| Summer/Fall 2000 | Kristine M. Alpi, Editor |
From the Editor
There are plenty of new web resources to keep you busy this summer. Check out the announcements of new web sites, especially those related to Healthy People 2010. TrainingFinder.org, a new resource from the Public Health Foundation, lets you find continuing education materials in public health. Online toxicology tutorials are now available from NLM. Lastly, read what your colleagues at Texas A&M University Medical Sciences Library. Updates from other public health program libraries are welcome and encouraged -- the next newsletter deadline is January 15.
Kris Alpi
Editor
Greetings! At the Vancouver meeting, the PH/HA sponsored programs were well attended and quite a success. Thank you to our past Chair Kathel Dunn, all the officers, and the section members who made the programs successful.
As the new Chair, I have begun planning the section-sponsored programs for the next annual meeting at Orlando from May 25th-30th , 2001. Based upon the discussion at the Section Business Meeting and the comments sent via the PH/HA listserv, I was able to develop four programs for next year's meeting. The four topics are: core competencies for informatics intensive environments; geographic information systems; travel medicine; and telemedicine. More information at http://phha.mlanet.org/archives/annualmeeting/prog2001.html. I strongly encourage section members to submit abstracts for the programs. The call for papers will be in the August MLA News. In addition to these programs, PH/HA will also be co-sponsoring a symposium on "Library Partnerships: Making Powerful Connections." It is scheduled for Wednesday, May 30, 2001 from 12:30 to 5:30. More details will be forthcoming.
In the next several months, there will be exciting opportunities for section members to become more involved with the programs and the symposium for the MLA 2001 meeting. I look forward to working with more section members in the upcoming year.
Helen Look
Chair
PH/HA and the Medical Informatics Section of MLA are jointly sponsoring an electronic journal club on the topic of Public Health Informatics. Earn 7.5 Academy points/CE credits by reading and discussing 6-12 articles. The proposed bibliography is available at http://www.phha.mlanet.org/phijc.html. The club will begin in September and run through February. Those interested in participating should contact convener Kristine Alpi at kalpi@att.net by August 31.
MLA's Journal Club Guidelines are available at http://www.mlanet.org/education/telecon/jcguide.html.
Visit the Grey Literature report at http://www.nyam.org/library/greyreport.shtml [Ed. note: Updated link 3/17/04]. There you'll find current and prior editions of the Report, instructions for receiving the Report via email, and Marie's slides from her talk about it at MLA [Ed. note: links no longer available].
If you're really driven, purchase a tape of the entire program from MLA's web site [Editor note: Audiotape order forms coming soon at http://www.mlanet.org/archive/am/am2000/thanksall.html [Ed note: link updated 10/8/04] or borrow tapes from your Regional Medical Library.]
By Neil Rambo (nrambo@u.washington.edu)
PH/HA sponsored a contributed and invited paper session at the MLA annual meeting on outreach to the public health workforce. The program session was co-sponsored by the Nursing and Allied Health Resources section and the Outreach special interest group. The co-sponsors contributed to the review of abstracts and the selection of papers. Neil Rambo coordinated the planning for the program and moderated the session.
Four projects were highlighted:
Wilbert Townsend, Clark County Sanitation District (Las Vegas, NV), was the invited speaker. Mr. Townsend is the current president of the Nevada Public Health Association and a participant in the training described by Ms. Zenan. He shared his perspective on the role of information resources and tools in the work life of a public health professional.
There were many themes in common among these projects. A few of them are: the diversity of the workforce and the scope and complexity of the subject area define any outreach project; careful needs assessment is required to determine not only what is needed but also what is going to work for a target audience; and, several methods are needed to reach and train public health workers.
Enough interest was generated during the development of this program session that an in depth forum on NLM-funded outreach to the public health workforce is being planned for spring 2001. More details will be forthcoming.
It’s time to register for the Boston meeting of the American Public Health Association on November 11-16.
If you haven’t attended APHA previously, a good way to get acquainted would be to help Laura Larsson in the PC Information Center. There are still openings for anyone who wishes to assist. A $500.00 stipend is available to each librarian assistant.
If you are a frequent APHA attendee, you can take advantage of the stipend and demonstrate the value of librarians to public health people by working with them in the PC Information Center for a few hours.
See the paper by Laura Larsson, Karyn Pomerantz, and Win Sewell in the last issue of the PH/HA Newsletter for reasons for attending the APHA conference. If you’d like further information on the stipend and helping in the PC Information Center, get in touch with Win Sewell. Applications (a letter and CV/resume) should reach Win Sewell (winswll@erols.com) by August 31, 2000.
Interested in "Finding and Using Health Statistics?" This was the subject of a CE class offered at the 2000 annual meeting of the Medical Library Association in Vancouver. As you all know, health statistics can be difficult to track down. They are also difficult to use because they feature information collected from competing perspectives. This class presents sources of statistics based on four broad areas: health correlates, health conditions, health care and health consequences. It puts statistics, particularly government statistics, in context by providing explanations of the rationale behind data collection. That is, why are specific federal agencies collecting data and what purpose will this data serve, in terms of health policy and planning? Further, the class demonstrates how to identify and find important results; assess the benefits and limitations of these results; and progress from summaries to detailed original reports. Instruction in this half-day class was reinforced by a series of 15 exercises, which were provided to class attendees in CD format.
The course developer and instructor, Dr. Dan Melnick, previously directed the federal government's Office of Applied Studies, which reports statistics for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. He also served as a Division Director for the National Science Foundation and as a Specialist in Federal Statistical Policy at the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress. The course is based on Dr. Melnick's latest book, Portrait of Health in the United States, which is due to be released in July. All those who attended the class in Vancouver will receive a copy of the book.
Funding for this class was provided through a contract from the National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology (NICHSR) of the National Library of Medicine. Don't worry if you missed the opportunity to attend the class at MLA. Look for it to be posted on the NICHSR Web site (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/nichsr/nichsr.html) this Fall in a distance learning format. Also, the class is being added to the MLA Educational Clearinghouse of courses and will be available to offer at regional meetings with Dr. Melnick as instructor.
Contact Stacy Baker, MPH, Public Health Foundation, training@phf.org
| On May 9, the Public Health Foundation (PHF) launched a new online distance learning clearinghouse, TrainingFinder.org. In one central website, public health professionals of all disciplines can search the most comprehensive database of distance learning course listings. This service is free to both users and submitters. To search, browse, or submit public health distance learning course listings, visit www.TrainingFinder.org. |
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The site is geared to help meet and assess the nation's future training needs around important public health frameworks. Subject areas were strategically designed to reflect both the 10 "Essential Public Health Services" and many "Healthy People 2010" focus areas.
Users can search the TrainingFinder.org listings by subject area, target audience, credit type, keyword, or a combination of fields. Detailed listings describe the course content, format, cost, and contact information so users may contact the course sponsor directly for information, registration, or purchase.
The free site is a public-private partnership with four funding partners and 16 sponsoring organizations committed to increasing training opportunities for the public health workforce. For a list of sponsors, visit http://www.TrainingFinder.org/partners_sponsors.htm. Initial funding for the site was provided by the Public Health Foundation, with additional support coming from the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion and the Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through a cooperative agreement with the Office of Minority Health.
The public health web resource pages at http://msl.tamu.edu/MSL/InfoRsrc/Curriculum/SRPH/publichealth.html have received a drastic overhaul through the work of myself and webmaster, Nancy Burford. This group of categorized web pages, with a consistent look, will serve as a uniform starting point for our MPH students and support our distance education efforts throughout the state of Texas. Courtesy of ideas from colleagues at MLA, a section on grey literature to alert our MPH students to this valuable type of material, has been included. We've already received positive comments on the site and I look forward to developing it as a resource for students.
Second, Dr. Gale Hannigan and I have been teaching a public health informatics course to two MPH students this summer. Our syllabus and selected course activities are on the web at http://msl.tamu.edu/MSL/InfoRsrc/Curriculum/SRPH/PHEB640.html. The course is not new, and since the fall of 1998 has reached more than 20 students. Response from our two students and their progress through the course has been good, and we are pleased that our public health school invited us to offer it.
Finally, in response to many questions about this at MLA, the Texas A&M University Health Science Center *does* have a School of Rural Public Health. It began offering a curriculum in 1998 and has graduated 8 students to date with the MPH. This fall it will apply for accreditation from CEPH, and both Dr. Hannigan and I have served on subcommittees for the draft of the CEPH self-study. The school will soon be revising its web page at http://tamushsc.tamu.edu/SRPH.
As it has for earlier broadcasts in this informative series, the National Library of Medicine and several of its National Network of Libraries of Medicine member libraries will be the viewing sites for the September 29, 2000 Public Health Grand Rounds satellite broadcast entitled "Asthma and Its Environmental Causes." If you aren't yet familiar with Public Health Grand Rounds, the program is described as follows:
"In medicine, case histories are used to illustrate the clinical presentation of diseases, to provide a context in which participants can review basic information, and to focus discussion on several possible ways to frame and address the problem (Schon, 1987). Various medical specialists present their perspectives on the etiology, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment plan for a patient's presenting problem.
In Public Health Grand Rounds, the "patient" is defined as the community and the "presenting problem" is defined as a public health issue challenging the community and requiring its informed response. As in medical grand rounds, a panel of specialists will be assembled to provide the most current information related to the case and to assess the problem from their professional perspective, knowledge and experience. The goal of Public Health Grand Rounds is to promote a leadership-level national dialogue on public health issues of strategic significance."
Topics already covered by this series include: Genetics and Public Health: The Future is Now (May 4, 2000); Disasters, People and Public Health: Are You Ready? (January 28, 2000); Breast Cancer Screening: More than Just Mammograms (September 29, 1999); and Bioterrorism: Implications for Public Health (June 11, 1999).
Visit http://publichealthgrandrounds.unc.edu to find a viewing site near you, register to view the upcoming broadcast, view archived versions of past Public Health Grand Rounds broadcasts, or arrange to become a viewing site.
Schon H. Various case reports from Schweiz Rundsch Med Prax, 1987.
All items from the Scout Report are copyright Susan Calcari, 1994-1998. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of the Scout Report provided the copyright notice and this paragraph is preserved on all copies. The InterNIC provides information about the Internet to the US research and education community under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation: NCR-9218742. The Government has certain rights in this material.
The first of four regional hearings on the reports was held on July 10, 2000 near Chicago. Information about this hearing is available at http://www.ncvhs.hhs.gov/000710fr.htm. The dates and locations of the other three hearings are as follows:
Visit the National Center for Health Statistics web site: GIS and Public Health at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/about/otheract/gis/gis_home.htm. Sign up to receive Public Health GIS News and Information, a bimonthly electronic report, via e-mail or read past issues online.
All materials related to the release are available on this web site: http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/tobacco.
The Gateway provides quick, easy access to NHLBI information and resources in four key areas related to our Institute's expertise and the Healthy People 2010 goals -- the Federal Government's blueprint for building a healthier Nation over the next 10 years. These are:
Each area has its own portal, offering a wealth of resources to help health professionals plan their own Healthy People activities. For example, the portals have:
The Social Dimensions of Public Health is a PDF File [11p. 968 KB] available at http://www.bireme.br/bvs/equidad/clyde-h.pdf.
Substances newly listed or reclassified in the Report on Carcinogens as Known or Reasonably Anticipated Human Carcinogens include:
The Toxicology Tutors are intended to provide a basic understanding of toxicology as an aide for users of toxicology literature contained in the National Library of Medicine's Chemical and Toxicological databases. Toxicology Tutor I It covers Basic Principles of toxicology and is written at the introductory college student level. Toxicology Tutor II covers Toxicokinetics while Toxicology Tutor III focuses on Cellular Toxicology.
Toxicology Tutor I, II and III are available at http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/toxtutor.cfm
DATA2010 is an interactive database system developed by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), an agency of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This new site was designed to support the goals of the CDC's Healthy People 2010 program, which was launched in January 2000, and which includes a list of 467 objectives designed to identify specific measures to monitor health. Each objective includes "a statement of intent, a baseline value for the measure to be tracked, and a target to be achieved by the year 2010."
In the DATA2010 database, the 467 objectives are subdivided into 28 focus areas, and users may sort the data by focus areas, objectives, or by demographic categories such as race, gender, education level, or income. A keyword search is also available. The data, which is broad but not deep, originates from over 150 different sources, including several Federal Government Departments, and is primarily national in its scope, although some state-based data is also available. [From the Scout Report]
Although this site on proper posture and usage of computer terminals is geared towards library workers and users, this excellent guide to ergonomics should help all users with both long-term and short-term use of computers. ErgoLib also contains a vast array of ergonomic suggestions and resources including commercial and academic Websites, discussion groups, online articles, and an extensive bibliography of print materials on this subject. This is an invaluable resource for anyone who spends much of the day facing a monitor. [From the Scout Report]
In the interests of time, we often use email to organize meetings or meet people in other cities (or even at home). I'm proffering this hint because I recently ended up feeling like a fool at a recent conference when I ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time on the wrong evening and then was asked why someone as put together as I am got confused about when and where we were meeting. Sigh.
It was easy to see why I was confused when the organizer sent out the information in dribbles. It is frustrating to receive bits of information, a piece at a time, over 5 or 6 email messages. It means you have to keep track of all of them and then put them together somehow, a task that is greatly complicated if you receive hundreds of messages a day. Plus, some of the messages came from someone else that I had never met and couldn't remember her name so finding her messages was a nightmare.
Typically the first message says that the group will meet, the second adds the building name and perhaps the room, the third the time, and the fourth, a change (or two or three), the fifth the address in response to a query. If you're planning a get together (a party) a different night with the same group of people and the identical process occurs, well, you can see the problem. Where are we supposed to be, when?
The hint is: when giving people information in bits, simply repeat the bits in an aggregated format so that the final message has everything all together. Put the date, time, room, building, purpose, etc and repeat those in EVERY message along with other relevant information like directions. Then make sure the email containing the final message gets out to the person in time for them to add it to their electronic or paper personal information manager. It also helps to use a consistent subject line for all messages about a particular event, e.g. Distance Learning Meeting 5/25/00" or similar organization of subject to make the messages easier to find when you sort them.
Yes, I know this sounds logical, but you would be surprised at the number of folks who don't take these steps to make it easy for you.
This article is part of the "Email Learning with Laura" series posted to multiple listservs. Republished in edited format with permission of the author.