None of Us Can Ever Claim to Be Bored by MeSH - More on March 18th
by: Toni Yancey, outreach, exhibits coordinator, NN/LM SE/A
One of the many things that I look forward to at the beginning of each year is the new MeSH® descriptors. I remember being excited by the addition of skin care in 1994, perplexed by surgical procedures, operative in 1998, and tickled by African Continental Ancestry Group in 2004.
This year when I browsed the list, I came across two terms that made me think “finally”. Healthcare disparities and health status disparities have been added to the 2008 MeSH. After years of talking about it in classes and in outreach plans, I have official terms and definitions to use. The term, Health status disparities, is defined as “variation in rates of disease occurrence and disabilities between socioeconomic and/or geographically defined population groups”. Healthcare disparities are “differences in access to or availability of facilities and services.”
Seeing these two new terms might not have brought a smile to your face. Maybe when you looked at the list, you were thrilled to see consumer health information or saddened by Iraq War, 2003-. The one thing none of us can ever claim to be is bored by MeSH. The beauty of it is that it is constant and steady but always evolving.
The first Region-wide webconference of 2008 will feature a presentation on MeSH. Last year we saw the discontinuation of Black and White MeSH and the preservation of many popular subheadings. We would like to take some time to re-introduce MeSH to many of you, to talk about the difference between the browser and the database and answer any questions that you may have.
Please join us March 18, 2008 at 8:30 EST or at 2:30 EST for “MeSHing the right terms for results”.
