{ 2003 }

Online Learning Update Blog

Educational Technlogy

Online Higher Ed Notebook

eLearningpost

March 2003

The National Library of Medicine has done a really good job (no prejudice on my part, of course) in making available links to Web documents on the topic of Evaluating Health Information. I know this is a matter of concern to many of you who work with clients demanding high quality content in your areas of expertise.

A Spanish language version has also been made available for viewing.

Sources of information include NIH, Medical Library Association,  Federal Trade Commission), Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition), Harvard School of Public Health, and others.

posted March 28, 2003 2:51 PM

From the Research and Training Center on Independent Living at the University of Kansas, this handout is worth looking at. The Guidelines contain a very useful alphabetical glossary of 'appropriate terminology' and an extensive section on "do's and don'ts for writing about people with disabilities (portrayal issues).

The mission of this research site is to "enhance Independent Living (IL) for all".  The site makes "IL better by working with consumers, providing quality research, and widely disseminating effective and relevant products".

The site isn't yet big enough for a search engine but it does have a contact person for you to talk to if you have issues you'd like to raise with a knowledgeable resource person.

posted March 28, 2003 2:59 PM

This genetics glossary is "an innovative combination of text, illustrations and audio commentary in an accessible, user-friendly format. Students, teachers, medical professionals, librarians, journalists and others will discover easy-to-understand explanations of key genetics terms." Announced March 24, 2003 by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), this online Spanish Talking Glossary of Genetics is intended to provide a resource to Spanish-speaking people seeking a better understanding of recent advances in genetics and genomics.

posted March 28, 2003 1:59 PM

The Food and Nutrition Information Center (FNIC) is pleased to announce the release of 'Dietary Guidelines for Americans: A Historical Overview'.  This publication is available online as a HTML file: http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/pubs/bibs/gen/DGA.html, and as a PDF at: http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/pubs/bibs/gen/DGA.pdf.

'Dietary Guidelines for Americans: A Historical Overview'  is a historical compilation of the professional reviews and commentaries of the Dietary Goals for the United States and Dietary Guidelines for Americans documents published between 1977 - 2002 by governmental and non-governmental agencies, scientists, and educators.

To see all the Resource List titles available from FNIC, please see:
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/pubs_and_db.html.

Text supplied by: Liz Hill, RD, Nutrition Information Specialist, Food and Nutrition information Center, National Agricultural Library / U.S. Department of Agriculture, and used with permission.

posted March 28, 2003 1:59 PM

This site takes a long time to load via a 56bps modem. In fact, it took so long, I went back to reading my email while I waited. This is too bad because only those motivated to look will spend the time waiting. The rest will leave for the many other sites available on the topics covered on this site. Depending on whether you are a parent, child or teen, you can get answers to medical questions.

'Worrying about War' was the highlighted topic. The other highlighted topic dealt with nutrition since this is National Nutrition Month.

A search engine is available but I didn't take the time to try to look for content.

What are the kinds of topics covered? I don't know because I finally gave up trying to get into the site.

posted March 28, 2003 1:46 PM

This is an excellent site for those doing, or planning on doing research under funding from the National Institutes of Health. On this site find budget information, FOIA information, directories, research funding opportunities, scientific resources, news, publications, plans and reports and more grant and research information than you could spend a month reading.

The NCRR Reporter, their newsletter, has valuable articles on quite a cross section of topics. For example, the Winter 2003 issue covered such topics as: 9/11 Aftermath: A Clinical Look at the Rescuers, and Collaboratories: Sharing Resources to Solve Complex Problems.

posted March 28, 2003 1:40 PM

This site provides two types of information: Learn Now, a web portal offering links to parent-friendly resources on child and adolescent health issues; and Act Now, a guide written by CHHCS to help parents assess health-related services and programs at their child's school.

The site claims to have put up 2,100 pages. Locate information on a variety of topics including oral health, mental health, health education and disease prevention, student health issues, obesity, exercise, insurance (or lack thereof), HIPAA, privacy and more.

The Parents' Resource Center looks like it would be useful for parents. Get information on emotions & behaviors, general health, nutrition and fitness, safety, and information on keeping children safe at school, something that should be always in the back of a parent's mind. 

posted March 27, 2003 1:34 PM

Supported by a grant from Metropolitan Life Foundation and developed by clinicians from The Children’s Health Fund’s National Children’s Health Project Network, Healthy K.I.D.S. is designed to address the increasing rate of obesity in children. It provides children and the adults in their lives with simple and culturally appropriate tools to make positive lifestyle changes. The project consists of quarterly newsletters in English and Spanish that contain fun, age appropriate activities and information. Newsletter content is suitable for children of all backgrounds, and may be used for individual or classroom nutrition education. (Press Release)

K.I.D.S. stands for Knowledge Improving Diet and Strength. Files are available in PDF as individual pages. The newsletter would be easier to retrieve if it were totally in HTML or in one PDF document. 

posted March 24, 2003 11:28 AM

With 9/11 the world changed for people in the United States and with the current war in Iraq, there is an increased sense of anxiety at our vulnerability. To keep us informed of content available on the Web on this topic, the National Library of Medicine staff have created a new page with many links on Chemical Weapons.

Viewers can get the latest news on Chemical Weapons, coping with a chemical disaster, prevention and screening, information on specific chemicals such as explosives, cyanide, sarin, mustard gas, phosgene and other really nasty chemicals, organizations, dictionaries, directories and a section on how to talk to children about war and terrorism.

posted March 24, 2003 9:26 AM

With over 500 high quality sites, this resource is aimed at "health professionals, medical library communities, publishers, and NGOs in developing and transitional countries". Divided into three sections as listed below, the sites are selected for information that is relevant for developing and transitional countries and has at least five of the following six criteria:

• Authority: Does the information come from a reliable source?
• Coverage: Does the resource cover the subject adequately?
• Presentation: Is the source professionally presented? Are there any typographical or grammatical errors?
• Currency: Is the information kept up-to-date?
• Cost: Is the resource free of charge?
• Freedom of use: Can the contents be freely adapted and redistributed to local end users?

The resources are as follows:

• General Resources
(search engines, gateways – global and regional, bibliographic databases, abstracts, clinical trials databases, research networks, dictionaries, glossaries, disease classifications, evidence based medicine, full-text E-books, image collections, journals, newsletters, medical education resources, news, useful email lists, and WHO sites).
• Subject Index
(eg Anaesthesiology, Basic Sciences, Dermatology, HIV/AIDS etc.)
• Library and Publishing Support and Use of ICTs
(Information for Development, Internet Skills, Medical Informatics/E-Health, Publishing Tools)

The section on public health revealed two sources that I didn't know about.

posted March 24, 2003 9:02 AM

• Digitized books from the Great Hunger Collection
• Annals of the famine in Ireland an electronic text of an 1851 title
• Irish Potato Famine links
• Views of the Famine
• Ireland - Primary Historical Documents

posted March 21, 2003 10:32 AM

This Institute of Medicine (IOM) report was written by the Board on Global Health (BGH) and summarizes what is known about the role of microbes in our lives.

As with most IOM reports you can read the text online for free. I grazed the Executive Summary to see what the report contained.

posted March 21, 2003 10:22 AM

Collateral Damage: the health and environmental cost of war in Iraq - Report -
http://www.medact.org/tbx/pages/sub.cfm?id=556

Recent UN report - http://www.casi.org.uk/info/undocs/war021210scanned.pdf

posted March 21, 2003 9:58 AM

According to EINet News Briefs for March 21, 2003, SARS was first recognized on Feb. 26, 2003 in Hanoi, Viet Nam. The causative agent has not been identified, but physicians in Hong Kong and in Frankfurt have independent preliminary results suggesting the etiology of the virus may be a member of the paramyxoviridiae family.

For more information on this disease visit the following sites:

• Cumulative number of cases and deaths - http://www.who.int/csr/sarscountry/2003_03_20/en/
• For information from CDC including guidelines and recommendations - http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/sars/
• Department of Health Hong Kong SAR -
  http://www.info.gov.hk/dh/new/index.htm
• Singapore Ministry of Health - http://app.moh.gov.sg/
• WHO travel advisory - http://www.who.int/csr/sars/en/
• Preliminary Clinical Description of SARS (CDC)

posted March 21, 2003 9:36 AM

---

Having trouble narrowing down a search for information using one of the typical Web search engines? This search engine, brought to you by the same university who brought you Mosaic (do you remember Mosaic?), groups search results by their host Web pages and draws lines between related sites.

This is not an Web-based search engine, but one you download and install on your desktop and use while connected to the Internet. To download the software, you must first register. The application is beta software (which means all the bugs might not be worked out of it). This software is being used as part of a research project so that your user actions will be recorded and the data used for analysis.  All information obtained during this research project will be kept confidential.

The file is 13MB+ so be prepared to spend quite a bit of time waiting for the download to finish if you're using a 56K bps modem.

posted March 18, 2003 2:25 PM

Behavior Change - Family Health International

• This document presents and explains four of the most commonly cited theories used in HIV/AIDS prevention on how behavior change is believed to occur.
• the summary includes these four major theories
• Health Belief Model
• AIDS Risk Reduction Model
• Stages of Change
• Theory of Reasoned Action

NIH's Theory at a Glance

This monograph describes theories of health-related behaviors, the processes of changing behaviors, and community and environmental factors that influence behavior in a practical, easily applied style. 

This monograph presents ideas that can be used as tools for problem solving in the field of health promotion. 

The primary audience for this monograph is public health workers in state and local health agencies; secondary audiences include health promotion professionals and volunteers working in voluntary health agencies, community organizations, health care settings, schools, and the private sector. 

Part 1. Foundations of Applying Theory in Health Promotion Practice 

Part 2. Theories and Applications 

Part 3. Putting It Together 

It is intended for use as a stand-alone handbook, as part of in-house staff development programs, or in conjunction with continuing education workshops.
This monograph consists of three main sections. (from the NIH Website)

Health Communication - University of Kentucky

• list of behavior change theories
  
• Activation Theory of Information Exposure 
• Fear Appeals Theory 
• Health Belief Model 
• Organ Donor Willingness Model 
• Sensation Seeking Theory 
• Theory of Reasoned Action 
• Transtheoretical Model (Stages of Change Model)

Theories used in HIV prevention - UCSF, CAPS

• an article on whether or not theiries can help in HIV prevention
  

Communication Initiative's list of change-theories world-wide

• long list of behavior change theories
  

URLs submitted by Margo Harris

posted March 18, 2003 1:25 PM

Foodroutes.org is "a project of FoodRoutes Network (FRN), a non-profit organization dedicated to providing strategic communications and evaluation tools and information to on-the-ground advocates who are working to build awareness of and support for sustainable farming and local food systems."  

This site will answer these questions: 

Do you know where your food comes from? How it was grown? Where your food dollar goes?

The Local Harvest community level map makes it easy to find sustainable farmers, farmers markets and Community Supported Agriculture projects (CSAs) in your area. Just click on the map to zoom in, or enter your zip code to get quick results.

Look at the library of resources, an events calendar, FAQs, links and get involved in the discussion groups (which to date are not very active). 

Search the database to find sources for locally grown food, obtain toolkits, and shop for food online.

posted March 18, 2003 10:55 AM

Another collection of high quality links to smoking cessation content from the National Library of Medicine.

posted March 18, 2003 10:42 AM

This helpful list of nine charts (in PDF) will help those who need "free food, shelter, medical aid, & help with neighborhood problems". Made available by the Free Print Shop, an all-volunteer group started in 1968 to publish free news, information & art for people who need it.

• Free Eats Chart in 
• English & Spanish
• Free Pantry Chart in English & Spanish
• Free Shelter Chart in English & Spanish
• Free Medical Chart in English & Spanish
• Neighborhood Fix-it Chart

Looks like a good idea to me but for ease of access (and updating) the content would have been better displayed as HTML.

posted March 18, 2003 10:40 AM

This online resource is available for anyone who is interested in improving health care. The first topic area that was posted by QualityHealthCare.org addresses Patient Safety. To learn more about best practices in the field, view a wide variety of change concepts, measures, resources, improvement stories, downloadable tools to help you improve care, and discussion forums, visit the site.

Future topics include Chronic Disease, Critical Care, End-of-Life Care, Flow, HIV/AIDS, Leadership, Office Practices, and Workforce Development.

Vistors have to register to use the site, but registration is free.

posted March 18, 2003 10:33 AM

The Tool Kit contains the following:

• Crosswalk of Unacceptable and Dangerous Abbreviations
• Data Collection Form (Excel File)
• Medical Abbreviations Poster
• Ohioans FiRxst Summary
• Ohio Patient Safety Discussion Forum
• One Page Medical Abbreviations Fact Sheet

Also find success stories, initiatives and links to related content.

posted March 12, 2003 2:40 AM 

This year’s National Consumer Protection Week (February 2-8) focused on information security. The January 23, 2003 New York Times ran a story on identity theft which has nearly doubled from a year ago to 162,000 reports in 2002. Identity theft is something you should care about because fixing a case of identity theft can cost you money, but more importantly, time.

On this site you will find tips and links to resources on this topic as well as to smart shopping, and to information about safeguarding your health records, Social Security Number, and your Internet surfing. Links go to sites that will tell you how to guard your privacy and how to recognize and prevent Internet fraud.

None of us think that identity theft will happen to us, nor do we believe we are dumb enough to be taken in by someone perpetrating fraud on the Web. Enough people are being taken, however, to force us to keep us on our toes.  We need to be alert to unusual charges on our credit cards and to pleas for support from people in Nigeria with large amounts of money that they need our help getting. The old axiom, “If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is” should always be in the forefront of our minds.

posted March 8, 2003 9:43 AM

This 500 page report analyzes what has happened in public health since the 1988 report, The Future of Public Health Came out. Just as there were a number of problems identified in the earlier report, this report discusses the major overhaul that needs to be made in today’s public health system.

The press release stated, “Improving America's health in the 21st century requires major overhauls in the funding, organization, and coordination of the government public health infrastructure to ensure that it has the technology, work force, and other resources needed to promote and protect health…”

The report makes four specific recommendations:
Build a new generation of partnerships
Invest in the public health infrastructure
Enhance communication
Reform health care availability
 
A summary report available in PDF format is available for free on the National Academy Press Web (NAP) site, as is the full text of The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century. The book can be purchased in hardbound or paperback at the NAP site.

posted March 4, 2003 9:18 PM

This is another high quality product from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). It is "a public repository for evidence-based quality measures and measure sets." This site has just about anything a researcher or healthcare provider could want.

Look for a discussion group, NQMC-L Discussion List, a glossary of terms used in the standardized abstracts (summaries), a What's New , for enabling users to see what measures have been added each week (it includes an index of all measures in the NQMC), and a Detailed Search tool for enabling users to limit their online searches to measures that target a particular disease/condition, treatment/intervention, age range, gender, vulnerable populations, or settings of care.  

Find material on how to select, use, apply, and interpret a measure in the Using Measures and Selecting Measures sections.

Browse by Disease / Condition, Treatment / Intervention, Domain, and by Organization.

posted March 2, 2003 3:15 PM

This Californian site "focuses on educating women and their families about the importance of prenatal care, practicing healthy behaviors during pregnancy, and the availability of state programs that can help pay for prenatal care services." The site makes education and outreach materials (posters and brochures) available to BabyCal CBOs free of charge.

The Resource Center link is a listing of state programs and campaigns that can help with CBO education and outreach efforts. Recent issues of BabyCal News are archived on the site. This newsletter highlights best practices among CBOs in California and informational inserts on prenatal care topics.

posted March 2, 2003 2:55 PM

In a partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency, (NEETF) recently released national pesticide competency and practice skills guidelines for physicians
and nurses. This is part of a 10-year initiative to prepare the nation's primary care providers to recognize and effectively treat pesticide toxicity, a real problem among agricultural workers. EPA estimates there are 250-500 physician-diagnosed cases of acute pesticide poisoning per 100,000 agricultural workers.

Find the following documents and resources at the site:

• National Pesticide Compentency Guidelines for Medical & Nursing Education
• National Pesticide Practice Skills Guidelines for Medical & Nursing Practice
• Resources for Pesticide
  Competency and Practice Skills
• Pesticides Resource Library

posted March 1, 2003 1:35 PM