Request for Quotations:
AIDS Community Information Outreach Projects 2007

The National Library of Medicine is pleased to announce the solicitation of quotations from community-based organizations and libraries to design and conduct projects that will improve access to HIV/AIDS related health information for patients, the affected community, and their caregivers. (more…)

Far too often, ordinary citizens are placed at risk for unsafe care because important health care information is communicated using medical jargon and unclear language that exceed their literacy skills, according to a call to action released in February 2007 by The Joint Commission in its newest public policy white paper, “What Did the Doctor Say? Improving Health Literacy to Protect Patient Safety.” The paper frames the existing communications gap between patients and caregivers as a series of challenges involving literacy, language, and culture, and suggests multiple steps that need to be taken to narrow or even close this gap.

“Effective communication is a cornerstone of patient safety,” says Dennis S. O’Leary, M.D., president, The Joint Commission. “If patients lack basic understanding of their conditions and the whats and whys of the treatments prescribed, therapeutic goals can never be realized, and patients may instead be placed in harm’s way.”

The Joint Commission already promotes the involvement of patients in their care through its ongoing Speak Up™ educational campaigns. In addition, expectations regarding patient engagement and involvement in care decisions are stipulated in Joint Commission accreditation standards and its National Patient Safety Goals. But health literacy problems, which often go unrecognized and unaddressed by health care practitioners, undermine the ability of health care organizations to comply with the intents of the accreditation standards and safety goals that seek to protect the safety of patients. (more…)

Announcing DREAM ANATOMY Catalogue, a new publication from the National Library of Medicine

Some 500 years ago, a new science of anatomy emerged, based on dissections of the human body and spectacular illustrated texts. Anatomical imagery proliferated, detailed and informative but also whimsical, surreal, beautiful and, at times, grotesque. This catalogue, based on the National Library of Medicine’s Dream Anatomy exhibition, displays the anatomical imagination in some of its most astonishing incarnations, from the fourteenth century to the present. (more…)

HHS Launches New Online Toolkit for Medical Responses to Radiation Emergencies

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt today announced the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has developed a new downloadable online diagnostic and treatment toolkit designed for health care providers, primarily physicians, who may have to provide medical care during a radiation incident. (more…)

FROM SHIP TO SHORE…TOX TOWN’S NEW PORT SCENE Delivers the Goods on Coastal Environmental Health

What do longshoremen, sunbathers, ship crews, and shrimp lovers have in common? Whether they live on the coast, work in a maritime industry or play on the beach, they can find information about the environment and how it might affect their health at Tox Town’s new Port neighborhood. This imaginary port illustrates drinking water and air quality concerns along with wastewater treatment, shellfish safety, work hazards, sun and surf safety, aquaculture and many other topics. The port also highlights possible locations and descriptions of 26 hazardous chemicals. (more…)

A copy of “Charting the Course for the 21st Century: NLM’s Long Range Plan for 2006-2016″ as approved by the NLM Board of Regents is available online:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/plan/lrp06/lrp06_home.html