Sidelines 19 (2)
Ray Phillips
Head of Information Services Development
King's Fund
Email:
Donnelly, L., et al. eHealth as a challenge to 'expert'
power: a focus group study of internet use for health information and
management. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 2008;
101(10):501-506
Sideline’s summary: An investigation of current use of
the internet and eHealth. Findings suggest that patients feel
empowered by access to eHealth information but see it as supplemental
to face-to-face contact with their GP. The implications for the
patient-practitioner relationship and health management more generally
are discussed.
Lemire, M., et al. Internet use and the logics of
personal empowerment in health. Health Policy. 2008; 88(1):130-140
Sideline’s summary: A
case study based on a popular Canadian health web site that examines
attitudes of patients to the shifting balance of roles and
responsibilities between the patient, health professional and the
emerging role of the online community.
McKinnell, I. The National Library for Health: an
architecture for knowledge discovery to delivery. British Journal of
Healthcare Computing and Information Management. 2008: (March 2008)
Sideline’s summary: Ian McKinnell, Head of Development
at the National Library for Health, summarises the achievements of the
National Library for Health.
http://www.bjhcim.co.uk/features/2008/803006.htm
(online only)
Colledge, A., et al.
Health information for patients: time to look beyond
patient information leaflets. Journal of the Royal Society of
Medicine. 2008; 101(8):447-453
Sidelines summary: As the
target date for implementing the strategy set out in ‘Better
information, better health’ (DoH, 2004) many patients are still unable
to access appropriate information in an appropriate format. This paper
discusses what can be done to improve health communication.
Nicolini, D., et al. Managing knowledge in the
healthcare sector: a review. International Journal of Management
Reviews. 2008;10(3):245-263
Sideline’s summary: This paper reviews the recent
literature on knowledge management policies and practices in health
care contexts.
Cook, DA., et al. Internet-based learning in the health
professions. Journal of the American Medical Association.
2008;300(10):1181-1196
Sideline’s summary: A
study of the effectiveness of health professionals’ Internet-based
learning that reports large positive effects for the method over no
intervention and suggests similar effectiveness to other instructional
methods.
Davis, PM., et al. Open access publishing, article
downloads, and citations: randomised controlled trial. BMJ. 2008;
337(7665):343-345
Sidelines summary: A
randomised controlled trial of the effect of availability of open
access materials on downloads and citations of subscription
publications concludes that the citation advantage often claimed for
open access may be due to other causes.
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/337/jul31_1/a568
Wells, R. Health literacy: reading between the lines.
Journal of Communication in Healthcare. 2008; 1(3):255-265
Sideline’s summary: This
paper looks at definitions and models of health literacy (HL) and
examines how this relates to current thinking in England. It
concludes that accessing health information and making informed health
decisions requires a high level of skill and that HL initiatives have
the potential to reduce health inequalities and encourage positive
changes in health behaviour.
Hardey, M. Public health and Web 2.0. Journal of the
Royal Society for the Promotion of Health. 2008;128(4):181-189
Sideline’s summary: This
paper looks at the role of Web 2.0 in health information contexts and
looks at the implications for patients and health practitioners. The
authors see opportunities for disseminating health information and the
prospect of new dilemmas and questions.
Currie, G., et al. The limits of knowledge management
for UK public services modernization: the case of patient safety and
service quality. Public Administration. 2008;86(2):363-385
Sidelines summary: This
article evaluates the introduction of a knowledge management system,
the National Reporting and Learning System, and its impact in the area
of operating theatres within a university teaching hospital. The
authors suggest that government policy in this area should address the
limits of knowledge management and barriers to knowledge sharing in a
cross cultural context.
Thurston, SJ., et al. Increasing decision-makers'
access to economic evaluations: alternative methods of communicating
the information. International Journal of Technology Assessment in
Health Care. 2008;24(2):151-157
Sideline’s summary: This study aimed to evaluate
different methods of summarising economic evaluations in terms of
their acceptability to decision makers. It was found that a very
short summary with more detailed abstract was the preferred option.
Bertulis, R. Barriers to accessing evidence-based
information. Nursing Standard. 2008;22(36):35-39
Sideline’s summary: This
article reviews the literature on barriers to evidence-based practice
among nurses and concludes that a perceived lack of time is the
principle obstacle. The authors suggest that this leads nurses to opt
for the most convenient or accessible sources regardless of quality
and to rely on colleagues as information sources.
Darzi, Ara, Lord Darzi of Denham. Evidence-based
medicine and the NHS: a commentary. Journal of the Royal Society of
Medicine. 2008;101(7):342-344
Sideline’s summary: This
paper urges a reconsideration of the meaning and definition of
evidence-based practice and to apply the resulting new evidence base
to areas of health care reform in England.
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