Searching for health information
When I need health information in my professional career, I have access to current literature and best practice guidelines through my employer. All public health units in Ontario have access to public health focused books, journals and public health databases through a shared public health library partnership. This services is housed out of the Middlesex-London health unit library and supported by Public Health Ontario.
Information sharing among my colleagues is a normal practice in our office. Most nurses are in and out during the day so email is typically the best way to share a good article or resource. In my outlook I have created topic files where I can store and easily find resources as the need arises. Our office has tried to move away from paper resources, however I do have paper files stored with information as well. In all honesty, once I add something to a file folder I generally don't access it as much as my online resources. During my interactions with families, I tend to access information online by using Google or Bing. These search browsers allow to me to find local programs and services that may offer support to families locally. I am always aware of the sites I access and tend to stick with credible agencies and/or reliable sources. The University of Toronto has a great resource online that reviews guidelines for evaluating resources you find on the internet. It reviews the importance of evaluating the authority, affiliation, currency and reliability of the information being sought out (University of Toronto, 2018).
Throughout my career, I have made quite a few contacts in a variety of health fields. This can be very helpful when I need information in a particular field. Moreno (2017) discussed the importance of speaking with your healthcare provider for health information as they are aware of your whole health history. Google can be great for people as it is readily available and quick but one still needs to consider the individual and how that information may be affected by that persons history.
Quality and Storage of Information
For myself as a health care professional, I try to ensure that the information I am accessing is current, published on a site or in a resource that is reliable and trustworthy and not biased. Historically, if I came across a resource online that I felt would be useful to me in my practice in the future, I would bookmark the link in my favourites tab on my laptop. I have several folders organized based on topics to make retrieving the information a bit more easier. Since starting MHST601, I recently signed up for elink.io which is a great tool for curating content. It is very user friendly and I have begun the process of transferring my saved online resources over to this site. There are a large variety of apps to help with curating content. Each one has its pros and cons. I found it helpful to try out a couple and see how easy it was to store and retrieve a resource.. In my busy life I am all about user friendly options and elink worked best for me.
Conclusion
After completing this audit and reflecting on my current practice I am able to identifying areas to help improve my practice. I think streamlining where I store my information will help save time and decrease duplicate resources. Using an online curation tool will allow me to access and organize my resources much more efficiently. I need to strengthen my evaluation skills when it comes to reviewing content. This will be an important skill to fine tune as I move forward with my studies as well as in my career.
References
Elink (n.d) . Email marketing, content marketing and content curation tool. Accessed on September 9, 2018 from https://elink.io/
Moreno MA. Seeking Health Information Online. JAMA Pediatr. 2017;171(5):500. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2016.3109
University of Toronto, (n.d.). Research using the internet. Retrieved on September 11, 2018 from https://library.utm.utoronto.ca/services/alumni-visitors/internetresearch
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