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The value of a computer in urological research depends not only upon an appropriate and informed choice of hardware, but also the purchase of software programs which will facilitate input, manipulation and transfer of relevant data. Acquaintance with the Data Protection Act is essential, as is registration as a data user in most cases.
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BACKGROUND: Information technology (IT) has slowly been implemented in many health-care organizations (i.e. hospitals). The use of computers has advanced to home care and long-term facilities. Consequently, it is important that nurses are able to demonstrate competence and feel confident in the use of IT. Yet, research has reported that nursing students have varying degrees of competence and experience with IT. AIMS: The purpose of this study was to ascertain nursing students' and nursing educators' self-reported attitudes, skills and experiences using IT. METHODS: Data were collected through a written survey distributed and completed by 247 nursing students (45 of whom were registered nurses who participated in extension courses) and 52 staff members from the nursing faculty at a university in Sweden. RESULTS: Two-thirds of the students and 92% of the nursing educators had access to the Internet from their homes. Of the students, 71% identified their IT skills as being sufficient for their current or future work as a registered nurse. Nurse educators were less confident in the students' ability, reporting that only 29% of nursing students had sufficient IT skills. Comparatively, 48% of the nursing educators believed that they themselves had sufficient IT skills for their role as a nurse educator. CONCLUSIONS: It is important that nursing students have basic IT skills and are familiar with e-mail, word-processing and various databases on the World Wide Web. Findings indicate that participants had a deficit in these skills, suggesting the need to integrate IT into the nursing curriculum.
A randomised controlled trial was designed to test an Internet-based interactive application as a stand-alone support for the development of self-assessment skills among second-year dental students at the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malmö, Sweden. Fifty-two students were randomised into an experimental (n = 26) and a control group (n = 26). Both groups went through four identical learning cases in elementary clinical Periodontology during a period of 1 month. The experimental group received the cases with the interactive software, while the control group received them through a static web page. After the end of the learning phase, both groups were assessed blindly by two assessors during the interactive examination methodology. There was a moderate agreement between the two assessors, but both failed to find any significant differences between the two groups with regard to self-assessment skills and overall performance of the students. Students positively received the Internet support, but several attitude differences were observed between the two groups during the study. Time on task and competence with computers were positively correlated to assessment results for both groups. On the basis of these findings, it remains unclear if computer-based applications with automated feedback can constitute an effective remedial support for the improvement of self-assessment skills of students. In addition, for such applications to be successfully accepted, two factors are critical: students must have a clear perception of the benefits deriving from the use of the software and the use of the software should be integrated in the curriculum, replacing some of the existing workload.
TOPIC: Parents of emotionally disturbed young children have expressed the need for more social support but societal constraints limit their ability to obtain adequate social support. PURPOSE: This paper discusses what is currently known about coping, social support and Internet social support. It proposes the use of electronic social support to meet the needs of parents of emotionally disturbed children. SOURCE: Review of literature. CONCLUSIONS: Electronic forms of social support have the potential to meet the identified needs of parents for more social support.
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OBJECTIVES: To describe techniques for retrieval and appraisal used by consumers when they search for health information on the internet. DESIGN: Qualitative study using focus groups, naturalistic observation of consumers searching the world wide web in a usability laboratory, and in-depth interviews. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 21 users of the internet participated in three focus group sessions. 17 participants were given a series of health questions and observed in a usability laboratory setting while retrieving health information from the web; this was followed by in-depth interviews. SETTING: Heidelberg, Germany. RESULTS: Although their search technique was often suboptimal, internet users successfully found health information to answer questions in an average of 5 minutes 42 seconds (median 4 minutes 18 seconds) per question. Participants in focus groups said that when assessing the credibility of a website they primarily looked for the source, a professional design, a scientific or official touch, language, and ease of use. However, in the observational study, no participants checked any "about us" sections of websites, disclaimers, or disclosure statements. In the post-search interviews, it emerged that very few participants had noticed and remembered which websites they had retrieved information from. CONCLUSIONS: Further observational studies are needed to design and evaluate educational and technological innovations for guiding consumers to high quality health information on the web.
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OBJECTIVE: This study investigated knowledge, opinions, and experience regarding dental informatics and computers among first-year dental students (D1s) and fourth-year dental students (D4s). DESIGN: First-year (N = 95) and fourth-year (N = 91) students in 1990 and first-year (N = 97) and fourth-year (N = 91) students in 1993 at a school of dentistry were surveyed. MEASUREMENTS: Demographic characteristics and computer ownership were assessed. Knowledge was measured using an 18-item scale (range 0-18). Opinions were measured using a 13-item scale (range 13-65; alpha = 0.81). Experience was measured using a 28-item scale (range 28-140). RESULTS: Response rates were all nearly 100%. Computer ownership by the D1s increased from 17.9% to 43.8% in the three years between surveys. Knowledge and opinions of the 1990 and 1993 D1s were similar, although the latter reported more experience with hardware and software. Experience with dental informatics applications was lacking in both groups. The 1993 D4s had completed more computer courses than had the 1990 D4s (2.3 vs 0.9), and demonstrated significantly more knowledge and experience. Opinion scores were nearly identical for these groups. The D4s in 1993 who had been D1s in 1990 had increased their knowledge of and experience with informatics applications during dental school. A difference in computer knowledge between the entering D1 males and females was observed in 1990, but was essentially gone by 1993 for the same individuals. CONCLUSIONS: Entering students had more computing knowledge and skill than their predecessors. Informatics knowledge and experience increased during dental school, and knowledge disparities between genders disappeared.
OBJECTIVE: To assess the effects of a computer-based patient record system on human cognition. Computer-based patient record systems can be considered "cognitive artifacts," which shape the way in which health care workers obtain, organize, and reason with knowledge. DESIGN: Study 1 compared physicians' organization of clinical information in paper-based and computer-based patient records in a diabetes clinic. Study 2 extended the first study to include analysis of doctor-patient-computer interactions, which were recorded on video in their entirety. In Study 3, physicians' interactions with computer-based records were followed through interviews and automatic logging of cases entered in the computer-based patient record. RESULTS: Results indicate that exposure to the computer-based patient record was associated with changes in physicians' information gathering and reasoning strategies. Differences were found in the content and organization of information, with paper records having a narrative structure, while the computer-based records were organized into discrete items of information. The differences in knowledge organization had an effect on data gathering strategies, where the nature of doctor-patient dialogue was influenced by the structure of the computer-based patient record system. CONCLUSION: Technology has a profound influence in shaping cognitive behavior, and the potential effects of cognition on technology design needs to be explored.
The growing use of email and the world wide web (WWW), by the public, academics, and clinicians-as well as the increasing availability of high quality information on the WWW-make a working knowledge of the internet important. Although this article aims to enhance readers' existing use of the internet and medical resources on the WWW, it is also intelligible to someone unfamiliar with the internet. A web browser is one of the central pieces of software in modern computing: it is a window on the WWW, file transfer protocol sites, networked newsgroups, and your own computer's files. Effective use of the internet for professional purposes requires an understanding of the best strategies to search the WWW and the mechanisms for ensuring secure data transfer, as well as a compendium of online resources including journals, textbooks, medical portals, and sites providing high quality patient information. This article summarises these resources, available to incorporate into your web browser as downloadable "Favorites" or "Bookmarks" from www.jnnp.com, where there are also freely accessible hypertext links to the recommended sites.
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BACKGROUND: Long-term follow-up in patients with a subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) can be important in patients care and for clinical research, but outpatients' visits or telephone interviews are time consuming. METHODS: We studied the feasibility of follow up through e-mail in a prospectively collected series of patients with aneurysmal SAH. RESULTS: Of the 97 patients who were discharged 58 (60%; 95% CI 49-70%) had e-mail, and all 58 provided their e-mail address. At 1 year 37 patients (64%; 95% CI 50-76%) responded to the first questionnaire sent by e-mail, 6 did so after an e-mail reminder. Fifteen responded after a telephone call, of which 12 had a new e-mail address. CONCLUSIONS: E-mail follow-up after SAH is feasible and for patients acceptable, but the proportion of patients with no or with changing e-mail address is considerable. The validity of the responses via e-mail has to be assessed in further studies.
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Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
This paper describes research to investigate the extent to which new technology and changing work practices in diagnostic imaging have changed the skill requirements of working radiographers. Interviews were conducted with radiography managers, radiologists and industry representatives. While changes in technology were viewed as having a significant impact on skill requirements, levels of resourcing and both national and local policy were seen as key factors driving changes in work practice. Respondents believed that significant changes would be required to pre- and post-registration training requirements for radiographers in the light of changing practice.