http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/pillcard/pillcard.htm

The Agency for Health Research and Quality has just released free, online instructions for creating a pill card using only a personal or lap top computer and printer. A pill card can serve as a visual aid for confirming that patients understand how to take the medicines properly and as a reminder to take medicines. AHRQ’s How to Create a Pill Card provides step-by-step instructions for making a pill card. One in four Americans do not take prescription medicines as prescribed. Many people who fail to adhere to medication instructions do so because they do not understand how to take their medicines. Research has shown that using a pill card-which uses pictures and simple phrases to show each medicine, its purpose, how much to take, and when to take it-reduces misunderstandings.

Celebrate National Library Week by joining Toni Yancey and M.J. Tooey on April 16th for the first SE/A Region’s hospital librarian’s web conference of 2008.  M.J. Tooey, Executive Director, University of Maryland Baltimore’s Health Sciences & Human Services Library, past president of the Medical Library Association and currently a member of the MLA Vital Pathways Task Force, will be giving a report of the task force’s activities, resources and findings.MLAs Vital Pathways Task Force was charged to review existing data and trends in the status of hospital librarians, collect data on the links between libraries and quality and financial outcomes, and develop an action plan for MLA to use this information to influence hospital decision-makers and key leaders in the health care field. The Task Force will be developing an action plan for MLA to use this information to help hospital librarians communicate with other leaders in their institutions about the true value of librarians and library services.

Date: April 16, 2008

Time: 12:00 PM
Duration:  01:00:00

URL:   https://webmeeting.nih.gov/vital/

Access: Anyone who has the URL for the meeting can enter the room

Conference Number(s): 1-800-838-0546

Participant Code: 118386

New Spanish Ad Campaign Features “Superhéroes” Theme

Created pro bono for the Ad Council by the advertising agency Casanova Pendrill, the public service advertising campaign includes new television, radio, print and Web advertising featuring the theme, “Superhéroes.” The focus of the campaign was developed from insights gained in the Ad Council’s focus group research, which found that most Hispanic adults do not visit their doctor regularly and only go when they experience symptoms of illness. The lighthearted ads encourage Hispanics to be heroes for their families by getting the preventive health care they need.

The campaign encourages Hispanic adults to visit a comprehensive Web site, www.ahrq.gov/superheroes. The site provides tips on ways to stay healthy and talking with your doctor, recommendations on preventive testing, help in understanding prescriptions, a quiz and glossary of medical terms as well as links to other resources that provide health information.

For the detailed press release, visit http://www.ahrq.gov/news/press/pr2008/superheropr.htm

The Medical Library Association is hosting its 2nd institute to teach the skills need to develop web-based instruction. MLA is currently accepting applications to this Institute.  The deadline date for submissions is Friday, March 21st.

The MLA CE Institute 2008: Developing Web-Based InstructionBased on a competitive process, twenty MLA-approved continuing education (CE) instructors and NN/LM coordinators will be selected for this learning opportunity.

Who:

What: At the MLA CE Institute, instructors will participate in intensive training and spend time in course development to transfer their existing face-to-face classes into Web-based mentored courses.

Where: Downtown Chicago

When: May 13-16, 2008

Why: To turn your class into an easily accessible Web-based mentored course and make it available as a learning opportunity to MLA members and other health sciences librarians around the world.

How: Submit your application to be accepted into the Institute using the form at http://www.mlanet.org/education/institute/2008/index.html?home_20080221The Finances:  Costs to attend will be shared between the Scholars and the NN/LM. Costs generously provided with funding from the NN/LM include:

• Hotel
• Per Diem
• Institute Registration Fees

Costs to be the responsibility of the Scholars:

• Local Travel
• Round Trip Travel to and from Chicago

This project has been funded in part with federal funds from the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.

For more information see MLANET at http://www.mlanet.org/education/institute/2008/index.html?home_20080221

Or, contact Kathleen Combs, mlapd1@mlahq.org, 312.419.9094 x29.

NLM now provides an e-mail notification service, PubMed Alerts, that will notify subscribers of major system problems with PubMed; its two companion databases, MeSH and Journals; and the NLM Catalog. If these databases have a significant service disruption affecting all or most users for a considerable amount of time, an alert will be issued. Alerts providing update and resolution information about a problem will be sent if warranted. This is an announcement-only e-mail notification service that will be most useful for heavy users of PubMed. (It does not include other services/databases, e.g., LinkOut, PubMed Central.) Alerts will be sent out by NLM Monday through Friday, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm Eastern Time (except Federal holidays). To subscribe, send an e-mail to listserv@list.nih.gov. Leave the subject line blank and enter SUBSCRIBE pubmed-alerts your name in the body of the message, e.g., SUBSCRIBE pubmed-alerts jane doe. For more LISTSERV commands, see http://www.nlm.nih.gov/listserv/commands.html.

A new Web resource providing scientists and consumers with the latest information on significant topics in women’s health research from scientific journals and other peer-reviewed sources is now available through the National Library of Medicine (NLM). The NLM Division of Specialized Information Services, Office of Outreach and Special Populations has partnered with the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) to create this one-stop resource.The 2008 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Research Priorities for Women’s Health were used to identify overarching themes, specific health topics, and research initiatives in women’s health. Within each section of the Web site are topics with links to relevant and authoritative resources and research initiatives for women’s health.

Women’s Health Resources from the NLM Web site can be found at: http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/outreach/womenshealthoverview.html

Women’s Health Resources from the ORWH Web site can be found at: http://orwh.od.nih.gov/nat_lib_med.html

Barb Garner has been the editor of Focus on Basics for its entire 11 years. She has turned out over 30 issues, filled with useful, timely and practical articles that bring adult literacy and learning research into the practical arena. Focus on Basics’ materials are available on the Internet and two more issues of Focus on Basics are in the works. The first is on numeracy, and should be available in May, 2008. The second is on literacy and health, and should be available in October, 2008.

All issues of Focus on Basics are archieved on the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) web site at http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=15. Click on Focus on Basics on the right side of the home page and you will be linked to the Focus on Basics page. All the issues are listed to the left, by theme and in the body of the site by volume; or, click on the subject index to the right to bring up a list of topics. Click on the topic that concerns you and you will find links not only to the Focus on Basics articles that address the topic, plus other NCSALL publications on the topic.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/cd_vet_sci.html

The National Library of Medicine (NLM), the National Agricultural Library (NAL), and the Library of Congress (LC) acquire publications on topics relating to veterinary science, and provide document and information services to the veterinary science community. The libraries have prepared a joint statement in order to clarify their respective responsibilities, to inform practitioners and researchers about the collections, and, where possible, to minimize or eliminate costly duplication of effort.

Together, the three libraries attempt to collect, retain and preserve all significant information on veterinary science. However, each library strives to assemble a collection that supports its unique institutional mission and the particular research needs of its clientele. Hence, while some overlap is inevitable, the collections are by no means identical.

The National Library of Medicine has released the NLM Drug Information Portal. The site is at http://druginfo.nlm.nih.gov. The NLM Drug Information Portal gives the public, healthcare professionals, and researchers a gateway to current, accurate and understandable drug information from the National Library of Medicine and other key government agencies.

More than 12,000 drug records are available for searching. The search interface is straightforward, requiring only a drug name as a search term, and successful searching is enhanced by the assistance of a spellchecker. Information buttons and balloon pop-ups guide the user by providing helpful hints or a description of the resource and links to the source website.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/whatsnew.html

February is Low Vision Month

Take the low vision quiz at http://www.nei.nih.gov/health/lowvision/lowvision_quiz.asp

Review the eye disease simulations from the National Eye Institute at http://www.nei.nih.gov/health/examples/index.asp

Check out the low vision tutorial from NIHSeniorHealth at http://nihseniorhealth.gov/lowvision/toc.html

Browse the MedlinePlus Vision Impairment and Blindness topic page at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/visionimpairmentandblindness.html. On the topic page you will also find a series of links to useful information, to care providers and to the Institute primarily responsible for research on vision impairment and blindness.

Related Topics

• Cataract
• Diabetic Eye Problems
• Eye Diseases
• Eye Injuries
• Glaucoma
• Macular Degeneration
• Retinal Disorders
• Eyes and Vision