What Rural Nurses Hope to Find on the Internet
by
Robert M Pringle, Jr. MLS
rpringle@wsu.edu
http://nursing.wsu.edu/library/
Appendix
Internet Sources for Nurses
Supported by
National Network of Libraries of Medicine
Pacific Northwest Region Local Outreach Grant
What Might You Find on the Web?
University publications and experiments
Non-profit organizations' information
Government information
Commercial information & ads
"Labors of Love"
Opinions
NOT all journal articles
How can I tell if it's any good?
Purpose
Source
Content
Style and Functionality
http://library.albany.edu/internet/evaluate.html
Is this health information good for me?
In the field of health, we consider: Health info criteria
Health info criteria - 1
Health news or information is best for you if you are just like the people being talked about in reports of research studies.
The news or information should say who was involved in the study--what gender, age, disease...
News or information about a good therapy should compare the new therapy and other therapies.
There is usually new research to help you and your health provider make better decisions. If you have information older than about 3 years, try to find some more recent information to go along with it.
Health info criteria - 2
A good health study should have involved lots of patients, especially for a common disease.
Read the whole thing.
Any article which shows 100% success or 100% failure is not honest!
Health info criteria - 3
An article about one person and his or her health problem, success, or failure can't be used as good evidence for anyone else's situation.
Read opinions on different sides before making a decision.
Health info criteria - 4
Look not only for information on effectiveness of treatments, but also for information on side effects. The medical literature shows that sometimes no treatment (or a placebo) is better in the long run than treatment.
It's good to look for agreement or consensus. There are many different opinions on any health topic, so we try to find a report that brings lots of knowledge together. These reports might be called review articles, practice guidelines, consensus conference reports, or meta-analyses.
Health info criteria - 5
Another kind of agreement is simply an historic continuity, especially in the area of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). If a therapy has been successfully used for hundreds of years, it's reasonable to put some credence in it.
Health info criteria - 6
It's difficult to design a study using academic scientific method in many traditional medical fields. For example, how does one have a control group in the study of acupuncture? The mind-body methods, prayer, and distance healing all depend on the orientation and opinion of the patient toward the treatment. Look for continuity in practice and cumulated evidence.
Health info criteria - 7
The perfect article for you and your situation might not exist. We often have to work with the best evidence available.
Strategy for the Busy Nurse
Is the Internet likely to have your answer?
Can you find it from your starting page or your bookmarks?
Search the web
Ask on a discussion list
Purpose
Audience: Who's it intended for
What does it try to accomplish
Page content, tone and style
Does it mesh with your needs?
Source
Author/producer is identifiable
Expertise on the subject as indicated by credentials page
Sponsor/location of the site is appropriate to the material as shown in the URL
Source (continued)
.edu for educational/research material
.gov for government resources
.com for commercially-sponsored sites
~NAME in URL may mean a personal home page with no official sanction
Mail-to link is offered for submission of questions or comments
Content
Accuracy
Comprehensiveness
Currency
Links
Style and Functionality
Clearly laid out, well-organized sections
Writing appropriate for audience
Easy to navigate: Back, Home, Go to, internal indexing on long pages
Links to remote sites work
Search capability if site is extensive
Trusted Sites - by source
Government
Education - universities, etc.
Organizations
Commercial sites
Others you've verified
Trusted Sites - by purpose
Professional
Patient Education
Research
You tell me...
Governments
Federal
State
Local
http://www.nih.gov/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi
http://www.cdc.gov/
http://access.wa.gov/
http://www.doh.wa.gov/
http://slc.leg.wa.gov/WACByTitle.htm
http://www.irs.gov/forms_pubs/index.html
http://norby.latah.lib.id.us/index.html
http://www.gritman.org/
Education, Universities, etc.
Official sites
Faculty and department efforts
http://nursing.wsu.edu/library/default.asp
http://www.washington.edu/
http://healthlinks.washington.edu/
http://www.lcsc.edu/library/
http://www.ohsu.edu/library/consumerhealth/
http://www.hhdev.psu.edu/nurs/ojni/index.htm
http://www.icne.wsu.edu/people/haberman.htm
http://www.library.health.ufl.edu/pubmed/PubMed2/
Organizations
Professional associations
Interest groups
http://www.nursingworld.org/
http://www.midwife.org/
http://www.aanp.org/
http://www.brightfutures.org/
http://www.cancer.org/
http://www2.cancer.org/media/index.cfm?article_id=170&sec=8
http://www.lii.org/
http://www.ipl.org/
Commercial Sites
Companies
News sites
Others?
http://www.pharminfo.com/idx_toc.html
http://www.pharminfo.com/pubs/druginfoline/druginfo2_515p.html
http://www.medscape.com/
http://www.sagepub.com/
http://www.wastatecu.com/
http://www.altavista.com/
http://www.weather.com/weather/local/USID0170
Search Engines
General: Google, Alta Vista
Subject: Phones, e-mail addresses
Pick the ones you like to use!
http://www.google.com/
Google search results
http://www.otworks.com/otworks/otworks-oct24-COPM.html
http://www.yahoo.com/
http://www.411locate.com/
http://www.worldpages.com/
Professional Organizations
CINAHL
Nurse Practitioners
Sigma Theta Tau
http://www.cinahl.com/
http://www.icne.wsu.edu/people/schumann.htm
http://www.wsu.edu/%7Eschumann/d01.htm
http://www.nursingsociety.org/
http://www.nursingsociety.org/
Patient Education
MedlinePlus
NOAH
American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
MedWeb
Mayo Clinic
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/asthma.html
http://www.niehs.nih.gov/oc/factsheets/asthma.htm
http://www.noah.cuny.edu/welcome.html
NOAH's link to Lice in Spanish
http://www.aacap.org/
http://www.aacap.org/
http://www.medweb.emory.edu/MedWeb/
http://www3.mdanderson.org/leukemia/stories.html
http://www.mayohealth.org/
Research
NINR
Statistics
Universities
Associations
http://www.nih.gov/ninr/
http://www.son.washington.edu/centers/cwhr/
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/
http://www.census.gov/hhes/poverty/
http://www.epa.gov/students/
http://www.doh.wa.gov/Data/disinjury.htm
http://www.doh.wa.gov/EHSPHL/Com_Dis/1998/mea98.pdf
http://www.son.washington.edu/research/research-review.asp
http://www.nursingsociety.org/
http://www.nursingsociety.org/
Internet Sources for Nurses Supported by National Network of Libraries of Medicine Pacific Northwest Region Local Outreach Grant,
Rural nurses' internet use 3
