRM) can be defined as the effective selection and utilization of employees to best achieve the goals and strategies of the organization, as well as the goals and needs of employees. An important point to stress is that the responsibility for HRM is (or, at least, should be) shared by human resource specialists and line man-agement. How the HRM function is carried out varies from organization to organ-ization. Some organizations have a centralized HRM department with highly spe-cialized staff, but in other organizations, the HRM function is decentralized and conducted throughout the organization. The most comprehensive way to present the HRM function is to examine the activities carried out by a larger department, such as the HRM division headed by a vice president depicted in Figure 1-1. HRM can be divided into primary and sec-ondary functions. Primary functions are directly involved with obtaining, main-taining, and developing employees. Secondary functions either provide support for general management activities or are involved in determining or changing the structure of the organization. One of the primary components of an organization's structure is the authority del-egated to a manager or unit to make decisions and utilize resources. Line author-ity is given to managers and organizational units that are directly responsible for the production of goods and services. Staff authority is given to organizational units that advise and consult line units. Traditionally, HRM functional units, in-cluding HRD, have staff authority. In general, line authority supersedes staff au-thority in matters pertaining to the production of goods and services. For exam-ple, suppose several trainees miss training sessions because their supervisor assigned them to duties away from the job site.

Question 1 How should the body surface area be calculated when giving drugs for which doses are given per square metre of body surface area?

Question 2 Where can I find a reference table that shows drugs that can safely be prescribed and avoided during pregnancy and during lactation? Might this be included in the next edition of Kumar and Clark's Clinical Medicine?

Question 3 Where might I find a reference table showing paediatric drug doses?

Question 4 My question is concerned with the practical use of steroids. In inflammatory bowel disease, what doses are used and when is the dose reduced?

Question 5 What is the safe dosage/length of treatment for the drug dexmethasone so that its destructive effects are avoided?

Question 6 1. Please explain 'odds ratio' and 'risk ratio'. 2. What is meant by saying that diabetics have a 3.3 risk ratio of developing dementia?

Question 7 I'm a medical student from the Faculty of Medicine, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. I have a question about the management of aspirin poisoning. Is it reasonable to carry out a postalkaline diuresis in these patients?

Question 8 What is meant by intermediate syndrome in organophosphorus poisoning?

Question 9 What are the pulmonary manifestations of Pink's disease and how common are they relative to the usual cerebral, skin and renal effects?

Question 10 Is it necessary to administer antivenom to a person bitten by a snake 6 hours previously, presenting only with local leg swelling over the bitten site and so far no other systemic feature of poisoning?