Now we’re going to cover who you should be following for information. You’re looking for people who follow the science and that alone – apolitical at best! You don’t want them interjecting their political opinions. A true scientist loves their job and loves science because, through the scientific method, they can find out how they can make advancements in society and medicine.
These trusted sources may be hard to find, but they’re out there! There are countless public officials, NPs, physicians, who use their public platforms to speak nothing but the science – that’s what we’re looking for.
Here are a couple for your stash:
Dr. Deborah Britz
https://twitter.com/deborabritz?lang=en
Dr. Nancy Messonnier
https://twitter.com/DrNancyM_CDC?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Dr. Stephen Ferrara
Why do we trust their research? Well, to answer this we have to become students again. Statistics, probable outcomes – we have to become critical of the information they’re giving out. Professor Walden’s favorite thing to do is read an article or about studies that were done. Prime example of companies that do this, Dove! If you listen to Dove commercials, they’re popular for “a study was done…”. It is usually about skin or how someone loves their body, all that soap related stuff.
We must be critical thinkers. When they say a study was done, our first thought should be – how many were in the study? If a study was done and only 14 people participated, but 98% of the participants voted yes – that is not effective, or representative of the whole community.
Remember to lean into what you learned about the statistics. By the way, Wikipedia and YouTube are not valid sources. Anyone who pulls these out during an argument is automatically doubted. In school you did research papers, discussion boards, you were looking at official reporting sites. These are the sources of information you want to be looking at. Journalism looks different in 2020, so we have to pay attention and take information discussed with a grain of salt.
Some more trusted sources:
JAMA – The Journal of the American Medical Association
New England Journal of Science
Cochrane
The National Center for Biotechnology Information
If you studied (are currently studying) ANCC this is where the rankings come into play! This is how you had to rank articles and journals.
When you’re reading magazines and looking for information, you’re looking for the papers, the meta-analysis, the articles normal folks go “I don’t want to read this, too many numbers”. This tells us the actual research. If an article header states COVID-19, but by the author it states opinion – where does that fall on the pyramid? This means we’re going to take everything said with a grain of salt, it’s not based on any factual information.
So remember, these rankings still apply to your everyday life when you’re looking through information. It’s important you get really comfortable with reading actual papers. You’re a full-on, official researcher now! If you are confused about reading a paper, the secret is to look at the abstract, go over the numbers, and then hightail it to the discussion, results, and conclusion.
DISCUSSION, RESULTS, CONCLUSION
These three are going to tell you everything you need to know about the study, the results, their recommendations, and what to do in the future. Remember your rankings, these don’t go away once you’re out of school.
We hope this provides some encouragement in who the experts are in providing unbiased, apolitical information to the masses. If you have any favorite sources that you personally follow, please share them in the Facebook group!