Digital Literacy: Physician Learners
I was interested in using Pinterest to complete this assignment because I had never used the application before, and I had heard positive comments about the app from my friends and family. I chose to link websites to a board I created in Pinterest called Digital Literacy: Physician Learners:
Follow E’s board Digital Literacy: Physician Learners on Pinterest.
I work for Northern Health in an educational and customer service capacity. Part of my role includes advising and supporting physicians who are seeking accreditation through the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. I also help facilitate practice improvement groups, workshops and conferences.
For this assignment I wanted to explore images that represented physician learners utilizing technology in the workplace and in continuing medical education opportunities. I searched for my content using Flickr’s advanced image search, Google’s advanced search and Creative Commons. I was most successfully finding images using Google’s advanced search. I was disappointed that there weren’t more images depicting female physicians.
I was particularly interested in finding images of simulation labs. In my workplace I am currently organizing a couple of courses that will run in early 2016. The physicians and nurses attending these courses will be utilizing the hospital’s simulation labs, which are equipped with the technology, medication and equipment used in surgery. There are also several surveillance cameras in the room and on the equipment. The sim lab technicians set up mock emergency scenarios based on criteria provided by the lead instructor. This information is entered into the software program in advance of the session. The technicians are situated in an observation room equipped with several computers and headphones. The simulation lab and the observation room are separated by a window. The technicians enter additional data during the scenarios (depending on how the physicians are treating the patient). For example, giving a patient an incorrect dosage will result in a specific medical emergency that the physician has to deal with. A physician’s interactions with the patient, co-workers, technology and medication is recorded, and reviewed. The review takes place in a meeting room. Participants watch the recording and participate in a debrief after the mock emergency.
I think Pinterest is visually appealing, easy to navigate, and simple to use on a laptop. The layout and navigation reminds me of Flipboard. I prefer the layout and navigation of Flipboard over Pinterest while using an iPhone. I like being able to follow other boards on Pinterest based on my interest. I also like the option to pin a website to my board or easily pin an external website to my board on Pinterest. In my opinion, one of the main drawbacks is that sometimes a link to a website is broken, and you do not know it is broken until you try to click on the image/text.
Resources
University of the Fraser Valley (Photographer). 2012, November 22. UFV Nursing Simulation [photograph]. Abbotsford, BC. Flickr.
Hi Elizabeth,
Your career sounds very interesting! I imagine new technologies have the potential to add a great deal of value to physician training, particularly when used in situations such as the simulation labs you mentioned. I agree that Pinterest is a highly effective tool for presenting organizing content, both in terms of aesthetics and ease of use. I enjoyed perusing your collection of images.
Your point about a lack of images depicting female physicians reminds me of a really encouraging bit of information I recently heard (although, I have to admit it was on a cheesy daytime talk show). It was mentioned that a study found that the top career choice among young girls today is a doctor!