Medline computerized literature searching using grateful med: A pilot instructional project for entering medical students

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Teaching computer‐assisted bibliographic retrieval skills to medical students is becoming an increasingly important charge of medical educators. We presented and evaluated a pilot educational project in which MEDLINE searching using GRA TEFUL MED was taught to an entire entering medical‐school class of 112 students. Training was followed by incorporation of a MEDLINE searching exercise into an early phase of the medical school curriculum and monitoring of subsequent spontaneous use. Project effectiveness was indicated by student ratings on questionnaires, faculty evaluations of student performance and spontaneous searching by students. These novice GRA TEFUL MED users retrieved relevant citations at a low cost per relevant citation when compared to published reports of other end‐user programs for MEDLINE searching. We conclude that computerized searching of the biomedical literature using GRATEFUL MED can be successfully taught to entering medical students and provides a productive and structured learning experience in computerized bibliographic retrieval early in medical school training.