Hosting the 16th AHILA Conference in Ibadan, Nigeria: organization, achievements, challenges and lessons learnt

Attending a scientific conference offers researchers several potential benefits including opportunity to present and receive constructive feedback from professional colleagues. Organizing such conference is also beneficial to the hosts who can acquire skills for coordination, communication and networking. However, the process is fraught with many challenges. One hundred and nine professionals attended the 16th AHILA conference from 22 countries in Africa, Europe and United States of America. The conference agenda was balanced, integrating skills acquisition, information for career development, sources of evidence-based free e-resources, including databases, and e-books for libraries covering health-related topics. This article describes achievement, challenges and lessons learnt in hosting the conference and could serve as a guide for health information professionals planning a similar conference in the future

Use of the Internet for health information by physicians for patient care in a teaching hospital in Ibadan, Nigeria

BACKGROUND: The Internet is the world's largest network of information, communication and services. Although the Internet is widely used in medicine and has made significant impact in research, training and patient care, few studies had explored the extent to which Nigerian physicians use Internet resources for patient care. The objective of this study was to assess physicians' use of the Internet for health information for patient care. METHOD: 172 physicians at the University College hospital (UCH) Ibadan, Nigeria; completed a 31-item, anonymous, standardized questionnaire. The Epi-Info software was used for data analysis. RESULTS: The mean age of the respondents was 31.95 years (SD 4.94). Virtually all (98%) the respondents had used the Internet; 76% accessed it from cyber cafes. E-mail was the most commonly used Internet service (64%). Ninety percent of the respondents reported they had obtained information from the Internet for patient care; of this number, 76.2% had searched a database. The database most recently searched was MEDLINE/PubMed in 99% of cases. Only 7% of the respondents had ever searched the Cochrane Library. More than half (58.1%) perceived they had no confidence to download full-text articles from online sources such as the Health Internetwork Access to Research Initiative (HINARI). Multiple barriers to increased use of the Internet were identified including poor availability of broadband (fast connection speed) Internet access, lack of information searching skills, cost of access and information overload. CONCLUSION: Physicians' use of the Internet for health information for patient care was widespread but use of evidenced-based medicine resources such as Cochrane Library, Up-to-date and Clinical Evidence was minimal. Awareness and training in the use of EBM resources for patient care is needed. Introduction of EBM in the teaching curriculum will enhance the use of EBM resources by physicians for patient care

Internet Accessibility and Use of Online Health Information Resources by Doctors in Training Healthcare Institutions in Nigeria

Introduction The internet is an important source of information used to produce, store, process, and disseminate information. This study examined accessibility to and use of internet health information resources among doctors in training healthcare institutions in South-West Nigeria. Methods The study employed both quantitative and qualitative research methods for data collection. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for analyzing the data. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics including frequency counts, percentages, charts, mean and standard deviation. Results The mean age of the respondents is 34.0 ± 4.46 years and 69.0% were males. The majority (93.5%) hold the Bachelor of Medicine/Surgery and Dental Surgery degrees. The internet was accessed by 36.3% respondents from a computer at home and office through personal subscription to service providers. More than two-thirds (69.5%) accessed internet health information resources daily from their homes while 56.8% did so with their mobile phones. Email, Google Yahoo and MEDLINE/PubMed were very easily accessed and used by the respondents. The respondents used internet health information resources mainly for academic purposes namely preparation for presentation (98.8%), examination (94.5%), research (93.1%). Conclusion Internet use at home has increased with more people now accessing information online with their mobile phones. The constraints to use of internet health information resources are slow connection speed, frequent power outages, low bandwidth, lack of time and high connection costs. The management of the 13 healthcare institutions should make available internet facilities to encourage use of online information resources by medical professionals. Librarians should intensify effort in promoting information literacy skills to healthcare professionals, create awareness on available resources and teach doctors how to access and retrieve online health information

Attitudes towards vaccines and intention to vaccinate against COVID-19: a cross-sectional analysis - implications for public health communications in Australia

Objective To examine SARS-CoV-2 vaccine confidence, attitudes and intentions in Australian adults as part of the iCARE Study. Design and setting Cross-sectional online survey conducted when free COVID-19 vaccinations first became available in Australia in February 2021. Participants Total of 1166 Australians from general population aged 18-90 years (mean 52, SD of 19). Main outcome measures Primary outcome: responses to question € If a vaccine for COVID-19 were available today, what is the likelihood that you would get vaccinated?'. Secondary outcome: analyses of putative drivers of uptake, including vaccine confidence, socioeconomic status and sources of trust, derived from multiple survey questions. Results Seventy-eight per cent reported being likely to receive a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. Higher SARS-CoV-2 vaccine intentions were associated with: increasing age (OR: 2.01 (95% CI 1.77 to 2.77)), being male (1.37 (95% CI 1.08 to 1.72)), residing in least disadvantaged area quintile (2.27 (95% CI 1.53 to 3.37)) and a self-perceived high risk of getting COVID-19 (1.52 (95% CI 1.08 to 2.14)). However, 72% did not believe they were at a high risk of getting COVID-19. Findings regarding vaccines in general were similar except there were no sex differences. For both the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine and vaccines in general, there were no differences in intentions to vaccinate as a function of education level, perceived income level and rurality. Knowing that the vaccine is safe and effective and that getting vaccinated will protect others, trusting the company that made it and vaccination recommended by a doctor were reported to influence a large proportion of the study cohort to uptake the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. Seventy-eight per cent reported the intent to continue engaging in virus-protecting behaviours (mask wearing, social distancing, etc) postvaccine. Conclusions Most Australians are likely to receive a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. Key influencing factors identified (eg, knowing vaccine is safe and effective, and doctor's recommendation to get vaccinated) can inform public health messaging to enhance vaccination rates