Transcript How did you locate this item?”: Using a “Research

“How did you search for this particular
item?”:
Using a “Research Portfolio” to Assess
the Information-Seeking Skills of
First-Year Medical Students
Jack Bullion, MFA, MLS
Instruction Librarian,
Gibson D. Lewis Health
Science Library
University of North Texas
Health Science Center
Fort Worth, TX
Outline
• Overview of the Medical Informatics course
• Description of the Student Grand Rounds
Project
• Implementation of the Research Portfolio
• Sample Research Portfolio: Student Grand
Rounds Group 18
• Results of implementation
• Continuing efforts and challenges
Course Background: Medical Informatics
• Added to TCOM medical education curriculum
for 2007-2008 academic year
– Required for all 1st-year D.O. students
• Pass/Fail
• Blended course
– Blackboard assessments
– 4 face-to-face lectures, 2 online learning modules
Goals of the Course
• Students should be able to recognize when
information is needed and have the ability to
efficiently and effectively locate, evaluate, and
apply the information for a specific purpose
• Students should gain the knowledge and skills
needed to locate, synthesize, and present current
best evidence in a clinical setting
Course Topics: Medical Informatics
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MDConsult
Epocrates
Information Law & Ethics
Patient Education
Google/Wikipedia
MEDLINE
• Final Project: Student Grand Rounds
Presentation
Student Grand Rounds Presentation
• Groups of 10 students
• NEJM Case
– clinical presentation, differential diagnosis,
treatment, patient education resources
– “Literature Review” section
• “Resident-level”
• Prepares students for 3rd & 4th year clinical
rotations
• “Canned presentation”
• Prestige for TCOM
Challenges
• Grading “by checklist”
• Librarians lack the
clinical knowledge
necessary to fairly
evaluate presentation
content
– Faculty input
• How did students apply
information-seeking
skills?
– “Literature Review”
only discussed one
resource
Encouraging Reflection
• Role of instructor
– Put students “in charge of their own learning”1
• Medical students “do not adopt reflective
learning habits spontaneously”2
• Future application of skills
– Change in information-seeking behavior
– Lifelong learning
Solution
• Research Portfolio
– Can be used “both for teaching the research process
and for collecting evidence to show that student
learning has taken place”1
– Provides “information about how [students]
approached problems, made judgments, investigated
options, and revised their strategies”1
Concessions
• Medical students lack the time to compose a
thorough written assessment
• “Weight” of course: Pass/Fail
• Not a traditional “portfolio”
– Short-answer
– Search histories not required
• Unbalanced load
– Some cases required heavier consultation of
biomedical literature than others
– Pick 5 resources
Format
• Written narrative requires students to respond
to 8 short-answer questions
– AMA Citation, Search Strategy, Assessment
• Students can use citations from the final
reference list or resources that were consulted
but not used in the presentation
• Separate assignment worth half of SGR grade
Sample Case:
Student Grand Rounds Group 18
Volk MS, Nielsen GP.
Case records of the
Massachusetts General
Hospital. Weekly
clinicopathological
exercises. Case 7-2001. A
male infant with a right
maxillary mass. N Engl J
Med. 2001;344:750-757.
Sample Research Portfolio—
Student Grand Rounds Group 18
Item #1
Citation:
Cite the item below using American Medical Association
(AMA) format.
Neven J, Kaa CH, Groot-Loonen J, de Wilde PCM, Merkx
MAW. Recurrent melanotic neuroectodermal tumor of
infancy: a proposal for treatment protocol with surgery
and adjuvant chemotherapy. Oral Surg. Oral Med. Oral
Pathol. Oral Radiol. Endod. 2008;106(4):493-496.
Search Strategy—Group 18
What was the tool (database, website, search engine,
library catalog, etc.) your group used to locate this
item?
We used OVID Medline and all EBM resources to
locate this item.
Why did you choose this particular tool to search?
We used this resource because it aggregates
Medline and several other databases.
Search Strategy—Group 18
How did you search (i.e., keyword search, MeSH
search, author search, etc.) for this particular item?
We did a keyword search for melanotic neuroectodermal tumor of
infancy.
Search for: limit 1 to yr="2006 -Current" [Limit not valid in DARE;
records were retained]
Results: 1-10
Database: CDSR, ACP Journal Club, DARE, CCTR, CLCMR,
CLHTA, CLEED, Ovid MEDLINE(R)
Search Strategy:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------1 Melanotic neuroectodermal tumor of infancy.mp. [mp=ti, ot,
ab, tx, kw, ct, sh, hw, nm] (54)
2 limit 1 to yr="2006 -Current" [Limit not valid in DARE; records
were retained] (16)
3 from 2 keep 1-10 (10)
Search Strategy—Group 18
Did you do anything to make the initial search more
precise (i.e. limits, explode/focus, subheadings, etc.)?
Why/why not?
We limited the search from years 2006 through
Current in order to only get the most up to date
information on treatment.
Assessment—Group 18
Summarize what the item is about in one sentence.
The article outlines a case of MNTI that was
unsuccessfully treated with surgery and subsequently
treated with chemotherapy.
Why did/didn’t your group consider this item to be credible?
The information found in this article is very similar to the
information found in other case studies we reviewed.
In what ways did/didn’t this item contribute to your
presentation?
We found that the use of chemotherapy in treating MNTI
has not been fully explored because of the success of
surgery in treating this condition.
Results
• Restores library ownership of Student Grand
Rounds project
• Provides students opportunity for intellectual
growth through reflection
– Peer Evaluation gives students a forum to
reflect on the project, personal progress
• Establishes vital rapport with librarians
– “Students do use what they’ve learned […]
and will often seek out the librarian for a
refresher”3
Continuing Efforts and Challenges
• Providing detailed written feedback to students
on the search strategies demonstrated
• Name change starting Fall 2009: “Research
Write-up”
• Future of the course?
– Post-SGR “brain dump”: Is this information
being delivered at a point-of-need?
Recognition
A special thanks to Katie Luedecke, Dan
Burgard, Lisa Smith, and Clayton Crenshaw for
developing the course curriculum and supplying
content.
References
1. Sharma S. From chaos to clarity: Using the
research portfolio to teach and assess
information literacy skills. Journal of Academic
Librarianship. 2007;33:127-135.
2. Driessen E, van Tartwijk J, Dornan T. The self
critical doctor: Helping students become more
reflective. BMJ: British Medical Journal.
2008;336:827-830.
3. Auer N, Krupar EM. Librarians grading: Giving
A's, B's, C's, D's, and F's. The Reference Librarian.
2005;43:39-62.