Major infection events over 5 years: how is media coverage influencing online information needs of health care professionals and the public?

BACKGROUND: The last decade witnessed turbulent events in public health. Emerging infections, increase of antimicrobial resistance, deliberately released threats and ongoing battles with common illnesses were amplified by the spread of disease through increased international travel. The Internet has dramatically changed the availability of information about outbreaks; however, little research has been done in comparing the online behavior of public and professionals around the same events and the effect of media coverage of outbreaks on information needs. OBJECTIVE: To investigate professional and public online information needs around major infection outbreaks and correlate these with media coverage. Questions include (1) How do health care professionals' online needs for public health and infection control information differ from those of the public?, (2) Does dramatic media coverage of outbreaks contribute to the information needs among the public?, and (3) How do incidents of diseases and major policy events relate to the information needs of professionals? METHODS: We used three longitudinal time-based datasets from mid-2006 until end of 2010: (1) a unique record of professional online behavior on UK infection portals: National electronic Library of Infection and National Resource of Infection Control (NeLI/NRIC), (2) equivalent public online information needs (Google Trends), and (3) relevant media coverage (LexisNexis). Analysis of NeLI/NRIC logs identified the highest interest around six major infectious diseases: Clostridium difficile (C difficile)/Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), tuberculosis, meningitis, norovirus, and influenza. After pre-processing, the datasets were analyzed and triangulated with each other. RESULTS: Public information needs were more static, following the actual disease occurrence less than those of professionals, whose needs increase with public health events (eg, MRSA/C difficile) and the release of major national policies or important documents. Media coverage of events resulted in major public interest (eg, the 2007/2008 UK outbreak of C difficile/MRSA). An exception was norovirus, showing a seasonal pattern for both public and professionals, which matched the periodic disease occurrence. Meningitis was a clear example of a disease with heightened media coverage tending to focus on individual and celebrity cases. Influenza was a major concern during the 2009 H1N1 outbreak creating massive public interest in line with the spring and autumn peaks in cases; although in autumn 2009, there was no corresponding increase in media coverage. Online resources play an increasing role in fulfilling professionals' and public information needs. CONCLUSIONS: Significant factors related to a surge of professional interest around a disease were typically key publications and major policy changes. Public interests seem more static and correlate with media influence but to a lesser extent than expected. The only exception was norovirus, exhibiting online public and professional interest correlating with seasonal occurrences of the disease. Public health agencies with responsibility for risk communication of public health events, in particular during outbreaks and emergencies, need to collaborate with media in order to ensure the coverage is high quality and evidence-based, while professionals' information needs remain mainly fulfilled by online open access to key resources.

"Personal road map for recovery:" examining the therapeutic use of weblogs by stroke survivors with aphasia.

BACKGROUND: Strokes are a leading cause of disability in the United States. Approximately 25-40% of individuals who experience a stroke will have aphasia. Individuals with aphasia experience many life changes and some have found that writing activities, such as publishing text entries on a personal website, or weblog, to be therapeutic. PURPOSE: This study aimed to gain a greater understanding of the therapeutic use of blogs for stroke survivors with aphasia. DESIGN: Inductive qualitative content analysis. METHODS: Potential, publicly available weblogs written by people with aphasia were identified using a pre-determined search method and five met inclusion criteria. Data were collected from websites and collated into 453 pages of narratives. An inductive qualitative content analysis process was used to extract codes that were reduced to sub-categories and generic categories. RESULTS: A main category of therapeutic healing and three generic categories of (1) living with aphasia, (2) accepting a new identity, and (3) creating a community were identified. CONCLUSION: Weblog writing was therapeutic for stroke survivors with aphasia. Authors reported benefits across cognitive, psychological, emotional, and social domains. Health professionals should consider recommending weblog writing, journaling, or other methods of writing for stroke survivors with aphasia.Implications for rehabilitationCreating illness weblog posts can be therapeutically beneficial for stroke survivors with aphasia as a tool that addresses psychological, emotional, and social aspects in their recovery.Blogging appeared to offer a medium for stroke survivors with aphasia to practice writing, to express what living with aphasia is like, to explore changes in their post-stroke identities, and to create a community with others.Health professionals should consider recommending weblog writing, journaling, or other methods of writing for stroke survivors with aphasia.

Collaborative method consisting lecture, problem-based learning and weblog for clinical courses of medical students in comparison with lecture method.

BACKGROUND: Lecture is a common teaching method, which is not considered efficient for the development of critical and intellectual acquisition in the students of clinical courses. Although in theory combined methods are known acceptable, in practice, they are not commonly applicable. The present study aimed to compare the combination of problem-based learning (PBL), weblogs, and lectures with lecture alone to achieve an advantageous teaching method for clinical courses. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 63 medical students (5th year) taking obstetrics and gynecology clinical courses at Sabzevar University of medical sciences, Iran. The participants were selected via census sampling. Based on the Student's number and using the random number table, the students were randomly assigned to two groups of interventions. The exclusion criteria were unwillingness to participate and absence for more than two sessions. Initially, the similarity of obstetrics and gynecology knowledge in both groups was confirmed based on a pretest (P > 0.05). A conventional lecture was performed for both groups. In the intervention group (B), the researcher asked each student (32 persons) to provide a case/problem from mentioned subjects outside the class concerning the given lecture and upload it to the lecturer's weblog to show commonalty. In the next session, the presented cases were initially discussed, and another lecture was carried out. Finally, two methods were compared through identical theoretical and practical exams and scored based on a Likert scale using a questionnaire. Data analysis was performed in SPSS 19 using t-test and Chi-square at the significance level of P < 0.05. RESULTS: Group B achieved higher grades in the scientific exams (P < 0.001), especially in the domains of perception, learning and memorizing of subjects, motivation, and communication with the classmates and tutor (P = 010). Therefore, satisfaction was higher in the intervention group compared to the control group (P = 0.001). CONCLUSION: The training of pensive, creative, and active experts for the future of medicine requires the combination of new collaborative methods with lectures, which are undoubtedly effective learning techniques. According to the results, PBL and weblogs could be invaluable for the improvement of students' knowledge, as well as the relations between tutors and students.

Association Between System Usage Pattern and Impact of Web-Based Telerehabilitation in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis.

Patients with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) increasingly use online services for managing their healthcare. The objective of this study was to investigate web log data (weblogs) generated by PwMS in the process of web-based telerehabilitation and correlate them with rehabilitation progress. The weblogs from 17 patients (female: 15, male 2; mean age: 60.1±11.4 years) were tracked for an average period of 153.6±38.3 days with the total number of log events and page visit records of 1,457 and 37,030, respectively. The time and frequency of patients' web visits were investigated as well as their adherence to prescribed exercise regimen. Rehabilitation progress was gauged by changes in quality of life, mobility, and sleep ascertained by measuring MSQOL, 2MWT and PSQI respectively. The changes in these metrics were correlated with system usage patterns. On average, PwMS visited 30 pages a day for 26.5 minutes, with a single login amounting for 27 pages in duration of 22.0 minutes. The average exercise program comprised 6.9 sets and 29.1 repetitions with average set and repetition completion rates of 46.5% and 72.6% respectively. A statistically significant association has been found between time spent in the online exercise mode and clinical improvements. The results of the study demonstrate that the patients had more pronounced outcome improvements when they increased the time of using the telerehabilitation system for home-based exercise. The results of this study could contribute to the development of more efficient home-based telerehabilitation systems.

The use of weblogs within palliative care: a systematic literature review.

The use of weblogs has had a huge impact within the healthcare sector, and palliative care users have found a way to express themselves using this technology. The objective of this article is to review current research on palliative care service users' experience of using weblogs. A search was conducted in MEDLINE, PsycINFO and PubMed from 2002 to 2012 focusing on weblogs in palliative care. After extensive searches and assessment, six articles were included in the review. Results show that palliative care bloggers find blogging therapeutic and beneficial. Weblogs empowered individuals leading to health behaviour change while also giving them access to social support thus fostering well-being. However, there is lack of robust evidence showing the benefits of blogging using clinical measures or other scientific methods. Given the growth of these weblogs by palliative care patients, research is required to strengthen evidence for their benefit and to evaluate their effectiveness.

Part-time, e-learning interprofessional pain management education for the primary and community care setting.

Chronic pain is a long-term condition, which has a major impact on patients, carers and the health service. Despite the Chief Medical Officer setting chronic pain and its management as a national priority in 2008, the utilisation of health services by patients with long-term conditions is increasing, people with pain-related problems are not seen early enough and pain-related attendances to accident and emergency departments is increasing. Early assessment with appropriate evidence-based intervention and early recognition of when to refer to specialist and specialised services is key to addressing the growing numbers suffering with chronic pain. Pain education is recommended in many guidelines, as part of the process to address pain in these issues. Cardiff University validated an e-learning, master's level pain management module for healthcare professionals working in primary and community care. The learning outcomes revolve around robust early assessment and management of chronic pain in primary and community care and the knowledge when to refer on. The module focuses on the biopsychosocial aspects of pain and its management, using a blog as an online case study assessment for learners to demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and application to practice. The module has resulted in learners developing evidence-based recommendations, for pain management in clinical practice.