Evaluation of health care related web resources based on web citation analysis and other quality criteria.

Automatic system for ranking of educational health care related web resources based on quality criteria was developed. Automatic retrieval of new web resources from well-known directories followed by their automatic evaluation is a keystone of the system. The system provides this information: a) location of the resource and its author, b) number of back links to the resource, c) checks presence of electronic labels of quality. Currently the system encompasses more than 500 links to educational web resources divided into 47 medical specialities. The resources in all categories are ranked according to their link popularity, the electronic labels of quality are presented. History of link popularity is recorded and might be displayed at every resource. There are 2 language editions. The system operates automatically, the editors check and correct the retrieved values. The described system adds to webcite indexing criteria for objective evaluation of quality of webpages. It is useful for the selection of optimum education resources in health care.

Long-term retention of knowledge after a distance course in medical informatics at Charles University Prague.

BACKGROUND: Distance education is instructional delivery that does not constrain the student to be physically present in the same location as the instructor. The electronic distance learning called e-learning has evolved with the development of computer technologies and electronic communication. PURPOSE: Before setting the distance way of teaching as a standard part of medical schools' curricula, the impact of number of factors on the effectiveness of this way of teaching should be considered. METHODS: A group of 38 students went through a distance course of medical informatics. The course consisted of 10 lessons. At the end of the course the students sat for a final test that contained 60 multiple-choice test questions. There was always one correct answer. Time limit for test completion was 60 minutes. After 12 months, 31 students from the original group sat for the same test. The topics of the course were not repeated in the meantime. The students were not aware that their knowledge would be tested after 1 year. RESULTS: The average retention of knowledge expressed as a percentage of the students' performance in the first test was 66.8%. The knowledge retention correlated significantly with the statement "I liked the online course more than the classroom course" and positively with the number of hours spent with the computer weekly. CONCLUSIONS: Retention of knowledge after the electronic distance course after 12 months is close to 67%. Other results indicate that we can expect better retention of knowledge from independent, responsible, and positively motivated students who can easily operate information technologies.

[Computer-assisted medical education]. / Pocítacem asistovaná výuka medicíny.

The article evaluates the multimedia titles offer for IBM PC compatible computers for medicine teaching in comparison with the other titles serving mostly as information source for postgraduate studies. The author explains common forms and functions used for comfortable information exploitation. The conclusion is that the year 1995 in the break point in the computer assisted medicine teaching and now some disciplines can use tenths of programs already.

[Thorax--an atlas of radiographic images of childhood lung diseases]. / Thorax--atlas rentgenových snímku detských plicních nemocí.

At the Paediatric Clinic of the Institute for Postgraduate Medical Training in the University Thomayer Hospital in Prague an extensive archive of rare X-ray findings from the field of child pneumology was assembled which is used for postgraduate medical training. To facilitate physical manipulation of the documents the X-ray pictures were transferred to a computer data base. For storage the Thorax programme was used which is distributed on CD-ROM. The authors discuss the use of this programme in practice. At present the data base comprises 529 digitalized X-ray pictures of 149 case-histories of pulmonary diseases of child patients.

[Bronchomotor tests in childhood]. / Bronchomotorické testy v detském veku.

The authors present a review of bronchoconstriction and bronchodilation tests which can be used in the diagnosis of respiratory diseases in children. Basic procedures and principles of evaluation are given.