Blog Entry #3

1. 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?

I was looking up information about methadone use in pregnancy and it’s implication on neonatal abstinence syndrome.  I conducted searches through a web search (google.com) a guideline index (the National Guideline Clearinghouse), and an electronic index (Endnote). 

When I searched with google.com I obtained over 13,000 results including articles and books.  When I went into Google scholar I was able to find articles that were related to my search.  I was able to limit my search to the last 5 years and have it include the citations.  I went under preferences and was able to apply more limits.  I found several relevant research articles, but was not always able to read the full text since some of the different libraries online require subscriptions to access the articles.  These research articles are from scholarly resources.

I haven’t used the National Guideline Clearinghouse prior to this.  I did not find it difficult to use, but I was not able to get any guidelines that pertained to my search.  I found only one guideline that had to do with methadone in pregnancy and it had to do with decreasing dosing during pregnancy.  There was no guideline that had to do with the neonatal abstinence syndrome.  The good part of the search was that it gives you some MeSH terms that could be used in the electronic index search.

In my electronic index search through Endnote I was able to get results for articles through PubMed and one film from 1998 called Unborn Addicts.  Through PubMed I was able to get 194 article references.  Through Endnote I can search several libraries and can obtain the citations.  I can put the references into a group so that it is easy to find and they are all together in one place.  I can also use these references to cite in papers that I write for school. 

I found that my preference is the electronic index search because through the University I am able to get the articles without having to pay for several subscriptions.  I didn’t get any pertinent information about my topic on the National Guideline Clearinghouse.  I found relevant information on Google scholar, but I would have to write down the articles and go back through the University library to obtain the copies of them.  With Endnote I can look up to see if the articles are available online.  If not I can use those references to look them up in the library, but I don’t have to write it all down and keep track of the information.  It also allows me to make citations in Microsoft word.  It is very helpful, easy to use, and allows ways to share the information with others.

Module 2

1). What is one way you could become involved in designing, selecting, evaluating, or implementing an information system in your workplace?

Information systems are a big part of the workplace in the hospital.  We use web cams that allow the parents of NICU infants to see their babies.  We use computers to scan medications against the babies ID to assure that it is the right medication, right dose, and right baby.  One way to get involved in these and other information systems is to help when there is a glitch in the system.  Help look for ways to improve the system and make those suggestions.  Sometimes it just takes someone to see a change that will improve the system and make it more user friendly.  Although it seems like a small thing, it is an important role that each individual nurse or system user can make.

Another way that you can get involved with information systems is to volunteer.  When new systems are being looked the hospital will ask for people to become superusers and help teach the new system to the other employees.  As a superuser you are taught more in depth about the system and can help catch things that need to be changed before it is used hospital wide.  As a nurse that is doing patient care it is important to make sure that the information systems are working well with that setting.  Learning to use the system and helping to make it fit into the clinical setting is one of the best ways to help.

Another way that I think we can help with information systems is to make the hospital or clinic that you work for aware of a system that you used in another place that may work well.  If we as nurses try to make things better for ourselves and our patients.