Evaluation of three point-of-care healthcare databases: BMJ Point-of-Care, Clin-eguide and Nursing Reference Centre

Background: Point of care resources make it easier for clinicians to find answers to questions that arise during a clinical encounter. In order to make informed purchase decisions in times of tight budgets, librarians need to have a better understanding of which resources will meet their patrons’ clinical information needs. Objectives: The goal of this study was to assess the content, interface and usability of three point‐of‐care tools: BMJ Point‐of‐Care, Clin‐eguide and Nursing Reference Centre. Methods: A questionnaire designed to gather quantitative and qualitative data was created using Survey Monkey. The survey was distributed to healthcare practitioners in Alberta’s two largest health regions, and the data were analysed for emergent themes. Results: The themes that arose – ease of use, validated content, relevancy to practice – generally echoed those stated in the literature. No one database fared significantly better, due to differing features, content and client preference. Conclusions: Despite the limitations of the survey, the themes that emerged provide a springboard for future research on the efficacy of information resources used at the point of care, and the need for deeper analysis of these recent additions to the medical information market.     

A Longitudinal Study of Lexical Development in Children Learning Vietnamese and English

This longitudinal study modeled lexical development among children who spoke Vietnamese as a first language (L1) and English as a second language (L2). Participants (n = 33, initial mean age of 7.3 years) completed a total of eight tasks (four in each language) that measured vocabulary knowledge and lexical processing at four yearly time points. Multivariate hierarchical linear modeling was used to calculate L1 and L2 trajectories within the same model for each task. Main findings included (a) positive growth in each language, (b) greater gains in English resulting in shifts toward L2 dominance, and (c) different patterns for receptive and expressive domains. Timing of shifts to L2 dominance underscored L1 skills that are resilient and vulnerable to increases in L2 proficiency.     

Hyperferritinemia in Pulmonary Tuberculosis

High ferritin levels have been found to be associated with non infectious as well as infectious causes including tuberculosis. This is one case report of 41 year old male who presented with cough with expectoration. The patient had Multi drug resistant tuberculosis (MDRTB) and type 2 diabetes mellitus. The laboratory findings showed Iron 280 μg/dl, Total iron binding capacity (TIBC) 61 μg/dl, and ferritin 92,945 ng/ml which indicates that iron is an essential nutrient for the survival of the pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis.     

Effects of a Cognitive Behavioral Self-help program on emotional problems for people with acquired hearing loss: a randomized controlled trial

The aim of the study was to examine whether a cognitive-behavioral self-help program was effective in improving depressed mood and anxiety in people with acquired deafness. Participants were 45 persons with acquired deafness, randomly allocated to the Cognitive-Behavioral Self-help (CBS) group or the Waiting List Control (WLC) group. Depression and anxiety scores were assessed at three measurement moments: at pretest, immediately after completion of the intervention (posttest), and again 2 months later (follow-up). To evaluate the effectiveness of the program, repeated measures analyses of covariance were performed. The results showed that depression and anxiety symptoms in the CBS group significantly improved after completion of the program, compared to the WLC group. There was no relapse from posttest to follow-up. It was concluded that a cognitive-behavioral self-help intervention could be an effective tool to reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety in people with acquired deafness.