Finding patient education materials in diverse languages and staying up to date with cultural competency tools and training are important goals for health care providers. Help the providers you serve by sharing these resources with them!

• How to Order National Institutes of Health Publications In Non-English Language http://nnlm.gov/mcr/resources/community/multilingualNIH.html
• Consumer Health Information in Many Languages http://nnlm.gov/outreach/consumer/multi.html
• Cultural Competency Resources http://nnlm.gov/mcr/resources/community/competency.html

Developing Proposed Requirements to Advance Effective Communication, Cultural Competence, and Patient-Centered Care for the Hospital Accreditation Program
The Joint Commission, with funding from The Commonwealth Fund, is developing proposed accreditation requirements for hospitals to advance effective communication, cultural competence, and patient-centered care. This 18-month project will explore how diversity, culture, language, and health literacy issues can be better incorporated into current Joint Commission standards or drafted into new requirements. In conjunction with the proposed requirements, The Joint Commission is developing an implementation guide that will help hospitals meet the proposed requirements and provide best practice information and educational resources and tools. Additional project information can be accessed at: http://tinyurl.com/5fhryd See the Joint Commission’s Culturally Competent Patient Centered Care for Hospital Accreditation Program Wiki at http://tinyurl.com/pzn5mw [posted on Health Literacy Listserv] scb

This exciting new tool for community health education will offer free access for organizations and community groups to a large variety of videos related to refugee health and resettlement. The RHP Lending Library will maintain a comprehensive collection of educational materials about refugee populations. There are many topics, presented in multiple languages, ranging from tuberculosis, lead safety, and domestic abuse to the crisis in Darfur and dental health. The library currently holds over 60 videos, and they expect it to continue to grow each year. To check out the MDH Refugee Health Lending Library, visit: http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/idepc/refugee/library/index.html [scb]

The inaugural class of Fellows in the Association of Health Care Journalists-National Library of Medicine (AHCJ-NLM) Fellowships was recently announced by AHCJ.

The Fellows, health journalists selected by AHCJ from dozens of qualified applicants, will receive training about NLM’s services and meet with physicians and researchers at NLM and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) during a weeklong visit to the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland, September 13-17, 2009.

The journalists chosen to take part this year are:

• John Fauber, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
• Lynya Floyd, Essence Magazine
• Jeff Hansel, Rochester, Minn. Post-Bulletin
• Douglas Podolsky, Consumer Reports
• Shari Rudavsky, The Indianapolis Star
• Heidi Splete, Global Medical News Network

The Fellows will receive hands-on training on how to use and get the most from NLM’s databases, such as Pub Med, MedlinePlus, ClinicalTrials.gov, ToxNet and the Household Products Database. They will also meet with senior NLM and NIH researchers and officials for exclusive informational sessions on such topics as diabetes, infectious disease, health disparities, and personalized medicine.

“The Fellowship is designed to help health journalists obtain new stories, improve their reporting and be more resourceful,” said Robert A. Logan, PhD, NLM senior staff, who helped coordinate the program with AHCJ. “The bonus for the Fellows is better stories,” added Len Bruzzese, Executive Director of AHCJ.

“NLM welcomes the inaugural class and is pleased that the Fellows represent a wide spectrum of news organizations,” said Donald A.B. Lindberg, MD, Director of NLM.

For more information about the AHCJ-NLM fellows program, please contact Dr. Robert A. Logan at loganr@nlm.nih.gov and 301.496.1936.
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The National Institutes of Health and the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit organization that operates the Wikipedia(r) online encyclopedia, are joining forces to make health and science information more accessible and reliable. This collaboration is the first of its kind for both organizations.

“NIH works to ensure that the information it provides on science and health is of the highest quality and reaches the widest audience,” said John Burklow, NIH associate director for communications and public liaison. “We look forward to this opportunity to collaborate with the Wikimedia Foundation and participate in a resource that is used by millions of people around the world.”

On July 16, NIH will host Wikimedia staff and volunteers working in the sciences for an all-day event on its Bethesda campus. Participants will learn about the philosophy and mechanics of Wikipedia and will begin what is hoped to be a long-term dialogue aimed at improving public knowledge about health, science, and medicine. [Read the complete NIH News Release online at: http://www.nih.gov/news/health/jul2009/od-14.htm ] scb

Access the report from the pew Internet & American Life Project “The Social Life of Health Information” by Susannah Fox at http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/8-The-Social-Life-of-Health-Information.aspx

The Pew Internet/California HealthCare survey finds that technology is not an end, but a means to accelerate the pace of discovery, widen social networks, and sharpen the questions someone might ask when they do get to talk to a health professional. Technology can help to enable the human connection in health care and the Internet is turning up the information network’s volume. [posted on the Benton Foundation Newsletter Issue June 11, 2009 http://www.benton.org/node/25874 ] scb

Join us for our next Breezing with the RML on Wednesday, June 17th at 10 am MT/11 am CT. Follow this URL to join the meeting: https://webmeeting.nih.gov/mcr All you’ll need is your Internet connection and your phone. Sign as a guest with your first and last names. This month’s topics are:

The Alphabet Soup of STDs: Facts and Resources on HIV/AIDS and STDs
Siobhan Champ-Blackwell, Community Outreach Liaison, will cover some basic facts on HIV/AIDs and STDs in the United States and will explore NLM and other online resources to provide the librarian a toolbox to use when discussing these intimate and private topics.

The Value of Health Science Libraries in the MCR
Libraries have been submitting their value calculations using the Retail Value Calculator (http://nnlm.gov/mcr/evaluation/calculator.html). Betsy Kelly, Assessment & Evaluation Liaison, will share the results of data collected from libraries across the country. Join the discussion about your library’s value and how you are using this knowledge in your own institution.

NIH News in Health, June issue http://newsinhealth.nih.gov/: the monthly newsletter bringing you practical health news and tips based on the latest NIH research. In this edition:

• Breaks, Tears & Strains:Preventing Sports Injuries
• Season of Ticks: Don’t Let Them Take a Bite Out of Your Summer
• Health Capsules:
• Real and Imitation Acupuncture Both Ease Back Pain
• Medicare Basics for Caregivers
• Featured Web Site: Know Stroke

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This service provides health promotion and disease prevention tips 5 days a week in audio and text formats. Each MP3 audio file is 59 seconds long and about 1 megabyte in size. In addition to the Health Tip, there is a link to “Take the Next Step”. See the 2009 index online at http://www.hhs.gov/news/healthbeat/2009/index.html and use these tips to promote items in your library! [scb]

The Safe Patient Project is a Consumers Union campaign focused on eliminating medical harm, improving FDA oversight of prescription drugs and promoting disclosure laws that give information to consumers about health care safety and quality. http://www.safepatientproject.org/geography/national/

To Err is Human - To Delay is Deadly
Ten years later, a million lives lost, billions of dollars wasted
From the executive summary
http://tinyurl.com/qdnozg
Ten years ago the Institute of Medicine (IOM) declared that as many as 98,000 people die each year needlessly because of preventable medical harm, including health care-acquired infections.Ten years later, we don’t know if we’ve made any real progress, and efforts to reduce the harm caused by our medical care system are few and fragmented. With little transparency and no public reporting (except where hard fought state laws now require public reporting of hospital infections), scarce data does not paint a picture of real progress. In this report [The Safe Patient Project] gives the country a failing grade on progress on select recommendations we believe necessary to create a health-care system free of preventable medical harm. [scb]