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Information Literacy

Better informed

for better health

and better care

A 20 minute learning activity

www.infoliteracy.scot.nhs.uk

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Introduction

Information Literacy (IL)helps to develop your skills and confidence in defining your information needs, finding, evaluating and sharing information, and putting that information into practice.

The purpose of this PowerPoint presentation is to provide an overview of the 7 elements of the Information Literacy cycle. It should take you no more than 15-20 minutes to work through this.

If you have Internet access, you will find some additional helpful information at www.infoliteracy.scot.nhs.uk Your local public or NHS library can help with this.

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By the end of this Learning Activity you will be able:

• To create questions to enable you to get reliable information.

• To know where to look for reliable information. • To know how to use this information.• To know who to ask for further help.

Completion of this short course can contribute to evidence of fulfilling learning objectives for the Core KSF dimensions, and specifically IK2 and IK3

Learning Outcomes

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When you are faced with making a decision you look for information to help with this.

This applies to all sorts of things, from choosing a new freezer for home, booking a holiday, choosing a treatment for an illness, to making decisions in work.

“Question” stage

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In order to retrieve the most appropriate information, it is helpful to set up a question. The PICO formula can help focus a question. It helps to identify key elements of the question. There are examples on the next slide.

• P – patient or population• I – intervention• C – comparison• O – outcomes

“Question” stage

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“Question” stage

Examples

1.When choosing a new freezer (population), what key factors (comparison) do you need to know to make a “green” purchase (outcome)?

2. If you suffer with migraine (patient), can herbal treatment (intervention) compared with prescribed drugs (comparison) lessen the frequency of headaches (outcome)?

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• Using PICO will help you to identify KEY WORDS which you will build in to your SEARCH STRATEGY

• e.g. in the previous examples, the keywords would be:

• 1- freezer, energy rating, environmentally friendly (“green”).

• 2- migraine, herbal treatment, prescribed drugs, headaches

“Question” stage

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“Source” stage

Here we are thinking about the different types and formats of information, and how these are organised and distributed. There are many sources of information available such as people, books, magazines, journals and the internet. On the Internet, information is found via search engines e.g. Google. Always remember anyone can post information on the Internet, so it may not be reliable. We’ll look at more about this in the evaluate stage.

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The NHS Scotland e-library www.elib.scot.nhs.uk provides quality assured information for staff and patients. This is not just useful for work, but also for personal healthcare and development. Some material requires an Athens password, other information is freely accessible. Visit http://www.elib.scot.nhs.uk/portal/elib/pages/login.aspx to obtain a password.

“Source” stage

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“Source” stage

• Available from the e-library (quality assured):• Journal articles, evidence summaries,

standards, e-books, patient information, guidelines, electronic Tables of Contents

Other (non-quality assured) sources include:• People – colleagues, family, friends• Magazines, books• Internet

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“Find” stage

The keywords identified under “question stage” can be built in to a search strategy, and applied to the relevant sources identified.

The following slides show “screen shots” of a simple search on e-library, using “herbal medicine” from example 2 as a search term

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1. Enter search term in search box, to search across entire e-library

2. Click on search e-library

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Results are displayed in categories. The + symbol can be expanded to show further break down of results

Appropriate category is clicked on for more detail, e.g. e-books

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The five (at December 08) e-book titles and details are now expanded in the right hand pane of the screen.

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“Find” stage

• AND and OR are called Boolean search terms

• AND narrows a search

• OR broadens a search

• See the next slides for examples of these

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Options = freezers

Energy rating descriptions = search terms

ChillCo’s A++ green freezer

ChillCo’s A++ freezer

ChillCo’s super green

green  

A  

green OR A

green AND A    

An example is given below, of combining different energy rating terms. These are referred to on a scale fro A, A+, A++, B, through to G, with A++ being most efficient. Think of the freezer options as book titles. The tick shows what is retrieved from the products by entering the search term listed down the left hand column.

Hits

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1

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To use OR

Search box now contains “herbal medicine” OR “alternative medicine” note “quotation marks” are used as the search terms are phrases, not single words

This search has retrieved 22 e-books, compared with 5 for herbal medicine as the only term. i.e. the search was BROADER

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To use OR and AND

Search terms are now “herbal medicine” OR “alternative medicine” AND headache

The number of e-books retrieved has gone down to 8 (from 22 on last search). Our search has been NARROWED

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“Evaluate” stage

• Now you need to assess the value and reliability of the information found

• Has your question been answered?

• Is the information up to date? Is a “last updated” detail provided?

• Is the author/source “credible”?

• Are the responses biased to a particular supplier who may benefit if you choose their product?

• If you want more information on this, see Cornell University website providing links to evaluation methods for a variety of materials, or The NHS Scotland Clinical Governance website which includes a section on using evidence.

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This is the first page of results retrieved when searching for herbal medicine on Google. Results are a mixture of adverts for commercial companies and professional bodies. Be aware of the risk of bias among results.

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“Combine” stage

• Add the new valid information you have found to what you already know. This can be internal – your own learning and experience or external – shared information e.g. in a database.

• Example - Aspirin or paracetamol are conventional medicines for

headaches, but a search could retrieve an article describing Feverfew as a herbal remedy reported to help with migraine. You combine this information to decide what to take. Has Feverfew been reliably tested like a conventional drug? Can you take both? Do you need more information?

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“Share” stage

• Sharing information prevents duplication of effort, saves time and resources, and can encourage self management of medical conditions

• Recognise the importance and benefits of sharing information

• Routinely communicate newly found information to others

• Would others find this newly found information useful?

• How would you share this information with others?

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“Share” stage

Ways to share information• Chat over coffee• Journal club• Feedback session with supervisor• Write article for staff magazine• Share with e-mail discussion group or

other virtual community – NHS Scotland e-library can provide this via a Shared Space. (see next slide)

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E-library Shared Spaces are a resource available to you via the e-library for virtual communities. You can request a Shared Space on the e-library to share information among your work community – topic based, geographical, staff group, same role across Highland etc.

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“Apply” stage

The information you find may be applied in a range of settings e.g. your work, personal development, or to improve health and well being.

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement tools to support getting knowledge into practice. http://www.ihi.org/IHI/Topics/Improvement/ could be helpful to you if you want to learn more.