Wisconsin Diabetes Outreach Nurse - Whitney Schreiber at the Stockbridge-Munsee Health and Wellness Center (Bowler, WI)

I ran across a really interesting video on a Facebook feed I subscribe to. It's showcases the work of Whitney Schreiber, a Diabetes Outreach Nurse at the Bowler, WI Stockbridge-Munsee Health and Wellness Center. It's a wonderful portrait of the compassionate and culturally sensitive care she provides. 

Whitney's video is part of a series on We Are Healers, a project that "seeks to increase the number of American Indian health professionals who provide culturally appropriate care." On their site you will find video profiles of other Native American health care providers from across WI and the country. I was moved to tears a few times as I watched these inspiring stories. Maybe you will be too. 

WHSLA Spotlight - Mini Prasad at Aurora Medical Center Summit

Mini Prasad is a Librarian at the Resource Center Library, Aurora Medical Center-Summit (part of Aurora Health Care). 

Her responsibilities include: literature searches; being an embedded librarian; consumer health; teaching online classes for caregivers and in person classes for patients; administration of the hospital Intranet site; policies and procedure maintenance; cataloging; and responsibility for a monthly newsletter for hospital. Her professional interests include cataloging, consumer health, and collection maintenance. 

Mini has a BS in Chemistry from Marquette, a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin -Milwaukee, and an MSLIS from UW-Milwaukee (2009). 

Her home town is Delafield, WI. Her hobbies include reading, traveling, and Indian cooking. Mini adds that she is a “proud mom of 3 adult children. [I] worked as a computer engineer and also as an elementary school librarian before working at Aurora Health Care.”

Mini Prasad

Reminder - Bylaws Change Vote in Progress

The executive board met and approved bylaws changes subject to a vote by the membership.  The goal of the bylaws changes is to help reduce the  structure to more accurately reflect the current size of our organization. The most dramatic change is reducing  four area representative board member positions  to two at-large board member positions.  You should have recently received an email with the link to vote, if you haven't,please contact Barb Ruggeri.  The voting period will run October 18, 2016 to October 30, 2016.  Following the bylaws vote, we will have our president and board member election in November.

Inpatients, Outpatients: new limits in CINAHL work well

A few weeks ago I attended a CINAHL webinar as a refresher. I didn't anticipate that I would learn too much, but I did learn about two new limits CINAHL has available: Inpatients and separately, Outpatients. 

You can find the limits under the "Show More" section, or wherever you usually access the more advanced limits. I've used these a few times now and have been very pleased with the results. It definitely beats the way I used to do it, which was a very messy process that I never quite got down. 

If you haven't tried these new CINAHL limits yet, take a look the next time you're searching. 

Cashing in on overactive bladder market - ..."and a massive new market for drug sales was born"

A couple of weeks ago I helped facilitate a critical appraisal discussion of two articles with first-year Physician Assistant students. As we talked and made our way through the readings, the topics of financial disclosure and conflict of interest came up several times. Some students were genuinely surprised to learn that authors may indeed have financial ties to drug companies or products. It led to a really interesting discussion about us as readers needing to use a little extra caution when interpreting results that come from a study funded by industry.

This point hit home again yesterday, when the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, in collaboration with MedPage today, published their Sunday paper cover story on the rise of drugs to treat the burgeoning overactive bladder market. This article focuses on the redefinition of incontinence to overactive bladder, the push from two physicians and drug companies to treat this "growing" condition, and the science behind the murky benefits of pharmacotherapy for this condition. 

Source: JSOnline

http://www.jsonline.com/story/news/investigations/2016/10/16/overactive-bladder-drug-companies-helped-create-3-billion-market/92030360/

WI represents at MCMLA meeting - two posters you don't want to miss

We've showcased the papers, now it's time for the Badger posters. Show your support and stop by the poster session on Monday, October 24. The poster session is a great place to network with fellow librarians and get ideas for initiatives you may want to try in your institution. Additional posters can be found online. 


Defining Osteoporosis As a Chronic Disease [Poster #15]

Eileen Severson, Supervisor, Gundersen Health System, 1900 South Ave H01-011, La Crosse, WI, 54601; Additional Contributors: Ann Falkenberg Olson, Nurse Researcher, 608-775-2758, acfalken@gundersenhealth.org

Objective:  To review medical and nursing literature for instances of osteoporosis described as a chronic disease and to discuss the importance of defining osteoporosis as a distinct chronic disease. Methods: Medical and nursing literature and major public health organization websites were searched and reviewed for definitions and characteristics of chronic disease and osteoporosis. Results:  Osteoporosis is not consistently defined or described as a chronic disease in the literature or among major public health organizations.  However, based on definitions of chronic disease and the epidemiology and outcomes of osteoporosis, osteoporosis should be considered a chronic disease. Conclusions:  Osteoporosis should be consistently defined as a distinct chronic disease to help shape public policy and research funding regarding screening and prevention.  With a greater focus on screening and prevention, increased mortality and decreased quality of life due to osteoporotic fractures will be reduced.  Osteoporosis is not simply part of the aging process; it is a significant chronic disease with serious health-related, economic, and social consequences.

An Institutional Repository in a Multi-Hospital Health Care System [Poster #5]

Brenda Fay, Librarian, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI; Additional Contributors: Vicki Budzisz, Applications Analyst, Aurora Libraries,vicki.budisz@aurora.org; 414-649-7371; Jennifer Deal, Librarian Lead, Aurora Libraries,jennifer.deal@aurora.org, 414-328-7910

Institutional repositories (IR) collect, preserve and disseminate scholarly output of an institution and are common in academic settings. They are not as common in multihospital health care systems where published works are usually connected to an author’s academic affiliations. However, when concurrently, our multihospital health care system expressed an interest in publishing an online peer-reviewed journal and our research department expressed the desire to more easily track the works of Aurora authors, the hospital librarians stepped up for the challenge.  The Aurora librarians chose the Digital Commons platform from Bepress because it allowed institutional branding, unlimited digital storage and vendor technical support, provided peer review tools and required minimal local IT support.  The peer-reviewed journal was a priority and workflow for the peer review process and metadata and was quickly setup within months of purchasing the product. Collaborating departments at Aurora now assume full responsibility for the maintenance and publication of the health care system’s journal.  Tracking works of Aurora authors is, and continues to be a function done exclusively by Aurora librarians, and involves identifying and assigning metadata for Aurora authored articles, posters, presentations, books, and book chapters.  We also recently began collecting historical information and images.  This poster will describe the hurdles we encountered during its initial development as well as the challenges we continue to experience as we work with a platform created primarily for academia.

WI represents at MCMLA meeting - two papers you don't want to miss

In a little more than a week the annual Midwest Chapter MLA meeting will be held in Des Moines, IA. In part this meeting is special because it's combined with MLA's Midcontinental chapter, but it's also very special because Wisconsin health science librarians are presenting not 1, 2, or 3, but 4 papers and/or posters. 

If you are attending why not show them some love and stop by their sessions? You won't be sorry. Here's where you can find your fellow Badgers on Sunday. Additional papers can be found online. 

Using Qualtrics to Compile & Evaluate Citations for the AMIA’s 2015 “Year in Review.” 

Date: Sunday, October 23, 2016, Session 1, Room: Council Bluffs,  Time: 1:05:00 PM. Presented by Stephanie Hendren, Graduate Student, Ebling Library, 750 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI, 53705; Additional Contributors: Mary Hitchcock, Senior Academic Librarian, Ebling Library, 750 Highland Avenue, Madison, Wi, 53705, mary.hitchcock@wisc.edu, 608.263.9332

Objective:  To utilize Qualtrics as an efficient method of compiling, distributing, and evaluating several hundred citations between a faculty member and eighteen post-graduate students nationally located. Methods: A librarian initiated the search for citations published from November 1, 2014 to October 31, 2015 using pre-selected keywords and journal titles, decided upon by the faculty member who was a member of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA). Additional keywords and titles were added to subsequent searches for a total of approximately 1400 citations found. A Qualtrics survey was then created to compile the citations and create a “scoring grid” for items that should be included in the AMIA’s Year in Review. Eighteen students were given access to a total of 724 questions via Qualtric’s randomization feature. Each citation was then rated on perceived quality and given a 5-10 word summary of its contents. The randomization was set up to randomly distribute 41 questions to each student. Results: Overall, using Qualtrics to distribute a large number of questions to be “rated” to a large number of people worked very well. However, the randomization feature presented challenges that resulted in a small pool of unanswered questions. To handle the rest of the citations that had not been covered by the initial survey, we distributed a simple word document that mimicked the question format from the survey. Conclusion:  Many features within Qualtrics make it an appealing program to use for a large project involving the evaluation of citations, but certain program limits can raise difficulties during its use.

Enhancing Scholarly Visibility Using an Institutional Repository as a Springboard for Scholarly Profiles in a Multi-Hospital Health Care System; Date: Sunday, October 23, 2016 Session 2 Room: Cedar Rapids Time: 3:25:00 PM

Brenda Fay, Research and Instructional Services Librarian, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI; Additional Contributors: Jennifer Deal, Librarian Lead, Aurora Health Care; Deb Simpson, Medical Education Program Director, Aurora Health Care – Milwaukee, WI; Dave Stout, Bepress/Digital Commons, Berkeley, CA

In 2014 Aurora Health Care (AHC) Libraries licensed Digital Commons to act as our Institutional Repository (IR) including supporting am open-source journal clinical journal. To optimize and integrate the repository’s  full functionality AHC librarians explored ways use the Digital Commons to meet institution needs including increasing the visibility of the scholarly activities emerging from our medical education and research programs. In 2016 we licensed SelectedWorks – a module that allows for creation of scholarly profiles and piggybacks off Digital Commons to integrate content with the strong education and research stakeholder support.  These groups identified and have now implemented SelectedWorks features to: track scholarly output for education accreditation purposes (ACGME), make department scholarship more visible to internal and external stakeholders, and to track “reach” through mapping features. This presentation will describe the hurdles and benefits we encountered during our initial deployment and continued use of SelectedWorks. Attendees will gain: staffing and financial investment insights and strategies for creating participants’ research profiles. Dave Stout, from Bepress, will present two new services recently provided to our community: Expert Gallery, and Readership Dashboards.  These new services present fresh, relevant approaches for our community to proactively look ahead to fill gaps in non-traditional hospital/health care library services, while adding value to their local community.

MCW Libraries receive WHSLA's 2016 Library of the Year Award

The Medical College of Wisconsin Libraries have received the 2016 WHSLA Library of the Year award. Join us in congratulating the entire MCW Libraries team for all their hard work and successes in 2015 and 2016! You can read the entire nomination below. 

Barb Ruggeri, WHSLA President, 

and Karen Hanus, Assistant Director of MCW Libraries, 

receiving WHSLA's 2016 Library of the Year Award

The Medical College of Wisconsin is a distinguished leader and innovator in the education and development of the next generation of physicians, scientists, pharmacists and health professionals.  We are also a national research center and the second largest research institution in Wisconsin.  We provide cutting edge, collaborative patient care of the highest quality.  This year, MCW Libraries embarked on a journey to ensure the library is positioned to support the Medical College of Wisconsin as it transforms into a health sciences university.

A 20 member Steering Committee made up of individuals from across all four of MCW’s missions and an outside consultant began meeting in March of 2015 to develop a vision for the MCW Library moving forward.  The committee was made up of leaders from a broad spectrum of missions and programs at MCW.  The goal of this planning initiative was to create a shared vision of what the MCW Library is, what it does, who its patrons are and where it needs to be going into the future to support the evolution of MCW into a multi-site university and health network. This vision would inform the search committee as they searched for a new library director upon the retirement of Mary Blackwelder in July 2015.

A new mission and purpose statement for MCW Libraries was developed from this process. 

Mission Statement:
As a strategic partner, the MCW Library builds integrated capacity to access and translate information into actionable knowledge by:
• Providing technology to enable seamless, intuitive access to information resources
• Empowering people to access and integrate information in their lifelong pursuit of knowledge
• Integrating librarians into multidisciplinary teams to accelerate improved outcomes

Purpose Statement
To establish MCW Library as a valued partner and resource, as well as increase awareness and access to the many services, links and expertise available to enhance research, patient care, education and our engagement in the community.
MCW Libraries began planning and implementation of the recommendations of the Steering Committee in fall 2015.  Some highlights:

·         MCW Libraries’ staff created new educational resources including a slide show that demonstrates how to install the UpToDate app, a video that explains how to access saved searches in our licensed funding database, and web pages that highlight library resources such as journals, books and databases and video tutorials that are specific to students’ educational pathways programs.

·         A proxy server bookmarklet was developed to provide a convenient portal to library resources for those who discover subscription resources outside of the library’s normal channels.  Off-network users who discover resources via methods such as Google can launch the bookmarklet to instantly reload the page as a proxied link enabling the user to log in and view the resource via the library’s proxy server.

·         24/7 access to the Todd Wehr Library in support of medical students’ desire to have unrestricted access to the library’s study spaces was made available. MCW users may enter the library even during non-staffed hours.  When unstaffed, the library’s large study area, computer center, and reference collection are accessible, but the book stacks are not.  Despite these restrictions, the pilot has been successful and has met with general appreciation from the students.

·         A large portion of our on-campus print book collection (approximately 20%) was deaccessioned and shipped to Better World Books. 

·         A request to eliminate the off-campus storage for library print journals was submitted and granted. Library staff analyzed the collection usage and identified that a small portion (6%) of the physical journal collection accounts for nearly half (44%) of the usage.  This small subset of the print collection will be integrated back into the library space using the space freed up by the deaccessioning of print books in early July 2016. NLM will accept items from the remainder of the collection which will complete gaps in their print journal collection.

·         The library continues to provide Clinical Medical Librarian services to various hospital departments and groups such as Pediatrics, Dermatology, Medicine, Nursing Research Council, Sarcoma Research Group and the Fetal Concerns Group and is continuing to develop services to those groups to improve their outcomes.

These accomplishments were achieved at a time of great change and turnover of staff for the library. The library was reorganized at the recommendation of the Steering Committee and five staff members were transitioned out of the library and into different departments at MCW.  Transition plans were implemented and continued for several months. Of the remaining library staff, in addition to two retirements in July 2015, two other staff members left the library in fall 2015. Three new staff members were recruited to join our team throughout the fall and spring and our new library director will begin July 1, 2016. 


As interim director of MCW Libraries in FY15-16, I am extremely proud of the accomplishments of the library staff during this transitional year.  I feel that we are deserving of the title of Wisconsin Health Science Library of the Year. 

Using H-CUP to find National Length-of-Stay Stats for Hip and Knee Replacements - a guest post from Michele Matucheski

I had a reference question this week asking for the current national Length-of-Stay averages for Hip and Knee Replacements, respectively.   Health Stats questions are often challenging and I’m left wondering where to look, but with some direction from a few helpful MedLibbers (Mark Vrabel at The Oncology Nursing Society and Anne Woznica at The Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons), I re-discovered H-CUPnet this week.

What is it?

“H-CUPnet is a free online query system based on data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP).  It provides access to health statistics and information on hospital inpatient and emergency department utilization.” 

If you need stats on hospital discharges or length of stays by specific diagnoses or procedures, this tool is just the thing!

As the name suggests, you can also pull cost numbers as well.    You can even choose patient characteristics such as age,  gender, insurance status, and location – Don’t worry : Patient data is entirely anonymous.  Hospital Characteristics can also be scoped to hospital ownership, location, and/or bedsize so you can more easily see how YOUR hospital(s) measure up. 

In order to help myself remember how I got the answer, I made a little Screencast video to explain how to generate the most useful report for this particular Length-of-Stay question.    I thought it might be helpful for my WHSLA colleagues as well :

Using H-CUPnet to Find Length-of-Stay Stats [Screencast]

http://www.screencast.com/users/Michele7747/folders/Snagit/media/31ab1e10-bbc9-4a45-9c88-841918563e58/