Mulford Library Blog

Visit the University  Libraries table at the Welloween health fair to be held this Friday, 10/30, from 11am-2pm in the Student Rec Center on Main Campus.  At our table, you’ll learn about new health resources from the Libraries; the history of disease throughout classic literature; and current trends in healthcare and how to access articles and books on those topics.

Welloween is a free event open to students, faculty and staff, and their families.  The event features several  educational and interactive tables from a variety of campus departments and community organizations, as well as health screenings and more.  Not only will you be able to pick up fun freebies as you visit the different tables, but you can enter to win grand prizes.   We hope to see you there!

These illustrative animations on human physiology are divided into sections that include “Muscle”, “Endocrine”, “Circulatory”, and “Digestive”.
Some section include material as short tutorials, fun quizzes, and explanatory sections that talk about the key processes within each system. While written at a pre-med level, it may be useful as review/study aid material for med students, nursing students, and others students in allied health fields.
Shockwave/Director is needed to access animations. The site has a link to the free download.

The University Libraries, eLearning and Academic Support will be hosting the traveling exhibit Opening Doors: Contemporary African American Academic Surgeons at the Mulford Library, Fourth Floor, on the University of Toledo Health Science Campus. Developed and produced by the National Library of Medicine and the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture, Baltimore, the exhibit is a celebration of the overall contribution of African American academic surgeons to medicine and medical education, and highlights the specific contribution of four outstanding individuals.

The exhibit will be on display from October 1 through November 26. A reception is planned for Friday, October 16 from 3:00-5:00 p.m., and will feature Dr. Reginald F. Baugh, Professor in the Department of Surgery and Chief of the Division of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at The University of Toledo, as guest speaker. Light refreshments will be served.

For more information, contact Jodi Jameson at jodi.jameson@utoledo.edu or 419-383-5152.

By Janice Flahiff

UT Librarians at both the Carlson and Mulford Libraries have recently started compiling Libguides to assist UT afilliates in research, class assignments, finding relevant sources in various subject areas,  and locating other useful research/information resources both in print and online.

The LibGuides link is under  Quick Links (left column)  at both the Carlson and Mulford home pages.

Some LibGuides of note for HSC campus affiliates.

• Biological Sciences
• Women in STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine)
• Dissertations and Theses
• Consumer Health
• Drugs, Supplements, Herbs, and Vitamins
• Nursing Orientation

Of course, these LibGuides are only meant to supplement the UT Library’s personalized, professional reference services!
Please continue to contact Mulford Reference Assistance with your informational and reference needs.

By Janice Flahiff

While no health assessment tool can replace discussions with one’s primary health care provider, these sites are offered as discussion starters.

*An online self-assessment tool to help individuals identify if they havethe flu has been released by Microsoft. The algorithm was developed byEmory University and is intended for public use. https://h1n1.cloudapp.net/Default.aspx

*The Flu.gov H1N1 flu self-evaluation is also available for the public athttp://www.flu.gov/evaluation/

*The Veterans Administration has also developed a flu self-assessment toolthat is intended for use by Veterans and their caregivers. www.publichealth.va.gov/h1n1flu

Also, for professional health care providers

*CDC released a flu triage algorithm on October 2.  http://cdc.gov/h1n1flu/clinicians/pdf/adultalgorithm.pdf

These items came from the DISASTR-OUTREACH-LIB  listserv

Please do not hesitate to contact Mulford Reference Assistance with your research and information needs!

The Micromedex Health Care Series (available only on the UT-HSC campus) contains a wide range of evidence based information  including drugs, toxicology, diseases, acute care, and alternative medicine.

A sampling of information accessible through the tabs:
Drugs
*Review extensive drug information (including generics) with references
*Specific database search provides summaries, consults, evaulations (comparisons with similar drugs)
* Compare drug summaries in a side by side format
*Therapeutic classes
*Black Box Warnings

Toxicology
*Toxic Substance list
–searchable by product/substance, imprint code, active ingredientm and product ID
– option to look up AAPCC codes
*Drug Identification interface including imprint code, shape, color, and pattern
*Specific Database Search includes select material from POISINDEX® Managements
*Specific Topic Search includes search refinements as clincial effects, range of toxicity, laboratory monitoring, and treatment

Interactions
*By entering any number of drugs, up to 128 concurrent clinical conflicts can be reviewed on the spot

Patient Ed
*Includes the Care Note sytem where one may personalize a patient handout

Please do not hesitate to contact Mulford Reference Assistance with your informational and research needs.

We are pleased to announce two new database trials: Nursing Reference Center and DynaMed. Both trials expire on Oct. 31. Be sure to check them out! *** To access either resource, go to http://search.ebscohost.com, scroll down and click on the title of the database. ***

Nursing Reference Center

Integrated with the CINAHL index of nursing and allied health journals, this database provides a user-friendly interface to search for nursing research literature. Designed with busy staff nurses in mind, this tool functions as a point-of-care resource for quickly accessing:

Additional information includes: patient education materials, drug information, and disease information from CINAHL Quick Lessons and Evidence-Based Care Sheets.

DynaMed

DynaMed is an evidence-based resource designed to be used by physicians at the point-of-care.

It includes over 3,000 topics that can be searched or browsed. Each topical entry is a synthesis of the best available evidence. From the DynaMed “About Us” page: “DynaMed is updated daily and monitors the content of over 500 medical journals and systematic evidence review databases directly and indirectly by using many journal review services. Each publication is reviewed cover-to-cover, and each article is evaluated for clinical relevance and scientific validity.”

Each DynaMed summary also includes links to relevant patient education materials.

Comments or suggestions?

Tried out these two databases, and you liked/disliked what you saw? Please let us know your thoughts by contacting Mulford Reference Assistance: 419-383-4218 or MulfordReference@utoledo.edu.

The US Agency for Health Research and Quality (AHRQ) strives to improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care for all Americans.  It focuses on clinical information, consumer/patient information, and provides information in the forms as data & surveys,
and research findings.

The National Guideline Clearinghouse™ (NGC) is a public resource for evidence-based clinical practice guidelines.
Key components of NGC include:
—–Structured abstracts (summaries) about the guideline and its
development
—–Links to full-text guidelines, where available [If no full text is
available, please search by journal title in
the UTcatalog, single citation matcher in PubMed, or Ask-A-Health-Science Librarian]
—–A Guideline Comparison utility that gives users the ability to
generate side-by-side comparisons for any combination of two
or more guidelines
—–Unique guideline comparisons called Guideline Syntheses compare guidelines covering similar topics, highlighting areas of similarity and difference. NGC Guideline Syntheses often provide a comparison of guidelines developed in different countries, providing insight into commonalities and differences in international health practices.

Other more specialized sources of practice guidelines include

–Practice Guidelines in AccessMedicine (click on Guidelines) [restricted to UT-HSC affiliates
–American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Practice Standards
–Health Services/Technology Assessment Text - assesses the clinical utility of medical interventions.

For more information or further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact Mulford Reference Assistance.

A trial subscription is currently in progress for MedicinesComplete, which provides online access to leading international drug and healthcare references. The resource includes:

– More than 10,000 drug, poison, interaction and herbal monographs
– The latest advice on prescribing, dispensing and administering drugs and medicines
– Up-to-date guidance on disease treatments, disease management and therapeutics
– The latest advice on analysing, formulating and preparing drugs, medicines, and many other   pharmaceutical products
– The combined knowledge of hundreds of leading experts, scientists and researchers

MedicinesComplete will be accessible for free until October 13th, 2009. Your comments and suggestions are valuable in helping us to evaluate this resource.

JAMAevidence is designed to help identify the best available evidence to combine with clinical experience  to allow for more informed recommendations by clinicians and more informed choices by patients. The resource considers the validity, importance, and applicability of claims about the assessment of health problems and the outcomes of health care.

This trial period will end on October 1st, 2009. Please help us assess this resource by emailing us.