Module 3: ' Do you know the way to San Jose'?

As I was working on our present module on Information Retrieval, including the use of  Reference Management Software,  a favorite song in the 70's sung by Dionne Warwick just kept on playing in my mind and it goes..."Do you know the way to San Jose, I've been away so long I might lose my way....' 
I guess that it's because I've really spent a lot of time 'finding my way' through the technical challenges of presenting the 'screen shots' of the 2 assignments. Establishing my EndNote was quite a challenge as I went through the licensing and registration with the assistance of my spouse and a dear friend. However, after these 'challenging' steps, I actually enjoyed the 2 activities. I found the information retrieval very productive and meaningful especially so that I chose a topic that I am really interested in and will actually utilize the articles to help me build a stronger infection prevention and control program at our facility. The use of the EndNote is no longer foreign to me as it was in the beginning!

I utilized our school's library to access the electronic index for CINAHL and HEALTHSOURCE in order to obtain pertinent researches about my chosen topic. I also utilized the guideline index through the National Guide Clearinghouse(NGC) as well as the regular web search engine. I actually regularly use the latter whenever I need to find out information about ANY topic.

What's interesting is that all of these three sources of information present a huge initial volume of information, perhaps with the guideline index providing the most number of searches (as high as 406!) when I typed 'infection control program.' It narrowed down to 280 when I further specified education  and training. The web search engine also gave different articles pertaining to the same topic. However the common thread that runs among these 3 sources is the provision of vast information about a chosen topic; there are more differences than there are similarities and although they are useful, there are distinct differences that are crucial to consider in order to focus on the research topic.

The electronic index presented a vast number of databases that provide evidence-based researches that enabled me to choose selectively with 'high precision' as described by Poynton. Such index also enabled me to import the article to an organized library such as the EndNote. The guideline index, though, despite the voluminious searches that came out by also utilizing the same words, is not as focused on the topic chosen despite that the words of "education" and 'training" were used for more clarity. It's interesting that several non-related topics came up, such as 'addiction,'  and' detoxification' under the mentioned topics. It seems that the guideline index didn't specify if there is a capability for the researches to be imported, leaving a  student like me to print the entries for information. The web search engine suggests different related topics and is comprised of  a narrative text that does not  allow a user to import the article to an organized collection like the electronic index. Most of the information is not evidence-based research and are more of references and information.

Among these three sources of information, I choose the electronic index to be my prime choice for retrieval of information because of the vast but well-organized searches I am able to do through different databases. It responded well to the use of MeSH and minimized citations that are not pertinent. I also like its capacity for the article to be imported to a folder and be organized in a reference management software like the EndNote.

Indeed, searching through the maze of information is like my favorite 70's song of a person finding her way back to a specific place, just like navigating through all the sources of information, hoping to find the pertinent ones that are relevant and useful.