Module 2

Module 2

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 indexes in daily practice?

I chose falls prevention for my clinical problem, and I used PubMed as my electronic index. I thought that the PubMed tutorial was very helpful in learning how to use PubMed, and also how to narrow down searches. I liked the fact that you could search through sources using all different ways. I set limits on my search, limiting it to no more than 10 years ago, English language, nursing journals, clinical trials, and age children 0-18, and adults 19+. This seemed to narrow down my search quite a bit. The actual search wasn't that time consuming for me, but taking the tutorial took awhile. I would recommend that nurses take the tutorial at some point when they have time, not when they are hurrying to find information. I think that a search could take them even longer if they didn't know how to navigate their way around the electrical index.

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.

The software that I used was the Endnote software. Endnote can be a great resource to find sources and then organize them into to specific files. These files can be specifically named to correlate with various researches that need to be done. These files can then be saved and citations can also be imported in to papers to sort citations and form bibliographies. Endnote can be a great timesaver.

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?

I actually liked using the electronic index the best. Mainly, because you can use so many different strategies to limit and narrow down your search. I think the Endnote search was helpful and definitely can help get your information organized. I found the PubMed search through Endnote to be more difficult, this could be because I am still getting familiar with Endnote. I found that by doing a web search, I came across more organizations affiliated with the topic that I was searching. This could definitely be useful to find some guidelines, but there weren't many studies or research articles, which is nice to have when you are searching for best practices.