Since the launch of Dynamic Health in February the collaborative team from Interprofessional Practice and Learning (IPPL), Policy, and Library Services have reviewed and aligned almost 500 skills with the help of health care team members. We also delivered two training sessions to front-line superusers. We would like to thank all those who attended and/or viewed the recordings of these sessions. Your engagement is appreciated and noted! We are seeing great usage statistics for the first month with over 15,000 topic views.

The top 5 Skills viewed since launch are:

  1. Inserting a Nasogastric Tube in an Adult Patient
  2. Treating Adults with Pressure Injuries
  3. Managing Chest Tubes in Adults
  4. Changing a Suprapubic Catheter
  5. Preventing Pressure Injuries in Adult

Learn more about Dynamic Health in our support subject guide or engage with the team about any questions or opportunities by emailing DynamicHealth@nshealth.ca! Find a skill you think needs a review, edit, or note? Fill out our Suggestions for Skills form.

Topic Sections vs. Skills

To understand our usage statistics for Dynamic Health, it’s important to understand what a Topic Section is. A Topic Section is content categorized with a specific purpose in Dynamic Health. Diseases & Conditions, Signs & Symptoms, Tests & Labs, Care Interventions, Skills, Drug Guide, and Patient Handouts are all different and unique Topic Section categories.

Let’s take a closer look by searching for guidance about assessing confusion. Enter the term “confusion” in the main search box, click the  icon (1) and review the results. Note that two results are highlighted in light green and listed first (2). These results are flagged as most relevant to the search. Each result also has a Topic Section category at the top (3). The most relevant results in light green are from the Signs & Symptoms Topic Section category. Note that other results down the list are retrieved from other Topic Sections – Nursing Skills, Care Interventions, etc.(4). Topic Section categories are also listed to the left of your results where you can apply them to your search as filters to narrow down to only Signs & Symptoms and Nursing Skills (5).

NOTE We've been asked about editing or adding a note to content in a Topic Section other than what you’ll find under the Skills category. We can only add local notes, hide content, and create custom content within the Skills Topic Section.

Content in Diseases & Conditions, Signs & Symptoms, Tests & Labs, Care Interventions, Drug Guide, and Patient Handouts, while not customizable locally, go through the same evidence-based, regular review by Ebsco’s Dynamic Health editorial team. This trusted, continually updated content across Topic Sections should always be used in combination with local practice, professional knowledge, and patient preferences.

Evidence as an Adjunct to Local Practice, Professional Knowledge

Dynamic Health’s synthesized content across Topic Sections and rigorous editorial process make it an evidence-based, point-of-care knowledge resource. While practicing evidence-based health care is important, the way you might end up using a guidance resource like Dynamic Health won’t always look the same. Let’s take Dynamic Health’s content and apply it to the 5As of Evidence-based Health Care.

Evidence-based Health Care (or Practice or Medicine) asks health care providers to:

  • Assess the patient
  • Ask a clear, clinical question
  • Acquire evidence to answer the question
  • Appraise the quality of the evidence
  • Apply the evidence to patient care

Duke University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2019

Knowledge resources like Dynamic Health assist with Asking, Acquiring and Appraising by monitoring primary sources as they emerge and critically evaluating them. Findings are synthesized and made available for specific health care audiences, in Dynamic Health’s case, for Nursing and Allied Health professionals. The goal is saving time so the health care provider can focus on Assessing the patient and Applying the evidence, alongside local guidance and expertise.

Health Promotion in April and Dynamic Health Topics

April 2023 marks promotion of:

In recognition of these health promotion events, we encourage you to engage with the curated list of Dynamic Health content below.

If you spot any content under Skills/Procedures below that doesn’t have a Workplace Note, consider being a reviewer! Fill out our Suggestions for Skills form with your notes and we’ll get in touch!

Rosacea Awareness Month

National Immunization Awareness Week

Dynamic Health Project Team

Amanda Revels
Professional Practice Leader
Interprofessional Practice & Learning, Western Zone

Leah MacDonald
Professional Practice Leader
Interprofessional Practice & Learning, COVID-19 Response

Katie McLean
Librarian Educator
Interprofessional Practice & Learning, Library Services

Margaret Meier
Policy Lead
Policy Office

Ann Slaunwhite
Library Technician
Interprofessional Practice & Learning, Library Services