National Network Of Libraries Of Medicine Research Articles

Academic Health Sciences Librarian Job Descriptions Do Not Frequently Reflect Emerging Skillsets and Changing Research Needs

Academic Health Sciences Librarian Job Descriptions Do Not Frequently Reflect Emerging Skillsets and Changing Research Needs

VIRTUAL REALITY MEDICAL EDUCATION PROJECT ENHANCES EMPATHY

Introduction: It is particularly important that innovative learning modalities are utilized to augment medical students’ learning about empathy in relation to older adult health care. As the older population increases and lives longer, their health care utilization is predicted to increase dramatically. Methods: 1st year osteopathic medical students (N=174) at the University of New England were required to complete the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) New England Region (NER) grant funded Embodied Labs’ “We Are Alfred” Virtual Reality (VR) module (15 min) and a pre/post-test. The students assumed the role of Alfred, a 74 y/o African American male with macular degeneration and hearing loss. “We Are Alfred” utilizes a virtual reality headset, headphones, and a hand-tracking device to immerse students into Alfred’s experiences as a patient. Descriptive statistics and t-tests were applied for data analyses. Results: Learning was broad and significant: 94% reported increased empathy; 92% reported increased learning about macular degeneration; and 90% reported increased learning about hearing loss. Qualitative data collected from the pre-tests and post-tests supported learning on empathy with 4 associated themes (Personal Experiences, Perceptions of Older Adults, Thoughts about Health, Descriptors of Aging).. Conclusion: Virtual reality was deemed a successful medical education learning tool for these medical students. Utilizing this technology to create an immersive case study taught these medical students about the aging experience from the first-person patient perspective.

A partnership between academic and public librarians: “What the Health” workshop series

BackgroundPublic librarians are in a unique position to assist the general public with health information inquiries. However, public librarians might not have the training, detailed knowledge, and confidence to provide high-quality health information.Case PresentationThe authors created and delivered three workshops to public librarians in Suffolk County, New York, highlighting several National Library of Medicine resources. Each workshop focused on a different topic: general consumer health resources, genetics health resources, and environmental/toxicology resources. At the end of each workshop, participants were asked to complete the Training Session Evaluation form provided by the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM). All participants reported that they learned a new skill or about a new tool, that their ability to locate online health information improved, and that they planned to use the knowledge they gained in the future. Online tutorials covering the major resources from each workshop were created and made accessible to the public on several organizations’ websites. Virtual reference services were initiated for public librarians who need further assistance with these resources and will continue to be provided on an ongoing basis. Financial support for the equipment and software utilized in each of these tasks was awarded by NNLM.ConclusionsBased on attendance and participant feedback, this model of health information outreach appears to have been successful in furthering the educational needs of public librarians and may be useful to others in creating a similar program in their communities.

VIRTUAL REALITY LABS: ADVANCING EMPATHY WITHIN HEALTH PROFESSIONS AND MEDICAL EDUCATION

Introduction: It is particularly important that innovative learning modalities are utilized to augment medical students’ learning about empathy in relation to older adult health care. As the older population increases and lives longer, their health care utilization is predicted to increase dramatically. The Alfred Lab is the first of three Virtual Reality labs utilized at the University of New England (UNE). Methods: Since 2016, 1st year UNE College of Osteopathic Medicine (COM) students (N=174) were required to complete the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) New England Region (NER) grant funded Embodied Labs’ “We Are Alfred” Virtual Reality (VR) module (15 min) and a pre/post-test. The students assumed the role of Alfred, a 74 y/o African American male with macular degeneration and hearing loss. “We Are Alfred” utilizes a virtual reality headset (rift), headphones, and a hand-tracking device to immerse students into Alfred’s experiences as a patient. Descriptive statistics, t-tests and qualitative content analysis were applied for data analyses. Results: Learning was broad and significant: 94% reported increased empathy; 92% reported increased learning about macular degeneration; and 90% reported increased learning about hearing loss. Qualitative data collected from the pre-tests and post-tests supported learning on empathy with 4 associated themes (Personal Experiences, Perceptions of Older Adults, Thoughts about Health, Descriptors of Aging). Conclusion: Virtual reality was deemed a successful medical education learning tool for these medical students. Utilizing this technology to create an immersive case study taught these medical students about the aging experience from the first-person patient perspective.

An historical overview of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, 1985-2015.

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM), established as the Regional Medical Library Program in 1965, has a rich and remarkable history. The network’s first twenty years were documented in a detailed 1987 history by Alison Bunting, AHIP, FMLA. This article traces the major trends in the network’s development since then: reconceiving the Regional Medical Library staff as a “field force” for developing, marketing, and distributing a growing number of National Library of Medicine (NLM) products and services; subsequent expansion of outreach to health professionals who are unaffiliated with academic medical centers, particularly those in public health; the advent of the Internet during the 1990s, which brought the migration of NLM and NNLM resources and services to the World Wide Web, and a mandate to encourage and facilitate Internet connectivity in the network; and the further expansion of the NLM and NNLM mission to include providing consumer health resources to satisfy growing public demand. The concluding section discusses the many challenges that NNLM staff faced as they transformed the network from a system that served mainly academic medical researchers to a larger, denser organization that offers health information resources to everyone.

Bindings Winter 2018

The Ripple Effect: far-reaching results from the UI Libraries. Our library staff are the UI Libraries’ greatest asset. Each of our librarians provide one-on-one instruction for students, as well as individualized assistance for researchers. At the same time, library units colleborate to mount large projects that carry positive, campus-wide, and regional impacts. For example, Hardin Library for the Health Sciences is a regional office of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM). Serving the public with access to online health information, the staff in the Greater Midwest Region office of NNLM are engaging communities in the All of Us Research Program from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Mining Data in Electronic Health Record Systems: Opportunities for Librarians

ABSTRACTIn the past decade, the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM) and the Medical Library Association recognized an important trend of health sciences librarian involvement in electronic health records (EHR). This trend continues as librarians seek to help solve information challenges in health care settings. In 2016, two regions of the NNLM sponsored a forum focusing on the use of EHR data. Attended by 77 librarians, clinicians and bioinformaticians, the forum confirmed that there are opportunities for librarians to develop roles related to use and analysis of EHR data as evidence for patient care, patient safety and quality improvement.

Healthy Libraries Develop Healthy Communities: Public Libraries and Their Tremendous Efforts to Support the Affordable Care Act

This article is about the dedication of public library staff and my role as the Consumer Health Coordinator for the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Middle Atlantic Region (NN/LM MAR), to support outreach efforts for health insurance enrollment under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). ACA was created to ensure that all Americans have access to affordable health care. What we did not know is that public libraries across the nation would play such an integral role in the health insurance enrollment process. The National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) worked closely with public libraries in order to assist with this new role. As we approach the second enrollment and re-enrollment periods, public libraries are gearing up once again to assist with ACA.

Community Preparedness Day: A Community Commitment to Emergency Response

In the fall of 2011, the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) Greater Midwest Region (GMR) awarded $2000 to a small group of individuals representing different organizations within Oza...

Managing and Revitalizing Your Career as a Medical Librarian: A Symposium Report

Every year, the Medical Library Association (MLA) brings together members before or after its annual meeting, to discuss timely, relevant topics during a symposium. The 2012 Symposium featured a program about career management. This topic was selected, following a MLA Hospital Libraries Section survey. Results showed that building successful and fulfilling careers is imperative in today's hospital and academic health sciences libraries. Librarians learned to create personal strategies to avoid career pitfalls, identify factors that lead to career stagnation, and determine what skills are needed to fulfill new roles in our respective institutions. A planning and assessment award from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM), Pacific Northwest Region funded the postsymposium survey to measure the impact of the program on career planning.

Writing Successful Technology Grant Proposals

This is a useful book, but this reviewer has a few caveats about its usefulness vis-a-vis medical librarians in particular and special librarians in general. There is little in it that specifically addresses the unique needs and work settings of those groups. To wit, none of the examples in the chapter, “Technology Grant Success Stories,” relates to a medical library. The examples are mainly those of public, school, or academic libraries. And though there is a sample National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) Technology Improvement Award online application in the chapter, “Sample Kinds of Grant Applications,” the real thing is easily located by savvy medical librarians. The term “special libraries” does not appear in the index, and not only does the index lack the terms “health sciences” or “health,” it includes no entries whatsoever under the letter H. Additionally, many of the scenarios for grant writing and grant implementation presuppose the existence of fairly sizable teams. That is not something that medical librarians working solo or with perhaps a single library technical specialist are going to have at their disposal. That is not to say, though, that the book is utterly devoid of value for health sciences librarians. Don't let the emphasis on technology in the title put you off. For example, you may be thinking, “I just want a grant for a public outreach project—I am not a major techie.” These days, virtually any library-related project has technology-related aspects, and this book interprets the term “technology” broadly. The chapter, “Technology Grant Success Stories,” includes examples of projects that entailed purchasing assistive technology equipment and training staff and library users in their use, expanding study space and equipment updates to better serve those with visual and learning disabilities, purchasing laptops (these days, purchasing tablet computers would probably be more likely), and so on. These are projects health sciences libraries can relate to. Interestingly, one of the most useful aspects of the book comes in a section titled, “When Your Project Is Not Funded.” The bulleted list should be read and printed out by all grant application process newbies. It contains simple but key points such as, “The proposal did not make a good case” and “There were math errors in the budget.” The book does not sugarcoat the highly competitive world of grants and even includes a section on “Continuing the Grant Process” that features a game plan for what to do after an application is rejected. Those of us who have worked on grants will second many of the suggestions made in the table, “Proposal Writing Tips,” in the chapter, “Writing and Submitting Your Proposals.” In particular, the tip about thinking about from whom to solicit letters of support and giving them advance notice and deadlines is crucial. The author might well have added, “and provide a draft of a sample letter,” given how busy medical people and administrators are. Moreover, such draft letters not only help them in the writing task, but provide an opportunity to establish the buy-in from key players that the book emphasizes elsewhere. The book includes excellent advice on such important components of the grant application process as creating a timeline and the composition of an executive summary. The expectations of grantors are helpfully delineated throughout. Strangely, the book's title does not adequately convey the breadth of its content. It does discuss the grant writing process, but it also contains extensive information on the implementation and evaluation phases of grant-funded projects. One wishes there had been more discussion of the importance of naming a project. That is often the hardest part of all—something catchy but not flip. More examples of names of projects would have been nice, as well as advice on how to avoid inadvertently using a name that has been used elsewhere. In sum, this book is full of useful tables and tip sheets. It is handsome and easy to page through and keep open on one's desk while facing the daunting grants application process.

Using an automated tool to calculate return on investment and cost benefit figures for resources: the Health Sciences and Human Services Library experience

In difficult economic times, libraries experience greater pressure to justify budget expenditures to their fiscal managers. Over the last decade, library administrators have become increasingly interested in incorporating return on investment (ROI) and cost benefit analysis (CBA) techniques into their reporting structures to provide quantitative evidence of the worth of services and resources. The Health Sciences and Human Services Library (HS/HSL) of the University of Maryland appointed a small task force in 2009 to experiment with an automated instrument for calculating ROI and cost benefit ratios (CBRs) for its collection of books and journals. The tool was developed by the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM), MidContinental Region [1], and promoted by them in a series of presentations [2, 3]. This article describes the process used to compile the statistics for the calculator, first using data from the 2008 fiscal year and then with data from the 2011 fiscal year. The HS/HSL supports the graduate school and the schools of dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and social work, which have a combined faculty and student full-time equivalent (FTE) of 6,797. Additionally, some of the library's resources are available to the University of Maryland Medical Center community, a 705-bed teaching hospital with approximately 6,500 employees as well as 1,000 attending physicians. The collection includes approximately 8,500 print and online journal subscriptions, 174,000 print and online books, and 96 databases. The HS/HSL is also home to the NN/LM Southeastern/Atlantic Regional Medical Library. ROI is expressed as a percentage and represents the “rate of return” (loss or gain; in other words, benefit) versus the initial “investment” (total cost). The mathematical formula for calculating ROI is: CBA results in a CBR that compares a dollar spent versus dollars reaped in benefit, which is determined by dividing total benefit by total cost [4].

Outreach impact study: the case of the Greater Midwest Region

The purpose of the study was to assess the impact that funding from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM), Greater Midwest Region (GMR), has on member institutions' ability to conduct outreach on behalf of NN/LM. The study employed both content analysis and survey methodologies. The final reports from select GMR-funded outreach projects (n = 20) were analyzed based on a set of evaluation criteria. Project principal investigators (n = 13) were then surveyed using the same evaluation criteria. Results indicated that outreach projects supported by GMR funding improved access to biomedical information for professionals and the general public. Barriers to conducting outreach projects included time constraints or commitments, staffing, scheduling and absenteeism, inadequate space, and issues associated with technology (e.g., hardware and software, Internet connectivity and firewall issues, and creation and use of new technologies). The majority of project principal investigators indicated that their attempts to conduct outreach were successful. Moreover, most noted that outreach had a positive impact on professionals as well as the general public. In general, it seems that negative outcomes, as with most barriers to conducting outreach, can be mitigated by more thorough planning.

Collaborating with Public Librarians to Promote Emergency Preparedness and Safety Awareness

The Louis Calder Memorial Library received an Express Community Day Award from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) to partner with the Miami-Dade County Public Library librarians to promote emergency preparedness and safety awareness. Named Safety Fair: Keep Your Family Safe – Emergency Preparedness at Home and Away, the events improved the public librarians' knowledge of NN/LM resources, such as TOXNET, MedlinePlus®, ToxTown®, ToxMystery®, and WISER®, as well as university-created resources. A train-the-trainer program was also implemented for the public librarians.

Special report: symposium on transformational change in health sciences libraries: space, collections, and roles

In November 2003, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL) cosponsored a symposium, “The Library as Place: Building and Revitalizing Health Sciences Libraries in the Digital Age,” focusing on the question: “What is the role of the library in the twenty-first century?” After two days of presentations and discussions, symposium participants concluded “that both the print and the virtual electronic library are here to stay.” As Deanna Marcum observed, “The library will certainly change. And its need for space may significantly shrink. But the digital era, far from ending the physical library, may free it to facilitate learning rather than to house shelves—and may free those who work within the library spaces to do less book processing and more learning facilitation” [1]. In the summer of 2008, the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM), Middle Atlantic Region (MAR), as a follow-up to the NLM/AAHSL symposium, announced their intention to fund a regional conference about library space planning and solicited applications for their Library Space and Its Impact Conference Award. In response to this solicitation, the George T. Harrell Health Sciences Library (Harrell HSL) applied for and received the award. The announcement proved to be timely: The Harrell HSL was in the process of repurposing 10,000 square feet of library space into the new Penn State Hershey Clinical Simulation Center [2, 3]. The Harrell HSL experience provided a firsthand, real-life example of the issues faced by libraries in a rapidly changing environment. The award funded a one-day library space planning conference, held in April 2009, which was offered to librarians both regionally and nationally.

The Value of Nonmedical Academic Libraries to Medical Libraries: A Case in Point

While the National Library of Medicine created the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) as a network to provide medical and health information, historically few nonmedical academic libraries have participated. University medical libraries and hospital libraries have been the major focus of the Network. Recently, the NNLM has intensified outreach to public libraries and community health agencies across the country and is investigating international cooperation, but nonmedical academic libraries in higher education institutions do not seem to be mentioned as much as these other types of health information providers. As a result of this study, the author recommends that the National Network of Libraries of Medicine increase their efforts at recruiting network members among nonmedical academic libraries. This case study evaluates the contributions and benefits of a southwestern Louisiana university nonmedical academic library after its first year of Network membership, especially DOCLINE, the medical interlibrary loan system and prime component of the Network. The lending activity of similar NN/LM nonmedical academic library members was also surveyed to discern possible contribution patterns.

Measuring the value and impact of health sciences libraries: planning an update and replication of the Rochester Study

In 2007, the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM), Middle Atlantic Region (MAR), formed a planning group to explore the possibility of replicating a landmark study on the value of hospital libraries and their impact on clinical care, popularly known as “the Rochester Study” [1]. The Rochester study was among the first studies to relate information services provided by librarians to patient care outcomes, and it continues to be cited as evidence of the value of library services. The purpose of this paper is to update the library community on the progress of the proposed value of libraries study.

Essential nursing resources.

for the Interagency Council on Information Resources in Nursing (ICIRN) THE 25TH EDITION OF THE ICIRN Essential Nursing Resources list (formerly Essential Nursing References) is presented as a resource for locating nursing information and for collection development. The list includes print and electronic sources to support nursing practice, education, administration, and research activities. The most recent editions or websites are included. The list was compiled to point to pathways for exploration, rather than be an end point, and to expand to other formats beyond traditional references. A new section in this edition is Cultural Competencies. Databases and citations marked $ $ indicate availability via subscription or through a library. This list was compiled from the contributions of the following representatives of the Interagency Council on Information Resources in Nursing (ICIRN) member agencies: Richard Barry, Leslie Block, Warren G. Hawkes, Suzanne Hermann, Wanda Hiestand, Susan Kaplan Jacobs, June Levy, Susan Pierce, Diane Pravikoff, Juliette Ratner, Janet G. Schnall, and Annelle Tanner. Essential Nursing Resources may also be accessed at the ICIRN website, along with more information about ICIRN: www.icirn.org. DISCLAIMER: All information contained on this list is intended for informational and educational purposes. References should not be considered an endorsement, but represent the opinions of the contributors only. All information was current at the time this list was published. Copyright © 2009 by ICIRN. META-SITES FOR NURSING INFORMATION American Nurses Association's Nursing World Links to state nurses associations and allied nursing organizations globally, www.nursingworld.org Canadian Nursing Index Comprehensive links to education, employment, and other resources focused on needs of Canadian nurses, www.nursingindex.com INTUTE: Nursing, Midwifery, and Allied Health UK gateway to high quality biomedical resources, www.intute.ac.uk/healthandlifesciences/nursing/ National Institute of Nursing Research www.ninr.nih.gov/ninr/ National League for Nursing www.nln.org Nursing and Allied Health Resources Section (NAHRS), Medical Library Association Section activities, newsletter, current research, nursing resources wiki. www.nahrs.mlanet.org Nursing Theory Page University of San Diego Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science, www.sandiego.edu/academics/nursing/theory/ Nursing on the Net: Health Care Resources You Can Use Web sampler of resources for nurse professionals provided by the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM). www.nnlm.gov/training/nursing/sampler.html NursingCenter Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Includes CE articles in full text with immediate test results and certificates; 50 nursing journals with table of contents and abstracts; databases of certification, licensure, and nursing organizations. www.nursingcenter.com Online journal of ltsues in Nursing American Nurses Association. Example of free, peer-reviewed, international, online publication, www.nursingworld.org/ojin/ PDA/Mobile Devices Resources & Information Yale University School of Medicine. Guide to free and licensed PDA and mobile devices applications for health care. www.med.yale.edu/library/technology/PDA/ Sigma Theta Tau International/Honor Society of Nursing www.nursingsociety.org ALERTING SERVICES/BLOGS/RSS FEEDS RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds deliver headlines, journal tables of content, updates, and summaries to desktop or Web browser. Subscribe via individual publishers and aggregators. BMJ What is RSS? How do I get a News Reader? http://resources.bmj.com/bmj/interactive/rss EDUCAUSE (2007). 7 Things You Should Know About...RSS. What is it? Who's doing it? How does it work? and more. www.educause.ed u/LibraryDetailPage/666?ID=ELI7024/ Lippincott' s Nursing Center. …

Health information disparities? determining the relationship between age, poverty, and rate of calls to a consumer and patient health information service

Growth and demand for consumer health information services has been well documented [1–4]. In the past twenty years, medical librarians have transitioned from cautious providers of consumer and patient health information to leaders of outreach programs in which they coordinate with medical professionals and public librarians to serve their communities' health information needs. So prevalent are these services that the Medical Library Association provides guidance on its Consumer and Patient Health Information Section (CAPHIS) website [5], and the American Library Association has issued a policy to guide the growing number of services in providing consumer health information [6]. Beginning with a grant from the Tennessee State Library and Archives, Preston Medical Library, located in Knoxville, Tennessee, has provided a free telephone-based consumer health information service for area citizens and University of Tennessee Medical Center patients and their families since 1989. Despite the wide availability of the Internet, a recent survey of consumers in Tennessee funded by the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM), Southeastern/Atlantic Region, to which 233 individuals responded, showed that the inability to identify reliable sources was the single most important stumbling block to finding health information. In the same survey, 37% of respondents ranked libraries as one of their top 3 sources of health information along with doctor's office (61%); Internet and magazines (54%); and newspapers, magazines, and books (25%) [7]. A recent Pew report on the demographics of Internet users shows that while 71% of all adult Americans go online, only 32% of those over 65 and just 55% of those living in households with less than $30,000 in annual income have Internet access [8]. Because a library-based telephone reference service is a low technology way to obtain health information and libraries are a trusted source of health information, populations who are not using the Internet are an important target for the Preston Medical Library's consumer health service. Preston markets its service in various ways. Brochures in physicians' offices and flyers sent to public health departments promote the service to outpatients. In the hospital, information is provided in new patient packets. The library website includes a page describing the Preston Consumer and Patient Health Information Service and suggests other reliable consumer health sites. Preston partners with Knox County Public Library to distribute brochures and provide train-the-trainer classes to staff. Librarians exhibit at community events and speak to consumer groups. This project was undertaken to analyze the demographics of those who called the service in order to assess outreach methods, and change them if needed, and was designed to reach two target groups without Internet access: the elderly and those living below the poverty level. Demographic information could also be helpful in obtaining additional funding to reach these target groups.

Take Ten: A Ten-Step Approach to Emergency Preparedness and Service Continuity

Enabling health sciences libraries to face emergencies with minimal loss of service continuity for their library patrons is a key initiative of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM). Dan Wilson and Susan Yowell from the University of Virginia Claude Moore Health Sciences Library were funded by NN/LM to coordinate the development of resources and training materials that could be used to assist network member libraries nationwide with planning for emergency preparedness and recovery. This article describes key results of the development, including the “10 Steps to Service Continuity” plan and the accompanying online toolkit.