The NLM Technical Bulletin recently announced the addition of a Drug Sensor to PubMed. The Drug Sensor detects if a drug name is included in the search query, and then presents excerpts from other resources on the right of the results. Currently, a new resource, PubMed Clinical Q&A, is highlighted.

The Association of American Indian Physicians’ (AAIP) Diabetes Program offers $1,000 mini-grants to Diabetes Program Affiliates to support innovative, culturally sensitive community intervention activities related to Native Americans and diabetes education and prevention. AAIP encourages awardees to author proposals that conduct their mini-grant activities during the month of November, which is both National Diabetes Awareness Month and National Native American Heritage Month.

The application period is open from September 1, 2008 through October 15, 2008. All applications received in AAIP’s office by 5pm CST on October 15, 2008 will be reviewed and considered. All grant proposal activities must be completed by February 26, 2009. Mini-grant reports are due to AAIP by March 1, 2009.

See: http://www.aaip.org/programs/diabetes/mini_grant_criteria.htm for more information and to download the application

Hello everyone!

I’m Jonathan Hartmann, the new Public Health Outreach Coordinator for the NN/LM South Central Region. I will teach Public Health classes and coordinate the SCR’s national and regional exhibits, regional public health information program, health information literacy program, health disparities program, and refugee health information program. I will also be the state liaison for Texas.

Prior to this position, I was AHEC Librarian at the University of South Florida in Tampa, FL; Reference & Instruction Librarian at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in Boston, MA; and Outreach Librarian at the Medical College of Ohio in Toledo, OH. I received both my Master of Library Science degree and my Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from Kent State University.

In my spare time, I like to travel, read, and listen to music.

I’m happy to be here and I’m looking forward to working with all of you and serving your needs. Please contact me if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions. Here is my contact information:

Email: jonathan.hartmann@exch.library.tmc.edu
Phone: 713-799-7107

According to a new study by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC), there has been a dramatic increase in people looking for health care information.  While use of all information sources increased dramatically, use of the Internet for health information has doubled from 2001 to 2007.  Thirty-two percent of consumers—70 million adults—conducted online health searches in 2007, compared with 16 percent in 2001.  In addition, the greater an individual’s education level, the more likely he or she is to research a health condition.

To read the entire study:
“Striking Jump in Consumers Seeking Health Care Information”
Center for Studying Health System Change

In its recent article “Great .gov Web sites,” the Government Computer News (GCN) selected 10 great government websites. The National Library of Medicine’s MedlinePlus was the first website highlighted in this article.

GCN “Great .gov Web sites: These 10 sites show agencies putting the power of the Web to work”

Last year, several librarians from across the United States generously shared their personal stories about disaster or emergency situations that affected library operations with National Library of Medicine Associate Fellow Robin Featherstone. As was originally planned, a Web site has been created to provide a platform for sharing these stories. The site includes an individual link for each of the stories, the ability for others to comment on posted stories, and a Google map, which will help visualization of the diversity among the stories. By clicking on each of the individual icons on the Google Map, you will be linked to the individual stories. The Library Disaster Stories site is a part of the NN/LM Emergency Preparedness & Response Toolkit and can be found here: http://nnlm.gov/ep/lessons-learnedstories-told/

A “Submit Your Own Story” function will be added shortly which will open up the possibilities of this site. The National Library of Medicine is very appreciative of the librarians who have shared their stories and hope that this site will encourage others to share their experiences.

If you have questions about the site or the submission of stories, you may contact Dan Wilson (editor of the NN/LM Emergency Preparedness & Response Toolkit) at dtw2t@eservices.virginia.edu or Susan Yowell (project assistant) at ssy2n@virginia.edu.

On September 16, 2008, the NN/LM SCR will offer two free classes from the NN/LM Outreach Evaluation Resource Center (http://nnlm.gov/evaluation/) at the Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library.

8:00 am - 12:00 pm
Answering the Right Questions: Data Collection for Health Information Outreach (4 hours)

In this workshop, participants will learn to apply good principles of data collection to assure that data - both qualitative and quantitative - will be useful in making project decisions.

The emphasis will be on efficient methods that can keep data collection at a manageable level. Topics will include using evaluation questions to focus data collection; conducting short, to-the-point interviews to collect outcome data; using a “contact sheet” to organize interview notes and communicate findings with other team members; using participatory methods to get information from a large number of community members; using standard “counts” (attendance rates; drop-out rates) as evaluation data; and designing and administering short questionnaires.

By the end of the project, participants will be able to:

• Use end-of-session and session-follow-up questionnaires effectively
• Design short questionnaires and interview guides that can be used to collect very targeted feedback
• Design participatory methods to collect qualitative data from a larger group of individuals
• Identify existing information (e.g., attendance) collected for other reporting purposes that can be used for evaluation

1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Finding Information in Numbers and Words: Data Analysis for Health Information Outreach (4 hours)

Participants will learn basic methods for compiling and analyzing qualitative and quantitative evaluation data to maximize their usefulness in project improvement and decision-making.

Discussion, presentations, and exercises will cover compiling and analyzing evaluation data. For quantitative data, participants will learn to use descriptive statistics and graphs to make sense of their data. For qualitative methods, participants will learn to organize and code text-based data, then analyze it. Topics will include analyzing qualitative data (e.g., developing and using codes, summarizing, interpreting); compiling and graphing descriptive statistics; and exploring the validity of evaluation findings.

By the end of the session, participants will be able to:

• Code text-based (qualitative) data, summarize findings, and use the findings to make improvements or decisions about health outreach programs
• Graph quantitative data to develop visual pictures of findings
• Summarize numerical (quantitative) data using frequencies, percentages, means, medians, and modes
• Interpret findings and use them to make improvements and decisions about health outreach programs

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

Please contact Karen Vargas at 713-799-7880 or karen.vargas@exch.library.tmc.edu for more information.

A request for applications has recently been posted for the Exceptional, Unconventional Research Enabling Knowledge Acceleration (EUREKA) grant. This R01 grant is designed to fund exceptionally innovative research on novel hypotheses or difficult problems, solutions to which would have an extremely high impact on biomedical or biobehavioral research that is germane to the mission of the National Library of Medicine.

NLM is seeking applications in the following two areas

1. Integrated discovery mining for biology and medicine:
2. Integrated hypothesis testing for biology and medicine

More information on this grant is available at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/ep/eureka.html

Deadlines:
Letter of Intent: September 29, 2008
Application: October 28, 2008

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

The NN/LM SCR will be offering the class Keeping Up with NLM’s PubMed at the Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library on October 6, 2008 from 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm.

This hands-on class will show attendees how to use the features of PubMed effectively. Topics include: formatting and revising searches; displaying, printing and saving searches; and utilizing special features and tools. This course has been approved for 4 hours of Medical Library Association (MLA) Continuing Education credits.

For more information on the class: http://nnlm.gov/training/keepingup/

To register: http://resource.library.tmc.edu/classes/index.cfm#223

This class is free and open to anyone.

If you have any questions, please contact Re Mishra at: ruicha.mishra@exch.library.tmc.edu.