MODULE II

1. Describe your clinical problem and choice of electronic index. How did the index facilitate (or impede) your ability to construct an efficient search? How time consuming was your search? Would there be barriers to using the index in daily practice?

The electronic index or data base I chose to use was PubMed. I chose this index because it lets the user know if the article is available in either full text, abstract or both at Eccles Library in either a hard or electronic copy. This is a very important and valuable service to me since I teach at the University of Utah and often need immediate access to articles. However, MeSH terms were not very helpful in my public health topic search as they did not narrow it down significantly. I did my search on prevention and control of obesity. I came to the conclusion that PubMed may be better suited for disease treatment and clinical data rather than public health information or studies. However, I was able to find some very interesting and useful articles on my subject.
This search was very time consuming—it took me about 3 hours. I think most of that was learning PubMed. In the future I think I could do a similar search in about an hour or less. I believe time would be the only barrier in doing a literature search. So how does one get around this issue—hire a librarian.

2.What features in your chosen reference management software can be used to sort, classify, and otherwise organize references? Describe software functionality that allows you to better organize and share information for efficient retrieval and use.

True confessions (can we put these on our blog?) I do not like all these electronic computer programs and I am not an IT person and don’t find anything about any computer program as being ‘intuitive’. However, as we all know information technology is here to stay and it is a necessary tool in our lives. That said, and there is a point to my rambling, I used EndNote as my reference management software. Being the information technology dolt that I am, I was pleasantly surprised to see how easy Endnote is to use and what a very useful tool it is. It has very user friendly features on the left hand tool bar. I was able to sort, classify and organize my references by simply right clicking on My Groups. This let me organize major groups, subgroups, rename or delete groups. I chose Obesity as my major group and then created a subgroup of Prevention and Control of Obesity. Once this was done I was able to preview individual citations or search for additional ones. It also keeps all references in one main file and then lets you store and organize these into different files or groups. You can organize by author, journal, date, and title.

3.You used an electronic index, a guideline index, and a web search engine to retrieve information relevant to your clinical problem. Compare and contrast your results. Which resources were useful/ not useful for your information retrieval task, and why? Identify some alternative strategies for retrieving relevant information - would context relevant information retrieval be useful?

In comparing PubMed (electronic index) NCG (guideline index) and Google (Web Search) I found Google to be the easiest but least reliable in terms of evidence based practice and peer review reliability. NCG offers three ways to do a search. The Basic Search, The Detailed Search and the Frequently Requested Search. I liked the variety of search option in NCG. I particularly liked the frequently requested search option. Using this option I was able to find several topics that I could click on and immediately find some references and articles that I found useful. PubMed is the most difficult search, yet the most comprehensive and professional in terms of peer review journals and evidenced-based practice, clinical trials and research. It is the gold-standard in terms of academics and research and clinical practice.
I think all these retrieval information systems can be useful depending on what information you are seeking. For example, I often use Google to search for current events related to public health issues. It is an invaluable resource for this kind of search. As stated earlier, I will use PubMed for professional publications. I will use NCG for a quick search. It is also useful in telling you how to do a comprehensive detailed search. It thought the instructions on NCG were very clear and concise.
I’m not sure what the question means on what alternative strategies for retrieving information are, but one other source I use and really like is Medscape. It is a terrific data base for peer review journals and always gives you full text articles at no charge. The librarians at Eccles Medical Library referred me to this electronic index. I highly recommend it to all of you.