I enjoy reading, evaluating, testing, and just learning about new technology.  Everyday I try to read several RSS feeds from various technology websites and follow some of the technology leaders on Twitter. Why would a solo hospital librarian be interested in technology?

Well, there are two reasons: 1.) I’m a Geek inspired by and passionate about technology, and 2.) Technology can and does have major impacts on medicine.

Over the last few weeks I’ve followed some posts about new screens which are currently in development.  We’ve all seen the news about the Barnes & Noble Nook (eReader).  I thought the inclusion of a small color screen at the bottom was a nice added feature, but what could this do for the medical community?

Next I saw several post about the enTourage eDGE. Curious, I investigated. I wasn’t able to get far since this device has not been released but when it is released it could have major impacts on technology used in medicine to find health information, especially at point-of-care. Here is a blurb from the company’s website:

The enTourage eDGe™ is the world’s first dualbook, combining the functions of an e-reader, netbook, notepad, and audio/video recorder and player in one. It’s a comprehensive device that lets you read e-books, surf the Internet, take digital notes, send emails and instant messages, watch movies and listen to music anywhere, at any time. This is nothing you’ve ever seen before!

The product is flexible (check out the pictures to see how it can be flipped 180 degrees), has a long battery life when using the eReader side, connects via WiFi or 3G, has Bluetooth capability for connecting an external keyboard, and much more.  No, I do not currently own an enTourage eDGe so I cannot give a product review. The finished product is on pre-order and will ship in February 2010.

So what, right?  Well, here is where I think this product could help the medical community.  A physician rounding on patients would have a device that folds together like a book making it easy to carry. They could write notes on one screen while talking to patients, pull up information on the netbook side to look up disease information or pull up consumerhealth information, and if they didn’t want to write down their notes they could use the audio recorder to dictate their notes.

It is one device with several features. Whether or not these features will surpass any of the current eReaders, netbooks, etc. is yet to be seen. The idea here is simplicity. One device. Yes you could use a mobile device to accomplish many of these task; however, the screens are normally too small to take notes, or show information (think of a picture or diagram) to patients. Also, I find it difficult to read on a mobile device for a long period of time. The enTourage eDGe would allow a physician to read articles on the fly without exhausting their eyes straining to see a small screen.

Maybe I’m way off base, but in my opinion this device has several applications and possibilities. I will be very curious to see the reviews when the official model is demonstrated at the upcoming 2010 International CES Conference in January.

If you are not interested in a dual device, then what about the ability to use your mobile device, laptop, netbook, etc. in daylight, bright light, and still use the device in normal conditions, with a color LCD screen?  Have you ever tried to read your mobile device on a sunny day? I normally have to find a shade tree or someone’s shadow to see anything.

Next year a new screen will be released that will make it possible, according to the company’s website, to view screens in different lighting. Pixel Qi, the company that created the screen for One Laptop Per Child, has been feverishly working on a new LCD screen which can be viewed in any lighting setting.

If an EMS is on the scene and needs to pull up WISER then the new Pixel Qi screen would make it possible even on a sunny day to review the information.  If the screens are able to conserve battery life (feature coming in 2010), then it would mean busy physicians, nurses, EMS, and other healthcare providers would not have to recharge as often. Plus, if the company is able to help reduce the price it would make it easier to afford these devices. I say if, because these are all future features yet to be seen.

All of these scenarios are merely possibilities until these new screens are released next year.  But just think of the possibilities and implications in the medical field!

Please visit the related websites for photos of these new screens. The photos were not posted here due to Copyright Law. If I have misstated anything then please let me know. The information on these new devices is limited since they will not be released until next year. If you know of any other new screens in development then please post a comment.  Please note I am not affiliated with the companies listed on this page in any way, nor do I endorse or support either of these companies. This post is for evaluating the impacts these new screens could have on the medical community.

Another FREE online CE: Beyond an Apply a Day!

The class does not start until next year (Jan. 4, 2010- Feb. 7, 2010) but I would go ahead and register now before it fills up!

The class is worth 4 MLA CE, for those who complete the course, and is a Category A course option for the Medical Library Association’s (MLA) Consumer Health Information Specialization (CHIS) program.

For more information check out Nikki Dettmar’s post at the Dragonfly.

I’ve been trying to send these out as I see them, but I am sure I missed a few. Here is the last of the Spotlight Series for this year. So if you are rushing to get in another MLA credit check it out:

Last Spotlight! session of the year – NLM Gateway – Add it to your calendar – Dec. 9 – Wednesday, 1:00MT, 2:00 CT

While the partnership between WebMD & the FDA isn’t new (see Junkfood Science Post for past information), there was a recent announcement about expanding the partnership.

I am very leery and skeptical of a paternship between WebMD & the FDA. Why? Well if you haven’t visited the WebMD site lately then you’ve missed all of the wonderful drug ads. Let me start by saying I have nothing against the WebMD site. It does offer useful information and clearly states consumers should consult their physician, and states some items are written by ’sponsored’ parties. The problem I have is with all of the ads and the fact that they do let “3rd parties” write post:

Wait, where is the FDA information? And did I miss the ad?  If you look closely the very first item on WebMD is an ad. It is kind of hard to tell, at least to me. There is no mention of a drug company just a statement “See how it affects the arteries.”  This ad is on the page twice, but where is the FDA link or information?

So the FDA information is almost at the bottom of the page?  What about being proud “to partner with the FDA to help Americans live healthier lives”?  Why wouldn’t the FDA link and information be at the top of the page?!?

Well what happens if I click on the ‘advertisement’ link:

The article pulls up and is very interactive… but what is the small line under the title “Sponsored by” mean?

Wow. So who wrote this? I cannot say who wrote the article, it is not clear to me (please point it out if you see it). I can say there are TONS of ads for a certain drug.

Now, I will say WebMD or whoever wrote this page did put in references about contacting your medical professional and even:

You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.FDA.gov/medwatch or call 1-800-FDA-1088.

Wait, what happened to the link to the WebMD FDA information? I don’t see it on this page. Plus all of the ads for the drug take up tons of space and you barely notice the text about contacting your physician or the FDA, or at least I barely notice it.

WebMD does not say who these “3rd parties” are; however, with all of the ads, it ‘leads’ me to believe some of the articles are written by pharmaceutical companies. I cannot say who wrote these articles since it is not clear on the page to me.  Yes, there is a note saying it was written by another party other than WebMD but would people easily see this information?

The WebMD FDA page is free of all ads:

What happens though if I use the search box at the top of the WebMD FDA page?

I searched from the WebMD FDA page, but the first few items are actually advertisement links?!? The actual first item in the list, below the advertisement links, actually takes you back into WebMD….

Wait, I thought I was on the WebMD FDA site? I’m confused.

Yes, the search box at the top had a watermark of WebMD in the search box, which probably was an indication that it was only for searching WebMD and not WebMD FDA, but is that really clear?

WebMD does state all over the website that consumers should consult their physician, that

WebMD does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

The question becomes can the consumer make this distinction or are the waters too muddy? The FDA has partnered with WebMD because:

“We see partners like WebMD as critical to helping us reach the public with important health information” said Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D., Commissioner of Food and Drugs.

The FDA, whether they meant to or not, has attached their name to WebMD. In a time when new rules are being established to separate hospitals, physicians, etc. from pharmaceutical companies the FDA has attached itself to a website which clearly displays tons of pharmaceutical company ads and has articles written by “sponsors.”  In my opinion, this has only muddied the waters. It also reminds me of the “ghosted” articles in medical journals, but the difference is WebMD does put a link saying it is sponsored by a unaffiliated 3rd party.

Maybe I am wrong. Consumers may check all of the references, sponsored by links, etc. on every page and not be influenced by the ads.

Personally, I would have liked to see the FDA partner with MedlinePlus and then advertise MedlinePlus more.

**Note: The comments in this post are my own and are written by me, Alisha Miles. They are not sponsored by, endorsed by, encouraged, or written by anyone else including any person, organization and/or company. The screen-shots have been taken directly from WebMD. The screen-shots have been cropped to only include the WebMD page and not include the internet browser toolbar(s). Besides cropping out irrelevant items outside the WebMD page, the screen-shots have not been altered. They have been utilized to illustrate the details and location of ads and not as an endorsement of any website or anything else. The author does not endorse, condone, approve or disapprove of any of the content in the links, pictures, ads, or screenshots utilized in this post. Also, the content on WebMD has not been questioned on this post, merely the use of ads and articles by ’sponsored’ parties.***

This paper session was a little more hectic. Not only were all of the rooms off schedule but one of the doors was locked! So I wanted to see “Don’t Be Lonesome Tonight: Public Librarians as Go Local Partners” I couldn’t see since I couldn’t get in!

I did get to see:

“Distance Education Dissonance? A Study of Barriers and Benefits”

By: Shelia Snow-Croft and Terri Ottosen

They did an excellent job of presenting about the NN/LM distance classes on Moodle. I have taken a Moodle class “Geeks Bearing Gifts”, which was awesome. Terri & Shelia explained the issues with the distance causing disconnect.

They have had problems with people dropping out during the middle of the class due to time constraints. Shelia pointed out they have been working on this issue by following up with students, making sure the instructors are easily accessible throughout the class and providing ample time to complete the class.

I must say if you have not taken any of these classes you should look into them. There are some great topics plus you can take the class from your office for free!

“Developing a Culture of True Integration through Active Participation in the Organizational Leadership Vision”

By: Annette Williams

The project seems pretty intense and time consuming. It is similar to how some academic libraries are structured. There is a liaison to different medical departments. Each librarian works with the department and actually attends the rounds. This not only lets the librarian see the every day events of physicians, residents, pharmacists, nurses, etc. But the medical librarians help the medical staff answer questions.

It was interesting to hear how the clinical staff was actually intmidated by the process because they were afraid to admit they didn’t know something. So it is not just the librarians who are nervous.

By rounding the librarians had to present themselves even if they are introverts. You have to just jump out there and find your own rhythm to answering questions. They don’t force librarians to adopt one way to handle the questions on the rounds. Some people write the information down, others use technology like PDA & tablet PC, etc.

The librarians do store the questions and answers so they can train new librarians to conduct a reference interview. Plus storing these questions allows them to reference when the same or similar questions are asked.

Time does become an issue but the team support is how they survive. They triage questions, know each other’s strengths, and help with daily tasks.

I think this was an excellent project but in reality I could never implement due to time constraints . It is something I think all medical librarians should do at some point, round with physicians. Why? It helps you see the day-to-day tasks and challenges. By understanding the physicians, nurses, and other medical personnel work flow you can better serve their information needs.

**If you worked on one of the papers above and have any corrections/additions please post a comment! Thank you!***

This afternoon Last Thursday afternoon was spent exploring Memphis… well at least the down town area. We walked around Beale Street and took some great pictures:

Finally, we decided to walk to Alcenia’s.

It was a little far from the Peabody. We walked down and then decided it would be better to take the trolley. It was well worth the $1 each way.

Alcenia’s was very festive with delicious food. The owner greeted everyone with a hug as they walked in.

The vegetables were extremely good and definitely had a little “soul” to them:

A great little restaurant tucked away in downtown Memphis!  Again well worth the trolley ride! The cornbread (not in the picture above) was delicious!

Official Post:

MedlinePlus has released a new version of the A.D.A.M. Medical Encyclopedia that includes approximately 400 new Patient Instruction (PI) pages. The content provides information on pre-operative information and instructions, discharge instructions, self-care instructions, and questions to ask your doctor.

The PI pages are available in both English and Spanish, and can be located in the MedlinePlus search engine and A-Z index pages for the encyclopedia. Additionally, links to related Patient Instructions will be displayed in the side-bar of many encyclopedia articles.

This is great! Another feature coming soon is integrating the Health Topics and Medical Encyclopedia. Soon the information from the Encyclopedia will be linked on the Health Topic on the same topic. So when you pull up Diabetes on the Health Topic page you will also see a link to the MedlinePlus Encyclopedia. No more flipping between Health Topics and the Encyclopedia!

While I wish I could write about all of the papers and posters it’s just not possible to see or write about them all. So I am going to focus on two papers.

“Ain’t Nothin’ but a PDA: Measuring the Effectiveness of PDAs in Rural Practice”

By: Rick Wallace & Nakia Carter

Rick did an excellent job of presenting this paper. I was very interested in the topic since I often work with rural physicians.

The project gave PDAs to a set of physicians and then compared comments & survey results to the control group, physicians with no access to PDAs. The results were very interesting.

Of course the physicians with PDAs spent less time looking for answers; however, they still reported time and technology were the biggest challenges. This could be explained by the fact that even though PDAs help save time it also takes time to learn how to use a PDA. I can certainly understand and immediately think of the difficulty of learning how to use Google Wave.

I am glad that The National Medical Library extended the funding for this project. I am curious to know if the physicians using the PDAs were new to technology and if they continued to use the PDAs after the project. I would really like to see some follow-up on this project.

“Library Orientations: A Mixed Methods Approach”

By: Brenda Green & Zachary Fox

Zach presented this paper and I was amazed to learn that not only is he a first-time attendee but he is also a student. He did an excellent job of presenting. Plus it always helps when you hand out gifts at the end! It is a puzzle/model & it glows in the dark…

The paper was an excellent presentation of how to incorporate different tools into a library orientation: 360 tour, physical tour, virtual tour, mobile technology, etc.

While I think this is an excellent idea and something that needs to be done: I also think about the time factor. In a large institution it is very easy to start these projects and work on several items at once. In a small institution it is more difficult. Then of course there is the solo setting where it is next to impossible to implement all of these ideas.

I say next to impossible because it can be done but would take a lot of time. I know I have been working diligently on two grants  where I am creating brochures and multimedia presentations. While I do have a deadline, I am finding I just don’t have the time. I have to prioritize and staff requests for medical information comes first. I tend to have to move other items down the list. There are never enough hours in the day.

Besides the time issue, the project is an excellent idea with great examples for other libraries. You should really check out the podcasts and other items on the library website.

Plus check out the Chili Project: Careers in Health Information, Librarianship, and Informatics.

That’s all for now. The next paper session starts tomorrow will be posted later today.

As this is was my first conference I didn’t realize how busy it would be & how much you run around. Besides all of the papers, posters, events, sessions, meetings, etc. You are also networking and making new friends. All of my time between items has been filled with introducing myself to new people. So I am really impressed with the new attendees who are also presenting!

To everyone I met and was able to spend time with it was great!

To  those I was not able to meet or spend time with there is always SCMLA 2010!

***Note the delay in posts is due to my phone loosing all the posts I typed. I guess I’ll have to listen to Dale & get an iPhone.

As you have probably noticed the PubMed redesign is here to stay now barring any further technical issues. Monday the new PubMed was permanent for a few hours then the site went down and finally reverted back to the old PubMed. While the new PubMed will take some time to adjust to, I am looking forward to the challenge of learning how to efficiently use the new PubMed.

I’ve seen tips flying across Medlib-L; like where to find the history, where to find MeSH, etc.  If you have any tips, tricks, or links to other posts of tips then please leave a comment below.  Any tips/advice is greatly appreciated as I’m still trying to adjust to all of the changes.