A rapid evidence‐based service by librarians provided information to answer primary care clinical questions

Background: A librarian consultation service was offered to 88 primary care clinicians during office hours. This included a streamlined evidence‐based process to answer questions in fewer than 20 min. This included a contact centre accessed through a Web‐based platform and using hand‐held devices and computers with Web access. Librarians were given technical training in evidence‐based medicine, including how to summarise evidence. Objectives: To describe the process and lessons learned from developing and operating a rapid response librarian consultation service for primary care clinicians. Methods: Evaluation included librarian interviews and a clinician exit satisfaction survey. Results: Clinicians were positive about its impact on their clinical practice and decision making. The project revealed some important ‘lessons learned’ in the clinical use of hand‐held devices, knowledge translation and training for clinicians and librarians. Conclusions: The Just‐in‐Time Librarian Consultation Service showed that it was possible to provide evidence‐based answers to clinical questions in 15 min or less. The project overcame a number of barriers using innovative solutions. There are many opportunities to build on this experience for future joint projects of librarians and healthcare providers.     

Applying findings from a systematic review of workplace‐based e‐learning: implications for health information professionals

Objectives: To systematically review the UK published literature on e‐learning in the health workplace and to apply the findings to one of the most prolific UK e‐learning initiatives in the health sector—the National Library for Health Facilitated Online Learning Interactive Opportunity (FOLIO) Programme. Methods: Sensitive searches were conducted across assia , Australian Education Index, British Education Index, cinahl , CSA Abstracts, Dissertation Abstracts, Emerald, eric , ibss , Index to Theses, lisa , medline , Psyc Info and Social Science Citation Index. Additional citations were identified from reference lists of included studies and of relevant reviews; citation tracking and contact with experts. Twenty‐nine studies met the inclusion criteria and were coded and analysed using thematic analysis as described by Miles & Huberman (Qualitative Data Analysis: A Sourcebook of New Methods. Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1984). Results: Five broad themes were identified from the 29 included studies: (i) peer communication; (ii) flexibility; (iii) support; (iv) knowledge validation; and (v) course presentation and design. These broad themes were supported by a total of eleven sub‐themes. Components from the FOLIO Programme were analysed and existing and proposed developments were mapped against each sub‐theme. This provides a valuable framework for ongoing course development. Conclusion: Librarians involved in delivering and supporting e‐learning can benefit from applying the findings from the systematic review to existing programmes, exemplified by the FOLIO Programme. The resultant framework can also be used in developing new e‐learning programmes.     

Internet‐based information‐seeking behaviour amongst doctors and nurses: a short review of the literature

Background: Reviews of how doctors and nurses search for online information are relatively rare, particularly where research examines how they decide whether to use Internet‐based resources. Original research into their online searching behaviour is also rare, particularly in real world clinical settings. as is original research into their online searching behaviour. This review collates some of the existing evidence, from 1995 to 2009. Objectives: To establish whether there are any significant differences in the ways and reasons why doctors and nurses seek out online information; to establish how nurses and doctors locate information online; to establish whether any conclusions can be drawn from the existing evidence that might assist health and medical libraries in supporting users. Methods: An initial scoping literature search was carried out on PubMed and CINAHL to identify existing reviews of the subject area and relevant original research between 1995 and 2009. Following refinement, further searches were carried out on Embase (Ovid), LISA and LISTA. Following the initial scoping search, two journals were identified as particularly relevant for further table of contents searching. Articles were exclused where the main focus was on patients searching for information or where the focus was the evaluation of online‐based educational software or tutorials. Articles were included if they were review or meta‐analysis articles, where they reported original research, and where the primary focus of the online search was for participants’ ongoing Continuing Professional Development (CPD). The relevant articles are outlined, with details of numbers of participants, response rates, and the user groups. Results: There appear to be no significant differences between the reasons why doctors and nurses seek online Internet‐based evidence, or the ways in which they locate that evidence. Reasons for searching for information online are broadly the same: primarily patient care and CPD (Continuing Professional Development). The perceived barriers to accessing online information are the same in both groups. There is a lack of awareness of the library as a potential online information enabler. Conclusions: Libraries need to examine their policy and practice to ensure that they facilitate access to online evidence‐based information, particularly where users are geographically remote or based in the community rather than in a hospital setting. Librarians also need to take into account the fact that medical professionals on duty may not be able to take advantage of the academic model of online information research. Further research is recommended into the difference between the idealised academic model of searching and real world practicalities; and how other user groups search, for example patients.     

The level of awareness and understanding of copyright laws and policies among academic librarians in Ghana

Awareness and understanding of copyright laws are critical in the proper administration of copyright in academic libraries. Data from 38 library staff and 4 head librarians was used in a sequential explanatory mixed methods approach to assess the level of awareness and understanding of copyright laws among library staff with regards to balancing user rights with rightsholder rights in academic libraries in Ghana. The data was collected using questionnaires and qualitative interviews. Though awareness of all the copyright laws, which was not influenced by the educational status of staff was high, the level of understanding was lower. Work experience, schedule of work and current position of staff significantly influenced the level of understanding. The generally moderate level of understanding of copyright laws for library staff; particularly for fair use and creative commons licensing, is a worrying development for copyright administration in academic libraries in Ghana.     

Evaluation of outreach services for primary care and mental health; assessing the impact

Objectives: This paper reports an evaluation, carried out for London Health Libraries, of the impact of outreach services to primary care and mental health workers in 13 different settings. The main aims of the project were to identify the impact being made by the service, and to produce best‐practice guidelines for outreach services in this kind of community setting. Methods: Analysis of documents, analysis of any evaluation already carried out, interviews with outreach librarians, survey of a representative sample of users (eight services). The services evaluated were very diverse in terms of setting, structure, functions and activities. The evaluation was therefore largely qualitative. Emphasis was placed on trying to identify critical incidents, where it could be shown unambiguously that the outreach services made a difference to practice. Findings: Service recipients felt better informed, more up to date, more aware of resources, more confident and supported in their work, and saved time. Direct impacts, such as improved patient care, cost savings, etc., were more difficult to establish. Conclusions: The study identified the main areas of impact, and the main factors which affected this. Recommendations for good practice in such outreach services are made. Lessons of this evaluation for impact studies in general are presented, in particular the difficulty of assessing ‘direct’ impacts.     

第三方测试在四川省基层医疗卫生机构管理信息系统建设中的应用

介绍了四川省基层医疗卫生机构管理信息系统建设过程中引入第三方测试的背景、工作思路、第三方测试团队的具体工作内容,分析了建设过程中需要注意的问题,并提出了解决办法。     

Context and learning: the value and limits of library‐based information literacy teaching

This month's regular feature will discuss some of the implications for library‐based information literacy teaching that have emerged from a HEA‐funded research project conducted at De Montfort University. It is argued that information literacy teaching as it has evolved in a university setting, while having a greater degree of relevance and value than ever before, nevertheless has inherent limits when it comes to its transferability beyond the academy and into a workplace setting. HS     

The information needs of health care professionals and consumers in developing countries

The health information needs of health care professionals and consumers in less-developed countries, although somewhat similar to those of their U.S. counterparts, have a number of unique differences. Health care professionals in developing countries are more diverse in their backgrounds, training, experience, and work settings. These differences, combined with cultural variables, a lack of resources and trained information professionals, contribute to the complexity of health information delivery. Consumers in developing countries, due to a lower literacy rate and a higher rate of commercial health information, face different problems when attempting to make health-related decisions.     

The emerging Web 2.0 social software: an enabling suite of sociable technologies in health and health care education

Web 2.0 sociable technologies and social software are presented as enablers in health and health care, for organizations, clinicians, patients and laypersons. They include social networking services, collaborative filtering, social bookmarking, folksonomies, social search engines, file sharing and tagging, mashups, instant messaging, and online multi-player games. The more popular Web 2.0 applications in education, namely wikis, blogs and podcasts, are but the tip of the social software iceberg. Web 2.0 technologies represent a quite revolutionary way of managing and repurposing/remixing online information and knowledge repositories, including clinical and research information, in comparison with the traditional Web 1.0 model. The paper also offers a glimpse of future software, touching on Web 3.0 (the Semantic Web) and how it could be combined with Web 2.0 to produce the ultimate architecture of participation. Although the tools presented in this review look very promising and potentially fit for purpose in many health care applications and scenarios, careful thinking, testing and evaluation research are still needed in order to establish 'best practice models' for leveraging these emerging technologies to boost our teaching and learning productivity, foster stronger 'communities of practice', and support continuing medical education/professional development (CME/CPD) and patient education.     

基于引证关系的国内情报学领域作者研究活力与影响力分析

综合采用作者共被引分析、作者文献耦合分析、社会网络分析等方法,对CSSCI收录的2000-2009年情报学领域的8567篇发文和70947篇引文进行作者共被引关系和作者文献耦合关系的深入发掘,对引证关系视角下的国内情报学领域作者研究活力与影响力进行尝试性探索,并对该领域的研究模式与主题演化作进一步的归纳分析,以期对国内情报学研究的深入开展提供一定参考.     

"I'd rather not talk about it": adolescents' and young adults' use of topic avoidance in stepfamilies

This study examined adolescents' and young adults' use of topic avoidance with their mothers, fathers, stepmothers, and stepfathers. The types of topics avoided differed according to the type of parent-child relationship. Specifically, adolescents and young adults engaged in the most topic avoidance with their stepparents (regardless of whether the stepparent was a stepmother or stepfather), followed by their fathers, and then their mothers. Quantitative measures indicated that sex was the most frequently avoided topic across all relationship types. Open-ended responses revealed additional commonly avoided topics, including talking about the other parent/family, deep conversations, and money (e.g., child support payments). The most frequently reported reasons for this avoidance were self protection, relationship protection, and conflict. This research suggests that children in stepfamilies face unique decisions about topic avoidance. Communication Boundary Management Theory (Petronio, 1991) was used to explain how adolescents and young adults might engage in topic avoidance to regulate their personal boundaries, constructing relatively impermeable boundaries with some adults while maintaining looser boundaries with others. Finally, numerous practical suggestions are offered for understanding the balance between openness and closedness in stepfamilies and for promoting healthy stepfamily functioning.     

少儿阅读的服务现状及其培养方式摭拾

阅读是少儿获取知识、开阔视野的最佳途径之一.本文通过对少儿时期阅读的重要性、现状的分析,提出培养少儿阅读习惯的几点建议.