<i>Library Update</i>

Seasons Greetings from Library Services! Or should I say… Library Services and Patient Education! That’s right, we’re excited to share that Library Services and Patient Education are now one cozy team. This new structure also allows for us to bring two new positions on board and ramp back up patient education materials for Allina Health. More news will come in January when we plan the official re-launch of Patient Education services.  In the meantime, we hope that everyone has a joy-filled holiday season. To help with that joy (and possibly your work responsibilities), we invite you to read about updates to the Micromedex Drug database followed by some fun and festive reading from the BMJ Christmas issue.

Micromedex Updates

Micromedex, a suite of databases offering drug, disease and toxicology information for health care professionals, just got better with improved dosing and administration to find information faster.

• Adult and pediatric dosing in the “Quick Answer” sections now feature a collapsed view to provide easier viewing and faster access to the essential information you need. 
  • Dosing information for specific conditions are still available by using the “Expand All” or opening the dropdown sections below. 
• The new look and features have already been implemented with In-Depth Dosing, FDA, Non-FDA, Labelled Uses, Dose Adjustments, Comparative Efficacy, and Adverse Effects.   
• Take a brief guided tour of this new feature visiting Merative.

Find Micromedex on our Library page and within Excellian under the EPIC Links menu. Micromedex is also integrated within EPIC as shown below in the medication administration record (MAR) tab, and Orders (pop-out that appears when ordering or modifying a medication order).  

BMJ Christmas

The BMJ Christmas issue features a collection of light-hearted and humorous articles, and original research papers. The Christmas issue is known for its unconventional and entertaining content, covering a wide range of topics. This year we are highlighting two articles that feature one of our favorite holiday events: The Doctor Who Christmas Special. And enjoy the artwork of Andrew and Sarah from Abbott Northwestern Hospital Holiday window painting, 2018. Enjoy!

• Effect of a doctor working during the festive period on population health: natural experiment using 60 years of Doctor Who episodes (the TARDIS study)
• Festive period episodes of Doctor Who and population Mortality  

Easier access to articles for everyone!

Happy fall (winter?)! We’re finally into some colder temperatures, but things are heating up in Library Services! We’re very excited that LibKey Nomad is now automatically installed on all Edge browsers across the organization.  What is LibKey Nomad? Go back to our first Library Update issue to read all about it.  Most importantly, make sure you are using the Edge browser when searching for articles (through PubMed, Google or even on journal websites). When you find an article, look for the blue box with the green flame and it will connect you directly to the full-text, or if we don’t have access, it will connect you with an interlibrary loan form to request the article.

November is Skin Care Month

For anyone claiming beauty is only skin deep, may heed wise consultations from their dermatologists.  November is The American Academy of Dermatology’s (AAD) National Healthy Skin Month, which promotes the importance of good skin care, including healthy hair and nails.  Did you know Library Services features a Dermatology subject guide complete with dermatology-related databases, eJournals, eBooks, practice guidelines, and DEIB resources. The library also highlights high-quality open access resources.  For example, Skin Deep is led by an international medical education team from the Royal London Hospital for recognizing conditions in all skin tones, reducing inequalities, and improving patient care by ensuring that all children receive a timely diagnosis regardless of their skin color. The Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology (JAAD) also features an extensive Skin of Color Atlas derived from published articles, case reports, and JAAD International for the dermatology community.

History Matters!

A lot has changed in healthcare and health systems over the years and it can be fascinating, as well as educational, to re-visit past events and trends.  The Library staff recently took a field trip to the Hennepin Healthcare History Center, which is housed in the lower level of the Blue Building on the Hennepin Healthcare campus in downtown Minneapolis.  We were graciously shown around by Michele Hagan, the archivist for the collection. It made us want to re-visit the Allina history wall at the Commons to see where we came from!  Next time you are on the lower level of the Allina Commons (outside Pettingill Hall), look for the picture on the wall of the 1906 St. Barnabas Hospital orange from a patient’s food tray that is actually part of the collection at HHHC!

Happy October! 

While it still might feel a bit summery, we’re definitely headed into fall with shorter days. Who knows, by the end of October maybe we’ll see some snow…remember the 1991 Halloween blizzard? Speaking of Halloween, we have a special spooky edition of the newsletter this month. Check out our articles on BRAINS, BONES, and FEAR below! While Halloween might be the scariest part of October, don’t forget that October is also National Medical Librarians Month! Along with colleagues across the country, librarians in Allina Library Services support research and practice across all the health professions with our resources and expertise. Need an expert searcher? We got you! Need curated access to journals, e-books, and clinical decision-making tools? No problem. Allina Library Services is your partner in making evidence-based decisions! 

BRAINS: Expand Your Brain!

Ever wonder what a physician’s brain looks like?  With the scary season upon us, we thought the question might be fun to ponder ... and then The New England Journal of Medicine provided a perspective from a library lens, Centering the Peripheral Brain—The History of Reference Tools in Medicine.  Historically, physicians used physical reference books to keep up to date.  Now, in the digital age, “reference tools are integrated with clinical trials, machine-learning algorithms, and electronic medical records” that move from a “just-in-case" to a “just-in-time" model of learning and practicing.  Several library databases are intended to be clinical decision-making tools and will continue to evolve and expand the “peripheral brain” for all care providers.

BONES: Human Anatomy Modules!

It is a terrifying thought that many clinicians are unaware of Access Medicine’s Human Anatomy Modules. Here, clinicians and staff may interact and explore with complete, focused, and regional 3-D anatomy displaying entire human bodies or organ systems all the way down to specific vessels, tissues, or structures.  The Complete Human Anatomy features male and female-focused modules for the entire body.   Specialists will appreciate the Focused Anatomy Modules, which provides anatomical views of common medical conditions across 16 fields of practice (e.g. Cardiology: Atrial Fibrillation).   Learners and students will find value in the Anatomy Tours to explore and quiz themselves afterwards. Don’t be afraid and be sure to check out this hidden gem!

FEAR: The Psychology of Horror

Fall isn’t all apple picking and pumpkin spice lattes. For many the month of October is all about horror, from films and books to haunted houses and haunted hayrides. To quote Danny Elfman “Life’s no fun without a good scare*”. But why do we voluntarily seek out entertainment that will frighten us? What is it about a good horror movie that not only scares but excites us? For many, horror entertainment offers a thrilling combination of fear and fun that can’t be found anywhere else. This spooky season explore all that horror has to offer, even if it sounds a little scary. 

*This is Halloween from Nightmare before Christmas

Connect with Us!

Welcome to Fall! It’s been a busy summer at the library. In addition to relaxing with our families, we also got a lot of work done, including meeting with people across the organization to show them how to use our services and resources. This summer alone we met with over 300 nurses, residents, research personnel, urgent care providers, and more! Did you know that we meet with both groups and individuals? We can customize our consultation to whatever you need. Maybe you are diving into a research project or simply need help finding an article or another piece of information – we’re happy to help! We even have an easy way to book a meeting right on our home page.  Check out the Request a Librarian Consultation to schedule your next meeting with us.  We look forward to hearing from you!

Create a Clinically Relevant Journals filter in PubMed

PubMed, the premier database for biomedical literature, has a personalized option for customizing your experience, called MyNCBI (see Tip of the Month in Library Update 2). 

There are many benefits to creating a MyNCBI account , and a major one is you can set up custom filters to apply to your searches.   You can limit searches to Review articles, last 5 years, or even a subset of 80 of the most clinically relevant journals, which have been identified by medical librarians who revised the core clinical filter in PubMed (e.g. NEJM, JAMA, Circulation).

 

To create a custom filter once you have a MyNCBI account, you go to your Dashboard --> Filters --> Manage Filters--> Create Custom Filter and then add the query terms and select a name to save your filter.  It should then appear in your filters at the side of your searches ready to be selected.

The query terms (or strategy) for the clinically useful filter can be found here.  There is a more detailed description of these instructions at MyNCBI Help.  And, of course, you can set up a quick consultation with a Librarian to show you how to do this from the Library’s web page.

 

 

 

Have you ever heard of Health Humanities?

The interdisciplinary field of Health Humanities includes the intersection of the fields of the arts, humanities, and social sciences through the lens of health and healthcare. We have created a LibGuide focusing on two fields of Health Humanities: Graphic Medicine and Narrative Medicine. 

Narrative Medicine is a term that encompasses, among other things, the use of story (of either the patient or the provider) to enhance the healthcare experience and ideally to improve outcomes. Here you can learn about various forms of narrative medicine, such as non-fiction, novels, and poetry, including books and articles from our collection, and view videos about the importance of storytelling and healing. 

Graphic Medicine refers to any comic or graphic novel that aids in either healthcare communication or storytelling. Here you can learn more about the art form of graphic novels and manga, how to read them and how to create them. You can also explore our curated lists of recommended titles both from our collection and from the Hennepin County Public Library*, as well as webcomics and videos about using graphic medicine to humanize medicine. 

 

*All Hennepin County Public Library books are accessible through your home libraries interlibrary loan system. 

Summer Vacation

Did you know that much of Europe, especially southern Europe, traditionally takes the whole month of August off of work and heads on vacation? Well, we aren't in southern Europe sadly, nor are we on a month-long vacation, but we can dream, right?! In the spirit of this tradition, we're going to take quick break from the newsletter and catch some baseball (we're in America after all). See you in September!

Summer Reading

Craving some light reading on your summer vacation? Check out these articles:

• Do we recover from vacation? Meta-analysis of vacation effects on health and well-being (PubMed)
• Annual, seasonal culture, and vacation patterns in sleep, sedentary behaviour and physical activity: a systematic review and meta-analysis (PubMed)
• A Two-week vacation in the tropics and psychological well-being - an observational follow-up study (Pubmed)

Health Misinformation and Predatory Publishing

“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes”
~ Mark Twain*

In today’s information landscape, including social media with its commercialization and polarization, many people struggle with discerning the truth.  A 2023 survey from KFF revealed half to three-quarters of the public feel uncertain about public health topics (e.g. Covid-19 vaccines, reproductive health, and gun violence), which leaves them vulnerable to misinformation but is also the opportunity to combat it.
 
In response, Library Services created a Health Misinformation Resource guide complete with reputable tips and recommendations to verify and evaluate health information.  Resources from the National Library of Medicine, the National Institute of Health, and the U.S. Surgeon General, including a quick infographic for How to Spot Fake News can help individuals ask the right questions before making an assessment.

In addition, predatory publishing is an increasing threat to researchers. Library Services created a Predatory Publishing guide to identify red flags of predatory journals and quality indicators for open-access journals.  Library Services recommends the checklist tool Think, Check, Submit to assess whether a publication suits your research.

*Fun fact: Mark Twain never wrote this statement. 

Long COVID Resources

A recent data brief from JAMA provided striking data points on the continuing influence of the COVID pandemic:   7% of US adults have experienced Long COVID. Among the interesting findings, data behind the national survey found the prevalence of long Covid was significantly higher among women, white, and Asian populations compared to men and African American populations.  
Did you know Library Services can help provide access to resources for caring for patients and to the latest research in this area, which continues to evolve?

Here are a few notable resources: 

MN Department of Health:  Long COVID - Links to resources and support for patients, interim guidance for providers, as well as the state’s Guiding Council composed of Minnesota clinicians who care for long COVID patients in primary and specialty care settings across the state. 

Roger Chou, Eric Herman, Azrah Ahmed, et al. Long COVID Definitions and Models of Care: A Scoping Review. Ann Intern Med. [Epub 21 May 2024].

National Academies Press ebook on Long COVID (2022)

NIH RECOVER COVID Initiative

PubMed search on Long COVID 

Allina’s recommendations

Have a Happy and Safe 4th of July!

Summer Leadership Reading

Welcome to Summer! With the sun shining from early morning until late at night, you might find yourself looking for something to read. These long days can mean more time for a new novel from your public library (see the April issue for more info), or perhaps you’d like to use this time for personal development such as building your leadership skills. We’ve got just the thing for you! Starting in May, Library Services began to curate a Leadership in the Literature list of recent leadership and management articles that will appear monthly in the Management Minute (sent to all Allina supervisors or higher). Even if you do not receive the Management Minute, you can access them right from our website on the Leadership Resources subject guide. For May, we had articles on everything from being an inclusive leader to getting past burnout to supporting a culture of care. Check back mid-June for a new list of articles.

Curated Content Collections: Library Subject Guides

What does a library within a library look like?  Check out the Library’s Subject Guides accessible from the top navigation of the Library web page.

The latest Guide to be added is Cardiology, but there are Guides on Health Data & Statistics, Leadership, Nursing, and much more.  Each Guide highlights and provides links to the library content, ebooks, ejournals, documents, guidelines, websites, and videos that relate to the subject topic. Keep an eye on the list because the librarians are adding new ones on a regular basis.  We also welcome suggestions for your favorite Guide.

Pride Month Resources

Library Services wishes you a happy Pride Month! Please check out the LGBTQIA2S+ and Transgender healthcare pages of our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging subject guide. These pages feature our collection of LGBTQIA2S+ eBook titles, as well as links further reading to authoritative sources on LGBTQIA2S+ healthcare, professional society guidelines , and videos. If you are interested in learning more about LGBTQIA2S+ Healthcare and earning free CMEs at the same time, check out the National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center. There are also many ways to celebrate Pride locally, there are curated lists of fiction and non-fiction titles from Hennepin County Library, Quatrefoil Library in South Minneapolis, and don’t forget TCPride.

Exciting New Library Tools Available

Happy May! We’ve returned from our newsletter spring break with several new tools to tell you about!

UpToDate

UpToDate, one of our primary clinical and drug information point of care tools now has two new features: Lab Interpretations and UpToDate Pathways. UpToDate Pathways are interactive guides that support clinical decision-making on 79 different topics. In cases where abnormal lab results may raise questions, Lab Interpretation monographs enable you to more quickly and accurately interpret and decide on next steps. Access UptoDate from our website or directly from Excellian.

Clinical Skills

Clinical Skills is our longstanding tool for keeping up on nursing skills and procedures, but unfortunately, until now, there wasn’t a way to get and save CE credit from the tool. Now all nurses, nursing and medical assistants, and respiratory therapists should automatically have Clinical Skills accounts set up which allows you to complete and save CE. To find out more about logging in and self-assigning courses see our guide.

Need More Help?

Allina Library Services is always looking for new ways to support your complex information needs. We’ve added two new resources available on our website. You now can Request a Librarian Consultation anytime you’d like to discuss your information needs. We’ve also developed several guides to help you use our resources on your own. They are available in the new How-to-Guides section of our website.  

Pros and Cons of AI: the Medical Librarians Perspective

The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) poses opportunities and challenges for healthcare professionals.  Copilot, Microsoft’s new AI assistant for Windows 11 and Edge recently became available for all Allina Health employees, which features relevant and creative suggestions, insights, and tips for writing documents, planning projects, and research information for nearly any topic.  The applications present exciting time-saving resources for professionals; however, our findings have shown significant limitations of AI tools.

For instance, our initial experiences have revealed AI provided limited context in answering complex questions.  While algorithms are continuously improving, many AI models initially offered older or outdated, or incorrect information.  AI learns from feedback and experience over time, and the data is only as good as the input.  AI models insufficiently trained in certain areas may hallucinate data –presenting information that appears to be real and valid, but essentially is nonexistent. 

Further analysis suggests AI algorithms do not exist neutrally or objectively.  Numerous concerned researchers, including scientists from NEJM and NLM have raised red flags that AI algorithms reflect bias within social systems, especially in medicine.  Inequities that persist in social realities such as race, sex, gender, disability status and other factors are often embedded in large language models for medical machine learning systems.  These inequities endure as social underpinnings of algorithmic systems that cement discriminatory decisions in code.

The bottom line is AI models provide convenient and innovative solutions around the workplace, but the scope, relevancy, and underlying biases of AI systems are significant issues that will require long-term evaluation.   

Spring Break!

Happy April! The newsletter is on spring break! In case you need some spring break resources, check out your public library for free access to e-books that you likely can download right to your device! If you have a library card for a metro area library system, you can access e-books using the MELSA website or your local library website. 

Did you know that every resident has access to a large collection of resources, including e-books through eLibraryMN? Check out your tax dollars at work! No need for a library card to access these resources.  

If you’re working over spring break this year, don’t forget about the Allina Library Services website and feel free to contact us for articles or literature searches – we’ll be working from the beach 😊 

Do you want to learn more about Library Services?

Happy March! I think the groundhog was right about spring! This last month we’ve been happy to meet with several groups to talk about library services and how we can support work across the organization. Recently, we met with the Nursing Executive Leadership Council, the Nursing Advisory Council, ANW’s Evidence Based Practice Clinical Scholars, the Research Personnel Forum,  the latest cohort of ANW Medical Students, and several leaders in ambulatory nursing. We also have the privilege of serving as members of the Dementia Work Group and the Nurse Practice Leader Council. We’re happy to meet with workgroups, teams, or any other group or individual to present on a number of topics such as using our databases, searching for articles, evaluating resources, and using citation management software. We are also happy to just sit down with a group or individual and walk them through a hands-on search using our tools. Lastly, if you have an ongoing need for our support, we’re happy to join your group on a regular basis. If you’d like to have us meet with you, please reach out at library@allina.com

Staying Current

Want an easier solution to stay informed? Do you want the latest updates in your specialty, but don’t want to dig around to find them? Now we have a subject guide with numerous methods to stay up-to-date with journal articles, expert summaries, practice changing updates and clinical news. Visit our Ways to Stay Informed subject guide for links and instructions to have tailored updates pushed out to your email

Call for Books

Did you know that the library at Abbott Northwestern has a little library of free fiction and nonfiction books for patients and their family members? We are starting to run low on books and could use your help! If you have any gently used paperback or hardcover titles that you would be willing to part with, we would put them to good use. We are currently very low on mysteries and romance titles but are accepting all donations.

If you live near Abbott Northwestern or work at Commons, feel free to drop off titles anytime when we are staffed (Monday - Friday 9 am - 3 pm), or any time during your shift if you work at Abbott Northwestern (all ANW employees have badge access to enter the library, and set the books at the front desk.) Non-clinical books only, please.