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A click in time can save nine
EDITORIAL
A Click in Time Can Save Nine Judith Stoner Halpern, RN, MS, CEN ould you imagine being asked to research and prepare the following information in just a few hours: past and present public health notifications from the Food and Drug Admini-stration, a variety of grief counseling resources, and a PowerPoint presentation (complete with color graphics) about smallpox? This issue of the Journal provides help with these topics and more. Ten years ago, a similar request would have required endless hours in the library, pouring over numerous textbooks, and scanning an even greater number of journal articles. What changed? The answer is the ability to use a personal computer to access unlimited documents online. The proliferation of computerized access has been a recent phenomenon. The Internet is less than 40 years old1 and the World Wide Web was invented in 1990.2 The Internet uses compatible software to allow a set of globally interconnected computers to communicate. The Web is a method for computers to find all of the documents on the Internet. Together, the Internet and Web provide quick access to data and programs from any site. Since 2000, the International Journal of Trauma Nursing (IJTN) has provided the full-text journal on the Internet. Table of contents and abstracts from 1997 to the present can be accessed at the IJTN homepage, www.mosby.com/ijtn. In retrospect, it is amazing just how limited education was before the Internet and the Web. Computerized information technology has given anyone with computer access the ability to selfeducate beyond the basics. Yet for the busy person, the Web has also become a challenge by offering too many resources. Nurses have conveyed their need to be able to access information quickly and efficiently; time is too precious to spend hours online. There needs to be a middle ground for
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Int J Trauma Nurs 2002;8:3. Copyright © 2002 by the Emergency Nurses Association. 1075-4210/2002/$35.00 + 0 65/1/121757 doi:10.1067/mtn.2002.121757 JANUARY-MARCH 2002
balancing the need to know with the ability to find it. IJTN uses the Web for more than just an electronic library. Online readers can use one mouse click to communicate via e-mail with authors, editorial board members, section editors, or institutions. The Journal also takes advantage of the Web’s powerful, effortless ability to browse and find unlimited information. Because online IJTN documents have hypertext (ie, sensitive spots that a computer uses to automatically switch from one page to another), readers can click once on text that appears underlined in light blue or red text (www.cdc.gov or www.trauma.org) and go directly to the reference Web site. We are aware of how precious time and office space can be for busy people. Instead of stacking unread journals, readers may register online at www.mosby.com/ijtn for electronic notification of table of contents for each new issue, then scan for topics of interest. If shelf space is an issue, the electronic journal stays neatly stored online. Subscribers automatically receive both the print and online versions of the Journal. We hope that readers will take advantage of the multiple shortcuts provided by the online journal. As Editor, I also encourage readers to e-mail us with comments and suggestions. We look forward to being your one-click, online resource for current trauma nursing information. Judith Stoner Halpern, RN, MS, CEN, Editor [email protected] REFERENCES 1. Leiner BM, Cerf VG, Clark DD, Kahn RE, Kleinrock L, Lynch DC, et al. A brief history of the Internet. Available at http://www. isoc.org/internet-history/brieft.html. Accessed November 26, 2001. 2. CERN invention you are familiar with: the World Wide Web. Available at http://public.web.cern.ch/Public/ACHIEVEMENTS/ web.html. Accessed November 26, 2001. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TRAUMA NURSING/Editorial 3
A Click in Time Can Save Nine Judith Stoner Halpern, RN, MS, CEN ould you imagine being asked to research and prepare the following information in just a few hours: past and present public health notifications from the Food and Drug Admini-stration, a variety of grief counseling resources, and a PowerPoint presentation (complete with color graphics) about smallpox? This issue of the Journal provides help with these topics and more. Ten years ago, a similar request would have required endless hours in the library, pouring over numerous textbooks, and scanning an even greater number of journal articles. What changed? The answer is the ability to use a personal computer to access unlimited documents online. The proliferation of computerized access has been a recent phenomenon. The Internet is less than 40 years old1 and the World Wide Web was invented in 1990.2 The Internet uses compatible software to allow a set of globally interconnected computers to communicate. The Web is a method for computers to find all of the documents on the Internet. Together, the Internet and Web provide quick access to data and programs from any site. Since 2000, the International Journal of Trauma Nursing (IJTN) has provided the full-text journal on the Internet. Table of contents and abstracts from 1997 to the present can be accessed at the IJTN homepage, www.mosby.com/ijtn. In retrospect, it is amazing just how limited education was before the Internet and the Web. Computerized information technology has given anyone with computer access the ability to selfeducate beyond the basics. Yet for the busy person, the Web has also become a challenge by offering too many resources. Nurses have conveyed their need to be able to access information quickly and efficiently; time is too precious to spend hours online. There needs to be a middle ground for
C
Int J Trauma Nurs 2002;8:3. Copyright © 2002 by the Emergency Nurses Association. 1075-4210/2002/$35.00 + 0 65/1/121757 doi:10.1067/mtn.2002.121757 JANUARY-MARCH 2002
balancing the need to know with the ability to find it. IJTN uses the Web for more than just an electronic library. Online readers can use one mouse click to communicate via e-mail with authors, editorial board members, section editors, or institutions. The Journal also takes advantage of the Web’s powerful, effortless ability to browse and find unlimited information. Because online IJTN documents have hypertext (ie, sensitive spots that a computer uses to automatically switch from one page to another), readers can click once on text that appears underlined in light blue or red text (www.cdc.gov or www.trauma.org) and go directly to the reference Web site. We are aware of how precious time and office space can be for busy people. Instead of stacking unread journals, readers may register online at www.mosby.com/ijtn for electronic notification of table of contents for each new issue, then scan for topics of interest. If shelf space is an issue, the electronic journal stays neatly stored online. Subscribers automatically receive both the print and online versions of the Journal. We hope that readers will take advantage of the multiple shortcuts provided by the online journal. As Editor, I also encourage readers to e-mail us with comments and suggestions. We look forward to being your one-click, online resource for current trauma nursing information. Judith Stoner Halpern, RN, MS, CEN, Editor [email protected] REFERENCES 1. Leiner BM, Cerf VG, Clark DD, Kahn RE, Kleinrock L, Lynch DC, et al. A brief history of the Internet. Available at http://www. isoc.org/internet-history/brieft.html. Accessed November 26, 2001. 2. CERN invention you are familiar with: the World Wide Web. Available at http://public.web.cern.ch/Public/ACHIEVEMENTS/ web.html. Accessed November 26, 2001. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TRAUMA NURSING/Editorial 3