Teaching Evidence-Based Veterinary Medicine in the US and Canada.

There is no comprehensive review of the extent to which evidence-based veterinary medicine (EBVM) is taught in AVMA-accredited colleges of veterinary medicine in the US and Canada. We surveyed teaching faculty and librarians at these institutions to determine what EBVM skills are currently included in curricula, how they are taught, and to what extent librarians are involved in this process. Librarians appear to be an underused resource, as 59% of respondents did not use librarians/library resources in teaching EBVM. We discovered that there is no standard teaching methodology nor are there common learning activities for EBVM among our survey respondents, who represent 22 institutions. Respondents reported major barriers to inclusion such as a perceived shortage of time in an already-crowded course of study and a lack of high-quality evidence and point-of-care tools. Suggestions for overcoming these barriers include collaborating with librarians and using new EBVM online teaching resources.

Assessment of an iPad Loan Program in an Academic Medical Library: A Case Study.

An academic medical library expanded its iPad loan service to multiple campus libraries and conducted an assessment of the service. iPads loaded with medical and educational apps were loaned for two-week checkouts from five library campus locations. Device circulation statistics were tracked and users were invited to complete an online survey about their experience. Data were gathered and analyzed for 11 months. The assessment informed the library on how best to adapt the service, including what resources to add to the iPads, and the decision to move devices to campuses with more frequent usage.

Evaluation of best practices in the design of online evidence-based practice instructional modules.

OBJECTIVES: The research determined to what extent best practices are being followed by freely available online modules aimed at teaching critical thinking and evidence-based practices (EBPs) in health sciences fields. METHODS: In phase I, an evaluation rubric was created after reviewing the literature. Individual rubric questions were assigned point values and grouped into sections, and the sections weighted. Phase II involved searching Internet platforms to locate online EBP modules, which were screened to determine if they met predetermined criteria for inclusion. Phase III comprised a first evaluation, in which two authors assessed each module, followed by a second evaluation of the top-scoring modules by five representatives from different health sciences units. RESULTS: The rubric's 28 questions were categorized into 4 sections: content, design, interactivity, and usability. After retrieving 170 online modules and closely screening 91, 42 were in the first evaluation and 8 modules were in the second evaluation. Modules in the first evaluation earned, on average, 59% of available points; modules in the second earned an average of 68%. Both evaluations had a moderate level of inter-rater reliability. CONCLUSIONS: The rubric was effective and reliable in evaluating the modules. Most modules followed best practices for content and usability but not for design and interactivity. IMPLICATIONS: By systematically collecting and evaluating instructional modules, the authors found many potentially useful elements for module creation. Also, by reviewing the limitations of the evaluated modules, the authors were able to anticipate and plan ways to overcome potential issues in module design.

Translating research into practice: criteria for applying literature search results to your work.

Evidence-based practices in the fields of health education and health promotion require evaluating the validity and reliability of relevant and timely research. Skills associated with effectively assessing and applying research findings are essential when researchers and practitioners are developing a new program, writing a grant, or completing a research project. This Tool outlines steps and resources with which health educators and health promotion specialists can critically appraise the literature before deciding to apply a concept or practice. It also includes descriptions of "levels of evidence" for determining level of academic rigor, and questions to guide critical appraisals of published literature and other resources for determining their relevance to the work at hand. Assessing the evidence involves two steps: synthesizing selected articles and then applying their content to a certain situation, population, or need. This Tool is intended to advance the profession by offering tips for assessing and applying the results of literature searches, which involves evaluating the quality of the articles and determining how to best put the research into practice.

Making the Critical Appraisal for Summaries of Evidence (CASE) for evidence-based medicine (EBM): critical appraisal of summaries of evidence.

OBJECTIVES: Standards for evaluating evidence-based medicine (EBM) point-of-care (POC) summaries of research are lacking. The authors developed a "Critical Appraisal for Summaries of Evidence" (CASE) worksheet to help assess the evidence in these tools. The authors then evaluated the reliability of the worksheet. METHODS: The CASE worksheet was developed with 10 questions covering specificity, authorship, reviewers, methods, grading, clarity, citations, currency, bias, and relevancy. Two reviewers independently assessed a random selection of 384 EBM POC summaries using the worksheet. The responses of the raters were then compared using a kappa score. RESULTS: The kappa statistic demonstrated an overall moderate agreement (κ = 0.44) between the reviewers using the CASE worksheet for the 384 summaries. The 3 categories of evaluation questions in which the reviewers disagreed most often were citations (κ =  0), bias (κ = 0.11), and currency (κ = -0.18). CONCLUSIONS: The CASE worksheet provided an effective checklist for critically analyzing a treatment summary. While the reviewers agreed on worksheet responses for most questions, variation occurred in how the raters navigated the tool and interpreted some of the questions. Further validation of the form by other groups of users should be investigated.

Search and ye shall find: practical literature review techniques for health educators.

Through a perusal of current published literature, health educators can locate resources for theses, dissertations, or manuscripts for scholarly publication or plan/develop health promotion programs or disease prevention interventions. Reviewing the literature, however, may be viewed as a nebulous or intimidating process. This article presents six steps intended to assist health educators to efficiently search the literature. The processes of assessing information needs, planning the search, choosing where to search, getting full-text articles, assessing the articles, and applying the evidence are outlined.

Developing and using a rubric for evaluating evidence-based medicine point-of-care tools.

OBJECTIVE: The research sought to establish a rubric for evaluating evidence-based medicine (EBM) point-of-care tools in a health sciences library. METHODS: The authors searched the literature for EBM tool evaluations and found that most previous reviews were designed to evaluate the ability of an EBM tool to answer a clinical question. The researchers' goal was to develop and complete rubrics for assessing these tools based on criteria for a general evaluation of tools (reviewing content, search options, quality control, and grading) and criteria for an evaluation of clinical summaries (searching tools for treatments of common diagnoses and evaluating summaries for quality control). RESULTS: Differences between EBM tools' options, content coverage, and usability were minimal. However, the products' methods for locating and grading evidence varied widely in transparency and process. CONCLUSIONS: As EBM tools are constantly updating and evolving, evaluation of these tools needs to be conducted frequently. Standards for evaluating EBM tools need to be established, with one method being the use of objective rubrics. In addition, EBM tools need to provide more information about authorship, reviewers, methods for evidence collection, and grading system employed.

Exploring e-readers to support clinical medical education: two case studies.

QUESTION: Can e-readers loaded with medical textbooks and other relevant material benefit medical students, residents, and preceptors in clinical settings? SETTINGS: The settings are North Carolina community clinics served by Duke University Medical Center and St. Joseph's Hospital in Bryan, Texas, and Scott and White Memorial Hospital in Temple, Texas. METHODS: DUKE UNIVERSITY: Twenty second-year medical students and fourteen family medicine clerkship preceptors used Kindle e-readers in clinics during eight months of rotations. Students and preceptors provided feedback through an anonymous online survey. Texas A&M University: Nine fourth-year medical students in an elective compared medical textbooks in print, online, and on a Kindle. Six residents at a local hospital completed an anonymous online survey after a three-week loan of a Kindle loaded with medical textbooks. RESULTS: The e-reader's major advantages in clinical settings are portability and searchability. The selected e-reader's limitations include connection speed, navigation, and display. User preferences varied, but online resources were preferred. Participants suggested additional uses for Kindles in medical education. CONCLUSIONS: The selected e-reader's limitations may be resolved with further development of the device. Investigation of other e-readers is needed. Criteria for evaluating e-readers in clinical settings should include portability, searchability, speed, navigation, and display. Research comparing e-readers and mobile devices in clinical education is also warranted.

Thinking outside the classroom: providing student-centered informatics instruction to first- and second-year medical students.

With the increasing amount of health information available, the Association of American Medical Colleges recommends that medical students be proficient in information management. Librarians can and should play a role in teaching students these skills. Medical information management instruction is most effective if integrated into the curriculum. However, if options are limited for librarians to teach within courses, there are ways to reach students outside the classroom. This article describes strategies librarians are implementing, outside the curriculum, to teach Texas A & M Health Science Center's first- and second-year medical students how to use library resources.