Evidence-Based Practice

Evidence based practice (EBP) is such an important issue in healthcare.  I am working on 3 projects with students to assess care practices.  I look forward to the day when we can pull reports out of our health information systems that can be easily interfaced.

Linda, added EBP resources to the textbook web site http://dlthede.net/Informatics/Informatics.html )(today.  The resources supplement chapter 11.  Am listing them below.


Melnyk, Bernadette Mazurek, Fineout-Overholt, Ellen, Stillwell, Susan B. Williamson, Kathleen M. Evidence-Based Practice: Step by Step: Igniting a Spirit of Inquiry. AJN, American Journal of Nursing: November 2009 - Volume 109 - Issue 11 - pp 49-52.

http://journals.lww.com/ajnonline/Fulltext/2009/11000/Evidence_Based_Practice__Step_by_Step__Igniting_a.28.aspx



Evidence-Based Practice: Step by Step: The Seven Steps of Evidence-Based Practice, Melnyk, Bernadette Mazurek; Fineout-Overholt, Ellen; Stillwell, Susan B.; Williamson, Kathleen M. AJN The American Journal of Nursing. 110(1):51-53, January 2010. doi: 10.1097/01.NAJ.0000366056.06605.d2

http://journals.lww.com/ajnonline/Fulltext/2010/01000/Evidence_Based_Practice__Step_by_Step__The_Seven.30.aspx



Stillwell, S. B., Fineout-Overholt, E., Melnyk, B. M., & Williamson, K. M. (2010). Evidence-Based Practice, Step by Step: Asking the Clinical Question: A Key Step in Evidence-Based Practice [Electronic Version http://journals.lww.com/ajnonline/Fulltext/2010/03000/Evidence_Based_Practice,_Step_by_Step__Asking_the.28.aspx ]. American Journal of Nursing, 110(3), 58-61.

MERLOT

Have you visited MERLOT lately? As you may know, MERLOT (http://www.merlot.org/) is a collection of links to learning resources. Each learning resource includes a short abstract. It may also include a peer review, user comments, links to personal collections, and learning exercise. Membership is free.


The Health Sciences Editorial Board invites volunteers to assist with the peer review process. MERLOT offer GRAPE Camp (Getting Reviewers Accustomed to the Process of Evaluation) for training. For more information, go to http://taste.merlot.org/peerreviewer.html

MERLOT now has a “content builder” which allows users to build their own lessons on a remote server so that they can be shared with others. For more information, go to http://taste.merlot.org/Programs_and_Projects/ContentBuilder.html

MERLOT includes a variety of resources ranging from simple animations, to lessons with associated quizzes, open textbooks, and open courses, and more – all contributed by instructors, students, and other users. MERLOT is an international project. The MERLOT leadership is working with the International Cancer Coalition, and countries in South America, Africa, and India. You may be interested in one or more of the learning resources that have been contributed the MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resources for Learning and Online Teaching) in the last 10 days:

The Sweet Science of Chocolate; The Endowment for Human Development; Active, Health Lifestyles,; Child Health; Communicable Disease; Developing Anaesthesia; Introduction to Disaster Management;
Diversity and Difference in Communication; Addiction: Drugs, Brains, and Behavior - The Science of Addiction; Finding Information in Health and Lifestyle; Health Education& Health is Everywhere: Unraveling the Mystery of Health; HIV & AIDS; DVT & PE; Principles of Human Nutrition & Infection; Prevention & Issues in Complementary and Alternative Medicine ; Ganfyd,; Medicines by Design,; Medline Plus ; Medicine Transformed: on Access to Health Care; Moral and Ethical Principles in End of Life Care; Information About Alcohol; Information About the Brain; Understanding Cancer; The Essence of Drug Addiction; Understanding Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases; Understanding Human Genetic Variation; Information about the Science of Healthy Behaviors; Information about Hearing; Communication; Understanding, Information about Mental Illness and the Brain; Information about the Musculoskeletal and Skin Systems; Information about Sleep; Nutrition: Proteins, Obesity: Balanced Diets and Treatment; Occupational Health; Sexuality; Sexual Health; Sexually Transmitted Infections; Understanding Cardiovascular Diseases; Vaccination; How to Communicate as a Health Volunteer; & Neurophysiology for Medicine.

If you have any questions about the Health Sciences learning resources or volunteering to assist with the peer review process, please feel free to contact me. I invite you to share this email with your colleagues via email and listservs.

Gaming and Treatment of PTSD

I am still hooked on Prensky's work about the Digital Native as it relate to thinking differently.  To that aspect, I continue to read about and practice various types of digital gaming.  I ran across an article in the online New York Times this morning that discussed the possibility that the computer game Tetris could be used to treat post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) http://www.nytimes.com/projects/magazine/ideas/2009/#technology-14 Very interesting!

Looking into the Future of Education

Now that my research team and I have submitted two grant proposals, it is time to get back on track with this blog.  I read the EDUCAUSE Horizon reports each year.  The 2010 report provides us a glimpse at the future of education.  The authors note that within:

• This year we will have a wide-scale adoption of mobile computing and open content
• Within the next 2-3 years we will adopt electronic textbooks and "simple augmented reality"
• Within 4-5 years we will adopt "guesture based computing" and "visual data analysis"

Clearly mobile computing is evident on our campuses.  Students and faculty alike depend upon netbooks, smartphones, like the iPhone, Blackberry, and Android to access email, online course content, and electronic resources.  The worldwide economic crisis has sped up the interest in open content.  Open content is a term for online courses that are freely availalble without charge.

Electronic textbooks have increased popularity.  I am currently using 3 electronic textbooks on my laptop.  Electronic textbooks provide the ability to highlight, make notes, and bookmark similar to a paper version.  The perks are the ability to have electronic booksmarks and to have them anytime I need them and have my laptop (everywhere). Simple augmented reality is a feature on many cell phones, for example, the GPS, a digital camera, and the compass on the iPhone. 

Guesture based computing is a term for operating computers using movement of hands, arms, and/or body.  Guesture based computing is used on popular news shows where the news anchor uses their hands and arms to open or close windows on wide screen televisions to show news and weather reports.  The iPhone uses guestures such as a finger swipe, tap and shake.  The Wii has popularize guesture based computing with software for sports and fitness. 

I am really excited about the emergence of visual data analysis, which will allow us to visualize complex data without having to know complex software.  It should prove especially meaningful for healthcare.  I am looking forward to the day that every nurse will have expertise in the analysis of healthcare data to improve the safety, effectiveness, and quality of care provided.

How to Build a Computer

I remember when my mother was first facinated by the power of a computer (she has one of every type now).  Anyway, I opened up the case on a desktop personal computer to show her the parts of a computer.  Today, I still hear comments from students asking about how a computer works. 

I found a short video on the web site How Stuff Works (one of my favorite sites) that shows how to build a computer at http://videos.howstuffworks.com/howstuffworks/23-computer-tour-video.htm The video explains essential components like the motherboard, CPU, fan, hard drive, ram, video card, power supply, optical drive, and more.  In the video, you can see how all of the components are connected to communicate using flat ribbed flexible plastic ribbons.  You can also see the grouped flexible colored power cords, which are like a Christmas tree extension cord - having several places on the cable to plug in devices (daisy chain connection). 

Georgia Conference on Information Literacy

Georgia Conference on Information Literacy

Plan to explore this conference. It addresses one of the issues that our Connecting Communities with Web 2.0 research study addresses.

First Aid & CPR iPhone app Saves a Life During the Haiti Disaster

Many of us are aware of telehealth and telemedicine applications, but self-treatment is not usually a part of the equation. Macworld reported a story about a man, Dan Wooley, who successfully administered first aid to himself for treatment of a head wound and compound fracture of his leg using the iPhone app Pocket First Aid & CPR (http://jive.me/firstaid/) powered by Jive Media. Wooley, who worked for Compassion International, was in Haiti making a movie about poverty.

According to the story (http://www.macworld.com/article/145842/2010/01/pocketfirstaid.html), Wooley was trapped in an elevator shaft for 65 hours after the earthquake struck. He used the instructions on the app to bandage his wounds and stop bleeding. He used the app instructions that warned him not to fall asleep if he was going into shock and set the alarm to ring every 20 minutes.

The content for Pocket First Aid & CPR is from the American Heart Association. According to the Jive Media web site, the app includes:

• Up-to-date emergency information 
• First aid procedures
• First aid checklist
• A modified personal health record that allows the user to input their medical and insurance information

The American Heart Association First Aid app costs $3.99.  There are several other First Aid apps at the iPhone store.The WebMD First Aid app is free. There are First Aid apps for animals available, too!

I am amazed that with all of the devastation, that the cell towers were still operational. It is clear that cell phones are a mainstay of immediate communication after a disaster occurs.  Perhaps this type of story will encourage Apple and cell phone manufacturers to work on battery life issues.