UMHS students please take note of the recent announcement by the NBME of the launch of NBME U, an online collection of lessons to aid your learning the range of topics in the basic sciences in preparation for the NBME shelf exams and USMLE Step 1 assessment.
Visit the NBME U learning
portal to enroll https://nbmeu.desire2learn.com.
Please check out too the great hard copy USMLE review and practice question resources on Reserve at the Anne Ross Library Desk.
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Labels: exam preparation, medical education, NBME, practice exams, practice questions, Step 1, USMLE
The MedEd Revolution: AMA Steps Up Focus on Information Literacy
Medical education, in it's current modern form (since the Flexner Report of 1910) seems ripe for change if the response rate to a recent AMA program initiative is any indication. The American Medical Association recently developed a proposal outlining a number of key trans-formative changes they would like to see in the way physicians are educated. The response from US medical schools was in their words "overwhelming".
"The reason the AMA emphasizes “accelerating” change is that incremental changes aren’t enough to ensure that future doctors get the training they need in a world in which rapid business, population and technological changes have made being a doctor a much more dynamic profession. These have to be systemic changes, as bold and far-reaching in our time as they were in the wake of the Flexner report."
Click to read the full report (posted March 18, 2013): Medical schools signal readiness for revolution
In my role as Library Director at UMHS, a top tear Caribbean medical school, I habitually stress to our faculty and students the importance of that fundamental element for success as an 'evidence-based' medical practitioner, the ability to find the current best evidence. To determine the best diagnosis and course of treatment for the best clinical outcomes, medical students must learn how to locate the best, most up-to-date, credible medical evidence to support their case. This requires a fairly sophisticated level of skill in information searching, along with knowledge of the credible medical literature, the databases that contain it, as well as an understanding of the structure and functioning of the online environment.
I commend the AMA for recognizing the fact that mature information seeking behavior needs to be acquired by medical students, and for stepping up the focus on the importance of acquiring the concepts involved. Now the onus is on medical schools to include throughout their curriculum, embedded or otherwise, adequate instruction and ongoing reinforcement of information searching skills.
" The proposals reflect a changing health care delivery system transformed by technology so that the skill of finding and applying information is as important — or more so — than memorizing it."
You may be thinking, "Isn't Generation Y completely computer savvy already?" In fact the answer is no, for the most part they aren't. I can say this confidently because of another report finding, also recently released, called the JISC Digital Information Seeker Report. This report demonstrates what my gut has told me all along, that the crucial factor in student's information seeking behavior is convenience! What does this lead to? The report's initial results indicate that
"...as users progress through the educational stages, the digital literacies they employ do not necessarily become more sophisticated." "...findings indicate the students use smart phones and laptop computers to access Wikipedia, Google, teachers or professors, friends and peers to get information for their academic studies."
Click to read the full report (posted March 20, 2013): JISC Digital Information Seeker Report
Google is great for KISS ('
keep it simple searching') and
'needle-in-a-haystack' type searches, however when it comes to a medical diagnosis the
best, most accurate information is
required! An interesting
BMJ research article by
Hangwi Tang and
Jennifer Hwee Kwoon Ng, called
"Googling for a diagnosis - use of Google as a diagnostic aid: internet based study.", found that Google yielded a correct diagnosis
58% of the time (based on one year's worth of diagnostic case records published in the
New England Journal of Medicine). Not an accuracy rate that would inspire patient confidence!
If the anticipated MedEd revolution unfolds as the AMA is indicating, it is my hope that medical schools will recognize the expertise already in their midst and turn to their 'Information Professionals" ~ the
medical librarians! I will rest my case with the age-old words of wisdom penned by Samuel Johnson...
“Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find the information.”
Labels: AMA, information literacy, information search techniques, medical education, searching skills
The Cochrane Collaboration has relaunched their new and improved blog called
Evidently Cochrane! After blogging about over 200 Cochrane reviews during the last eighteen months, the blog has proven very popular gaining a wide and growing audience. I think you will agree that the engaging and colorful format draws you in, in a manner similar to
Pintrest!
But what are Cochrane reviews?
"Cochrane Reviews are systematic reviews of primary research in human health care and health policy, and are internationally recognized as the highest standard in evidence-based health care. They investigate the effects of interventions for prevention, treatment and rehabilitation. They also assess the accuracy of a diagnostic test for a given condition in a specific patient group and setting. They are
published online in The Cochrane Library."
Here are UMHS in St. Kitts we have access to The Cochrane Library through the
Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the
Cochrane Virtual Health Library (VHL).
Learn more about
Evidently Cochrane: Sharing Health Evidence You Can Trust by clicking on the embedded link and enjoy the blog!
Learn more about Cochrane and systematic reviews by trying out these
learning modules which illustrate real life dementia research examples.
Labels: blogs, Cochrane Collaboration, Cochrane Library, Cochrane Systematic Reviews, evidence-based medicine, medical blog, systematic reviews
