1st Critique

Here is the address for my first critique site:
http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/112/24_suppl/IV-167

1. The content of this site includes information on Pediatric Advanced Life Support. It includes the 2005 American Heart Association Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care. The 2005 guidelines seem a little old to me but perhaps there are no new guidelines posted yet. I will look through this site and see it I can find current recommendations. The content seems very complete and includes information such as respiratory failure, shock, airway, breathing, circulation, vascular access, emergency fluids and medications, PALS algorithms, etc. There is a vast amount of information provided on this site.

2. Design: The design is simple yet it gets the job done. With all the information provided, I think too much design and glitz would distract the reader from the task at hand (learning and PALS). The site includes visuals of PALS algorithms so one can view them. It also provides a navigation box at the right every few subjects to help navigate to other topics.

3. Disclosure of Authors/Sponsors/Developers: Directly at the top right of the document is the American Heart Association logo and I think this easily proclaims who has made the site. AHA is a non-profit organization and I think it is clearly shown. This article was published in Circulation magazine and this is also clearly documented with year, edition number, and pages. The article was created from 265 resources and all are clearly sited at the end of the article.

4. Information of currency: The article was written in 2005 and includes the 2005 guidelines. Possibly on the AHA website are more current guidelines. I will look.

5. Authority of Resources: Since this article/site was published by the American Heart Association I would say it is a very reliable source.

6. Ease of use: One can scroll through the enire document if desired. There is also a navigation bar periodically placed in the document to help navigate to other parts of it. I would say it is pretty easy to use.

7. Accessibility and availability: The site was easy to access when I did a search for "Pediatric emergencies" from the Yahoo search engine. I bookmarked the site on my favorites and it took me directly back when I wanted to go back.

8. Intended Audience: The intended audience for this article appears to be directed at those pursuing PALS certification. This would include nurses, physicians, and other healthcare workers.

9. Contact Address: At the top of the site is a link to "Contact AHA." I clicked the link and it took me to an email address, a phone number to call, and a physical mailing address. It also provided a link to contact the local AHA office.

10. User Support: There is a help link at the top of the site also. When clicked this takes you to subscriber information, features of the magazine, tips for web browsing, FAQs, problems with slow site, help with viewing multimedia, and help obtaining graphics viewing software. I would say it it pretty user friendly. If one had a question about the content of the information they could email AHA.

11. Misc: The site allows access to other AHA journals, Circulation magazine home site, subscriptions, archives, and a place to send feedback into the site.

Overall, I think this is a very reputable and reliable site for information regarding PALS and Pediatric Emergencies. I will most likely be using this in my online community.