Web Site of the Month
Each month beginning May 2001 the library staff highlights a web site that we think might be of interest to the Lutheran HealthCare community.
June / July: Free hospital mapping service
Maps of hospital locations in the US are now available online through American Hospital Directory. The site's free mapping service pinpoints hospital locations according to user-selected criteria, such as AIP code, city, or state. The maps, built on the Google Maps engine, include color coding to specify each hospital's facility type. Among the eight facility types are acute care, children's services, and rehabilitation. Navigational tools allow users to zoom or reposition the maps as needed.
April / May: Focus on Obesity and Weight Loss
This month, our site reviews focus on a condition that affects a staggering 66% of American, regardless of their age, sex, or race - being overweight or obese. We highlight some of the best obesity resources on the Internet today. The sites cover topics on bariatric surgery, nutrition, childhood obesity, size discrimination treatment options, prevention, physical activity, weight-loss research, and much more.
American Dietetic Association - the Food & Nutrition information section contains resources for consumers to help them improve their eating habits with the goal of achieving a healthier lifestyle, such as fact sheets, a reading list, nutrition tips, nutrition brochures, and more. Unique elements: Resources for professionals, such as an FAQ, newsletter database, bariatric surgery information, and disaster preparedness resources.
American Obesity Association - AOA works to change public policy and perceptions about obesity. The mission of the organization is "to act as an agent of change, move society to reconceptualize obesity as a disease, and fashion appropriate strategies to deal with the epidemic". The association has already changed federal policy by having the SS Administration and the IRS recognize obesity as a disease. There are the following key features: advocacy information, including suggestions about how to notify policy-makers about your comments and concerns on obesity issues; a Childhood Obesity section contains an overweight the epidemic, including prevalence and identification, causes, prevention, health risks, diagnosis, and treatment information; a Consumer Alert section provides information about products and services that have been found to be harmful or are under current investigation, such as ephedra; a Tax Breaks section contains information about how to deduct obesity treatments as a medical deduction; Fact Sheets on morbid obesity, obesity in minority populations, women and obesity, the health effects of obesity, treatment and more.
American Society for Bariatric Surgery - contains several resources for patients within the Patient section as a search engine that patients can use to find bariatric surgeons, as well as an online body mass index calculator. The Health Care Professional page contains resources aimed at bariatric healthcare professionals with information on upcoming courses and meetings, as well as malpractice insurance. Unique elements: the Resources for Allied Health Professionals page contains a presurgical psychological assessment of bariatric surgery candidates.
American Society of Bariatric Physicians - is a nonprofit international professional medical association. In addition to serving as a source of information for its members, the site also contains information for the public, such as weight-loss tips and education programs. Key features include: information about upcoming conferences: an FAQ sections that touches upon topics such as the prevalence of obesity and diet medication; CME opportunities for members; links to associations, government resources, and publication. Unique elements: the site contains a search engine that lets users locate physicians specializing in bariatric by state.
America On the Move Foundation (AON) - is a national nonprofit organization with the mission "to improve health and quality of life by promoting healthful eating and active living among individuals, families, communities, and society".
BioInteractive - is a site that contains a collection of biology-focused teaching materials created by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. This site contains a lecture called "The Science of Fat" by Jeffrey M. Friedman. MD, PhD and Ronald M. Evand, PhD. The researchers discuss how the body regulates weight by controlling the storage and burning of fat.
Brigham and Women's Hospital (Boston) - weight management and weight loss surgery information; surgical and nonsurgical options available through the hospital. Unique elements: Users can replay a live Webcast of hospital surgeons performing Lap-band surgery.
Center for Disease Control and Prevention: Overweight and Obesity - information about how specific states differ when it comes to obesity. Some of the key feature include: list on funded overweight and obesity state programs; statistics that detail the gravity of the obesity problem in the US; definitions for overweight and obesity using body mass index measures; obesity trend statistics for children, adolescents, and adults in the US (most of the data are presented in PowerPoint slide format); list of factors that contribute to obesity, such as how behavior, environment, and genetic factor may have an effect in causing people to be overweight and obese; estimates on the national medical costs associated with obesity; etc.
Center for Weight and Health (University of California, Berkley) - the mission of the center is to "provide leadership for the development of science-based solutions to weight-related health problems with a focus on children and weight". The site's contains a list of HotLinks that contain typical information that most visitors are looking for on the site. The Programs & Material section contains links to information about nutrition, physical activity, and obesity programs and projects. Here, users also will find links to resources and helpful education tools and materials on topics such as weight management, body image, and eating disorders. Unique elements: The References Lists section contains links to a wealth of information about topics such as dietary factors related to weight and health, television, socioeconomic factors.
Food and Nutrition Information Center (the US Department of Agriculture) - to access the Weight & Obesity section, click on the Weight and Obesity link under the Browse by Subject headings. This section contains national guidelines, educational materials, weight management tools and resources, information about adolescent and childhood obesity, and resources for promoting a positive body image and healthy living.
National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance - is a nonprofit human rights organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for overweight people. They provide support and attempt to eliminate discrimination against overweight people. They also provide information to health professionals on how to treat large patients. Unique elements: Click on the Information Brochures link to view the NAAFA Guidelines for Health Care Providers brochure. It contains information on the special needs of overweight patients, such as their attitude, weighting them, medical procedure special needs, and special accommodations that can be made to ensure that they are comfortable both physically and emotionally.
NOVA Sciences NOW: Obesity (PBS) - NOVA creates sciences documentaries for television. In 2005, NOVA premiered its first ScienceNOW episode. The series, hosted by astrophysicist Neil deGrasseTyson, covers developments and personalities in sciences and technology by presenting multiple stories in a magazine format. Enter "obesity" in search box to access the episode examined the biology behind the compulsion to eat. Some of the key features of this site include: a weight-loss researcher who talks about why it's difficult to lose weight and how a protein called leptin may help; researcher Jeffrey Friedman answering viewer questions about leptin, obesity, and weight-loss research; weight-loss links and books; a PDF teacher's' guide containing key terms, viewing ides, classroom activities, and ideas form teachers. Unique elements: Users can access the 12-minute broadcast segment online using QuickTime, RealVideo, or Windows Media. Users can also watch the complete episode or access the episode transcript online.
Obesity in America - two sister organizations, The Endocrine Society and The Hormone Foundation, developed this site to help users understand the topic of obesity. The site contains statistics (numbers related to obesity trends, geography, and the economic effects of obesity), research advances, obesity trend information, the costs related to obesity, medical complications, resources, and more. Unique elements: The Endocrinologist tab contains information about the endocrinologist's role in obesity by diagnosing and treating diseases related to hormones and glands. Users can learn why they would need to see an endocrinologist, clinical guidelines, and what to expect from an appointment, It includes a patient checklist and doctor lookup tool.
Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity (Yale University, New Haven, CT) - mission is "to improve the world's' diet, prevent obesity, and reduce weight stigma". Key features include: The Sciences & Medicine section - information about the causes and consequences of obesity, such as how society explains the causes and how that influences government policy: childhood obesity, environmental influences, culture, physical activity, eating disorders, the debate on food addiction, etc.; The Food & Agriculture section - food industry, food subsidies, and sustainability and genetic modification; The Advertising & the Media section - effect that food advertising has on children; The Government & Legislation sections - government policy and how it shapes the nation's diet, eating patterns, and levels of physical activity; how economic conditions are central to understanding human diets and the obesity problems A Weight Bias section - employment, education, and other areas of discrimination. Unique elements: Evolution of Eating link that launches a fascinating, interactive food timeline.
Smallstep.gov - is a service of the US Department of Health & Human Services. The site, which is aimed at consumers, contains small steps that consumers can take using a four-step approach to live a healthier life. The main topic of the site, which is available in both English and Spanish, is obesity prevention. Unique elements: The site contain a web site for kids called Be a Player, which uses the popular Shrek character to teach children about food and what it can do for them It contain television ads, web links, games, and activities.
The Obesity Society - is a scientific society dedicated to the study of obesity. It encourages research on the causes and treatment of obesity and works to keep the medical community and public informed of new advance. The major selling point of this site is Obesity Online, which is an education resource for clinicians, researches, and educators with an interest in obesity and its related disorders. The society also hosts virtual meetings that let users participate in presentations given during national meetings. Other resources on the site include CME activities developed by the society. Unique elements: The society's Slide Library offers users the opportunity to create their own Microsoft PowerPoint presentations from hundreds of downloadable slides.
Thinner Times - is published by two bariatric surgeons, Charles Callery, MD and Kyle Potts, MD, of Poway, CA. The surgeons specialize in performing Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and Lap-Band surgery for people with severe obesity. The site contains the following sections:
~ Gastric Bypass: contains diagrams and photos that walk users through the gastric bypass surgery process. There is also information on typical surgery candidates, expectations, outcomes (diabetes, GERD, sleep apnea), consequences, complications and postoperative nutrition, as well on complications and cost of obesity.
~ Lap-Band: information on the procedure, adjustments, typical surgery candidates, expectations, and complications. It includes diagrams and photos.
~ Ed Seminars: information on the educations seminars offered by the practice. There is a list of books on obesity and nutrition as well as news articles.
~ Support: information on the office's support groups, gyms and yoga, and surgical supplies. The support group forums include preop education, preop nutrition, early postop, general postop, and the Thinned Times Forum.
Weight-control Information Network (WIN )- is an information service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The site contains the following content:
~ publications for health professional and the public about topics such as Choosing a Successful Weight-Loss Program, Dieting and Gallstones, Tips for Pregnancy, Helping Your Overweight Child, Gastrointestinal Surgery for Severe Obesity, Medical Care for Obese Patients, and much more.
~ a newsletter for health professionals called WIN Notes. It contains information from NIDDK and other organizations about obesity, weight control, and weight-related nutritional disorders. The site contains WIN Notes archives online.
~ overweight and obesity statistics, including a Body Mass Index table.
~ a selection of obesity-related research activities supported by HIN and NIDDK.
Unique elements: The site has a section dedicated to helping black women over age 18 maintain a healthy weight by becoming more physically active and eating healthier foods. The section, called Sisters Together: Move More, Eat Better, contains culturally relevant brochures, such as the Sisters Together Program Guide.
The site provides some publications in Spanish.
World Health Organization: Obesity - Nations' specialized agency for health, has a section within the Health topics page dedicated to obesity. It contains links to the agency's activities, reports, news, and events. The site also contains links to related web sites and topics. At first, the site appears to be little more than a list of links, but if you click through some of the links to dig deeper, you will find loads of information. Here is a sampling of some of what you'll find on this site:
~ how people throughout the world are affected by obesity;
access to the WHO Global InfoBase, which contains health statistics on chronic disease as well as the global database on body mass index;~ obesity and overweight fact sheets that contain information about causes, health consequences, and prevention;
~ WHO publication, some of which are available as PDF's; users can order others from the WHO Bookshop.
Unique elements: Under Features, users can learn more about the scale of the obesity problem by country.
March 2007: Medico de Familia
This Spanish-language health monthly site was launched on February 26, 2007. It's written by Hispanic physicians in plain-spoken Spanish for U.S. Hispanic consumers. According to “Médico de Familia” Publisher Neil Porter, other features being developed include physician blogs, live Q&A chat with doctors, and a semimonthly e-newsletter. “We are also planning to post an English-language version of the site. Since our magazine is written for the entire family, we want to make it possible for everyone in the family, be they English or Spanish-speakers, to access this important health information.”
February 2007: MyNDMA
A new web site called MyNDMA (National Digital Medical Archive) allows users to store their electronic medical records online. According to a CBS Broadcasting, Inc,. report, women concerned about breast cancer can store digital mammography film using the site. The site can also record family history, x-rays, magnetic resonance imagery, and other electronic scans. It also allows patients to access their information regardless of their location or the time of day.
January 2007: TRIP Database
The Turning Research Into Practice (TRIP) database, a search engine for health professionals seeking answers to clinical questions, is once again free to users. The database, which first appeared in 1997, became a fee-based service for approximately four years, ending in September 2006.
The sources searched by TRIP include sites for evidence-based synopses and other clinical information, e-textbooks, clinical guidelines, systematic reviews, clinical calculators, and a small collection of core medical journals. TRIP provides three general categories for searching: evidence-based medical (EBM) information, medical images and patient information leaflets for users to access. There is a basic search box with search tips provided on the screen.
Advanced search allows users to search TRIP for terms appearing in the ttitle or title and text. The most common way of using this is to use the title search for the condition and the title and text search for an intervention. Searches are numbered and may be combined. EBM results may be filtered by publication type, intervention or medical specialization.
December 2006: MedLexicon
MediLexicon claims to have the largest—over 200,000 and growing—online database of abbreviations from the fields of medicine, pharmacy, biotechnology, agrochemicals, healthcare, and more.
To search for the meaning of an abbreviation, enter it in the Search By Abbreviations box, e.g., BID. The results will be displayed on the next screen, with exact matches displayed first, followed by other possible matches. A link labeled Medical Articles will take you to the results of a PubMed search on your terms. Alternatively, you may search for an acronym or abbreviation by typing the definition in the Search By Definition box, e.g., Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease.
A number of additional searchable databases are included on the site, with information about pharmaceutical companies, medical associations, hospitals, and more.
November 2006: National Sleep Foundation
This free site is an independent, nonprofit organization that supports sleep-related education, research, and advocacy. The site is chockfull of information in a variety of formats (e.g. text-based content, interactive tools, free newsletter subscriptions, etc.). It's available in both English and Spanish. It feeds the need that the general public has for basic information and also provides healthcare professional with detailed facts and survey results.
October 2006: WISER
WISER is a system designed to assist first responders in hazardous material incidents. It provides a wide range of information on hazardous substances, including substance identification support, physical characteristics, human health information, and containment and suppression advice. WISER is available as a standalone application on Pocket PC PDAs, Palm OS PDA, and Microsoft Windows Pcs for download.
September 2006: The Commonwealth Fund
The Commonwealth Fund is a private foundation that aims to promote a high-performing health care system that achieves better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency, particularly for society's most vulnerable, including low-income people, the uninsured, minority Americans, young children, and elderly adults. The Fund carries out this mandate by supporting independent research on health care issues and making grants to improve health care practice and policy. An international program in health policy is designed to stimulate innovative policies and practices in the United States and other industrialized countries.
The Fund produces more than 100 reports, issue briefs, and other professional and scholarly publications each year, supports independent research on health and social issues, and issues grants to improve health care practice and policy.
Users can Browse site by topic or search for keywords within Entire Site, Publications, or Grants categories. The grants search engine enables you to search grant descriptions and related grant products, going back to 1995, by the name of the grantee organization and/or principal investigator, award amount, year awarded, and state. The publications search engine enables you to search the Fund's database of more than 500 publications, going back to the mid to late 1990s, by keyword, author, topic, and posting date.
August 2006: New York State Issues Healthcare Report Cards
Information about the quality of hospitals and health coverage plans serving Western New York is included in the newst New York State Health Care Report Card. The report card provides data on the quality, volume, length of stay, and pricing of care provided by the state's health insurers and hospitals, serchable by county.
July 2006: Autism Society of America
The Autism Society of America (ASA) web site provides all kind of information including diagnosis and treatment on autism, a neurological disorder that affects the normal functioning of the brain. The site houses an impressive search engine that lets users look for autism resources, including ASA chapters, assistive technology, camps and recreations, dentists, physicians, psychologists, and others trained to assist the autistic. Users can search by keyword, location, and service types, such as assistive technology, camps and recreation, and dentists. Other resources on the site include free autism brochures, facts, and statistics, Users can also subscribe to ASA-Net, a free e-newsletter that the ASA delivers every two weeks.
June 2006: Childhood Obesity
The American Obesity Association (AOA) Childhood Obesity site contains an impressive amount of free content about obesity-a problem that is reaching epidemic proportions in the US. According to statistics on the site, about 15.5% of adolescents and 15.3% of children ages six to 11 are obese. Each of the pages of the "Childhood Obesity" section contains links to related articles and resources along the right-hand side.
Mary 2006: CE Medicus
CE Medicus describes itself as "your center for professional continuing education [CE] and learning." It is supported through an education grant from Merck & Co., Inc. The site makes more than9,000 hours of accredited CE available to registered users. Registration and the site's course offering are free.
April 2006: Ready.gov
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) created Ready.gov as a site on which citizens can access extensive disaster preparedness information for free. A primary mandate of the department is to educate American citizens continuously about how they can prepare for national emergencies, including possible terrorist attacks. Healthcare organizations can adapt much of this information for use in their emergency planning activities.
March 2006: GlobalHealthFacts
GlobalHealthFacts.org, a project of the Kaiser Family Foundation, provides data by country on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other key health and socio-economic indicators. The data are displayed in tables, charts, and maps, and can be downloaded for custom analyses. Data are obtained from a variety of sources. In an effort to provide information that is consistent across countries, data are primarily obtained from cross-national entities, rather than from individual countries.
February 2006: World Health Organization Patient Safety
The World Health Organization's (WHO) Patient Safety site tackles the issue of patient safety as a global problem by providing valuable resources to the public that are applicable to countries world-wide. The WHO's patient safety site contains information about its Global Patient Safety Challenge. Key site features include
- taxonomy. Users can read about the WHO group that is working on the development of a common patient taxonomy on the site.
- research. The WHO conducts research in countries to make patient safety a priority. Users can read information about international workshops that have focused on methodologies for estimating patient harm.
- technical activities. The technical activities page contains information about activities related to product safety and safe clinical practice, including topics such as injection safety, blood safety, and drug safety. The links for the activities contain information about WHO strategies for safety.
- information. The information center and journals library pages contain various articles, documents, press releases, speeches, and presentations. Users can also read about past and upcoming events.
January 2006: Webster's Online Dictionary
Webster's Online started with Webster's classic 1913 unabridged dictionary but added updated definitions, thousands of images (one picture being worth a thousand words...), quotes, trade names, references, timelines, translations and any other bit of information that can help you understand a word from as many perspective as possible. For any given word, what you get is Webster's Online Dictionary with Multilingual Thesaurus Translation.
December 2005: Exam Master
Exam Master Corporation is in the business of providing fee-based exam preparation and review software to medical students (USMLE exams), residents (USMLE and Board Certification), and physicians (Board Certification and SPEX).
November 2005: Healthy Women: State Trends in Health and Mortality
Healthy Women was developed by the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with support from the Office on Women's Health in the US Department of Health and Human Services. It contains tables that describe the health of people in each state by sex, race and age. Currently, mortality tables, risk factor tables and information on pregnancy and access to care are available. Data will be updated and new tables with additional kinds of data will be added in the future.
The tables can be viewed either online, for quick access, or used with a specialized browser downloaded to a computer.
October 2005: Hospital Compare
Want to know how your hospital rates against others? Have a patron who is shopping around for a good hospital? A clinician who wants more information about a hospital (s)he is thinking of working at? Try Hospital Compare. You can search for hospital geographically or by name. Limit your search by category (Heart Attack Care; Heart Failure Care; Pneumonia). You will then be presented with a set of treatments (based on the categories you selected). Again, select from that list, and you can see how the hospital compared to other local hospital or to hospitals nationwide.
September 2005: Health Services Research Information Central
The statistics data is compiled by the National Library of Medicine. It provides the information to Data Repositories, Health Statistics, Search for Tools, and specific Instruments and Tools.
August 2005: Health Education Assets Library (HEAL)
The Health Education Assets Library is a digital library of multimedia teaching resources for health sciences educators and learners. It contains over 19,000 resources including images, videoclips, animations, web pages, presentations, and portable documents (PDF). HEAL was established in 2000 as a joint effort of three health sciences institutions in the United States: the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, the University of Utah Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, and the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Users can search or browse by subject or collection as well as contribute resources to HEAL.
July 2005: AIDSInfo
AidsInfo is a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) project providing information on HIV/AIDS clinical trials and treatment. It is the result of merging two previous DHHS project: the AIDS Clinical Trials Information Services (ACTIS) and the HIV/AIDS Treatment Information Services (ATIS). The web site is organized around six main subject categories about HIV/AIDS clinical trials and treatment:
- Guidelines
- Drugs
- Clinical Trials
- Vaccines
- Health Topics (containing information for three major groups: consumers, health care providers and researchers)
- AIDSinfo Tools (including Live Help, Site Search, News, Glossary and Order Pubs)
Some of the information is available in Spanish. In addition, an AIDSinfo e-mail update service is available for those wanting to receive notice of web site updates, HIV/AIDS news, and treatment guideline updates.
June 2005: LGBT
A Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender Advisory Group for employees of Lutheran HealthCare (Lutheran Medical Center, the Family Health Centers, and Augustana) is being formed. The group intends to:
--help create an environment that fosters respect and mutual understanding regarding diversity in
sexual orientation;
--provide peer support;
-- increase awareness and sensitivity among patients and staff;
-- advise and be a resource to LHC leadership and staff with regard to LGBT issues
Please see the following sites to find more information on this topic:
LGBT -- Wikipedia Encyclopedia's article
People with a History - an online guide to lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans history
Lutherans Concerned / North America - an independent membership organization that includes members of all Lutheran affiliations as well as other Christian Denominations. The organization's vision is that the Church embraces in holiness and into wholeness people of all sexual orientations and gender identities.
Out at Work (Or Not) --providing networking, resources, and support around gay, lesbian, and
bisexual workplace issues;
The Transgender at Work (TAW) -- project is a focal point for addressing workplace issues for the Transgender and concentrates on voluntary cooperation between employers and employees.
NYC Health Bulletin - 10 steps to a longer and healthier life for lesbian, gya, bisexual, and transgender New Yorkers
Out & Equal -- helps companies unleash the full potential of all employees - whether straight or gay, men or women, white or of color. BY removing barriers, businesses can create an inclusive workplace where everyone is involved, engaged, and excited about their jobs.
Gay.com - Business and Careers section of this site addresses issues gays face in the workplace. Users can also search the Corporate Pride Directory and use the job search engine.
Recommended LGBT / Queer Studies Websites - this list includes selected web resources useful for academic research and information purposes.
May 2005: Office of Minority Health (OMH)
The Office of Minority Health (OMH) was established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in 1985. It advises the Secretary and the Office of Public Health and Science on public health program activities affecting minorities. The OMH Resource Center serves as a national resource and referral service on minority health. The center collects and distributes scientifically valid and culturally competent health information including print and electronic publications for professionals and consumers, maintains a minority health knowledge center and database, publishes funding opportunities, maintains a list of volunteer resource experts available to the public, and conducts literature searches.
This source for perinatal statistics developed by the March of Dimes Perinatal Data Center. PeriStats provides free access to maternal and infant health related data at the US, state, county, and city level, and was developed to ensure that health professionals, researchers, medical librarians, policy-makers, students, and the media have easy access to this information. Data are updated throughout the year, and useful for multiple tasks, including fact-finding, health assessments, grant writing, policy development, lectures and presentations.
March 2005: Hospital Directory
Site offers worldwide search for hospitals by country, the first letter of the hospital's name, or by keyword. Each hospital citation includes the hospital's name, address, telephone number, Web site, and e-mail address. Some listings have more complete information than others. There are more than 12,000 listings available.
February 2005: Best Practice CME University of Minnesota
At the time of this addition, there free courses included: Genetics in Health Care: Clinical, Ethical and Professional Implications, Treatment of Mild Hypertension, and Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation. As the site notes, these online best practice courses are characterized by clinical focus, current data in core content, interactive case studies with questions and feedback, clinical endpoints, reference summaries, links to free resources, user ability to pose questions, and options for free CME credit. Users can approach the online best practice CME experience through multiple pathways. For example, they can search through core content first, or move immediately to the case studies. If time is limited, they can start with clinical endpoints. This site is available at no cost to users.
January 2005: Science of Tsunami
After the tsunami disaster happened on December 26, 2004 in South Asia that killed 150,000 people (data as of 1/3/05) there are a lot of questions on science of tsunami. This lecture was compiled by University of Pittsburgh and developed by disaster experts from Iran, Russia and the US. Experts included meteorologists and geologists.
December 2004: HealthStream Online Learning for Healthcare Professionals
Online courses for professionals in five fields - emergency medicine technicians, nurses, physicians, radiologic technologists, and surgeons - are the focus of this site, offered by HealthStream, a healthcare e-learning solutions provider. Within these areas, courses are grouped within broad specialty categories, such as cardiology, or more specific subcategories, such as fetal cardiology. The site also offers a few archives "Web events," which users may view free for continuing education credit. Users can take an online tour to get familiar with the site, or access an online catalog. Some of the courses are free, while others come with fees. v Users unable to finish a course in one sitting can pick up where they left off simply by clicking on "exit session," which created a bookmark. When users log on again, they can choose to resume learning or begin the session over. Users who start an assessment or exam must finish before exiting.
November 2004: PubMed on Handheld, Wireless Devices
The National Library of Medicine (NLM) offers a free Web application designed to help healthcare professional search PubMed, read journal abstracts, and access ClinicalTrials.gov using their wireless, handheld computers. Please read more about it.
October 2004: Diagnosaurus
Developed by McGraw-Hill, Diagnosaurus if a free differential diagnosis (DDx) software program for use on a handheld device. The downloadable product allows users to access more than 1,000 differential diagnoses, adapted from McGraw-Hill's Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment, and is described as useful to providers conducting rounds and case conferences. Diagnosaurus incorporates come 500 symptoms and signs, and 700 diseases. Information is alphabetized, categorized, and made searchable by disease, symptom, and organ system. Symptom listings are linked to related diagnoses within the program.
September 2004: Wireless Information System for Emergency Responders
The National Library of Medicine (NLM), Division of Specialized Information Services (SIS), has released a PDA system designed to assist first responders during hazardous material incidents: WISER (Wireless Information System for Emergency Responders). It provides a wide range of information on hazardous substances, including chemical identification support, physical characteristics, emergency medical treatment, containment and suppression information. The operational version of WISER for Palm OS is now available for download!
Features of WISER:
* Rapid access to the most important information for 390 hazardous substances via a PDA,
* Comprehensive decision support including assistance in identification of an unknown substance and, once the substance is identified, guidance on immediate actions necessary to save lives and protect the environment,
* Access to NLM's Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB), which contains detailed peer-reviewed information on hazardous substances,
* Intuitive, simple, and logical user interface,
* Mobile support, providing first responders with critical information where they need it, when they need it.
It is a public health services agency in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The mission is to "support research designed to improve the quality, safety, efficiency and effectiveness of health care for all Americans". The Agency provides practical, science-based information to medical practitioners and consumers, including news, research findings, quality assessment tools, and fact-sheets.
July 2004: Medical Abbreviations Glossary
June: 2004: Health Policy Monitor
A database of information on health policy trends and developments in 16 industrialized countries, collected and updated every six months, is the centerpiece of the Health Policy Monitor site. Information is contributed by an international group of health policy experts, collaborating as the International Network for Health Policy and Reform.
Criteria for inclusion of developments/trends are innovation, potential impact on the status quo of a healthcare system, and transferability to other healthcare systems. Featured developments usually involve model projects, policy concepts, and legislation.
Users may search the database for specific aspects of health policy reform by issue, such as funding or access; process stage, from idea to pilot to adoption or abandonment; actors, such as government, consumers, the media, or payers; degree of innovation; and country, if desired.
May 2004: Almanac of Policy Issues: Health
Like all sections of the Almanac of Policy issues, the health issues section is described as providing a public services by offering "comprehensive background information and links" on leading issues, and covering "all sides of each issue... in an unbiased, journalistic format."
Among the topics covered are abortion, AIDS, children's health insurance programs, drug abuse, HMOs and managed care, Medicaid, Medicare, Prescription drugs, stem cell research, tobacco, and universal health coverage.
The site also provides links to health policy directories; collections of policy news items from sources such as the Washington Post, The National Center for Health Statistic, Yahoo, etc.; and collections of articles and resources on a list of health issues produced by respected organizations and government agencies.
April 2004: Population Group Topics
These are wonderful pages from National Library of Medicine's MedlinePlus web site on different population groups such as Native American, African American, Hispanic American, etc. Within each page sections on statistics has pulled together the best sources of up to date material.
March 2004: Drugs @ FDA
FDA launches Drugs@FDA, a new, easy-to-use web site to help consumers and health professionals find information about FDA-approved and tentatively approved prescription, over-the-counter, and discontinued drugs products. You may browse or search by a drug name.
January 2004: The New York State Statistics
Web site provides extensive statistical information about New York State and its people for the use of government officials, businesses, academics, the media, and interested citizens.
The site also includes an on-line version of the New York State Statistical Yearbook. In its 27th edition, the Yearbook offers a wide array of statistical data on the economy, finances, and demography of New York State. The Rockefeller Institute, in conjunction with the New York State Division of the Budget, produces this Yearbook.
December 2003: HEAL
HEAL - Health Education Assets Library was developed by the UCLA School of Medicine and the Knowledge Weavers, a premier resource for health sciences teaching materials, partnered with the NLM (National Library of Medicine) and with the AAMS (Association of American Medical Colleges).
It offers a national repository of free, web-based multimedia teaching materials in the health sciences to provide educators with high-quality and free multimedia materials (such as images and videos) to augment health sciences education. The current collection now consists of over 2,000 images, sounds, and videos covering the areas of dermatology, obstetrics and gynecology, neuroanatomy, neurology, pathology, biochemistry, and cardiology, and is continuously growing.
Registration is required (free) to search and access the collection.
November 2003: Kaiser Family Foundation
The Kaiser Family Foundation site houses an extraordinarily broad and deep collection of free research-based information relating to issues of public health policy and education. The Foundation develops and runs its own policy research and communications programs, often in partnership with outside organizations.. Offerings range from fact sheets, policy briefs, and public opinion surveys to chatpaks, reports, research news, publications, and e-mail newsletters.
One of the most useful features of the site is State Health Facts Online, which offers individual state profiles and 50 state comparisons covering different categories such as Demographics and the Economy, Health Status, Health Coverage & Uninsured, Health Costs & Budgets, Managed Care & Health Insurance, Minority Health , Women's Health, and etc.
October 2003: Health Services/Technology Assessment Text
Free "searchable collection of large, full-text clinical practice guidelines, technology assessments, and health information" to support healthcare decision making. It is compiled from a variety of sources by the National Library of Medicine. Subjects range from acupuncture (practice guidelines) to youth violence (a report of the Surgeon General). Users can search HSTAT from the home page by entering "signs, symptoms, diagnosis, or other search terms".
September 2003: Palm Docs
On PalmDocs you can quickly and easily:
■ learn to maximize your Palm Pilot with the online tutorials.
■ find all the good medical Palm software out there, including PalmDocs' own proprietary software.
■ compare new hardware and software on the market so that you, your
practice and your hospital can make the most informed decisions.
August 2003: ICD -9
Free online searchable 2003 ICD-9-CM and Medical Terminology Dictionary
This database is created by Practice Management Information Corporation. PMIC has been the nation's leading independent publisher and reseller of medical coding, reimbursement, and practice management books, forms and software since 1989.
This site provides links to Web sites which provide instructions to authors for over 3,500 journals in the health and life sciences. All links are to "primary sources" - that is, to publishers and organizations with editorial responsibilities for the titles.
June 2003: Government Views of SARS
This site is created by City College of New York and concentrates on primary resource Government documents and information about SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) both from the United States and international resources. Topics covered include Blood Supply, Case Definitions, Cases Reported, Countries & Governments, General Background, Healthcare Facilities, Healthcare Personnel, Laboratories, Legal Resources, Presidential Communications, Prevention & Precautions, Public Health Campaigns, Quarantine, Travel Advisories, Travel & Transport, the Virus and the World Health Organization.
May 2003: National Quality Measures Clearinghouse
NQMC, sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, is a database and Web site for information on specific evidence-based health care quality measures and measure sets. NQMC is sponsored by AHRQ to promote widespread access to quality measures by the health care community and other interested individuals.
The NQMC mission is to provide practitioners, health care provides, health plans, integrated delivery systems, purchasers and others an accessible mechanism for obtaining detailed information on quality measure, and to further their dissemination, implementation, and use in order to inform health care decisions. NQMC builds on AHRQ's previous initiatives in quality measurement, including the Computerized Needs-Oriented Quality Measurement Evaluation System (CONQUEST), the Expansion of Quality of Care (Q-SPAN) project, the Quality Measurement Network (QMNtet) project, and the Performance Measures Inventory (PMI).
Key components of NQMC include:
- Structured, standardized abstracts (summaries) containing information about measures and their development;
- A utility for comparing attributes of two or more quality measures in a side-by-side comparison; and
- Links to full-text quality measures (when available) and/or ordering details for the full measure.
April 2003: InfoShare
InfoShare is available for free access to all individual users for 1 year. This database contains population statistics, immigration trends, socioeconomic indicators, birth and death data, hospitalizations, and local economic data. It allows the user to profile a specific area, compare the areas across a region, and produce tabulations. Detailed information is available for New York City and State, and more general data is available for other states and for the nation as a whole. The data files are obtained primarily from City, State, and Federal government agencies.
InfoShare is produced by Community Studies of New York, Inc., a non-profit corporation based in New York City.
March 2003: Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database
Produced by Therapeutic Research Center and now is recognized as the scientific gold standard for evidence-based, clinical information on natural medicine. Leaders in conventional medicine as well as complementary, alternative, and integrative medicine acknowledge the Database as the go-to resource for the most complete and practical information. This Database provides the most comprehensive listing of brand name, prescription and non-prescription drugs. A special benefit to using this Database is that the ingredients of brand name products are hot linked to a monograph on the particular ingredient. Available at the Library only. Click on the LOGIN button to enter.
February 2003: Health Professional Shortage Areas
The Shortage Designation Branch in the HRSA Bureau of Health Professions National Center for Health Workforce Analysis develops shortage designation criteria and uses them to decide whether or not a geographic area or population group is a Health Professional Shortage Area or a Medically Underserved Area or Population.
More than 34 federal programs depend on the shortage designation to determine eligibility or as a funding preference.
About 20 percent of the U.S. population resides in primary medical care Health Professional Shortage Areas.
January 2003: HIPAA - the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996
December 2002: The Alliance for Quality Health Care
The Alliance for Quality Health Care (AQHC) and Niagara Health Quality Coalition (NHQC) have released Indicators of Inpatient Care in New York State Hospitals, 2001, 25 reports of hospital performance. The database, which is comprised of reports of hospital performance in nearly 300 hospitals throughout the state, provides comparable data, based on 25 indicators of hospital quality developed by the federal government. The report provides reliable and comparable data on hospitals throughout the state. Hospitals in the same metropolitan area are grouped together. Links to additional explanatory information are provided throughout the report.
November 2002: Patient Education Resources for Clinicians
This site offers annotated links to Web resources for Patient education handouts, collected by the libraries at Oregon Health & Sciences University (OHSU). Resources are divided into two categories: English-language sites and non-English-language sites.
English-language sites are divided into three categories: fast track, low-literacy handouts, and other sites of interest. Non-English sites are divided into: Spanish sites in English and Spanish, low-literacy handouts in Spanish, and other non-English sites.
Especially useful are lists of hand-outs in Spanish, particularly those directed to a low-literacy audience.
October 2002: Regional Healthy People 2010 Resources
From asthma to workforce development, U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) regions are focusing attention and compiling evidence-based
resources for selected Healthy People 2010 priorities.
Use resource listings, event information, and contacts on this site to get involved in your region's Healthy People 2010 activities and priority area(s). Click on the map or state listings to find information for your HHS region. For each region's priority area(s), you can download, print, or search listings of action resources in Acrobat Reader. Two-page resource listings describe Healthy People 2010 companion resources, sites with evidence-based strategies, and other tools to achieve and promote relevant objectives.
September 2002: Free Medical Journals
The site currently offers 990 titles of medical journals sorting by subject , language, and title, as well as highlights free journals with high impact factors. There is some sort of free access, most often to issues older than 6 month, one year, or two years. There is also a mailing list to alert you as new free journals are added to their list.
August 2002: MedlinePlus
A goldmine of good health information from the world's largest medical library, the National Library of Medicine. Health professionals and consumers alike can depend on it for information that is authoritative and up to date. MedlinePlus has extensive information from the National Institutes of Health and other trusted sources on over 500 diseases and conditions. There are also lists of hospitals and physicians, a medical encyclopedia and dictionaries, health information in Spanish, extensive information on prescription and nonprescription drugs, health information from the media, and links to thousands of clinical trials. MedlinePlus is updated daily. There is no advertising on this site, nor does MedlinePlus endorse any company or product.
July 2002: Drug Digest
DrugDigest is the most comprehensive source of non-commercial, fact-based health and medical information on the Internet. There are access to drug Interactions database, where consumers can perform crosschecks on their medications, and avoid potentially harmful drug interactions; easy-to-read reference materials on topics ranging from drug, vitamins, and herbs to breakthrough medical research and state-of-the-art disease management; the latest news and research on the health conditions. .
June 2002: Continuing Medical Education resources for nurses:
May 2002: The sources for handheld medical solutions