Module 2

The topic I chose is "pain perception and treatments among Asian cultures". I am using this topic in my social medicine class and thought I would use my time management skills as well. I started using the Cochrane index and ran into some problems with importing articles from that database to Endnote. I ended up using PubMed, which is my first choice indexing database because I feel it is very user friendly. 

The impediment with Cochrane was a filter that was necessary for Mac OS. I have ran into several software incompatibilities when using electronic indexes that are usually fixable but time consuming. My search for the articles was relatively short since PubMed has such a large database and so many tools to search for key words; although I spent several hours trying to resolve my filter problem with Cochrane before moving on. Software incompatibilities can certainly take time out of daily practice. Computer technology has enabled us to retrieve vast amounts of information in seconds, until technical difficulties arise. 

I purchased Endnote reference manager last semester and have found it very helpful in searches and organization of information. Endnote enables a researcher to access hundreds of electronic databases and save them to a personal library. More than one library can be managed as well as groups within each library to ease the organization of information. My favorite feature of Endnote is "cite while you write". This tool inserts the reference right into your document, in the format of your choice, as your writing. This tool is a huge time saver, especially when multiple references are used.

I felt that all three tools I used for retrieval and management were very helpful in my search. The guideline index is always good for me to review prior to any searches. It reminds me shortcuts to use and aids in trouble shooting. The search engine for retrieval and the electronic index are incredibly useful. It makes thousands of articles available to me at my convenience, and organizes the material, all in a few minutes.

Alternative resources for retrieval, as archaic as it sounds, would be manual retrieval from a library. Another source might be your employer's library. Both of these resources would be limited in the information available and current materials.