How to find the perfect job

1. Accepting a job offer can either lead to career success or to dissatisfaction and high turnover. 2. The advantages and disadvantages of the offer must be weighed carefully, as well as those of the present job. 3. A carefully designed career plan with well-defined goals contributes to job satisfaction and facilitates the evaluation of offers. 4. A key component of a career program should be recognition of a nurse's needs and the program should be evaluated to determine if these needs are met.     

How to find a mutation behind an inherited disease

The search for the mutations causing human diseases is reaching new gene areas with increasing speed with new cloned genes or polymorphic gene areas, being reported every week. The almost 300 cloned genes and over 1000 RFLP-loci of the human genome can be used as tools to approach most human gene defects. Once the linkage between the disease and the RFLP has been found, chromosomal "jumping" or pulsed field electrophoresis can be used to separate the DNA areas in the neighbourhood of the first found RFLP locus for more detailed studies and finally for the location of the defective gene. Once found, the detailed analysis of gene mutations still requires the use of several, technically very demanding approaches of molecular biology. New techniques, such as the multiplication of the required gene area in a test tube as well as RNase protection assays have been used successfully to pick out about 80-90% of the mutations which occur in one gene area and cause the disease of this gene area. The increased specificity and sensitivity of these modern approaches do not, however, necessarily lead to the rapid diagnosis of all inherited diseases. Even once a linkage has been established between RFLP locus and a disease the path is still a long one: as demonstrated in Duchenne's muscular dystrophy and Huntington's disease, we have diagnostic RFLP-linkages but the search for the gene defect continues. Further, the increased sensitivity of the mutation assays will eventually reveal all the variations in an individual.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Scabies. How to find and stop the itch.

Scabies is a pruritic skin infestation caused by the itch mite Sarcoptes scabiei. Physical proximity allows the mite to move from one host to another. The diagnosis is made by identifying the mite or its eggs or excrement microscopically from a sample of skin scrapings. Treatment is achieved with topical application of a scabicide and elimination of the mite from the patient's surroundings.     

Presyncope and syncope. How to find the cause and avoid staggering costs

Presyncope and syncope are relatively common in the primary care population, but episodes may signal serious metabolic, neurologic, or cardiovascular disease. Accurate diagnosis is important, because treatment must be directed to the underlying cause. The cost of a full evaluation can be staggering; therefore, a goal-oriented approach to diagnosis is most productive and cost-effective.     

How to make laboratory information more informative

I review psychological literature relevant to the design of medical laboratory data reports and computer display systems, illustrate how to improve such systems, and discuss needs for further research.     

Third year nursing students' understanding of how to find and evaluate information from bibliographic databases and Internet sites

The aim of this study was to increase undergraduate nursing students' knowledge of finding and evaluating information from selected bibliographic databases and Internet sites. A quasi-experimental design was adopted. The 2004 autumn cohort (n=480) was divided into two approximately equal groups at the beginning of their studies. One group was subjected to a greater number of assignments requiring them to find and evaluate bibliographic and Internet-based information. The assignments were spread throughout the curriculum. Questionnaires were used to collect data. The low response rate makes generalizing the findings difficult. Only small differences were demonstrated between the knowledge of the revised assignment group and that of the other students. Both groups had a poor understanding of the use of important search and evaluation techniques. The results indicate that strategies proven in one context are not necessarily as effective in a new context and that more research is needed into which learning activities best enhance the development of information literacy skills during undergraduate nursing education.