Gartner Research, a world leading information technology research and advisory company, comes out with annual predictions on strategic technologies that will have an impact on organizations in the coming year.  Gartner defines a strategic technology as “one with the potential for significant impact on the enterprise in the next three years. Factors that denote significant impact include a high potential for disruption to IT or the business, the need for a major dollar investment, or the risk of being late to adopt.”

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By Kate Saylor
Outreach Librarian
University of Michigan
Taubman Health Sciences Library

The Plain Language Medical Dictionary Widget is a project of the University of Michigan Taubman Health Sciences Library (THL) as part of the Michigan Health Literacy Awareness Training Program (http://guides.lib.umich.edu/healthliteracy).

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I wrote about some ARRA funding that has come to our region in July. As of early August, some more ARRA Broadband funding has come to our region!  ARRA is the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This funding will help to transform health care by enabling better outcomes and lowering costs.  Many rural clinics and small physician offices have to pay for Internet service that is out-dated and over-priced.  The National Broadband Plan recommends changes to broadband services to ensure access to reasonable and affordable Internet access for all.

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More ARRA Broadband funding has come to our region!  ARRA is the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This funding will help to transform health care by enabling better outcomes and lowering costs.  Many rural clinics and small physician offices have to pay for Internet service that is out-dated and over-priced.  The National Broadband Plan recommends changes to broadband services to ensure access to reasonable and affordable Internet access for all.  Read more about the National Broadband Plan and how it will affect health care from the National Broadband Plan site.

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As we begin Year 5 of this contract, I thought I would like to take a moment to point out some interesting tech projects that the GMR has funded in Year 4.  You can see all of the recipients of the Technology Improvement Awards and do not hesitate to contact them (or our office) if you have questions about funding or future project ideas.  In these times of financial  and job uncertainty, I’m so pleased to see what our members have accomplished.  It is always interesting to review applications for these awards.  You tend to get a really good idea of what our member libraries need and the projects they are working on – and this information not only helps the library applying for the award but others thinking about applying for an award.

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The National Library of Medicine Radiation Emergency Medical Management (REMM) is now available as a free iPhone/iPod touch app: http://www.remm.nlm.gov/downloadmremm.htm#iphone

You can download it from iTunes, or search for radiation emergency at the iTunes Store: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id372600451?mt=8

Mobile REMM can also be downloaded to other mobile platforms (Blackberry, Windows Mobile, & Palm). http://www.remm.nlm.gov/downloadmremm.htm

Radiation Emergency Medical Management (REMM) is produced by the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, Office of Planning and Emergency Operations, in cooperation with the National Library of Medicine, Division of Specialized Information Services, with subject matter experts from the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and many US and international consultants.

REMM provides:

• Guidance for health care providers, primarily physicians, about clinical diagnosis and treatment during mass casualty radiological/nuclear (rad/nuc) events
• Just-in-time, evidence-based, usable information with sufficient background and context to make complex issues understandable to those without formal radiation medicine expertise
• Web-based information that is also downloadable in advance, so that it would be available during an event if the Internet is not accessible.

http://www.remm.nlm.gov

By Arlis Dittmer
Coordinator of Library Services
Blessing Health Professions Library
Quincy, Illinois

Blessing Health Professions Library in Quincy, Illinois, recently completed a Technology Improvement Award project titled, Blessing Begins Webinars for Nursing Utilizing Collaborative Technology . The library staff taught the Blessing-Rieman College of Nursing faculty and other healthcare professionals how to use a SMART Board and how to produce webinars.  The targeted population for this year long project was nursing educators. The faculty in two distinct programs, the RN-BSN faculty and the Pharmacy Technician Certification Program faculty were the most interested in participating. The project was modestly successful. As we have discovered in all of our previous technology projects, PDAs, Podcasts, Clickers in the Classroom, the learning curve is steep and initial participation is small. All three of the past projects have shown remarkable growth and acceptance in the years after the pilot year. They are now all part of our teaching/learning tool box. We have the same expectation for this project. (more…)

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.

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Are you a seasoned GMR award funding recipient? Are you thinking this might be the year to try for your first GMR award? In either case, the GMR has updated its award application forms to make your funding request easier and more accurate. The GMR offers seven types of awards which are in amounts less than $5,000. Network members may apply for these awards at any time using the application form linked to the Call for Application (CFA) for each of the awards. Because of reported difficulties with the online forms, the GMR has revised the way members apply. (more…)

If you are a gadget geek like me, you will be salivating at all of the neat-o things that are being reported out of the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show.

The talk this year,  is all about e-readers and tablets.

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