Kristine Elliott

A conceptual model for analysing informal learning in online social networks for health professionals.

Online social networking (OSN) provides a new way for health professionals to communicate, collaborate and share ideas with each other for informal learning on a massive scale. It has important implications for ongoing efforts to support Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in the health professions. However, the challenge of analysing the data generated in OSNs makes it difficult to understand whether and how they are useful for CPD. This paper presents a conceptual model for using mixed methods to study data from OSNs to examine the efficacy of OSN in supporting informal learning of health professionals. It is expected that using this model with the dataset generated in OSNs for informal learning will produce new and important insights into how well this innovation in CPD is serving professionals and the healthcare system.

Educating the patient for health care communication in the age of the world wide web: a qualitative study.

Purpose Communication skills teaching in medical education has yet to acknowledge the impact of the Internet on physician–patient communication. The authors present a conceptual model showing the variables influencing how and to what extent physicians and patients discuss Internet-sourced health information as part of the consultation with the purpose of educating the patient. Method A study exploring the role physicians play in patient education mediated through health information available on the Internet provided the foundation for the conceptual model. Twenty-one physicians participated in semistructured interviews between 2011 and 2013. Participants were from Australia and Switzerland, whose citizens demonstrate different degrees of Internet usage and who differ culturally and ethnically. The authors analyzed the interviews thematically and iteratively. The themes as well as their interrelationships informed the components of the conceptual model. Results The intrinsic elements of the conceptual model are the physician, the patient, and Internet based health information. The extrinsic variables of setting, time, and communication activities as well as the quality, availability, and usability of the Internet-based health information influenced the degree to which physicians engaged with, and were engaged by, their patients about Internet-based health information. Conclusions The empirically informed model provides a means of understanding the environment, enablers, and constraints of discussing Internet-based health information, as well as the benefits for patients’ understanding of their health. It also provides medical educators with a conceptual tool to engage and support physicians in their activities of communicating health information to patients.

Telecommunications as a Means to Access Health Information: An Exploratory Study of Migrants in Australia

Background Health policies increasingly promote e-health developments (e.g., consumers’ access to online health information) to engage patients in their health care. In order to make these developments available for culturally and socially diverse communities, not only do Internet accessibility, literacy and e-health literacy need to be taken into account, but consumers’ preferences and information seeking behaviours for accessing health information have also to be understood. These considerations are crucial when designing major new health policy directions, especially for migration destination countries with culturally diverse populations, such as Australia. The aim of this study was to examine how people from a culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) community use telecommunications (phone, mobile, Internet) to access health information. Design and Methods A case study was conducted using a questionnaire exploring the use of telecommunications to access health information among CALD people. The study was carried out at a community health centre in a socially and economically disadvantaged area of Melbourne, a city of 4 million people with a large CALD and migrant population. Questionnaires were translated into three languages and interpreters were provided. Fifty-nine questionnaires were completed by users of the community health centre. Results Most of the CALD participants did not have access to the Internet at home and very few reported using telecommunications to access health information. Conclusions The findings of the study suggest that telecommunications are not necessarily perceived to be an important channel for accessing health information by members of the CALD community.

A resource for teaching emergency care communication.

Communication in emergency departments (EDs), often between several health professionals and patients and relatives, is a major cause of patient complaint and error; however, communication‐skills teaching for medical students largely focuses on individual clinician–patient interactions.

Utilising Mobile Electronic Health Records in Clinical Education

The use of electronic health records (EHRs) in clinical environments to manage patient care is changing clinical practice; however, the explicit teaching of EHR-related skills to trainee clinicians is often lacking in medical curricula. The novelty of EHR-related skills training means there is little evidence on what is considered best practice: it is currently unclear which methods or tools are most effective. In this chapter, the authors present findings from a mixed methods study with thirty-four undergraduate medical students on clinical placement. The study had two major aims: (1) to investigate the effectiveness of a student-centered EHR system as a tool for learning EHR-related skills; and (2) to explore students’ perceptions and use in the hospital environment of the EHR system implemented on mobile devices. Findings from student interviews showed that the EHR system supported the learning of EHR skills by: scaffolding patient interviews; providing a means of managing information gathered from multiple patients; providing opportunities to practise EHR skills; and raising awareness of the potential benefits of EHRs for patient care. Learning benefits of the system that extended beyond EHR skills were also identified. Regarding the use of the mobile EHR system, electronic monitoring data showed that students infrequently created patient records in hospital locations. Network connectivity issues, concerns that mobile devices were not easy to carry around, and concerns that mobile devices would negatively impact patient interactions, were identified as potential barriers to the adoption and use by students of the mobile EHR system in the clinical environment.

Telecommunications and health information for culturally and linguistically diverse communities: A community survey

Enabling universal access to high quality health information is challenging in multicultural Australia, where low proficiency in English can hinder access to information services. eHealth initiatives may potentially facilitate better access to health information for minority cultural groups. However, the extent to which ehealth initiatives are inclusive for culturally and linguistically diverse groups remains under-explored. A community survey was conducted to explore the extent to which members of a culturally and linguistically diverse community living on a public housing estate in Melbourne?s North, and the health professionals providing local community health services, currently used telecommunications in relation to health information. The community survey findings indicated relatively low levels of access to telecommunications in homes on the housing estate and infrequent use of the Internet to access health information. Health professionals used telecommunications for some forms of communication with patients but not others. The findings of this study have implications for the accessibility of electronic health information for culturally and linguistically diverse groups.