HSLIC News

Organizations that deal with patient care celebrate health literacy month every October as they recognize that health literacy is an important part of the care they provide to patients.  For instance, if a patient does not know how to take their medication correctly, they can end up back in their doctor’s office or the hospital.  Patient outcomes suffer and the cost of medical care rises.  The goal of health literacy is to help individuals make informed health decisions by improving their ability to access, understand, and effectively use health information.  It is important to emphasize to busy patient care providers that health literacy matters and the annual October celebration serves as a wonderful reminder of this often-overlooked aspect of good medical care. 

The Health Sciences Library & Informatics Center offers workshops on Health Literacy every year.  In addition, the University of New Mexico Hospital (UNMH) is one of the few hospitals in the country that has an Health Literacy Office.  UNMH’s Health Literacy Office provides workshops on teach-back and plain language methods of communication.  In addition, they will review forms, policies and handouts for UNMH departments to make sure the documents meet suggested health literacy standards:  https://unmhealth.org/diversity-equity-inclusion/health-literacy.html

If you would like to learn more about health literacy, there are many excellent websites on the Internet for you to browse.  Here are a few:

National Institutes of Health:  https://www.nih.gov/institutes-nih/nih-office-director/office-communications-public-liaison/clear-communication/health-literacy

CDC:  https://www.cdc.gov/healthliteracy/index.html

Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion:  https://health.gov/news/202010/october-health-literacy-month

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) celebrates its 34th anniversary on July 26, 2024. This landmark and transformative legislation guarantees that people with disabilities have the same opportunities regarding employment, access to public services, public telecommunications, and accommodations as everyone else.

Signed into law on July 26, 1990, by President George H.W. Bush, the ADA protects people with disabilities from discrimination and advances equality for all.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is composed of five major titles--each title addresses different areas of public life where discrimination against individuals with disabilities can occur. Here are the major areas or titles of the ADA:

 I.  Employment

 II.  Public Services

III.  Public Accommodations and Services Offered by Private Entities

IV.  Telecommunications 

V.  Miscellaneous Provisions

For more information on the Americans with Disabilities Act, visit https://www.ada.gov

For information about the disability laws in New Mexico:  https://www.gcd.nm.gov/disability-laws/

If you have questions about the ADA, or need information about an ADA issue, see:  https://www.ada.gov/infoline/

Happy 34th Birthday Americans with Disabilities Act!!!!!!

The Medical Library Association (MLA) published its first research agenda [1] in 2009 and its second research agenda [2] in 2012. During the past year, the MLA Research Agenda Committee developed the new research agenda. All three research agendas have intended to focus researchers’ efforts toward investigating the highest-priority research subjects.

The new MLA Research Agenda planning team began by asking 495 elected and appointed MLA leaders to identify what they viewed as the most important research question facing the profession. 130 leaders provided viable questions. MLA members who had published research articles within the past four years were asked to select up to five questions that they thought were both feasible and important. 200 researchers identified the top-ranked 36 questions that were in turn returned to the original 130 MLA members who submitted their questions to pick five top questions apiece.

The top 15 questions will be the focus of the new MLA Research Agenda. The questions pertain to a variety of subjects. Respondents focused on evidence based ways to educate health sciences students on their programmatic competencies, how to best measure the impact of information resources and services on institutional success, and how graduate schools of information should best prepare their graduates for the rigors of every day professional practice. Two questions, perhaps expectedly, sought guidance on how Artificial Intelligence (AI) might be best harnessed to serve health professionals’ information needs.

The applied research projects resulting from the Research Agenda will add to the growing body of evidence on how best to meet your needs.

Interested colleagues can learn more about the methods or results from this project by contacting Jon Eldredge at <jeldredge@salud.unm.edu>.

References

1.Eldredge JD, Harris MR, Ascher MT. Defining the Medical Library Association research agenda: methodology and final results from a consensus process. J Med Libr Assoc. 2009;97(3):178-185. doi:10.3163/1536-5050.97.3.006

2.Eldredge JD, Ascher MT, Holmes HN, Harris MR. The new Medical Library Association research agenda: final results from a three-phase Delphi study. J Med Libr Assoc. 2012;100(3):214-218. doi:10.3163/1536-5050.100.3.012

Please join us for our exhibit closing reception and talk on Tuesday, July 9, 5pm-7pm in HSLIC Room 428. 

Dr. Laura Nellums, UNM Professor of Global Health, will present A World on the Move: Global Health Equity in the Context of Migration.

According to Dr. Nellums, "This presentation will focus on migration and health. It will encompass drivers and patterns of migration, social determinants of health in the context of migration, the interrelationship between immigration policy, health policy, migrant and public health outcomes, and recommendations for how to advance health equity in migrant communities."

Dr. Nellums obtained her BA in Spanish and International Relations from Wellesley College, followed by her MSc in Medical Anthropology (University of Oxford), and PhD in Public Health (King’s College London). Her research is broadly focused on improving inequities in access to care and health outcomes in excluded populations. Dr. Nellums' particular expertise is in migrant, refugee, and ethnic minority health, and she has carried out mixed-methods research in infectious diseases, mental health, stressful life events, maternal and child health, and health policy and services. 

This event is in conjunction with the National Library of Medicine's traveling exhibit Making a World of Difference: Stories about Global Health. The exhibit will be on display on the Library's 4th floor from June 3 - July 13, 2024.

The reception and exhibit are free and open to the public. No registration is required.

Refreshments will be served.

National Public Health Week 2024 celebrates collaboration, cooperation, and partnerships in public health. The theme is “Protecting, Connecting and Thriving: We Are All Public Health.”

At HSLIC, we make resources available that support research in the broad field of public health, and collaborate with faculty and educate students in the College of Population Health.  Ours is a strong partnership. These past two years, as part of a grant from the college to develop an Academic Health Department, HSLIC librarians extended services to New Mexico Department of Health (NM DOH) practitioners. Academic Health Departments are partnerships between an academic institution and a health department. A goal is to strengthen the links between practice and academia, with opportunities for joint education, research and practice.

Librarians developed training modules in the process of evidence-based public health practice. We regularly teach these skills throughout the health sciences professional programs' curricula. A team of librarians, some with public health degrees, customized training to the context of public health and created four modules, following the steps of the process. These included:

• • Module 1: Developing Searchable Questions
  • Module 2: Searching for Evidence
  • Modules 3: A Toolkit for Evaluating Evidence
  • Module 4:  A Toolkit for Applying Evidence

Modules 1 and 2 were offered synchronously online to NM DOH personnel last spring, and all modules are now available to anyone through the UNM Digital Repository at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/er/

In addition, HSLIC became the partner library for NM DOH's Public Health Digital Library, a project of the Network of the National Library of Medicine. This means that New Mexico public health personnel have access not only to the hundreds of books, journals, and databases in that library but, if an item is not available, HSLIC will provide it from our collection or from another library. This greatly extends the scope of information sources available to practitioners.

At HSLIC we recognize and support the valuable work of public health practitioners. We are all public health!

May is National Stroke Awareness Month! According to the National Institutes of Health, a 2018 National Health Interview Survey found that 7.8 million Americans have suffered from a stroke. For many years, the rate of strokes in the United States had declined, but due to rising rates of obesity, this decline has reversed, and the incidence of strokes in the United States is rising.

Studies show that there is a connection between high blood pressure, dementia, and stroke. Therefore, controlling high blood pressure has become an integral part of stroke prevention and awareness efforts.

Several prominent health organizations promote stroke awareness and provide guidelines for the lay public and health providers:

• The American Heart Association: 

             https://www.heart.org/en/professional/quality-improvement/get-with-the-guidelines/get-with-the-guidelines-stroke

• The American Stroke Association (a Division of the American Heart Association):

             https://www.stroke.org/en/about-the-american-stroke-association

             https://www.stroke.org/en/about-the-american-stroke-association/stroke-awareness-month

• The National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke:

             https://www.ninds.nih.gov/news-events/directors-messages/all-directors-messages/may-stroke-awareness-month-1

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

             https://www.cdc.gov/stroke/index.htm

In 1983, the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition declared May National Physical Fitness and Sports Month.  Each President since has recognized May as a month to advocate for Americans to adopt healthy lifestyles.  President Biden issued a Proclamation in 2021 stating “No matter our age or ability, the more that we can make regular physical activity and participation in sports a part of our lives, the better off both we and our Nation will be.”  

The library might not be the first place you think of for physical fitness, but the HSLIC front desk offers all kinds of sports equipment for checkout:

• Spikeball sets
• OgoDisk sets 
• Soccer Ball 
• Basketball 
• Volleyball 
• Football 
• Kickball 
• Jump Rope 
• Hacky Sack 
• Frisbee 

Kumal Mankad, a first year student in the MD program, plays Spikeball with fellow students on their break between classes.  They were inspired by the PT students who often play out on the lawn in front of the library. Kumal says physical fitness is very important to him, but it has to be scheduled into his busy week in advance: “I try to set up at least 3 times for physical activities in my planner every week.  It’s not easy.  I’ve seen some students write in ‘Please go to gym’ between meetings or classes.”  He also said that he appreciates that the Library provides exercise equipment “Having equipment available at the library makes it much easier to get exercise.” 

Students can also take advantage of a basketball court located behind the library, a 2-mile trail around the UNM North Golf Course just down the street, and standing desk treadmills on the library's 3rd floor.

Selected ebooks regarding physical fitness available at our library include:

          Esteves, D., & Lewis, K. (Eds.). (2021). Exercise: physical, physiological and psychological benefits Nova Medicine & Health.

          Robbins, J.E., & Madrigal, L. (2017). Sport, exercise, and performance psychology: bridging theory and application. Springer Publishing Company, LLC.

          Trevisano, Q (Ed.). (2020). Physical fitness and exercise: an overview. Nova Science.

Additional Sports and Fitness resources: 

          US Department of Health and Human Services “Move in May”

          City of Albuquerque Parks & Recreation

          UNM Health Sciences Center HSC Wellness

Since 2001, the United States has celebrated National Minority Health Month (NMHM) in April.   Its purpose is to increase awareness of the importance of improving the health of racial and ethnic minority populations and reducing existent health disparities. 

This year’s theme, "Better Health Through Better Understanding," focuses on improving health outcomes for racial and ethnic minority and AI/AN communities by providing them with culturally and linguistically competent healthcare services, information, and resources. When patients are provided with culturally and linguistically appropriate information, they are empowered to create healthier outcomes for themselves and their communities. (Credit: HHS National Minority Health Month website)

As the state’s only publicly accessible health sciences library, UNM’s Health Sciences Library and Informatics Center (HSLIC) strives to support the health and health equity of all of the people of New Mexico, one of the United States’ only majority-minority states.  This is reflected in the library’s consistent dedication to collaborative partnerships and its support of the spaces and materials needed for health information learning.  HSLIC is engaged in this work year-round. The library's Native Health Database embodies critical and culturally-relevant resources for North American Indigenous populations. Its recent platform upgrade embeds concepts of Indigenous Data Sovereignty into the exchange of information between creators and communities, ultimately elevating communities to become decision-makers about what is appropriate to share and with whom. 

Further information on the library’s engagement with the community can be found here. UNM-HSC's Center for Native American Health specializes in student and workforce development, community engagement, community-based participatory research (CBPR), community health assessment capacity building, program planning, and project management. CNAH is a frequent collaborator with HSLIC in their mutual goals to improve health outcomes for Indigenous populations. 

All are also encouraged to explore the OMHRC (Office of Minority Health Resource Center) database, the nation’s largest depository of information on the health of minority populations.  A highlight is the availability of consumer health information in over 40 languages. Furthermore, the National Library of Medicine provides a helpful website (Health Disparities & Minority Health Information Resources) that has several links to federal government and private organizational resources that speak to the health needs of underserved populations. 

Authored by Deirdre Caparoso (HSLIC's Outreach & Community Engagement Librarian) and Jonathan Pringle (HSLIC's Scholarly Communications & Digital Librarian)

You are invited to join us on Thursday, April 6th, from 10 A.M - 11 A.M. for a virtual seminar by Lewis Worley, BE, and Robyn Gleasner, MLIS.

Topic: HSC Citation Analysis Project

Description: The HSC Citation Analysis Project set out to answer the following questions: where are faculty at the HSC publishing, does HSLIC/UNM provide access to these journals, what journals are the authors citing, and does HSLIC/UNM provide access to those journals. The answers to the questions would assist in the evaluation of HSLIC’s journal collection and determine potential gaps.  This session will show how we went about attempting to answer these questions from pulling data from Web of Science, analyzing it, and wrangling and parsing it using a number of programs and scripts including excel, open refine, SQL, and python. 

Learning Objectives: 

We will discuss: 

• What citation analysis is and why it is beneficial for collection evaluation 
• Our process of pulling, cleaning, wrangling, and parsing the data to meet our needs 
• Next steps to analyze the data and how to apply the analysis to future collection development decisions 

Please email BLCarroll@salud.unm.edu to request Zoom info.

You are invited to join us on Thursday, March 2nd, from 10 A.M - 11 A.M. for a virtual seminar by Glyneva Bradley-Ridout, BA, MI, and Elena Springall, BSc, MLIS.

Topic: Cross-Sectional Study of UpToDate versus DynaMed

Description: Health Sciences Libraries are often faced with difficult budget decisions regarding which clinical tools to purchase while keeping in mind user preferences and needs. Our research study was designed to inform evidence-based decision-making around this issue. We designed and executed a cross-sectional research project which compared the speed and accuracy of two popular point-of-care information tools: UpToDate and DynaMed plus. We will share the results of our research, including a behind-the-scenes glimpse into our research process. 

Learning Objectives: 

We will discuss: 

• how to form research objectives from collections priorities
• how to balance multiple priorities and changing roles while conducting research
• how to work with busy medical residents as study participants

Please email BLCarroll@salud.unm.edu to request Zoom info.