Clicker Resources

I discovered a site entitled "Clicker Resource Guide" this morning.  It is instructional in the sense that it provides a pedagogical guide for the use of clickers and the design of the questions.  The module has several pages - look for the double arrows at the top of each module page or use the table of contents menu on the left side of the window to navigate.  The site is at http://cnx.org/content/m26445/latest/

I took some time to review clicker resources that can be used with smartphone, laptops, and tablets.  The iPhone app store has an app named "e-clicker."  The app for students is free.  The app for the instructor is $9.99.  I don't have an occassion to try it out, yet.  I might try to trial it next semester when I teach legal and ethical issues in nursing. 

Additions to the Textbook Website

Am noting some additions that Linda made to the textbook website at http://dlthede.net/Informatics/Informatics.html

October 30, 2010 Tutorial from the NLM for evaluation Web information on the Internet. This may be something that you want to share with clients/patients. (Chapter 11)
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/webeval/webeval.html

October 30, 2010 Clinical Information System Questionnaire (CISQ). This questionairre evaluates the implementation of a clinical information system. (Chapter 19)
http://cisevaluation.com/CISIES_Administrations.html

October 27, 2010 Mobile Cart Evaluation
Cornell University

Free Education Tools

Chelsey, a student in one of my classes discovered a site where she created a rubric to analyze patient education websites, rCampus at http://www.rcampus.com/

When reading "about us" the site notes that the tools are free and that the resources are available because of support of the sponsors (it is a .com website).  Use of the site requires a login and password.  The site includes free tools for classes, eportfolios, and rubrics.  I am very interested in hearing from others who have used the site. 

Chapter 9 Learning Exercises Corrections

The textbook print errors in the learning exercises for chapter 9 (page 158) stumped more students recently.  A faculty member at North Georgia College & State University reported the problem to the textbook rep, Tanya.  Of course, the problem is universal.  I didn't catch the errors in the final manuscript review :(

I wrote an email to the faculty member and copied it to the textbook rep.  I created the corrections for questions 1, 3, and 5 in Excel.  The link to download the spreadsheet is at http://hercules.gcsu.edu/jsewell/textbook/Chapt9Corrections.xls

Click the tabs on the bottom of the spreadsheet to view each of the three exercises. To view the formulas in the Excel spreadsheet, tap the the Ctrl+~ keys. 

The 4th edition of the textbook will include downloadable files used in the textbook for all of the office applications. I will make sure to check the formulas in the final manuscript review!

Most Students Still Prefer Print Books over e-Books

Martha shared an article that was in yesterday's Chronicle about the preferences students' preferences for books.  The article indicated that 76% of students still preferred traditional print books over e-books.  According to the report, the preference percentage was unchanged from the previous year. It also indicated that only 8% of students owned an e-reader device. The study was conducted with 627 students by the National Association of College Stores.

 I don't find those statistics surprising.  First of all, if only 8% of the students owned an e-reader, I am surprised that 24% preferred e-books!  Second, making a traditional print book a PDF file is not particularly enticing.  e-books should become more popular when they are interactive with embedded URLs, self-tests, videos, and the ability to have collaborative learning communities.

I used three ebooks this past spring semester.  This is a bit of a learning curve for their use.  With my Windows PC - I had to have Adobe Writer to be able to highlight sections in the books.  In other words, the procedures for using a book changed.

The study above is available online at http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/students-remain-reluctant-to-try-e-textbooks-survey-finds/27866?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+chronicle%2Fwiredcampus+%28The+Chronicle%3A+Wired+Campus%29

Now that I have an iPad, I am gravitating more and more to e-books.  I have several on the iPad now.  I need to move the e-books I used during spring semester over to the iPad, and like any change - practice using them!  Are you using e-books yet?  Why or why not?

EMR and Patient Satisfaction

There was a question on the ANIA-CARING listserv about publications on the EMR and patient satisfaction.  I have compiled a listing of the articles that were shared by the listserv membership below. 

California Healthcare Foundation (2010). Consumers and health Information technology: A national survey. http://www.chcf.org/publications/2010/04/consumers-and-health-information-technology-a-national-survey

Consumers want technology to help keep them healthy, survey shows. http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/consumers-want-technology-help-keep-them-healthy-survey-shows?page=0,0

Freeman, M. C., Taylor, A. P., & Adelman, J. U. (2009). Electronic medical record system in a headache specialty practice: a patient satisfaction survey. Headache, 49(2), 212-215. doi: HED1009 [pii]10.1111/j.1526-4610.2007.01009.x. http://cisevaluation.com/CISIES_Administrations.html

Gadd, C. S., & Penrod, L. E. (2000). Dichotomy between physicians' and patients' attitudes regarding EMR use during outpatient encounters. Proceedings in AMIA Symposium, 275-279. doi: D200771 [pii]

Schneider S, Kerwin J, Robins C, & Dean D. (2009, July). Consumer engagement in developing electronic health information systems: Final report. (Prepared by Westat, Rockville, Maryland, under Contract No. 233-02-0087). AHRQ Publication Number 09-0081-EF. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. http://healthit.ahrq.gov/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_9442_909189_0_0_18/09-0081-EF.pdf

Stephan, S. (2010). Evaluation of clinical metrics. JHIM (published this fall - volume/issue not yet available)

Stewart, R. F., Buchanan, H. S., Bailey, B., Schuyler, M., & Kroth, P. J. (2005). Effect of electronic charting on the patient-psychiatrist relationship. AMIA Annual Symposium Proceedings, 1122. doi: 57439 [pii]

Walker, J., Ahern, D. K., Le, L. X., & Delbanco, T. (2009). Insights for internists: "I want the computer to know who I am". Journal of General Internal Medicine, 24(6), 727-732. doi: 10.1007/s11606-009-0973-1

Winkelman, W., Leonard, K. & Rossos, P. (2005). Patient-perceived usefulness of online electronic medical records: Employing grounded theory in the development of information and communication technologies for use by patients living with chronic illness. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association,12(3): 306-314. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1090462/pdf/306.pdf

Tracking the Quality of Care Provided Using Data on Race, Ethnicity, and Language Preferences

Tracy shared an article, "What’s Quality Without Equality? Using Data on Patient Race, Ethnicity and Language Preferences to Improve Care,"  a Robert Woods Johnson study.

A quote from the article is noted below.
"It is a fact of health care in the United States that patients of specific racial and ethnic groups consistently receive worse health care than white patients, regardless of where they live, their level of income or their health insurance coverage. As a result, with few exceptions, racial and ethnic minorities experience higher rates of illness and death than non-minorities. Additionally, doctors and hospitals are often unaware that these disparities exist. Many believe that if they strive to give equal care to everyone, they succeed."  The study tracked the care provided by patient race, ethnicity, and language preferences.  It is interesting that the study did not use gender.  Anyway, the results of the survey allows healthcare providers to intervene to address any inequalities of care.

http://links.mkt2511.com/servlet/MailView?ms=MzM4MDQzNgS2&r=MTQyNTYxNjc2NDAS1&j=MjAyNjczMjM1S0&mt=1&rt=0

Monitor Patients Remotely Using a Sprint 4G Mobile Phone

Martha shared an interesting app created by Airstrip Technologies (http://www.airstriptech.com/) which allows the user to view remote patient vital signs including telemetry or fetal monitoring using a Spring 4G phone.  The app is FDA approved and HIPAA compliant.  The link to the article describing the app is at
http://jkontherun.com/2010/10/20/patient-care-via-sprint-4g-smartphone/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+jkOnTheRun+%28jkOnTheRun%29

Computer Literacy and Fluency in Information Technology: What’s the Difference?

The ability to use computers to retrieve and create information is empowering to most of us. It is an essential skill for those of us in healthcare. We discuss the concepts of computer literacy and fluency in the textbook. The term fluency was first used in the book, Being Fluent with Information Technology (1999), published by the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, National Academies Press. The authors suggest that fluency has a deeper meaning and is associated with lifelong learning and three types of knowledge:

• Contemporary skills. The ability to apply and use computer applications immediately.  The essential skills necessary to compete in today’s job market.
• Foundational concepts. Basic knowledge about computer systems and networks that we discuss in the first section of the 3rd edition of Informatics and Nursing: Competencies and Applications.
• Intellectual abilities. The ability to apply, manipulate, knowledge about information technology so that we can navigate unexpected problems.

If there is agreement that information literacy is the beginning point, then the journey to develop new information technology knowledge and skills over a lifetime is the pursuit of fluency with information technology.

National Research Council (U.S.) Committee on Information Technology Literacy. (1999). Being fluent with information technology. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Linda added this resource to the textbook website at http://dlthede.net/Informatics/Informatics.html.  Our thanks to Ramona for sharing. 

Screencasting

I missed a workshop on Screencasting yesterday due to an exam scheduling issue.  Screencasting allows the user to create video from a computer screen, including a mobile phone, such as the iPhone. 

The good news is that the workshop presenter, Frank Lowney, shared a podcast video of the session.  Clearly, I have been missing some really cool screencasting tools.  The link to the video is at http://hercules.gcsu.edu/~flowney/screencasts/Intro_To_Screencasting/

The link to all of the resources on the topic is on Frank's web site at http://hercules.gcsu.edu/~flowney/screencasting/

I have been working on developing new video podcasting skills again this fall.  If you have any interest in creating videos from a computer screen, take a moment to explore the screencasting goldmine.

MERLOT and SoftChalk

Georgia College has a site license for SoftChalk - software that make is easy to create professional looking online lessons.  I learned how to use it beginning in August and used it to design all of my fall courses.  I knew from MERLOT meetings, that MERLOT had a partnership with SoftChalk.  As an example, you can search media resources from within SoftChalk and embed it in the lessons.  Examples include Flickr, MERLOT, YouTube, etc.

I participated in a fast paced Webinar taught by Sue Evans from SoftChalk last week.  What I learned is how to create a lesson using SoftChalk, contribute it to Connect (a database of shared learning resources), and then add the link to the lesson to MERLOT.

If your agency does not have a license for SoftChalk, you can try it out for 30-days.  (And no, I have no financial interest in the software company :).

Meaningful Use

Joyce Sensmeier, HIMSS Vice President for Informatics, testified before the congressional hearing on Standards for Health IT on September 30.  You can read the full text of her testimony at http://www.himss.org/content/files/SensmeierTestimony.pdf

The 13-page document provides a historical perspective and a current update for the EHR and meaningful use.  It is well worth your time to read. 

Firefox Readability App

Stephanie discovered a Readability app for Firefox.  At first, I mistakenly thought that it provided readability statistics, but I was wrong!  What it does is to remove distracting information (clutter) from around the article that you are reading.  For more information go to the Readability website and review the video at http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/
 
Once the add-in is installed there will be a blue R at the bottom right corner of the Firefox web browser. Use the link above to drag the Readability "badge" into your Firefox book marks.  When you want to "clean" up the clutter on a busy page, click on Readability on your bookmarks. 

Enjoy!

Institute of Medicine (IOM) Report - Future of Nursing

The IOM released its report on the Future of Nursing yesterday. The report supports information in the Carnegie Foundation report - Educating Nurses. The IOM report is a free download. Although the report is over 500 pages - you can read the 13 page synopsis at the beginning to get an overview.  You can view the public briefing of the report at http://www.visualwebcaster.com/event.asp?id=72689

The recommendations are:

1. Remove scope-of-practice barriers
2. Expand opportunities for nurses to lead and diffuse collaborative improvement efforts
3. Implement nurse residency programs
4. Increase the proportion of nurses with baccalaureate degree to 80% by 2020
5. Double the number of nurses with a doctorate by 2020 
6. Ensure that nurses engage in lifelong learning 
7. Prepare and enable nurses to lead change to advance health 
8. Build an infrastructure for the collection and analysis of interprofessional health care workforce data

http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2010/The-Future-of-Nursing-Leading-Change-Advancing-Health.aspx?utm_medium=etmail&utm_source=Institute%20of%20Medicine&utm_campaign=10.05.10+Report+-+The+Future+of+Nursing&utm_content=New%20Reports&utm_term=Academic

Future of Nursing

The The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health book was released today.  It is available as a free download from http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2010/The-Future-of-Nursing-Leading-Change-Advancing-Health.aspx

Consider reviewing the IOM webinar discussing the findings described in the book. It was recorded this morning and will be available to view later.