A new research tool developed by Emory University researcher Julie Gazmararian aims to help healthcare professionals improve their health literacy programs. The new tool was developed with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and in consultation with professionals from health plans from across the country, including those who serve on the AHIP Health Literacy Task Force.

Health Literacy considers an individual’s ability to read, understand, and act on medical information and instructions. America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP): http://www.ahip.org.

News relevant to the digital content industry and enterprise digital content is posted several times a week on www.econtentmag.com, in addition to the news section that appears every month in the pages of EContent magazine. If you have comments please email ecletters at infotoday.com.

NLM heard your requests! Search results may now be customized and saved using My NCBI. Sign into My NCBI, click on PubMed Preferences, and then Result Display Settings. Set for Summary or Abstract (non-text format), the number of items viewed per page, and the default sort. Every time you sign into My NCBI, those settings will be active.

For more details, visit:  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/ma10/ma10_pm_results.html

MedlinePlus, the premiere consumer health site from the U.S. National Library of Medicine, has newly updated pages on some of the basics: vitamins A, B, C, D, E & K. Check them out.

B Vitamins: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/bvitamins.html

Vitamin A: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/vitamina.html

Vitamin C: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/vitaminc.html

Vitamin D: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/vitamind.html

Vitamin E: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/vitamine.html

Vitamin K: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/vitamink.html Read the rest of this entry »

The Ohio Health Sciences Library Association (OHSLA) spring meeting will be held on Monday, April, 19, 2010, at Mount Carmel Health Sciences Library, Mount Carmel Health Systems, Columbus, Ohio, from 9:30am-3:30pm. Beyond conducting the business of the organization, this meeting will feature two MLA continuing education classes. Holly Burt, GMR Outreach and Exhibits Coordinator, will present a 2-hour class on PubMed for Experts where she will highlight advanced searching techniques. Max Anderson, GMR Technology Coordinator, will also provide a 2-hour class titled Geeks Bearing Lite Gifts.

Please contact Bette Sydelko, OHSLA President/Program Chair, for additional details.
bette.sydelko at wright.edu or 937-775-3840.

The Rolling Prairie Library System hosted R3: A Reference Spree: Retool, Renew, ReDo, Monday, February 22, 2010. We presented Consumer Health Reference to public librarians at the workshop.

Topics covered print and online consumer health resources and ethical issues related to providing consumer health reference information. MedlinePlus, Health E Illinois, and Population Groups Health were some of the databases the librarians searched during the class.

We at the GMR are pleased to sponsor webcast sites across our region for the March 24, 2010, MLA Webcast: Now’s The Time: Understanding The Electronic Health Record Maze And Health Science Librarians’ Roles

The complete list of sponsored sites is available at: http://nnlm.gov/gmr/funding/mlawebcastsites.html.  Please contact the site directly if you wish to attend.

Find information about this webcast and additional site locations at: http://www.mlanet.org/education/distance_ed/ehr/

The EthnoMed team has unveiled its redesigned website, EthnoMed: http://ethnomed.org/. The site also features a new, prize-winning logo:

For more information about the EthnoMed Transformation, see the post in the Dragonfly, the blog of our sister region, the Pacific Northwest.

How many of you spend time looking at possible applications to install on your iPhone or other smartphone? (Max meekly raises his hand.)  I will admit that I’m probably well-suited for the job of Technology Coordinator because I get excited about new gadgets and how they might make our lives run more efficiently.   It does take a lot of weeding out of the junk to get to the good stuff.  The kind of gadgets we  once called ‘toys,’ are those that are finally coming to a bit of maturity in their development.  For instance, I’m a big fan of the iPhone.  This, despite the really horrible phone service we experience in Chicago.

Read the rest of this entry »

Judith Weinstein, MA, MPH
Associate Director
Heartland Alliance Refugee Health Programs
(part of Heartland Health Outreach)
Chicago, IL

The health messages are simple: dress warmly when it’s cold; don’t forget to floss; look left, then right—then left again!–before crossing a street. But the challenge of reaching newly arrived refugees with this basic information is great. Our work in refugee health education is complicated by refugees’ limited English skills, often low literacy levels, the number of different languages spoken, as well as their cultural and ethnic diversity.

Expanding Multi-lingual Health Information for Immigrants and Refugees, made possible with an Outreach Express award from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Greater Midwest Region, allowed us to translate the scripts of five slide presentations on basic health topics in to four key refugee languages, to be recorded by native speakers. Eventually, these multi-media, multi-lingual presentations will be available online for free access and downloading by health promoters and immigrants and refugees themselves. Read the rest of this entry »

The GMR is offering to sponsor a number of webcast sites for the upcoming
MLA Webcast:  “Now’s The Time: Understanding the Electronic Health Record Maze and Health Science Librarians’ Roles” to be held on Wednesday, March 24, 2010, from 1:00 p.m.–3:00 p.m., central time.

Visit:
http://nnlm.gov/gmr/funding/mlawebcast.html
for detailed information on how to become a
sponsored site. Read the rest of this entry »