Module 3 Post

You used an electronic index, a guideline index, and a web search engine to retrieve information relevant to your clinical problem. Compare and contrast your results. Which resources were useful/ not useful for your information retrieval task, and why?

Of the various search methods I found them each useful for different reasons. With the electronic index PubMed, I observed that the articles posted were current within the past month on the searches that I completed. These articles were more academic and useful in terms of clinical inquiries and current research in a specific clinical area. I felt these were more the gold standard for making decisions and discussing treatment options for clients with my colleagues.

When I used the National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC) I observed this to be a public site that was updated on a regular basis but more broad in it's decision guidelines. It was a good reference for general guidelines that could be accessed by the public as well as clinicians. For example, in the area of pediatric obesity, the guidelines were general in scope of practice for promotion of healthy lifestyle behaviors, and exercise and dietary guidelines. However, there were no specific guidelines for evaluation of hyperlipidemia in children; when to evaluate for that or any clinical decision making to indicate testing for hyperlipidemia. So in that sense this was not as useful for clinical decision making as the Pub Med index. This would be useful as a starting point for baseline evaluation of guidelines and as an educational tool to empower the public or your clients.

The Google web browser was interesting as a search tool. I actually found some current academic articles in the journal Pediatrics that were also referenced in my search on PubMed! However, only the abstracts and older (2009) references were listed and sometimes there were no abstracts. One could always obtain the information and then do a search with that information in PubMed. The majority of the articles were geared for the general public such as newspaper articles. 

I actually really enjoyed this method of searching because in practice I have been asked about topics or treatments that are in the 'general press'. Since I am not always 'clued in' to the popular shows that may discuss these topics I am often at a loss as to how to address the client's question. Since doing Google searches is feasible in a general practice setting, I could see doing a query while a client was there asking so I could address their concerns in a more timely and appropriate manner. I could read or skim an article and probably understand what the references were alluding to in order to open a discussion about the client's concern. I have always tried to practice in a client centered practice and this would facilitate that process.  However, for the nuances and clinical concerns related to research Pub Med is definitely the most academic relevant.