Mark your calendars!  MAR is introducing two monthly sessions that may interest all of you…

Lunch with the RML will occur the last Thursday of each month from Noon – 1:00 pm.

• These sessions are designed to bring MAR staff together with Network members to share experiences and ideas and elicit feedback in an open, informal atmosphere.

• You are invited to join MAR staff on May 31 for a MAR update.  Highlights from our first year will be presented, along with staff introductions and plans for year 2 activities.

https://webmeeting.nih.gov/lunchwithrml/
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Noon – 1:00 pm ET

Please log-in and allow Adobe Connect to call your phone if possible. But, just in case, the back-up phone number for Adobe Connect is:

Conference Number(s):  1-888-450-5996
Participant Code:  888072

Boost Box sessions will occur the second Tuesday of each month from Noon – 1:00 pm.

• These sessions are educational webinars designed to boost knowledge of NLM products or other topics of interest.

• On June 12, Mary Lou Klem PhD, MLIS, Health Sciences Library System, University of Pittsburgh, will present:  “Study Design and Systematic Reviews.”  Systematic reviews are literature reviews that critically appraise and summarize the “best available evidence” for a clinical question or topic.  While the most well-known “best evidence” is the randomized controlled trial (RCT), other study designs may also be appropriate for use in systematic reviews.  This presentation provides an overview and description of two broad classes of study designs (experimental and observational), an explanation of critical differences between these two types of design, and a real-world example of the impact of such design differences on study outcomes.

https://webmeeting.nih.gov/boostbox/
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Noon – 1:00 pm ET

Please log-in and allow Adobe Connect to call your phone if possible. But, just in case, the back-up phone number for Adobe Connect is:

Conference Number(s):  1-888-450-5996
Participant Code:  888072

Monday, May 28 is Memorial Day.  Please observe a minute of silence at 3:00 pm local time to pay tribute to Americans who’ve died in military service.

Visit USA.gov’s Memorial Day page to learn about the origins of this federal holiday; read veterans’ stories; find patriotic songs; get tips on barbecue, boating, and swimming safety; and more!

The Health Care Cost Institute is managing a database that the Washington Post reports “will allow researchers to slice and dice more than 3 billion medical claims for more than 33 million individuals in search of answers.  The previously confidential information, scrubbed of identifying details, is being provided by three of the nation’s largest insurance companies: Aetna, Humana, and UnitedHealthcare — whose combined customers account for about 20 percent of Americans under age 65 who are insured through an employer.”  A new report featuring initial findings from the data was released on Monday.
http://tinyurl.com/7wqehly
http://healthcostinstitute.org/

The Health Resources and Services Administration has released a 7 minute video:  “How Effective Healthcare Communication Contributes to Health Equity.”  This video offers a helpful introduction for all healthcare providers on how culture, language and health literacy support the elimination of disparities and promote health equity.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOZLf-RYvHk.

For a nice summary of the steps for searching for evidence-based resources, see this month’s “Ask a Librarian” column in the Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants:  http://bit.ly/KNLjv3

Funding Announcements tie to Newly Finalized National Priorities for Research and Research Agenda
Subject: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute Seeks Applications to Fund $120 Million in Comparative Clinical Effectiveness Research in 2012 | Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute
http://www.pcori.org/2012/pfa/

The MCH Library at Georgetown University has developed a new edition of the Community Services Locator, an online directory for finding services for children and families in the communities in which they live.  The locator can be used by service providers and families to find available child care and early childhood education programs; developmental assessment and learning services; family support; financial support; and health and wellness care.

View the locator online at http://www.mchlibrary.info/KnowledgePaths/kp_community.html.

Sunday, May 20th

Bases Loaded, Patient at Bat: Genetics clinicians, Clinical Librarian and Consumer Librarian Collaborate to Enhance Patient Care
Susan Robishaw and Patricia Ulmer

This successful, collaborative project among genetics clinicians and librarians has had a positive impact on patient care for both clinicians and patients. The clinicians need less time to prepare for a patient encounter. They maximize the time they spend with the patients. They have more information about the patient’s potential diagnoses at the time of the initial visit. Having more information allows the clinician to spend more time reviewing the diagnosis with the patient and addressing his/her concerns and to selectively order tests. Patients receive trusted, accurate and up to date health they use to better understand their condition/treatment.

Covering the Bases: Running a Library-Based Bioinformatics Service at a Health Sciences University
Carrie L. Iwema and Ansuman Chattopadhyay

iPad Lending Library for On Call/Night Float Residents: Home Run or Foul Ball?
Catherine M. Boss and Chunwei Ma

A pilot study was conducted to determine the usefulness of an iPad for independent learning and direct patient care by on-call/night float residents. An iPad with WiFi would allow for connectivity to the medical center’s patient care portal with licensed patient-based and evidence-based databases, electronic books, and journals.

iPads as a Tool to Enhance Communications and Access to Emergency Preparedness Resources
Cristina A. Pope and Donna K. Sowles

Poster Sessions

Building a Farm Team: Ten Years of Developing New Academic Health Sciences Library Directors; The NLM/AAHSL Leadership Fellows Program
Carolyn E. Lipscomb, Barbara A. Epstein, Lynn Kasner Morgan, Julia F. Sollenberger and M.J. Tooey

In response to a documented need to build the next generation of leadership for academic health sciences libraries, the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries, with co-sponsorship from the National Library of Medicine, initiated a program to identify, encourage and develop candidates for director. The poster measures program results and identifies factors of success.

Gray Literature Searching in Health Sciences Systematic Reviews: A Survey Study
Ahlam Saleh, Melissa A. Ratajeski and Marnie Bertolet

Using Quick Response (QR) Codes to Promote E-Books
Melissa A. Ratajeski

The Value of Health Libraries and Information Services for Clinical Decision Making and Patient Safety
Joanne Marshall and Julia Sollenberger

Monday, May 21st

Enhancing PubMed EBM Search Outcomes with Customized My NCBI Filters
Tanya Shkolnikov

The customized Levels of Evidence Filters (LEF) for PubMed searches provide medical residents with a much-needed tool for retrieving EBM information in accordance with the Levels of Evidence Pyramid. LEF allow users to locate materials with higher levels of evidence in one click, and to easily access articles with lower levels of evidence, if needed.

Tuesday, May 22nd

Partnering to Encourage Health Information Seeking at an Urban Minority Health Center: A Case Study
Prudence Dalrymple, Lenore Hardy, Lisl Zach, Michelle Rogers, Patricia Gerrity, Mary Green and Kathleen Turner

A multidisciplinary partnership of librarians, health professionals, and LIS faculty collaborated to encourage health information seeking by medically underserved patients at an urban health center. The objectives of the program were to 1) gain greater insight into the information behaviors of these patients and 2) test the effectiveness of sending tailored text messages to participants in a group prenatal class.

154 Results of the Value of Health Library and Information Services Study
Joanne Marshall and Julia Sollenberger

• Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oHMpMNybaA&feature=related
• It is also on the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging (PCA) Facebook Page, which has great updates: https://www.facebook.com/#!/PCACares.org.

Free CE course offered at Penn State Hershey:

Public Health Information on the Web

Monday, June 4, 2012, 1:00 – 4:00 pm

George T. Harrell Health Sciences Library

Penn State Hershey

Hershey, PA

4 MLA CE credits

Instructor: Kate Flewelling, MAR Outreach Coordinator flewkate@pitt.edu

Registration information:

http://nnlm.gov/ntcc/classes/class_details.html?class_id=27.