Category Archives: Uncategorized

“Bad” Science and Evidence-based Practice

I am a huge fan of Ben Goldacre, author, physician, and crusader against “bad science”. Dr. Goldacre has written two excellent books about the misuse of science and statistics by politicians, charlatans, and drug companies. His writing is witty, interesting, and the explanations of the faulty “science” are easy to understand. And, oh, by the way … we have both in the library   Bad Science (2008) has chapters that talk about the misleading science behind cosmetic ad claims, homeopathy,...

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Uncategorized Updated: June 25, 2015

Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus: 17th century BC

The National Library of Medicine has provided online access to the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus. The papyrus was discovered in Egypt by American archeologist Edwin Smith in the 1860′s. The text is thought to have been created around 1600 BC. Written in Ancient Egyptian hieratic script, the papyrus contains 48 cases of wounds and trauma and offers a detailed description of the injuries, diagnoses, prognoses, and treatments. The original papyrus currently resides at the Library of the New York Academy...

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Uncategorized , , , Updated: June 9, 2015

Retraction Watch

Retraction Watch is a fascinating blog devoted to, you guessed it, research article retractions.  Created by two medical reporters, Retraction Watch provides a venue for publicizing retractions and offers a forum for a discussion of those retractions. Over the years there have been several researchers’ retractions that have been elevated to the realm of the infamous: Andrew Wakefield’s research linking the MMR vaccine to autism; Anil Potti, the former Duke researcher accused of lying about his qualifications on a grant...

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Uncategorized Updated: May 27, 2015

Frontline documentary – Outbreak

Check out the Frontline documentary about the inside story of the Ebola outbreak entitled … Outbreak. Frontline addresses how the outbreak began and why it wasn’t able to be stopped earlier. Currently, the epidemic has been mostly contained, but WHO readily admits they are unprepared for the next pandemic. The video is slightly over 54 minutes in length. Jill...

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Uncategorized , , Updated: May 13, 2015

Khan Academy – NCLEX-RN

Did you know that the Khan Academy has an NCLEX-RN Test prep section? According the the Khan Academy website, the content has been “created under the direction of Khan Academy and has been reviewed under the direction of the the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN).” Content is organized by body systems, then into subsets within each system, then into individual lessons. For example, the Circulatory Systems Diseases section contains the following among its listings: cardiac dysrhythmias and tachycardias...

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Uncategorized , Updated: March 31, 2015

Accuracy of Google Translate in a medical context

It is frustrating to find the “perfect” article only to discover that the full text is not in English. Have you ever used Google Translate to convert an other-than-English medical article into English for one of your nursing assignments? Have you ever wondered how accurate the resulting translation was? In December 2014, BMJ published an article evaluating the accuracy of Google Translate when used to translate common medical statements (Use of Google Translate in medical communication: evaluation of accuracy). The...

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Uncategorized Updated: March 17, 2015

Black History Month – Mary Eliza Mahoney

In honor of  Black History month, I wanted to write a post highlighting an African American nurse leader: Mary Eliza Mahoney. Ms. Mahoney was the first African American to earn a nursing degree and practice as a professional nurse. She graduated in 1879 from the New England Hospital for Women and Children Training School for Nurses where she was only 1 of 3 to complete the challenging program. Ms. Mahoney spent her career practicing private duty nursing in and around...

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Uncategorized , Updated: February 26, 2015

AJN’s 2014 Book of the Year Award Winners

As many of you know, each January, the American Journal of Nursing publishes their annual Book of the Year Awards. Many of these books are available as eBooks through the UDM library. See the Nursing Library Guide for direct links to this year’s winners. Simply click on the book covers or the titles. You will be directed to Blackboard to sign in. After signing in, you will have complete access to the book. For a complete listing of the 2014...

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Uncategorized , Updated: February 12, 2015

CINAHL: Evidence Based Practice Limit

CINAHL is a super flexible database in terms of its availability of limiters. One caveat, however, when it comes to applying limits … you need to understand what happens when you apply a particular limit. For example… the Evidence Based Practice limit… When you choose this limit, your results will be limited to a specific subset of journals that have been identified as Evidenced Based Practice (EBP) in the “Special Interest” field. These are journals that focus on the application...

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Uncategorized , , Updated: January 24, 2015
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