by Bonnie DiGiallonardo, Reference Librarian
Nova Southeastern University
Health Professions Division Library
digibon@nova.edu

Just two months into my career as a health professions librarian, I had the opportunity to attend the Southern Chapter/Medical Library Association Annual Meeting, “Making the Magic Flow” October 26-30, 2008. Not only was this my first time at a librarian’s conference, it was my first time as an attendee at ANY conference.

In my previous life as a marketing professional, I had worked in exhibit hall booths of many conferences, but this was a completely different take on the experience. As some of you may attest, starting a new profession in your 40’s is no easy feat. Yet embarking on a journey that you have worked hard to begin makes you feel like a wide-eyed ingénue (anyone who knows me would fall on the floor laughing at this mental image). That is how I felt when I first arrived at the conference, but thanks to all the wonderful people I met at the chapter meeting, I left knowing that I had made the right choice, to become a medical librarian.

Without question, it was the people that made the conference most memorable for this first-timer. From my first contact with the people at the registration desk to my shuttle partners on the return trip to the airport (who happened to give me the idea to write this article), I found each and every person to be an absolute treasure. I felt right at home with this group – it was like the mother ship had called me home! No matter where I went or who I happened to sit down next to, everyone spoke to me and opened up about their experiences. I quickly learned that there is no such thing as a shy, retiring librarian…at least not at this event.

The conference’s content proved a valuable information resource for a newly ordained librarian. Many varied aspects of medical librarianship were covered, and while there were concurrent sessions that made me wish I could be in two places at once, my colleague (another newbie) and I were able to split up and compare notes later. An impressive lineup of plenary speakers, a CE session that gave me a ton of ideas, and poster sessions that gave a peek into what other library’s are doing all contributed to a fulfilling and rewarding conference experience.

Library school only marginally prepares one to actually work as a reference librarian so having access to the classes, speakers, presentations, posters, and most importantly, the librarians from all walks of the profession was so enriching that I would recommend conference attendance as a requirement in any master’s program. At Southern Chapter there was so much to absorb in just a few days, most of it new, but what we learned was useful and applicable to our jobs. So, we felt that this conference was a good solid foundation upon which to begin building our careers and professional networks.

I am already looking forward to next year!

While the students relax by the sun and sand, brush up on your health literature search skills.

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine/Southeastern Atlantic Region is hosting a free webinar series titled “Summer Searching Sessions”.  Four experienced medical librarians will be demonstrating tips, techniques, new features and functions of four MEDLINE® interfaces.

MEDLINE® is the premier bibliographic database from the National Library of Medicine.  It is used by health care professionals and students worldwide.  Over 70 million searches are conducted every month.

Four one-hour sessions (description below) will be held over a two week period. The topics include new features on familiar interfaces, using the controlled vocabulary, MeSH®, review of the basics, finding full text and are you looking in the right place.

The sessions are open to all librarians in the Southeastern Atlantic Region but registration is required. To register, please contact Toni Yancey by email at tyancey@hshsl.umaryland.edu, or by telephone at 410.706.2855.

Session #1 - August 5, 2008 at 2:00 pm (EST) - Introductions

Search Scenario: The new and improved PubMed, Medline at Ovid, Ebscohost, and MDConsult Journals/Medline. Interactive questions and answers. What would you like to talk about searching.

Session #2 - August 7, 2008 at 2:00 pm (EST) - Quick and Dirty?

Search Scenario: A facility supervisor, is meeting with the administration next week to discuss ways for the hospital to go green. He needs to learn about reducing the amount of garage the hospital produces. He asks if you can help him. Between your regular work and preparing for a nursing symposium, you don’t have that much time to devote to Bill’s request.

Session #3 - August 12, 2008 at 2:00 pm (EST) - Not enough hours in the day

A famous athlete has been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease. The local ABC affiliate has asked the head of the oncology department to appear on the morning show tomorrow to discuss it. It’s already 4:30 and you have to leave at 5:00 for an appointment. You promise to have information to him (via email) by 8:00 so he can review it.

Session #4 - August 14, 2008 at 2:00 pm (EST) -The elephant in the room: Google Scholar and other challenges

Michaela, a second year student, tells you that she always uses Google to find articles and nothing you say can convince her that MEDLINE is better. You run a couple of searches in both MEDLINE and Google Scholar to see what all the fuss is about. What have you learned that you can use to teach students?

Looking for materials to use to share with clients, patrons, co-workers, on the National Library of Medicine’s premiere consumer and medical research websites? Download and copy these online brochures to use in promotion of resources you have access to at your institution.

PubMed Basics:
http://nnlm.gov/training/resources/pmtri.pdf

MedlinePlus Basics: (English and Spanish versions)

http://nnlm.gov/training/resources/mptri.pdf
http://nnlm.gov/training/resources/mptri_esp.pdf

MedlinePlus for Health Professionals:
http://nnlm.gov/training/resources/mp4hptri.pdf

Included among the revisions are mention of MedlinePlus’ “Multiple Languages” feature and updated snapshots of the PubMed and MedlinePlus home pages.

Additionally, The Exhibition Program: K-12 Resources on the Web brochure has been updated.  This PDF can be found at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/about/exhibition/pdf/EPonlineK_12resources.pdf.  Similar information is also available on an HMD/Exhibition Program web site at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/especiallyfor/teachersstudents.html#A1.

These and other brochures can also be found at http://nnlm.gov/sea/services/promotional.html

http://www.ahrq.gov/news/press/pr2008/innovationspr.htm

A new Web resource that allows users to learn, share, and adopt innovations in the delivery of health services was launched today by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The resource-called the Health Care Innovations Exchange-is available at www.innovations.ahrq.gov.

AHRQ’s Health Care Innovations Exchange is the federal government’s repository for successful health care innovations. It also includes useful descriptions of attempts at innovation that failed. The Web site is a tool for health care leaders, physicians, nurses, and other health professionals who seek to reduce health care disparities and improve health care overall.

One of the innovations reads like an NN/LM funded outreach project:

Church-Based Initiative Supports Volunteers in Providing Education and Screenings to 150,000+ Memphis Residents, Leading to Improved Health Status (04/14/2008)

A church-based program trains congregational members to be volunteer “Health Representatives” for their churches. These representatives provide health and disease prevention education and health screenings related to health priorities established by the church and its pastor, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, and HIV/AIDS.

Stay tuned, there is also an upcoming Webinar: Using AHRQ’s Health Care Innovations Exchange to Take on the Challenges of Care Delivery scheduled for May 12, 2:00 to 3:30 EDT.

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) is pleased to announce the solicitation of quotations from organizations and libraries to design and conduct projects that will improve access to HIV/AIDS related health information for patients, the affected community, and their caregivers.

Projects must involve one or more of the following information access categories:

• Information retrieval
• Skills development
• State-of-the-art resources
• Resource development
• Document Access.

Emphasis is placed upon the following types of organizations or arrangements for developing these programs:

• Community-based organizations (CBOs) or patient advocacy groups currently providing HIV/AIDS related serves to the affected community
• Public libraries serving communities in the provision of HIV/AIDS-related information and resources
• Health departments or other local, municipal, or state agencies working to improve public health
• Faith-based organizations currently providing HIV/AIDS-related services
• Multi-type consortia of the above-listed organizations that may be in existence or formed specifically for this project.

Standard Awards are offered for up to $60,000. Express Awards are offered for up to $10,000.

Quotations are due to NLM on Monday, June 16, 2008.

The solicitation for the 2008 AIDS Community Information Outreach Projects is posted at http://www.sis.nlm.nih.gov/hiv/2008aidsrfq.html .

Previously funded AIDS Community Information Outreach Projects are posted at http://www.sis.nlm.nih.gov/outreach/aids_cio_projects.html .

If there are any questions or concerns regarding the Request for Quotations (RFQ) or submission of the proposal, please contact Robin Hope-Williams, the NLM Contracting Officer, at (301) 496-6546 or email to: rhwilli@mail.nih.gov.

The NGC mission is to provide physicians, nurses, and other health professionals, health care providers, health plans, integrated delivery systems, purchasers and others an accessible mechanism for obtaining objective, detailed information on clinical practice guidelines and to further their dissemination, implementation and use. Below are links to guidelines for April’s health topics.

Health Awareness Topics - April 2008

• Alcohol Awareness Month (see related guidelines)
• Cancer Control Month (see the Frequently Requested Search page for various cancer-related topics)
• National Autism Awareness Month (see related guidelines)
• STD Awareness Month (see the Frequently Requested Search page for various STD-related topics)

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/ma08/ma08_my_ncbi_collections.html

The new Health Care Notification Network system was created by Medem of San Francisco, California. It is supported by a group of pharmaceuticals, insurance firms, organizations, and medical centers, such as Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna, J and J, as well as the American College of Surgeons, among others (full list at http://www.hcnn.net/docs/HCNNSupporters.pdf). The network will be using email to quickly disseminate time sensitive drug safety alert information to health care professionals.

• HCNN replaces the current, paper-based alerts sent to physicians and other healthcare providers via U.S. mail.
• Alerts include medication recalls, warnings and national public health emergencies.
• HCNN fulfills new FDA guidance for electronic communication of patient safety notification and is supported by medical liability carriers, U.S. medical societies, national patient advocacy groups, health plans and many other national healthcare organizations that are dedicated to improved patient safety.
• HCNN protects healthcare provider privacy. No email addresses will be sold or disclosed to any third parties.

Registration for U.S. physicians and other health care providers is available immediately at http://www.hcnn.net. For more information about the HCNN and online patient safety Alert services, see http://www.hcnn.net.

We’ve made some changes to SEA Currents in the hopes that the newsletter will be easier to use and to make it more interactive.

First we’ve opened Comments to the world. All you need to do is enter the name you wish to appear on the comments-a real name, or a nickname, or whatever you like, and an email address. The email address will not show up on the public post, but is meant to keep machines from posting comments directing us to online drugstores or even less savory locations. So, please, comment away! (If your comments do not show up immediately, do not panic, our comment filter may believe that your comment is comment spam and is holding on to it for an administrator to allow it. Give us at least one business day to allow comments before emailing us to see what happened.)

Second, we now have a link on the lower left-hand side of the screen allowing readers who do not want come to our website or make use of RSS subscriptions to subscribe via email. If you register using this link, you will receive the text of SEA Currents posts as soon as they are published. If you have already registered at the SEA Currents site, please do so again, since we are not assuming that everyone who registered initially wants email notifications. To register immediately go to  the email registration page.

We hope you enjoy reading SEA Currents and that the experience has become richer for you with these additions. If you have other improvements to suggest, please let us know.

http://newsroom.hrsa.gov/releases/2008/poisonhelp.htm

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has announced a new poison prevention campaign. The Poison Help Campaign addresses the alarming statistics on poisonings in the United States. This past year, more than 2.4 million poison exposures were reported to the nation’s network of Poison Control Centers (PCCs). Unintentional poisoning deaths are the second leading cause of injury death for U.S. adults.

The campaign features a new Web site, http://PoisonHelp.hrsa.gov, with downloadable resources to inform and educate the public on poison prevention, and the national Poison Help toll-free number (1-800-222-1222) that callers can use to reach a PCC. The Campaign also serves as a resource for health professionals, PCC staff, and injury prevention organizations.

Consider subscribing to the Poison Control Program Update, a quarterly newsletter describing current and upcoming program activities and highlights new poison prevention resources. http://poisonhelp.hrsa.gov/news_winter08.htm

To receive future newsletters via e-mail, contact HRSA at comments@hrsa.gov.