11/3/2009
Active Learning Techniques: An Online Toolbox for Librarians

Bolt and Learn
BOLTs (Brief Online Learning Tutorials) are resources for you when you need more information or clarification and they are brief 3-5 minute animated chunks of information. Cover learning about seeking and evaluating information for evidence based nursing

8/25/2009
PubMed Search Strategies Blog
This blog has been created to share PubMed search strategies. Search strategies posted here are not perfect. They are posted in the hope that others will benefit from the work already put into their creation and/or will offer suggestions for improvements. Librarians who wish to post comments on this blog or who wish to become authors are invited to e-mail me (Cindy Schmidt, MD, MLS) . I'm not posting my unmc.edu e-mail address here, but it's easy to find on the web : - ).


8/17/2009
PRESS: Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies
The quality of health technology assessment (HTA) reports depends on many factors. One of these factors is the evidence base from which the HTA is derived. The evidence base is created by gathering information from many sources and performing literature searches. Performing a high quality search of information resources will ensure the accuracy and completeness of the evidence base used in HTA reports. Currently, no review exists to tell us what elements of the search process have the most impact on the overall quality of the resulting evidence base....

Managing evidence-based knowledge: the need for reliable, relevant and readable resources.
Sharon Straus, MD and R. Bryan Haynes, MD. CMAJ 180(9):942-5. 28 April 2009.

Students' PEARLS: successfully incorporating evidence-based medicine in medical students' clinical attachments.
Teaching evidence-based medicine (EBM) to medical students can be tough, and even the most enthusiastic champions of EBM concede that many (most?) medical students emerge unconvinced of EBM's value. Some students “just don't get it”; others see EBM as idealistic, impractical, and unable to overcome the barriers of limited time, evidence, and generalizability. Students want quick and simple answers to myriad questions, which are often more complicated than they seem. But EBM and its teaching were initially devised for qualified doctors who were already accustomed to the subtleties and vagaries of clinical practice; answers are rarely quick or simple. ACP Journal Club. 150(4):JC4-2, 21 April 2009. More information at: http://www.medfac.usyd.edu.au/showcase/ebm/pearls/index.php


7/31/2009
Clinical Search Tool from Lane Library at Stanford University.
This is in beta test but looks very promising. Lauren A Maggio has been working at Lane Library with their programmers to create a new clinical search tool that focuses on EBM and PICO. She actually had a poster on this at MLA and now it’s finally ready for beta launch. Don’t Go It Alone: Librarians Collaborating with Health Care Practitioners to Develop a Portal Optimized for Use in Clinical Practice Lauren Maggio, AHIP, Medical Education Librarian; Ryan Max Steinberg, Knowledge Integration Programmer/Architect; Richard Zwies, Web Production Specialist; Olya Gary, Media Developer; Christopher Stave, Information Services Librarian; Marilyn L. Tinsley, Information Services Librarian; Sandra Brekke, Director, Access Services; Heidi Heilemann, AHIP, Director; Keith Posley, Chief Clinical Informationist; Lane Library, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA Objective: In 2008, librarians at an academic medical center initiated the redesign of the library’s online clinical portal, which was designed to provide health care professionals quick access to clinical information. This project seeks to highlight the librarians’ efforts to collaborate with a broad range of health care practitioners to redesign this clinical portal. Methods: In 2007, the clinical portal was viewed by 28,479 users. Although heavily used, the clinical portal, which had not been significantly updated since 2006, required upgrading to better support evidence-based practice (EBP). In preparation for redesign, librarians collaborated with a group of health care professionals, including an EBP expert, to leverage clinical expertise in designing a survey to better understand portal usage and to identify key information resources, especially those supporting EBP. The jointly created survey was distributed to medical center affiliates, and with the help of the initial health care professional team, the collected data were analyzed and applied to upgrading the clinical portal. Following the introduction of the upgraded portal, librarians collected usage data over a 2-month period in 2009 for comparison with usage data collected in the same period in 2008 to determine any increased portal use.



7/16/2009
Comparative Effectiveness Research
Clinical research presents health care providers with information on the natural history and clinical presentations of disease as well as diagnostic and treatment options. Consumers, patients, and caregivers also require this information to decide how to evaluate and treat their conditions. All too often, the information necessary to inform these medical decisions is incomplete or unavailable, resulting in more than half of the treatments delivered today lacking clear evidence of effectiveness. Comparative effectiveness research (CER) identifies what works best for which patients under what circumstances. More information from the Institutes of Medicine More information from Health and Human Services



6/09/2009
Information Mastery: A Practical Approach to Evidence-Based Medicine
Tufts Health Care Institute, in conjunction with Tufts University School
of Medicine, is hosting the 13^th annual conference, "Information
Mastery: A Practical Approach to Evidence-Based Medicine." The
conference will be held on November 12 and 13, 2009 at Tufts School of
Medicine in Boston, Mass. with an advanced course offered for faculty
and teachers on November 14.

5/08/2009
Understanding Evidence-based Healthcare: A Foundation for Action
This web course has been created by the United States Cochrane Center as part of a project undertaken by Consumers United for Evidence-based Healthcare (CUE), and is designed to help consumer advocates understand the fundamentals of evidence-based healthcare concepts and skills. Registration is open and free of charge. Participants are encouraged to finish the course in three months. We recommend that participants complete only 1-2 modules at a time. Participants must commit to filling out evaluation forms upon completion of each module.


5/06/2009
Managing evidence-based knowledge: the need for reliable, relevant and readable resources.
Straus S, Haynes RB. CMAJ. 2009 Apr 28;180(9):942-5.
PMID: 19398741



4/25/2009
Nice example of a search strategy for teaching
I am teaching an online course on health and medical libraries to Langara Library Technicians this term. I plan to post my searches given the four reference questions we examined in class. (Dean Guistini)


4/17/2009
AHRQ's WebN&M: Morbidty & Mortality Rounds on the Web
Good resource for cases and scenarios to use in teaching. They provide a scenario, commentary and a list of references.



3/11/2009
Find it Fast
From the Yale Medical Library. The primary goal of this series of 10 tutorials is "find it fast". This episode concludes this series and is a recap of the key messages in these tutorials.


2/25/2009
Web 2.0, Twitter and EBM
follow the Cochrane Collaboration on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/cochranecollab
@medicalstudent is designing an app to run PubMed searches through Twitter, see http://www.medicalstudentblog.co.uk/pubmed-comes-to-twitter-beta/


2/19/2009
Online course in Biomedical Statistics (free)
Series of web-based modules by Stephen Simon From Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. Nice overview of relevant topics.


2/12/2009
Search Filters
Search filters are collections of search terms designed to retrieve selections of records. Search filters may be designed to retrieve records of research using a specific study design or by topic or by some other feature of the research question. Very extensive collection of filters.


1/15/2009
Top Ten Medical Stories for 2008
This year marked a number of important medical advances and intriguing health news. To help narrow the large list, ABCNews.com reached out to the top medical centers and doctors in a wide range of fields.Below is ABCNews.com's list of the Top 10 medical stories of 2008, deemed most important by doctors and found most interesting by readers. This is a good source for search examples.


12/23/2008
Study Design
Don't forget Wikipedia as a source for information. This site provides a nice explanation of study design with examples.



12/17/2008
Evidence-Based Practice in the Health Science- Tutorials. Welcome to the Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) tutorials developed by the Information Services Department of the Library of the Health Sciences-Chicago at the University of Illinois at Chicago.The tutorials are tailored to five health sciences disciplines: Applied Health, Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy. Each tutorial consists of five instructional modules:

• Introduction to Evidence-Based Practice
• Structure of literature
• Research design
• Searching the literature
• Evaluating the quality of research

11/21/2008
Evidence Based Medicine
The Hayward Medical Communications group has developed this very useful set of web-based resources for medical professionals and others who might be
interested in learning about the world of evidence based medicine (EBM). First-time visitors can click on over to one of the three primary sections on the left-hand side of the homepage: "What is…?", "Gavel", and "Clinical issues in HIV/AIDS". The "What is…?" area is a good place to start, as it contains over two dozen documents that answer important questions like "What is critical appraisal?", "What is clinical audit?", and "What is quality of life?", to name only a few. All of these documents explain basic EBM-related questions in clear and accessible prose. Moving on, the "Clinical issues in HIV/AIDS" area contains links to this particular bulletin, which features
practical, up-to-date, and cogent research by key figures working in the field.



11/12/2008
The Bedford Murder: an evidence-based clinical mystery. Marshall Godwin, M.D. and Geoffrey Hodgetts, M.D. 2003.
As a family physician in the town of Bedford, you see a lot of interesting clinical cases, especially among the influential Savoy and Sampson families. When Nick Sampson disappears and a body turns up with connections to Nick, you are drawn into the case. As you are challenged to use an evidence-based approach in managing the wide variety of clinical cases you encounter in Bedford, the cases in turn provide evidence for solving the murder mystery. At once a thrilling, interactive mystery novel and a wonderful guide for incorporating evidence-based medicine into practice, The Bedford Murder is unlike any book you will ever read. A great source for good clinical questions for teaching. There are 43 clinical questions from case scenarios that follow the characters in the book. Each question is answered with a study that has it's own CAT. A great resource for EBM teachers looking for good examples.

Evidence Based Medicine in Sherlock Holmes Footsteps. Jorgen Nordenstrom. 2007
“This is the best book I’ve ever read regarding how to do EBM – it teaches you how to do powerful, effective searches for medical literature and how to review the evidence. All that you know you should be learning about EBM but previously found it difficult to start – they're spelled out clearly in this tiny beautiful book. The book’s layout was very clear, and I found myself looking forward to reading it as I practised the steps myself and found almost immediate improvement in my EBM skills.” Medical student, Edinburgh University Clear concise explanations of the principles of evidence based medicine and critical appraisal.



9/9/2008
Awakening the Searcher Within
Are you a new Medline searcher or do you feel that you've forgotten some of those tips you learned about searching Medline when you took the class years ago? Join us for this distance learning seminar. There will be a bi-weekly web session to help you get, or remember, tips and tricks for becoming, or remaining, an expert searcher.
The recorded sessions are archived on this page. From Pacific Northwest Region/NNLM.

8/26/2008
EB Nursing
Added a new page just for Nursing. Over the coming weeks we will add more resources to this page.

8/6/2008
Evaluation of a workshop on evidence-based medicine for social insurance physiciansEvidence-based medicine (EBM), a comprehensive method to support clinical decision making by using evidence, has been instrumental in clinical specialties but not yet in insurance medicine. Aims We developed and evaluated a workshop on EBM for Dutch social insurance physicians who perform disability evaluations.
Conclusions The workshop improved self-assessed EBM skills and self-efficacy both in the short and long term. The workshop also resulted in limited short-term improvements in self-assessed knowledge and in the intention to apply EBM in practice. The EBM approach can be successfully taught to social insurance physicians working in the field of disability evaluation.

8/1/2008
Database of Uncertainties about the Effects of Treatments (DUETs): A resource to help prioritise new research
The Database of Uncertainties about the Effects of Treatments (DUETs) has been established in the UK to publish uncertainties that cannot currently be answered by referring to reliable up-to-date systematic reviews of existing research evidence. Systematic reviews are based on worldwide searches for reliable, relevant evidence, analysed using methods to reduce biases and the play of chance. More detailed information about systematic reviews and fair tests of the effects of medical treatments is available in the James Lind Library.


7-22-2008
Evidence-Paced Tutorial for Nurses
This online tutorial was created at Penn State Hershey Medical Center to promote consistent use of evidence based practices in the delivery of nursing care. The tutorial will show the steps in conducting EBP.


7-2-2008
AHRG WebM&M
AHRQ WebM&M (Morbidity and Mortality Rounds on the Web) is the online journal and forum on patient safety and health care quality. This site features expert analysis of medical errors reported anonymously by our readers, interactive learning modules on patient safety ("Spotlight Cases"), and Perspectives on Safety. Good resource for finding cases for teaching Medline, EBM, etc.



6-16-2008
Video Teaching Tips from the Journal of General Internal Medicine

• Making sense of diagnostic test results using Likelihood Ratios
• Adjusting for prognostic imbalances
• Understanding odds ratios

5-28-2008
Teaching EBM 101
Teaching Evidence-based medicine, which will be taught at the New York Academy of Medicine August 13-15, 2008 has openings for librarian students. This is an intensive class, in which librarians will work with physicians and other librarians to perfect their ability to teach EBM. For more information on the class, please visit: http://ebem.org/brochure.html. Note: Librarian tuition is the same as Resident tuition. Questions? Contact Patricia Gallagher (pgallagher@nyam.org)


5-23-2008
The 10th Rocky Mountain Workshop on How to Practice Evidence-Based Health Care will be July 27–31, 2008 at the Zermatt Resort & Spa, Midway, Utah (USA). The goal of this workshop is to make accessible to participants the skills and resources needed to translate research into practice. Continuing education credits and a 3:1 participant-to-tutor ratio are some of the highlights of this workshop, along with an exemplary faculty. Early registration ends May 31.
More information on the workshop and a list of faculty can be found at the web site http://ebhc.uchsc.edu, or by contacting Jen McIntyre Stachelski at jennifer.mcintyre@uchsc.edu. EBHC Workshop Coordinator Office: 303-724-7550



5-06-2008
EBCP Workshop at McMaster University
This page has been added to help support the librarians working with small groups at the McMaster EBCP Workshop. Librarians can post and share their teaching materials and experiences at the workshop.


4-09-2008
FREE online course on evidence-based health care
The US Cochrane Center is now offering an online course on evidence-based health care; the focus is on skills and knowledge for
consumer advocates, but the content is useful for anyone seeking new or re-newed competencies in evidence-based medicine.

The expectation is that the course be completed within three months of registration, and that evaluations will be completed. Course
registration is at www.cochrane.us; more complete information, including contents of each
module and course objectives, is at http://apps1.jhsph.edu/cochrane/CUEwebcourse.htm


3-17-2008
Awakening the Searcher within
Are you a new MEDLINE searcher or do you feel that you’ve forgotten some of those tips you learned about searching MEDLINE when you took the class years ago? Join us for this exciting distance learning seminar. The seven one-hour bi-weekly web sessions will help you get, or remember, tips and tricks for becoming, or remaining, an expert searcher. You will receive two questions for each session and have 2 weeks to work on the search. Then there will be a live web session where these searches will be discussed.
Andrew Hamilton and Dolores Judkins from the OHSU Library will facilitate the discussion, but remember, everyone searches differently, so you can be sure you’ll pick up some tips from everyone involved in the session.

New "Search Challenge" to practice and improve your searching skills from Vanderbilt University.
Interested in getting more "in-depth" into the process of designing a search strategy for patron questions - what terms are useful for a topic, what terms aren't, what databases and other resources are necessary to make sure you've identified as much as possible, etc? To this end, we're going to start posting a "search challenge" question each Monday. We encourage you to post your ideas and questions in the comments or to us by email (using our profile links above). You can also feel free to "reference interview" us by posting questions for clarification or more detail as needed. Then, each Friday we'll post a search strategy and other thoughts on that question. We hope this will add to the usefulness of the cases by giving another outlet for developing searching skills and discussing strategies with colleagues.

The week’s question is available onat http://jmlacasestudies.blogspot.com




1/30/2008
BMJ Updates
BMJ Publishing Group and McMaster University's Health Information Research Unit are collaborating to provide you with access to current best evidence from research, tailored to your own health care interests, to support evidence-based clinical decisions.

This service is unique: all citations (from over 110 premier clinical journals) are pre-rated for quality by research staff, then rated for clinical relevance and interest by at least 3 members of a worldwide panel of practicing physicians. Here's what we offer:

• A searchable database of the best evidence from the medical literature
• An email alerting system
• Links to selected evidence-based resources

1/16/2008
Supporting Clinical Care: An Institute in Evidence-Based Practice for Medical Librarians
Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH. July 28-30, 2008
This is an intensive, introductory, 2.5 day course designed for medical librarians by medical librarians. Through large group interactive lectures, small group discussion, and hands-on, case-based learning, you'll acquire skills needed to support and teach evidence-based clinical practice (EBCP). 18.25 MLA CE credits pending.

1/10/2008
EBMSearch.org/pubmed is a site in beta-test, meant for use by clinical professionals and expert searchers.EBMSearch is a specialized search engine for retrieving and managing high quality medical information from MEDLINE. For treatment, EBMSearch returns Level 1 evidence with a Grade Recommendation of A as defined by the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine. Level 1 evidence constitutes systematic reviews and individual randomized controlled trials. "A" Grade Recommendation is evidence consistent with Level 1 studies.


12/12/2007
New Australian search engine launched. A new Australian search engine, called 'Evidence Australia', has been launched. 'Evidence Australia' searches all the main Health/Medical evidence sites in Australia and includes all the national guidelines that are freely available. The search engine has been authored by Terence Harrison, Clinical Librarian, Royal Melbourne Hospital, and is an adaptation of Google technology. It is hoped that in time 'Evidence Australia' will include all hospital guidelines throughout Australia.Details are also given on how to embed the search engine on to your own website. Eventually it is hoped that 'Evidence Australia' will have its own, unique URL.

Launch of bliki.A bliki - "Exploring the evidence base: EBM & HSR resources on the Net" - was recently launched. The bliki is a combination of a blog ("Exploring the evidence base", owned by Terence Harrison, Clinical Librarian at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, and "EBM & HSR resources on the Net", a wiki owned by Catherine Voutier, an Information specialist with the Centre for Clinical Effectiveness at Monash).


2/05/2007 - can't find the right teaching material?
Try this. David Rothman has created a Google Custom Search Engine that searches across the Web pages of Medical Libraries listed at http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/hslibs.html. This is a great way to find teaching materials from other libraries.