MNCLHD

MNCLHD

Friday, August 29, 2008

Support programs for newly registered nurses

The latest edition of the Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing (now free online) includes an interesting article by Jennifer Evans, et al, entitled "The strengths and weaknesses of transitional support programs for newly registered nurses."

The researchers were concerned that the experiences of new graduate nurses moving from university to the workplace had not changed in the years since nurse training moved to the tertiary sector. They conducted their research in seven hospitals in and around Sydney and found that current transitional support programs had weaknesses in that there were times when the nurses worked without support and that there were often unrealistic expectations placed on the performance capabilities of these new graduates.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Medical Images on the Web


We are often asked to help clinicians find illustrations and photographs of anything from thoracic viscera to nasal polyps to old lithographs of leech therapy. Kindly, the McGoogan Library of Medicine at the University of Nebraska has set up a comprehensive site full of links to image collections freely available on the Internet. Look here to find that elusive illustration to enhance your presentation or just to set yourself straight.

Another fantastic image site, not linked from McGoogan, is Wellcome Images. Wellcome is the largest biomedical research charity in the UK. Their image collection is extensive and includes "themes ranging from medical and social history to contemporary healthcare and biomedical science." Their picture above is of a breast cancer cell.
Be sure to check any copyright, or other, restrictions on the individual image sites. Usually the images are freely available for research or education, but it's best to be sure. Always acknowledge the source if you're publishing them in any format.

Friday, August 22, 2008

The wealthy healthy: wellbeing's social determinants

What makes us healthy, and what keeps us well, and can societies can be made healthier?

In a recent broadcast, ABC Radio's The National Interest presented this panel discussion from the 2008 Fulbright Symposium in Adelaide. Five distinguished guests, including Sir Michael Marmot (Director, International Institute for Society and Health, University College, London), Dr David Satcher (former Surgeon General of the US) and our own Dr Carmen Lawrence and Pat Anderson, looked at how things like public transport or housing policy, the tax system or education spending, can improve our health. There is growing evidence to suggest the society in which we live can have a major impact on how well we are. Marmot uses the example of Costa Rica, which is a poor country with a high life expectancy for its citizens, and where there is no government spending on defence, but an emphasis on health and education.

You can download this program as a podcast or read the transcript here.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

JoVE

The Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE) is now indexed in MEDLINE/PubMed. What is JoVE? Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE) is a video journal for biological research, ie the articles are in video. My favourite is "The Structure of Skilled Forelimb Reaching in the Rat: A Movement Rating Scale" from 8/8/08. Obviously the journal is geared more to science but worth a look as it is the first of its kind indexed on a medical database such as Medline and a look at the future.

Rural & Remote Health Conference in Coffs, 20-22 November, 2008

The draft program and registration information for the inaugural NSW Rural & Remote Health Conference: Information/Inspiration/Innovation which will be held at the Opal Cove Resort, Coffs Harbour, from 20th to 22nd November 2008, is now available. An essential addition to the conference calendar for anyone working in rural health.

Monday, August 18, 2008

ESSENTIAL Nursing Resources

THE 24TH EDITION of the ICIRN Essential Nursing Resources list (12 pages only free online) edited by Jacobs and Berolucci is presented as a resource for locating nursing information and for collection development. The list includes print, multimedia, and electronic sources to support nursing practice, education, administration, and research activities. The most recent editions or websites available are included. The list was compiled to point to pathways for exploration, rather than be an end point, and to expand to multiple formats beyond traditional references. New sections in this edition are: Alerting Services / Blogs/RSS feeds (formerly Current Awareness), Consumer Health/Patient Education, Informatics, Public Health/Disaster Preparedness, and Patient Safety. Citations marked $$ indicate availability via subscription or through a library.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Finding Australian Content in Healthcare: A Select List of Australian Internet Sites

Finding Australian content to support healthcare workers and researchers can be difficult. Here is a compilation of websites to access Australian healthcare information. The sites have been nominated by librarians as potentially useful for one of two reasons, they are an Australian organisation/service with a primary and explicit interest in evidence-based practice or they are a database which indexed Australian health literature.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

New hypertension guidelines

The Heart Foundation has just released Guide to management of hypertension 2008.
The guidelines take a strong evidence-based approach, looking at the patient in a holistic and individual way. Doctors are instructed to take blood pressure with strict adherence to technique, using both arms and on several occasions and in different settings, before diagnosing hypertension.
Whether the patient should be medicated depends on their personal risk of a heart attack or stroke in the next five years, taking into account factors such as age, weight, family history and lifestyle. People with diabetes, existing heart or arterial disease, chronic kidney disease and a strong family history of high cholesterol or early heart problems should be on blood pressure medication even if their blood pressure readings are in the normal range.
Doctors are instructed to manage the lifestyle risk factors in all patients, whether or not their blood pressure is elevated.

Australian mental health journal free online

The Australian e-Journal for the Advancement of Mental Health is a forum for advancing promotion, prevention and early intervention (PPEI) approaches to mental health. It is a peer reviewed, online, open access journal supported by the Australian Department of Health and Ageing.

Volume 7, Issue 2, July 2008 has just been published and includes these articles:
  • Guest editorial: Too important to ignore: Siblings of children with special needs : Kate Strohm
  • Evaluation of a family-based intervention for siblings of children with a disability or chronic illness : Rebecca Giallo and Susana Gavidia-Payne
  • The recovery journey: Employment support for people with depression and other mental illnesses : Ian Munro and Karen-Leigh Edward
  • The response of children to the psychiatric hospitalisation of a family memberHarry J. Sivec, Patricia Masterson, Janice G. Katz and Sandra Russ

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Mental health services in Australia 2005-06


A report on mental health services released today by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) found that expenditure on state and territory mental health services as a whole increased on average by 5.2% per year (after adjusting for inflation) from 2001-02 to 2005-06, to $2.7 billion.
Mental health services in Australia 2005-06 is the ninth in the series of AIHW's comprehensive annual reports on the characteristics and activity of Australia's mental health services. Details from a wide range of data sources for the 2005-06 period are presented, together with changes over time. Information on mental health care provided by a range of services is detailed. Included are ambulatory services (such as community-based services, emergency departments, private psychiatrists, allied health professionals and general practitioners), hospital and residential services and other services (such as supported accommodation services) In addition, information is provided on mental health-related prescriptions and mental health resources such as facilities, workforce and expenditure. Where possible, comprehensive data are provided for each state and territory, and comparisons are made between population groups (including Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, and overseas-born and Australian-born people). This report is a useful resource for health planners, policy makers, administrators, practitioners, researchers and others with an interest in mental health in Australia.

Use your library to reduce information overload

The July 21 issue of the Medical Journal of Australia includes an article by Paul Glasziou entitled "Information overload : what's behind it, what's beyond it?" The sub-title is "Literature alert services, good evidence-based resources and real-time decision support can all help to reduce information overload". (MJA 189(2) : 84-85). You will need to log in to read the article, and register if you have not already done so, but it's free.

If you're reading this blog, you probably already know that your library can play a big part in freeing up the clinician's time by providing alert services, resources and support, honed into your specialised area. We see our job as filtering that huge burden of information into the relevant, the authoritative and the latest.

Monday, August 04, 2008

Impact of 'silent' osteoporosis on Australians

At least 600,000 Australians are affected by osteoporosis, a disease that causes bones to become fragile and weak and increasing the risk of fracture, according to a report released today by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and Osteoporosis Australia.

A 'silent' disease, osteoporosis usually shows no signs or symptoms, and so often goes undiagnosed until a fracture occurs. Osteoporosis affects mostly women and men of middle-age and older.

According to the report, A picture of osteoporosis in Australia, launched today by Minister for Ageing, Justine Elliott, at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane, 1 in 2 women and 1 in 4 men over the age of 60 will suffer an osteoporotic fracture in their lifetime. 'These fractures may lead to chronic pain, activity restrictions, loss of independence and, sometimes, death,' said Dr Kuldeep Bhatia, Head of the AIHW's National Centre for Monitoring Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Conditions.