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Use of Mobile Devices to Access Resources Among Health Professions Students: A Systematic Review

ABSTRACT This systematic review examines types of mobile devices used by health professions students, kinds of resources and tools accessed via mobile devices, and reasons for using the devices to access the resources and tools. The review included 20 studies selected from articles published in English between January 2010 and April 2015, retrieved from PubMed and other sources. Data extracted included participants, study designs, mobile devices used, mobile resources/apps accessed, outcome measures, and advantages of and barriers to using mobile devices. The review indicates significant variability across the studies in terms of research methods, types of mobile programs implemented, resources accessed, and outcomes. There were beneficial effects of using mobile devices to access resources as well as conspicuous challenges or barriers in using mobile devices.

Community Needs Assessment to Reach Out to an Underserved Population

A community-based participatory research project was conducted to identify health information needs of clients (an underserved population) at a homeless shelter. Staff at the shelter, medical students, and public librarians were sought as outreach partners; their needs and challenges in accessing health information resources to serve underserved populations were also assessed. The community needs assessment yielded results that helped shape a medical librarys efforts in supporting medical students’ service-learning activities related to humanistic education. The resulting data also informed library decisions on health information education outreach programs tailored to vulnerable, underserved populations and community partners serving the specific populations in the communities.

Wiki Technology Enhanced Group Project to Promote Active Learning in a Neuroscience Course for First-Year Medical Students: An Exploratory Study

A wiki group project was integrated into a neuroscience course for first-year medical students. The project was developed as a self-directed, collaborative learning task to help medical students review course content and make clinically important connections. The goals of the project were to enhance students’ understanding of key concepts in neuroscience, promote active learning, and reinforce their information literacy skills. The objective of the exploratory study was to provide a formative evaluation of the wiki group project and to examine how wiki technology was utilized to enhance active and collaborative learning of first-year medical students in the course and to reinforce information literacy skills.

Application of Instructional Design Principles in Developing an Online Information Literacy Curriculum

ABSTRACT An online information literacy curriculum was developed as an intervention to engage students in independent study and self-assessment of their learning needs and learning outcomes, develop proficiency in information skills, and foster lifelong learning. This column demonstrates how instructional design principles were applied to create the learning experiences integrated into various courses of the medical curriculum to promote active learning of information skills and maximize self-directed learning outcomes for lifelong learning.

Factors That Influence Effective Evidence-Based Medicine Instruction

Evidence-based medicine (EBM) as a health care practice is being incorporated into education programs across the spectrum of medical education to develop lifelong learning skills and to enhance the practice of evidence-based health care. Since improving the quality of patient care is the ultimate goal of EBM, EBM learning must be integrated with clinical application, and resulted outcomes must be reflected in learning transfer (or EBM practice) within the context of solving patient problems. Different factors may constitute the context or environment in which EBM is learned, practiced, and sustained. However, these contextual factors are seldom considered and examined in the development, implementation, and evaluation of EBM instruction for learners at different levels. This article will introduce several contextual factors as tips and strategies that affect EBM learning and transfer. Also included in the article are recommended practices for designing effective EBM instruction that would contribute to a sustainable change in learner behavior.

Culturally competent library services and related factors among health sciences librarians: an exploratory study

Objective This study investigated the current state of health sciences libraries’ provision of culturally competent services to support health professions education and patient care and examined factors associated with cultural competency in relation to library services and professional development. Methods This was a cross-sectional study. Data were collected with a survey questionnaire that was distributed via SurveyMonkey to several health sciences librarian email discussion lists. Results Out of 176 respondents, 163 reported serving clients from diverse cultural backgrounds. Various services were provided to develop or support initiatives in cultural competency in health professions education and patient care. A considerable number of respondents were unsure or reported no library services to support initiatives in cultural competency, although a majority of respondents perceived the importance of providing culturally competent library services (156, 89.1%) and cultural competency for health sciences librarians (162, 93.1%). Those who self-identified as nonwhites perceived culturally competent services to be more important than whites (p=0.04). Those who spoke another language in addition to English had higher self-rated cultural competency (p=0.01) than those who only spoke English. Conclusions These findings contribute to our knowledge of the types of library services provided to support cultural competency initiatives and of health sciences librarians’ perceived importance in providing culturally competent library services and cultural competency for health sciences librarians. The results suggest implications for health sciences libraries in fostering professional development in cultural competency and in providing culturally competent services to increase library use by people from a wide range of cultures and backgrounds.

Student directed learning in medical neuroscience curricula

Student-directed learning (SDL) holds the promise of endowing medical students with the skills to tackle the growing body of information in medicine and facilitate its integration to solve clinical problems. The concept of SDL is not new, it grew out of a more commonly used and closely related concept: self-directed learning. Barrows characterizes SDL as the development of effective self-directed learning skills.1 Skills of self-assessment and SDL allow the student to become sensitive to personal learning needs and to locate and to use appropriate information resources. These are essential skills for doctors, as medical knowledge moves ever onwards and new problems will have to be understood in the care of patients. The sufficiency of SDL experiences is one of the criteria used in the United States of America (U.S.) by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education for accreditation (LCME). The LCME is the U.S. Department of Educationrecognized accrediting body for programs leading to the M.D. degree in the U.S. One of its directives, ED-5-A, states that ‘self-assessment on learning needs; the independent identification, analysis and synthesis of relevant information; and the appraisal of the credibility of information sources’ is a necessary part of a medical education program.2 This is a lofty goal – allowing students to determine what content is necessary, identifying and learning said content and then conducting some-level of self-appraisal or assessment. Historically, those tasks are a primary function of the medical school itself, accomplished through its wellworn system of using external and internal indicators for what student’s learning needs are, the faculty then synthesizes and vets content, which is then presented to the student in a variety of ways (e.g. lecture), followed by an assessment which is also a traditional role of the faculty. The origins of SDL are rooted in active learning (AL) where students engage in activities to promote higher-levels of learning and critical thinking. SDL values the progression up the Bloom’s taxonomic ladder as seen in AL, but with an increasing level of responsibility by the student to deter mine what and how to get there.3 It is in this light that SDL becomes not only a desired process, but an essential next step on the academic timeline. Traditionally, neuroscience is a subject perceived by physicians and medical students as very important and highly complex; as such, it could greatly benefit from SDL. The implementation of SDL has been hindered by the lack of standardized definitions and methods, lack of incentive to innovate and an overall persistent adherence to traditional methods. A first step in implementing SDL in medical neuroscience is to determine the amount and type of SDL that currently exists in neuroscience courses.

Community Engagement at an Emerging Academic Medical Library: A Three-Pronged Outreach Model

Abstract The Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine’s (OUWB) service-oriented mission and vision is reflected in all aspects of the school including its culture, curriculum, research, community engagement, and the OUWB Medical Library. Though starting informally, the OUWB Medical Library’s outreach program has matured and now sustains a wide array of activities each year. This outreach program has blossomed into a three-pronged model that is inclusive of activities and endeavors engaging the institution and local community: integrate, partner, and create. Among its successes and challenges, the library’s ongoing outreach efforts have showcased the value of libraries in promoting community health and meaningfully contributing to the institutional mission.

An Integrated, Case-Based Approach to Teaching Medical Students How to Locate the Best Available Evidence for Clinical Care

Introduction A major step of the evidence-based medicine (EBM) process is to locate the most current evidence in support of clinical care. This requires identifying and searching appropriate evidence-based resources. Medical library faculty at the Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine teach these skills as part of a dedicated EBM course at the end of the second year of the medical school curriculum. Methods A 3-hour “Locating the Best Available Evidence” session is divided into two major components: an optional 50-minute didactic lecture followed by a mandatory 2-hour interactive lab. Students formulate a PICO (patient, intervention, comparison, outcome) question from a case, develop search strategies, and gather evidence. Formative feedback is provided to the students to help them prepare for a final case presentation. Results Session effectiveness is assessed using course evaluations and the case presentation grade. Course evaluations indicate that students find this session structure to be especially helpful in learning the breadth of available EBM resources, preparing for their course case presentations, and acquiring skills for clinical clerkships. Quality of the case presentations also indicates students have acquired the necessary skills to be successful in practicing EBM skills in clerkship rotations and residency. Discussion Whether institutions have a dedicated EBM course or integrate EBM skills into the medical school curriculum, this session could easily be adapted and implemented. It could also be tailored for graduate or continuing medical education environments in any specialty.

Continuing education for medical students: a library model

PURPOSE The research assessed a three-year continuing medical education-style program for medical students in a Midwestern academic medical library. METHODS A mixed methods approach of a survey and two focus groups comparing attendees versus non-attendees assessed the program. RESULTS Eleven students participated in the focus groups. Attendance was driven by topic interest and lunch. Barriers included lack of interest, scheduling, location, and convenience. CONCLUSIONS Although attendance was a challenge, students valued opportunities to learn new skills. This study show cases a reproducible method to engage students outside the curriculum.