From the Archives : Home Remedy Shock Device : Medical Quackery

 

J.H. Brunnell New No.4 D.D. Home Medical Apparatus Antique

Also known as an Anti-Doc Battery Electric Quack Medical Device

or, more simply, a home remedy shock device, circa 1890s.

This induction coil electropathy quack device was perceived to have healing properties by delivering electric shocks to the afflicted areas of the body. In it's day, it was used to "keep the doctor away."

This particular specimen is missing the huge dry cell battery.

The label is still intact and readable on the top lid. 

Click the image to see a larger version that you can read.

This item was donated to the MMC Archives by Mrs. Lynda Kleinschmidt-Johnson in June 2010. This unit is currently on display in the MMC Library.

Changes to OvidSP will Improve Searching Medline and EBM Reviews

Expert Searching : Although we make our knowledge resources available for anyone at Affinity to search on their own, your Librarians are willing and able to do the searching for you. We're fast, efficient, and thorough. Tell us what you’re looking for and we’ll return a list of focused results fitting your search parameters. When we do the searching, it gives you more time to take care of your patients. Just ask us!

Questions? Contact your Librarians via phone, Outlook, or in person :
Michele Matucheski (MMC Library) 3-0340
Margo Lambert (STE Library) 8-2857

For those who prefer to do their own searching, Ovid has announced changes to the OvidSP interface that will go live on August 1. OvidSP is the interface we use to search Ovid Medline and Evidence-Based Medicine Reviews (including The Cochrane Library). Access Medline (Ovid) and The Cochrane Library on The Affinity Library Website. Test-drive the new version of OvidSP by clicking the “Try it now!” button at the top of all Ovid Search pages.

Self-Running Tutorials are also available. Choose from eight 3-5 minute online tutorials (April 2010 release) :
Advanced Search Overview
Applying Limits to Search Results
Basic Search Overview
Find Citation Overview
Multi-Field Search Overview
Search Fields Overview
Search Tools Overview
Select a Database

An additional aid in the transition is a side-by-side screenshot comparison of the current platform vs. the new enhancements .

OvidSP Resource Center includes the following :

• OvidSP Quick Reference Card
• OvidSP Quick Reference Card for My Projects
• OvidSP Quick Reference Guide Booklet

Contact Library Services with any questions or concerns.

MedlinePlus Gets a New Look!

On Wednesday, July 14, MedlinePlus (http://medlineplus.gov/) unveiled a completely redesigned site with a fresh look and feel, including a new logo, and distinctive color schemes for English and Spanish pages. The quality consumer health and patient education content is still available in the new design, with some exciting new features and enhancements. The new design emphasizes search, makes navigation more intuitive, and highlights frequently used content.

Some highlights of the new design are:

• A Videos & Cool Tools page that makes multimedia content easier to find and searchable (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/videosandcooltools.html).
• A Share button on all health topic pages and interactive tutorials that allows you to share links to MedlinePlus through your favorite social networks. See the Diabetic Diet topic page as an example: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/diabeticdiet.html.
  
• A medical dictionary search box on the English homepage for quick look-up of medical terms.
  
• A search cloud widget on the homepage, and a widgets page (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/widgets.html) where you can find options for embedding MedlinePlus content in your own blogs, personalized homepages, and other sites.

The National Library of Medicine invites you to visit the new MedlinePlus to see the changes and new features for yourself. Let us know what you think of the new design by clicking the Contact Us link that appears on every page.

MDConsult Point-of-Care CME

FREE Point of Care CME credit is now available on MD Consult.
Physicians may earn 0.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™ for each search conducted through MD Consult. To learn more, view this 3-minute multimedia slide show or contact iestraining@elsevier.com.

Quickly and easily access continuing medical education credit, free of charge, just by searching content on MDConsult?

Cleveland Clinic Center for Continuing Education provides one-click Point-of-Care CME credit with self-directed, structured, online learning. This promotes a learning experience that is tailored to doctors' individual needs.

Doctors can now obtain 0.5 credits with each search conducted through MD Consult simply by clicking "request CME" when they access content relevant to their practice.
It's the fast and easy way to earn CME, and it's available just by using MD Consult!
Click here to learn more.

Contact your Librarians via phone, Outlook, or in person :
Michele Matucheski (MMC Library) 3-0340
Margo Lambert (STE Library) 8-2857

The Joint Commission : Comment on Any Standard at Any Time

In order to continuously gather feedback from customers and stakeholders, The Joint Commission created an online feedback form that allows customers and other interested parties to comment on the standards. This form, available via the Internet, allows for constant customer and stakeholder feedback on the standards— without waiting for a formal field engagement.

In particular, The Joint Commission wants to know which standards customers and stakeholders value the most and those that they consider to be of questionable value to the delivery of quality health care.

Where to find it on the Affinity Intranet:

Affinity Intranet > Library
> Joint Commission Resources
> JC’s Comment on Any Standard (Right-hand column)

You can also just Google it, or use the search box at the top of the Intranet Homepage.
Type in : “joint commission comments.”

New Features in CINAHL-FullText

Cinahl stands for The Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature. It indexes professional journals in nursing and allied health fields. Consulting the literature is a great way to make an informed decision in your practice.

You’ll find a link for CINAHL on the bottom of the Affinity Library Services Home page (Affinity Access Only).

We are pleased to announce the recent release of several new features, added to our CINAHL subscription.

New Limiters
There are two “Written by a Nurse” limiters:
* First Author is a Nurse
* Any Author is a Nurse
* More details on them can be found here.

Pre-CINAHL limiter searches just pre-CINAHL. More details can be found here.

Human limiter applies to all records which represent research studies on humans. More details can be found here.

Data Elements Added
* Digital Object Identifier (DOI): We have added the DOI from 2009 forward.
* Pubmed Central ID (PMCID): We have added the PMCID from 2009 forward.

Please visit EBSCO's CINAHL Support Center for a wide variety of training and support options.

Contact your Librarians, Michele Matucheski (3-0340 at MMC) or Margo Lambert (8-2325 at STE) for a personalized training session on using CINAHL efficiently.
Or ask us to do the searching for you. We do it every day!

1946 Bill for Tonsilectomy at Mercy

Click on picture to see an enlarged view.

In 1946, the hospital bill at Mercy Medical Center in Oshkosh was $10.35 for a tonsilectomy.

The doctor's bill for the same procedure was $35, including anesthesia.

How times have changed! This seems like pocket change to us now ...

These documents were recently donated to the MMC Library Archives.

PubMed Search Clinics

PubMed is a powerful search engine that indexes the medical, nursing and allied health journal literature. Bonus : Use the PubMed Link on the Library Intranet webpage, and you’ll tap into our full-text offerings.

Brush up on your PubMed Search Skills with the following Search Clinics :

PubMed Advanced Search Page Modified
See the NLM Technical Bulletin for details and screenshots

Search Clinic: Building a PubMed Search
NLM Technical Bulletin, Mar-Apr 2010

Skill Kit: Save Time Finding Citations by Title Matching in the PubMed Search Box
NLM Technical Bulletin, May-Jun 2010

Skill Kit: Searching Full Author Names in PubMed
NLM Technical Bulletin, Mar-Apr 2009.

If you’re looking for more in depth training, try this :
PubMed Search Clinic Online Recording
PubMed April 20 Search Clinic: Building a PubMed Search is now online.
A thirty minute online search clinic was presented by the NLM via Adobe Connect on Tuesday, April 20. The presentation covered the mechanics of the PubMed Search Builder and how to search using tags.

More PubMed Online Training Resources

Questons about PubMed? Ask us to do the searching for you. Just tell us what you’re looking for. Feel free to contact your Librarians via phone, Outlook, or in person :

Michele Matucheski (MMC Library) 3-0340
Margo Lambert (STE Library) 8-2857

Reminder - STE Health Science Library - New Location

The St. Elizabeth Hospital Health Science Library has been in its new location for a few months now. Here is a reminder of how to find us and what you'll find when you get here.

The library is located in the basement of the 2006 Hospital Addition near the lab. The most direct way to get to the library is to take the elevator near the gift shop to the lower level. Turn right when you get off the elevator and the library will be the first door on your left.

In addition to books and journals, we have a table and chairs and four computer workstations. Library hours are still Monday - Friday, 8 AM - 4:30 PM, but Affinity staff can use the library 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. (Just ask a security officer to open the door.) The new Health Science Library is open to Affinity Employees. The Resource Café Library near the coffee shop is open to the public.

Please know that, even though our space is smaller, the library staff at St. E's will continue to provide you with resources and information that you can use to care for your patients, perform other duties, and keep informed about your own health and wellness. You can count on us for professional, friendly service, high-quality research, and quick document delivery whether you visit the library in person or use the library remotely.

We hope to work with you soon. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you very much!

Margo A. Lambert, MLIS
Librarian – St. Elizabeth Hospital Libraries
mlambert@affinityhealth.org
920-738-2325

Health Care Resources for Mobile Devices

Many health care professionals are using mobile devices in clinical settings to enhance patient care as well as their own continuing education.

We’ve recently updated our road map for
Mobile Computing : Smart Phones, PDAs, and PocketPCs (Affinity access only).


On it, you’ll find a listing of selected free and low-cost options for all types of mobile devices. Sources include options for :
* Drug info
* Differential diagnosis
* Point-of-care tools
* Calculators, and
* Gateways to even more options.

This list is not meant to be comprehensive. If you want to suggest an addition to the list, let me know. I’d love to hear what you’re using!

Mobile MDConsult

MD Consult Mobile provides small screen access to MD Consult with a new interface optimized to work on Smartphones and mobile devices most commonly used by physicians including:

· iPhone / iPod Touch / iPad · Blackberry Storm and Bold · Palm Treo · T Mobile G1 (Android) · HTC – Fuze · Nokia N85

MD Consult Mobile includes the following functionality:
· Browse MDC content through growing list of Recommended Resources pages which direct user to best resources efficiently

· Search MDC reference content focused specifically on Reference Books, Clinics, Practice Guidelines and Journals/Medline

· View the full text of all of the searchable content plus Images included in the articles and books

· Share content links – by email with a colleague or to themselves for later review

How to Register for MDConsult (Affinity only) Tutorial with screenshots

Mobile MD Consult FAQ

Mobile MDC Training Guide

Mobile Computing Resources - What else do we offer? (Affinity only)

Find Us on FaceBook

Affinity Library Services has a brand new Facebook page. The goal of the new page is to share news, information, tips, tutorials, and useful links with interested readers.

If you want to keep track of us on FaceBook, Become a Fan.
When you get to our page, click on Like (formerly “Become a Fan”).

Ask a Librarian : PubMed & Full-Text Options

Question : PubMed is so frustrating. Every time I find the perfect research article, I click to find that the full-text is not available unless I pay a fee.

Answer : The PubMed database includes complete article citation info and abstracts whenever possible. PubMed shows links with options for obtaining the full-text but not the full-text itself. On occasion, these options are free, but publishers often require a fee to see the full-text.

Anyone in the world can use PubMed at http://pubmed.gov/ . However, if you use this PubMed link or the one the Affinity Library Services website, you’ll see additional icons in this version of PubMed, because it ties into our Affinity full-text offerings. Feel free to bookmark this link or make a short-cut. As long as you are using an Affinity computer, or remote access, the full-text links should work. The following icons can help lead you to Affinity full-text :

In some cases where we have relationships with the publishers for certain titles, the publisher icons will also work.

Please be aware that the publisher icons will appear whether or not we have agreements with them for online access.

PubMed indexes thousands of subscription journals, many more than any single library could afford. In the current economic climate, libraries have had to make hard decisions about which subscriptions to maintain, and what to let expire. Fortunately, Affinity Library Services is part of a strong network of medical libraries around the world. If we don’t have immediate access to a particular article you need, the chances are very good that we’ll be able to borrow a copy from another library within a day or so.
If you have any questions on this, please feel free to contact your Librarians :

Michele Matucheski (MMC Library) 3-0340 or Outlook
Margo Lambert (STE Library) 8-2857

Evaluating Internet Health Information: A Tutorial from the National Library of Medicine

The National Library of Medicine has a new tutorial on How to Evaluate Health Information on the Internet.

It is about 16 minutes long.

Current Health News via MedlinePlus

If you want to keep up with what your patients are reading, check out the Current Health News via MedlinePlus. Sources include Reuters Health Information, HealthDay, and recent press announcements from major health organizations.

You can see these updates in a number of ways:

Visit the MedlinePlus website
Receive Current Health News via email (simply click on the link to News and follow the instructions
Have the updates sent to your RSS Reader (such as Google Reader or Bloglines)

You can often link to more detailed information within the articles.

Please contact Michele at Mercy Medical Center (223-0342) or Margo at
St. Elizabeth Hospital (738-2324) if you would like more information about MedlinePlus or if you need help signing up to receive health news updates.

Consumer Health Info in Your In Box

Want to keep up with the latest developments in health and medicine?
Confused by the technical jargon in professional medical journals?
Affinity Library Services offers access to consumer health newsletters in plain language from reliable sources like Harvard Medical School and Mayo Clinic.

YOU can receive emailed updates for each new issue, with links to the full-text articles.
Just let us know which ones you want, and we’ll do the rest!

Contact Affinity Library Services to register for email alerts for the following newsletters.

For a sneak peak at the content, click on the blue links, then choose the current year to see available issues.

Consumer Reports on Health (Badgerlink/EbscoHost)
Harvard Health Letter (EbscoHost)

Harvard Heart Letter (EbscoHost)
Harvard Men's Health Watch (EbscoHost)
Harvard Mental Health Letter (EbscoHost)
Harvard Women's Health Watch (EbscoHost)
Mayo Clinic Health Letter (EbscoHost)
Mayo Clinic Women's Health Source (EbscoHost)
Nutrition Action Health Letter (EbscoHost)
Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter (EbscoHost)

For questions, comments, and assistance, please contact your Librarians :

Michele Matucheski (MMC) at 3-0340

or Margo Lambert (STE) at 8-2325.

Obtaining Tax Forms and Information

Spring has sprung, the birds are singing and daylight savings time has begun.

All of this can mean only one thing … it is THAT time of year … time to file our taxes.

Your local public libraries often have the most frequently used forms. However, you can also use these links to get the forms you need AND file electronically if you wish.

IRS

WISCONSIN DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE

Consumer Health Complete (via Badgerlink)

Consumer Health Complete makes health information available online to citizens of Wisconsin through Badgerlink and Wisconsin Libraries (including Affinity Library Services).

Watch this 5-minute tutorial or PowerPoint to learn how to get the most out of Consumer Health Complete for patient education and consumer health info. PowerPoint Version.

Consumer Health Complete offers the following :
6,000 Evidence-based Reports in easy-to-understand language
175 Encyclopedias and Reference Books
Fact Sheets and Pamphlets
Drug and Herb Info
Alternative and Complimentary Medicine
Images & Diagrams
Videos and Animations
English and Spanish languages

Where is it on the Library Pages?
Affinity Intranet > Library > Consumer Health Complete (under Most Popular Links)

Affinity Intranet > Library
> Find Patient Education Handouts > Consumer Health Complete

If you would prefer a more personal session, your Librarians are available to walk you through it. Call, stop by the libraries, or email via Outlook.

Margo Lambert at STE 8-2325
Michele Matucheski at MMC 3-0340

Easy-to-Read Patient Education Materials in MedlinePlus

Are you looking for patient education materials that are easy-to-read?
Medical concepts and language are very complex. People need easily understandable health information regardless of age, background or reading level. Try the following free sources :

MedlinePlus Easy-To-Read (National Library of Medicine) includes patient education handouts, many in Spanish as well as English.

MedlinePlus Interactive Tutorials
The Patient Education Institute offers a series of interactive tutorials that can be set to run for patients. Viewers can “page” through it if they are comfortable with computers, or it can run by itself. The tutorial will READ the content to the patient, so even if they don't read (or don't like to), they can still take in the info by hearing it. This is also great for people for whom English is not their first language. Using animated graphics each tutorial explains a procedure or condition in easy-to-read language. There's also a printable 1-page text summary that can be used as a handout.

Find additional consumer health and patient education resources here.

St. Elizabeth Hospital Health Science Professional Library Now Open

We are pleased to announce that the Health Science Professional Library at St. Elizabeth Hospital is now open in its new location.

The new library is much smaller than the previous space and, while there are still network computers and a table and chairs, there is no longer a lounge area. Some of the newspapers and magazines are located in the doctor's lounge (the current one and, eventually, the new one) and others are located in the Resource Café Library.

For safety and security reasons the professional library will only be open to Affinity staff. Patients and visitors will be welcome to use professional library resources, but instead of getting them in person they will need to go to the Resource Cafe Library and request those materials from library staff.

Fiction and general interest audio books are now shelved in the Resource Café Library. (Cassettes are on the spinning rack by the desk and CDs are on the shelf behind the computer terminal on the left.)

In addition to the Book Return outside the professional library there is a locked book return box just outside the entrance to the coffee shop/Resource Café Library (look down and to your right as you enter the coffee shop). Materials from the professional library may be returned there and we will make sure they get back to the right place.

Please know that, even though we are in a different location and in a smaller space, we still offer the same services to which you have grown accustomed and can provide you with the information that you need in order to perform your duties.

While we are happy to see you we understand that it may be difficult for some of you to get to the new library location. If you need information or library materials and cannot come to the library in person, please email, call, or fill out an online library request form and we can send the resources to you via email or Interoffice Mail.

The process of planning the new library and substantially editing the collection to fit into the space has been long but ultimately very rewarding. We are very happy with our new space and look forward to seeing how the rest of the STE Hospital Revitalization progresses.

We look forward to your visit.

Best regards-

Margo A. Lambert, MLIS
Karen Witz, MS
St. Elizabeth Hospital Library Staff