Author Archives: Jill Turner

MedPage Today

medpage today website logo

Want a way to stay up to date on the latest medical news? Check out MedPage Today. MedPage Today is an excellent reliable source for breaking medical news brought to you by the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. You can browse medical news by specialty, including nursing. News postings have been peer reviewed by Perelman School of Medicine Continuing Medical Education.

In order to see the postings in full, you must register. Registration is free, and by registering, you can receive customized news (practice and policy). Other resources available on MedPage Today include access to clinical databases: drugs, disease, procedures, clinical checklists, and labs (under resources tab). The Education tab offers CME/ CE’s but these seem to be geared more for physicians rather than nurses.

MedPage TodayMedPage Today also has an app available for downloading to your mobile device to make following medical news more convenient. Download the app from the itunes store or the Android Marketplace.

 

Jill Turner, Librarian

 

 

Nursing eBooks / textbooks available!

How to Read A Paper coverNursing and medical books can be fairly expensive, as you well know. For that reason, I try to purchase a copy of each classes’ required textbooks. These books are put on reserve, which means they cannot leave the library. I do this so many students can get a chance to use the books.

Additionally, whenever I order books for the nursing programs, my preference is to purchase electronic copies. Many UDM nursing students are rarely, if ever, on campus. It makes sense to have books available online rather than languishing in the confines of the library.

The simplest method for finding eBooks is to search for the title of the book in the catalog. Once you have found the book you want in the catalog, click on either the blue “GO” button:    Go Button

or click the linked phrase: “Click here to view ebook.

Click here to view eBook

If you have any questions about finding and using library resources, don’t hesitate to contact me.

Jill Turner, Nursing Library Liaison

 

NCLEX Practice Exams in LearningExpress Library

learning ex lib logoSeniors are getting ready to graduate and prepare for the next step in their nursing careers … taking the NCLEX exam. There is an online resource that can help you prep: LearningExpress Library. LearningExpress Library is an interactive online learning platform of practice tests designed to help students and adult learners succeed on academic or licensing tests. LearningExpress Library includes three NCLEX-RN practice tests, a Flash Review, and one “Power Practice”, which includes “two full-length practice exams based on the official test, with detailed answer explanations for each answer choice”.

You will need to register for an account (it’s free) within Learning Express Library, so the system can track your progress. Create an account by clicking the “Login” link in the top right corner of the webpage.

LearningExpress Library! login

 

To find LearningExpress Library, go to the Nursing homepage then open the “Scholarly Articles and Databases” link. Scroll down and click the “NCLEX Resources” link and Learning Express Library is the next option. Click on the “Nursing and Allied Health” link, then the “Licensure and Certification Test Preparation” link. The tests are listed alphabetically, so scroll down until you see the NCLEX options.

LearningExpress Library NCLEX

 

Don’t forget to check the library catalog for print NCLEX study materials!

Good Luck … and don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions.

 

Jill

A New Benefit to using My NCBI (PubMed Account)

PubMed logoJust like in CINAHL, you can create an account in PubMed in which you can save citations or searches.  The “portal” into personal accounts is called My NCBI. You can create an account by clicking the My NCBI link in the top right corner of PubMed.

MyNCBI log in

The newest benefit to searching PubMed when signed into your My NCBI account: Recent Activity. PubMed will automatically save your search activity for 6 months. So, that search I assisted a student with back in October 2013? Still there. The search I ran for one of the dental school administrators in September 2013? Still there. If for some reason I needed to access either one of those search results, I would not have to re-create my work. I could go to my Recent Activity within my MY NCBI account and find the search. What a time saver … especially if you are completing part 2 of a research assignment!

PubMed recent activity

Questions? Don’t hesitate to call me!

Jill

Tap Into Your Inner Pathologist with Virtual Autopsy

Da_Vinci_Vitruve_croppedVirtual Autopsy is a website created by Ajay Mark Verma at the University of Leicester. It takes users through  …  a virtual autopsy. Users pick one of 18 possible cases (located on the left side of the webpage). Virtual Autopsy then gives the patient’s case history: previous history and history on admission. Users can click on the various systems of an interactive cadaver to see the results of the physical exam. The results are mostly narrative, but there is the occasional photo.

Then, it’s time to play Pathologist. When you click on the “Cause of Death” link at the bottom of the page, the site gives several possible causes. After evaluating all of the “evidence”, you choose the disease or disorder that most likely caused the patient to expire. If you are wrong, the site will give you hints to guide you to the correct choice.

So, when you need a break from your studies, give Virtual Autopsy a try. Very interesting!!

Click the link above or the Vitruvian Man image to go to the website ((http://www.le.ac.uk/pathology/teach/va/titlpag1.html))

Jill

 

 

BMJ: The survival time of chocolates on hospital wards: covert observational study

I realize most of you would like to take a break from school and reading class required materials, but for those of you who want to stay in “academic” shape, the British Medical Journal‘s 2013 Christmas research was published a few days ago… enjoy!

800px-Chocolates_closeup

If you are interested in reading the full article, here is the link: BMJ 2013;347:f7198

Objective To quantify the consumption of chocolates in a hospital ward environment.

Design Multicentre, prospective, covert observational study.

Setting Four wards at three hospitals (where the authors worked) within the United Kingdom.

Participants Boxes of Quality Street (Nestlé) and Roses (Cadbury) on the ward and anyone eating these chocolates.

Intervention Observers covertly placed two 350 g boxes of Quality Street and Roses chocolates on each ward (eight boxes were used in the study containing a total of 258 individual chocolates). These boxes were kept under continuous covert surveillance, with the time recorded when each chocolate was eaten.

Main outcome measure Median survival time of a chocolate.

Results 191 out of 258 (74%) chocolates were observed being eaten. The mean total observation period was 254 minutes (95% confidence interval 179 to 329). The median survival time of a chocolate was 51 minutes (39 to 63). The model of chocolate consumption was non-linear, with an initial rapid rate of consumption that slowed with time. An exponential decay model best fitted these findings (model R2=0.844, P<0.001), with a survival half life (time taken for 50% of the chocolates to be eaten) of 99 minutes. The mean time taken to open a box of chocolates from first appearance on the ward was 12 minutes (95% confidence interval 0 to 24). Quality Street chocolates survived longer than Roses chocolates (hazard ratio for survival of Roses v Quality Street 0.70, 95% confidence interval 0.53 to 0.93, P=0.014). The highest percentages of chocolates were consumed by healthcare assistants (28%) and nurses (28%), followed by doctors (15%).

Conclusions From our observational study, chocolate survival in a hospital ward was relatively short, and was modelled well by an exponential decay model. Roses chocolates were preferentially consumed to Quality Street chocolates in a ward setting. Chocolates were consumed primarily by healthcare assistants and nurses, followed by doctors. Further practical studies are needed.

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Jill

 

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