Navigating your information landscape in medical education

1. Navigating your information
landscape
Lauren Maggio PhD
@laurenmaggio
Associate Professor of Medicine
Associate Director of Distributed Learning and Technology
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

2. Disclaimer
The views expressed in this presentation are
those of the presenter and do not necessarily
reflect the official policy or position of the
Uniformed Services University of the Health
Sciences, the Department of Defense, or the
U.S. Government.
Navigating your information landscape
@laurenmaggio

3. Objectives
• Identify new information resources
• Find curricular and assessment materials
• Discuss pros and cons of a variety of
information resources
Navigating your information landscape
@laurenmaggio

4. Why search the literature?
Navigating your information landscape
@laurenmaggio

5. Why search the literature?
• Refine your question of interest
• Read about what has been tried
• Identify a conceptual / theoretical
framework
• Find collaborators
• Locate funding sources
• Build an argument for your work
Navigating your information landscape
@laurenmaggio

6. Avoid desk reject…
• 369 (65%) of submissions to Academic Medicine
were rejected prior to external review because:
– 26% asked question that failed to move the
literature forward
– 14% question not well defined
– 12% topic irrelevant to journal’s mission
Meyer H, et. al (2018). Making the First Cut: An Analysis of Academic
Medicine Editors’ Reasons for Not Sending Manuscripts Out for Peer
Review. Acad Med. 10.1097/ACM.0000000000001860
Navigating your information landscape
@laurenmaggio

7. Where to begin:
The research question

8. Scenario
My institution is considering moving
our medical students from a lecture-
based curriculum to one that
emphasizes online learning. Is there
evidence that an online approach is
more effective in improving learning
than lecture?

9. PICO
P – Population
(Who are you studying?)
I -- Intervention
(What are you going to do to them?)
C -- Comparison
(As compared to what?)
O -- Outcome
(What do you hope will happen?)
Navigating your information landscape
@laurenmaggio

10. PICO
P – Medical Students
(Who are you studying?)
I – Online learning
(What are you going to do to them?)
C – Lectures
(As compared to what?)
O – Improved learning
(What do you hope will happen?)
Navigating your information landscape
@laurenmaggio

11. For medical
students does the
use of online
learning in
comparison to
lecture provide
improved learning?
Navigating your information landscape
@laurenmaggio

12. A note about qualitative research…
Navigating your information landscape
@laurenmaggio

13. From question to search
strategy…
• Use PICO to generate a list of search terms
– Think about alternate terms (e.g. online
learning, e-learning, distance learning, etc.)
– Inspect relevant papers to identify terms
• Check database help pages to:
– Learn how to best combine search terms
– Determine if it has a thesaurus of preferred terms
(e.g., MeSH terms)

14. The Challenge
You have been tasked with
determining if for medical students
the use of online learning in
comparison to lectures provides
improved learning?
Navigating your information landscape
@laurenmaggio

15. Navigating your information landscape
@laurenmaggio
Advanced Search
(for now…)

16. Keep in mind…Google Scholar
• Searches scholarly literature across disciplines
and sources, including theses, books, meeting
abstracts and articles
• Searches full-text of some journal articles and
books
• Target your search using advanced search features
• Personalize your experience via settings
• Look beyond the first results page
Navigating your information landscape
@laurenmaggio

17. Navigating your information landscape
@laurenmaggio
Google Wikipedia

18. Keep in mind…Wikipedia
• It’s a starting point just like any
encyclopedia; use references as launch pad
• Check the Talk and History pages
–Does the entry of interest have a grade?
–How has the entry unfolded?
• You can contribute!
Navigating your information landscape
@laurenmaggio

19. Navigating your information landscape
@laurenmaggio

20. Keep in mind…PubMed
• Includes citations from 6,000+ journals and online
books (i.e., not everything)
• Most valuable when linked to the your library
• It aims to please by returning lots of citations
–Use limits
–Rank by “best match”
–Target your search using Advanced Search
–Organize findings using MyNCBI

21. Navigating your information landscape
@laurenmaggio

22. Keep in mind….MedEdPORTAL
• MedEdPORTAL is now a journal
– New context is indexed in Medline and findable in
PubMed
• Covers multiple health professions
• All content freely available at mededportal.org/
Navigating your information landscape
@laurenmaggio

23. Navigating your information landscape
@laurenmaggio
ERIC.ed.gov

24. Keep in mind…ERIC
• Includes citations for 600+ journals, dissertations,
reports, lesson plans, etc.
• Covers all education levels, including professional
education
• Freely available at eric.ed.gov, but may also be
available via your library
• Includes limits for publication type, education
level, audience
Navigating your information landscape
@laurenmaggio

25. NARCIS
www.narcis.nl
Navigating your information landscape
@laurenmaggio

26. Other literature resources to consider
(subscription)
• Scopus
• Web of Science
• CINAHL
• PsycINFO
• Sociological Abstracts
• Best Evidence in Medical Education
(BEME)
• Business Source Premier
Navigating your information landscape
@laurenmaggio

27. Resources for questionnaires, tests &
surveys
• Health and Psychosocial Instruments
(HAPI)
• National Information Center on Health
Services Research and Health Care
Technology
• Mental Measurements Year Book
Navigating your information landscape
@laurenmaggio

28. Reference Managers
• Zotero https://www.zotero.org/
• EndNote http://www.endnote.com/
• Refworks https://www.refworks.com/
• Mendeley https://www.mendeley.com/
• Papers http://www.papersapp.com/

29. Other valuable resources in your
information landscape:
• Your medical librarian
• Twitter:
–Ex: #meded, #foamed, #hmieducators…
• Podcasts
–Ex: KeyLIME (Key Literature in Med Ed)
• Blogs
–Ex: ALiEM (Academic Life in Emer Med)

30. Altmetrics

32. Questions??

33. Thank you!
• Questions
• Suggestions
• Comments