Determining where physical therapists get information to support clinical practice decisions.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the information sources utilised by physical therapists (PTs) to support clinical decisions. METHODS: Physical therapists in the United States were invited via professional listservs and electronic newsletters to participate in an online survey. RESULTS: Journal articles were the most frequently utilised source of information, followed by databases (PubMed was most frequent). The frequency of utilising evidence-based resources was not significantly affected by the number of years of experience as a physical therapist (PT), working in a state that allows direct access to PT services or doctoral vs masters/bachelors degree. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with a previous study (1994), there has been a transition in physical therapy information seeking, with greater reliance on evidence-based information.

Mapping the core journals of the physical therapy literature.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to identify (1) core journals in the literature of physical therapy, (2) currency of references cited in that literature, and (3) online databases providing the highest coverage rate of core journals. METHOD: Data for each cited reference in each article of four source journals for three years were recorded, including type of literature, year of publication, and journal title. The journal titles were ranked in descending order according to the frequency of citations and divided into three zones using Bradford's Law of Scattering. Four databases were analyzed for coverage rates of articles published in the Zone 1 and Zone 2 journals in 2007. RESULTS: Journal articles were the most frequently cited type of literature, with sixteen journals supplying one-third of the cited journal references. Physical Therapy was the most commonly cited title. There were more cited articles published from 2000 to 2007 than in any previous full decade. Of the databases analyzed, CINAHL provided the highest coverage rate for Zone 1 2007 publications. CONCLUSIONS: Results were similar to a previous study, except for changes in the order of Zone 1 journals. Results can help physical therapists and librarians determine important journals in this discipline.

Scopus database: a review.

The Scopus database provides access to STM journal articles and the references included in those articles, allowing the searcher to search both forward and backward in time. The database can be used for collection development as well as for research. This review provides information on the key points of the database and compares it to Web of Science. Neither database is inclusive, but complements each other. If a library can only afford one, choice must be based in institutional needs.

Delivering distance training to rural health care professionals.

This article reports on a project that delivers distance training to rural health care professionals. Traveling to provide training on information-seeking skills to rural health professionals is time consuming and costly. In addition to face-to-face training, the University of South Alabama Biomedical Library's SAMNet project seeks to deliver multimedia training to rural health care professionals. The project uses information technology to package training courses combining PowerPoint slides and video instructions. This article describes the rationale, training module design and development, and the information technology and software used in the project. Multimedia packaged distance training courses provide a practical alternative to on-site training for rural health care professionals. It enables librarians to provide training without traveling long distance, thus saving time and money. Additionally, rural health care professionals may access the modules at a time convenient to them and proceed at a pace suitable to their learning style.