| Sunday, May 27, 4:00-5:30pm | |
| SPONSOR: Medical Library Education | Embarking on the Odyssey: New Perspectives [abstracts below] [Special contributed papers session for new graduates and current students] |
| Tuesday, May 29, 2:30-4:00pm | |
| CO-SPONSOR: Medical Informatics, Medical Library Education, Public Health/Health Administration, Public Services | Core Competencies for Librarians in Informatics-Intensive Environments |
Please join us in thanking the following library schools or their alumni associations for their contributions to support the reunion:
University of Iowa
Dominican University
Florida State University
Texas Woman's University
University of North Carolina
University of Illinois
University of South Carolina
Long Island University
University of North Texas HSL
University of Washington
University of Pittsburgh
University of Michigan School Alumni Society
If your schools isn't represented on this list, please encourage them to participate. This is a peoples party - no corporate sponsor this year.
We are looking for alumni to serve as hosts for their library schools -please let me know if you are willing to volunteer. Its an easy and fun job. Just hang out at your table and help introduce your fellow alumni to each other. I have only heard from a few people who have volunteered to represent their schools:
University of Pittsburgh - Linda Hogan and Catherine Arnott SmithPlease give me a call or e-mail if you are interested. You can reach me via e-mail (dutcher@nlm.nih.gov) or phone (301-496-5082)
University of Washington - Nancy Schaefer
University of North Carolina - Taneya Koonce
University of Iowa - Sandy Phelps
LSU - Virginia Cairns
University of Michigan - Cynthia Kahn and Kellie Kaneshiro
Gale Dutcher Chair, Library School Reunion Medical Library Education Section, MLA
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At the conclusion of the Contributed Papers session, we will adjourn for a social hour at the LIS Schools Reunion, sponsored by the Medical Library Education Section with the generous support of several donors.
Title: Past, Present and Future – Continuing Evolution of the Medical Informatics Curriculum at The George Washington University
Author: Laura Abate, Reference Librarian, Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library, The George Washington University Medical Center, 2300 Eye Street, NW, Washington, DC 20037
Abstract: Purpose: Incorporate feedback from students, a curriculum committee, and librarians' experience into the format, organization, and presentation strategy of “Introduction to Medical Informatics.”
Setting/Participants/Resources: Librarians developed and teach a required pass/fail course to first year medical students. Students learn to locate and assess information in textbooks, MEDLINE, and on the WWW, and how to effectively present their research using Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Students also learn about functions of the Internet and concepts of copyright and ethics in an electronic environment. This course is taught as a part of “Practice of Medicine,” an umbrella course that teaches students clinical thinking, technical skills, and professionalism. “Practice of Medicine ” also includes “Problem-Based Learning (PBL),” “Doctor-Patient Society,” and a clinical preceptorship.
Brief Description: Prior to academic year 00-01, “Introduction to Medical Informatics” underwent major changes to its format, organization, and presentation strategy. While still taught completely online, the course format migrated from a password-protected website coded in HTML to Prometheus©, a web-based course management software used campus-wide. Organization of the course's ten sessions was reassessed resulting in consolidation, an addition, and a new session order. The required work changed from a final project, to a set of tasks to be completed over the course of the academic year. The course's presentation strategy shifted from a learner-oriented model to a more prescriptive format through which librarians provide additional instruction. “Introduction to Medical Informatics” is now taught in tandem with “PBL” in which groups of 10-12 students investigate clinical, basic science, and psychosocial aspects of medical cases. Individual librarians work with PBL groups, advising and evaluating students as they progress through the task list.
Results/Outcome: This presentation describes the evolution and proposes future directions for the medical informatics curriculum at The George Washington University.
Evaluation Method: Student and librarian feedback and the quality of students' work are used to evaluate this course.
Title: Searching PubMed to Examine the Effectiveness of Retrieving Relevant Information about Electronic Healthcare/Health Care
Author: Kuichun Su, Gabriel M. Peterson, MaryEllen Sievert, Health Management and Informatics, School of Medicine, School of Information Science and Learning Technology, University of Missouri
Abstract:
Purpose: To examine the extreme complexity and variability of natural language as observed in using search terms that express the concept of e-health and how this complexity and variability would influence the precision and amount of information retrieved.
Study sample: The study sample comprised a series of search terms focusing on the concept of e-health. Search results then became the basis for statistical analysis.
Study design: Information retrieval study.
Methods: A series of search terms with the common concept of e health was developed prior to or evolved during the study. National Library of Medicine's PubMed was the database where the terms were tested. The search results from each set were then judged for relevancy. Precision of each set was calculated.
Results: A total of 65 search terms were tested. These terms included a space or no space, a hyphen or no hyphen, between the beginning word and other words. Sixteen search strategies started with cyber; 5, with digital; 13, with dot; 15, with e such as ehealth, e health, e-health, and others. Six search strategies started with electronic; 5 with internet or virtual respectively. The grand total of hits in all sets was 69,392; the average hits per set were 1,067.6. When search terms were stratified according to the beginning word, the average hits per set ranged from 12.2 (for cyber terms) to 3,210.0 (for e terms). Relevancy and precision will be examined but an initial examination revealed that cyber and hyphenated strategies had high relevancy and precision.
Discussion/conclusion: Consumers, health care providers, or researchers may be interested in retrieving information on health care related to the internet. However, this experiment on search strategy in PubMed showed that to e or not to e health could become a rather complicated endeavor. Users may face difficulty in coming up with many ways of formulating e health search strategies in order to retrieve more relevant results. It seems that strategies starting with cyber and other hyphenated strategies yield better search results than those that start with digital, dot, electronic, internet, or virtual.
Title: An Observational Investigation of Information Seeking and Use by Nurses at Work in a Non-teaching Community Hospital: Implications for Hospital Librarians
Author: Michelynn McKnight, MM, MS/LIS, AHIP
Director, Norman Regional Hospital Health Sciences Library; Norman, Oklahoma
Doctoral Student in Information Science, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas
Abstract:
Purpose: Hospital nursing is an information rich activity; nurses are the largest single group of hospital employees. What kinds of questions arise on the job and how do nurses choose which questions to pursue? How do they seek answers to these questions? What information sources do they use and what barriers do they encounter? What are the implications for hospital librarians serving nurses?
Setting/Subjects: Medical-surgical and critical care units in a 250-bed non-teaching community hospital in January and February of 2001. / At least ten volunteer RN's who vary in shift worked, age, education, gender, and cultural background.
Methodology: The investigator will observe working nurses for four to eight hours at a time, noting their job related information seeking behaviors and use. After each observation the investigator will briefly interview each nurse to clarify her observations. Later she will share field notes and interview transcriptions with each participating nurse and solicit their comments on the accuracy of her observations. The resulting rich data will be analyzed for trends and patterns using accepted qualitative and quantitative analysis methods appropriate to the data collected. The Investigational Review Boards of Norman Regional Hospital and the University of North Texas have approved this project. Ron Wilhelm and Ana Cleveland are faculty sponsors for this student project.
Results and Discussion/conclusion: To be reported in May 2001.
Title: Effect of Metasite Selection on the Quality of WWW Information: A Collection Development Approach to the Evaluation of Web-based Consumer Health Information
Author: Linda Hogan
Manager, Libraries & Archives, Pittsburgh Mercy Health System and Doctoral Candidate, Library & Information Science, University of Pittsburgh.
Abstract: Purpose: Determine if there is a relationship between type of search engine and the quality of Web-based information retrieved on a consumer health topic, using hypercholesterolemia as an example. Compare certain types of metasites as selection aids for consumer health information.
Setting/subjects: Two general search engines, Lycos (relevance ranked) and Yahoo (hierarchical classification), and two health portals, HealthAtoZ (relevance ranked) and healthfinder (hierarchical classification) were used to generate a collection of Web sites (512) on the topic of cholesterol.
Methodology: Prospective, causal-comparative. A multimodal approach was used to measure the quality of this information.
Research Questions:
Significance/Conclusion: In addition to answering the five specific research questions above, this study also addresses some of the most pressing questions raised in the health sciences library community. Can the Web replace traditional library holdings in answering consumer health questions? What collection development standards should be used to guide choices of appropriate Web sites for laypersons? This study also extends existing knowledge about the assignment of controlled vocabulary terms (MeSH) to Web content.
Title: Access to the Fringe: Evolving Concepts in Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Author: Catherine Arnott Smith, University of Pittsburgh, Center for Biomedical Informatics, Pittsburgh, PA
Abstract: Purpose: To determine the persistence of concept expression and representation in complementary and alternative medical topics in the National Library of Medicine's bibliographic products, from Index Medicus to MEDLINE.
Methodology: Citation analysis. Subject headings in the alternative medicine tree of MeSH (E02.040) were traced backward from 2000 MeSH through the 1879 Index Medicus. Four terms of interest--"acupuncture," "Chinese medicine," "therapeutic cults," and "quackery"--were analyzed in detail to obtain information about frequency, trends, and concurrence of these terms, as well as variant strings connoting the concept over time.
Results: Chinese traditional medical practices have been awarded specific subject headings since 1879 (acupuncture and moxibustion, highly correlated at Spearman's r = 0.96), while Chinese traditional medicine itself has been in MeSH virtually every year since 1904. Therapeutic "fads" and "cults" are relatively strongly correlated with "quackery" (Spearman's r = 0.80) but have warranted subject headings only since 1920.
Discussion/Conclusion: Examination of historical evolution of medical concepts provides one way to understand the place of these concepts in a labeled world. Trends in naming of alternative medical practices over time will be discussed, as will the phenomena of practices that wax and wane in the "alternative" tree.