Healthcare information and the rural primary care doctor

Health inequity and improper dispensing of social justice is a huge topic of which one aspect is healthcare information and access to it. Access to health information is a ‘prerequisite for meeting the Millennium Development Goals’, and lack of knowledge and information, especially in resource-poor settings, impedes the delivery of quality healthcare and contributes to many preventable deaths worldwide. Three out of four doctors responsible for care of children in district hospitals in seven less developed countries reported inadequate knowledge in managing common childhood illnesses such as childhood pneumonia, severe malnutrition and sepsis. A review concluded that information deficiency exists ‘right across the health workforce’ and can be associated with provision of suboptimal care

Using PubMed in radiology: Ten useful tips for radiologists

PubMed contains a bibliography of articles published in around 4800 journals. It combines MEDLINE and OLDMEDLINE (articles from 1960, going back till the 1940s). PubMed is updated on a daily basis; to include both published and ahead of print references. As a radiologist, one can use PubMed to track several journals, track topics, search for specific topics, verify incomplete or incorrect references, store one's own publications, and save selected references; one can also create filters depending on one's own search needs for some regular topics. This article provides some key background knowledge on searching PubMed and also describes some features that are often left unexplored. The PubMed site has undergone many changes in the last few years and this article will update users on the current features

Information retrieval for dermatologists - An Introduction

The use of the internet in all fields of medicine is becoming more and more common in most areas of the world. The factors contributing to limited or no usage are difficulty of access due to poor IT infrastructure, paucity of time and lack of awareness and knowledge of the optimal use of the internet. For healthcare professionals, lack of time is one of the most common reasons for venturing into anything new. The only way to tackle this is to make a conscious commitment to learning how to use the Internet effectively. The least that one could strive to do is to learn enough to get internet usage handled by junior colleagues, secretaries and external resources, and expect the best of outputs from each. This article will focus on the internet for dermatologists. It will cover a range of resources and include search techniques and evaluation criteria

Get Set for the Net - Information retrieval for dermatologists - An Introduction

The use of the internet in all fields of medicine is becoming more and more common in most areas of the world. The factors contributing to limited or no usage are difficulty of access due to poor IT infrastructure, paucity of time and lack of awareness and knowledge of the optimal use of the internet. For healthcare professionals, lack of time is one of the most common reasons for venturing into anything new. The only way to tackle this is to make a conscious commitment to learning how to use the Internet effectively. The least that one could strive to do is to learn enough to get internet usage handled by junior colleagues, secretaries and external resources, and expect the best of outputs from each. This article will focus on the internet for dermatologists. It will cover a range of resources and include search techniques and evaluation criteria