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Author: Brian S McGowan, PhD

ABSTRACT: Health Literacy, Cognitive Ability, and Functional Health Status among Older Adults

OBJECTIVE:
To investigate whether previously noted associations between health literacy and functional health status might be explained by cognitive function.
DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING:
Health Literacy and Cognition in Older Adults (“LitCog,” prospective study funded by National Institute on Aging). Data presented are from interviews conducted among 784 adults, ages 55-74 years receiving care at an academic general medicine clinic or one of four federally qualified health centers in Chicago from 2008 to 2010.
STUDY DESIGN:
Study participants completed structured, in-person interviews administered by trained research assistants.
DATA COLLECTION:
Health literacy was measured using the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults, Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine, and Newest Vital Sign. Cognitive function was assessed using measures of long-term and working memory, processing speed, reasoning, and verbal ability. Functional health was assessed with SF-36 physical health summary scale and Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System short form subscales for depression and anxiety.
PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:
All health literacy measures were significantly correlated with all cognitive domains. In multivariable analyses, inadequate health literacy was associated with worse physical health and more depressive symptoms. After adjusting for cognitive abilities, associations between health literacy, physical health, and depressive symptoms were attenuated and no longer significant.
CONCLUSIONS:
Cognitive function explains a significant proportion of the associations between health literacy, physical health, and depression among older adults. Interventions to reduce literacy disparities in health care should minimize the cognitive burden in behaviors patients must adopt to manage personal health.

via Health Literacy, Cognitive Ability, and Func… [Health Serv Res. 2014] – PubMed – NCBI.

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ABSTRACT: How to identify, assess and utilise mobile medical applications in clinical practice

BACKGROUND:
There are thousands of medical applications for mobile devices targeting use by healthcare professionals. However, several factors related to the structure of the existing market for medical applications create significant barriers preventing practitioners from effectively identifying mobile medical applications for individual professional use.
AIMS:
To define existing market factors relevant to selection of medical applications and describe a framework to empower clinicians to identify, assess and utilise mobile medical applications in their own practice.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
Resources available on the Internet regarding mobile medical applications, guidelines and published research on mobile medical applications.
RESULTS:
Mobile application stores (e.g. iTunes, Google Play) are not effective means of identifying mobile medical applications. Users of mobile devices that desire to implement mobile medical applications into practice need to carefully assess individual applications prior to utilisation.
DISCUSSION:
Searching and identifying mobile medical applications requires clinicians to utilise multiple references to determine what application is best for their individual practice methods. This can be done with a cursory exploration of mobile application stores and then moving onto other available resources published in the literature or through Internet resources (e.g. blogs, medical websites, social media). Clinicians must also take steps to ensure that an identified mobile application can be integrated into practice after carefully reviewing it themselves.
CONCLUSION:
Clinicians seeking to identify mobile medical application for use in their individual practice should use a combination of app stores, published literature, web-based resources, and personal review to ensure safe and appropriate use.

via How to identify, assess and utilise mobile … [Int J Clin Pract. 2014] – PubMed – NCBI.

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ABSTRACT: The issues surrounding social network sites and healthcare professionals

This article discusses issues surrounding online social networking, and the implications of the use of these sites by healthcare professionals. The article provides guidance to healthcare professionals, as the increased use of sites like Facebook and Twitter have the potential to bring risks to healthcare. Use of these websites can be a very grey area, and boundaries need to be clearly set to ensure protection of service users and healthcare staff alike

via The issues surrounding social network sites… [J Perioper Pract. 2013] – PubMed – NCBI.

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ABSTRACT: Twitter and the health reforms in the English National Health Service

Social media (for example Facebook and YouTube) uses online and mobile technologies to allow individuals to participate in, comment on and create user-generated content. Twitter is a widely used social media platform that lets users post short publicly available text-based messages called tweets that other users can respond to. Alongside traditional media outlets, Twitter has been a focus for discussions about the controversial and radical reforms to the National Health Service (NHS) in England that were recently passed into law by the current coalition Government. Looking at over 120,000 tweets made about the health reforms, we have investigated whether any insights can be obtained about the role of Twitter in informing, debating and influencing opinion in a specific area of health policy. In particular we have looked at how the sentiment of tweets changed with the passage of the Health and Social Care Bill through Parliament, and how this compared to conventional opinion polls taken over the same time period. We examine which users appeared to have the most influence in the ‘Twittersphere’ and suggest how a widely used metric of academic impact – the H-index – could be applied to measure context-dependent influence on Twitter

via Twitter and the health reforms in the English … [Health Policy. 2013] – PubMed – NCBI.

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ABSTRACT: Ethical issues in using social media for health and health care research

The dramatic growth of social media in recent years has not gone unnoticed in the health sector. Media such as Facebook and Twitter are increasingly being used to disseminate information among health professionals and patients but, more recently, are being seen as a source of data for surveillance and research, for example by tracking public concerns or capturing discourses taking place outside traditional media outlets. This raises ethical issues, in particular the extent to which postings are considered public or private and the right to anonymity of those posting on social media. These issues are not clear cut as social media, by their nature, blur the boundary between public and private. There is a need for further research on the beliefs and expectations of those using social media in relation to how their material might be used in research. In contrast, there are areas where the ethical issues are more clear cut, such as when individuals are active participants in research, where traditional considerations apply

via Ethical issues in using social media for healt… [Health Policy. 2013] – PubMed – NCBI.

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RESOURCE: Ten Questions You Should Ask Before You Flip Your Classroom

The purpose of the questions is to help teachers BEGIN the process of flipping their class.  This is only the first step.  Flipped Class 101 can lead to Flipped Learning, which is a second stage of the Flipped Class. Many teachers are asking for some step by step guidelines as they begin.

  1. What will you flip?  A lesson, a unit/chapter, a subject, or a class
  2. Who will make your videos?  Curate, create, or a combination
  3. Assuming you will create videos, what software will you use to make your videos?   There is no right answer here.  Choose the tool that works best for you.  Explore some of the choices below before you start.  Learn one of them and use it.  I encourage you to start out simple, but as time goes on you may want to switch to a more feature-rich and usually more expensive software solution
  4. Once you have created your video, where will you place it so that your students can access it?  We find it best to put these in a coherent place on a learning management system LMS.  Vendors include Blackboard, Moodle , Schoology, Haiku Learning, Canvas, Edmodo, My Big Campus, Info Mentor, etc.  The videos can also be hosted on video servers like YouTube , SchoolTube, Screencast.com, Dropbox,Google Drive, and other sites.
  5. How will you check or will you if your students watch or should we say interact with your online content?….

via Ten Questions You Should Ask Before You Flip Your Classroom – by Jon Bergmann – EdTechReview™ ETR.

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ABSTRACT: Medical students’ online learning technology needs

Purpose
This study investigated medical students’ online learning technology needs at a medical school. The study aimed to provide evidence-based guidance for technology selection and online learning design in medical education.

Methods
The authors developed a 120-item survey in collaboration with the New Technology in Medical Education (NTIME) committee at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine (SIUSOM). Overall, 123 of 290 medical students (42%) at the medical school participated in the survey. The survey focused on five major areas: students’ hardware and software use; perception of educational technology (ET) in general; online behaviours; perception of ET use at the school; and demographic information.

Results
Students perceived multimedia tools, scheduling tools, communication tools, collaborative authoring tools, learning management systems and electronic health records useful educational technologies for their learning. They did not consider social networking tools useful for their learning, despite their frequent use. Third-year students were less satisfied with current technology integration in the curriculum, information sharing and collaborative learning than other years. Students in clerkships perceived mobile devices as useful for their learning. Students using a mobile device (i.e. a smartphone) go online, text message, visit social networking sites and are online during classes more frequently than non-users.

Conclusions
Medical students’ ET needs differ between preclinical and clinical years. Technology supporting ubiquitous mobile learning and health information technology (HIT) systems at hospitals and out-patient clinics can be integrated into clerkship curricula.

via Medical students’ online learning technology needs – Han – 2014 – The Clinical Teacher – Wiley Online Library.

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Flipped Classrooms in Medical Education: A Resource Kit for Starters

Over the past 18 months our team has been exploring innovations in medical education with a keen eye directed to the emergence of flipped classrooms. This has allowed me to collate, filter, and identify what I think might be the top 12 resources one might need to begin to grasp the flipped experience both as it relates to students and faculty.

  1. San Jose State U. Says Replacing Live Lectures With Videos Increased Test Scores – Wired Campus – The Chronicle of Higher Education
  2. RESOURCE: The Flipped Classroom Guide for Teachers
  3. RESOURCE: Five Best Practices for the Flipped Classroom
  4. RESOURCE: 6 Expert Tips for Flipping the Classroom — Campus Technology
  5. MANUSCRIPT: Vodcasts and Active-Learning Exercises in a “Flipped Classroom” Model of a Renal Pharmacotherapy Module
  6. MANUSCRIPT: The Effect of the Flipped Classroom on Student Achievement and Stress 
  7. RESOURCE: Using the “flipped classroom” model to re-imagine medical education | Scope Blog (great video included and re-purposed below)
  8. RESOURCE: ‘Flipping’ Classrooms May Not Make Much Difference PLUS RESOURCE: Comment from member of research team on USA Today flipped classroom article
  9. RESOURCE: Gathering Evidence that Flipping the Classroom can Enhance Learning Outcomes | Emerging Education Technology
  10. RESOURCE: The MOOC School of Medicine
  11. Education and Healthcare Embrace a Digital and Interconnected World
  12. ABSTRACT: PBL and Beyond: Trends in Collaborative Learning

Beyond what I have shared above, there are 100’s of great resources available to you and your teams if you have the time to search them out, but beginning here should help you set a course, conceive a pilot, or understand the barriers to success.

In a separate post, I will be describing my recent experience Chairing a flipped workshop in conjunction with the Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions entitled, “Journey to the Center of CE” – this was a tremendously successful and profitable endeavor for the Alliance, and the lessons learned should go a long way to giving you even more motivation to begin to leverage these types of innovations within your own programs.

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Surgical training 2.0: How contemporary developments in information technology can augment surgical training.

BACKGROUND:
The current surgical trainee is faced with reduced training time compared to predecessors as a result of changes in working practices. The past decade has seen marked developments in the information technology sector. This editorial will review how modern technological innovations could augment current surgical training.
METHODS:
We review the literature and summarize important developments in information technology that could assist the modern surgical trainee. We also look at some of the challenges faced by use of this technology.
FINDINGS:
Developments in mobile internet connectivity will improve access to online resources for the surgical trainee. Web 2.0 will revolutionise the way trainees interact with textbooks, journals, webpages and each other. Simulators could help to fill gaps created by reduced operating hours. To maximize the effectiveness of these resources they need to be accessible and incorporated into training in a structured way, ensuring patient safety and accuracy of information.
CONCLUSION:
Contemporary developments in technology offer benefits to the surgical trainee and could fill gaps left by reduced operating times. In order to ensure efficient use of technology and patient safety, bodies such as the Royal Colleges and Training Programmes must embrace these developments.

via Surgical training 2.0: How contemporary developments… [Surgeon. 2013] – PubMed – NCBI.

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Social media: the way forward or a waste of time for physicians?

Social media is everywhere; its use has grown exponentially over recent years. The prevalence of these outlets for communication raises some interesting and potentially risky issues for physicians. On the one hand, some believe that physicians should have a strong social media presence and can benefit greatly from access to a global community of peers and leaders through blogs, online forums, Facebook, Twitter and other communication channels. Dr Anne Marie Cunningham provides a strong case for the advantages of developing networks and figuring out who and what to pay attention to online. On the other hand however, others believe that the use of social media places doctors at a professional and ethical risk and is essentially a waste of time for the already time-pressured physician. Professor DeCamp argues that the risks of social media outweigh their benefits. It makes it more difficult to maintain a distinction between private and professional personas, and as we have seen, one mistyped or inappropriate comment can have potentially negative consequences when taken out of context. With an already time-pressured day, the priority should be patients, not tweets. Whatever your thoughts on the benefits and risks of social media, it is here to stay. Specific guidelines and guidance are needed to ensure that physicians who decide to join an online community reap the benefits of global communication, rather than regret it.

via Social media: the way forward or a… [J R Coll Physicians Edinb. 2013] – PubMed – NCBI.

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