bims-librar Biomed News
on Biomedical librarianship
Issue of 2022‒12‒04
sixteen papers selected by
Thomas Krichel
Open Library Society


  1. Ref Libr. 2022 ;63(3): 67-81
      Because of gaps in the offerings of Library and Information Science programs and librarian continuing education programs, library students and early-career librarians may not be aware of opportunities in health sciences librarianship. There is a need for introductory educational offerings on the foundations of health sciences librarianship. There is also a need to address barriers that may obstruct members of underrepresented groups from becoming health sciences librarians. The article explores the possibility that online education and mentoring can address gaps in introductory educational offerings in health sciences librarianship. The article describes the development of a pilot program for an online Introduction to Health Sciences Librarianship course and mentoring program, reflects on results from a survey of program participants, and identifies areas for further research and program development. The article also discusses the potential implications the program may have for addressing equity, diversity, and inclusion in health sciences librarianship.
    Keywords:  health sciences librarianship; library and information science education; mentoring; online learning; professional development
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/02763877.2022.2056559
  2. Subst Use Misuse. 2022 Nov 28. 1-6
      Background: Colorado's age-adjusted fatal opioid overdose rate increased over 400% from 2000 to 2020. Public libraries are increasingly valuable community resources for accessing health-related information. We sought to evaluate the availability and types of opioid use disorder (OUD)-related resources offered through Colorado Public Library branches using secret shoppers to collect data. Methods: This was a cross sectional study of 197 Colorado Public Libraries in 2021. Anonymous auditors posed as library patrons asking a brief standardized script about availability of OUD-related resources over the phone. We conducted descriptive analyses of the libraries contacted, the response types of OUD resources provided, and information about naloxone availability. Outcomes were compared between urban/rural and libraries within/outside the Denver Public Library (DPL) system via means comparison tests. Results: Approximately 50% of libraries were classified as urban. Most (81%) of the libraries offered a valid OUD-resource, and over half (51%) provided a referral to a treatment center offering at least one medication for OUD. Over a third (36%) of librarians referenced the statewide naloxone standing order allowing patients to obtain naloxone from a pharmacy without prescription. One in ten libraries provided at least one invalid referral resource. Libraries within the DPL system referenced Colorado's naloxone standing order at higher rates than non-DPL libraries. Conclusions: Public libraries may benefit from the development of a standard for OUD-related resource training/education that can be distributed across the state to create a space for community members to obtain resources related to substance use.
    Keywords:  Opioid; naloxone; opioid use disorder
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2022.2151825
  3. Syst Rev. 2022 Dec 01. 11(1): 258
      BACKGROUND: The Systematic Review (SR) Toolbox was developed in 2014 to collate tools that can be used to support the systematic review process. Since its inception, the breadth of evidence synthesis methodologies has expanded greatly. This work describes the process of updating the SR Toolbox in 2022 to reflect these changes in evidence synthesis methodology. We also briefly analysed included tools and guidance to identify any potential gaps in what is currently available to researchers.METHODS: We manually extracted all guidance and software tools contained within the SR Toolbox in February 2022. A single reviewer, with a second checking a proportion, extracted and analysed information from records contained within the SR Toolbox using Microsoft Excel. Using this spreadsheet and Microsoft Access, the SR Toolbox was updated to reflect expansion of evidence synthesis methodologies and brief analysis conducted.
    RESULTS: The updated version of the SR Toolbox was launched on 13 May 2022, with 235 software tools and 112 guidance documents included. Regarding review families, most software tools (N = 223) and guidance documents (N = 78) were applicable to systematic reviews. However, there were fewer tools and guidance documents applicable to reviews of reviews (N = 66 and N = 22, respectively), while qualitative reviews were less served by guidance documents (N = 19). In terms of review production stages, most guidance documents surrounded quality assessment (N = 70), while software tools related to searching and synthesis (N = 84 and N = 82, respectively). There appears to be a paucity of tools and guidance relating to stakeholder engagement (N = 2 and N = 3, respectively).
    CONCLUSIONS: The SR Toolbox provides a platform for those undertaking evidence syntheses to locate guidance and software tools to support different aspects of the review process across multiple review types. However, this work has also identified potential gaps in guidance and software that could inform future research.
    Keywords:  Evidence synthesis; Guidance; Software; Support; Systematic review; Tools
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-022-02122-z
  4. Int J Med Inform. 2022 Nov 24. pii: S1386-5056(22)00242-8. [Epub ahead of print]170 104928
      OBJECTIVE: Study identification refers to formalizing an effective search over biomedical databases for retrieving all eligible evidence for a systematic review. Manual construction of queries, where a user submit a search query for which a biomedical search system such as PubMed would identify the most relevant documents, has been recognized as a very costly step in conducting systematic reviews. The objective of this paper is to present an automatic query generation approach to reduce the time and labor cost of manual biomedical study identification.MATERIALS AND METHODS: The evaluation benchmark is the widely adopted CLEF 2018 Technology Assisted Reviews (TAR) collection, with 72 systematic reviews on Diagnosis Test Accuracy. We use and fine-tune pre-trained language models for generating high-level key-phrases and their dense embeddings. We constructed and published a dataset consists of almost one million PubMed articles' abstracts and their keywords for fine-tuning pre-trained language models. We also use concepts that are represented in the Unified Medical Language System, UMLS, for query expansion and embedding generation. We exploit and test different clustering methods, namely Agglomerative clustering, Affinity Propagation, and K-Means, over the generated embeddings to form query clauses.
    RESULTS: Our proposed methods outperform existing state-of-the-art automatic query generation models across Precision (0.0821 compared with 0.005), Recall (0.9676 compared with 0.878), and F-measures (0.2898 compared with 0.0356 in F3 measure). In addition, some of the proposed methods can even outperform the performance of the manually crafted queries in some specific measures.
    CONCLUSION: The proposed model in this paper can be utilized to form an effective initial search query that can be further refined and updated by human reviewers for achieving the desired performance. For future work, we would like to explore the application of the presented query formalization methods in existing study identification methodologies and techniques, especially those that iteratively train machine learning models based on the domain experts' feedback on the relevancy of the retrieved studies.
    Keywords:  Biomedical contextual embedding; Boolean query formalization; Systematic review; Technology-aided reviews; Unified medical language system
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2022.104928
  5. IEEE Trans Vis Comput Graph. 2022 Nov 28. PP
      Many Information Retrieval (IR) approaches have been proposed to extract relevant information from a large corpus. Among these methods, phrase-based retrieval methods have been proven to capture more concrete and concise information than word-based and paragraph-based methods. However, due to the complex relationship among phrases and a lack of proper visual guidance, achieving user-driven interactive information-seeking and retrieval remains challenging. In this study, we present a visual analytic approach for users to seek information from an extensive collection of documents efficiently. The main component of our approach is a PhraseMap, where nodes and edges represent the extracted keyphrases and their relationships, respectively, from a large corpus. To build the PhraseMap, we extract keyphrases from each document and link the phrases according to word attention determined using modern language models, i.e., BERT. As can be imagined, the graph is complex due to the extensive volume of information and the massive amount of relationships. Therefore, we develop a navigation algorithm to facilitate information seeking. It includes (1) a question-answering (QA) model to identify phrases related to users' queries and (2) updating relevant phrases based on users' feedback. To better present the PhraseMap, we introduce a resource-controlled self-organizing map (RC-SOM) to evenly and regularly display phrases on grid cells while expecting phrases with similar semantics to stay close in the visualization. To evaluate our approach, we conducted case studies with three domain experts in diverse literature. The results and feedback demonstrate its effectiveness, usability, and intelligence.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2022.3225114
  6. Database (Oxford). 2022 Dec 01. pii: baac102. [Epub ahead of print]2022
      The automatic recognition of chemical names and their corresponding database identifiers in biomedical text is an important first step for many downstream text-mining applications. The task is even more challenging when considering the identification of these entities in the article's full text and, furthermore, the identification of candidate substances for that article's metadata [Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) article indexing]. The National Library of Medicine (NLM)-Chem track at BioCreative VII aimed to foster the development of algorithms that can predict with high quality the chemical entities in the biomedical literature and further identify the chemical substances that are candidates for article indexing. As a result of this challenge, the NLM-Chem track produced two comprehensive, manually curated corpora annotated with chemical entities and indexed with chemical substances: the chemical identification corpus and the chemical indexing corpus. The NLM-Chem BioCreative VII (NLM-Chem-BC7) Chemical Identification corpus consists of 204 full-text PubMed Central (PMC) articles, fully annotated for chemical entities by 12 NLM indexers for both span (i.e. named entity recognition) and normalization (i.e. entity linking) using MeSH. This resource was used for the training and testing of the Chemical Identification task to evaluate the accuracy of algorithms in predicting chemicals mentioned in recently published full-text articles. The NLM-Chem-BC7 Chemical Indexing corpus consists of 1333 recently published PMC articles, equipped with chemical substance indexing by manual experts at the NLM. This resource was used for the evaluation of the Chemical Indexing task, which evaluated the accuracy of algorithms in predicting the chemicals that should be indexed, i.e. appear in the listing of MeSH terms for the document. This set was further enriched after the challenge in two ways: (i) 11 NLM indexers manually verified each of the candidate terms appearing in the prediction results of the challenge participants, but not in the MeSH indexing, and the chemical indexing terms appearing in the MeSH indexing list, but not in the prediction results, and (ii) the challenge organizers algorithmically merged the chemical entity annotations in the full text for all predicted chemical entities and used a statistical approach to keep those with the highest degree of confidence. As a result, the NLM-Chem-BC7 Chemical Indexing corpus is a gold-standard corpus for chemical indexing of journal articles and a silver-standard corpus for chemical entity identification in full-text journal articles. Together, these resources are currently the most comprehensive resources for chemical entity recognition, and we demonstrate improvements in the chemical entity recognition algorithms. We detail the characteristics of these novel resources and make them available for the community. Database URL: https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/lu/NLM-Chem-BC7-corpus/.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1093/database/baac102
  7. JMIR Form Res. 2022 Nov 30. 6(11): e42126
      BACKGROUND: The use of web-based methods to seek health information is increasing in popularity. As web-based health information (WHI)-seeking affects health-related decision support and chronic symptom self-management, WHI-seeking from online sources may impact health care decisions and outcomes, including care-seeking decisions. Patients who are routinely connected to physicians are more likely to receive better and more consistent care. Little is known about whether WHI-seeking impacts the frequency at which patients engage with health care providers.OBJECTIVE: Our primary objective was to describe the associations between the use of web-based methods to seek information about one's own health and the time since last engaging with a health care provider about one's own health. Additionally, we aimed to assess participants' trust in health care organizations to contextualize our findings.
    METHODS: We analyzed data from US adults participating in the nationally representative Tufts Equity in Health, Wealth, and Civic Engagement Survey (N=1034). Bivariate associations between demographic characteristics and health information-seeking methods were assessed with Pearson chi-squared tests. Bivariate associations of Medical Mistrust Index (MMI) scores with each health information-seeking method and time since provider engagement were assessed with F tests and adjusted Wald tests. We fit a multivariable logistic regression model to assess the association between WHI-seeking within the 12 months prior to survey (alone or in combination with provider-based methods versus provider only) and engagement with a provider more than 1 year prior to the time of survey, adjusting for age, race and ethnicity, sex, education, insurance coverage, and MMI.
    RESULTS: Age, race and ethnicity, educational attainment, health insurance source, MMI, and time since provider engagement were each significantly associated with the health information-seeking method in bivariate analyses. Compared to using only provider-based health information seeking methods, WHI-based methods alone or in combination with provider-based methods were associated with a 51% lower likelihood (odds ratio 0.49, 95% CI 0.27-0.87) of engaging with a provider within the previous year. Participants who used WHI-seeking methods alone and those who had not engaged with a health care provider within the previous year demonstrated a higher mean MMI score; however, MMI was not a significant predictor of time since engagement with a provider in the multivariable analysis.
    CONCLUSIONS: Our findings from a nationally representative survey suggest that for those who use WHI-seeking methods (alone or in combination with provider-based information-seeking methods), there is a statistically significant lower likelihood of engaging with a provider in a year compared to those who only use provider-based methods. Future research should consider the intent of a person's visit with a provider, trust in health care systems, methods of provider engagement, and specific web-based platforms for health information.
    Keywords:  consumer health information; information-seeking behavior; internet; physician-patient relations; social media; trust
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.2196/42126
  8. Cureus. 2022 Oct;14(10): e30758
      Introduction Computed tomography (CT) scanning has become a fundamental aspect of many diagnostic pathways and therapeutic procedures. However, it is not without risk. Many patients are unaware of the exposure to ionising radiation that is involved with undergoing a CT scan, as well as the associated increase in cancer risk with cumulative exposure. Controversy over which clinician is responsible for advising a patient regarding CT risk often means that patients are left uninformed and unaware. Those who choose to seek further guidance online do so with the risk of encountering poor quality, difficult-to-read medical text, which may leave them even more confused or misinformed. Aim This study aimed to assess the readability, quality, and accuracy of the information available to patients online regarding CT scans and their associated risks. Method An internet search of 180 websites was collated using three search terms, each entered into three search engines. The terms used were 'CT Risk', 'CT Harm', and 'Dangers of a CT Scan'. Unique websites generated were assessed for readability using four readability formulae: The Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level, the Flesch Reading Ease Score, the Gunning Fog Index, and the Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG) Index. The text on each website was also evaluated for quality and accuracy using the Discern tool. Mean readability scores were calculated and compared against the defined standard required for the information intended for the general public. A two-tailed t-test was also carried out to assess statistical significance. Results Of the 180 websites collated, 77 were unique. 76.62% of websites (59/77) met the readability target for the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, and 66.23% (51/77) met the target for the Gunning Fog Index, which was for text to be readable at the Grade 8 level (or by children aged 13-14). 59.74% (46/77) met the target for the SMOG Index, which for healthcare information, was defined as Grade 6 Level, or children aged 11-12. Only 11.69% of websites (9/77) met the target for the Flesch Reading Ease score. 55.84% of websites satisfied the pre-defined standard for three out of four readability criteria, however, only 11.69% satisfied all four criteria, limited by the scores obtained by the Flesch Reading Ease formula. The websites generated a mean Discern score of 3.58, meaning the average quality of the information was deemed to be 'fair', with no serious shortcomings. Conclusion More than 50% of websites satisfied three readability criteria simultaneously. However, there is still scope for improvement, both in terms of enhancing the readability of the remaining websites, and also ensuring that all websites review the proportion of polysyllabic words in the text, which is the emphasis of the Flesh Reading Ease Score. In addition, physicians and radiologists have a responsibility to inform patients of the risks associated with CT scans, and to direct them to supplementary good-quality information and resources.
    Keywords:  computed tomography (ct ); ionising radiation; online medical information; patient information; readability
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.30758
  9. Medicine (Baltimore). 2022 Nov 25. 101(47): e31537
      There is no standardization in videos uploaded to Youtube. Were the videos capable of contributing to adequate technical quality and surgical training? We are aiming to answer these questions in this paper. It is a cross-sectional study. In January 2022, we searched the Youtube platform using the keyword "distal pancreatectomy." The substantiality, transparency, reliability, quality, popularity and educational values of the video content were evaluated after exclusion criteria. These parameters were evaluated using we the modified Journal of American Medical Association benchmark criteria, Global Quality Score (GQS), Video Power Index, modified laparoscopic pancreatectomy scoring system. The videos uploaded after the pandemic had a statistically significant higher GQS score (P < .001). Video Power Index, like GQS, had a statistically significant difference before and after the pandemic. (P = .046). There was no significant difference in the evaluation of the reliability and substantiality. Until the development of Youtube videos is completed, peer-reviewed, more reliable and content-rich online education platforms should be preferred in the first place. Care should be taken to watch selected videos on Youtube videos.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000031537
  10. Urolithiasis. 2022 Dec 03. 51(1): 9
      This study assessed the reliability, efficacy, and quality of YouTube videos on miniaturized PCNL procedures using a scoring system. Video searches were conducted using the keywords miniaturized percutaneous nephrolithotomy (mPCNL), ultra-mini-PCNL (UMP), and super-mini-PCNL (SMP) via https://www.youtube.com . All videos > 2 min in English containing the procedure of mPCNL were ordered and listed according to relevance and popularity. Global quality scores (GQS) and reliability scales were used for quality and content analysis of the videos. The confirmed video power index (VPI) was used to assess video popularity, and the mPCNL score, developed by three endourologists, was used to measure the informational and educational value of the videos. While specialists (61.9%) were the main source for uploading 63 videos included in the study, the largest target group was patients (61.9%). Operational procedures (68.3%) were the main content, and the highest upload region was Asian continent (66.7%). The majority of videos were in English (60.3%), focused on standard mPCNL rather than miniaturization subtypes (77.8%). The mean VPI, GQS, reliability, and mPCNL scores were 4.61, 2.86, 2.61, 9.58, respectively. These parameters, which were positively correlated, were found to be statistically significantly higher for videos of 'academic' origin, 'Physicians' target audience and 'English audio' language format (p < 0.05). Because mPCNL videos, which are popular and have high informational and educational value, are aimed at medical professionals rather than patients, they are not functional in treatment selection and explaining the procedure. By raising its standards, video portals can make the treatment process practical as a functional bridge between patients and health care professionals.
    Keywords:  Educational surgery video; Kidney stones; Miniaturized percutaneous nephrolithotomy; YouTube
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s00240-022-01374-7
  11. Biomed Res Int. 2022 ;2022 2955273
      Objective: Perianal fistulas of the perianal soft tissues are an important cause of morbidity and a significant portion of colorectal surgery. To our knowledge, there is no study evaluating YouTube videos pertaining perianal fistulas. In this study, we aimed to evaluate YouTube video contents on this topic.Methods: Whether the videos contained real images, animations or presentations, video duration, number of views, comments and likes, uploading date, and daily view were recorded. Reliability of the videos was assessed using the Quality Criteria for Consumer Health Information (DISCERN) scale and quality of the videos using the Global Quality Score (GQS).
    Results: A total of 100 YouTube videos regarding perianal fistulas were included in the study. Sixty-four (64%) videos were uploaded by healthcare professionals and 36 (36%) videos by nonprofessionals. The mean video length was calculated as 6.70 ± 8.00 minutes for all videos. The mean DISCERN score of all videos was found as 3.92 ± 0.81 and the mean GQS score as 3.97 ± 0.83. According to the DISCERN score, most videos included (94%) were of good quality. There was an excellent agreement between the two surgeons in terms of the DISCERN and GQS scores.
    Conclusion: Most of the videos included in the study were uploaded by health-care professionals. On the other hand, the majority of the videos contained surgical management of perianal fistulas as it is the definitive treatment. Healthcare related content should be audited and filtered by YouTube with new and effective policies.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/2955273
  12. Ann Vasc Surg. 2022 Nov 25. pii: S0890-5096(22)00730-0. [Epub ahead of print]
      OBJECTIVES: Patients are increasingly referring to the Internet after a diagnosis of vascular disease. This study was performed to quantitatively define the accuracy and reliability of information on YouTube regarding Buerger Disease (BD).METHODS: A systematic search of YouTube was conducted using BD and thromboangiitis obliterans keywords. The default YouTube search setting of "relevance" was used to replicate an average search attempt, and the first 50 results from each keyword search were reviewed and analyzed by two independent reviewers. Descriptive characteristics, Journal of the American Medical Association Score (JAMAS), modified DISCERN score, Global Quality Scale (GQS) were used to record data.
    RESULTS: A total of 50 videos were reviewed for the study. The mean JAMAS, modified DISCERN and GQS values among the videos were 2.06/4.00 (standard deviation [SD], 0.91), 2.36/5.00 (SD, 1.39) and 2.6/5.00 (SD, 1.16) respectively. When the videos were analyzed according to the user types uploading them, the modified DISCERN score was found to be significantly higher (3.57/5.00 SD, 0.97) in the videos uploaded by vascular surgeons (p=0.029). High-quality videos were determined as more recent (p=0.048). It was observed that the modified DISCERN and JAMA scores increased as the video quality increased.
    CONCLUSION: While variable in source and content, the completeness and reliability of the information presented on YouTube about BD is poor. We believe that these videos should be uploaded more up-to-date and comprehensively by medical professionals, especially medical doctors.
    Keywords:  Buerger’s Disease; Internet; YouTube; health information on the Web; thromboangiitis obliterans
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avsg.2022.10.009
  13. BMC Nephrol. 2022 Nov 28. 23(1): 378
      INTRODUCTION: Chronic kidney disease (CKD), which affects about 10% of global population, has become a global public health crisis in recent decades. It is well recognized that health information dissemination could change health behaviors, thereby greatly improving the early diagnosis and prevention of diseases. Due to fast dissemination, wide audience, intuitive and vivid, popularization through short videos has rapidly developed into the new main battlefield of health information. The objective of this study was to describe the properties of the CKD-related health information on short video apps.METHODS: Searching on short video apps with high-frequency words in kidney disease as keywords, the basic information of the uploaders was retrieved and extracted short video. Five quality dimensions, awareness, popularity, utility, validity and quality, of each video were assessed with numeric rating scale (NRS) by five volunteers with CKD and three nephrologists.
    RESULTS: From the platform of douyin, 65 uploaders and their 3973 short videos of CKD-related health information were investigated in this study. Most information of short videos had relatively high level in awareness, popularity and utility assessment, but some information had relatively low level in validity and quality assessment; 24 (36.9%) uploaders were from governmental hospital (tertiary hospital); 19 uploaders (29.2%) uploaded more than 100 short videos and 49 uploaders (75.4%) updated their videos weekly, and 16 uploaders (24.6%) didn't update short videos more than one month. There were 4 uploaders (6.2%) have more than 1 million follows, and 39 uploaders (60%) had follows less than 10,000. "Lifestyles", "Common symptoms of kidney disease" and "Nephritis or kidney disease" were the three main contents of these short videos. The comprehensive data of uploaders with millions of follows in nephrology specialty were much lower than that of orthopedics and other specialty.
    CONCLUSION: The validity and quality of short video is still unsatisfactory, and CKD-related health information also need to be led and improved, although the awareness, popularity, and utility of health information about CKD is acceptable. The public should be selective and cautious in seeking CKD information on social media.
    Keywords:  Chronic kidney disease; Health information quality; Infodemiology; Short video apps; Social media
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1186/s12882-022-03013-0
  14. Brain Inj. 2022 Nov 16. 1-10
      BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Rehabilitation and treatment of chronic symptoms of traumatic brain injury (TBI) present life-long challenges. This qualitative study aimed to understand the experience of individuals with TBI and caregivers in finding and using health information and to understand their interest in participating in research.METHODS: Participants were recruited through hospital listservs, websites, social media, and word of mouth from across the US. A qualitative constructivism research method was used to analyze responses from semi-structured interviews with 24 individuals, 11 with TBI and 13 caregivers.
    RESULTS: Three major themes emerged from the analyses: 1) processes and resources for finding TBI-related health information, 2) reliability of information, and 3) participation in research. Study participants described using the internet, consulting with healthcare professionals, reading research articles, and seeking out information from other individuals with TBI or caregivers to search for information. Participants also shared their experiences related to evaluating the reliability of information and the impact of individuals with TBI and caregivers participating on research teams.
    CONCLUSION: Participants identified various needs in finding relevant health information and highlighted gaps in searching for and using health information. Participants identified an overarching need for improved dissemination of information that is both accessible and reliable.
    Keywords:  TBI; health information; knowledge translation
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/02699052.2022.2145366
  15. Cureus. 2022 Oct;14(10): e30771
      Introduction Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is a principle that integrates clinical experience with relevant information available to provide adequate healthcare. It requires access to current medical literature. This paper analyzes the information requirements of a lower-middle-income country (LMIC) and the resources available and preferred by medical professionals. Methods A survey-based cross-sectional study was carried out among 160 participants, ranging in expertise from students to attending physicians in Karachi, Pakistan. The survey comprised questions to assess the clinical background, technology access, need for health-related information, and the preference for resources to obtain that information in different scenarios. They were also asked if they use PubMed and their recommended methods to improve information access. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS; IBM, NY, USA) software was used for all analyses. Results A basic mobile phone (with limited internet connectivity) was the most common device used at home (n=159; 99.4%) and work (n=141; 88.1%). No smart devices were available to 28 (17.5%) participants at work. Internet connectivity was available for 155 (96.9%) participants at home but only for 118 (73.7%) participants at work. About one-third (n=49; 30.6%) experienced questions arising in practice two to four times a day, and half of the participants (n=80; 50%) were very likely to look up a reference. The most common resource for the majority of given clinical scenarios was a senior colleague. At the same time, medical websites (Medscape, Up-to-Date, WebMD) were the first choice for a non-specific general medical query. About 68.75% (n=110) of participants claimed to use PubMed in daily practice. The most common reason for not using PubMed was the ease of using other search engines (like Google). Conclusions Improved access to the internet and well-reputed journals can enhance the practice of EBM in Pakistan. Limitations of technological access must be considered while designing information resources in lower-middle-income countries.
    Keywords:  android; computer technology; evidence based medicine; internet; iphone; lower middle income country; medical education; mobile phones; pubmed database; smart devices
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.30771
  16. J Med Internet Res. 2022 Nov 30. 24(11): e37455
      BACKGROUND: Despite the prevalence of parent health information seeking on the internet and its impact on parenting behavior, there is a paucity of research on parents of young children (ages 3 to 8 years). Given the importance of this developmental period, exploring how family socioeconomic indicators linked to the digital divide and health inequities affect parent proxy- and self-seeking is critical to further understanding variability in health information seeking and associated outcomes.OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore parental health-related technology use (HTU), the process by which parents engage in support, advice, and information-seeking behavior related to their (self-seeking) and their children's (proxy seeking) health across a range of hardware devices (eg, tablet, wearable, smartphone, laptop, and desktop computer) and sources (eg, search engines, mobile applications, social media, and other digital media).
    METHODS: A cross-sectional study including 313 parents and guardians of children ages 3 to 8 years recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) was conducted. Parents were asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire on a broad range of parenting and parent-related constructs, including sociodemographic information, technology device ownership, and engagement in and use, features, and perceptions of HTU. Descriptive and bivariate analyses (chi-square tests) were performed to identify patterns and investigate associations between family socioeconomic indicators and parent HTU.
    RESULTS: The overwhelming majority (301/313, 96%) of parents of young children reported engaging in HTU, of which 99% (300/301) reported using search engines (eg, Google), followed by social media (62%, 188/301), other forms of digital media (eg, podcasts; 145/301, 48%), and mobile applications (114/301, 38%). Parents who engaged in HTU reported seeking information about their child's behavior and discipline practices (260/313, 83%), mental or physical health (181/313, 58%), and academic performance (142/313, 45%). Additionally, nearly half (134/313, 43%) of parents reported searching for advice on managing their stress. Among parents who reported using each source, an overwhelming majority (280/300, 93%) indicated that search engines were a helpful online source for proxy- and self-seeking, followed by social media (89%, 167/188), other digital media (120/145, 83%), and mobile apps (87/114, 76%). Among parents who reported using any technology source, approximately one-fifth reported that technology sources were most comfortable (61/311, 20%), most understanding (69/311, 22%), and most influential toward behavior change (73/312, 23%) compared to traditional sources of health information-seeking, including mental health professionals, other health care professionals, school professionals, community leaders, friends, and family members. Indicators of family socioeconomic status were differentially associated with frequency and perceptions of and search content associated with parent HTU across technology sources.
    CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study underscore critical considerations in the design and dissemination of digital resources, programs, and interventions targeting parent and child health, especially for families in traditionally underserved communities.
    Keywords:  accessibility; child; digital health; health behavior; health information; health-related technology use; information seeking; mobile health; parenting; socioeconomic status
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.2196/37455