Check out this great new tool for quickly evaluating the quality of health information presented on a website, booklet, handout, etc. Put on your critical thinking caps and let the tool guide you painlessly through the process.
Health professionals and families alike, can use the tool to judge the quality of currently available educational materials and to assist in the creation of new quality educational materials. The aim of the lead developer of this toolbox, the
Genetic Alliance, was to provide assistance in determining information quality and completeness involving genetic conditions. Nonetheless, the principles are valid for all health and medicine topics.
Labels: assessment, cool tools, credibility of information, evaluation
Looking to upgrade your PDA or smart phone?Before you buy, click on the title to see the results of this recent study. Objective:To determine which design features of popular mobile devices are supportive of various nursing tasks. Device usability was determined via performance and user perceptions of the following five mobile devices:
◦Nokia N810
◦Blackberry Bold
◦Apple iPhone 3G
◦Palm Treo 680
◦HP iPAQ 210
Labels: evaluation, mobile devices, nursing tasks, PDA's, smart phones
The findings of a landmark randomized controlled trial which demonstrates the value and impact of the medical librarian has just been published!
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BACKGROUND: The "Just-in-time Information" (JIT) librarian consultation service was designed to provide rapid information to answer primary care clinical questions during patient hours. This study evaluated whether information provided by librarians to answer clinical questions positively impacted time, decision-making, cost savings and satisfaction...
CONCLUSIONS: In this study, providing timely information to clinical questions had a highly positive impact on decision-making and a high approval rating from participants. Using a librarian to respond to clinical questions may allow primary care professionals to have more time in their day, thus potentially increasing patient access to care. Such services may reduce costs through decreasing the need for referrals, further tests, and other courses of action."
McGowan J, Hogg W, Campbell C, Rowan M. Just-in-time information improved decision-making in primary care: a randomized controlled trial. PLoS ONE. 2008;3(11):e3785. Epub 2008 Nov 21.PMID: 19023446 [open source]. Labels: clinical care, evaluation, evidence-based medicine, health care costs, hospital librarian, hospital library, hospital services, impact of librarian, medical librarian, RCT
