bims-librar Biomed News
on Biomedical librarianship
Issue of 2020–02–23
sixteen papers selected by
Thomas Krichel, Open Library Society



  1. Med Ref Serv Q. 2020 Jan-Mar;39(1):39(1): 1-14
      Predatory publishing tactics are well-documented in the literature; however, the way in which academic librarians handle questions about these deceptive practices is not. A thorough review of the literature revealed a need for true decision-making tools that were easy to use and share. Based on this evidence, the authors developed Scholarly Tools Opposing Predatory Practices (STOPP) to empower librarians to make informed decisions by providing the appropriate context and tools for appraising journals, websites, conferences, and thesis converters. While geared toward academic medical librarians, these tools are built to evolve and adapt across disciplines as predatory practices evolve and adapt.
    Keywords:  Decision-making tools; predatory publishing; scholarly communication
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/02763869.2020.1693205
  2. Med Ref Serv Q. 2020 Jan-Mar;39(1):39(1): 15-26
      Developing a search strategy for a systematic review is a time-consuming process in which small errors around the formatting and compilation of terms can have large consequences. Microsoft Excel was identified as a potentially useful software to streamline the process and reduce manual errors. Ultimately a spreadsheet was created that largely automates the process of creating a single-line search string with correctly formatted terms, Boolean operators and parentheses.
    Keywords:  Excel; errors; search strategy; systematic reviews; translation
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/02763869.2020.1704598
  3. Med Ref Serv Q. 2020 Jan-Mar;39(1):39(1): 27-34
      The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) revised their standards for MD program curricula with increased emphasis on the teaching and assessment of skills needed for life-long learning. This case study describes the collaboration between a team of librarians and a curriculum office to continuously improve information-seeking skills activities for medical students. This positive collaborative experience has firmly embedded librarians into the medical curriculum. Based on student feedback, the majority of students found the librarian-involved activities useful.
    Keywords:  Academic health sciences librarians; evidence-based medicine; information-seeking skills; medical education
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/02763869.2020.1688622
  4. Med Ref Serv Q. 2020 Jan-Mar;39(1):39(1): 50-59
      The United States is facing a shortage of physicians for minorities and patients in disadvantaged areas. Many medical schools have pipeline programs to promote the interest of minority students in medicine. The Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University established the Brody RISE program. Recruitment efforts targeted schools within Pitt County, NC. Students participate in interactive STEM activities and campus tours. Laupus Health Sciences Librarians developed interactive activities that engage critical thinking and teach anatomy and medical history. The organizers of the Brody RISE program continually evaluate and expand the program. Laupus Library continues to partner in these activities.
    Keywords:  Cultural diversity; education; libraries; library services; medical; schools
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/02763869.2019.1693225
  5. Med Ref Serv Q. 2020 Jan-Mar;39(1):39(1): 35-49
      The purpose of this study was to investigate the educational and professional backgrounds of health sciences librarians currently working in the U.S. and Canada. A survey consisting of 15 questions was created using the software program Qualtrics. 389 total surveys were received. Respondents reported having a wide variety of educational and professional backgrounds. Only about 22% of respondents reported having health sciences work experience prior to entering the field. Recruitment into the field of health sciences librarianship should take a broad approach, and professional development efforts should appeal to a wide array of experience levels.
    Keywords:  Continuing education; education; health sciences librarians; medical librarians; professional development
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/02763869.2020.1688621
  6. Med Ref Serv Q. 2020 Jan-Mar;39(1):39(1): 60-66
      Evidence-based practice is critical to hospitals achieving high quality performance measures, improving patient outcomes, and reducing mortality and costs. Nurses who perform evidence-based care report greater job satisfaction, which leads to less turnover or occupational burnout. Librarians play an essential role in establishing an evidence-based culture in their organizations and supporting the nursing staff so that they are not only competent, but also confident in meeting evidence-based competencies. Action steps librarians can take include augmenting their collections with evidence-based resources, collaborating with staff to help them find the best evidence, and assisting with the first four steps of the evidence-based practice model.
    Keywords:  Advanced practice nursing; clinical competence; evidence-based practice; hospital libraries; information literacy; surveys and questionnaires
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/02763869.2020.1688626
  7. Medicine (Baltimore). 2020 Feb;99(8): e19188
      This study concerns the accessibility of health information for people with disabilities. More specifically, by interviewing policy elites who have backgrounds in this area, we seek to obtain their opinions regarding the type of information people with disabilities require, and people with disabilities overall awareness of such information. Based on the information obtained, we also aim to identify methods of improving this accessibility.A focus group interview was conducted involving policy elites who had previously participated in decision-making processes for health policy. These elites were sourced from the fields of academia, medicine, and government. Content analysis was performed using NVivo 10, which is a computer-assisted/aided qualitative data-analysis software.The focus-group participants felt that relevant information for people with disabilities is provided in a fragmentary manner through several channels that have relatively low reliability, which creates difficulties for a significant portion of the target recipients. Discussions regarding the type of health information required by people with disabilities yielded the following topic clusters: information regarding health-care providers who specialize in specific disability types and regarding health behaviors for certain lifecycles, and information that helps people with disabilities return to society. Further, the focus group recommended 2 means of providing essential health information to PWDs in the future. As short-term strategies, the participants proposed simplifying the existing, fragmented information channels and the creation of a comprehensive web-based information portal with an associated call center. As a long-term strategy, they proposed the development of smart-device-based information services that are tailored to the needs of individuals.Efforts to reduce the disparities in health information for people with disabilities are essential for addressing the existing inequality regarding the availability of health information.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000019188
  8. PLoS One. 2020 ;15(2): e0228786
       BACKGROUND: Wikipedia's health content is the most frequently visited resource for health information on the internet. While the literature provides strong evidence for its high usage, a comprehensive literature review of Wikipedia's role within the health context has not yet been reported.
    OBJECTIVE: To conduct a comprehensive review of peer-reviewed, published literature to learn what the existing body of literature says about Wikipedia as a health information resource and what publication trends exist, if any.
    METHODS: A comprehensive literature search in OVID Medline, OVID Embase, CINAHL, LISTA, Wilson's Web, AMED, and Web of Science was performed. Through a two-stage screening process, records were excluded if: Wikipedia was not a major or exclusive focus of the article; Wikipedia was not discussed within the context of a health or medical topic; the article was not available in English, the article was irretrievable, or; the article was a letter, commentary, editorial, or popular media article.
    RESULTS: 89 articles and conference proceedings were selected for inclusion in the review. Four categories of literature emerged: 1) studies that situate Wikipedia as a health information resource; 2) investigations into the quality of Wikipedia, 3) explorations of the utility of Wikipedia in education, and 4) studies that demonstrate the utility of Wikipedia in research.
    CONCLUSION: The literature positions Wikipedia as a prominent health information resource in various contexts for the public, patients, students, and practitioners seeking health information online. Wikipedia's health content is accessed frequently, and its pages regularly rank highly in Google search results. While Wikipedia itself is well into its second decade, the academic discourse around Wikipedia within the context of health is still young and the academic literature is limited when attempts are made to understand Wikipedia as a health information resource. Possibilities for future research will be discussed.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0228786
  9. Psychol Health Med. 2020 Feb 20. 1-19
      Background: The CMIS indicates that key variables in actively obtaining information on cigarette smoking are demographics, direct experience, salience, and beliefs, which affects subsequent evaluations and utility of information.Method: Cross-sectional data were drawn from the HINTS-FDA 2015 national survey in which a stratified random sample of the U.S. postal addresses (N = 3,738) self-administered a mailed paper questionnaire. Path analysis was conducted to test the CMIS.Results: Age, income, education, sexual orientation, beliefs about behavior change, and salience are significant predictors of perceived utility of information.Direct predictors of information seeking on health effects are comprehension of information (β = .06, 95% CI: .02-.09, p < .05), trust in information sources (β = .23, 95% CI: .18-.276, p < .01), and confidence in obtaining information (β = .10, 95% CI: .047-.160, p < .05). The final model produced fit indices of c2 = 356.48, df = 24, CFI = .91, RMSEA = .061 (95% CI: .055-.067), R2 = .098.Conclusions: The CMIS is a valid theoretical framework in predicting information seeking on cigarette smoking. This study closes a gap in the literature by addressing key factors simultaneously that influence information seeking on health effects and cessation of cigarette smoking.
    Keywords:  CMIS; Health information seeking; perceived utility of information; quality of information; smoking; trust in information sources
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/13548506.2020.1728348
  10. Ther Innov Regul Sci. 2020 Mar;54(2): 385-389
       BACKGROUND: Medical information departments are responsible for maintaining standard response letters to address health care providers' inquiries. Several factors, including Food and Drug Administration regulations, insufficient diversity in clinical trials, and stringent exclusion criteria, might limit the information available to respond to unsolicited requests. However, if new data becomes available for an inquiry that was previously unanswered, it is not common practice for medical information departments to provide an updated response to health care providers. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of reviewing literature to provide an updated response to health care providers.
    METHODS: We conducted a 1-year retrospective review of medical inquiries regarding a Bristol-Myers Squibb oncology product. We identified medical inquiry responses that were missing data via our metrics reporting software and conducted an internal and external literature search to assess if new data became available.
    RESULTS: Of 21,264 unsolicited global inquiries, data were unavailable for 531 (2.7%). The 3 most frequently observed inquiry topics were "use in special populations" (32%), "drug interactions" (27%), and "adverse events and safety" (23%). After performing an internal and external literature review, we developed standard response letters for 30% of medical inquiries that were previously unanswered.
    CONCLUSIONS: Medical information departments serve as a resource to answer product-related questions for health care providers. However, data are not always available to provide a response. On discovery of new data, if medical information departments followed up with health care providers to share new data, this could potentially increase patient safety, build stronger relationships with health care providers, and obtain insights that could influence strategies in future clinical trials and publications.
    Keywords:  drug information; medical information; medical inquiries; oncology data gaps; standard response letters
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s43441-019-00066-6
  11. Biochem Mol Biol Educ. 2020 Feb 20.
      Journal clubs are widely used as an educational tool in graduate life science programs. In journal clubs, students are assigned to read specific journal articles to achieve a broad knowledge in their field of study and to gain competence in reading and assessing scientific publications. However, students often show low motivation to read assigned articles, and under-prepared students contribute little to in-class discussions. In order to promote student engagement in graduate-level journal clubs, we used an inverted, student-centered format that focuses on a scientific question or topic rather than specific publications. Both the weekly topics and the scientific publications were selected by the students and focused on aspects of the students' thesis research. For each weekly topic, students were asked to find papers, read the papers and summarize the findings during class, which led to the presentation of a variety of approaches and viewpoints. This approach trained students in literature search, focused reading and oral presentation skills and provided a broad overview of the research in the selected topic areas. Student feedback showed a high level of acceptance of the new format. We propose this inverted journal club format as a useful alternative to traditional formats, because it focuses on a different scientific skill set and leads to increased student engagement through its student-centered approach.
    Keywords:  graduate curriculum; primary literature; student-centered
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/bmb.21337
  12. Vaccine. 2020 Feb 12. pii: S0264-410X(20)30177-8. [Epub ahead of print]
      Experts are concerned about the spread and recalcitrance of vaccine misinformation and its contribution to vaccine hesitancy. Despite this risk, little research attention has been paid to understanding how individuals seek vaccine information online and evaluate its trustworthiness. Here, we hypothesized that when vaccine-hesitant parents seek information about vaccines, they prefer trustworthy sources based on their competence, integrity and benevolence. We explored this issue using 4910 questions and 2583 answers retrieved from two social question-and-answer (Q&A) platforms: "Yahoo! Answers" and the Facebook group "Talking about Vaccines." We examined what kinds of questions are asked about vaccines, to what extent they are explicitly directed at health professionals or parents, and what features of the answers predict perceived answer quality, based on the theory of epistemic trust. The findings indicate that on different platforms, vaccine-related questions focus on different topics; namely, questions on one platform focused on the risks and benefits of vaccination, whereas they dealt with vaccine schedules on the other. On both platforms, most questions did not specify that an answer should be based on professional expertise or parents' experience. Both pro-vaccine and anti-vaccine answers were proportionately represented among the "best answers". However, if an answer was written by a health professional, the askers and the community on "Yahoo! Answers" were twice as likely to choose it as the "best answer" to a vaccine-related question, irrespective of whether it encouraged or discouraged vaccination. By contrast, an online experiment revealed that both the identity of the respondent and the stance towards vaccination affected the perceived trustworthiness of the answers. These findings indicate that despite the proliferation of anti-vaccine messages, epistemic trust in mainstream science and medicine is robust. User responses to expert answers suggest that expert outreach in online environments may be an effective intervention to address vaccine hesitancy.
    Keywords:  Information seeking; Internet; Online; Trustworthiness; Vaccine hesitancy
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2020.02.010
  13. Clin Pediatr (Phila). 2020 Feb 19. 9922820905866
      Incongruent vaccination rates have been found in multiple US cities, one cause possibly being misleading information that is easily available on the internet through text and videos. Health care providers should be aware of the extent and content of online health information available to patients and their guardians to enhance the effectiveness of patient-physician communication. This study obtained data on vaccine-related YouTube videos and analyzed the videos' content. When misleading information was found in a video, the timing and specific type of misleading information was noted. More than two thirds of the YouTube videos contained some type of unreliable information regarding vaccine safety and effectiveness. Much of the information accessible to patients and parents vaccinating their children is misleading to a potentially dangerous extent. Health care providers should be aware of and able to provide clear counter-evidence to misleading information on YouTube in light of the findings.
    Keywords:  MMR; YouTube; health risks; social media; vaccine
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1177/0009922820905866
  14. Public Underst Sci. 2020 Feb 19. 963662520905466
      This randomized controlled experiment (N = 707) is the first to examine the role of video, source and user attributes in credibility assessment of online science news videos, and the impact of web-search on this role. We created a science news YouTube video in 12 versions (3 × 2 × 2 for source, quality and popularity). Each participant was randomly assigned to one version and was asked to rate the credibility of the source and the scientific information presented in the video. We found that perceived credibility is positively associated with perceived quality, as well as users' YouTube experience. For those participants who did not conduct an online search during the assessment task, there was a positive association between the presenter's perceived credibility and the video's perceived credibility as well as its popularity; however, such associations were not present for participants who did conduct an online search.
    Keywords:  discourses of science; media and science; media representations; popularization of science; public understanding of science; representations of science; science and popular culture; science communication; science education
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662520905466
  15. Int J Med Inform. 2020 Feb 08. pii: S1386-5056(19)31071-8. [Epub ahead of print]137 104093
       BACKGROUND: Despite a growing need for designing and monitoring health information sites through comprehensive examination of the various elements of website quality, there is little research that systematically models and presents such examinations.
    OBJECTIVES: Applying the updated DeLone and McLean Model of Information Systems Success, this research aimed to examine how health information sites' information quality, system quality, and service quality lead to user satisfaction and perceived benefits.
    METHODS: This research was conducted in a specific context of the National Health Information Portal (NHIP), a governmental health information site in South Korea. We conducted online survey in 2017, with 506 adults from the NHIP consumer panel. Data were analyzed using a confirmatory factor analysis, hierarchical ordinary least squares regression, and bootstrapping approach for a mediation test.
    RESULTS: Of the three quality factors, information quality had significant associations with all outcome variables: user satisfaction, intention to reuse the site, and perceived benefits of site use in health settings. There were also indirect paths from information quality to perceived benefits, one mediated through intention and the other mediated through satisfaction and then intention. Service quality had a significant association with user satisfaction, and its impact on perceived benefits occurred indirectly through user satisfaction and intention in serial. By contrast, the role of system quality received no empirical support.
    IMPLICATIONS: The results offer theoretical and practical implications for how to enhance the effectiveness of online health information sites.
    Keywords:  Health information website; Online health information; Quality factors
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2020.104093
  16. JAAD Case Rep. 2020 Feb;6(2): 136-138
      
    Keywords:  WeChat; cultural competence; dermatology; health seeking; social media
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdcr.2019.11.015