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Course Materials... Here are many health-related
research tools that I have gathered while teaching Health and Community
Services courses at California State University. Please read through
this entire section and use this as a general reference site for all
of the Modules and Activities. I also recommend that you read through
the Evaluating a Web Site section below. Here are the latest additions to the site: http://www.medterms.com/ definitions for over 10,000 medical terms. http://www.healthweb.org/ this site is divided into sections with terms, links, etc. http://www.webmd.com/ lookup a health condition, research medical information, etc. http://www.healthfinder.gov/ government’s health library with lots of useful information. http://www.rxlist.com http://www.drugs.com drugs To reduce the number of commercial hits: add site:edu "Controversy" added to search finds information about any problems with new medications, etc. As you may know, Google is considered to be the best search engine as far as the total number of sites that it references. Here is an excellent handout for using some of the advanced features (click here). http://www.google.com/options/specialsearches.html Try here for some of the Google special searches. http://toolbar.google.com Here is where you can get Google's official toolbar. You can also find specialized toolbars: toolbar biology download http://bookmarklets.com/ they add search options, translate, resize windows, etc. http://www.formresources.com free online calculators- sports, news, genealogy, etc. http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia technology encyclopedia http://www.vmyths.com Virus myths http://www.glossarist.com encyclopedias from many subjects- health, fitness, media, etc. The Invisible Web-Here is a site I developed that has links to a large number of content-rich databases from universities, libraries, associations, businesses and government agencies are almost invisible to average search engines such as Google, Lycos and Yahoo. One reason is because these search engines are not able to actually run the databases on these sites and often will simply overlook them. Sometimes these huge databases will make no attempt to advertise themselves (with meta tags, etc) and are never catalogued by the search engines. Ingenta- One of the world's largest websites for the search and delivery of research articles, ingenta.com offers you access to article summaries from over 25,000 publications linked to the full text of over 5,200 titles. Full text access is available for subscribers. Non-subscribers can pay-per-vie most of the articles. OMNI evaluation of MEDLINE services. This site provides links and a brief description of many Medline access sites available on the Internet. Diseases/Disorders An extensive list of diseases with many referral links. Hardin Meta Directory This site also provides an extensive set of links for many health conditions. Medicinenet Provides an extensive set of links with a description of the illness, questions and answers, etc. Healthsquare- Links and descriptions of most pharmeceutical drugs. RxList The Internet Drug Index. PharmWeb Yellow pages Complete list of pharmaceutical companies on the web. Medical dictionaries, databases, glossaries Lots of links to various health dictionaries. HerbMed® - An electronic herbal database and provides hyperlinked access to the scientific data underlying the use of herbs for health. AllRefer- This large site has resources for many different diseases and conditions, along with health related images, reference materials and other topics. Medical News and Information Sources- links to media resources, journals and specialized databases. Research databases- Here are some powerful databases and unique search engines that I have discovered recently: http://www.completeplanet.com
Over 100,000 searchable databases and speciality search engines. These sites provide an overview of what is available in general health-related research. By going to one site you will often find links to other reliable sites. Please remember that new sites regularly appear and old sites quit operation. Try some of the search techniques covered in this course if you want to expand the list. Medscape This site is intended for health professionals or members of the general public who are interested in doing their own online research. The Medscape site provides access to news articles, product information and other research organized into categories such as: AIDS, immunology, surgery, managed care and other topics. You can get access to MEDLINE, a source of thousands of medical journal articles. Internet address: http://www.medscape.com/ National Institutes of Health Home Page One of eight health agencies of the Public Health Service, NIH has 70 buildings on more than 300 acres in Bethesda, MD. Visit this site to find information on various health conditions, research opportunities, a calendar of events, library services, and much more. http://www.nih.gov/ The "Virtual" Medical Center- Martindale's Health Science Guide This huge site provides access to approximately 43,000 Multimedia Teaching Files, 1,100 Multimedia Tutorials, 2,850 Databases, 726 Multimedia Courses, along with case studies, online journals & dictionaries, teaching files, patent searches, travel warnings, employment, and many other topics. http://www.martindalecenter.com/HSGuide.html Healthtouch This site has links to many useful tools such as: Pharmacy Information: users can look up prescription or over-the-counter medications and locate pharmacies in their community. Health Information- find up-to-date information on health, wellness, diseases, and illnesses. Product Information- look up information from manufacturers on pharmaceutical and over-the-counter drug products, etc. http://www.healthtouch.com/ Go Ask Alice, A Health Question & Answer at Columbia University Hundreds of health-related questions & answers on such topics as eye problems, blood pressure antibiotics, birth control, weight management etc. Anyone can post a question that will eventually be answered by Columbia University professors. http://www.columbia.edu/cu/healthwise/alice.html Health savings information As mentioned in the introduction, I have collected some materials about how anyone can save money on their medical expenses. This section has information about receiving free health care through the Hill-Burton Act, pharmaceutical assistance programs, self-diagnostic resources and much more. go to http://www.csuchico.edu/~csu/course/savings.html Consumer Information Center The U.S. government publishes numerous consumer information booklets. Now the General Services Administration maintains the catalog online, and in addition to being able to order the catalog, you can browse it. http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/ HealthExec Online Healthcare industry resource with reviews and commentary on healthcare management, finance, information systems, etc. http://www.phoenixhealth.com/ World Health Organization An extensive site that has access to many of WHO's resources such as World Health Report, Weekly Epidemiological Record, Statistical Information System International Travel and Health, WHO Library, etc. http://www.who.ch/ SunSite from the Science University of Tokyo Offers information and links to hundreds of medical sites throughout the world, along with a software archive. Go to the Index for best search results. http://sunsite.sut.ac.jp/ Links to medical libraries: http://www.arcade.uiowa.edu/hardin-www/hslibs.html and http://www.libraryspot.com/ New medical search engine http://mediwarp.com/ These sites provide a general overview of what is available in several main areas of medical research. By going to one site you will often find links to other relivant health-related sites. Please remember that new sites regularly appear and old sites quit operation. All of these links were checked in October, 2001 and most should still be in operation. Try some of the search techniques mentioned earlier if you want to expand this list. AIDS: National Center for HIV, STD, And TB Prevention (NCHSTP). Here is a site that contains good basic information about AIDS along with a variety of links to other organizations, conferences, publications, etc. http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/hiv_aids/dhap.htm Allergies: Welcome to the Online Allergy Center. Users can browse and learn how to treat the more aggravating allergy symptoms, get information on food allergies, and read the latest news on allergies and their treatment. http://www.aaaai.org/ Alternative Health Care: The Alternative Medicine Homepage. The Falk Library of the Health Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh has compiled a comprehensive list of Internet resources with links to various studies of alternative therapies. Links provide access to sites with information on unconventional, unorthodox, complementary, therapies such as acupuncture, yoga, biofeedback, etc. http://www.pitt.edu/~cbw/altm.html Acupuncture.com This page by Al Stone serves as your basic introduction to acupuncture, with a comparison of Western and Eastern medicines, statistics on the effectiveness of acupuncture in improving various conditions, and an overview of the theory behind the treatment. http://www.acupuncture.com/ Holistic approaches to cancer care Mind-Body site: SelfGrowth.com is one of the largest resources for personal growth and self improvement. They provide hundreds of articles and organized links to over 4000 websites specializing in self-help. http://www.selfgrowth.com/ http://www.pitt.edu/~cbw/altm.html Cancer: Prostate Cancer Breast Cancer Information A comprehensive, informative Web site developed by the New York State Education and Research Network containing a full range of information and support services for breast cancer patients. http://nysernet.org/bcic/ International Myeloma Foundation Myeloma is an incurable bone cancer where blood plasma cells grow uncontrollably. The International Myeloma Foundation helps support research toward improved treatment and a cure, and promotes communication among patients for mutual support. An online newsletter that features patient-contributed articles, and an e-mail hotline to ask questions about myeloma and the foundation. http://www.comed.com/ OncoLink This site from the University of Pennsylvania provides resources covering general issues and specific cancer types, their progressions, treatment, research, and support groups. The support sections cover not only pain management, care givers, and suggestions of how patients, families and friends can cope with the disease, but also information about and links to support groups and the role of spirituality in cancer treatment. http://www.oncolink.upenn.edu/ CancerGuide: Steve Dunn's Cancer Information PageThis page differs from the Web's other resources for cancer patients in that it is maintained by a cancer patient, Steve Dunn, and concentrates on how patients can do their own research into their disease and evaluate available treatments. http://cancerguide.org NCCS Guide to Cancer Resources (CanSearch) This site sponsored by the National Coalition of Cancer Survivors takes users through the process of locating and accessing cancer-related information. http://www.cansearch.org/ Chronic Illness: The Center for Research on Chronic Illness (CRCI) is one of six specialized research centers funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research to promote nationwide excellence in nursing research. http://www.unc.edu/depts/crci/ Dental: Dentist Guide to the Internet. A review of dental products, continuing education and other useful links. http://www.useekufind.com/medent.htm Dental Links, New York University. This site provides links to dental schools and many related dental resources and organizations. http://www.nyu.edu/Dental/ed.html Diabetes: Children with DIABETES. The site for kids who have insulin-dependent diabetes, and their families, is a good repository for juvenile diabetes-related information and support. http://www.castleweb.com/diabetes/index.html Patient Information Documents on Diabetes. This site by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease of the National Institutes of Health provides a variety of research topics and links http://www.niddk.nih.gov/ Drugs: Healthtouch provides a variety of drug research services. http://www.healthtouch.com PXList is a search engine for various drug literature http://www.rxlist.com/ Heart: The Heart: An Online Exploration. This interactive tour, combining downloadable movies, sound and text, will show you how the heart works and how you can keep it healthy. http://sln2.fi.edu/biosci/heart.html Nursing Resources http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/nursingschools.htm Ocupational Therapy: Physical Therapy: American Physical Therapy Association. This site provides an online newsletter highlighting who's who in the profession, research news and fellowships, history of the profession, descriptions of what's involved in a course of therapy, and can access a referral service. Links are also provided to many other physical therapy resources on the Net. http://www.apta.org/ Also check out the following physical therapy link site: Self-diagnostic tools: The American Academy of Family Physicians offers some excellent self-care flowcharts (do-it-yourself diagnosis). http://www.familydoctor.org/symptom.xml Conditions & Ailments A-Z has comprehensive backgrounders on hundreds of ailments, excerpted from the bestselling book The Doctors Book of Home Remedies II http://www.prevention.com/ (Also, visit some of our ask-an-expert sites listed below). Veterans: Gulf War Veterans Resource Page. More than 50,000 veterans of the Persian Gulf War suffer a variety of ailments, the cause of which cannot be explained. Here you'll find a description of the problems, what's being done (and what's not being done), news, links to support organizations and other information. http://www.gulfweb.org/index.cfm ADVANCED ONLINE HEALTHCARE RESEARCH: Here are links to several different types of multiple search engines. These tools provide an excellent way to quickly examine the results from several search engines. Profusion: This is a multiple search engine that allows users to access close to 1,000 different search engines and databases. These include specialized search engines for many specific topics along with several of the well-known general search engines. http://www.profusion.com/ Dogpile: Another multiple search engine that takes a single query and processes it so that you will get results from major search engines such as About.com, DirectHit, AltaVista, etc. Another nice feature is Dogpile's ability to search newsgroups, online yellow pages, weather information, shareware archives, news headlines and lots more. http://www.dogpile.com/ MetaCrawler: Yet another multiple search engine. MetaCrawler collates results, eliminates duplication, scores the results and provides the user with a comprehensive list of relevant sites. MetaCrawler also offers users to limit their searches to specific parts of the world and other power-search options. http://www.metacrawler.com/ WebRing: These member Web sites have banded together to form their sites into linked circles (rings). This unique structure allows the creation and evolution of thousands of different "Web communities." Each ring was started and is maintained by an individual website owner. Through navigation links at the bottom of member pages, visitors can travel to all or any of the sites in a ring. You can move through a ring in different directions and survey all the sites that make up the ring. You can select a category of rings and then refine your search by searching within those rings. If you can't find a Ring that suits your needs, consider starting your own. http://dir.webring.com/rw Ask Jeeves!: With this natural language processing technology, you type a question for Jeeves just the way you'd phrase it if you were asking a friend. Jeeves has already researched thousands of questions, and has catalogued the answers to them so that you often get your answer quickly. Jeeves will also navigate through millions of Web sites to find questions not already in the archive. Jeeves attempts to answer questions of all types, serious or offbeat, business or personal. Jeeves determines both the meaning of the words in the question (semantic processing) as well as the meaning in the grammar of the question (syntactic processing). The Ask Jeeves knowledge base contains links to more than 7 million sources of answers, which contain information about the most frequently asked questions on the Internet. http://www.askjeeves.com/ Reference Desk: Here is a huge database of research tools that includes many different search engines, links to major newspapers and magazines, specialized dictionaries and calculators, advice from experts, and much more. http://refdesk Search Engine Colossus: Here are search engines from around 195 different countries. This site provides an interesting look at search engines from around the world, both general and specific. http://www.searchenginecolossus.com Boolean searches: You can focus many of your searches by using Boolean search logic. The easiest way to use the power of Boolean searches is to use quotes if your search uses more than "two words." This forces the search engine to find only those sites where both terms are together on the same paragraph. Otherwise you will get a lot of sites that are not closely related to what you are looking for. Some of the other common Boolean symbols are: & for And, | for Or, ~ for Not, etc. For example, if you needed information about childhood diabetes, you could perform a search for childhood & diabetes which would be much more effective than simply searching for both terms separately. You could also use other combination search terms such as childhood & diabetes & nutrition. Several search engines support Boolean searching, including Alta Vista (use their Advanced Search) and Yahoo. Here are some general tips for obtaining the best search results: These tips are are based on my own, and other's experiences in making a Web search as fast and efficient as possible. Persistance and common sense are probably the two most valuable characteristics in consistently finding high quality search results.
Web Robots (Bots) Bots are software robots that perform a variety of difficult and time-consuming tasks. An example would include: delivering specific news items gathered from many different sources on the Internet. Bots often work in the background so that you can go back to the task you were originally working on. List of all bots: this site claims to be a list of all known bots, and represents many different categories, including health and medicine. http://www.botspot.com/search/index.html HealthScout: asks you to register (free) and then provides a "7-minute checkup," which consists of a series of questions about your current medical condition. The questions cover such things as height and body weight, smoking, blood pressure, driving safety, and nutrition. After answering the questions, HealthScout will e-mail you a personal report which combines general advice on medical topics with specific advice calculated from your answers. HealthScout also offers a selection of recent medical news. You can also subscribe to HealthScout's urgent alerts, which notify you whenever there are new treatments relevant to you. http://www.healthscout.com WebMD: provides about twenty online communities that include everything from cancer to exercise and who offer free membership. Each community provides the opportunity to communicate with other users and also offers select personalized news items, based on choices that you provide. WebMD also contains health-related columns and articles that can be customized according to your interests. http://www.shn.net Other research tools: There are thousands of newsgroups from practically every subject you can imagine. Newsgroups provide a great way to communicate with others around the world who have the same interests as you do. You can look at what someone has posted and you can even look at the "related string" of messages that have been posted to the original question or statement. The best way to understand newsgroups is to take a look some of the sites available from the archives listed below. They have their own search engine that will allow you to find specific lists. Try this newsgroup search engine managed by Yahoo: http://groups.yahoo.com/
Internet mailing lists are also known as online discussion groups and offer anyone the chance to communicate with others about things that they are interested in. Mailing lists are similar to newsgroups except that you must subscribe to a list before you are allowed to read the messages. You can join a list by sending an e-mail message to that list's Internet address with the words: "subscribe, your name". Usually within 24 hours you receive a "welcome to the list" message along with some instructions on how to use the various features. Most of these messages are open letters from one member to another, discussing their latest personal experiences or research related to the list's topics. A high percentage of participants read messages but seldom write them and are known as "lurkers." Once you are a member of a discussion list, you can expect to receive from 5-100 daily e-mail messages from other members, so it is a good idea to only try one list at a time. If you ever decide that you want to quit the list, simply send another e-mail message that says: unsubscribe, your name. You can search for listservs on a particular topic by sending an e-mail to the host with the words, Subject: baseball (or whatever you are searching for). Some tips related to Internet mailing lists include: Make your message as specific as possible. Stick to the subject. Pay attention to how you label your message. Remember that you can send both public and private messages. Remember that these mailing lists go in and out of operation on a regular basis. Here are several sources for mailing lists: Health-Related Software Sites: Go to any of these sites below and use their built-in search engines to search for health and medical software. Some of these are commercial programs where you pay up front, and some are shareware programs where you can try the software before you buy it. http://pilot.msu.edu/user/heinric6/soft.htm These sites will provide you with information about medical studies (also called "clinical trials"). These research centers test new treatments for various diseases. Almost anyone with a health condition can participate in these clinical trails, often with satisfactory results. http://dir.yahoo.com/Health/Medicine/Clinical_Trials/ http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ Internet Service Providers: Many students ask me which Internet service provider I recommend for local Internet access. The following sites allow you to search and compare all of the local providers simply type in the telephone area code for the area that you want. Healthcare Job Placement Services: Pam Pholy's NetGuide: Health Care & Medical Employment http://members.aol.com/pjpohly/links.htm Nation Jobs Medical/Health Care Jobs Page. Hundreds of current medical job listings that can be searched by location, position type, salary, key-word, and more! http://www.nationjob.com/medical MedSearch Health Careers. Search for jobs, post your resume, communicate with other job seekers, research potential employers and many other features. http://www.medsearch.com/ JobHunt A Meta-list of On-Line Job Search Resources and Services. A huge collection of links to medical and scientific job placement agencies. http://www.job-hunt.org/science.shtml Physicians and Nursing Employment http://www.physemp.com/default.htm Many of the journal articles that we find on MEDLINE can be obtained directly from the individual publisher's Web site at no cost. The links below will provide you with access to hundreds of health and medical journal publishers. http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/md/ej.html http://www.ihr.com/publcons.html http://www.looksmart.com/ (search for "medical journals" from this general search site) Insurance Comparison Services: NetQuote Insurance Shopper- Access to insurance quotes from over 100 companies available on this Web site. Categories include life, health, group medical, auto, etc. Over 1 million customers since 1989. http://www.netquote.com A new service that claims to allow you to compare dozens of insurance companies and policies: http://www.ehealthinsurance.com HMO comparison guide http://hmos4seniors.com/ Health-related Dictionaries MedicineNet's Medical Dictionary. MedicineNet is a network of doctors producing medical information for the general public. This dictionary is comprehensive and easy-to-use. http://www.medicinenet.com/AlphaIdx.asp?li=MNI&p=A_DICT Used Healthcare Equipment Sources: http://www.1-medical-equipment.com/ http://websites.medmatrix.com/index.cfm http://www.medicalresourceusa.com/ Hospitals- links to hundreds of hospitals http://adams.mgh.harvard.edu/hospitalwebusa.html
http://www.fedworld.gov Government information sources www.healthfinder.gov Government health resources http://www.info.gov/ Information sources http://www.nicar.org/data/index.html Federal databases http://www.usps.gov US Postal Service Ask-An-Expert's Advice: http://www.refdesk.com/expert.html Here is a ask-an-expert site with dozens of links. http://www.bookmarket.com/101exp.html Top 101 Experts- A large list of resources. http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/1505/onlinedoctors.html Doctors Online http://cgi.pathfinder.com/drweil/ Ask Dr. Weil http://www.askanexpert.com/ Ask an Expert Online Telephone Books: http://www.yahoo.com/search/people http://www.journalismnet.com/tutorials.htm Computer Training Resources: The site below provides inofrmation and examples of how to properly cite Internet research, both in the MLA and the APA styles. http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup/cgos/idx_basic.html Do-It-Yourself Web Page Tools: There are several sites that provide free Web page development services and advice: Quick access to graphics and clip art Lots of copyright-free photos Links to free Web page hosting Additional Web hosting information Adobe banner generator Advanced Web design resources Web page background design archive Web design techniques Picture search engines links Beginners' Central- teach yourself Internet skills Learn the Net- more learning resources Howstuffworks.com- general tutorials on computers The Complete Internet Guide and Web Tutorial Becoming WebWise- free Internet training The Newbie Club- learn more about your PC Teach yourself DTP skills with this site List of all Web robobs (bots) Computer how-to articles! Windows Knowledge Base (computer repair) Excellent computer tutorial site Do-it-yourself Web design site Desktop Publishing tutorials Articles & advice on technology Collection of Web design tutorials Scanning guide tutorial Alta Vista Photo Finder (picture search engine) Image Finder Image Surfer Clip art search engine Large clip art collection Cite your Internet research & images Large Javascript collection Typograhpy resources A good general DTP site- lots of resources Practical Project ideas and links #1 Practical Project ideas and links #2 Windows Knowlege Base (many resources!) Zee's Favorite Places for creating a Web Page
Below are several case studies from the fields of nursing, occupational therapy and physical therapy. Determine which Internet-related tools and search techniques to use to help solve these problems. Which sites would be most useful for the health practitioner's research? Which sites would be most useful for the patient if they decided to do their own research? Critique relevant sites as to their ability to provide factual, unbiased and updated information. Try to focus on the quality and relevance of the site rather than the volume of avaliable sites. Be sure to cite any sources based on models provided earlier in this book. Sample Case Study: Julie Davis, a RN, has a 12-year-old daughter, Kari, who has been diagnosed as a diabetic. The family doctor has told Julie that Kari will get progressively worse as she gets older. Julie decides to start doing her own research so that she can decide on the various treatment options for her daughter. Besides the standard diabetic sites listed in your handout, where might Julie go for help? (For example: Julie could combine search terms such as diabetic & juvenile & nutrition. She could try searching specialized newsgroups and mailing lists. Julie could use subject trees to narrow her focus. She could do a search of Medline to find some of the latest medical journal articles on this subject, etc). PHYSICAL THERAPY CASE STUDIES: Beth and Tony have a son Brian who is 23-months-old. He has a rare genetic birth defect called Williams Syndrome that occurs in 1/20,000 births. It is a progressive illness and there are often both medical & developmental problems. He is missing part of his #7 chromosome. Right now medically Brian is fine, but his parents worry that he will eventually have health problems. What would be the most effective research strategy for Beth and Tony? A physical therapist is approached by parents of a16-month-old boy with traumatic brain injury which resulted in hypertonicity, left hemiparesis. The parents, John and Judy, have been taking their son for regular physical therapy. They recently heard that aquatic therapy can be very good for certain aspects on their son's recovery. How could the physical therapist provide the parents with information about aquatic therapy along with examples of what types of activities in the water (if aquatic therapy is appropriate) would be used to help their son? Sharon is a 25-year-old woman who has suffered from dizziness recently. After the diagnosis of otolaryngologist, the doctor said the cause is the posterior cervical muscle spasm compress the optic nerve and recommends that Sharon work with a physical therapist. Since Sharon has a busy schedule, she wants to research her condition before contacting any of the local physical therapists so that she can ask them intelligent questions. Of all of the online health research techniques that we have reviewed, which ones would be the most effective for Sharon? Jim is a physical therapist working with adults who have spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a neuromuscular disease of the anterior horn cells which leads to atrophy of the skeletal muscles and confinement to a wheelchair. Often the skeletal mussels are flaccid and without tone or deep tendon reflexes. Jim is looking for a layman's guide to the problems of long-term wheelchair use, to share with his patients. Where should Jim search to get an easy-to-understand guide of this type? Nancy has had a mild case of Cerebral Palsy since she was six years old. She is now 32 and has arthritis to contend with. How could her physical therapist use Internet health care research to discover options to her treatment for these two conditions? Bob recently found out that his sciatica was related to a herniated disk. Many of the treatments offered by Bob's current physical therapist have not been very effective in getting rid of the pain, and Bob has decided that many of the exercises his physical therapist prescribed were actually aggravating the problem. How could Bob use the Internet to communicate with other physical therapists who might be more knowledgeable about or symphatethetic towards his condition? Jenny's husband Roger served 20 years in the air force and was eventually discharged because of his multiple sclerosis. Roger and Jenny live in a small Kentucky town and have been going for treatment with the only licensed physical therapist in their area. Unfortunately, some of the new treatment options that Roger needs are unfamiliar to his therapist. How could Roger convince his therapist to try telemedicine to expand his treatment options? Howard is a 59 year old male in good physical condition. Recently he began having pain in his right shoulder. He went to see his physician who concluded that it was unlikely that he had a major tendon tear and had him work with a physical therapist who gave him some simple exercises to strengthen the rotator cuff muscles and did ultrasound treatment. After two months, the physical therapist decided that these treatments did not improve Howard's condition and he has decided to research the options on the Internet. What resources would be most useful to him? Angie has had a condition known as DeQuervain's since April, 1998. She was started on a course of physical therapy in January, 1999. Angie physical therapist recently heard that there have been several successful university studies for DeQuervain sufferers. What should she do to find out about all of the available studies in the western United States? OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY CASE STUDIES: Bill has a work-related injury that has left him with a lack of coordination in two fingers. He has read that certain drugs, available only in Europe, could help his condition. He is planning a trip to Germany to consult with doctors and try the medication. Bill wants to find out the names and addresses of any English-speaking doctors in Germany. Which specialized search engines should he use to find this information? As an occupational therapy student (3rd year) Sally is really uncertain about the future of O.T. because of new Medicare guidelines, PPS and increasing supply of therapists. In school they tell her that things should stabilize by the time she will graduate. What Internet research could Sally do to help understand the career situation in the next 5-10 years? Howard is an experienced occupational therapist who accepts clients who are on Medicare. Recently Medicare has refused to pay several of the routine bills he has submitted on behalf of his clients. How could Howard use the Internet to help persuade the staff at Medicare's headquarters to pay for his client's care? Ron is an occupational therapist who is treating Judy, who recently broke her finger and is facing an operation to completely repair it. Ron will be assisting the physician with the operation and wants to familiarize himself with the operation procedure beforehand. He has heard that several large university hospitals have live operations performed online to help interns learn the procedure. Help Ron to find several of these sites. Jennifer is an occupational therapist who is looking for computer software programs for documentation of her patients. What specific software or shareware search resources could she use to compare the available options? Sam, a office manager, has elbow injuries that he thinks are a result of his computer's ergonomics. Money is tight right now and Sam's occupational therapist wants to begin researching the situation so that he can help pinpoint the situation as quickly as possible. Sam and his occupational therapist have decided to use mailing lists and newsgroups to communicate with others who have a similar situation. What existing newsgroups or mailing lists might be helpful for them to investigate. One of Erica's clients, William, damaged the transverse carpal ligament on his left hand during a skiing accident. William can not type with his left hand, and Jennifer has agreed to help him find some voice recognition software. What would be the best resources that she could use for this project. NURSING CASE STUDIES John, a retired electrician, has experienced a general feeling of weakness and anemia. His doctor, who's standard tests can't determine any specific reason for these problems has assigned one of the nurses to use the Internet to research John's options. What resources would be available to the nurse to help research John's condition. Janet is a Registered Nurse who needs to put together a lesson plan for a one-unit course she is planning to teach at a local community college. Help her to find specific materials that could be incorporated into her lesson plan. (hint- there are already many lesson plans posted on the Internet serve as models). Jim, a high school teacher has suffered from high blood pressure his entire adult life. Jim has tried every conventional medication that doctors have prescribed. Now he has convinced his nurse to do Internet research to find out about possible alternative (holistic) health options. What resources could Jim's nurse use to help him research these options? Carol has two teenage sons who have began to use illegal drugs. How could Carol's nurse use the Internet to help convince her sons of the dangers of using these drugs? Kendra is an African American police officer who is interested in going to nursing school. She is interested in finding scholarships that relate to here ethnic background or current job. What resources would you recommend that she use? Henry is a Registered Nurse who works for a large hospital. Ths supervisor informed Henry that he will transfered to a unit that practices renal angiogram and angioplasty. Henry is unfamiliar with the procedure and wants to use the Internet to udpate some of his specific nursing skills. Where should he go to find this information? Julie plans to give a presentation about the use of pain assessment tools, particularly in the community setting. What Internet resources would be available to her to locate the manufacturers of this type of equipment? Browsers: A program that you install on your computer to access the Web. The browser reads Web pages and interprets the commands they include to produce a visually appealing page on your screen. The two main Web browsers are Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. Explorer is the most popular of the graphic browser programs. Both are currently available for free. E-mail: Short for electronic mail. A way to correspond with someone else on the Internet who also has an e-mail connection. You can communicate locally, within the United States or throughout the world, all without paying for stamps or a telephone bill. Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer have a built-in e-mail program or you can use commercial programs such as Eudora or Pine. FAQ (frequently asked questions): There are many FAQ files available for almost every subject that you might find on the Internet. Going to the site's FAQ files is the best place to start to find answers to your questions. FTP (file transfer protocol): A fast way of uploading or downloading files on the Internet. Web browsers can perform basic FTP downloads, but dedicated FTP programs do it better. Home pages: A location (or page) on the Web that contains information and/or links that take you to other related sites. The home page tells you what is available at that Web site. A well-designed home page gives you attractive graphics and easy-to-read information about their project while often supplying you with links to other interesting sites on the Internet. HTML (HyperText Markup Language): The programming language or code in which every page on the Internet is written. Originally, home pages had to be created by programmers who knew how to use HTML. Now easy-to-use software programs, such as Macromedia Dreamweaver and Microsoft FrontPage, help users design Internet Web sites and automatically create the HTML tags for the sites. Internet: A global network of computers that are able to communicate with each other through a common language (html). The Internetcontains a huge collection of information from various universities, governments, businesses, libraries, museums, private individuals, etc. On the Internet, you can exchange electronic mail, access and participate in discussion forums, search databases, purchase the latest gadget, share information about your hobby, and so forth. No one owns the Internet and no one controls it. The backbone of the Internet connects supercomputers in major cities all around the world. ISP (Internet service provider): The company, university or institution that sells or provides you with access to their server so that your computer can access the Internet. ISP's connect to this backbone through their own lines, and provide your computer with a connection through the telephone line. Java: A powerful Web page programming language that allows programmers to add basic animation and other automated tasks. Java can run on any platform (Mac or PC). Links (hypertext links): the colored (usually blue) or underlined words or images or graphics that automatically connects you to another Web page when you click on it with your mouse. Links can be made from either text or graphics and can take you to another site or a different part of the site that you are on. Mailing lists: Subject-based forums where you can communicate with others with a similar interest by e-mail. You send your e-mail to a central point and then you receive all the messages that have been sent to that list. Modem (modulator/demodulator): the hardware that allows your computer to communicate with another computer through the telephone lines. Newsgroups: Public discussion groups where people can read messages posted by others and contribute their own. There are thousands of newsgroups on the Internet, covering many different subjects. Plug-in: Software that enhances the capabilities of your Web browser to enable it to do things like play animations, video clips and/or sound. Public domain: If something on the Internet is in the public domain, you should be able to use it withoug infringing on the copyright. Search engines: A specific Web site that enables you to find the address on another site by typing in keywords. These search engines catalog as many sites as possible in their databases and feed the information to you based on your search terms. Some of the more popular search engines are Yahoo, Excite, Lycos and Google. They can be activated by using the Net Search button while in Netscape or the Search button in Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Server: A central computer which provides information to other computers. Web sites are stored on Web servers and their information is fed to other computers when requested. Shareware- A software programs that you can try out for free. If you plan to keep using it, you are requested to mail in a payment later. Freeware programs are available without cost. Subject trees: An alphabetically-organized list of Web resources, categorized under major headings such as Arts, Business, Government, etc. They provide a Web version of a library subject card catalog. You can click several categories of subject trees until you find the desired sites. Also known as directories. Upload: To transfer data from your computer to another computer, usually through an FTP program. URL (uniform resource locator): This is the generic term for the addresses on the World Wide Web or Internet. All Web site addresses start with http:// The rest of the URL will include the DNS or Domain Name System which is the unique identification of that site. World Wide Web (WWW or "The Web"): The Web is an easy-to-use-program that runs on top of the Internet, making many of the sites accessible through hyperlinks and other tools. Many of the sites on the Internet are organized so that they can be easily found on the Web by the search engines mentioned above. Evaluating a Web site: One of the most common questions that I get as an instructor is how to evaluate an Internet website for such things as quality, reliability and usefulness. Just because a document appears online does not mean it contains useful or accurate information. Although there are many high-quality health and medical sites, there are also some that are primarily trying to sell a commercial product or they have a specific political agenda. By using the 'credibility pyramid' and related information below, you will be able to sort through the sites more accurately. Typical newspaper or magazine editors usually have a high standard of checking facts and citing sources. Many web writers follow these standards, but some don't. It's up to you to try and distinguish fact from opinion and objectivity from sales hype. Here is a basic evaluation guide to help you determine a website's credibility and reputation. Credibility Factors: 2. Have you heard of this organisation who is sponsoring or publishing the site? Is the site commercial, institutional, personal, etc. What is the main purpose of the site. Is any bias explicit or hidden? If the site has advertising, does it influence the content? By looking at the end of the Internet address (url), you can tell what type of organization sponsors the site (see below). Who are the authors? What are their credentials? Are they an acknowledged expert and can you easily look them up in a reference directory such as Who's Who? Can they be easily contacted? Does the author cite other sources of information in the article? Are these sources reputable ones? 3. Are the pages well organized? Is the information clearly presented? Is it grammatically correct? Any spelling errors? Do the graphic elements add to the content or distract? Just like a news article, a web page that has incorrectly spelled words or is not organized can lose credibility. 4. Is there a point of view? Many websites have a point of view. Since it is so easy and inexpensive to publish on the Internet, many individuals create good looking sites with opinionated content. Try to determine if the site is trying to sell you something (consumer goods or political ideology) or if they are offering unbiased information. Many corporate websites are trying to market a product and will include articles that are designed to attract you to their site and eventually convince you to buy their product. You should regard these as advertisements, not objective analysis. Information on a political website will usually promote the interests of the party and its candidates and not necessarily cover the issues of a rival candidate in a balanced fashion. Quick
Checklist: Alexander, Jane & Tate, Marsha Ann: Web Wisdom: How to Evaluate and Create Information Quality on the Web, published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. http://www.erlbaum.com/html/titlew.htm Anthony, Denis: Health on the Internet. Blackwell Science, Ltd., London, 1996 Baldwin, Fred and McInerney: Infomedicine, A Consumer's Guide to the Latest Medical Research. Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1996. Calishain, Tara: Netscape Guide to Internet Research. Ventana Communications Group, Inc., Research Triangle Park, NC, 1997. Davis, James: Health & Medicine on the Internet, Annual Guide to the World Wide Web for Healthcare Professionals. PMIC, Los Angeles, 1997 Ferguson, Tom: Health Online: How to Find Health Information, Support Groups, and Self-Help Communities in Cyberspace. Addison-Wesley, Reading MA, 1997 Gibbs, Scott MD, Sullivan-Fowler, Susan, Rowe, Nigel: Mosby's Medical Surfari, A Guide to Exploring the Internet and Discovering the Top Health Care Resources. Mosby Year Book, Inc., St. Louis 1996 Hutchinson, David: The Internet Workbook for Health Professionals. New Wind Publishers, Sacramento, CA 1997. Kiley, Robert: Medical Information on the Internet. A Guide for Health Professionals. Churchill Livingstone Press, New York, 1996. Lee, Nicholas and Millman, Andrew: ABC's of Medical Computing. BMJ Publications Group, London, 1996 Neilbauer, Barbara and Neilbauer, Alan: Your Health, Total Healthcare Planning on Your Computer. Ziff-Davis Press, Emeryville, CA 1995. Olpin Michael and Gotthoffer, Doug: Allyn & Bacon Quick Guide to the Internet for Psycology. Allyn and Bacon, Boston, 1999 Pareras, Luis: Medicine and the Internet. Little Brown & Co, Boston, 1996 Ryer, Jeanne: Health & Fitness of the Internet. Sybex Publishing Co., San Francisco, 1995 Ryer, Jeanne: Health Net, your essential resource for the most up-to-date medical information. John Wiley Co., New York, 1996.
© 2004 by Rick Sheridan |
