Selected Internet Resources for Nurses and Nursing Students
The latest edition of College & Research Libraries News includes a sampling of sites for nurses and nursing students.
Here is a selected list of their sites:
U.S.
NLM Gateway
This site is a handy entry point for searching the many valuable resources at the National Library of Medicine. It provides a global search function for Pubmed, Pubmed Central, and Medline Plus, all of which are discussed below.
http://gateway.nlm.nih.gov/gw/Cmd
Resources for medical professionals and researchers
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
This federal agency both conducts and sponsors research on healthcare quality, safety, and cost-effectiveness.
http://www.ahrq.gov/about/nursing/
National
One of the National Institutes of Health, this organization’s mission is to support research in nursing in clinical and community settings through grants and other funding programs.
http://ninr.nih.gov/ninr/index.html
Nongovernmental portals
BioMed Central
This resource publishes more than 140 open access journals covering all areas of biology and medicine.
http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcnurs/
The “MD” stands for “Meta Directory” and the
http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/md/index.html
HealthWeb
This well-organized collection of evaluated, noncommercial resources is a collaborative project of health sciences libraries at more than 20 leading academic medical centers in the Midwest. Easy to use, it offers basic and guided searching or browsing by categories from AIDS and HIV to Women’s Health.
http://healthweb.org/index.cfm
http://www.nursingworld.org/ojin/
Study aids for nursing students
The American Medical Association (AMA) offers resources and information about medical ethics. One especially helpful resource for nursing students is their "Virtual Mentor, an interactive, Web-based forum for analysis and discussion of ethical and professional issues."
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/2416.html.
The Virtual Health Care Team Web site is sponsored by the
http://www.vhct.org/index.shtml
The Bartleby.com edition of Gray’s Anatomy features 1,247 pictures from the classic 1918 publication, as well as a subject index with 13,000 entries.
http://www.bartleby.com/107/
Easy to navigate, the user begins by choosing among ten systems: skeletal, digestive, muscular, lymphatic, endocrine, nervous, cardiovascular, male or female reproductive, and urinary. Graphics are interactive and users can view animations of the system, tutorials, and descriptions.
http://www.innerbody.com/htm/body.html.
This is surely a unique Internet resource for medical and nursing students. As its name suggests, it is a multimedia tutorial featuring a virtual stethoscope to assess both respiratory and cardiovascular conditions.
http://sprojects.mmi.mcgill.ca/mvs/mvsteth.htm
http://www.unmc.edu/library/reference/medimage.html
The Merck Manual’s 17th, Centennial Edition is available free, searchable by keyword or the table of contents. Merck also offers two other complete manuals through this site: The Merck Manual of Geriatrics and The Merck Manual of Health & Aging.
http://www.merck.com/mrkshared/mmanual/sections.jsp
Created by the
http://medinfo.ufl.edu/year1/bcs/clist/index.html
RN Central
Created by nurses for nurses and students, this site offers good resource links, but the highlight is its “Careplan Corner,” with predefined nursing care plans under three categories: “Altered/Alterations,” “Impaired/Impairment,” and “General.”
http://www.rncentral.com/
Information provided for each drug includes the description, clinical pharmacology, indications and dosage, side effects and drug interactions, warnings and precautions, drug overdosage contraindications, and patient information.
http://www.rxlist.com
Nursing associations, online forums, and discussion lists
The ANA represents American registered nurses (RNs). The site provides information on current issues in nursing (workplace rights, patient safety, and ethics) and a sophisticated career center with a searchable jobs database, space for posting résumés, and advice for job-seekers. http://www.ana.org or http://nursingworld.org.
International Council of Nurses
"A federation of national nurses’associations (NNAs), representing nurses in more than 128 countries," that focuses on quality in nursing internationally and global health policy. http://www.icn.ch/index.html.
Online forums and discussion lists
Nursing Discussion Forums
http://nursing.buffalo.edu/mccartny/nursing_discussion_forums.html
Skepticism in Nursing Discussion forum http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/skepticrn/
posted by Kelli at College Library @ 1:39 AM
21 comments
21 Comments:
what a great librarian you are!
http://healthweb.org/index.cfm had a very comprehensive scope of health related topics. The audience is intended to be health care professionals.The authority and accuracy are guided by Consumer Reports WebWatch guidelines and the site is a member of HONcode (health on the net)and follows their principles. The site was developed by a group of health sciences libraries who identify relevant resources and evaluate those sources using subject experts. The purpose of the site is to provide organized access to evaluated, non-commercial health related Internet accessible resources. The site noted frequent updates and the organization was simple to navigate with liks to the home page. I think this non-governmental portal polices itself though I did find several links with advertising and purchasing options.
I looked at http://www.nursingworld.org/ojin which met all 7 of the criteria. It had broad international perspectives on nursing and the audience is specalized to nurses. The site is sponsored by the American Nurses Assoc and Kent State University, both reputable organzations. The website is dated 2006 and the oldest article that I found was dated 1997. The articles that are published go through strict peer-reviews to assure accuracy of the information. The purpose of the site is clearly for the education of nurses about relevant topics to nurses and the site is well organized and easy to navigate through. I did not find specific guidelines on how the non-governmental portal chose the websites, but it seems they have reputable sites that are from exceptional organizations that have peer-reviewed rearch articles that cover a wide variety of topics.
I chose http://www.nursingworld.org/ojin/
I found the Organization, Structure and Design of the web site to be very well planned. You can navigate through this web site easily. They have and index at the top of each page, and no matter what page I went to I was able to get back to the home page. Items of interest were highlighted and easy to find. The scope of the web site was clearly defined on the front page, "is a free, peer-reviewed, international, online publication that addresses pertinent nursing issues, affecting nursing practice, research, education and health care." It further defined the Scope and Purpose and Audience in their "About Us" section. The Authority was also easy to find extensive. The web site states on the front page that it is owned by Kent State University College of Nursing and jointly published with the ANA. You can also find the authors, editorial staff and advisory board with links directly to their area. The web site is current, with the most recent article dated May 31, 2006. Other than journal articles though it did not state the recent update of the web page. Accuracy again, is defined as a peer reviewed site, with references and resources sited. Also with the ANA as a joint publisher it lends itself to increased credibility.
Overall, I found this web site to be very easy to navigate and credible.
The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing
http://www.nursingworld.org/ojin/
Scope: This website clearly defines the scope under Journal Content on the “About Us” link
Authority: The authors are credited under Responsible Parties on the “About Us” link
Currency: I could not find a last revised date on the general website, but articles feature on the home page were published only 1 week ago.
Audience: The intended audience is describe on the “About Us” page under Readership
Accuracy: This site and its articles are peer-reviewed as stated by the website. Each article posted is authored by experts in that particular area
Organization: This website contains a table of contents and is easy to maneuver.
Purpose: The purpose of the website is the first area listed on the “About Us” link
I agree with the selection criteria and standards that the OJIN uses to select articles. Each article is written by an expert on that specific topic. All articles undergo a blind peer-review by two or three of the review board members. They either recommend acceptance, resubmission or request rejection of the article. The board members are listed on the website and all have the credentials to select appropriate articles. I would have no hesitation to search for articles and topics on this portal.
The site I reviewed is http://healthweb.org/index.cfm. The audience is clearly stated to be for healthcare professionals and consumers; although the expansiveness of this site could be a bit intimidating for patients or families without computer skills. This site had a comprehensive index as well as thorough information on the “about us” page concerning what was included on the site. Stated purpose is to provide a well organized interface which gives educational information to users. The links were active, appropriate and relevant with latest update posted for the most part; although home page site did not list a last update. Authors and contributing members are well documented and appear qualified to provide information with training and experience in the field. Information appears valid, unbiased and well researched. The site was organized, easy to navigate and a home link is available on each page. Although this site is a collaborative effort, uniform guidelines and criteria are utilized. Experts in the fields are responsible to evaluate links before adding them to HealthWeb. I believe this lends to a credible site that I will save in "my favorites" for future use.
Let's try this again...
www.aorn.org
This is the Association of Peri-operative registered nurses is the website I chose. This website is updated daily, therefore very current. The intended audience are those RNs that work as peri-operative nurses and their supervisors and administrators. The purpose of the website seems to be to recruit members to the organization and sell peri-operative products. The website is fairly organized, but contains many ads for different sponsors. I could not determine who the author was. However, the Board of Directors is listed, and I assume they are responsible for the content. If I were a surgery manager this website may be helpful, but for a new surgery nurse, I don’t think I would use this site. I want more educational material and this isn’t the site to visit for that. The scope is unclear as well as the accuracy of the information. The only information I could find was about the merchandise for sale.
The selection criteria for this portal seems to work. Over 20 “libraries” collaborate together to find quality health websites. The websites are critiqued by experts in that specific field and also compared to information from other health websites. I think this process sounds complicated, but can work.
The Nongovernmental Portal site I chose was OJIN. The URL for OJIN is http://www.nursingworld.org/ojin/
The scope and purpose of the OJIN is clearly defined under “About Us”. Their intended audience is directed towards nurses and other health care professionals. This information was located under the “About Us” heading. The last piece of information found in the “About Us” section was the Authority and Accuracy which was under the subheading of Responsible Parties. I found this section to be quite impressive. The editorial staff consists of seven nursing professors, a library professor and a business professor. All of these individuals have obtained their PhD with the exception of one who has their MSN. In addition to the Editorial Staff, there are twelve national and internal members on an Advisory Board. The Editorial Review Board consists of 68 national and international members. All articles undergo a blind peer review by 2-3 members of the Peer Review Board. While the home page did not provide any information as to when it was last updated, several other pages provided update dates with the most current update being 6/1/2006. The organization, structure and design of this website contain a table of contents, FAQ’s and an About Us section which all link back to a home page. I found this site very easy to navigate.
All articles are written by experts and required to go through a peer review that recommends acceptance, resubmission or rejection of an article prior to being published.
The OJIN appears to be a credible site that I have already added to “My Favorites”.
THE URL OF THE SITE IS http://www.nnih.gov.news/pr/apr2006/nia-18.htm AS THIS WAS WAS FEATURED ON A NEWS RELEASE THE SCOPE WAS NOT STATED. AUDIENCE IS THOSE WHO WORK IN THE HEALTH PROFESSIONS . AUTHORITY IS THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HEALTH, NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGING. IT IS A GOVERNMENT SITE BUTNAME AND AUTHOR ARE APPARENT AS WELL AS CONTACT INFORMATION FOR AUTHOR. IT IS DATED APROL 2006 AS REALEASE DATE. I AM CONFIDENT IN THE ACCURACY DUE TO FACT ALL PARTIES, AUTHOR AND NIH CAN BE CONTACTED DIRECTLY FROM SITE AS WELL AS LINKS TO SPANISH PUBLICATIONS. THIS IS WHAT I FOUND MOST HELPFUL .THE PURPOSE /GOALS IS PREVENTION AND INFORMATION. I AWAS TAKEN DIRECTLY TO ARTICLE FROM SEARCH SO DID NOT HAVE TO NAVIGATE THE NIH WAS SITE. THIS SITE WAS ACCESSED THROUGH A NON-GOVERNMENTAL PORTAL?. ODD?
http://www.nursingworld.org/ojin/
I, too, chose to review OJIN. I found the site easy to navigate, once I realized I had to search using different terms (cardiac as opposed to cardiology, etc.).
Scope is available, under the "Table of contents" tab, though the user has to scroll through to see if his/her item is listed.
Audience is listed as nurses and other health care practitioners.
Authority and Accuracy are both supported by the fact that the articles listed on the site are reviewed by a long list of Editoral Board, Advisory Board and an Editorial Review Board, all of which are composed of nurses (most of whom have doctorate degrees) from around the world.
Purpose is listed under "About us" and very well explained.
Currency - the most recent update is listed as 6/1/2006, the most recent article I found was from 5/31/06.
After finding my way around the site, I really liked it. I, too, will add it to my favorites and have joined the email list.
I didn't find that this portal sent me to other sites, so I can not comment on this portal's selection criteria. I did look at other portals, however, and found that some of them did send the reader to sites that were not as "unbiased" as others (some with a good deal of advertising, etc.). Unfortunately, sometimes that is the "cost" of a website (advertisers pay for the costs associated with maintaining a website so users don't have to pay a subscription).
I started my search through the HON website. I chose Childhood Obesity as my interest to search. It is a rising problem for children in the United States and one that we are coming all to familiar with in the Pediatricians office. The website I chose is http://www.shapingamericasyouth.com. The website is for all parties hoping to reverse the problem of childhood obesity. The scope of the site is listed in “About say” and describes the scope of the organization. The authority of the site is clearly defined as Academic Network, LLC a health communications company. The currency of the site is clearly defined at every link and shown at the bottom of every link. I found the site to be accurate in the information that it contained. There was also a reference page containing links to additional resources. The purpose of the site is clearly defined. In the About Say they list the objectives of the site and the group as a whole. I also found the site easy to navigate and easy to find your way back to the home page. With every link there is a connection available to the home page and the site map. Overall, I found this website to be a credible site. I agree with the selection criteria and standards the “Nongovernmental Portal”. It’s nice to know that someone is monitoring the quality of these sites.
The Nongovernmental Portal site I chose was OJIN. The URL for OJIN is http://www.nursingworld.org/ojin/
The scope and purpose of the OJIN is clearly defined under “About Us”. Their intended audience is directed towards nurses and other health care professionals. This information was located under the “About Us” heading. The last piece of information found in the “About Us” section was the Authority and Accuracy which was under the subheading of Responsible Parties. I found this section to be quite impressive. The editorial staff consists of seven nursing professors, a library professor and a business professor. All of these individuals have obtained their PhD with the exception of one who has their MSN. In addition to the Editorial Staff, there are twelve national and internal members on an Advisory Board. The Editorial Review Board consists of 68 national and international members. All articles undergo a blind peer review by 2-3 members of the Peer Review Board. While the home page did not provide any information as to when it was last updated, several other pages provided update dates with the most current update being 6/1/2006. The organization, structure and design of this website contain a table of contents, FAQ’s and an About Us section which all link back to a home page. I found this site very easy to navigate.
All articles are written by experts and required to go through a peer review that recommends acceptance, resubmission or rejection of an article prior to being published.
The OJIN appears to be a credible site that I have already added to “My Favorites”.
I also chose www.nursingworld.org/ojin/.
The scope was communicated effectively.
The web site is focused on providing information to health care professionals, primarily nurses.
This is a non-governmental organization site published in conjunction with Kent State.
I found posts dated May 2006 which indicates that the site is current.
The home page states that published information is peer-reviewed.
The purpose of the site as stated on the "About Us" page is, in part, to provide current health care information and to meet professional development needs.
The web site is professionally developed and links are easy to follow.
OJIN is the nongovernmental portal site that I chose. http://www.nursingworld.org/ojin/ is the URL.
Scope: Clearly stated
Audience: Nurses/Health Care Professionals
Authority: Very credible 'Responsible Party' list
Currency: May 2006 posts found which indicates currency.
Accuracy: Articles are invited on select topics by experts in specific areas
Purpose: Clearly stated purpose. It is also easily accessible.
Organization: Site is very easy to navigate and user friendly. I am not familiar with, nor could I find the selection criteria and standards used by the "Nongovernmental Portal". I do think that what I have seen is quite credible and of good quality.
I chose the Nongovernmental Portal site Healthweb. The URL is healthweb.org/index.cfm.
I felt the quality of the site was excellent. Using the 7 criteria I discovered under the "about us" setion that :
audience - health care professionals and consumers
scope - collect and evaluate internet-accesible health information and educational resources for said audience.
authority - this is a consortium of 20 member libraries within the Greater Midwest region sponsered under UIC. Each member library has there own authority for the areas which are there "specialty". The authors vary depending upon the topic.
Currency - I found multiple listings for 2006, making it current
Organization, Structure and Design - Even I could navigate it easily.
Under the "about us" area the site went indepth about how topics and articles are selected and what the criteria are for them. I feel confident in the selection process.
OJIN is the Nongovernmental Portal site I chose.
www.nursingworld.org/ojin
is the URL
Scope is clearly defined.
Audience are nurses and other health care professionals.
Authority all with PhD except one who had MSN.
Currency I found several pages update on 6/1/2006.
Accuracy the site has very detailed information.
Purpose the purpose is clearly seen in the section "about us".
Organization of the site is very easy to use links are easy to navigate.
I think this site is quite credible and I have used it in the past and will continue to use it.
The nongovernmental site I chose was Http://www.biomedcentral.com.1471-2318/5/14
The scope was identified under "about". The intended audeince was nurses and other healthcare professionals. The authority was a commercial company. The data was current and last updated in 2005. The accuracy seemed to be evident in the subject of the article. The purpose was identified in the about section. The organizationa nd structure was disorganized and hard to navigate. I do not at this time agree with the sites availble under the non governmental portal. This site that I identified contained articles that seemed to be lacking of professional merit. The site was unorganized as well.
The "nongovernmental portal" that I chose was Biomed Central @ http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcnurs. The quality of the site based on the 7 criteria:
Scope: "Biomed Central is an independent publishing house committed to providing immediate open-access to peer-reviewed biomedical research." It allows ther person searching the site to know what type of articles they may find and that they are peer reviewed.
Audience: The audience is scientific or healthcare professionals because there are over 160 journals on the site that may appeal to a wide audience.
Authority: Each article tells the name of the author and their credentials. Also, many give contact information. The site itself has a "contact us" segment.
Currency: I found this to be a very current website with articles published the day that I am posting this blog 6/15/06.
Accuracy: All of the articles that I reviewed had references and citations. All articles are peer-reviewed. In addition, each journal shows its policy for peer review.
Purpose: The purpose of this was stated that this site was "open access to research as essential in order to ensure the rapid and efficient communication of research findings."
Organiztion: This site was easy to navigate with links back to the home page always found. A couple of "flashy" advertisements, but otherwise easy to use.
Based upon the 7 selection criteria of scope, audience, authority, currency, accuracy, purpose and organization the Biomed Central and the OJIN sites followed the selection criteria and were easy to find. Healthweb and Hardin MD had most of the criteria, but took more of an in depth search to find them.
I would use Biomed Central or OJIN in my current and future advanced nursing practice.
The "nongovernmental portal" that I chose was Biomed Central @ http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcnurs. The quality of the site based on the 7 criteria:
Scope: "Biomed Central is an independent publishing house committed to providing immediate open-access to peer-reviewed biomedical research." It allows ther person searching the site to know what type of articles they may find and that they are peer reviewed.
Audience: The audience is scientific or healthcare professionals because there are over 160 journals on the site that may appeal to a wide audience.
Authority: Each article tells the name of the author and their credentials. Also, many give contact information. The site itself has a "contact us" segment.
Currency: I found this to be a very current website with articles published the day that I am posting this blog 6/15/06.
Accuracy: All of the articles that I reviewed had references and citations. All articles are peer-reviewed. In addition, each journal shows its policy for peer review.
Purpose: The purpose of this was stated that this site was "open access to research as essential in order to ensure the rapid and efficient communication of research findings."
Organiztion: This site was easy to navigate with links back to the home page always found. A couple of "flashy" advertisements, but otherwise easy to use.
Based upon the 7 selection criteria of scope, audience, authority, currency, accuracy, purpose and organization the Biomed Central and the OJIN sites followed the selection criteria and were easy to find. Healthweb and Hardin MD had most of the criteria, but took more of an in depth search to find them.
I would use Biomed Central or OJIN in my current and future advanced nursing practice.
The web site I selected was www.NASN.org. The scope of this site is very clear. There is a Q & A section, historical information, and positions statement provided. The "About Us", section provides a clear picture of this organizations purpose. The audience is school nurses and the website was last up-dated, 2006. Many of the articles provided by this web site are research-based, written by health professionals, and a professional committee before publication has reviewed all. The organization, structure, and design of the website, allows you to navigate smoothly though out the site without difficulty. I was not able to locate information about the nongovernmental portal,however this is a professional site that is monitored by professional nurses.
I chose the non-government portal (OJIN) The URL is http://www.nursingworld.org/ojin/
The scope was indentified in the "about us" section which included a FAQ section. The audience intended are health care professionals. The Authority for this site is an editorial staff comprised of seven nursing professors, a library professor, and a business professor from Kent State. It was current in that it has been updated in 2006 and the importance of currency is even mentioned in the purpose. The purpose is to provide timely information to health care professionals so that they can deliver current and informed patient care. All articles are peer-reviewed by a review board. The site is simple to navigate and always easy to return to the homepage. I feel that it is a quality site that would be useful to practice.
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