NLM’s History of Medicine Division is proud to announce that a new Turning the Pages Project has been released on the TTP kiosks in the Library and on the Web: http://archive.nlm.nih.gov/proj/ttp/books.htm.

The project features Hieronymus Brunschwig’s Liber de Arte Distillandi, printed in Strasbourg in 1512. The book is a practical manual on chemical, alchemical, and distillation devices and techniques used to manufacture drug therapies, and it features a number of hand-colored woodcuts featuring scenes of laboratories, distillation devices, and doctor patient scenes. It includes instructions on how to distill aqua vitae, potable gold, artificial and natural balsams and how to use distillates to treat illnesses in surgical cases.

For those who missed MLA, you may view the PubMed Update (as well as other NLM Theater Presentations) from the NLM Distance Education Program Resources page (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/dist_edu.html#m) under the heading, Medical Library Association 2009 Annual Meeting Theater Presentations.

by Hannah Miller
Native Public Media
http://www.nativepublicmedia.org

Native Public Media is collecting information about new media and Internet use among Native Americans to better understand our needs and support a vibrant media infrastructure for all Tribes. Our goal is to raise awareness amongst key decision-makers in the United States government by collecting our perspectives and delivering this information to their doorstep. The survey takes about 15-20 minutes to complete and your individual answers will be kept confidential. Help us strengthen and expand Native American media capacity and ensure a strong, proud Native American voice.

Here is the survey link:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=kqM1ys7WHM1HWpmm6vofwQ_3d_3d

The survey is directed at ANYONE who is Native - online or offline. They need as many responses as possible, if you have any questions, you can contact Peggy Berryhill, her email is pberryhill@nativepublicmedia.org.

http://archive.nlm.nih.gov/proj/screener.php

NCBIs Communication Engineering Branch (CEB)* is developing a “Web 2.0″ interface to information about American nursing homes. The goal is to offer the public a timely and easy to use site for the rapid location and comparison of nursing homes, thus identifying those most worth further review or a personal visit.

The NLM team says it is developing the screener for older Americans who may be looking for a home for themselves or spouse, for middle-aged caregivers, and for health care professionals such as social workers, nurses and physicians who may be involved in the search for a nursing home.

Currently in prototype form, “Nursing Home Screener” locates homes on a Google Map (see figure). It allows nursing home quality, indicated by map icons, to be surveyed in any of four major categories, based on information provided by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS):

• Healthcare Deficiencies and Fire Safety Deficiencies, detected during CMS-mandated annual state inspections of nursing homes. Each specific deficiency is reported with levels of severity and extent of residents affected. NHScreener converts these to a score that can be percentile ranked.
• Staffing Level of Nurses and Aides, that is, hours per day of nurses and certified nursing assistants per resident. NHScreener compares these values to minimum standards set by the states.
• Care Quality Inferred from Residents’ Health. The staff of a home must fill out a quarterly resident assessment survey, from which CMS derives certain quality of care metrics for the home as a whole. NHScreener combines and ranks these further.

Within each category, options can be tailored to user preferences. Furthermore, home attributes (e.g., number of beds, type of home ownership) can be used to selectively hide home markers of less interest.

Technologically, the prototype currently employs a Microsoft IIS 6 web server with ASP 2 architecture. Monthly data from CMS is downloaded as an Access database, transformed (by data type conversion, data pivoting, statistics calculation, and ranking), augmented with latitude and longitude coordinates derived from street addresses, and delivered via a MySQL database.

* The Communications Engineering Branch (CEB) is a part of the Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications, an R&D division of the National Library of Medicine. Their mission is to conduct research and development on mission-critical tasks at NLM and NIH.

http://archive.nlm.nih.gov/proj/lpf.php

The goal of the LPF project is to create a Web system that enables family, friends and neighbors to locate missing people during a disaster event. Input to the LPF will be from a “Disaster Patient Data Exchange” database containing data from the IT systems of the three participating hospitals. Other input is expected from triage area cell phones and social networks.

In a disaster, this system can help provide reassurance, facilitate family reunification, enhance coordination with disaster-responding NGOs, and alleviate some of the workload on public-health personnel and other responders who interact with the community. Seekers will be able to search the LPF database, and retrieve the information on desktop and handheld computers. In addition, the system will display pictures and other information on missing persons on large monitors placed at key public locations.

This project, conducted by NCBIs Communication Engineering Branch (CEB)*, is one of several undertaken by the NLM to address emergency conditions in the event of a disaster. Along with the National Institutes of Health”s Clinical Center, the National Naval Medical Center, and Suburban Hospital, NLM is a participant in the Bethesda Hospital Emergency Preparedness Partnership (BHEPP), under whose auspices these projects are conducted.

* The Communications Engineering Branch (CEB) is a part of the Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications, an R&D division of the National Library of Medicine. Their mission is to conduct research and development on mission-critical tasks at NLM and NIH.

The National Library of Medicine’s Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications has produced MyDelivery, a prototype tool for communicating health and biomedical information. MyDelivery provides users a fast, easy, and secure method to exchange medical information, regardless of the size of the electronic file in which it resides. A tutorial is available at http://mydelivery.nlm.nih.gov/Usage.aspx

A result of R&D in Internet communications, MyDelivery enables two individuals to securely exchange information reliably, even through potentially unreliable wireless networks. The email-like user interface allows file attachments to be large in size (several gigabytes) or quantity (several thousand). This tool has potential applications in library document delivery, biomedical research, and HIPAA-compliant communication of patient health information. MyDelivery is currently in beta testing, and libraries and their patrons are invited to use it and provide feedback on its utility. The free registration and Windows client software are available at http://mydelivery.nlm.nih.gov.

The office of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Southeastern Atlantic Region, will be closed on Monday, May 25, 2009 in observance of Memorial Day.

DOCLINE will be available but the NN/LM SEA office will not be staffed on that day. Participants may send a message to NLM via the Contact Us link within DOCLINE or you can send an e-mail to custserv@nlm.nih.gov.

DOCLINE’s Time Triggered Actions will not run on that day. For more information on Time Triggered Actions, see the FAQ at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/services/doc_time_triggered_actions.html.

SEA staff will be available to respond to your questions on Tuesday, May 26.

Have a wonderful holiday.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009
12:00 Noon - 1:00 pm (EST)

Join us for presentations and question/answer sessions from Janice Kelly, Executive Director of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine Southeastern Atlantic Region and Hua-Chun Sim, MD, Program Officer, Division of Extramural Programs at NLM. Ms. Kelly and Dr. Sim will discuss funding opportunities available to Network members from both NN/LM and NLM.

For more information and how to connect, please see http://nnlm.gov/sea/services/webconf/index.html.

http://nnlm.gov/ep/
by Susan Yowell

On May 5, 2009 we convened a meeting at our library to review our pandemic plans and conduct a brief table-top exercise. The meeting produced some excellent observations and insights, both for successes and things we need to work out. The first half of the meeting was a review of our procedures, based the table (see below in the “Planning for Service Continuity During a Pandemic” post) from our library’s emergency preparedness plan. All the “key players” attended, including: the library’s emergency response coordinator, the library Director, IT manager, web development manager, business manager, head of reference services, collection development manager, database coordinator, ILL supervisor, and Circulation supervisor. All these positions played roles in the planning and in the response exercise.

The scenario we used for the table-top exercise follows: It is 3 PM on a Sunday afternoon, when the University decides to close all the libraries on campus to enact social-distancing measures. The closure is intended to prevent the spread of influenza resulting from a pandemic. What is done immediately? What is done Monday morning? Before beginning the discussion of procedures for this scenario, participants drew slips of paper from a bowl, which designated them as “sick” or “well.” One-third of the participants were designated “sick,” and therefore did not play a role in the exercise. This pointed out the need for back-up in certain key positions.

Some questions arose that might be helpful to others in the planning process, among them:

• Can you change the voice mail message on your library’s main phone from your home? Who has the authority and the access needed to do this? Who is the backup for that person?
• Who has current staff home phone number information? Is someone responsible for updating and distributing the list? Should lists be given to everyone, or to select people?
• Do the appropriate librarystaff have access to the “Ask a Librarian” chat function from home?
• Do you need an official “voice” for providing information about the status of the library? If so, will that person have access to communication channels, such as announcements on your web site?
• Can the person responsible for ILL/Document Delivery access resources needed to provide ILL requests to your patrons from home, i.e. is the required software installed on the home computer/laptop?
• Is there a provision for emergency access to print materials for affiliated patrons in the event of a patient-care emergency while the library is closed?
• Is there an institutional need for designating a way to account for time worked at home by library staff?

In addition to refining our procedures and identifying a few areas to be improved, everyone agreed that the meeting/exercise was an excellent way to keep emergency preparedness, and pandemic planning particularly, in our corporate awareness.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/magazine/

In several articles and a featured interview with Katie Couric, the cover story tells readers what they need to know about Preventing, Detecting and Treating Colorectal Cancer. Other sections include articles about Migraines, Hepatitis and Orthopedic Health.

Here is the complete listing:

Special Section: Colorectal Cancer
Preventing, Detecting, and Treating Colorectal Cancer
A Conversation with Katie Couric
Colorectal Cancer: Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment
New Ways to Detect Colon Cancer

Orthopedic Health
Healthy Joints for a Lifetime
Targeting Musculoskeletal Pain
Joint Health and Care: Prevention, Symptoms, Diagnosis & Treatment
Osteoarthritis — What You Should Know (Quiz)

Headaches and Migraines
Understanding Headaches: >From Mild to Migraine
Headache Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment
Migraine 101 Quiz

Feature: Hepatitis
The Dangers of Hepatitis
Hepatitis Can Strike Anyone
Hepatitis: Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment & Prevention

Then & Now: Research Pays Off for All Americans / Darwin, DNA, and the Genome

Healthlines
The Alzheimer’s Project Multimedia Campaign Debuts on HBO and Online
Swimming Lessons for Tots?
Rethinking Drinking