Healthcare information provider Wolters Kluwer Health (WK Health), US, has announced that UpToDate, part of Wolters Kluwer Health, was featured in the current issue of the Global Public Health journal.
The article, Health care workers in Africa access a broad range of topics using evidence-based online medical information, was co-authored by Dr. Margaret L. McNairy, Dr. Alysse G Wurcel, Dr. Franklin Huang and Dr. Johanna P. Daily. The article investigates the relationship between access to evidence-based, online clinical resources and improvements in patient care in RLS. Clinicians in RLS can now access UpToDate by applying to the international grant subscription program on Global Health Delivery Online (GHDonline.org).
A total of 102 healthcare workers (HCW) were trained to use UpToDate across four hospitals in Africa. Of the 102, 64 completed a survey at the end of the program. The majority of users were doctors (63%), nurses (25%) or medical officers and/or students (12%). Ninety-six percent of users felt ‘very comfortable’ with English. The data suggests that the provision of evidence-based medical information resources via the Internet is feasible in RLS, is used for a broad variety of topics, and could improve providers' knowledge, clinical practice and potentially patient outcomes. The methodology also demonstrates that initial and regular training and support is needed for these resources to be fully used in RLS.
Four hospitals were chosen for this study based on their affiliation with the authors’ sponsoring institutions: two medical centers in Rwanda, one hospital in Malawi, and one hospital in South Africa. UpToDate provided unlimited, 24 hour free access to its knowledge system via the Internet and all hospitals had satellite or cable Internet access that was free for the clinical staff. The study began in January of 2009 and lasted 6 months.
