SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “Informal learning”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,117 records · Page 62Linked to original sources

PubMed2006

Evolving medical knowledge: moving toward efficiently answering questions and keeping current.

The information needs of clinicians are many and varied; however, these information needs remain largely unmet. This likely diminishes the quality of patient care. Although it is important that physicians be proficient in critically evaluating the medical literature, it is more important that they become proficient in the "applied science of information management." Clinicians must learn the techniques and skills to find, evaluate, and use relevant and valid information both in the care of patients and in their careers of lifelong learning. Clinicians need sources for rapid retrieval of valid information at the point of care.

Education, Medical, Continuing↗

PubMed1995

Subanesthetic concentrations of desflurane and propofol suppress recall of emotionally charged information.

Whether anesthetized patients register emotionally charged information remains controversial. We tested this possibility using subanesthetic concentrations of propofol or desflurane. Twenty-two volunteers (selected for hypnosis susceptibility) received propofol and desflurane (on separate occasions, and in a random order) at a concentration 1.5-2 times each individual's minimum alveolar anesthetic concentration (MAC)-awake (or equivalent for propofol). We gave vecuronium, intubated the trachea of each volunteer, controlled ventilation, and then presented a neutral (control) drama or a "crisis" drama stating that the oxygen delivery system had failed, assigning crisis and control dramas in a blinded, randomized, and balanced manner. One day later, interviewers blinded to the assigned drama conducted a 2-h structured interview (including hypnosis) to determine whether the contents of the interviews after crisis and control dramas differed. In addition, messages permitting subsequent assessment of learning of matter-of-fact information (Trivial Pursuit-type question task and a behavior task) were presented at the anesthetic concentration just sufficient to prevent response to command in each volunteer. No analyses of the tasks involving matter-of-fact information revealed learning except one which correlated hypnosis susceptibility with behavior task performance. Both propofol and desflurane suppressed memory of the crisis. Consistent with previous findings for isoflurane and nitrous oxide, propofol and desflurane suppressed learning of matter-of-fact information at concentrations just above MAC-awake, except that volunteers' susceptibility to hypnosis correlated with performance of a behavior suggested during anesthesia. Propofol and desflurane suppressed learning of emotionally charged information at anesthetic concentrations 1.5-2 times MAC-awake (less than MAC), a different result from that previously reported for ether.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Incorporating information about cost-effectiveness into evidence-based decision-making: the evidence-based practice center (EPC) model.

RATIONALE: There is a pressing need for guidance on how to incorporate economic information into evidence-based decision-making. Such guidance should take account of the quality and relevance of economic evaluations. OBJECTIVE: To summarize lessons learned in integrating information from decision analyses and cost-effectiveness analyses. KEY ISSUES: Several methods used by the Evidence-Based Practice Centers (EPCs) to conduct systematic reviews are applicable to assessing economic studies. We discuss methods to identify key questions for the review of economic studies. Reviews should assess how an economic model incorporates clinical logic and handles uncertainty about effectiveness. As is the case for metaanalysis of interventions, qualitative or quantitative synthesis of economic studies should explore heterogeneity to identify key uncertainties underlying divergent results as well as unsuspected sources of bias. CONCLUSIONS: Applying EPC methods to synthesis of economic information can increase their relevance to clinicians and policymakers and inform decisions that require tradeoffs between effectiveness and harms of interventions.

Cost-Benefit Analysis↗

PubMed2004

The song of the Brazilian population of Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae, in the year 2000: individual song variations and possible implications.

The song of the Brazilian population of the Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae was studied in its breeding and calving ground, the Abrolhos Bank, Bahia, Brazil, from July to November 2000. Aural and spectral analyses of digital recordings were completed for approximately 20 song cycles, totaling 5 hours of song from 10 different recording events. We identified 24 note types, organized in five themes. All songs presented the same themes and the order in which they were sung did not vary. We registered the appearance of a note type and the disappearance of a phrase ending, which indicate that the song changed as the season progressed. Moreover, we detected individual variation in the way singers performed certain complex note types. As songs are transmitted culturally, it is likely that singers have different abilities to compose and/or learn new notes. If, as it has been previously suggested, 'new' songs are preferred to 'old' ones, these more able singers will be sending out information about their learning abilities that could be used by other whales to decide whether or not to interact with them.

Animals↗

PubMed2006

An e-learning portal for nurses in Singapore General Hospital.

Singapore General Hospital (SGH) pioneered e-learning systems in Singapore as a knowledge management initiative for nurses. This paradigm shift in nursing education is a proactive step taken to address the increasing sophistication of healthcare systems, expanding demand and perennial shortage of nursing talent. E-learning has been a success at SGH, through providing systematic sharing of knowledge and capture of experience, through both formal and informal online channels. It also made training more effective and less costly. Formal methods of knowledge sharing comprise online learning through interactive training modules and slides presentation with narration, while informal learning comprises of peer group discussion and journal review. Both elements have been essential in making e-learning a success and in creating a lifelong learning culture in SGH.

Education, Distance↗

PubMed1998

Acquisition of post-morbid vocabulary and semantic facts in the absence of episodic memory.

Disagreement exists in the literature over whether it is possible for new semantic (factual) information to be learned in the absence of episodic (event) memory. We report the case of R.S., a 49-year-old amnesic man, who we found to have acquired information about famous people, public events and new vocabulary during the 13-year period since he became amnesic, despite having no measurable anterograde episodic memory function and a profound loss of autobiographical memory. These data suggest that at least some severe amnesics are able to acquire new semantic knowledge, provided that critical temporal neocortical regions are spared. We discuss these findings in the context of recent connectionist models of memory.

Amnesia↗

PubMed1994

Issues in chemical dependency treatment and aftercare for people with learning differences.

Without major adaptations, current substance abuse treatment models may not be productive for people with learning differences. The study described in this article examined ways to create accessibility to generic chemical dependency treatment for people with learning differences. A key informant survey of chemical dependency workers and developmental disabilities workers was conducted to determine the needs of chemical dependency treatment programs, staff, and people with learning differences in making treatment accessible. Training and information needs were identified, and responses were compared between the two groups of providers. Chemical dependency treatment staff need more information and training on differing learning and socialization skills, differences in reading comprehension, and personal prejudices or stereotypes. In-depth screening is also required to determine the appropriateness of integrated or specialized services or some combination of both.

Adult↗

PubMed2000

The effect of semantic cuing on CVLT performance in healthy participants. California Verbal Learning Test.

The California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) is a widely used measure of verbal learning and memory; however, there is little empirical evidence about the effects of the administration procedure on the test results. The primary goal of this study was to examine the effect of the semantic cuing condition on subsequent free recall of the material. A secondary goal was to assess whether prior knowledge that the words on the list are drawn from four semantic categories would enhance recall. Participants were 154 young healthy adults. The results suggested that participants who received semantic cuing according to the standardized test instructions generated the same number of correct words on the delayed free recall of the list as did those who did not receive cuing. Cuing did, however, lead participants to use greater semantic clustering in their delayed recall of the list. Participants who were provided with information prior to learning about the semantic structure of the test did not show enhanced learning relative to those who did not receive this information. We conclude that semantic cuing on the CVLT does not substantially enhance delayed recall of the material in healthy participants, although it is quite possible that cuing would have a greater effect in patients who have poor semantic organizational skills.

Adult↗

PubMed2001

Procedural motor learning in Parkinson's disease.

We have been investigating motor control and learning in parkinsonian subjects. In the current study, we sought to explore the existence of deficits in procedural motor learning, which is a form of implicit motor learning where skill improves over repetitive blocks of trials. We sought to determine, in particular, whether any such deficit is accentuated during specific types or phases of learning. We would expect that those specific learning tasks would require the greatest participation of the basal ganglia. Numerous studies have found that Parkinson's disease (PD) patients may show deficits in learning. Combined with information about basal ganglia neuronal connections and activity, this led some investigators to suggest that one of the key functions of the basal ganglia is to facilitate learning. To investigate these learning deficits, we used a robotic device to generate conservative force fields that disturbed the subjects' arm movements, thereby generating a "virtual mechanical environment" that subjects learned to manipulate. Movements were successively grouped into blocks comprising five different conditions: motor performance, early learning, late learning, negative transfer, and aftereffect motor performance. Our results with eight right-handed PD subjects and nine age-matched controls showed a relative decrease in the rate of learning for the PD patients in all blocks, but greater differences emerged between groups during novelty phases of learning. In particular, the difference in performance during the negative transfer condition reached statistical significance, suggesting that the basal ganglia might be a key center for "switching" motor patterns. Our results support the hypothesis that deficiencies in procedural motor learning are characteristic of PD. They add to existing evidence which has suggested a key role for the basal ganglia when new sensorimotor mappings are required by novel task environments. Better understanding of these deficits should facilitate the rehabilitation of PD patients.

Aged↗

PubMed1986

How dentists learned about resin-bonded prostheses.

The need and value to predict how dentists learn about new information after they graduate from dental school is important to educators. The results of a simple questionnaire designed to determine how dentists became aware of and later learned about the RBP has been presented. The authors believe that CDE should play a vital role in providing dentists with the awareness and knowledge of new dental technology.

Communication↗

PubMed2006

Fuzzy classification by fuzzy labeled neural gas.

We extend the neural gas for supervised fuzzy classification. In this way we are able to learn crisp as well as fuzzy clustering, given labeled data. Based on the neural gas cost function, we propose three different ways to incorporate the additional class information into the learning algorithm. We demonstrate the effect on the location of the prototypes and the classification accuracy. Further, we show that relevance learning can be easily included.

Algorithms↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[The reactivity of the hypophyseal-adrenal system in rats with different forms of adaptive behavioral pathology].

The dexamethasone suppression test (DST) was applied to male Wistar rats with different models of depression: group with the learned helplessness, group with informational neurosis provided by time-deficit conditioned avoidance training, as well as groups of rats of two strains selected for low (KLA)--and high (KHA) avoidance learning. The pre-dexamethasone basal and stress-induced corticosterone levels were similar in intact rats and those exposed to inescapable shock. The dexamethasone administration (5 mkg/kg) failed to decrease the serum corticosterone level in rats with learned helplessness. The informational neurosis increased significantly the basal corticosterone level and decreased the stress response. Serum corticosterone levels were similar in KLA and KHA rats. These results give evidence that two stress-induced rat models of depression with similar behavioural disturbances (reduction of escape/avoidance reactions) exhibit marked differences in the activity of hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

PubMed2004

Learning of ambiguous versus hybrid sequences by patients with Parkinson's disease.

Implicit motor learning as indexed by the serial reaction time (SRT) task has been shown to be impaired in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). This has only been conclusively demonstrated for sequences that require learning of second-order sequential information (ambiguous sequences). This study examines implicit learning of ambiguous sequences as well as sequences which contain first-order information (hybrid sequences) in a sample of 12 early to middle stage Parkinson's disease patients and matched controls. The study used dual-task methodology in order to prevent strategic/attentional learning of second-order information. The results showed that while ambiguous sequences were not learned by either group, both patient and control groups demonstrated learning of the hybrid sequence under dual-task conditions. This suggests that first-order associations may be learned by people with Parkinson's disease, even under attentionally demanding conditions. This may be interpreted as providing evidence for a non-attentional learning mechanism which is relatively intact in Parkinson's disease.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Lessons learned from a pilot implementation of the UMLS information sources map.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the software design issues involved in implementing an operational information sources map (ISM) knowledge base (KB) and system of navigational tools that can help medical users access network-based information sources relevant to a biomedical question. DESIGN: A pilot biomedical ISM KB and associated client-server software (ISM/Explorer) have been developed to help students, clinicians, researchers, and staff access network-based information sources, as part of the National Library of Medicine's (NLM) multi-institutional Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) project. The system allows the user to specify and constrain a search for a biomedical question of interest. The system then returns a list of sources matching the search. At this point the user may request 1) further information about a source, 2) that the list of sources be regrouped by different criteria to allow the user to get a better overall appreciation of the set of retrieved sources as a whole, or 3) automatic connection to a source. RESULTS: The pilot system operates in client-server mode and currently contains coded information for 121 sources. It is in routine use from approximately 40 workstations at the Yale School of Medicine. The lessons that have been learned are that: 1) it is important to make access to different versions of a source as seamless as possible, 2) achieving seamless, cross-platform access to heterogeneous sources is difficult, 3) significant differences exist between coding the subject content of an electronic information resource versus that of an article or a book, 4) customizing the ISM to multiple institutions entails significant complexities, and 5) there are many design trade-offs between specifying searches and viewing sets of retrieved sources that must be taken into consideration. CONCLUSION: An ISM KB and navigational tools have been constructed. In the process, much has been learned about the complexities of development and evaluation in this new environment, which are different from those for Gopher, wide area information servers (WAIS), World-Wide-Web (WWW), and MOSAIC resources.

Abstracting and Indexing↗

PubMed2003

Neural encoding in ventral striatum during olfactory discrimination learning.

A growing body of evidence implicates the ventral striatum in using information acquired through associative learning. The present study examined the activity of ventral striatal neurons in awake, behaving rats during go/no-go odor discrimination learning and reversal. Many neurons fired selectively to odor cues predictive of either appetitive (sucrose) or aversive (quinine) outcomes. Few neurons were selective when first exposed to the odors, but many acquired this differential activity as rats learned the significance of the cues. A substantial proportion of these neurons encoded the cues' learned motivational significance, and these neurons tended to reverse their firing selectivity after reversal of odor-outcome contingencies. Other neurons that became selectively activated during learning did not reverse, but instead appeared to encode specific combinations of cues and associated motor responses. The results support a role for ventral striatum in using the learned significance, both appetitive and aversive, of predictive cues to guide behavior.

Action Potentials↗

PubMed1992

The perspectives of mothers whose children are in special day classes for learning disabilities.

This article presents information about the attitudes and beliefs of mothers concerning their children in learning disabilities classes. Four mothers were interviewed over a 1-year period. Their comments about services provided by educational and mental health professionals indicated high levels of frustration and dissatisfaction. Parental expectations and perspectives differed from those of educators. Participants and educators were found to view learning disabilities differently.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Lifelong learning. Why professionals must have the desire for and the capacity to continue learning throughout life.

This paper will outline the theoretical constructs pertaining to lifelong learning, adult education, continuing professional development and the learning society. The need for all professionals to have highly developed learning skills in a society racing with change is evident. Pressures placed on health information managers to continue their learning beyond graduation are many and varied. Continuing professional education is one avenue that enables health information managers to continue their learning beyond graduation. Attributes of a typical lifelong learner are included in this paper to enable readers to self-assess their capacity for continued learning and their desire to undertake it. The paper concludes with a list of strategies for learners to enhance their lifelong learning skills. The role that educators can play in developing lifelong learning competence in students and graduates is also outlined.

Adult↗

PubMed2000

Primary care physicians and their information-seeking behaviour.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate primary care physicians' continuing medical education (CME) and their information-seeking behaviour and to compare it with that of hospital doctors DESIGN: Postal survey of Norwegian physicians. SUBJECTS: 1276 physicians (response rate 78%), 283 primary care physicians, 741 hospital doctors. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Self-perceived ability to cope with medical knowledge and self-reported CME activities. RESULTS: Two out of three doctors thought they could cope with the increasing flow of medical information. Courses, meetings and congresses were considered the most important CME activities. Primary care physicians spent less than 3 hours per week on medical reading, compared with more than 4.5 hours among hospital doctors; 59% of primary care physicians had access to the Internet compared with 76% among hospital doctors. Time spent on medical reading and formalized courses decreased from 1993 to 1999 for all groups of physicians. CONCLUSION: Primary care physicians rely on several information sources in their professional updating. They pay less attention to informal ways of learning than their hospital colleagues do.

Adult↗