JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship
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TV shows prompting bioethics discussions
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In this week's AMNews: TV doctors' flaws become bioethics teaching moments -- comments on a recent study examining medical students' TV viewing habits.Dr. House is the fictional protagonist of Fox TV's "House," a medical mystery drama that last year drew an average 16.2 million viewers weekly. The bad-boy antics that made the master diagnostician a hit with American viewers also have made him popular among medical students, according to a December 2008 study in The American Journal of Bioethics.The survey of nearly 400 medical and nursing students at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland found that 76% of doctors in trainin...
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - January 26, 2009 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: bioethics Source Type: organizations
Personalized genetic predictionEmail this article to a colleague.
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Commentary on the current state of genetic testing for personalized medicine, including promise as well as challenges that still need to be tackled..Personalized Genetic Prediction: Too Limited, Too Expensive, or Too Soon?John P.A. IoannidisAnn Intern Med 2009;150 139-141http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/full/150/2/139?etoc“Genetic epidemiology has identified many common genetic variants that are associated with common diseases, and the list is growing monthly (1, 2). This success has boosted expectations for personalized genetic prediction. According to these expectations, genetic information can tell people about their...
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - January 20, 2009 Category: Databases & Libraries Source Type: organizations
New JAMA users' guide articleEmail this article to a colleague.
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In today's JAMA -- John Attia; John P. A. Ioannidis; Ammarin Thakkinstian; Mark McEvoy; Rodney J. Scott; Cosetta Minelli; John Thompson; Claire Infante-Rivard; Gordon Guyatt. How to Use an Article About Genetic Association: A: Background Concepts. JAMA 2009;301 74-81.The start of a 3-article series about how to read a genetic association study.
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - January 6, 2009 Category: Databases & Libraries Source Type: organizations
Limited usefulness of private-sector medication informationEmail this article to a colleague.
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From the FDA: "Study Finds Much of Private-Sector Consumer Medication Information Not Consistently Useful" (12/16/2008)A study released today by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found that the printed consumer medication information (CMI) voluntarily provided with new prescriptions by retail pharmacies does not consistently provide easy-to-read, understandable information about the use and risks of medications.The study, Expert and Consumer Evaluation of Consumer Medication Information, showed that while most consumers (94 percent) received CMI with new prescriptions, only about 75 percent of this information met the ...
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - December 19, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Becky Source Type: organizations
CyberchondriaEmail this article to a colleague.
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One more from the WSJ's Health blog -- summary of a recent Microsoft study about how people search for health information: Cyberchondria: it's not just in your head.Is that burning feeling heartburn or a heart attack? Quick, your brain says to the hand not clutching your chest, type “chest pain” into Google and let’s get to the bottom of this.What happens next, for many people, is a descent into worst-case scenarios, fueled by the ready availability of information on the Web about medical conditions both rare and common. Obscure or serious medical problems can bubble up to the first page of search results, where anxi...
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - December 19, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Becky Source Type: organizations
Negative studies going unpublishedEmail this article to a colleague.
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Brief item on the Wall Street Journal Health blog -- "How many negative drug studies still go unpublished?" -- includes highlights from the last year's studies on publication bias and news items about pharma potentially suppressing release of some results.
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - December 19, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Becky Source Type: organizations
Latest JMLA caseEmail this article to a colleague.
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In case you haven't seen it yet, check out the latest installment in the JMLA case study series -- The role of the medical librarian in the basic biological sciences: a case study in virology and evolution by Michele Tennant and Michael Miyamoto. This case challenges us to apply our medical knowledge building and searching skills to the field of virology, touring us through basic virology concepts and considering the implicit nature of the answer for the question featured in the case.The next case will tackle a selection of veterinary and zoological medicine topics and will appear later next year.
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - December 4, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Becky Source Type: organizations
New IOM report on resident work hoursEmail this article to a colleague.
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The Institute of Medicine has released new recommendations for resident work hours, including protected time for sleep intervals during call and longer shifts, off-time, and other issues. The full-text of the report is online here and links to a few commentary pieces below:- NEJM article, including table comparing new recommendations to the existing ACGME recs- New York Times article- ACGME press release about the report, including mention of a pending March 2009 conference on work hours
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - December 4, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Becky Source Type: organizations
Wikipedia for Drug InformationEmail this article to a colleague.
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Several posts on this blog have looked at the varying ways Wikipedia can be used for addressing medical concepts. Reuters Health reports today on a study from researchers at Nova Southeastern University that compares the scope, completeness, and accuracy of drug information in Wikipedia when comparted to Medscape Drug Reference (MDR). Using assessments in 8 categories of drug information, the study authors report that Wikipedia answered fewer drug questions than MDR (40% vs. 82.5%, p
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - November 25, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: drugs Wikipedia Source Type: organizations
Understanding cancerEmail this article to a colleague.
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A few of our search challenges have focused on a cancer-related topic - for those interested in understanding more about how cancer develops, etc., check out these two posts from denialism blog at ScienceBlogs:Cancer 101Cancer 102
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - September 19, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Source Type: organizations
C. diff in the news againEmail this article to a colleague.
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Our second JMLA case discussed Clostridium difficile infection, and this type of healthcare-acquired infection continues to gain notoriety, now being billed by some as "the new MRSA" -- see this brief item in the WSJ Health blog and this longer piece in the Wall Street Journal itself.
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - September 17, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: clostridium difficile Source Type: organizations
Medication errorsEmail this article to a colleague.
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A nice brief piece from NPR's Day to Day today, discussing outpatient medication errors--touches particularly on patient education and doctor/patient communication as key to addressing the issue.Painkillers, sleeping pills and anti-anxiety drugs are being prescribed to out-patients in high doses, without the oversight of a doctor. A new study found that in the last 20 years there has been a 500 percent increase in the death rate from medication errors made at home. Medical contributor Dr. Sydney Spiesel discusses the data with Alex Chadwick.
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - August 27, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Becky Source Type: organizations
July JMLA caseEmail this article to a colleague.
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The latest JMLA case, Addressing Hemolysis in an Infant Due to Mother–Infant ABO Blood Incompatibility, is available in the July issue of the journal.The question that this case focuses on: Is [intravenous immunoglobulin G] a safe and effective alternative to exchange transfusion in a premature infant with hemolysis and hyperbilirubinemia secondary to ABO incompatibility, who has failed phototherapy?See the full-text of the case for definition of the medical terms, discussion of the search, and an analysis of the literature on this topic!
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - August 11, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Becky Source Type: organizations
Adoption of electronic medical recordsEmail this article to a colleague.
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This week's MedlinePlus podcast from the National Library of Medicine covers data about provider and patient perceptions and adoption of EMRs; Rob Logan PhD is filling in for Dr Lindberg this week. The transcript of the podcast is here and the MedlinePlus topic page on EMRs is here.
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - August 11, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Becky Source Type: organizations
Learning about qualitative research in today's BMJEmail this article to a colleague.
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This week's British Medical Journal includes several great overview/tutorial pieces about aspects of qualitative research:- Ayelet Kuper, Scott Reeves, and Wendy Levinson. An introduction to reading and appraising qualitative research. BMJ 2008;337:a288- Ayelet Kuper, Lorelei Lingard, and Wendy Levinson. Critically appraising qualitative research. BMJ 2008;337:a1035- Scott Reeves, Ayelet Kuper, and Brian David Hodges. Qualitative research methodologies: ethnography. BMJ 2008;337:a1020- Scott Reeves, Mathieu Albert, Ayelet Kuper, and Brian David Hodges. Why use theories in qualitative research? BMJ 2008;337:a949- Brian Davi...
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - August 8, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Becky Source Type: organizations
Search challenge 11Email this article to a colleague.
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This month's topic: What information (online or print) and support resources are available for children with wheat allergy and their parents?Post your suggestions in the comments and come back on Tuesday Sept. 2 for more discussion!
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - August 4, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Becky Source Type: organizations
Search challenge 10: strategiesEmail this article to a colleague.
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Search challenge 10 examines the issue of how to decide on appropriate screening practices for breast cancer in a young woman whose grandmother developed breast cancer at a relatively young age.A search that incorporates the main "components" of the question might look something like:("Breast Neoplasms/diagnosis"[Majr] OR breast neoplasms/genetics[majr]) AND (inherited[tiab] OR familial[tiab] OR high risk[tiab] OR family history[tiab] OR grandmother[tiab] OR pedigree[tiab] OR second degree[tiab] OR heredity[tiab] OR hereditary[tiab]) AND (age factors[mh] OR risk[mh] OR predictive value of tests[mh] OR sensitivity and speci...
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - August 4, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Becky Source Type: organizations
Health literacy and the emergency roomEmail this article to a colleague.
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A multicenter, cross-sectional study in last month's Academic Emergency Medicine administered a short health literacy assessment questionnaire to 300 patients in 3 Boston emergency rooms. In addition to examining raw scores, investigators also looked at correlations with other sociodemographic variables.Older age, less education, and lower income were all associated with reduced functional health literacy. Associations with ethnicity, race, and language were not statistically significant in the multivariate analysis (i.e. after correcting for other variables).The authors note "In this sample, one-quarter of ED patients wou...
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - July 14, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: emergency medicine health literacy Source Type: organizations
Change in drugmaker swagEmail this article to a colleague.
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via WSJ's Health blog -- Drugmakers pulling plug on free pens, mugs, and pads -- talks about this revision to the PhRMA Code (voluntary guidelines for pharma marketing activities), authored by the pharmaceutical industry's trade group, which is calling for more responsible marketing by eliminating some of the freebie gifts. It doesn't, however, set explicit limits on spending for physician consulting and speaking engagements, but recommends internal limits and tracking procedures be put in place.The full PhRMA marketing code is here; more in the WSJ and the New York Times.
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - July 10, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Source Type: organizations
Violence against nursesEmail this article to a colleague.
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It seems like we get a search request on this topic every couple of years or so and yesterday's New York Times has a great piece by David Tuller summarizing recent stats about violence against nurses and workplace prevention strategies -- "Nurses Step Up Efforts to Protect Against Attacks" (via The Pump Handle)For more info, a quick PubMed search - nurse-patient relations[majr] AND violence[majr] (does include some false drops about screening for abuse, domestic violence, elder abuse, etc.)
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - July 9, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Becky Source Type: organizations
PubMed as a verbEmail this article to a colleague.
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DrugMonkey ponders the changing role of PubMed with increasing focus on open access -- "I'll PubMed it and find out"Most of the audience for this blog will be familiar with the use of "Google" as a verb to describe searching the World Wide Web for information on a given topic. "I googled a half-dozen mojito recipes which we tried out on the Fourth". "Did you google your blind date/new postdoc to make sure he isn't a psycho?". "You got dinner plans after the conference sessions end for the day? No? Lemme google up some restaurants." ... Lagging well behind this transformation of our information-age lives, but assuredly stea...
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - July 8, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: pubmed Source Type: organizations
Search challenge 10Email this article to a colleague.
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For this month's search challenge, a question from a primary care physician: A woman's maternal grandmother had breast cancer at the age of 36. As a result, her ob/gyn is recommending screening to begin at 31. What is the evidence for determining when to begin screening patients who have second degree relatives with breast cancer? Is imaging other than mammogram (e.g. MRI) preferred? Does the presence/absence of BRCA 1/2 mutations affect these recommendations?Post your suggestions in the comments! I'll pull our thoughts together for a follow-up post on the first Monday of August.
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - July 8, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: search challenge Source Type: organizations
Search challenge 9: strategiesEmail this article to a colleague.
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Search challenge 9 was "Can you find literature that discusses physician/nurse collaboration and communication, and assessments of associated effects on nurse retention?"One commenter posted a CINAHL strategy and found some dissertations that may be useful in aiding a literature review, also noting that a PubMed on the search might be more difficult since some of the most relevant indexing terms are unique to CINAHL.From a few quick searches, the main term that seems to be useful in PubMed is the MeSH term "Physician-Nurse Relations" -- restricting to "major" and a few other things brings it down to about 500 hits, includi...
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - July 8, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Becky Source Type: organizations
EMRs in ambulatory careEmail this article to a colleague.
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Conclusions: Physicians who use electronic health records believe such systems improve the quality of care and are generally satisfied with the systems. However, as of early 2008, electronic systems had been adopted by only a small minority of U.S. physicians, who may differ from later adopters of these systems.
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - July 7, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: electronic medical records Source Type: organizations
Health privacy framework for Google and MicrosoftEmail this article to a colleague.
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via the WSJ Health Blog: Google, Microsoft Agree to Health Privacy Standards (endorsed by AAFP and AARP, among others)The 8MB full framework document is available for downloading here (along with a Flash presentation of key issues and points).
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - June 26, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Becky Source Type: organizations
Million-dollar babiesEmail this article to a colleague.
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The July case study, due out in the next JMLA issue sometime next month, focuses on care of a baby in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). This week, Business Week considers the ethics and economics of NICU care - "Million-Dollar Babies."
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - June 13, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: neonates Source Type: organizations
Another partner for Google HealthEmail this article to a colleague.
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Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts announces collaboration with Google Health - from WSJ Health blog: Massachusetts Blues team up with Google on recordsPatients will be able to view their treatment details on-line based on the insurers’ records. Information in the records would come from doctors as well as laboratories and pharmacies. Other health-care history that doesn’t come from insurance claims records would have to be entered by patients’ doctors, however.
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - June 13, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: electronic medical records google health Source Type: organizations
URL decay in Medline abstractsEmail this article to a colleague.
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Published today in BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making:Ducut E, Liu F, Fontelo P. An update on Uniform Resource Locator (URL) decay in MEDLINE abstracts and measures for its mitigation. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making 2008, 8:23.An excerpt from the abstract:Methods: MEDLINE records from 1994 to 2006 from the National Library of Medicine in Extensible Mark-up Language (XML) format were processed yielding 10,208 URL addresses. These were accessed once daily at random times for 30 days. Titles and abstracts were also searched for the presence of archival tools such as WebCite, Persistent URL (PURL) and Dig...
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - June 11, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Source Type: organizations
Atlantic Monthly: Is Google Making Us Stupid?Email this article to a colleague.
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Nicholas Carr has an interesting piece in the July/August Atlantic Monthly, pondering the effect of the internet and the quick availability of easily digested pieces of information via Google on one's ability to read and enjoy longer essays, books, etc.My mind isn’t going—so far as I can tell—but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rar...
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - June 10, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Source Type: organizations
More piloting of patient e-health recordsEmail this article to a colleague.
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Via today's Wall Street Journal: Microsoft, Kaiser to Launch New Health-Records Program--Microsoft Corp. and healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente plan to launch a pilot program to exchange patient information, the latest in a series of efforts to allow people to better maintain control over their health records.The effort will involve securely transferring data maintained in Kaiser's personal health record -- an online repository containing data about topics such as patients' test results, prescriptions and immunizations -- to Microsoft's HealthVault, a Web-based service that allows patients to store and manage medical data ...
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - June 9, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: electronic medical records microsoft health vault Source Type: organizations
Google advanced search updateEmail this article to a colleague.
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Making Boolean searching easier in Google advanced search, via LifehackerGoogle adds a little Javascript magic to their Advanced Search page, which now dynamically builds your query using operators like OR, -, and quotes around exact phrases.
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - June 6, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: google Source Type: organizations
Search challenge 9Email this article to a colleague.
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This month's search challenge has two parts: Can you find literature that discusses physician/nurse collaboration and communication, and assessments of associated effects on nurse retention?In the comments, please share your thoughts on appropriate terms, databases, other resources, good articles, etc!
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - June 2, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Becky Source Type: organizations
IOM report on medical care for the elderlyEmail this article to a colleague.
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The Institute of Medicine recently released a report from the workgroup charged with assessing geriatric care in the US, including how our clinicians are trained, trends in the expected demand for geriatric care and the clinical workforce that cares for them -- it also proposes recommendations for changes that need to happen to effectively meet the needs of this growing group. The report is titled "Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Health Care Workforce" and you can read it for free on the IOM website.The IOM's overview notes:The resulting report, Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Health Care Workforc...
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - May 30, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: geriatrics Source Type: organizations
Update on search challenge 4Email this article to a colleague.
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Search challenge 4 (here and here) looked at the incidence of vasovagal syncope among blood donors.This week's JAMA includes an article that adds an interesting perspective on this question, one I hadn't considered before -- a study by Eder et al. employed Red Cross data to examine adverse events in 16 and 17 year old blood donors, and found a higher incidence of complications and related injury -- might be an interesting way to parse through the results of the PubMed strategy we came up with in the strategies for search challenge 4, to share with the reader the possibility that the incidence of fainting might vary with ag...
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - May 20, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: search challenge Source Type: organizations
Search challenge 8: strategiesEmail this article to a colleague.
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I know, I've gotten behind in the search challenges -- I've realized that they take a little more time to pull together than I had expected (mostly because I love searching so much that I can't help but spend time in the search..), so I'm going to start posting them on a monthly basis, rather than weekly, to give myself and all the wonderful commenters a chance to really kick the tires of each of these... I'll post the new challenge and the preceding strategies, on the first Tuesday of every month, starting Tuesday June 3rd. Until then, thoughts on search challenge 8 with help from Matt and Rachel, the two commenters on th...
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - May 20, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: search challenge Source Type: organizations
Google Health launchedEmail this article to a colleague.
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to the public yesterday-More news here:- WSJ blog- AP storyAnd Google Health itself, of course:Google Health puts you in charge of your health information. It's safe, secure, and free. Organize your health information all in one placeGather your medical records from doctors, hospitals, and pharmaciesKeep your doctors up to date about your healthBe more informed about important health issues
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - May 20, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: electronic medical records google health Source Type: organizations
Search challenge 8Email this article to a colleague.
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With the ever-increasing growth of the medical literature, as well as seemingly increasing public scrutiny of the happenings at our medical institutions, it seems like finding good ways to "track" the publications of an institution and also how it's being mentioned in the popular media are challenges that health sciences librarians are being called to help address. So, for this week, a multi-part search challenge: - What strategies do you use to track what people from your institution (hospital, medical school, etc) are publishing (e.g. what databases, terms, other resources)? - How do you track mentions of your institutio...
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - April 29, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Becky Source Type: organizations
Search challenge 7: strategiesEmail this article to a colleague.
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Last week's search challenge explored whether there is evidence in the literature to support the use of nutritional therapy in patients with pressure ulcers.A PubMed search strategy that seems to work well:(pressure ulcer[mh] OR pressure ulcer*[tiab] OR decubitus ulcer*[tiab]) AND (nutrition[tiab] OR nutritional[tiab] OR nutrition therapy[mh] OR diet therapy[sh] OR vitamins[mh] OR vitamin[tiab] OR vitamins[tiab]) AND eng[la] AND humans[mh]I also tried the MeSH term "nutritional support," since I was seeing some articles that looked at feeding regimens which are often indexed in this broad MeSH category, but didn't find tha...
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - April 29, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Becky Source Type: organizations
Search challenge 7Email this article to a colleague.
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Since this month's case study focuses on a geriatric issue, this week we'll tackle a geriatrics-focused search question: Does improved nutrition (defined broadly to include controlled diet, supplementation, PEG feeding, etc.) help older patients heal a pressure ulcer more quickly and/or more effectively?
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - April 21, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: search challenge Source Type: organizations
Search challenge 6: strategiesEmail this article to a colleague.
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As Martin points out in his comments on search challenge 6, some of the review-level literature on this topic is older than we've seen for some of the other search challenges. If you enter "ischemic stroke" into the Entrez MeSH Browser, it links you to "Brain Stem Infarctions" - combining a location (the brain stem) with a particular kind of damage (infarction, i.e. tissue death due to lack of oxygen, often due to reduced blood supply). Infarction is one of the potential downstream effects of ischemia, either due to the length and/or the severity of the ischemic event.Typing "ischemia" into the MeSH Browser lists "Brain Is...
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - April 21, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: search challenge Source Type: organizations
EHRs in NEJMEmail this article to a colleague.
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This week's New England Journal of Medicine includes several articles discussing electronic health records.- Two perspective pieces: Personally Controlled Online Health Data — The Next Big Thing in Medical Care? by R. Steinbrook and Off the Record — Avoiding the Pitfalls of Going Electronic by P. Hartzband and J. Groopman - A Sounding Board piece: Electronic Health Records, Medical Research, and the Tower of Babel by R. D. Kush, E. Helton, F. W. Rockhold, and C. D. HardisonEach item gives a little bit different perspective on the potential benefits and pitfalls of electronic health records and strategies for imple...
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - April 18, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: electronic medical records Source Type: organizations
Narratives in clinical practiceEmail this article to a colleague.
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I just found this brief article in my stack of "to be read" papers as I moved to a new office space -- I had printed it because it provides a really interesting take on the utility of the case report or case narratives in clinical practice.Citation: Campo R (2006) “Anecdotal Evidence”: Why Narratives Matter to Medical Practice. PLoS Med 3(10): e423Rafael Campos focuses on the potential usefulness of cases in generating research hypotheses, prompting connections between topics, visualizing new possibilities...He notes,The inscrutably enduring power of the anecdote itself is what incites all our most fearsome defenses. S...
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - April 17, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: case reports Source Type: organizations
Search challenge 6Email this article to a colleague.
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This week's search challenge is another question that takes a look at the pediatric literature: What are the causes of pediatric ischemic stroke?A few related issues to consider:- how important are case reports for this question?- is there a reference text or other resource that is useful, in addition to Medline?- how broad does a Medline search need to be to retrieve most of the "good" items for this question?
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - April 14, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: search challenge Source Type: organizations
Search challenge 5: strategiesEmail this article to a colleague.
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In the comments on search challenge 5, Heather proposed an Ovid Medline strategy combining the concepts in a straightforward and effective way, retrieving just under 10 citations:1 exp Osteomyelitis/di [Diagnosis]2 exp Arthritis, Infectious/di [Diagnosis]3 1 or 24 exp C-Reactive Protein/5 erythrocyte sedimentation rate.mp. [mp=title, original title, abstract, name of substance word, subject heading word]6 4 and 57 3 and 6Another strategy, this one in PubMed format, has a little bit broader retrieval at about 30 citations:"Blood Sedimentation"[Mesh] AND "C-Reactive Protein"[Mesh] AND ("Osteomyelitis"[Mesh] OR "Arthritis, In...
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - April 14, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: search challenge Source Type: organizations
Search challenge 4: strategiesEmail this article to a colleague.
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This study examined the incidence of syncope in blood donors and the influence of age, sex, occupation, lack of food, fatigue, and room temperature on it. A donor was considered to have fainted if any of the fainting-associated symptoms required an interruption of routine. Donors who fainted after leaving the building were not included. 5, 897 donors were randomly chosen (4127 females, 1760 males) from four London sectors. The percent fainting varies among age-grouped males and females from 1.63% to 7.62%. Incidence declined non-uniformly with age in both males and females. In most age groups, females had higher incidence ...
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - April 14, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: search challenge Source Type: organizations
April JMLA posted in PubMed CentralEmail this article to a colleague.
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And with it, the next installment in our case study series:Cahall M, Jerome RN, Powers J. The impact of a literature consult service on geriatric clinical care and training in falls prevention. J Med Libr Assoc. 2008 April; 96(2): 88–100.The case: You frequently collaborate with a geriatrician in the adult primary care clinic of your large academic medical center. On a routine visit to his office to discuss his current needs for clinical evidence, he requests that you analyze the literature on effective interventions to reduce accidental falls in older persons. As he also provides geriatric care at the local Veterans Ad...
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - April 1, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: geriatrics falls Source Type: organizations
Search challenge 5Email this article to a colleague.
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I'm still working up the post on the strategies for search challenge 4 (and may have to surrender my secret librarian decoder ring if I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong with my IndexCat search for fainting after blood donation...if you have tips, please contact me!), but in the meantime, a search for this week -- we had a request from a reader for comparison-focused searches - comparing different treatments, diagnostic tests, etc.So a comparative search for this week: How do the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP) diagnostic tests compare and is it necessary to do both tests in pediatric ...
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - April 1, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: search challenge Source Type: organizations
National Health Data Network and personal health recordsEmail this article to a colleague.
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From iHealthBeat: "National Health Data Network To Include Google, Microsoft PHRs"Federal officials plan to integrate the Nationwide Health Information Network with personal health record databases launched by Google and Microsoft, according to Charles Friedman, COO of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, Government Executive reports. Friedman made the announcement at the Defense Health Care IT Conference at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - March 28, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: electronic medical records google health microsoft health vault Source Type: organizations
Health and older AmericansEmail this article to a colleague.
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Report released yesterday by the National Institute on Aging and the National Center for Health Statistics, among others from the Federal Interagency Forum on Aging-Related Statistics -- Older Americans 2008: Key Indicators of Well-Being, including a special section on literacy and health literacyMore:- the press release- PowerPoint slides of charts- US News & World Report article on the report
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - March 28, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Becky Source Type: organizations
African American health literacyEmail this article to a colleague.
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Aetna has put out an African American history calendar this year focusing on health literacy. Each day features facts from African American history (on today in 1924, jazz singer Sarah Vaughan was born) and each month features pictures and profiles of individuals involved in promoting health literacy in different venues (including December - in the library, covered more in an item here in the Charleston Post & Courier).The introduction to the calendar, Marginal literacy: a growing issue in health care, further discusses both literacy and health literacy issues among African AmericansYou can download the calendar from t...
Source: JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship - March 27, 2008 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Becky Source Type: organizations
