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The Information Assessment Method (IAM)

"I think, therefore IAM" (Descartes, Discourse on the Method, 1637)

The Information Assessment Method (IAM) systematically documents reflection on health information, delivered or retrieved from electronic knowledge resources. IAM enhances reflective learning, evaluation of knowledge resources, and two-way knowledge exchange between information users and information providers. 

Here we provide information about IAM, which is linked to (1) email alerts, (2) information retrieval technology, and (3) clinical decision support systems.

Through literature reviews, qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods studies, we have documented the feasibility, content validity, construct validity, and substantive validity (theoretical rationale) of the IAM questionnaire. When combined with a technique called Computerized Ecological Momentary Assessment, IAM efficiently evaluates the ‘relevance - cognitive impact - use - health benefits’ of information objects retrieved from (pull) or delivered by (push) knowledge resources.

Pluye, Grad & Barlow. Look it up! What Patients, Doctors, Nurses, and Pharmacists Need to Know about the Internet and Primary Health Care. McGill Queen’s University Press, 2017.

www.amazon.ca/Look-It-Up (Kindle and Hardcover)

• A book on clinicians’, patients’ and parents’ views on information outcomes

• A book for clinicians, patients, families, and the public

• Stories and tips based on over 15 years of research in primary care

Book Reviews

  • “A fresh, easy-to-read, engaging work that will be of interest to patients and clinicians alike.” Denise Campbell-Scherer, MD, U. Alberta
  • “Look It Up! should be required reading for patients who want to be better informed about how to navigate the health system in any country.” Mark H. Ebell, MD, U. Georgia
  • About the last chapter and artificial intelligence: '"Right. I couldn't have said it better myself." commonsensemd.blogspot.ca Kenny Lin, MD, MPH, Georgetown University and Johns Hopkins University, Associate Deputy Editor, journal American Family Physician.
  • In a recent article, 'The McGill News' alumni magazine calls our book “an informative and digestible work” that “offers humanized examples of problems that arise every day in doctors’ offices and pharmacies around the world” mcgillnews.mcgill.ca.

Cite this website as follows:

Information Technology Primary Care Research Group.The Information Assessment Method. Department of Family Medicine, McGill University.  URL: https://www.mcgill.ca/iam. Accessed: insert date here

 

Contact us: roland.grad [at] mcgill.ca or pierre.pluye [at] mcgill.ca  

Information Technology Primary Care Research Group,

McGill University
Department of Family Medicine,
5858 Côte-des-Neiges,
3rd Floor, Suite 300,
Montreal QC H3S 1Z1

Tel.: 514-399-9109

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