Cynthia M. Schmidt

Guide on the Side.

Guide on the Side (GotS) is an award-winning application that makes developing interactive, online tutorials simple [1–3]. As the “Guide on the Side” name suggests, each GotS tutorial has an instruction panel—which may contain text, pictures, links, and/or interactive questions—on one side of the browser window and displays the online resource that is the focus of the tutorial on the other side. GotS is open source software that is available without charge from the University of Arizona. Even if you are not sure that your information technology (IT) department will be willing to install GotS, you may want to request a free demo account on the University of Arizona server and give GotS a try [3]. As the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) 2013 Instructional Services Innovation Award committee cochairs have said, the software “allows librarians to easily create tutorials that are both engaging to students and pedagogically sound. GotS serves as a model of the future of library instruction” [1]. The reviewers have been creating online tutorials with GotS in an academic medical library for two years [4]. During that time, we have received many positive comments from students on tutorials created with the product. Students find the navigation tools easy to use, enjoy being able to move through the tutorials at their own pace, and find the interactive questions engaging. One student even described our library’s “PubMed for Clinical Laboratory Science (CLS)” GotS tutorial [5] as, “mind blowingly awesome” and said “[I] never knew how easy searching for research could be.” We used to develop side-guided tutorials using Dreamweaver, but GotS makes this process much easier.

Does increasing immunoglobulin levels impact survival in solid organ transplant recipients with hypogammaglobulinemia

Severe hypogammaglobulinemia (IgG < 400 mg/dL) has adverse impact on mortality during the first year post‐transplantation. The aim of the study was to determine whether increasing IgG levels to ≥400 mg/dL improved outcomes.

Navigating the US health care system: a video guide for immigrant and diverse populations.

Commitment to diversity is an important part of the strategic plan of the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) [1]. As part of this commitment, the university provides support and incentives for diversity initiatives. It is hoped that, in addition to promoting diversity, the funded initiatives will strengthen existing relationships and build new, positive relationships with local community service organizations. In 2004, the McGoogan Library of Medicine at UNMC was selected as one of the units to receive diversity funds. A team of five librarians, the authors, was chosen to work on this project. While no exact guidance was given, the team was encouraged to address the health information needs of diverse or underserved populations in Nebraska. Twenty-five thousand dollars in one-time funding was provided. As continued funding could not be anticipated, it was important that the project be relatively timeless. While brainstorming about the type of project to undertake, the team found numerous studies describing difficulties recent immigrants might encounter when dealing with the US health care system [2–7]. Difficulties ranged from making appointments to understanding the need to disclose personal information or express disagreement with a physician. The team realized that many of these issues can result from a lack of knowledge about the basic elements of a doctors appointment in the United States. These basics likely do not change rapidly over time; thus, a resource explaining these concepts should have long-lasting usefulness.

A Conceptual Framework for Barriers to the Recruitment and Retention of Rural CVD Participants in Behavior Intervention Trials

BackgroundRural residents diagnosed with cardiovascular disease (CVD) or with CVD-related risks are underrepresented in behavioral intervention trials based on an extensive review of published studies. The low participation rate of rural residents weakens both the internal and external validity of published studies. Moreover, compared to urban residents, limited research exists to describe the unique barriers that limit the participation of rural residents in behavioral intervention trials.ObjectiveThe purpose of this review is to identify a conceptual framework (CF) underpinning common barriers faced by rural CVD patients to enroll in behavioral intervention trials.MethodsWe conducted a literature review using several electronic databases to obtain a representative sample of research articles, synthesized the evidence, and developed a CF to explain the barriers that may affect the research participation rate of rural residents with CVD or related risks.ResultsWe found our evidence-based CF well explained the barriers for rural CVD patients to take part in behavioral intervention trials. Besides contextual factors (i.e. patient, community and research levels), other common factors impacting rural patients’ intent to enroll are lack of awareness and understanding about behavioral trials, limited support from their healthcare providers and social circles, unfavorable attitudes, and the lack of opportunity to participating research.Conclusion and Implication of resultthe findings demonstrate the evidence-based model consisting of interlinked multi-level factors may help our understanding of the barriers encountered by rural CVD patients participating interventions to promote behavioral change. The implication for researchers is that identifying and developing strategies to overcome the barriers precedes conducting studies in rural communities.

CURRENT STATE OF UROLOGIC MEDICAL SCHOOL EDUCATION: A SCOPING REVIEW

OBJECTIVE To review current literature pertaining to the availability and implementation of urology-focused curricula, in an effort to highlight current approaches to urologic education at the medical school level. METHODS A medical librarian searched PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, ERIC, and Scopus for articles focused on undergraduate urology education. Two reviewers adjudicated all retrieved titles. Only those describing interventions in undergraduate medical urology education were included in the review. Data extracted from each article included, but were not limited to: sample size, instructional aim, type of intervention, outcome measurement, significance of results, and strength of evidence. RESULTS After removal of 1478 duplicate search results, 2425 unique titles remained for adjudication. Title and abstract screening excluded 2311. The remaining 114 articles met inclusion criteria. The articles focused on knowledge-based education (43), urologic curricula (22), clinical skills education (19), surgical skills training (15), and survey of student experiences in urology (15). 73 had been published since January 1, 2010. CONCLUSION Analysis of the published literature reveals a paucity of articles investigating implementation and outcomes of formal urologic curricula. Most of the literature focuses on acquisition of knowledge concerning narrow urology-related topics. Physicians often receive minimal exposure to formal urologic curricula during their undergraduate years. Appropriate interventions aimed at increasing undergraduate student familiarity with common urologic scenarios are warranted. The results of this study can inform the efforts of urology programs seeking to expand their educational opportunities.

Correlation of the Multi-Biomarker Disease Activity Score with Rheumatoid Arthritis Disease Activity Measures: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

There are conflicting reports on the validity of the multi‐biomarker disease activity (MBDA) score for assessing rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease activity. Our aim was to perform a systematic review of the MBDA and a meta‐analysis of the correlation between the MBDA and other RA disease activity measures.