The National Library of Medicine resources PubMed and MedlinePlus can be used to find health literacy information.

To find health literacy information in PubMed:

• Go to PubMed at www.pubmed.gov
• On the left side of the page under PubMed Services click on Special Queries
• Scroll down and under Subjects click on Health Literacy
• Click on MEDLINE/PubMed health literacy search
• To narrow your search, use the Limits tab.  You can limit your search by date, language, etc.

To find health literacy information in MedlinePlus:

• Go to MedlinePlus at http://medlineplus.gov
• Click on Health Topics
• Under Find your topic by first letter click on the letter H
• Scroll down and click on Health Literacy

Another useful resource is BHIC (Bringing Health Information to the Community), an NLM-funded blog with a wealth of health literacy information.

Schools across the country now have free access to an innovative set of teaching tools designed to increase the understanding of science, health, and diabetes among American Indian and Alaska Native students from kindergarten through the 12th grade. The comprehensive new curriculum, called “Health is Life in Balance,” was launched on November 12, 2008 at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

The curriculum, a product of the Diabetes-based Science Education in Tribal Schools (DETS) program, integrates science and Native American traditions to educate students about science, diabetes and its risk factors, and the importance of nutrition and physical activity in maintaining health and balance in life. The project was developed in collaboration with eight tribal colleges and universities and several Native American organizations, with funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Indian Health Service (IHS), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The rate of diagnosed diabetes in American Indians and Alaska Natives is two to three times that of non-Hispanic whites. Nearly 17 percent of the total adult population served by the IHS has diagnosed diabetes. After adjusting for population age differences, diabetes rates vary from 6 percent among Alaska Native adults to 29 percent among American Indian adults in southern Arizona. Once seen only in adults, type 2 diabetes is increasingly being diagnosed in youth, especially in American Indian and other minority populations.

The curriculum units provide accurate, culturally tailored materials and lesson plans for use in more than 1,000 tribal schools on reservations and in public schools that have a sizable number of Native American students. “This curriculum can change perceptions and attitudes about diabetes and empower young people to adopt healthier lifestyles,” said Kelly Acton, M.D., M.P.H, director of the Division of Diabetes Treatment and Prevention of the IHS, which will oversee distribution to schools.

To order printed copies or CDs of the curriculum free of charge, see the IHS website http://www.ihs.gov/MedicalPrograms/Diabetes/.

Google.org’s Flu Trends (http://www.google.org/flutrends/) tracks when and where questions about flu symptoms are asked all over the country.  They have discovered that a large number of flu-related searches from a particular region may be estimating an outbreak of the flu in that region. In fact, last year Google Flu Trends estimated flu levels one to two weeks earlier than the CDC reported them.

The New York Times: “Google Uses Searches to Track Flu’s Spread”

Google.org: “How does this work?“

The Maternal and Child Health Bureau is awarding grants to address significant disparities in perinatal health indicators in communities within 62 miles of the U.S./Mexico border or in Alaska and Hawaii. Eligible organizations include: state, county, city, township, or special district governments; independent school districts; state controlled institutions of higher education; public housing/Indian housing authorities; federally-recognized Native American tribal governments; Native American tribal organizations other than federally recognized tribal governments; nonprofits with or without a 501 (C)(3) IRS status other than institutions of higher education; and private institutions of higher education.

Grant applicants must provide a scope of project services that will cover pregnancy and interconceptional phases for women and infants residing in the proposed project area. Services are to be given to both mother and infant for two years following delivery to promote longer interconceptional periods and prevent relapses of unhealthy risk behaviors.

Applicants for this funding opportunity are required to submit an electronic application through the Grants.gov website. The deadline for applications is December 5th, 2008. For more information, contact Beverly Wright at 301-443-5691.

A new version of the National Library of Medicine’s (NLM) Drug Information Portal was released in October. The portal now covers over 16,000 drugs.

http://druginfo.nlm.nih.gov

The update includes:

1. Direct searching of drug categories, which are derived from the Medical Subject Heading (MeSH®) Pharmacological Action field http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/disted/mesh/paterms.html

2. Name and category suggestions, to eliminate common spelling errors

3. Phrase parser that assists users in finding drug names within phrases

4. The addition of the MeSH notes, when available, to spell checker results to make selection of a possible answer easier

5. Searches retrieving multiple results now sorted by frequency of citation in PubMed®, from highest to lowest. This tends to show the most commonly used drugs first.

The Drug Information Portal is a free web resource from the NLM that provides an informative, user friendly entry-way to current drug information for over 16,000 drugs. Links to sources span the breadth of NLM, the National Institutes of Health, and other government agencies. Current information regarding consumer health, clinical trials, AIDS–related drug information, MeSH pharmacological actions, PubMed biomedical literature, and physical properties and structure is easily retrieved by searching on a drug name. A varied selection of focused topics in medicine and drug–related information is also available from displayed subject headings.

The PubMed Special Queries link provides access to a directory of topic-specific PubMed queries, including the following queries related to public health:

Health Literacy - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/services/health_literacy.html

Health Disparities - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/services/health_disparities.html

Health Services Research - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/nichsr/hedges/search.html

Healthy People 2010 - http://phpartners.org/hp/

The National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology (NICHSR) at the National Library of Medicine was created to improve the collection, storage, analysis, retrieval, and dissemination of health services research. Designed for health practitioners, health policy makers, payers and information professionals, the NICHSR website (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/nichsr) provides access to a variety of databases and retrieval services including:

Pilot Health Services Research Filters Project

Researchers, clinicians, health policy analysts and planners can use these specialized PubMed Health Services Research (HSR) searches to find information on healthcare quality and costs.

(more…)

The NN/LM SCR office is offering two classes at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio Library, in San Antonio, TX on October 20, 2008.

Public Health Information on the Web
8:30 am – 12:30 pm

Class description: This hands-on class will highlight web resources tailored to the public health workforce. Topics include: the role of information in public health, resources for health education and promotion, evidence-based practice and data and statistics.

Upon completion, class attendees will receive 4 hours MLA CE credit. For more information on the class: http://nnlm.gov/training/publichealth/

Can You Hear Me Now? How to Make a Podcast
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Class description: Thinking about how to promote your services and reach out to more people? Want to learn how podcasts can help and how to make your own? This hands-on class is designed to provide a fun yet informative introduction to podcasting and how you can utilize this technology in your library services, to enable your users to access the information whenever they want, wherever they want and however they want it. Basic steps and suggestions on how to make a podcast will be covered and students will be able to enjoy hands-on practice on popular audio recording and editing software and make their first personal podcast!

Upon completion, class attendees will receive 2 hours MLA CE credit. For more information on the class: http://nnlm.gov/training/podcast/index.html

To register for these classes: http://nnlm.gov/scr/training/register.html

All classes are free and open to anyone.

The Refugee Health Information Network (RHIN - http://www.rhin.org) is a national collaborative partnership that has created a database of high quality multilingual, public health resources for those providing care to resettled refugees and asylees. RHIN is guided by refugee health professionals and health information specialists. All content available for downloading through RHIN is available at no charge.

RHIN resources include:

• Health education materials in various languages and formats (brochures, fact sheets, videos)

• Provider tools (including information on refugee populations and cultures)

• Links to related Web sites

RHIN also provides links to existing sites specializing in refugee health, access to medical information from the National Library of Medicine, and a variety of posted documents from health care providers throughout the country. In selecting materials RHIN places greatest emphasis on identifying, collecting, and making available materials that have been produced by U.S. Federal and state government agencies, major national organizations, academic institutions, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations. Web sites that are linked to by RHIN are constantly evaluated to ensure substantive information is provided and quality is maintained.

The NN/LM SCR will be offering the class Public Health Information on the Web at the Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library on September 10, 2008 from 8:30 am – 12:30 pm.

Course description:

The field of public health encompasses a wide array of disciplines including health education, epidemiology and nursing. Digital literacy and the effective utilization of online information are among the core public health informatics competencies for the 21st century. This hands-on class will highlight web resources tailored to the public health workforce.

At the completion of the class, participants will be able to:

* Define the role of information in the public health environment
* Identify resources to support health education and promotional programs and activities
* Retrieve information in support of evidence-based public practice
* Obtain data sets and statistics relevant to public health on a state, local and national level

To register for the class: http://resource.library.tmc.edu/classes/index.cfm#225