Module 3, Question 1 Response

The results of my multiple intelligence test were very interesting to me. I scored 30 or above in every intelligence type, except one, which was musical. I don't know if this means I am well-rounded or just indecisive! My highest score was a 37 in the interpersonal intelligence. This makes a lot of sense to me because I love being with people and I love teaching. Aside from clinical practice (which also involves, or SHOULD involve an enormous amount of teaching), I want teach at the university level after graduating. Throughout all my years of schooling, teachers have had a huge impact on my life, either positively or negatively. We can all think of that certain jr. high school teacher that put us to sleep everyday or was disrespectful to the students, or perhaps that high school teacher that everyone loved who made going to class each day worth while. Some of my biggest role models in my life have been good teachers and I hope to be the same someday. Effective teacher-student relationships in the classroom are absolutely essential.  

In the linguistic category, I scored a 34. I don't consider myself a person with an extensive vocabulary and English never was my favorite subject in school, but I have always paid a lot of attention to words and grammar. I love to edit documents, and without intention, my eyes are drawn to typos in whatever I read. This attention to word-choice has increased even more since I have learned Spanish, because that is a critical part of learning another language. In the classroom, I learn well through reading, but I sometimes seem to get distracted. I can understand what I read well, however, discussion is the tool that helps me retain that information for long periods of time. I don't appreciate the professor that stands up every class simply to read the lectures slides. If were weren't able to read, we wouldn't be in a graduate program. I appreciate the instructor that engages me in conversation and makes me think and apply and intertwine ideas to have those "ahh ha" moments that stick with me so long. 

I also got a 34 in the intrapersonal category. I think to be effective in anything, knowing and understanding yourself and your role in relating to others is important. I got a 33 in the bodily-kinesthetic category, which explains why I learn so well by doing and through hands-on activities. 

There are few things I can to do change the teaching techniques of my professors, aside from suggestions and evaluations. As far as my personal learning, I could study with another individual or two to promote interpersonal learning and discussion, and we could learn through quizzing each other. This would be a linguistic strategy as well. As far as ideas for teaching, I like to incorporate games, student interactions, memorizations helps such as rhymes, etc, question/answer times and as much hands-on activities as possible. 

Module 2, Response to Another Student's Post

I commented on a post by Susan VanBeuge, susanvanbeuge.blogspot.com, labeled Module 2, Question 3. Thanks.

Module 2, Question 3 Response

Of the three strategies of information retrieval I used--PubMed, National Guideline Clearinghouse web site, and Google--PubMed was by far the most resourceful for me. As mentioned in question 1, PubMed is medically- and clinically-based, so it was able to offer me up-to-date, accurate, and relevant evidence based practice articles about intra-abdominal hypertension. Generally, since the articles available in Pubmed are reviewed, they should contain accurate information and findings. This doesn't take the place of individual review and criticism by the practitioner, however, it is a little safer and dependable than other methods available. 

For my specific topic, intra-abdominal hypertension, the National Guideline Clearinghouse web site was not very useful. There doesn't appear to be any general overall guidelines regarding intra-abdominal hypertension, abdominal hypertension, or intra-abdominal pressure. However, while reviewing information there on other topics, it appears to be a great method of information retrieval for other important topics and procedures. During my google search, I got back plenty of results, some relevant, others not so relevant. Many of the results I got back were links to journal articles, however, upon following the links, many sites only offer abstracts to the journals instead of the full-text articles, unless you are a member or want to pay for the article. Sometimes within Google searches, there are links to government sites such as the CDC. These sites are helpful for certain related topics, and they are reliable as well. A Google search for my topic offered me a few of the same results as that of the PubMed search, but the access is limited and the whole process is more time-consuming and less efficient. 

Other methods for information retrieval include text books, physical paper medical/nursing journals, hand held programs such as medication references on palm pilots, and facility-specific information retrieval sites, such as Clinical Pharmacology at my hospital. I think these types of information retrieval methods can be great resources as long as they are kept up-to-date with accurate information. The hand-held resources, such as for medication information, are specifically useful in the clinical setting where perhaps access to the internet is limited. Textbooks are good resources for long-standing data or facts, but can be outdated quickly with the rapid rate of change in the medical and clinical field. 

Module 2, Question 2 Response

As my reference management software, I decided to use Endnote, and can I just say that I love it! Endnote is a great tool, and although it requires just a little time to get used to it, once you discover its features it is a real time-saver. Within Endnote, there are various ways to sort and organize references. First off, you can choose to have one library or several libraries to sort the references, perhaps for different research projects. I, so far, have chosen to keep one library. Within each library, you can sort your references into different custom groups that you name according to its contents. This helps to keep track of project-specific searches. Also, within the groups, you can choose to list your references alphabetically or according to date, which is also helpful. 

Other features of Endnote that I love are the searching features. As long as you have access, Endnote allows you to search through various electronic indexes according to the topic of your specialty and subject. For me, Pubmed is one great choice seeing as how my topics are generally medically-based. There is either an internal search option, or you can search externally and import your results into Endnote for management. There are also options to search for articles already in the Endnote library. Another great feature is that you can choose your desired format, whether it be MLA or APA or some other. I also appreciate how you can attach the full-text articles directly into Endnote to have all the needed information in one place. The best feature I have come across so far is the Cite While You Write. I love this because it links to Word so I can import my citations within my text while writing, then have Endnote format a bibliography for me at the end in my chosen format output. This feature helps to save a ton of time on the fine details of periods and commas. Overall, Endnote is a great reference management tool and a real time-saver.

Module 2, Question 1 Response

The clinical problem I chose was intra-abdominal hypertension. I used Pubmed as my electronic search index and since Pubmed is specifically medical- and clinical-based, it had extensive results on the topic. When I simply searched "intra-abdominal hypertension," I got 511 results back because it was a pretty general search. That number of results is good because it offers me many options, however, trying to go through that many results is painstaking and time-consuming. So, I narrowed my search using a boolean operator and my final search was "intra-abdominal hypertension AND sepsis." This narrowed search offered me 32 results, which is a much more manageable number.

For my clinical problem, Pubmed was great because it offers a great number of relevant and recent evidence based practice findings. It appear that intra-abdominal hypertension is a subject that is gaining popularity and attention more in the recent decades, so Pubmed was great to give me up-to-date articles. I appreciate that Pubmed is updated often and that the articles are offered as "from the publisher" even before all the bibliographic details are reviewed. This allows me the newest information available for my research. I like all of the search options that Pubmed offers to be able to narrow or generalize my search, such as being able to choose authors, dates, genders, topics, etc. It appears that it is a great electronic index for most fairly general clinical problems. I imagine that if the clinical problem becomes fairly specific in way of geographic location, population, or rare diseases, etc, there might be some problems finding all the available literature. These very specialized clinical problems might present possible barriers in the use of Pubmed in daily practice. Also, if a practitioner does not have access to an affiliation with permission to receive all the full text articles, this might present another barrier.