With an abundance of clinical information available at our fingertips at all times, it’s easy to get overwhelmed―the most current and evidence-based recommendations aren’t always clear. The reality? Clinical knowledge is growing at an unprecedented rate. So how do you keep up without compromising the quality of care?

tweetable: We have to always be willing to be a teacher and a student as we move along and try to maintain some balance and keep an open mind. Because just like anything, it has its good sides and its bad sides. But so far in my career, the good has out-weighed the bad.

tweetable: I love (really) when patients know a lot about what’s wrong with them. I really do. I think it’s amazing.

Key takeaways

• Emergency medicine jumped out at her.
• She really enjoyed her rotation in emergency medicine and loved her residency.

tweetable: We have to have the education, we have to have medical  school, we have to have residency and look at these tools in context.

• She has always had an interest in words and grammar. Earlier in her career, she took on a role editing a health magazine in Cincinnati.
• A job opened at Elsevier that combined all of her interests, skills and experiences.
• She was asked to develop point-of-care content for Elsevier.

tweetable: To this day, my ninety-one-year-old mother still corrects my grammar. She does that for all three of her children and all of her grandchildren.

• She became interested in addiction medicine and really developed an interest in the opioid epidemic.
• She started a website with free resources for anyone with commentary, medical information and news articles to address this epidemic.

tweetable: I wouldn’t have wanted to give up this career. It’s never boring. I don’t want the young people in medicine to get discouraged. I think you should find a mentor that’s optimistic and someone who is always not only willing to teach, but willing to learn.

• There are advantages in having so much more information available now, but there must be a game plan to manage all of it.
• It’s still about quality over quantity of information.
• First, people must learn how to evaluate the information.
• Secondly, find a few sources that you trust and understand how their information is developed and reviewed.

tweetable: I think it’s easy to get overwhelmed. They say that every thirty seconds, new medical information is published.

• Authors have specific instructions.
• There is a literature surveillance team that is responsible for updating information.
• There is also a process to look through every piece on a scheduled basis.

tweetable: The quality of information still has to be number one.

tweetable: Always looking for better ways, with anything in life, is a good thing.

Recommended resources

• Not using the point of care tools provided with CMA membership? Dr. Bezanson changes your mind, a Boldly podcast featuring Dr. Joshua Bezanson.
• Managing information overload: 5 tips from an editor-in-chief, an Elsevier Connect by Jonathan Davis article about this podcast episode.
• Evidence-Based Guidance: A Critical Strategy in the War Against Opioid Addiction, a whitepaper from Elsevier.
• Guiding addiction treatment from the front lines, an Elsevier Connect article by Alison Bert featuring Dr. Leslie Dye on recognizing addiction.
• Too much guidance?, a Lancet journal article by Allen D and Harkins KJ.

About the author(s)

Joule is a Canadian Medical Association (CMA) subsidiary designed to assist physicians in the pursuit of clinical excellence. Joule does this explicitly through the support of physician-led innovation, and by inspiring physician-adoption of knowledge products and innovative technologies and services.

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