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Critical thinking is one of the most important elements in making the right decision in every profession. Evidence based practice shows potential to empower the critical thinking skills of practitioners. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of evidence-based information management and practice (EBIMP) training course on the promotion of medical librarians' critical thinking. This study is a randomized double-blind educational trial in the form of a parallel trial. A sample of 60 librarians were recruited nationwide in the study through the volunteer enrollment to the evidence-based information management and practice training course. Intervention group received a 10-module virtual course focusing on evidence-based information management. But the control group received a basic course of evidence-based medicine. The courses were delivered through virtual learning system and data was collected through California Standard Critical Thinking Skills Questionnaire Form B (CCTST). Data were analyzed with Covariance Analysis (ANCOVA), Chi-square (χ²), Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Levin tests, and t -test, using SPSS 25. The findings showed that the critical thinking skills of participants after training of the information management and evidence-based practice (EBIMP) had significant improvement in the intervention group compared with the control group regarding the "inference" (4.86 ± 1.94 vs 4.20 ± 1.32), "assessment" (7.90 ± 1.77 vs 5.90 ± 1.70), "Inductive reasoning" (8.67 ± 2.32 vs 6.37 ± 1.87), "deductive reasoning" (6.47 ± 2.04 vs 5.77 ± 1.97) subskills. Education of evidence-based information practice could be effective in promotion of critical thinking skills of medical librarians. This study suggests evidence-based information practice to be added to the curriculum of medical library and information science fields. Trial registration: This study was registered with number 9000.1v1 in Registry of Efficacy and Effectiveness Studies (REES). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: Since health information websites in the Internet is almost the first and the most used source of information for public. It is therefore necessary to comprehensively evaluate websites which provide health information for the public. Objective: The research aimed to investigate the quality of Farsi health information websites comparing the international pairs provided with recognized quality standards including those from the Medical Library Association of America (MLA). Materials and Methods: Checklists of the British Medical Association (BMA), MLA, Health On the Net Foundation Code (HONcode) principles, and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (W3C) were use as the research tools. The sample of websites included the 10 top health websites in English rated by MLA and nine Iranian health information websites in Persian (Farsi). Results: Iranian websites did not obtain desirable scores against the quality standards of health information websites (BMA, HONcode, W3C, and MLA) in terms of scope, accuracy, and quality, authorship and authority, attribution and justifiability, bias -free observation, good design, code of conduct/standards. An analytical comparison of health information websites based on their ownership showed that the private sector organisation websites were better than the governmental Iranian websites in terms of observing the standards as well as comprehensiveness. Strengths of the Iranian websites included information privacy, transparency, consumer involvement, and ease of understanding. No considerable differences were observed between the private sector organisation and governmental websites on other criteria. Conclusions: Results of this research highlighted the need to determine standards and improve the quality control of public health information websites in Iran, by an organization or institute such as the Iranian Medical Library Association. These findings will create the basis of recommendations for developing a comprehensive, consistent, reliable, up-to- date, and highquality website, which can account for the needs of health consumers. Provision of such a website will contribute to improvements in understanding of diseases, effective self-care and self-management and appropriate lifestyle advice. In turn, this may help to reduce unnecessary referrals to health centers, hospitalization and unnecessary taking of medicine, leading to better health outcomes for the population. Keywords: Consumer Health Information; Health Information Exchange; Health Information Management; Health Information Systems; Medical Informatics; Health Information Technology, Introduction The web is a key of health information resources for an increasing number of people [2-3]. When people refer to health information on the Internet, they expect to obtain [...]

In order to understand if a physician prescribed medical information changes, the number of hospital readmission, and death among the heart failure patients. A 12-month randomized controlled trial was conducted (December 2013-2014). Totally, 120 patients were randomly allocated into two groups of intervention (n = 60) and control (n = 60). Accordingly, the control group was given the routine oral information by the nurse or physician, and the intervention group received the Information Prescription (IP) prescribed by the physician as well as the routine oral information. The data was collected via telephone interviews with the follow-up intervals of 6 and 12 months, and also for 1 year after the discharge. The patients with the median age of (IQR) 69.5 years old (19.8) death upon adjusting a Cox survival model, [RR = 0.67, 95%CI: 0.46-0.97]. Few patients died during 1 year in the intervention group compared to the controls (7 vs 15) [RR = 0.47, 95%CI: 0.20-1.06]. During a period of 6-month follow-up there was not statistically significant on death and readmission between two groups. Physician prescribed information was clinically and statistically effective on the reduction of death and hospital readmission rates among the HF patients in long term follow-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Clinical teaching is a vital component of medical education. However, evidence indicates that clinical teaching still confronts numerous challenges, as its quantity and quality are not always desirable. The need for improvement has been emphasized in the planning, teaching, and evaluation of clinical education. Therefore, this study aims to design a customized model of effective clinical teaching for the undergraduate medical program. Methods: A mixed-method study will be conducted in three consecutive phases. The first phase, using a grounded theory approach, explores the lived experiences of clinical teachers and undergraduate medical students concerning effective clinical education in an undergraduate medical program. In the second phase, a systematized review will be conducted on secondary data sources to fill theoretical categories and to extend the theory emerging from the qualitative phase. Finally, in the third phase, a model of clinical teaching will be developed for an undergraduate medical program. Discussion: The findings of this study will offer new insights into the clinical teaching paradigm in developing curriculum, setting policies, designing suitable undergraduate medical-clinical education programs, and developing effective teaching methods. These results will contribute to understanding the challenges of clinical education in an undergraduate medical program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In December 26, 2019, 4 unusual cases of pneumonia were recorded in China, three of those were from the same family. Another 3 cases of pneumonia were found in the same hospital in December 28 and 29(1). The virus started to expand rapidly so that doctors in Wuhan Hospital reported the phenomenon to China's CDC and WHO. The research articles began to publish online from the first of January. The Coronavirus news spread out as quickly as the virus. The virus was named new coronavirus 2019 (nCoV 2019). In January 7, 2020 the disease caused by the virus was identified as CoVID 19 (1). The altmetrics database indicates the first mentions to the peer reviewed articles about coronavirus has been tracked in social media like Twitter and Facebook since January 16,2020. The majority of mentions aggregated from the public profiles. The scientists, practitioners (like doctors) and science communicators (like journalists) were the other group of people who mentioned the scientific articles. This could be a dangerous sign for risk communication, at the same time. The public are the main group who follow the news and information on the social media but not all of the public know how to distinguish misinformation from the truth. In January 30, the coronavirus was identified as a global health threat requiring collaboration of all countries (2). In February, the virus spread out of the China and immediately became the headline of news media. In Mach 8,2020 the China health department claimed that the outbreak has been controlled and Wuhan closed makeshift hospitals(4,5) but the disease surges in Iran. The first cases of coronavirus were formally reported in 19 February 2020 in Qum city of Iran (3). At the moment, the highest rank of mortality caused by the pandemic relates to Italy, Iran, and South Korea (6). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to increase the understanding of the ways that people find health information in Iran, as a developing country, and also to identify how they evaluate the roles of public libraries in providing their users with health information. The setting of the study is public libraries of Qazvin City of Iran The four main public libraries in different areas of the city were selected for research Sample size of this study was 200(n=200). To collect data a structured questionnaire was used. Data were summarized using frequency (%) for qualitative variables The Chi -Square tests were also used to test the association between the socio-demographic variables and health information seeking behavior The study indicates that health information seekers in Iran are passive information seekers rather than active ones. The results showed that most common resources for seeking health information were 'TV' and 'discussions with others'. Among the persons used internet for search health information, search engines such as 'Google' or 'Yahoo' were more used Also results indicated that among persons going to public libraries, there was a group that referred to public library for finding information about health and for using information sources such as medical magazines, books and etc. In review of relationship between socio-demographic properties such as age, gender, education and job and the use of health information resource conclude that there is a meaningful-relationship between education level and use of internet for getting health information and between age, job and 'discussions with family, relatives or close friends' for receiving health information. This study suggests that one of the key issues in public libraries could be educating the citizens (its members at least) until people become familiar with available health resources in the library and even librarians teach them how to search on the authentic websites. Key word: information seeking behavior, health information, public library, Introduction: Currently, Health Information Seeking Behavior (HISB) is broadly viewed as the ways by which individuals obtain information about health, illness, health promotion and risks to health (Lambert & Loiselle, [...]

Introduction: It is obvious that every professional worker is known as an active agent in production and productivity. Therefore; employers consider specifically the health of their staff and creating a suitable space in agreement with their physical and psychological characteristics. Librarianship is also among those professions. However; there should be more evidence in order to shed light on the importance of the ergonomic factors for all library managers and policy makers and moreover; make the staff both reach self-awareness and take the right action about the health of their career. The very aim of this study is to find out whether librarians' health is affected by the ergonomic factors or no? Methods: This is a descriptive survey study. Musculoskeletal disorders were studied using a questionnaire and checklist designed based on NAYUSH and USHA standards. The questionnaire was composed of two parts: the first part included questions about demographic information and the second part included questions related to musculoskeletal disorders based on the Nordic questionnaire. The data were collected and analyzed using SPSS software, and the results were obtained. Results: The study indicated that librarians' health is affected by ergonomic factors. 52.6% of the staff had some kinds of musculoskeletal symptoms and disorders. The greatest complications were on neck and back discomfort caused by working with improper working tools. Conclusion: Despite the population being young, the incidence of complications was high and there was a meaningful relationship between increasing work experience and the incidence of experiencing musculoskeletal symptoms Moreover; the working factors that affected different parts of the body were found mostly in the neck and back regions. Key Words: Ergonomic Factors, Librarians, Iran,, 1-Introduction The disease and disorders which are the result of workplace are called 'workplace problems'. These problems are recognized when the incidence of a special problem among the specific group [...]

Introduction Over the past two decades, medicine and health care education and practice have been undergoing a continuing revolution, in which the explosion of information and the application of information [...]

Background and Objectives: The Drug Package Insert (PI) is a written information provided by drug manufacturers to deliver essential information for the consumer. This study aimed to investigate quality of the labeling and content of PIs to identify if they meet the criteria of Iran's Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Material and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was used to evaluate the PPIs of top selling cardiac medications in Iran during March and September 2015 formed the population of this study. We used comparative and descriptive methods in conduction of the study. An evaluation checklist was built based on the regulations of PPI of Iranian Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The presence of criteria was considered as conformity and scored "1" and lacking the criteria was scored "zero". The descriptive statistics parameters were used for data analysis using SPSS v.20. Results: A total of 66 PPIs of 13 cardiac drugs from top 33 selling medicines were evaluated using 27 criteria. None of the drug boxes included patient and professional package inserts separately, but the criteria of 'general guidance to patients' was observed in 59(89.39)of package inserts. About 64.59% of the information in PPI was consistent with the regulations of drug regulation of the FDA of Iran. All PPIs (100%) included brand name, contraindication, keeping conditions, and the name of the manufacturer. the revision date and resources observed in 4 (6.06%) and 19 (28.71%), respectively. Of total 64.59%. Conclusion: PPIs need to be improved by both quantity and quality to be appropriate use of patients and consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The patient package inserts (PPIs), which contain the necessary information about medications intended for patients, need to be expressed in a clear language comprehensible to everyone. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the readability and understandability of the drug package inserts for the inexpert people. Methods: The readability of the 158 PPIs of the 33 drugs, registered and manufactured in Iran, was calculated. The main criterion for selecting PPIs to include in this study was of those topselling drugs during the year 2015 according to the Social Security Organization in Iran. The PPIs were collected from the pharmacies of the three major cities, namely, Tabriz, Ardabil and Meshgin Shahr. Then, using the Flesch-Dayani readability (FDR) tool adjusted for the Persian language, the average number of the words and syllables was counted to calculate and grade the readability score of the selected PPIs. Results: This study showed that the average FDR readability score for all the 33 drugs is 52.52, which are graded 10th-11th. Of the PPIs, 70.89% were difficult to read, and on average, the readability of the PPIs was five times difficult than the standard ones. Only 13.92% PPIs were suitable for the 5th-7th grade, and 15.19% of the package inserts ranked in the 8th-9th reading grade. Conclusion: A considerable number of the PPIs in Iran have low readability level and were not suitable for the inexpert readers. Since the treatment cost is very high, people tend to use medications arbitrarily or simply use old prescriptions. This study suggests the necessity of a major improvement in the readability level of the PPIs in order to ensure the usefulness of the PPIs to the majority of the consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]