A controlled vocabulary for nursing and allied health in Norway

Nursing and allied health libraries at educational institutions in Norway have generally indexed their book collections with uncontrolled terms. With the reorganization of higher education in 1994, the majority of these libraries joined BIBSYS, which is a joint library system for higher education and research in Norway. This has led to chaos when searching the joint catalogue for literature on nursing and related fields. A term such as 'behaviour problems' may have up to five synonyms. In an attempt to improve the quality of searching the health literature, BIBSYS appointed a working group in the Spring of 1999 to find a suitable controlled vocabulary for this subject area, and to see how this vocabulary could be integrated into BIBSYS. The group presented its recommendations in October 1999. The report has been well received by the BIBSYS Board and by user groups. There are no Norwegian vocabularies that are suitable for use in nursing and allied health, therefore it will be necessary to translate and combine existing thesauri. The group has looked at the Nordic Multilingual Thesaurus on Health Promotion, the Swedish Spriline Thesaurus, MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) and CINAHL Subject Heading List. Other relevant thesauri are AMED/CATS Thesaurus, Bioethics Thesaurus (Bioethicsline) and the RCN thesaurus. The group recommends the development of a Norwegian thesaurus based on a translation of parts of MeSH and CINAHL Subject Heading List.     

Social media in public health care: Impact domain propositions

This paper investigates the impacts of social media use in Danish public health care with respect to capabilities, interactions, orientations, and value distribution. Taking an exploratory approach, the paper draws on an array of quantitative and qualitative data, and puts forward four propositions: social media transform the access to health-related information for patients and general practitioners, the uptake of social media can be a cost driver rather than a cost saver, social media provide empowerment to patients, and the uptake of social media is hindered by legal and privacy concerns.     

Focus groups for allied health professionals and professions allied to technical services in the NHS--marketing opportunities, lessons learnt and recommendations

Background: Worcestershire Health Libraries provides services to all NHS and social care staff in Worcestershire. Despite intensive marketing, statistics showed low usage of the library service for professions allied to technical services and allied health professionals. Objectives: To discover why there was low usage of the library services using qualitative techniques and to use focus groups as a marketing opportunity. This article also aims to outline the processes involved in delivering focus groups, the results gained, and the actions taken in response to the results. Methods: Focus groups were conducted in two departments, Pathology and Occupational Therapy. The Biochemistry department (part of Pathology) had two focus groups. An additional focus group was conducted for all the Pathology education leads. Occupational Therapy had two meetings, one for hospital based staff, and the other for community staff. Results: Issues centred on registration, inductions, time, library ambience, multi‐disciplinary service and resources. The findings raised marketing opportunities and the process identified potential candidates for the role of team knowledge officer, to act as library champions within departments. It also identified areas in which the library service was not meeting user needs and expectations, and helped focus service development. Conclusions: Focus groups allowed an opportunity to speak to non‐users face to face and to discover, and where appropriate challenge both their, and library staff’s pre‐conceived ideas about the service. The information revealed gave an opportunity to market services based on user needs.     

Seniors connect: a partnership for training between health care and public libraries

Kaleida Health Libraries, in partnership with the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, presented "Seniors Connect: A Health Information Project." The program was funded by the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo and the Kaleida Health Foundation. The purpose of the project was to teach African-American and Hispanic senior citizens or their caregivers residing in the city of Buffalo how to search the Internet to find quality, accurate, understandable health information. Attendees were taught to distinguish quality information from inaccurate, misleading, and fraudulent material. A total of fourteen training sessions were offered. The Seniors Connect program was initiated with health fair at each branch library, conducted by Kaleida Health staff, to provide an opportunity for participants to learn about health care services available in their community; observe demonstrations of health information searches on the Internet; learn about new treatment modalities for diseases such as diabetes, high cholesterol, thyroid abnormalities, and hypertension; and interact with area health care providers and library staff. The sessions were highly rated by attendees and many participants expressed their gratitude for a program geared specifically toward seniors.     

Clinical effectiveness and allied health professionals: an information needs assessment

OBJECTIVE: To determine the information needs and support required by AHPs whilst building services based on clinical effectiveness. METHODS: A qualitative approach using action research in co-operation with a Rehabilitation Department Clinical Effectiveness group, leading to interviews with eight therapists. The sampling strategy was purposive. RESULTS: Therapists have well-developed professional networks, but are unsure how to access traditional library areas. Library training can stop AHPs in asking for help or services, whilst the library is thought to be very different to their everyday work, but confidence in using the library service can be acquired by getting to know a librarian. A departmental-based service was thought to provide better access to, and understanding of, information through mentorship, whilst also providing up-to-date evidence so that clinicians can concentrate on their clinical work whilst being more clinically effective. CONCLUSIONS: When seeking information, AHPs are more likely to use professional networks than libraries. However, when working alongside an AHP, a librarian can upgrade information-seeking skills through mentorship, whilst named library contacts can make it easier to access the library for help.     

Biomedical and health informatics in Peru: significance for public health

Introduction

This issue of the feature column reports on developments in Peru on the use of information and communication technologies to improve public health. The authors describe how cell phones and hand‐held devices are being deployed to monitor diseases. Recent concerns about the spread of swine flu highlight the importance of robust public health systems in developing countries. 1 Jeannete Murphy

Reference

1 Swine flu could be a disaster for weak public health systems in developing countries . British Journal of Healthcare Computing and Information Management , 30 April 2009. http://www.bjhcim.co.uk/news/2009/n904046.htm (accessed 18/05/09).     

OTseeker helps library and allied health professionals to find quality evidence efficiently

Background: Research is essential for evidence‐based practice yet many health professionals do not have enough time to find research. Studies relevant to occupational therapists can be particularly difficult to find. Most search engines are broad and return a large number of irrelevant articles. Occupational Therapy Systematic Evaluation of Evidence (OTseeker) is an occupational therapy database available at http://www.otseeker.com . Developed by Australian occupational therapists, the resource aims to increase access to research and support clinical decision making. This discipline‐specific database contains pre‐appraised information from a variety of sources and decreases the time required to locate best evidence. Objectives: The aims of this paper are to: (i) describe how health librarians can use OTseeker to help allied health students, researchers and practitioners, particularly in occupational therapy, to find quality evidence; (ii) provide a teaching resource for health librarians based around the OTseeker evidence database; and (iii) highlight new features contained on the OTseeker database. Methods: A case study is provided which focuses on searching for evidence on the effectiveness of upper limb rehabilitation after stroke using OTseeker. Conclusion: This paper may increase the knowledge, skills and competencies of health librarians, helping them to access evidence‐based databases, and educate other professionals.     

Complementary competencies: public health and health sciences librarianship.

OBJECTIVES: The authors sought to identify opportunities for partnership between the communities of public health workers and health sciences librarians. METHODS: The authors review competencies in public health and health sciences librarianship. They highlight previously identified public health informatics competencies and the Medical Library Association's essential areas of knowledge. Based on points of correspondence between the two domains, the authors identify specific opportunities for partnership. RESULTS: The points of correspondence between public health and health sciences librarianship are reflected in several past projects involving both communities. These previous collaborations and the services provided by health sciences librarians at many public health organizations suggest that some health sciences librarians may be considered full members of the public health workforce. Opportunities remain for productive collaboration between public health workers and health sciences librarians. CONCLUSIONS: Drawing on historical and contemporary experience, this paper presents an initial framework for forming collaborations between health sciences librarians and members of the public health workforce. This framework may stimulate thinking about how to form additional partnerships between members of these two communities.     

A recommended core book list for public health libraries.

Public health is a multidisciplinary field ranging broadly across the health care spectrum. In light of this diversity the selection of basic reference books and textbooks in the field is a complex task. This paper first defines the components of what is public health and then presents such a list to serve as a guide to the librarian faced with this task.     

A comparative analysis of moral principles and behavioral norms in eight ethical codes relevant to health sciences librarianship,medical informatics,and the health professions

Objective:

Based on the authors'' shared interest in the interprofessional challenges surrounding health information management, this study explores the degree to which librarians, informatics professionals, and core health professionals in medicine, nursing, and public health share common ethical behavior norms grounded in moral principles.

Methods:

Using the “Principlism” framework from a widely cited textbook of biomedical ethics, the authors analyze the statements in the ethical codes for associations of librarians (Medical Library Association [MLA], American Library Association, and Special Libraries Association), informatics professionals (American Medical Informatics Association [AMIA] and American Health Information Management Association), and core health professionals (American Medical Association, American Nurses Association, and American Public Health Association). This analysis focuses on whether and how the statements in these eight codes specify core moral norms (Autonomy, Beneficence, Non-Maleficence, and Justice), core behavioral norms (Veracity, Privacy, Confidentiality, and Fidelity), and other norms that are empirically derived from the code statements.

Results:

These eight ethical codes share a large number of common behavioral norms based most frequently on the principle of Beneficence, then on Autonomy and Justice, but rarely on Non-Maleficence. The MLA and AMIA codes share the largest number of common behavioral norms, and these two associations also share many norms with the other six associations.

Implications:

The shared core of behavioral norms among these professions, all grounded in core moral principles, point to many opportunities for building effective interprofessional communication and collaboration regarding the development, management, and use of health information resources and technologies.