Module # 3, question 3

I thought the electronic index was much faster and better organized than the guideline index and the google search. The google search took me to information for all age levels, different religious articles, and many other unrelated articles. It took me considerably more time to find articles that actually applied to my specific topic of interest. PubMed had many article items that were applicable to my topic of interest, but my frustration was that many of the articles only had abstracts available without purchasing a membership. Some of the specific articles could be found in full text on google. I am excited to use the electronic index and I think it will be a great tool for me to use as I prepare to teach this subject in a month.

Module #3, question #1

I have chosen to search for information relating to end of life issues. The search that I sent for this module was for staff education file management because that is one of the interests that I have to help me in my current position as clinical educator in the operating room. I found that I had to narrow my search so that I didn't have over 2,000 articles to choose from.
This search took me maybe 2-3 hours. I finished the tutorial for Medline and found this site to be easy to navigate. The only barrier that I could identify was the search needs to be quite specific and worded carefully to find the information that you are looking for.

Module #3, question #2

I initially started a search to help me learn how to organize staff education files, but since I am soon going to be teaching a class on end of life issues, I switched my search focus. I tried to upload the free version of Endnote, but after it was loaded, I was unable to open it due to a computer problem. I think it is related to a security block. I was able to load the Bibus reference management software and it was very user friendly....it took me about 6 hours to finally figure out that I would need to use a different program.
The Bibus software is able to search for and organize articles. I like that I can select one article and see a quick overview without leaving the bibus site. This is a very fast way to find and choose articles that are relevant to a specific chosen subject. I was frustrated that I couldn't get Endnote to work for me (that is where I spent most of my time), but I am happy with the bibus software and it will be helpful to me as I research the end of life issues information that I will teach in March. Even though this was a hard assignment for me, I am glad that I finally was able to get it done.

Module # 2

Structured clinical data are useful in providing quality patient care because they help to establish a standard of care that can be expected and tracked through the entire system. The structured data also save a great deal of time because charges for treatments and procedures are standardized so that medical providers can be fairly knowledgable about what kind of reimbursement they can expect from structured/coded data.

Module # 2

In the operating room the nurses use medical terminology for nearly every treatment and procedure. The billers use the ICD-9 codes to appropriately bill for treatments and procedures. The billers often ask me to help them determine how to correctly interpret an ICD-9 code for correct billing and sometimes it is really hard to make a judgement on what code is the most appropriate. For instance, we did a brain surgery and there were two codes to choose from. One of the codes would charge $22, 000 and the other would charge $82,000. The description of the procedure for the codes were so similar that it was hard to decide which was more appropriate. The only reason that I was able to help them choose which charge was more appropriate is because I had been in on the surgery and knew it was a less complicated surgery and qualified for the $22,000 charge. There are many other cases that are similar and the billers really struggle to make sure the codes are correct.