Submitted by Hathy Simpson

The Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce has released two new topic pages on http://PHPartners.org on Nutrition and Workforce Development. PHPartners is a collaboration of U.S. government agencies, public health organizations and health science libraries which provides timely, convenient access to selected resources on the Internet.

The topic page on Nutrition, http://phpartners.org/nutrition.html, includes links to government, professional and research organizations that focus nutrition issues; grants and funding opportunities; legislation and health policy issues related to nutrition; published literature and research reports; and nutrition promotion, education and information resources.

The topic page on Workforce Development, http://phpartners.org/workforcedevelopment.html, provides links on public health workforce development activities and resources including education and training opportunities; legislative action; professional meetings, summits, councils, and conferences; new workers development programs; tools and resources on public health workforce issues; and workforce projects and research reports.

PHPartners.org welcomes suggestions of public health resources to post on the site. Links can be suggested at http://phpartners.org/suggestlink.html.

To keep up-to-date with public health news and new content posted to PHPartners.org, you can subscribe to the PHPartners weekly email announcement list or RSS feeds, linked from the home page of http://PHPartners.org.

Hathy Simpson, MPH
PHPartners.org Content Developer
National Network of Libraries of Medicine
New England Region (NN/LM NER)
University of Massachusetts Medical School
hathy.simpson@umassmed.edu
http://PHPartners.org (Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce)

Do you work with public health professionals? Are you interested in public health? Are you interested in attending the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting?

This year’s APHA meeting will take place in San Diego, CA from October 25 - 29, 2008. Its theme is Public Health Without Borders.

The Grace and Harold Sewell Memorial Fund, Inc. is offering stipends to librarians and other information professionals to help cover the costs of their attending and/or participating in this meeting. Successful applicants from the greater San Diego area will receive a stipend of at least $650. Successful applicants from outside greater San Diego will receive at least $1,000. This amount covers most of the APHA Membership at $195 and Early Bird (pre-August 15, 2008) Member Registration at $380. Though significant, these amounts will NOT cover all costs, so stipend recipients will need to find additional monies to cover remaining costs.

Completed applications are due July 25, 2008–just over 3 weeks from today. To apply, read and complete the application form attached or download the Word application form at http://phha.mlanet.org/activities.html. Add all required application materials to the completed form and send as a SINGLE email attachment to Joey Nicholson at jnicholson@nyam.org.

For more information, contact Joey Nicholson at jnicholson@nyam.org .

Please forward this message to others who may be interested.

Hope you’ll join us at this colorful and fascinating meeting!

Joey Nicholson
Chair, Client Relations Committee
PH/HA Section, MLA

Hathy Simpson, MPH
Public Health Coordinator
National Network of Libraries of Medicine New England Region (NN/LM NER) University of Massachusetts Medical School
222 Maple Avenue
Shrewsbury, MA 01545-2732
508-856-2085
hathy.simpson@umassmed.edu

http://nnlm.gov/ner (National Network of Libraries of Medicine, New England Region)
http://phpartners.org (Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce)
http://library.umassmed.edu/ebpph (Evidence-Based Practice for Public Health)

National Guideline Clearinghouse
Evidence-Based Practice Guidelines

Submitted by Hathy Simpson

The National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC) (http://www.guideline.gov) is a free online resource for evidence-based clinical practice guidelines and related documents. Most guidelines have a clinical focus towards treating individual patients, but many guidelines can be applied to population-based public health practice. A benefit of NGC is that it includes guidelines developed by U.S. and international organizations including government agencies, professional societies, and private organizations. Updated weekly with new content, the NGC is produced by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Key Features of the Clearinghouse:

• Structured, standardized abstracts about each guideline and its development.
• A guideline comparison tool for comparing attributes of two or more guidelines.
• Links to full-text guidelines when available and ordering information.
• PDA downloads of summaries.
• Guideline Syntheses, synthesis of guidelines covering similar topics, highlighting areas of similarity and differences. For example, how do the recommendations for mammography screening from the American Cancer Society differ from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists?
• Expert Commentary, perspectives written and reviewed by editorial board members. For example, a recent commentary is about practice guidelines on eating disorders.
• What’s New, an update on what guidelines have been added each week.
• NGC Update Service, a weekly electronic mailing of new guidelines and updates to existing guidelines.

Searching Options

1. Browse – Scan guidelines available by disease/condition, treatment/intervention, or organization. For example, view all guidelines developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
2. Basic Search – Enter a search term to quickly search the database.
3. Detailed Search – Use to limit search by attributes such as guideline category, publication date, intended users, or target population. For example, to search for population-based public health guidelines on reducing the prevalence of obesity in adolescents, select “Prevention” under guideline category and limit the age of target population to “Adolescent.”

Search Results

• Citation (title, source, date, etc.).
• Guideline status – current status and previous releases.
• Brief summary with a link to the complete summary of the guideline.
• Recommendations with evidence ratings if available.
• Evidence supporting recommendations – please note that an “inconclusive” or “lack of sufficient evidence to determine effectiveness” does not mean a strategy does not work. It means that there is not enough research evidence to determine if the strategy works or not.
• Guideline developers, source of funding, and names of committee members.
• Links to full-text guidelines (if available for public access), ordering information, and links to related documents.
• Patient resources if available.

The National Guideline Clearinghouse is available on the Evidence-Based Practice for Public Health website, http://library.umassmed.edu/ebpph/ under “Evidence-Based Guidelines.” If you have any questions, comments, or interest in a demonstration of evidence-based resources for public health practice, please contact me.

Hathy Simpson, Public Health Coordinator
hathy.simpson@umassmed.edu

There is a new version of the K-12 Resource Brochure from NLM’s History of Medicine Exhibition program.

The 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.

The National Library of Medicine Specialized Information Services Division has released an Enviro-Health Links page on Disaster Recovery and Environmental Health: http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/enviro/disasterrecovery.html

This link provides information about recovering from natural and man-made disasters. It includes guides for state and local officials, links to state emergency management offices, information for emergency responders, guidelines for workers involved in environmental cleanup, and handling hazardous chemicals. It also includes searches of PubMed, Tox Town, and other NLM resources.

NLM also offers other Enviro-Health Links (http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/enviro/envirohealthlinks.html) on disaster topics including:

Hurricanes
Wildfires
Tornadoes
Biological Warfare Agents
Chemical Warfare Agents
Health Effects from the World Trade Center
Special Populations: Emergency and Disaster Preparedness

Additional NLM resources with information on disasters can be found at: http://disasterinfo.nlm.nih.gov/dimrc/resourcesnlmdimrc.html

Submitted by Lauri Fennell

Catching up:

Well I think this could become a theme. Just when you think you are all caught up you realize while you were doing that more changes occured! Not to mention getting back from MLA always requires some catch up.

PubMed has made lots of changes lately. I imagine you may have noticed a few. Luckily I am not too far behind. Most of these changes are published in the May-June Technical Bulletin but let me summarize some of them for you. They were highlighted at the NLM booth at MLA, too. You can still view the presentations by going to the NLM Distance Education page! The one titled “Pubmed Review” runs for 25 minutes and covers the topics below and more. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/dist_edu.html

Advanced Search Feature:
Have you tried the Advanced Search feature? The link to it is located next to the search box on the Pubmed homepage. It is currently in beta. The folks at NLM look forward to your comments and feedback. Use the Write the Help Desk at the bottom of the Pubmed page if you want to share your thoughts.

The screen has a similar look to the Limits page and includes a limits section.

You will notice that some of the new changes are based on the fact that people use Pubmed frequently to find specific citations rather than performing subject searches. The default selections for the search boxes are Author, Journal and Publication date. Which, I assume is to guide those who are looking for citations. These choices can easily be changed by using the “drop down” list.

Some of the features I like are the icons to the right of the search boxes that open the index, the new capability to lock or unlock your limits (there’s an icon for this in each of the limits selections) and ever since they introduced this I have appreciated the auto-complete feature when searching for authors or journal titles.

Here’s the link to the May-June issue of the Technical Bulletin where you can get more detail:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/mj08/mj08_advanced_search.html

New Automatic Term Mapping (ATM):
Have you ever been frustrated when you searched for a citation and the journal name was treated as a MeSH term? Well, NLM is trying to help with that. Many people search without using field tags to direct their searches and the new ATM will help them get more relevant results. In fact there will be many more results in general, meaning the new advanced search feature will come in very handy.

ATM will now continue to search for the term in other fields even if it identifies the word or words as a MeSH term. The new ATM will translate words entered in the search box by continuing to search beyond an identified MeSH term using [All Fields] to offer other possibilities. Multiple words will be separated then ANDed together and then continue on to be searched as a phrase.

This change will allow a word to be considered as a journal name as well as a subject term thus avoiding the confusion when they are the same. Some of the common examples are Cell, Circulation, and the example given in the video is Gene Therapy. Occasionally even and author name may have been interpreted as subject term.

Examples: both of these phrases are journal names

“gene therapy”[MeSH Terms] OR (”gene”[All Fields] AND “therapy”[All Fields]) OR “gene therapy”[All Fields]

“drug therapy”[Subheading] OR (”drug”[All Fields] AND “therapy”[All Fields]) OR “drug therapy”[All Fields] OR “drug therapy”[MeSH Terms] OR (”drug”[All Fields] AND “therapy”[All Fields])

Don’t forget, using ATM will include those citations that are not indexed for Medline, such as in process citations. Searching with terms that limit to Medline indexing will exclude those.

Examples and more explanation can also be found in this section of the Technical Bulletin:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/mj08/mj08_pubmed_atm_cite_sensor.html

Or by watching the recording mentioned above.

Citation Sensor:
This is a new feature that aims to recognize if you are looking for a particular article rather than a set of results. The nice thing about it is it that it pulls out citations by grouping them at the top of the results page. Thereby, giving you the option to choose a citation, if that is what you are looking for, but still giving you additional results if you were looking for something more.

A description is included within the article on ATM.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/mj08/mj08_pubmed_atm_cite_sensor.html

Coming Soon… just so we can try to keep up

Related Reviews:
As with all the changes introduce in Pubmed, this feature will appear randomly at first. If you are one who gets to see it please send your comments.
This feature will be seen in the AbstractPlus view. The purpose is to pull Review articles out of the Related Articles results and group them separately. The relevancy ranking will still be applied.
More on this at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/mj08/mj08_related_reviews.html

My Bibliography:
This will be introduced in MyNCBI soon. Along with the ability to separate collections as well as saved searches in MyNCBI this new feature will allow you to create a bibliography and receive alerts if you choose to.

Collaborators:
Also worthy to note is the addition of collaborators in a citation. If available, collaborators (investigators) will be shown below the author list.

NN/LM-NER’s marketing showcase was held on April 9, 2008 via Adobe Connect teleconferencing. We would like to share five best in show projects shared at the showcase. Connecticut came through strong with 4 out of the 5 projects highlighted from our Nutmeg State medical librarians! Though we had a small turnout for the program, we were very impressed with the breadth, diversity and creativity our members displayed in advocating for their libraries.

Here are the best in show from the Marketing Showcase:

Waterbury Hospital - Linda Spadacinni
Waterbury, CT

Project: Physician grand rounds

Service: The librarians participate in physician grand rounds presenting how to do research on PubMed and other library resources and services.

Result: The library participating in grand rounds generated more service requests and increased awareness of the librarians as expert searchers. Also, Linda was asked to serve on the Nursing Committee which led to Nursing Department asking her to attend their grand rounds. Linda shared at the showcase, “Once they see you, they know who you are.”

Hartford Hospital - Arlene Freed
Hartford, CT

Project: Health Administration Daily News Current Awareness Service

Service: Provides a daily current awareness service to over 400 administrators/employees at Hartford Hospital which is distributed via Groupwise email. Topics focus on; finances, quality, management, risk, insurance, safety, and ethics.
Links to full text are always provided. The librarians use the Google RSS reader to locate hot topics to send their administrators from resources such at JAMA, Harvard Business Review Idea Cast, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and healthcare management blogs. Daily mailings are archived on a searchable blog available on the hospital’s Intranet.

Result: Enhanced visibility for the library.

Hartford Hospital - Kelly Taylor
Hartford, CT

Project: Use of an internet based WIKI as a MICU syllabus/repository for references of key articles relevant to critical care
Service: Accessibility to evidence-based knowledge within a medical intensive care unit is a critical element of good patient care and safety. A yearly updated printed syllabus with articles relevant to critical care was provided for house staff as part of their MICU rotation. An internet based solution was sought with the help of our librarian with the following goals: 1. easy accessibility to the articles from any workstation in the hospital 2. optimal ease of use. 3. copyright compliance. 4.cost savings. Options considered were data base citations through EndNote; creating a page on the hospital intranet; creating a database using the library’s online catalogue system or an internet WIKI, which we choose to use. A WIKI is a collaborative website which can be directly edited by anyone with access to it. It is a server software that allows users to create, edit and collaborate on a web page using any web browser and encourages open communication. We used PB (peanut butter) WIKI for its free wiki space and point/click editor. By using the article citations through the library’s database licenses, copyright laws were respected. Limitations are that: a. access is limited to within the hospital (i.e. access is solely via the hospital’s IP internet domain) b. access to the complete article is through the web citation and c. unlike a true WIKI, the database can only be modified by the MICU director or the librarian.

Results: Immediate access on each computer in the hospital to a wide variety of recent, key articles (www.micuwiki.pbwiki.com) as well as articles frequently referred. The library saved the cost and time of printing 300 books with 139 pages each and updating the site can be done frequently instead of annually. More specific results include: 1. Use of an internet-based WIKI provides a more accessible source of key articles at the bedside in the MICU. 2. Copyright laws can be respected 3. Significant cost savings can be achieved 4. The ability to edit a WIKI can provide a more up to date resource than printed syllabus. Also, the MICUwiki homepage has a link to the Health Science Libraries homepage, directing users of the wiki to additional library services.

Lawrence and Memorial Hospital - Anne Marie Kaminsky
New London, CT

Project: Events for National Library Week and National Medical Librarians’ Month

Service: We wanted to liven up our traditional library Open House and to extend a welcome to all staff to learn more about the Library.

In May 2007, the ALA’s theme for National Library Week was “Communities Come Together @ Your Library”. Our Library built on this theme and challenged staff to complete a jig saw puzzle of the Apollo Moon landing in a week. The puzzle was a hit! For National Medical Librarians’ Month in October 2007, we used the theme “A World of Information at Your Fingertips” to promote our online resources. We hosted a week-long daily geography challenge called “Where in the World is Your Librarian?” roughly based on NBC’s“Where in the World is Matt Lauer?” There was also a global jigsaw puzzle. The challenge and the puzzle proved to be very popular.

During both week-long events, the staff was invited to take a tour and learn more about the Library’s online resources, collections and services. The handouts that we created to promote library resources and services tied into the themes of each event (“putting the Library puzzle pieces together” and “bringing a world of information to your desktop”). Attendance for each event was over 100.

Result: The Library is now known as a place where all staff can come together to work, study, or relax, and of course, to find a “world of information”.

Portsmouth Regional Hospital - Sheila Hayes
Portsmouth, NH

Project: Librarians become actors for nurses
Service: The play written by Jean Slepian that many of us saw premiered by the NN/LM-NER Hospital Library Subcommittee at NAHSL in VT has taken on a life of its own.
It is now being adapted for various audiences to advocate getting nurses to apply evidence based nursing to their practices. A new version of the play focusing on MRSA will be premiering soon.

Result: The library gained visibility as a contributing educator in the importance of evidence based nursing.

Submitted by Penny Glassman

Welcome to the latest issue of the The NER’eastah, the Newsletter of the New England Regional Library.

The new blog format allows us to continue providing you with interesting articles about issues important to health sciences librarians in New England, and deliver announcements and late-breaking news items.

There is a link to the Newsletter blog on the NN/LM NER Website (http://nnlm.gov/ner). However, if you have not done so already, I strongly recommend that you use a feed-reader to subscribe to the NER’eastah Blog and other news feeds. A previous newsletter article included information on setting up RSS Feeds and news feed readers. Here is the link to RSS Feed Redux:
href=”http://nnlm.gov/ner/newsletter/24/techtimes24.html#policytime”

Not ready to jump into the “blogosphere”? There is also a PDF version of the Spring 2008 issue at: http://nnlm.gov/ner/newsletter/spring-2008-newsletter.pdf

Please feel free to send me comments about the blog. My email address is penny.glassman@umassmed.edu.

Submitted by Lauri Fennell

NLM Drug Information Portal

I have only begun to explore this one. The format is easy to follow. One section I looked at is in the News and Features section called Inside the Medicine Cabinet. This section highlights one particular drug, giving current uses, development history, chemical structures and much more.

http://druginfo.nlm.nih.gov/drugportal/drugportal.jsp

Read more:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/jf08/jf08_sis_drug_portal.html

NLM Gateway has a new design

NLM Gateway will soon have a new sleek look, shown below.
http://gateway.nlm.nih.gov/gw/Cmd

All the same functions still exist with new enhancements to the page.
Read more: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/jf08/jf08_gateway_redesign.html

Submitted by Lauri Fennell

I am new to this role at the NN/LM NER, so I have been doing some catch up. The NLM Technical Bulletin is full of great information. It includes many interesting updates related to Pubmed. I thought maybe you have some catching up to do, too?

Here are some of the highlights:

Diacritics in PubMed® Displays and Searching
Since late April 2007 “…diacritical marks have been displayed in author names and affiliation (first author’s address) on the AbstractPlus, Abstract, and Citation displays…”

Read more:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/nd07/nd07_diacritics.html

PubMed® Subject Subset Strategies Updated for 2008
When using the limits feature you have the option of choosing topic subsets. These subsets are reviewed annually. The following subset strategy was recently revised:

Bioethics, Cancer, Complementary Medicine, and Systematic Reviews

A description of the strategy can be found from the Pubmed Subset Strategies page: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/pubmed_subsets.html

You can take advantage of these pre-formulated strategies from the limits page

PubMed Central®, the collection continues to grow…
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/jf08/jf08_pmc.html

Patient Drug Information Available from PubMed®
MedMaster drug information added to PubMed AbstractPlus display format.

Note: some of you may have been seeing this since October. The results were displaying randomly at first but are now expected to show up, if relevant, in all Pubmed searches.
Read more: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/so07/so07_patient_drug_info.html

Now I’m keeping up

This was recently announced…

PubMed® Alerts: E-mail Notification of Major System Problems
Now you can be notified of major system problems with Pubmed by signing up for e-mail alerts. Read more http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/ma08/ma08_pubmed_alerts.html

***There is so much more I didn’t include here***

To read the entire NLM Technical Bulletin:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/current_issue.html