Partnerships for networked health information for the public. Introduction.
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This paper traces the uses of telecommunications in health care from the Civil War era to the present. Topics include the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's involvement in the origins of current telemedicine systems and the impact of television. Applications of telemedicine discussed include remote consultation and diagnosis, specialty clinical care (including examples from anesthesia, dermatology, cardiology, psychiatry, radiology, critical care, and oncology), and others (including examples of patient education, home monitoring, and continuing education). The concluding section highlights how telemedicine affects health sciences librarianship, beginning with the development of online computerized literature searching. This section also discusses the medical resources available to health sciences librarians as a result of the Internet.
Developments in computer and communication technologies over the past ten years aptly support the use of the term global village to describe the present worldwide provision and distribution of information. These technologies are increasingly being employed in Africa, but their presence is not widespread and evenly distributed. Librarians in Africa are establishing the basic tools and organizational structures to enable them to work together; however, a fundamental issue of attaching sufficient importance to the provision of information in the institutional and national priorities remains to be solved.
A redefinition of librarianship is necessary to respond to the ever-changing environment. Librarians must view their profession more broadly, because they are part of a network of relationships. To meet these challenges, health information professionals must commit to spending the time necessary to engage in both professional and personal growth.
This paper reports on a doctoral research project that examined the work of reference librarians in the health sciences domain. Categories of information work are derived and used to build Hyper-MedLib, a proof-of-concept h-journal. Findings from this study may be used in the design of electronic documents and information systems for the practice environments.
The implementation of library orientation and bibliographic instruction in health sciences centers presents some interesting as well as perplexing problems. The Rowland Medical Library at The University of Mississippi Medical Center had to confront and reexamine these problems when faced with the requirement to teach 298 freshman and sophomore medical students in one ten-week quarter. This paper outlines the development and implementation of a large-scale self-instructional approach to library instruction. The package consisted of an audiotape, a videotape, a written program, self-teaching quizzes, a performance test, and a student evaluation. Performance test results and student evaluation data are presented which indicate that this format can successfully be employed to meet course objectives and to be accepted by students.
In response to an increasing concern on the part of the library staff over the role of the departmental libraries at The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center of The Pennsylvania State University, a questionnaire was developed by the George T. Harrel Library and sent to departmental libraries. From the analyzed responses, the authors were able to define the role of departmental libraries in a medical school/hospital situation, to analyze the Hershey Medical Center situation in an objective manner, to outline areas of possible cooperation between the main and departmental libraries, and to delineate some trends which appear to result from inadequate finding of a central library. Overall, the library found that departmental libraries at Hershey are currently maintaining collections consistent with the functional role of a departmental library.
A library's environment as an inviting place to study, read, and relax is an important function often overlooked or avoided. A nursing school library was underutilized and had an unacceptable of lost materials. A study undertaken to determine the setting's impact on all the library's intended functions showed that the physical environment seriously hampered many activities. A change in the library's arrangement offered users a more functional area for all types of library activities. Statistics show that the library is now more fully utilized, with an impressive decline in losses. The majority of students and faculty report more positive feelings toward the library and the librarian.
BACKGROUND: Listservs offer the potential for participants to engage in a "virtual conference" with experts and colleagues from around the world. However, little research has been done to study the use and effectiveness of this means of communication. METHODS: In April 1995, an electronic survey of MEDLIB-L subscribers was conducted to determine demographic characteristics and uses of the listserv. RESULTS: Respondents worked predominately at academic institutions (45%) as members of large staffs (44%) in the United States (82%). The majority had worked as health information professionals for more than ten years. Nearly 90% of respondents read MEDLIB-L at work and most spent fewer than three hours per week doing this. More than half of the respondents read 41% to 100% of the messages distributed by the list, with fewer than 20% reading 91% to 100% of the messages. Respondents reported initiating and responding to reference questions and product information with greatest frequency. There was no relationship between years of experience in the profession and participation in listserv activities except in the category of posting information. CONCLUSIONS: This study describes communication activities on MEDLIB-L and the extent of subscriber participation in these activities.
This study explored the ways in which urban, older, African American women obtain health information and some of the factors that influence such activity. Among the possible determinants examined were self-perceived literacy, access to health information, and mobility. The findings suggest that respondents receive health information from their physicians, the mass media, and members of their social networks. The results of this research also indicated that members of this population have a highly positive perception of the public library, although only a small segment use the library regularly, and that it may be in the interest of the library to investigate the role it could play in providing health information to older adults.
BIOETHICSLINE uselogs were analyzed during months when second-year medical students were engaged in ethics coursework that included curriculum-integrated bibliographic instruction. Uselog data showed that peak activity occurred while students were preparing a required paper. Further uselog analysis indicated that students applied database features such as controlled vocabulary, the "explode" command, and a combination of multiple search concepts. In addition, the study examined journal use and interlibrary loan activity for a correlation with online search activity. Higher bioethics journal use and interlibrary loan statistics coincided with peak BIOETHICSLINE activity periods. Citation analysis of student bibliographies reflected the interdisciplinary nature of BIOETHICSLINE and the need for ethics, legal, and clinical information sources in a bioethics collection. This study suggests that the integration of bibliographic instruction and the coordination of collection development with students' curricular needs lead to increased and more competent use of information resources.
A needs assessment survey was conducted by the Medical Library staff of St. John's Health System, Inc., in Springfield, Missouri, to document the library needs of non-physician health care personnel. The intended use of the survey was threefold: first, to collect baseline data from non-physician health care employees; second, to gather recommendations from both library users and non-users to be included in library planning and improvements; and third, to promote the library during the survey process. Study results, along with an implementation report detailing actions taken to enhance strengths and address weaknesses identified in the needs assessment survey, are presented. Opportunities for further investigation of library needs are also reported.
Primary care physicians use patient data, medical knowledge, logistic information, and population statistics. They rely on their personal knowledge to care for their patients, their top priority. When they seek information beyond this personal knowledge base, they frequently want information in the context of the care of a specific patient. They also continually add to their personal knowledge base. Less frequently, they seek logistic information and population statistics. For patient-specific questions, physicians most often seek medical facts or medical opinions. A physician may be persistent in seeking information if the patient's problem is perceived to be urgent and the doctor believes a definitive answer exists. Information resources for answering clinical questions should be readily available, familiar, and quick to use. Lifelong learning activities should also be readily available, and they should require a minimum of time, effort, and expense. Minimal cost in time and effort is particularly important when knowledge is sought as a part of ongoing medical learning, since there is less immediate benefit to balance the time and effort invested in information seeking.
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