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Copyright 2000 SIG/MED. This publication may be freely copied and/or distributed in its entirety. All rights reserved. SigMedPulse is published quarterly by the American Society of Information Science Special Interest Group on Medical Informatics. Opinions and views expressed herein do not necessarily represent official positions taken by ASIS or SIG/MED. |
Message From the Chair:
Greetings SIG/MED-ers! And Happy Spring! I am happy to report that there seem to be more of you each week. Thanks to Jim Cretsos, who is spear-heading "Memalert," I have stayed informed of each person who joins SIG/MED. Each time a new member joins SIG/MED, I receive an email message that informs me of the new member's name, affiliation and email address. This makes it very easy to welcome newcomers into the fold.
We are extremely pleased that the hard work of Program Chair, Polin Lei, has paid off. She submitted two successful program applications for the Annual Conference, described elsewhere in the newsletter. Thank you, Polin!
If you have ideas that you would like to see enacted through SIG/MED, please do not hesitate to contact me at marshkn@uc.edu. The board has considered having an email meeting to discuss various issues, following the example of such a meeting held by I-ASIS. If others are interested in joining such a meeting, please let me know.
I look forward to meeting you in Chicago in November!
Karen Ruud Marsh
Chair, SIG/MED
SIG/MED Offerings at ASIS Annual 2000
The MED SIG is proud to announced two technical session programs for the annual ASIS meeting at Chicago: The Frontiers of Nanotechnology and Nanomedicine, and Innovative Computer-Based Medical Knowledge Resources for Primary Care
The Frontiers of Nanotechnology and Nanomedicine
Speakers:
Maruo Ferrari, MD
Professor of Internal Medicine
Director
Biomedical Engineering Center
The Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio
Topic: Nanoporous membranes for cell transplants and drug delivery (Tentative)
Viola Vogel, Ph.D.
Director
Center of Nanotechnology
Department of Bioengineering
University of Washington
Seattle, WA
Topic: Nanoscale devices in medicine
James R. Baker, Jr. MD
Director
Center for Biologic Nanotechnology
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI
Topic: Dedrimers for gene therapy and anticancer drug delivery (Tentative)
Abstract:
The future of medicine is slowly migrating to the use of nanotechnology to manipulate biomolecules that regulate life and death. Nanotechnology is the fabrication of objects and devices on the scale of nanometers for whatever purpose they serve. Within the past four years, there are five nanotechnology centers established in the United States doing nanoresearch on better health care delivery. The hottest nanoresearch areas presently are on gene therapy, cancer detection, and to regulate better drug delivery to stubborn diseases such as diabetes. Hopefully by the end of this decade, patients will be wearing minuscule smart bombs that find cancer cells, kill them with the help of lasers and report the kills. Or patients will be implanted a miniaturized sensor for diabetes that mimics the glucose-detection system and monitors the blood-sugar levels and releases insulin as needed. Other nanodevices for drug delivery will be microchips that will hold nanoliters of anything from painkillers to antibiotics for releases into the human body. These are some of the examples of how nanotechnology and nanomedicine are linked. The three speakers, listed above, who graciously have agreed to speak at ASIS, are pioneers in nanomedicine. They believe that nanomedicine will bring safer and more effective way to repair genes and treat ailments. They also believe in using nonbiological substances that will not trigger an immune response in the human body. Both Dr. Baker and Dr. Ferrari were profiled in Technology Review from MIT and Dr. Baker was also written up in Newsweek. Dr. Vogel s interest is on molecular bioengineering and the engineering of man-made devices and materials on the molecular level. She is well known in her field of research. All these three researchers received grants from NIH for their innovative nanoresearch. This proposal will surely bring interests to members of ASIS, including the biomedical professionals, because this will touch on everyones future health concerns. Knowledge is power, ASIS can be the first to disseminate what is new in technology.
Innovative Computer-Based Medical Knowledge Resources for Primary Care
Moderator: Katherine W. McCain Ph.D., Professor, College of Information Studies, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
Speakers:
Debra Revere, Biomedical Informatics Specialist,
Integrated
Advanced Information Management System (IAIMS) Program,
University of
Washington, Seattle, WA
Russell Maulitz, MD,
Chief, Division of Medical
Informatics,
Department of Family, Community & Prevention Medicine, MCP
Hahnemann School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
Arnold J. Smolen, Ph.D.,
Director, Tele-Education Laboratory, MCP
Hahnemann School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
Abstract:
From the program planning sessions at Washington DC in 1999, the MED SIG received feedback from some ASIS physician members that there is a need of programs that meet with their information needs "at the point of care". MED SIG discovered that Primary Care physicians are facing a challenging task - to remain current with the medical literature dealing with a broad array of topics while selecting appropriate tests and treatments for their patients. These physicians need more than user-friendly search interfaces to Medline, reference works on CD-ROM, and skilled clinical medical librarians. They require accessible, interactive, computer-based resources of high quality, concise, evidence-rated medical information for their patient care. Also the information they need should be focusing on maintaining and enhancing the clinical knowledge of the primary care physicians and is relevant to their continuing education.
To look into where are we going from here, MED SIG will present three highly innovative projects:
P-CHIP: the Primary Care Health Information Project. Russell Maulitz MD
P-CHIP is a Web-based resource that provides evidence-rated clinical medical information for primary care physicians. It is a database of primary medical literature (journal articles and conference papers) in a range of disorders (e.g. Diabetes, Hypertension, Osteoporosis, etc.) For each disorder module, articles are selected by a physician domain expert and rated as to the level of evidence quality, concise statements (pearls) of clinically-relevant content. A search interface allows physicians to specify study type, evidence quality, and module subtopic (e.g. diagnosis, drug treatment, complications, etc.) along with keyword searching. Retrieval is enhanced by a "background ontology" of natural language and MeSH that allow automatic expansion of synonyms and related concepts.
Primary Care Grand Rounds. Arnold J. Smolen, Ph.D.
Primary Care Grand Rounds is a Web-based system that allows primary care physicians to have access to "live" medial presentations without traveling to remote locations or taking valuable time away from their practice. The prototype uses the special monthly Medical Seminar series sponsored by the MCP Hahnemann School of Medicine. The seminars are captured on videotape and along with the accompanying slides, digitized to streaming media. The outline of the seminar and the slides are searchable by keywords. Access to voice indexing will be forthcoming. Primary Care Grand Rounds is linked to P-CHIP and is searchable.
PrimeAnswers: Knowledge at the point of primary care. Debra Revere, MS
The University of Washington IAIMS program reports the results of a structured field inquiry to assess the information needs of health care providers and access barriers to providers using evidence-based knowledge resources in the outpatient setting. Their aim was to design a standardized assessment method to inform a successful information systems strategy for integrating knowledge resources into clinical practice. Two clinical settings were used for this study. Collected data was evaluated in aggregate and broken out by provider groups to delineate qualitative differences is information needs between provider groups. Preliminary results on the impact of evidence-based knowledge resources on clinicians and librarians will be elaborated.
Innovative I.T. in Health Care
Sometimes you come across something that really strikes you. Starbright World fits the bill perfectly. I read about a young woman named Jamie Luster who suffered from cystic fibrosis. She was able to cope with her illness and 20 hospital admissions over three years due in great part to Starbright World. Starbright World is a private, interactive network which allows hospitalized youth with chronic conditions across the U.S. to interact with their peers in a virtual community. Chat rooms, bulletin boards, and video conferencing let users communicate with and provide support to each other. The network also includes over 500 privately-accessed websites, a collection of games, and creative art tools. This really deserves a look. It is healthcare informatics at its best! Read more at http://www.starbright.org/projects/sbw/index.html. Better yet, read Jamie's article at http://www.accessmagazine.com/scripts/articles.cfm?articleid=495.
"9 Hot Technology Trends" from the February 2000 edition of Healthcare Informatics examines information technologies that "increase efficiencies, reduce costs and improve the delivery of healthcare." Each of these nine articles include e-business applications particular to the technology being discussed. the technologies explored include application service providers, data security, XML (extensible markup language), supply chain management, workflow automation, wireless networking, interactive technologies (such as speech recognition, interactive voice-response (IVR) systems, optical character recognition (ICR)/(OCR), and touchscreens), artificial intelligence and bots, and convergence of data, video and voice. Read it in hardcopy or online at http://www.healthcare-informatics.com/issues/2000/02_00/cover.htm.
"Why Doctors Hate the Internet", by Noah Shachtman, is an interesting look at the current feelings physicians have towards the Net. Recent surveys by Forrester Research and the AMA are discussed. Forrester research reports that 72% of physicians will not personally respond to patient email, with only 19% willing to do so if they are compensated. Physicians also feel that consumer-oriented health websites are a waste of their time, saying that "There's just so much clutter" and "Often, it's snake oil." The AMA survey shows less than 40% of doctors use the Web as part of their medical practice. While e-health is experiencing some present woes like online drugstore fraud, the future will likely be rosier. Most doctors will probably move online for Net-based CME, if not for electronic medical records. This article can be found online at http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,35516,00.html.
Counter to the above, there exists a web-based technology that 98% of doctors asked would want in their waiting rooms - e.Stations. The 24" by 24" by 52" e.Station is provided free of charge by HeliosHealth and Mindspring to general practitioner and women's health practices and hospitals. Two sets of headphones and a 17" screen are part of the station. Filters deny access to free roaming of the Web, with the homepage providing information about the particular practice/hospital. It is hoped that 1,000 terminals will be installed in 20 major metropolitan markets across the U.S. by May. More on this can be found at http://www.helioshealth.com/About_us/press/press_02.html, http://www.helioshealth.com/About_us/press/press_06.html, and http://www.helioshealth.com/About_us/press/press_18.html.
New consumer health information sites recently going live:
http://www.cancersource.com http://www.emd.com http://www.gazoontite.com http://www.HealthyConnect.com/gc/clinic_pat.aspA new medical dictionary came online. Take a look at http://www.medterms.com.
April 7-9, 2000
Summit 2000
Defining Information Architecture
Boston, MA
301-495-0900
http://www.asis.org/Conferences/Summit2000/index.html
November 13-16, 2000
2000 ASIS Annual Meeting
Chicago, IL
301-495-0900
http://www.asis.org/Conferences/AMOO/am00.html
Related Organizations
May 5-11
MLA/CHLA-ABSC Annual Meeting
Joint meeting of the Medical Library Association and the Canadian Health Libraries Association/Association des bibliotheques de la sante du Canada
Demystifying the Dragon: Strategies for 2000 Plus
Vancouver, BC
312-419-9094
http://www.mlahq.org/am/am2000/index.html
May 6-12
Toward an Electronic Patient Record (TEPR) 2000
San Francisco, CA
617-964-3923 x221
http://www.tepr.com/2000
May 16-18
InterMed2oo0: 2nd Annual InterMed Exhibition and Conference
Toronto, Ontario
514-731-1015
http://www.mpe.ca/intermed
May 21-24
5th Annual Meeting & Exposition of the American Telemedicine Association
ATA 2000: Pragmatic Approaches & Emerging Applications
Phoenix, AZ
202-628-4700
http://www.atmeda.org/confer
May 24-25
Healthcare Informatics Expo and Conference 2000
Survival of the Fastest
Chicago, IL
612-832-7868
http://www.healthcare-informatics.com/expo/expo2000.htm
June 3-6
17th Symposium on Computer Applications in Radiology (SCAR)
Philadelphia, PA
703-757-0054
http://www.scar.rad.washington.edu/SCAR/dates.html
June 10-15
Special Libraries Association Annual Meeting
Independence to Interdependence: The Next Phase in the Information Revolution
Philadelphia, PA
202-234-4700
www.sla.org/conf/2000conf/index.html
June 24-27
International Health Informatics Conference INFOcus 2000
Harmonizing Health Information Initiatives
Vancouver, B.C.
888-253-8554
www.infocus.ab.ca/p2.htm
June 28-July 1
CARS 2000: Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery 14th International Congress and Exhibition
San Francisco, CA
+49-7742-922 436
http://car.cs.tu-berlin.de/CAR/CARS00
July 19-22
10th Annual Summer Institute in Nursing Informatics
Making a Decade of Excellence in Nursing Informatics
Baltimore, MD
410-706-5607
http://parsons.umaryland.edu/~suminst
August 23-27
ITCH 2000: From Potential to Practice
An International Conference Addressing Information Technology in Community Health
Victoria, British Columbia
250-721-8576
http://ITCH.UVic.CA
August 28-September 1
MIE 2000/GMDS 2000
Medical Infobahn for Europe: Research and Application in Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology
Joint conference of the European Federation for Medical Informatics (EFMI) and the German Society for Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology (GMDS)
Part of the World Exhibition 2000
Hannover, Germany
089-3187-4138
http://www-mi.gsf.de/mie2000
October 5-7
APAMI-MIC 2000
Joint conference of the Asia Pacific Association for Medical Informatics and the Health Informatics Association of Australia
Hong Kong
61-3-9388-0555
http://www.apami.org
October 15-20
World Congress of High-Tech Medicine
(During the World Exhibition)
Hannover, Germany
http://www.high-tech-med.com
November 4-8
American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) 2000 Annual Symposium
Converging Information, Technology, and Health Care
Los Angeles, CA
301-657-1291
http://www.amia.org/meetings/fall2000/main.html
November 23-26
MEDNET 2000: 5th World Congress on the Internet in Medicine
Real World Medical Applications
Brussels, Belgium
+32 9 240 40 67
http://www.mdf.be/mednet2000/index2.htm
Do you know of a meeting I missed? Then send Jeff a message with the date, host organization, theme (if available), location, phone number, and web address for further information.
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All communications, including manuscripts, comments, and letters to the editor, should be addressed to: Hard copy should be accompanied by a self-addressed stamped envelope. Submissions for the Summer issue should be received by June 16, 2000. |
Karen Ruud Marsh, Chair
NetWellness Expert Coordinator
Information Services Librarian
University of Cincinnati Medical Center
Academic Information Technology & Libraries
231 Bethesda Ave, ML 0574
Cincinnati, OH 45267-0574
karen.marsh@uc.edu
Polin Lei, Chair-Elect
Associate Librarian
Arizona Health Sciences Library
Information Services, Room 2150 T
The University of Arizona
1501 N. Campbell Ave P.O. Box 245079
Tucson, AZ 85724-5079
polin@u.arizona.edu
Debra Revere, Secretary
Health Informatics Specialist
Integrated Advanced Information Management Systems (IAIMS)
Warren G. Magnuson Health Sciences Center
Box 357155
University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195-7155
drevere@u.washington.edu
Marlena Wald, Treasurer
Research Director Emergency Medicine
Center for Injury Control
Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University
1518 Clifton Rd, NE
Atlanta, GA 30322
mwald@sph.emory.edu
Jeff White, Communications Officer
Cataloging Librarian
National Institute of Corrections Information Center
1860 Industrial Circle, Suite A
Longmont, CO 80501
jwhite@nicic.org
Pamela Murnane, Webmaster
Web Content Manager
Synopsys, Inc.
700 East Middlefield Road, B2274J
Mountain View, CA 94043
pmurnane@wahoo.sjsu.edu
Nancy Blase, SIG Cabinet Representative
Head, Natural Science Library
University of Washington Libraries
University of Washington FM-25
Seattle, WA 98195
nblase@u.washington.edu