The Rural Assistance Center and the National Rural Health Resources Center recently announced the release of an online health IT toolkit aimed at helping rural health care providers plan and implement health IT projects, AHA News reports.

HHS’ Office of Rural Health Policy provided funding to support the development of the online toolkit (AHA News, 1/27).

Toolkit Details

The toolkit offers resources on:

• The planning, setup, implementation and maintenance of health IT systems;
• How to find health IT training programs, management expertise and funding support; and
• The meaningful use program.

Under the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health records can qualify for Medicaid and Medicare incentive payments.

Goals of Toolkit

The toolkit aims to help rural communities:

• Address hurdles to raising capital for health IT projects;
• Improve community college-based health IT training programs;
• Obtain federal resources to support health IT initiatives; and
• Stay informed about health IT policy (RAC release, 1/26).

Read more: http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2012/1/31/groups-release-online-health-it-toolkit-for-rural-health-providers.aspx#ixzz1lAGwQOUr

Resource Links: http://www.raconline.org/collaborate/pr_hittoolk
http://www.raconline.org/hit/

Time: 12 pm ET

Topic: The Changing Hospital Library Environment:  New Roles for the Librarian

The Healthcare environment continues to experience rapid change affecting hospitals and hospital libraries.  Some of the things happening are outside the control of the Librarian but have big impacts on the Library and the Library Staff.  Some libraries/librarians are disappearing; others are adapting to these outside changes.  If you are one of those affected by these changes, what can you do?  This Webinar will look at some of the options available to you and will offer advice on how to re-frame your thinking, leverage your information knowledge skills, update your professional  ID/Brand, and offer examples of what others are doing to succeed in this turbulent environment.

Presenter: Sybil Bullock, MLIS, EdS, has had a full career as a Federal Librarian in medical, scientific, and technical libraries/scientific information centers.  Upon early retirement, she chose a new career track:  Teaching at the University of Alabama School of Library & Information Studies (SLIS), Tuscaloosa, Alabama as well as establishing a Library Consultant Business.

At SLIS she teaches courses in Scientific, Technical and Medical Information Resources, Special Libraries, Records Management, and Project Manager.  Additionally, she is the Intern Coordinator and places students in Intern positions world-wide.  She is currently working on a research project for the Director looking at establishing an international program for SLIS students.

In her  Consultant Business, she has recently completed consulting work for two urban hospitals in the Birmingham area resulting in the hiring of two medical librarians.  She has also completed consulting work for a law firm in California regarding federal scientific and technical information flow.  In addition to teaching and consulting, she  works as a part-time medical research librarian (primarily virtual) for two urban and two rural hospitals in the Birmingham area.

What do you need to join this conference?

• A computer (with Flash installed)
• A telephone

How do I connect?

• Go to this URL: http://webmeeting.nih.gov/beyondthesea/
• Enter as a Guest
• Sign in with your first and last name
• Follow the instructions in the meeting room to have Adobe Connect call your phone (this is the preferred way; however, if you have an extension or for some other reason cannot let Adobe connect call you phone, call 1-800-689-9374 and enter the participant code 369105 when prompted.)

Test your connection: https://webmeeting.nih.gov/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm

Get a quick overview: http://www.adobe.com/go/connectpro_overview

Upcoming Beyond the SEA Webinars

March 21, 2012 – NLM Index Section and the Medical Text Indexer:
Speaker: Deborah Ozga, Head, Index Section, NLM

Consumer Health Apps of Interest

by Terri Ottosen

Throughout the year, as Consumer Health Coordinator, I gather information from a variety of resources to keep abreast of interesting happenings in the field of consumer health. In this gathering of information, I’ve found one of the most interesting aspects of consumer health is the explosion of health apps for health-conscious consumers.

According to the Health Care Blog, there are about 9000 consumer health apps in the iTunes store that offer an astonishing array of creative tools that help consumers take control of their health and health care. These include apps that calculate calories burned during exercise, create soundtracks to help people fall asleep, and display pictures that can elicit memories from Alzheimer’s patients. If the store doesn’t offer something for what ails you now, it probably will soon. The selections will proliferate within the next year, with an additional 4,000 consumer apps expected by next summer, industry experts say.[1]

The blog post also points to the problems this can create, as consumers have trouble finding what is available and evaluating information for scientific validity. The government is starting to regulate these apps and recently the Federal Trade Commission brought its first cases against the makers of two health apps who claimed to cure acne with colored lights emitted from cell phones.[2]

Just as health sciences librarians help consumers and health professionals to evaluate health websites, we can assist in the evaluation of health apps. To that end, here are five selected apps that are potentially of value to the health consumer:

1. iTriage
   Users can evaluate symptoms, learn about possible causes, find appropriate medical facilities, and get quality reports and information to make better, more informed health care decisions.
2. Vitals.com
   This app provides federal, state, provider-supplied, patient-supplied and private data to help web users make intelligent decisions about finding the health care provider that is right for them. Vitals gathers the data, normalizes it, benchmarks it, applies quality metrics and presents it to web users as an aid in deciding which health provider to choose.
3. Asthmapolis
   (in design process and not yet available)This app helps asthma suffers to track symptoms, triggers, and use of medications to learn more about and manage the condition. Physicians, public health workers and scientists can also use the app for various remote monitoring and better control uses.
4. Fooducate
   As someone who continually strives to eat healthier, I think using this app will make it easier for me. This app lets users scan the barcodes of food products and receive more information about it, including how much sugar is added, any ingredients or preservatives to watch for, and a letter grade that rates the nutritional value. Healthier alternatives and the ability to compare products are also provided.
5. Glucose Buddy
   This application is ranked #1 Diabetes iPhone Application by the founder of TuDiabetes.com and has been featured in the American Diabetes Association’s Diabetes Forecast magazine, as well as Wired magazine. Diabetes patients can keep logs on the foods they’re eating and track activities, which are integrated with calorie and nutrition information. There are over 100,000 food items and 200 exercise activities.

What’s your favorite consumer health app?

With the new 2011-2016 NN/LM SE/A contract, my position migrated from Network Access Coordinator to Outreach and Access Coordinator with additional duties to target outreach and education efforts to health science professionals which includes hospital librarians, health science librarians, and others in the health professions workforce. My continuing functions include maintaining and expanding member relations, network services, emergency preparedness & response, teaching, exhibiting, and monitoring/tracking funding awards.

Education and Outreach

As an organization, we are working to promote in-person and online training to health sciences librarians and health professionals. We want to make sure that this population has up-to-date access to training in evidence-based medicine, electronic medical records, health literacy and an awareness of the ever-changing landscape of healthcare reform. Along with encouraging these populations to include NLM resources in their training materials, we will make sure they are referenced in our own materials, and partner with them whenever possible to help meet their educational and outreach needs.

Member Relations and Network Services
Through email, social networks, mail, or phone (1-800-DEV-ROKS), we are responsible for answering questions from prospective and existing members about our services. If the staff member processing the request cannot answer the inquiry, it is transferred to me for more detailed information. I also promote the advantages of free network membership, especially the availability of NLM services and products, at exhibits, conferences, classes, site visits and whenever possible. An example of an organization which would benefit from network membership is community colleges that have adopted allied health sciences and health IT programs. Network services include managing DOCLINE, LinkOut referrals, monitoring scholarly communications, e-licensing activities, library digitization & preservation, collection development, encouraging consortia participation by members and resource sharing issues (repository development, ILL procedures, document delivery, publishing issues).

Emergency Preparedness and Response (EP&R)
It is my responsibility to communicate with state EP&R coordinators when adverse weather events occur that may impact libraries in our states or territories (some states, like FL and TN, have multiple coordinators). I also manage the NLM sponsored NN/LM Buddy Network with the Pacific Northwest Region (PNR): NLM has charged each NN/LM region to adopt a “buddy” in the event an RML office is unable to operate during an emergency where services and communications could be seamlessly transferred for the duration of the emergency. Internally, I maintain the SE/A emergency preparedness process, including call trees and staff contact information, and assure that it complements the University of Maryland Health Sciences and Human Services Library’s process. Additionally, I teach The 10 Steps to Service Continuity class to library associations in the region and continue to support and answer network member questions on developing viable disaster plans. One of the primary suggestions of this class is that all library associations secure a buddy library in the event of a local emergency. As the ex-officio member, I also manage administrative tasks of the EP&R Regional Access Committee.

Funding
In the area of funding, I monitor and support awards targeting resource sharing, digitization, preservation/conservation efforts and emergency preparedness for hospital/health sciences libraries and health professions. Examples of these awards include the Express Planning and Assessment Award, Disaster Recovery Award, Express Library Digitization Award, Consumer Health Outreach Projects, Express Outreach Project Awards and Policy Awareness Award. Funded projects average one year in length and can be adapted to address various programmatic needs while encouraging collaboration.

I welcome your suggestions and assistance in helping me to address the needs of health sciences librarians, healthcare professionals, emergency preparedness/disaster planning, member relations and network services in the 13 states and territories of the Southeastern Atlantic Region.

The National Library of Medicine Training Center (NTC) will be creating web based self-paced tutorials related to PubMed®, TOXNET®, and NCBI databases.

We need your input in order to inform topics, length, and format of the tutorials we will develop.  Please visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ntctutorial to complete a short questionnaire.  The questionnaire should take 10-15 minutes to complete.

To say thank you for your time, we will give a $10 Amazon.com gift certificate to the first 50 people who complete the questionnaire.

Please complete the questionnaire by close of business on Friday, February 17, 2012.

Questions may be directed to Sharon Dennis, Assistant Director of the NTC, at sharon.dennis@utah.edu.

SE/A Funding Opportunities Now Available

We are pleased to announce the availability of NN/LM SE/A award applications for the 2012-2013 year. The following RFPs and CFAs are now available on our website. Funding for these awards will begin May 1, 2012; however, the SE/A budget for 2012-2013 has yet to be determined, and all funding is dependent upon availability.

• Outreach to Health Professionals and Consumer Health Outreach Project
• Disaster Recovery Award
• Express Hospital Library Promotion Award
• Express Library Technology Improvement Award
• Express Training Award
• Express Library Digitization and Conservation Award
• Express Outreach Pilot Project Award
• Health Literacy Pilot Project Award
• Express Planning and Assessment Award
• Express Outreach Follow-up Award
• State and Regional Exhibiting Award
• Information Technology and Policy Awareness Award
• Express Mobile Technology Project Award

The due date for all applications (except exhibit, training, and disaster recovery awards, which will be awarded until allotted funds are spent) is March 9, 2012, close of business. All proposed projects must be completed by April 30, 2013.

In the meantime, anyone who anticipates applying for an Outreach to Health Professionals Project or Consumer Health Outreach Project should email J. Dale Prince (dprince@hshsl.umaryland.edu) with initial intent and estimated budget within the next two weeks (no later than Wednesday, February 17, 2012).

NN/LM SE/A award descriptions and applications are available at: http://nnlm.gov/sea/funding.

The National Library of Medicine and the NN/LM, SE/A Region offices will be closed on Monday, January 16, 2012 in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

The FREESHARE library group has 1400+ DOCLINE libraries as members and represents the largest DOCLINE library group. Understandably, library staff can be lulled into joining FREESHARE with the prospect of free article delivery 24/7 while at the same time having a large cadre of libraries from which to borrow. Below are a few thoughts about FREESHARE membership of which everyone should be aware.

First, FREESHARE libraries are committed to providing all materials, regardless of service level, at no charge. This includes any surcharges and normal rushes as well as urgent patient care requests. To quote Julie Kwan, Associate Director of the NN/LM Pacific Southwest Region (PSR), “This has been the practice since the inception of FREESHARE. If you receive a charge from another FREESHARE library, get in touch with them. It is most likely an oversight that is easily corrected.” PSR is also charged with maintaining the FRESHARE policy page at: http://www.nnlm.gov/rsdd/freeshare/index.html

Second, if a library’s collection is unique, there is a possibility of unanticipated busy periods. Rather than being a negative, this is an indication of the scarcity of the product.

Third, if FREESHARE is not right for you, and your library is an open DOCLINE library in the SE/A, one of these sixteen smaller (SE/A only) library groups may be of interest to join:

Atlanta Health Science Libraries Consortium - AHSLC

Association of Memphis Area Health Science Libraries – AMAHSL

Consortium of Southern Biomedical Libraries - CONBLS

District of Columbia Area Health Science Libraries - DCAHSL

Georgia Interactive Network for Medical Information - GaIN

Mid-Atlantic Chapter Lending Network  – MACLend

Maryland Association of Health Sciences Librarians – MAHSL

Mississippi Biomedical Library Consortium  – MBLC

Miami Health Sciences Library Consortium - MHSLC

Northern Virginia Health Sciences Librarians  – NVHSL

South Carolina Health Information Network - SCHIN

Southeastern Network on DOCLINE  – SEND

Southwest Virginia Health Information Librarians – SWVAHILI

Tampa Bay Medical Library Network - TABAMLN

Tennessee Health Sciences Library Association – THeSLA

Tidewater Health Science Librarians   – THSL

Please note that each library group has governance and eligibility requirements, some more formalized than others. Our RML policy states that Borrow Only libraries are not allowed membership in any library group. Additionally, there are library groups that overlap two or more NN/LM regions and these tend to be collection specific, such as Pediatrics, Osteopathic or Naval libraries.  If you are interested in one of these library groups, or if you have questions about library groups in general, please send an email to PJ Grier (SE/A DOCLINE Coordinator).

Remember, you can view members in any library group by going to DOCLINE’s Search Builder feature. Select More Search Options on the Institutions tab homepage. Then view the drop-down Select Search Field and select the appropriate Library Group.  Next, Add to Search, the name of the library group and then click Search at page bottom. The Search-Results will display all of the Institutions (a.k.a. open DOCLINE Libraries) in the particular library group. As with any DOCLINE search result you have the opportunity to print or download the information.

January 18, 2012 – 1 PM ET
90 minutes

A free Webinar via Adobe Connect

- Created by the Chicago Collaborative, a joint partnership of librarians, publishers and editors*

- Sponsored and hosted by the New England, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeastern/Atlantic Regions of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine

This 90-minute webinar provides an opportunity to learn about the publishing cycle of biomedical journals, both in print and online.  The complexities of publishing, in a world of rapidly changing delivery formats and devices will be explored, including the publishing challenges and opportunities posed by each.  Presenters include John Tagler of the Association of American Publishers, Inc. and the session will be moderated by MJ Tooey, Associate Vice President , Academic Affairs and Executive Director of the Health Sciences and Human Services Library and Director of the Southeastern/Atlantic Region at the University of Maryland.

Participants will gain knowledge of the various roles and responsibilities of different players in the scientific publishing chain and of the international aspects of bioscience communication.  All participants will have a chance to engage in discussions with the presenters.  Key topics to be covered include:

•          The Current Biomedical Publishing Landscape
•          The Publishing Process
•          Publication Ethics
•          Production & Delivery
•          Practical Considerations
•          The Road Ahead

Please register at http://nnlm.gov/sea/training/register.html by January 17, 2012  if you plan on attending.

Connection instructions will be provided upon registration.

We here at the SE/A RML want to wish you all the best the holiday season has to offer.  Since everyone is busy with holiday things, vacations, and general merriment, SEA Currents will be on holiday as well.  Keep your eyes peeled for new posts in the new year.  Happy Holidays and Happy New Year from everyone here at SE/A!

Holiday Closings:

NLM, December 26, 2011 and January 2, 2012

NN/LM, SE/A Offices: December 24, 2011 – January 2, 2012