BOOKS
DeBrun C, Pearce-Smith N. Searching Skills Toolkit: Finding the Evidence. 2nd ed. Oxford, UK: Wiley Blackwell BMJ Books; 2014.
The 147-page 5 x 7 soft-cover book is one of the most useful tools I have found to help navigate the search for research-based evidence. This pocket-size book provides information on how to retrieve evidence using tools and strategies that have evolved through new technology and a growing appreciation of evidence-based practice (EBP). The authors offer an overview of evidence-based medicine including the concepts first used by Dr David Sackett. Each chapter offers concise information with added references for further review. The complexities of searching biomedical literature are simplified as the authors compare the hierarchy of evidence and the hierarchy of searching. Information sources such as medical libraries, Internet searching, and clinical search engines are explained clearly. Examples of national and international guidelines with URLs are provided. Newer databases such as TRIP (Turning Research Into Practice) are introduced with specific steps to access and use the tool, reinforced by screenshot-type visuals. Examples of a search using a PICO (patient/problem, intervention, comparison, and outcome) format are illustrated using clinical examples.
Tables provide summaries and visual re-enforcement throughout the text. One great table provides clarification on truncation, wildcards, and Boolean operations, matching symbols to definitions and applications to multiple databases. The authors dedicate the text to searching health care databases and use graphics such as screenshots, tables, boxed-out comments, and word-bubble text to point out important steps and findings. Detailed instructions for large databases make the task seem more manageable. For example, a section on the Cochrane Library uses the PICO format to begin the search, but walks the reader through 3 ways to search Cochrane; advanced search, MeSH search, and browse.
Useful tips include how to save Web sites and URLs using specific browsers, while introducing new online storage tools. The glossary of terms is comprehensive, followed by an appendix that offers "ten tips for effective searching." A final section offers tips and resources for teaching search skills, using creative topics such as choosing a restaurant, or setting up a "search off" competition on a selected topic.
This publication is packed with information that would be helpful to students, educators, or clinical staff involved in EBP.
MEDIA
Fed Up: A Documentary
2013, 92 minutes, color and black/white, USA, US Documentary.
Director: Stephanie Soechtig
Executive producers: Katie Couric, Laurie David, Regina Kulik Scully, Heather Reisman, Michael Walrath, Michelle Walrath
Producers: Eve Marson, Sarah Olson, Stephanie Soechtig
Coproducers: Kristin Lazure, Sarah Gibson
Editors: Brian Lazarte, Tina Nguyen, Dan Swietlik
In Fed Up, filmmaker Stephanie Soechtig and TV journalist Katie Couric guide us for over 90 minutes, allowing a perspective through the lives of people who are challenged by obesity. The film tries to help the viewer understand the complex mechanisms associated with weight gain and weight loss. A dim light is focused on the American food industry, and the viewer soon realizes that we may become sick from what we eat.
Clearly, the current media attention and public health incentives have heightened awareness of the disease and chronic illness that obesity causes; yet, the film highlights the fact that generations of American children will now live shorter lives than their parents. Added sugar is the culprit. Often hidden within the ingredient list or listed under different names, it may not be detected or appreciated by the average person. The film offers some basic physiology lessons, describing sugar metabolism and the role of insulin production and utilization. As nurses, we understand this cycle, yet as a profession, we do not always use or teach it to our advantage, or to teach the patients and families we care for.
Through interviews and data, Katie Couric uncovers disturbing patterns of individual choices, public confusion, and inaccurate information. The film highlights problems with the food industry and public perception of health and the relationship of food to illness. To illustrate the effects of food misuse creating health crisis, the producers follow 3 obese children who are struggling to lose weight. This technique makes the issue personal and underscores the impact of family meals and school influence.
Soda is introduced as the cigarette of our times. Our grandparents' generation did not know of the health risk associated with smoking; it was a leisure tool, a symbol of relaxation and elegance, romanticized in the media and accepted in all social settings. Sugar, at one time, was also a symbol of success and a symbol of elegant table settings; sugar was a major ingredient in the special treat or opulent dessert. Once rationed during the depression years, it became readily available to everyone as the postwar economy boomed. But[horizontal ellipsis] sugar is disclosed as they enemy in this film! Dr Robert Lustig of UCSF sums it up in 3 words: "sugar is poison."
The film allows viewers an opportunity to question their personal choices and reinforces much of what we teach patients and families every day. Such discussion may chance the direction of the epidemic of obesity!
The film made me remember some wise words: "Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food"; "Walking is man's best medicine"; "Everything in excess is opposed by nature"; "Primum non nocerum (First do no harm)" - Hippocrates.
MGH ACADEMY VERSION 5.1
Powered by MOBILE ROADIE and available on iTunes at the app store; updated with iOS 7 UI optimizations, COPPA 2013 compliance.
The Massachusetts General Hospital offers a free app available at the iTunes store allowing you to participate in CME-accredited Web casts across a variety of therapeutic areas and across many subspecialties such as psychiatry, cardiology, and integrative care. This app is a wonderful tool for physicians and health care professionals who would like to improve clinical practice. Renowned leaders and educators present an interactive learning format and focus on solving real-world, practice-related challenges. The lectures and podcast cover many different topics, diagnosis, and concerns. Some of the topics I have been informed by include the following: Sports, Recreation, and Fitness After a Spinal Cord Injury: Getting Back Into the Game, A Practical Guide to Hypertension Management, and Where Did Clinical Judgment Go in Clinical Practice.
MGH Academy is also available as a Web page at http://mghacademy.org.
Since 2005, the MGH Academy provides innovative lifelong learning and has used its resources and infrastructure to provide interactive educational programs that consist of Web-based interactive learning modules and clinical simulations; 1-day live symposia in cities across the country; online Maintenance of Certification modules; tuition-based, 4-week, interactive online courses; interactive e-books accessible via smartphones and tablets; online board review courses; and multiday, in-depth conferences.
Today, academy membership includes more than 35, 000 health care professionals in more than 120 countries around the world and 10, 000 patients, family members, and caregivers. Through an expertise in the evolution of health care education and online learning, the MGH Academy has leveraged online and mobile-based platforms such as iTunes and the MGH Academy mobile app (for iPhones and Androids) to disseminate more than 100 000 learning activities per year (Massachusetts General Academy, http://mghacademy.org/about/about, accessed August 6, 2014).