Scenic Beach State Park, Seabeck, WA. Click to embiggen.
I haven't totally disconnected from the world with my family for quite some time & finally did this week.
I wonder what took me so long.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Friday Foolery #48: Unplugged
Scenic Beach State Park, Seabeck, WA. Click to embiggen.
I haven't totally disconnected from the world with my family for quite some time & finally did this week.
I wonder what took me so long.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Acting More Like a Librarian
I did not become a librarian because I love books.
This is a good thing because one of my childhood friends is much better than I with regularly reading and writing about books, and she let me do a guest entry review today for Girl in a Blue Dress.
I may give the book a re-read down the road but my guess is Diana Gabaldon has permanently wrecked my expectations for the historical fiction genre. I still have to smirk at the title of her upcoming novel (An Echo in the Bone) but it's not like I'm counting down the seconds until it's out next month.
OK maybe I am. Of course I'm hoping Amazon gets it to me before the release date!
This is a good thing because one of my childhood friends is much better than I with regularly reading and writing about books, and she let me do a guest entry review today for Girl in a Blue Dress.
I may give the book a re-read down the road but my guess is Diana Gabaldon has permanently wrecked my expectations for the historical fiction genre. I still have to smirk at the title of her upcoming novel (An Echo in the Bone) but it's not like I'm counting down the seconds until it's out next month.
OK maybe I am. Of course I'm hoping Amazon gets it to me before the release date!
Friday, August 14, 2009
Friday Foolery #47: What else is in a name?
Hi, I'm RANDOMLY INTERSECTED but ON NINNY DECLARES by birth.
Eagle Dawg is WEDGE A LAG and my usual name is TAKE TRIM KIND. My husband, MILITANTLY WARM DEAR, is actually kind of skinny and our son is an INORDINATE SMARK ALECK.
Who are you?
Eagle Dawg is WEDGE A LAG and my usual name is TAKE TRIM KIND. My husband, MILITANTLY WARM DEAR, is actually kind of skinny and our son is an INORDINATE SMARK ALECK.
Who are you?
Sunday, August 9, 2009
PubMed's Electronic Health Records Special Query
The August 7, 2009 National Library of Medicine Technical Bulletin caught my eye with the news of a new electronic health record (EHR) special query
The snippet I cut was
AND (j ahima [ta]
OR j am med inform assoc [ta]
OR amia annu symp proc [ta]
OR health data manag [ta]
OR int j med inform [ta]
OR yearb med inform [ta]
OR telemed j e health [ta]
OR stud health technol inform [ta])
I'm not certain what the rationale is to construct such a comprehensive search then limit it to this handful of (admittedly great) sources. Are the 3,961 other articles about EHRs in different journals/sources less worthy? What do you think? I'll dig in to take a closer look later.
Do check out the EHR Information Resources below the query, there were links to other federal agencies and some associations & foundations I didn't know about.
... a PubMed search including subject terms and other keywords. Areas of coverage include implementation, attitudes, beliefs and use, data privacy, health data standards, and consumer access to the EHR and personal health records... [and] retrieves literature in many languages and from more than 27,000 PubMed citations, including research from many countries.Cool! I took it for a 91 second test drive using Jing and I'm not too sure about the last part of the query. Take a look and feel free to use my internal audio of 'PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW!' as I minimize each of the fields in Advanced Search:
The snippet I cut was
AND (j ahima [ta]
OR j am med inform assoc [ta]
OR amia annu symp proc [ta]
OR health data manag [ta]
OR int j med inform [ta]
OR yearb med inform [ta]
OR telemed j e health [ta]
OR stud health technol inform [ta])
I'm not certain what the rationale is to construct such a comprehensive search then limit it to this handful of (admittedly great) sources. Are the 3,961 other articles about EHRs in different journals/sources less worthy? What do you think? I'll dig in to take a closer look later.
Do check out the EHR Information Resources below the query, there were links to other federal agencies and some associations & foundations I didn't know about.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Friday Foolery #46: What's an Eagle Dawg?
This entry tells the story but it's at the bottom. The original reason for this blog was to participate in a continuing education class that required one, thus I had to come up with a name for it.
Eagle
UNT EagleStatue by David@UNT
The eagle is the mascot of the University of North Texas, where I received my Master of Science in Information Science degree in December 2007. The Eagle not only sounds better first, but needs to be thanks to an overwhelmingly generous fellowship UNT awarded me for distance learning health informatics in conjunction with Texas A&M University (why I quoted the Aggie Honor Code on my Clinical Reader critique). I not only didn't pay a dime of my tuition but I received a stipend and funding to attend professional conferences. I was given so much that I am grateful for, and will give back the best I can to the field until I drop dead.
Dawg
Husky statue, University of Washington by cronnc
The dawg is my Seattle home, the University of Washington Huskies (DAWGs). I have been a UW employee continuously for eleven and a half years now, almost completely unheard of for a thirtysomething, and UW is also where I (finally) received my Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Sciences and Communication in 2005 thanks to the evening degree program. They believed in me to finish my undergraduate education when I did not fully believe in myself, yet the birth of our son made me realize I had to as an example for him even though I was scared out of my wits.
Eagle
UNT EagleStatue by David@UNT
The eagle is the mascot of the University of North Texas, where I received my Master of Science in Information Science degree in December 2007. The Eagle not only sounds better first, but needs to be thanks to an overwhelmingly generous fellowship UNT awarded me for distance learning health informatics in conjunction with Texas A&M University (why I quoted the Aggie Honor Code on my Clinical Reader critique). I not only didn't pay a dime of my tuition but I received a stipend and funding to attend professional conferences. I was given so much that I am grateful for, and will give back the best I can to the field until I drop dead.
Dawg
Husky statue, University of Washington by cronnc
The dawg is my Seattle home, the University of Washington Huskies (DAWGs). I have been a UW employee continuously for eleven and a half years now, almost completely unheard of for a thirtysomething, and UW is also where I (finally) received my Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Sciences and Communication in 2005 thanks to the evening degree program. They believed in me to finish my undergraduate education when I did not fully believe in myself, yet the birth of our son made me realize I had to as an example for him even though I was scared out of my wits.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Health Information Technology Bibliography
The most beautiful combination of my interest in health information technology (HIT)/health informatics and librarianship I've seen for a while:
The Health IT Bibliography from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has a list of broad subjects (Organizational Strategy, Technology, Evaluation, Operations, and Populations & Perspectives) with topics listed first and then the acronym, such as Health Information Exchange (HIE). Bookmark it now, the URL is very long and not memorable!
The first click in on a topic brings you to a page of peer-reviewed sources selected by subject experts (several were at Woods Hole!) that represent "the best known evidence on the benefits, challenges, and best practices" associated with it. They have also made an attempt to list freely accessible articles although some may need institutional/individual access permissions.
Scrolling down to the bottom of the subject page to the 'Click here for more' link leads to supplemental resources to the core listings on the subject page that may not be peer-reviewed but are still valuable contributions to the field. They welcome additional submissions and there are resources from 2008-2009 so it is actively maintained.
This resource has been live since February 2008 but I don't recall hearing about it either in the blogosphere or at Woods Hole. Have I been living under a HIT rock?
The Health IT Bibliography from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has a list of broad subjects (Organizational Strategy, Technology, Evaluation, Operations, and Populations & Perspectives) with topics listed first and then the acronym, such as Health Information Exchange (HIE). Bookmark it now, the URL is very long and not memorable!
The first click in on a topic brings you to a page of peer-reviewed sources selected by subject experts (several were at Woods Hole!) that represent "the best known evidence on the benefits, challenges, and best practices" associated with it. They have also made an attempt to list freely accessible articles although some may need institutional/individual access permissions.
Scrolling down to the bottom of the subject page to the 'Click here for more' link leads to supplemental resources to the core listings on the subject page that may not be peer-reviewed but are still valuable contributions to the field. They welcome additional submissions and there are resources from 2008-2009 so it is actively maintained.
This resource has been live since February 2008 but I don't recall hearing about it either in the blogosphere or at Woods Hole. Have I been living under a HIT rock?
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Revisiting Emergency Preparedness - Louisville Flooding
Back in February I wrote about emergency preparedness with scenario filters and mentioned
This gut-wrenching image from Greg Schwartz is what the main branch of the Louisville Free Public Library in Kentucky looks like today. There is at least 1 million dollars worth of damage to at least 10,000 items in the collection (read on for the equipment and facilities damage) as the result of a flash flood this morning.
Servers for any internal staff wikis? Currently submerged in sewage backup. Emergency procedures binders? Probably floating around in there too. I'll keep an eye out for additional lessons to be learned during the 10 Steps to Service Continuity Planning webcasts.
You can help: Donations to a recovery fund can be sent to
The Library Foundation
301 York Street
Louisville, KY 40203
My thoughts are with the staff and community both now and in the months ahead with recovery.
Including these as part of an emergency procedures binder (maybe even a wiki!) could be a very valuable and easy way to provide information to colleagues at other institutions who are often eager to help you after disaster strikes.Disasters aren't neat and tidy when they strike though.
This gut-wrenching image from Greg Schwartz is what the main branch of the Louisville Free Public Library in Kentucky looks like today. There is at least 1 million dollars worth of damage to at least 10,000 items in the collection (read on for the equipment and facilities damage) as the result of a flash flood this morning.
Servers for any internal staff wikis? Currently submerged in sewage backup. Emergency procedures binders? Probably floating around in there too. I'll keep an eye out for additional lessons to be learned during the 10 Steps to Service Continuity Planning webcasts.
You can help: Donations to a recovery fund can be sent to
The Library Foundation
301 York Street
Louisville, KY 40203
My thoughts are with the staff and community both now and in the months ahead with recovery.
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