http://dspace.uta.edu:80 The ResearchCommons digital repository system captures, stores, indexes, preserves, and distributes digital research material. Wed, 16 May 2012 13:48:05 GMT 2012-05-16T13:48:05Z http://hdl.handle.net/10106/9717 Evaluating Website Resources Hough, Helen At many workplaces there is one person known for sharing interesting bits of information by forwarding e-mails or bringing in newspaper and Internet articles. While cartoons and jokes may be amusing, sometimes the information is composed of doubtful facts, including terrible crime threats, political scandals, and unusual medical treatments. The same stories that might have been kindly dismissed when discussed in the break room are somehow thought to be more substantial and reliable because they are in print. Casually judging the value of these stories is easy when the outcome is unimportant. The evaluation of information is more difficult when the outcome is more significant, such as when people’s health or lives are involved. The provision of good health care should be supported by current, reliable, and authoritative information. Evaluating sources is an important health care skill. KEY POINTS • The evaluation of websites can be made easier by using relevancy and reliability criteria. • The contents of webpages are relevant when they meet the needs of the viewers in terms of content purpose, coverage, language, and timeliness. • Reliability can be assessed when there is information about the author and hosting site along with contact data, good spelling and grammar, and the date of creation. • Most importantly, viewers have to trust their knowledge and determine if the information is accurate, objective, and supported by appropriate references and links. • Use of a tool can make systematic evaluation of websites consistent, particularly when these resources are needed as information support in a perioperative nursing project. Fri, 01 Jun 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10106/9717 2012-06-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10106/9716 Cyber Diving: Information Searching Hough, Helen As health care providers, we want to be able to provide the best care to our patients. Occasionally we observe that some caring process may not be the most effective it could or should be. Some of these processes are direct patient interactions, disease prevention, and intervention, but the idea of best care can be related to the timeliness and cost of that care. Best care is based on evidence indicating that the care provided is the best that can be done and that it is done at the most appropriate level. This evidence is derived through research and expert consensus efforts. The evidence is then documented and published so it can be disseminated to the health care providers who need it. Continuing education is one way of renewing our knowledge and discovering some of the most common methods of providing quality care. When questions arise related to a specific local provision of care, a person may need to create the time to investigate these perceived problems. Sharing the solutions through inservice, teaching, and writing for publication can also benefit others outside of an immediate practice and thereby improve care for all. KEY POINTS • Formal analysis of a research problem can help structure a literature search. • Different Internet search engines have many useful features for focusing the search. • Understanding the provenance of documents also focuses the search. • Search engines and literature databases use special commands called Boolean operators to combine search terms. • Using these techniques when searching in Internet search engines, Google Scholar, and specialized databases including PubMed, CINAHL, and PsycInfo yields excellent results. • In addition to immediate full-text or purchase there are several other options that perioperative nurses can use to obtain discovered resources. Fri, 01 Jun 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10106/9716 2012-06-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10106/9712 Spreadsheet and Relational Database Programs: Useful Tools for Perioperative Nurses Newcomb, Patricia Information management has become a critical skill for all nurse professionals, including perioperative registered nurses (RNs). In perioperative nursing, combinations of high-touch and high-tech patient needs require staff to be acutely aware clinically. Staff members are focused on responsibilities for assessing, monitoring, and intervening in specific patient situations and may miss the importance of learning to successfully manage amounts of data greater than those generated by one patient at one particular time. When staff nurses and managers begin to think about collecting evidence to demonstrate the quality of their performance or when they begin to express the wish to test their hunches about the factors that influence patient outcomes in their units the time to develop competencies in formal data management has arrived. Fortunately, the challenges of learning to organize and manipulate data do not approach the difficulty of the challenges faced by perioperative nurses in practice on a daily basis. KEY POINTS • Clinicians should be aware that simple spreadsheet programs are usually available on computers in nursing units and can be useful tools for staff nurses. • In the absence of commercial reference management software, a spreadsheet program can efficiently organize literature for evidence-based projects. • Simple spreadsheet programs can be used to organize and analyze data collected in research or evidence-based projects. Fri, 01 Jun 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10106/9712 2012-06-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10106/9710 A Virtual Learning Environment for Perioperative Continuing Nursing Education McKenna, Toni Exploring new worlds and creative approaches to delivering continuing education is an adventure worth taking! The basic requirement of content that advances the skills and abilities of the registered nurse (RN) can be met in a number of ways. What is clear though is that continuing education is most effective when the experience fully engages learners, expands their skills and knowledge, provides expert information and opportunity for networking, and entices them to learn more.1 This article describes how a virtual-world learning environment (Second Life, or SL) was used as a venue for an interactive and creative continuing nursing education activity and the positive outcomes that were achieved for the participants KEY POINTS • Second Life is a virtual-world learning environment that can serve as a venue for creative and engaging continuing nursing education. • A virtual world is an on-line, three-dimensional graphical, multimedia environment where individuals are represented by avatars (digital versions of self). • Clinical educators in all nursing and healthcare specialties should be aware of the advantages and many potential uses of Second Life. Fri, 01 Jun 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10106/9710 2012-06-01T00:00:00Z