Information Overload

I have been giving links to different sources of information, and that can be a good thing(as a librarian I tend to think this!), but there is also the challenge of information overload.

The ability to find relevant, accurate, helpful information to answer clinical questions is a skill that can be learned, but it's not all about looking at more and more sites.

Ask yourself:

• Which sites are easier for me to navigate? Medline comes in many interfaces from PubMed to Ebsco Medline, plus many others.
• Have I looked at the sources that are respected by others in my field, or who are experts in their field? Medical Associations often issue guidelines based on extensive research and discussion.
• Am I avoiding looking things up because I don't know where to start and feel overwhelmed? If you work backwards, starting with a guideline from a site like Guideline.gov, or a chapter from Uptodate, you can see where the writers got their information in their list of references.

Remember that I am available for questions you might have, which is another way to deal with information overload.