Monday, April 28, 2008

Go MedWorm

I still haven't quite grasped the whole Google Gadget thing yet and the real significance of mashups. It takes a while for this kind of thing to filter into the recesses of my reptilian brain. But once I get it, I really get it, and I'm an enthusiastic devotee of whatever it is. Once I understand how I can use it to my advantage, I'm converted.

The significance of Rollyo (Roll Your Own Search Engine) is just beginning to dawn. It allows you to search only those sites you select, creating your own, personal, made-to-measure search engine to suit your own needs or those of your clientele.

One thing I do know is that MedWorm, a site I found on David Rothman's blog, which I found as a result of searching for librarian blogs on Rollyo directed me to an article that answered a question I'd been working on for DAYS. The questioner was looking for some kind of benchmark for the amount of time nurses spend teaching hospital inpatients about their conditions. He really wanted this information in regards to CHF, but was willing to take any condition, and by the time I got through telling him how and why this information was impossible to find, he was willing to take someone's best guestimate. Well, I put in "duration" and "patient education" in the MedWorm search box, and up pops a systematic review describing studies with various lengths and schedulings of inpatient teaching. Yeah MedWorm! Yeah David Rothman! Yeah RollYo!

2 comments:

Joy Graham said...

I'm posting a comment here because someone told me they tried to comment and couldn't. We'll see if this shows up.

Jamila Hanan said...

One of the nicest comments I've read about MedWorm for a while now - so pleased you found what you were looking for. Many thanks!
Frankie Dolan
MedWorm Creator
(David Rothman's co-creator of LibWorm)