University of Pittsburgh
School of Information Sciences
Library and Information Science Program
LIS 2586 Health Science Information Sources and Services
COURSE OUTLINE
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Unit 1 |
Introductions. Health Information Professionals. Health Science Libraries & Information Centers. |
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Unit 2 |
Health Professionals. Standards. |
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Unit 3 |
The Structure of Medical Literature. Health Sciences Library Collections. |
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Unit 4 |
The Delivery of Medical Information Services. |
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Unit 5 |
Biomedical Terminology. Dictionaries. Thesauri. MeSH-tm. Classifications. UMLS. |
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Unit 6 |
Electronic Sources and Services: MEDLINE-tm. |
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Unit 7 |
Information Behaviors of Health Professionals. |
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Unit 8 |
Evidence-based Practice of Medicine. |
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Unit 9 |
Quality Filtering of the Medical Literature. Clinical Medical Librarianship. |
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Unit 10 |
Medical Humanities. Medical Ethics and IRBs. |
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Unit 11 |
Drug and Pharmaceutical Information. |
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Unit 12 |
Information for Health Administration, Bioethics, and the Law. |
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Unit 13 |
Information Management Education in Medicine. |
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Unit 14 |
Continuing Education for Health Information Professionals. The Presentations, Part 1. |
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Unit 15 |
The Future for Health Sciences Librarianship. The Presentations, Part 2. |
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
1. attendance & active participation in class
2. readings as assigned
3. active participation in the class electronic alias:
medclass@sis.pitt.edu
4. 8 exercises
5. 1 group project
6. 2 site visits
READING ASSIGNMENTS under construction
NOTE: [1] URLs for websites are hotlinked from the web version of the syllabus. [2] Articles marked with a double asterisk ** are available on the web to University of Pittsburgh community ONLY, through the Ovid files, accessible from the Health Sciences Library System homepage at http://www.hsls.pitt.edu/hslonline/ [3] Additional readings may be assigned throughout the course of the term.EXERCISES All written assignments must be prepared using word processing.
[1] Book Review Exercise
Choose a book that is a personal narrative that focuses on health care or healthcare providers, clear your choice with the instructor, read it, and write a 1 page evaluative review for your colleagues. The reviews will be shared electronically so that each participant will have the recommendations from all other classmates. Each person will read and review a different title.
Authors such as Abraham Verghese, Randy Shilts, Lewis Thomas, Renee Fox, Arthur Caplan, Daniel Callahan, Perri Klass, David Hilfiker, Lawrence Altman, Paul Starr, Everett Koop, Sherwin Nuland, etc. are appropriate. Please feel free to suggest additional authors! If desired, please ask the instructor for an additional list of suggested titles.
The review should be posted to the class alias by 11am on the due date so that the entire class can benefit from your review and evaluation.
[2] Electronic Conferencing
First, using your email, subscribe to the electronic conference for medical librarians entitled MEDLIB-L. Listserve subscription requests should be sent to listserv@listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu. Information about the listserve is available on the MLANET website at http://mlanet.org/discussion/medlibl.html . Please read the messages faithfully (at least three times a week!) for TWO MONTHS, and write a 2 page review of the conference; this review should summarize your reactions to this medium for professional communication. You should feel free to comment on the MEDLIB-L traffic on our class alias as appropriate.
[3] The "Paper Trail"
Read a weekly newsmagazine of your choice, or watch/listen faithfully to any one of the national news programs for SIX WEEKS, and log the incidence and topics of medical news covered in the popular media.
For at least three different items mentioned during the time that you are reading or watching the news, please locate and copy the appropriate "background" or source information from the medical literature, and finally comment on your experience with the real-world problem of medical journalism.
Hand in your log, your source information for the three items, and a reflection paper of no more than 2 pages on your experience.
[4] Directory Exercise
Using at least three different sources (at least one of which must be a print source, please locate biographical information for two health professionals whom you (or someone close to you) has consulted recently. Then, again using at least three different sources (at least one of which must be a print source), check out at least one hospital, HMO, or clinic whose services you (or someone close to you) has used recently. Please hand in a reflection paper of no more than 2 pages which comments on your use of the directories.
[5] Terminology Exercise, Part 1
This exercise has five parts: (a) you will be given the title of an article from a recent issue of a major medical journal to "translate" into layperson's English; (b) you will be given an eponym to decipher what it means and for whom it was named; (c) you will be given the name of an unusual disorder to determine the origin and meaning of the name; (d) you will be given an acronym to determine what the letters stand for, and (e) finally, you will choose MeSH descriptors which might be applied to each of the four previous terminology problems.
[6] Terminology exercise, Part 2
Go to the University HEALTH Book Center, and purchase one of the several programmed learning texts in biomedical terminology; complete the program. Prepare a critique of the method of learning, and review your own progress in learning terminology in a paper of no more than 3 pp. Turn this evaluation paper into the instructor. NOTE: if you are already well-conversant with medical terminology, an alternate exercise will created for you.
[7] Drug Information Evaluation
Please locate information, including a description, dosage levels, efficacy statements, side effects, and availability for the last prescription drug that you (or someone close to you) has used. Cite at least three sources, at least one of which should be a print source, and be sure to include both generic and brand name forms. Then repeat the exercise with at least one over-the-counter (OTC) product that you (or someone close to you) has used recently. Please hand in a reflection paper of no more than 2 pages commenting on what you found.
[8] Structured Abstract, and Professional Presentation
You should choose a topic relating to a current issue in the health information professions, or in some aspect of health sciences librarianship. Clear your choice of topic with the instructor. Prepare a presentation (poster or Power-Point-tm) on the topic, as if you were presenting at at a professional meeting, such as MLA. Please prepare an 1-page STRUCTURED abstract for your presentation and post it to the class alias by November 26. Then, your presentations will be made in class on December 3 and on December 10.
RESOURCES FOR WRITING PAPERS AND PREPARING PRESENTATIONS
International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. http://www.acponline.org/journals/annals/01jan97/unifreqr.htm
--. A Poster Worth a Thousand Words: How to Design Effective Poster Session Displays. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 1993; 93(8):865-866.
Connor CW. The Poster Session--A Guide for Preparation. Denver: USGS, 1988. 12 pp. [ERIC document]
Dzurinko MK. Giving presentations with pizazz. Information Outlook 1999; :34-36.
Harig KJ et al. The Librarian's Idea Book. Research, Innovations, Solutions from ALA Poster Sessions. Chicago: ALA, 1993. Introduction "What Are Poster Sessions?", pp. ix-xii.
Huth EJ. How to Write and Publish Papers in the Medical Sciences. 3rd ed. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1990.
[Instructions for Authors from medical journals] http://www.mco.edu/lib/instr/libinsta.html
Levine MA. Creating posters for humanities & social sciences. http://exodus.lcsc.edu/ss150/poster.htm
Medical Library Association. Style Manual. http://www.mlanet.org/publications/style/index.html
Medical Library Association. Guidelines for Converting an Oral Presentation to a Manuscript for Publication. http://mlanet.org/publications/bmla/convert.html
Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Presenting Effective Presentations with Visual Aids. http://www.osha-slc.gov/doc/outreachtraining/htmlfiles/traintec.html
Rupnow J, King JW. A primer on preparing posters for technical presentations. Food Technology 1995; : 93-102.
Welch HG. Preparing manuscripts for submission to medical journals: the paper trail. Effective Clinical Practice 1999; 2(3):131-7.
GROUP PROJECT
You will be assigned to a small group, and your group will be assigned a medical reference question. Please search for literature on this question using MEDLINE-tm, using both Ovid Medline, and PubMed from the HSL Online, then MEDLINE via SilverPlatter and from EBSCOhost from the ULS, and finally by hand in Index Medicus for the last three years. Please also use at least two of the evidence-based medicine files such as the ACP Journal Club, Evidence-Based Medicine, Best Evidence or the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, DARE - Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness, and/or the Evidence Based Reviews Medicine Multifiles. All of these evidence-based health files are available to you (as a University of Pittsburgh student) through the HSL Online and Ovid.
As a group, please prepare a short presentation about your results and your search experience for an in-class discussion. You should focus on issues such as search strategy formulation, comparability of retrieval over the several tools, and ease of use. No paper needs to be handed in; this is an in-class presentation of your group's findings. You need to take into account who your client is as well as the stated case for which the client needs information. If you want to use Web-based examples, presentation software, overheads, and/or handouts to illustrate your points, please feel free to do so.
SITE VISITS
In consultation with the instructor, and no later than the second week of class, choose one general or multi-specialty healthcare institution with a library or information service, and arrange to interview the librarian or information specialist in charge. Try to determine how that institution and its library or information service fit into the several standards promulgated by the JCAHO, the MLA, or any other appropriate body. In a short paper of no more than 2 pages, describe the physical facilities, users, services, staffing, collections, publications, etc.
Then repeat the process for one information site, service, or source that is focussed on a single specialty or type of activity.
Each member of the class will do two visits. There is to be no overlap of sites among members of the class! You may choose your two sites from the wide array of area hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, group practices, or academic institutions supporting any sort of training in healthcare. You may choose among pharmaceutical, insurance, or similar company libraries, or state and local agencies serving healthcare needs, etc. You may choose to interview an individual information broker who works with health information. Feel free to choose a site or individual near where you live or work, but please do not choose a public library or other community agency providing health information to consumers, and do not choose the Falk Library of the Health Sciences, or any site where you now work or are an intern, or have worked or interned in the past.
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Please choose and use a standard citation style and style manual whenever you cite the work of another person. A good choice for those interested in medicine is the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals which may be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.acponline.org/journals/annals/01jan97/unifreqr.htm
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Inclusive language: Gender-inclusive language is required in all course
work. The use of respectful language in any situation is not a matter of
political correctness but one of simple courtesy.
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Students with disabilities who require special accommodations or other
classroom modifications should notify the instructor and the University's
Office of Disability Resources & Services (DRS) no later than the 2nd week
of the term. Students may be asked to provide documentation of their
disability to determine the appropriateness of the request. DRS is located
in 216 William Pitt Union and can be contacted at 412-648-7890 (Voice),
412-624-3346(Fax), and 412-383-7355(TTY). Students who must miss an exam
or class due to religious observances must notify the instructor ahead of
time and make alternative arrangements.
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