NIH: Suggest social justice items for Electronic Health Records

My source: Spirit of 1848 list [The collaborative tool is very interesting]
Let's make suggestions for inclusion of social justice factors in Electronic Health Records by participating in the NIH activity described below.

Dear colleague,

Your input is requested to help make recommendations for a standardized set of patient-reported variables to be collected in primary care and public health electronic health records (EHRs), which will lead to unprecedented data harmonization and opportunities for health research. In order to participate in this process:

• Please visit the website for the collaborative tool: www.gem-beta.org
• Click on the blue button at the top titled "EHR Campaign." Or alternatively, click on the News tab and then the associated EHR campaign title.
• Read the summary statements written by the expert panels
• Enter your comments on the recommended measures, and if needed, suggest alternative measures (see attachment for detailed instructions).
• Forward this request to your colleagues who may be interested in this initiative

Comments will be accepted through April 4, 2011.

Background about this Collaborative Effort

Several institutes within the National Institutes of Health in collaboration with the Society of Behavioral Medicine are coordinating an effort to identify a core set of brief, practical measures to recommend for use in adult primary care and public health electronic health records (EHRs), and we are inviting you and all members of your affiliated organizations to join this collaborative effort.

The HITECH Act and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act place new emphasis on the widespread and meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs). This is an important advance, with one significant exception: Currently EHRs fail to capture data reflecting crucial health behaviors and psychosocial issues. Such patient-reported variables are both health outcomes themselves, and major determinants of other health outcomes.

To address the critical need for patient-reported data, we are organizing an effort to evaluate and recommend actionable, patient-reported measures of health behaviors and psychosocial factors for use in electronic health records (EHRs) within adult primary care and public health settings. In order to facilitate broad participation in the development of standard measures we are using a three-phase process of consensus building.

In the first phase panels of subject matter experts were convened for each of 13 behavioral domains to review available measures and to recommend up to 4 reliable, practical measures for each domain that would be appropriate to utilize in primary care and public health settings and to be reported in EHRs.

*Your input is being requested for the second and third phases of the project.*

For the second phase we are using the NCIs Grid-Enabled Measures (GEM) Database to gather feedback from all stakeholders. In order to participate in this process, please visit the GEM website, www.gem-beta.org, and click on the blue button at the top titled "EHR Campaign." Or alternatively, click on the News tab and the associated header for the EHR campaign. Begin by reading the summary statements written by the expert panels, view the recommended measures, enter your comments on the recommended measures, and if needed, suggest alternative measures. Comments will be accepted through April 4, 2011.

The third phase will be a workshop/town hall meeting on May 2, 2011 at the NIH bringing together scientists, practitioners, policy makers, and patient/consumer representatives to review the results of this campaign and make recommendations on standard consensus measures for behavioral health and health behavior screening in primary care and public health settings. We encourage everyone interested in this effort to participate, and more information about this meeting will be forthcoming. Immediately following this workshop there will be a closed session meeting of key stakeholders to make final recommendations based on feedback obtained from the GEM tool and the open meeting.

Workshop participants will receive a summary of the meeting as well as information on final recommendations. Subsequent to the meeting, organizers and key stakeholders will discuss strategies to build support and implement plans to advance the adoption and incorporation of a core set of patient-reported behavioral and psychosocial measures in primary care and public health EHRs.

We truly thank you for your participation in this project to standardize the collection of behavioral data in EHRs because it will enable the collaborative group to put forth the best possible recommendations and ultimately improve patient outcomes.

Sincerely,

The EHR Measures Meeting Planning Committee
Maureen P Boyle, Ph.D.
AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow
Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research
Office of the Director, NIH
31 Center Drive, Building 31, Room B1-C19; MSC 2027
Bethesda, MD 20892-2027

Recipe for tension: Left-of-center values - Human (lower) Rights

Sometimes the invisible is most visible ...

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

Person visible - invisible in the conceptual frame	Where is your science now?
'Peace' the ultimate meme? Discuss.	"Human (lower) Rights"

Image source: Heiko Junge [20/27] Kansas City Star
http://www.kansascity.com/2010/12/09/2509904/empty-chair-left-for-jailed-chinese.html

Related links:

Recipe: Holistic care - Care pebble turnover*

Recipe II: Holistic care - Care pebble overhere!

Rhinos, evidence based medicine and 'out-reach'

It would be be marvellous to be able to introduce h2cm to the nursing, health and social care communities in Asia, especially China. According to Flag Counter just two visitors. There are the good - effective ways of doing that and the not so good. How the following measures up I'm not sure...

Working in health we are surely aware of the need to base what we do on evidence. Although nurses are not necessarily independent as the patient advocate. Advocacy is still an important part of the nursing role and one requiring specific advice in some instances.

Earlier this month a Guardian article related the ever more precarious position of the South African rhino and how claims about the curative properties of rhino horn as a medicine fuels poaching. The UK is nowhere near South Africa or China so what gives? What gives is the Planet, the tiger too and the biosphere in general. Apparently rhino horn is just compacted keratin and has no medicinal properties.

Nurses tend to be a green, ecologically minded group and the best source of change comes from within. It is never easy to change the beliefs of others, especially when your culture venerates its elders. Belief also remains a powerful factor in health. Despite this do nurses not have a duty to challenge beliefs that are wrong, to educate their communities?

What price true literacy: spiritual, 3Rs, ICT, health, environmental ....?

There must be a way for nurses to unite on this - 

across cultures, borders, digital barricades, politics, beliefs ....

As we make a difference individually with patients and carers ... collectively can we extend our reach to other communities too? While there's still time - and we try not to bite our nails.

Interesting and clearly ironic in the UK that after a generation public health is to have a new service with a return to the local authorities.

Blog Action Day 2010 - Water: conceptual drops in the health career model

Today is Blog Action Day and the theme is water.

Below I have added a selection of water related links across the domains of the health career model:

Interpersonal : Sciences

Sociology : Political

Water use - You? Water Encyclopedia water in Philosophy National Geographic the Water project	Properties of water The water cycle Water, sanitation & health: WHO  Water on the Sun SI water Homeostasis
Water mythology WaterWired Water development photos Costing the Earth BBC: Cleaning Up the Ganges	Waternet: Geopolitics of water scarcity in the Middle East World Water Day Water, health and economics: WHO Water.org UNESCO

The above links:
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/beinggreen/117266.aspx
http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/
http://www.science-parliament.eu/forums/2010-water-science-politics/1151/water-in-philosophy
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/04/water-is-life/kingsolver-text
http://thewaterproject.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Properties_of_water
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Water/
http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/
http://solar-center.stanford.edu/news/sunwater.htmlhttp://www.simetric.co.uk/si_water.htm
http://www.nursingtimes.net/nursing-practice-clinical-research/homeostasis-part-4-fluid-balance/203260.article
http://www.lenntech.com/water-mythology.htm
http://aquadoc.typepad.com/waterwired/
http://www.photovault.com/Link/Food/Water/WellsDevelopment/FWWVolume01.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sg2my
http://www.waternet.be/
http://www.worldwaterday.org/
http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/economic/
http://water.org/
http://www.unesco.org/water/wwap/

Healthy Active Ageing Virtual Global Discussion Forum: Int. Day of Older Persons 2010

Dear Colleagues,

The World Health Organization, Departments of Reproductive Health and Research, Human Resources for Health, University of Iowa Hartford Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence, and Partners would like to invite you to join Healthy Active Ageing Virtual Global Discussion Forum - 1-12 October 2010.

Join us in creating an interprofessional network involving representatives from health professions, policy makers, programme managers, international organizations/agencies, universities, research institutes and our clients to share our knowledge and experience on issues that affect healthy ageing.

REGISTER NOW! http://knowledge-gateway.org/ahaa

Share your experience, your opinion on issues that affect us all, as individuals, families and health practitioners. Contribute through this forum to the policy and practice dialogue.

During this twelve day forum you will receive two emails per day; one email to introduce the day’s questions and one daily digest of the contributions. Daily questions will be disseminated within three topic areas:

• Challenges and opportunities to support healthy active ageing
• Sharing of success stories
• Caring for older persons with dementia

Once you have registered you can participate in the forum simply by responding to the daily emails or sending a message directly to ahaa at knowledge-gateway.org

You can also log into http://knowledge-gateway.org/ahaa to browse the archived discussions and resource materials.

For any questions on this Virtual Global Discussion Forum please contact the forum facilitator: 
Christina Fusco christyfusco at gmail.com

Please pass this invitation onto your colleagues and networks.

With kind regards,

Maggie Usher-Patel
Scientist/IBP Secretariat
WHO/RHR

My source: HIFA2015

Additional links:
Full of Life  - http://www.dwp.gov.uk/policy/ageing-society/full-of-life/
International Day of Older Persons - http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/un/international-older-persons-day

PC footprints 1981 - 2010

At the Eden Project there is a sculpture which depicts the e-hardware an average Jo will use and dispose of in a lifetime (those teeth are made up of computer mouse). Overall this amounts to 3.3 tonnes.

I've listed this before on W2tQ, but my micro - PC footprint runs as follows:

• Sinclair ZX81 - 1981
• BBC microcomputer model 'B'
• BBC Master 128 - 1986
• Elonex 286 PC
• Dell 486 PC
• MacBook Pro - October 2008
  
• Evesham Pentium 4 PC - November 2002

This w/e after Drupalcon I am adding to my pile. I've managed very well, but it is definitely time for a new PC.

Additional link:
http://weeeman.org/html/impact/about.html

Frontline First campaign: cost-saving innovations whilst improving patient care

Dear Peter,

Innovations are the key to saving the NHS money. Every day, nursing staff on the frontline are finding new and better ways to deliver patient care.

As one nurse recently wrote to us:

"Without a working knowledge of clinical care provision how can ideas be practical and ensure quality of care is maintained? Nurses are in a prime position to look at care provision to identify better ways of working and therefore identify cost savings without sacrificing patient care and experience."

As part of our Frontline First campaign, the RCN is collecting examples of cost-saving innovations at NHS services across the UK. What nursing solutions have you seen in your workplace that could achieve savings without sacrificing patient care?

http://generalelection.rcn.org.uk/innovation

There are two ways the NHS can find billions of pounds in efficiencies:

discover innovative ways to save money
or
make cuts to staff and services

Every day, UK nurses are helping to devise and implement cost-effective solutions saving their employers money and helping to protect jobs. We've already heard from dozens of nursing staff who told us about innovations in their workplace, from changes to day-to-day practices to
whole new ways of working.

Please take a moment to report any cost-saving innovations you've seen at the workplace:

http://generalelection.rcn.org.uk/innovation

Thanks for speaking up and helping to protect patient care.

Yours sincerely,

Janet Davies
Director of Nursing and Service Delivery

My source:
Subject: Improving patient care
From: "Janet Davies, Royal College of Nursing"
Date: 04 August 2010 16:53:30

iConference 2011

From: Jonathan Grudin
Subject: A personal view on iConference 2011

Hello,

Please publicize iConference 2011, which will be in Seattle February 8-11 and has a submission deadline of August 30.

I’d like to add special encouragement. Some people including me see this as a possible turning point for the Information Conferences. The “iCaucus” has rapidly expanded to include over 25 schools in Europe, Asia, and North America, but more to the point, this iConference is the first to reach outside that community. It has a large, varied, illustrious conference and program committee, whose members have said they will attend. It was organized further in advance. The next conference, in Toronto, is already being planned as well.

Some people note that it feels like CHI in 1983 or CSCW in 1988, a coalescing and opportunity. It may or may not turn out that way, but an astute student or senior person, while not abandoning CSCW or CHI or other venues, might be well-advised to also participate in an iConference or two. (Starting with this conference, proceedings will be in the ACM Digital Library.) When universities ramp up again, iSchools are likely to be hiring. I’ve expressed my vote of confidence by publishing a short paper that I liked a lot in iConference 2010, despite it not being in the ACM DL.

At the end of a recent NSF sociotechnical research symposium, Geoff Bowker gave a spirited exhortation to participate and form the vanguard of the iConference series. In that spirit, please forward this to people who might be interested, encouraging them to consider submitting and to attending.

Cheers – Jonathan

(full disclosure, I’m co-chairing the conference with Harry Bruce – but the conference and its opportunity was the work of those who came before; Geoff was responding the conference as it already exists)

My source: CI researchers list

HIV/AIDS and Rights - Social Networking - The Vienna World AIDS Conference

To: Members of The CI Community Interested in HIV/AIDS and Communication
From: Warren Feek

Peter - Please Join: "HIV/AIDS Future Strategy" network at
http://groups.comminit.com/node/306528 - if you have not done so already.

Many best wishes.

I am writing in advance of the Vienna World AIDS Conference (July 18-23 2010) - an event summarised on The CI website - http://www.comminit.com/en/node/310758/347 - with an invitation to participate in dialogue on the themes of this important conference...whether you will be in Vienna or not!


The CI's Development Network Group called "HIV/AIDS Strategy: Future Directions" - http://groups.comminit.com/node/306528 - is the hub for our communication and media focused networking pertaining to the conference. This group presently has 489 members. This is complemented by the relevant HIV/AIDS Rights Knowledge within the HIV/AIDS theme site at http://comminit.com/en/hiv-aids.html

If you are not already one of them, please join the conversation! You can register here - http://groups.comminit.com/user/register - or, if already registered, join the group by going here - http://groups.comminit.com/node/306528 - and clicking on the red words "Request membership".

Thanks - it will be excellent to have you engaged.

To view communication- and media-related events happening at the Conference, please visit the HIV/AIDS Strategy: Future Directions Group's July calendar: http://groups.comminit.com/groups_calendar/306528/2010/07/all

Click on each event's name to read a description of what will be happening, where, and when. (Please note also the hyperlinked word "more"...click there to see the entire list of C4D-related events taking place each day). And please do add your own event description: Once logged in, just click on "Submit an Event" in the box on the right-hand side of the screen.

You can learn, for example, about:

* "Is AIDS Activism Dead?" (Monday July 19 2010, from 11:00-12:30, in Global Village Session Room 1)
http://groups.comminit.com/node/319719

* "Distance Based Learning Technologies: E-Health and Social Media for Clinical HIV" (Monday July 19 2010, from 14:30-18:00, in Mini Room 8)
http://groups.comminit.com/node/319802

* "'I Want My Rights Now" - A Toolkit for Young People to Advocate Successfully" (Monday July 19 2010, from 11:00-12:30, in Mini Room 3)
http://groups.comminit.com/node/319795

* and many more...

Born HIV Free campaign announces 11 million views for "Baby in the Sky" creative film

Dear Writer and Blogger,

In our series of news related to the 6-month Born HIV Free campaign, we are delighted to send you a press release focussing on the specially created film "Baby in the Sky" created by Les Bonzoms for this campaign.

The film has attracted a great deal of attention through YouTube and other broadcasts, helping to make people aware about the campaign.

Thanks as ever for your support,

Brendan
Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide France, Paris

“Baby in the sky”: a stunning new film made by Les Bonzoms specially for the Born HIV Free campaign attracts more than 11 million viewers on dedicated YouTube channel

Geneva, 6 July 2010 – The YouTube channel dedicated to The Global Fund’s Born HIV Free campaign which was launched seven weeks ago, has already been seen by more than 11 million viewers. The channel features an exceptional animation film called “Baby in the Sky”, created by the design team Les Bonzoms and with music of Amy Winehouse. Euronews, the international news channel, joins the campaign by also featuring the video until October.

“The purpose of the Born HIV Free campaign is to encourage millions of people to support The Global Fund so we can finally put an end to the tragedy of 430,000 babies being born HIV-positive every year, when we have the means and the expertise to prevent this.” says Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, Global Ambassador for the protection of mothers and children against AIDS. “Hopefully this beautiful film will reach a wide audience because of its creative ingenuity, and inspire millions of people to support The Global Fund so we can finally put an end to this terrible injustice.”

“Baby in the Sky” is a highly creative and imaginative animated film that conveys the beauty of life ahead for an unborn child. The film artistically portrays an imaginary journey in a world full of adventurous landscapes and fantastic creatures. It ends with a call from Carla Bruni-Sarkozy for an HIV-free generation in which she says “Life is a beautiful journey. Don’t let AIDS kill it.”

The film owes its powerful soundtrack to multi-award winning and singer/songwriter artist Amy Winehouse, who offered the pro-bono use of her “Back to Black” song for the film.

“It was a question of finding a true resonance with the images in the film created by Bonzoms”, says musician / producer Julien Civange, who conceived the Born HIV Free campaign, about the use of Winehouse’s music. “We wanted to find a piece that was modern but also well known, something that carried the same sensibility as the film. The magic came with the soundtrack by Amy Winehouse, an artist that Carla considers one of the greatest and most talented of her generation and who was generous enough to participate in the campaign.”

The animation can be viewed on the Born HIV Free YouTube channel and will also be distributed through various social and mass media platforms during the course of the campaign.

Since June 20, Euronews, the international news channel, has been broadcasting “Baby in the Sky” on its network in 155 countries. The film is shown in 90-second slots an average of three times a day for the first month and then once a day thereafter. Broadcasting of the film will continue until 5 October 2010.

"All of us at Euronews are very proud to be associated with this initiative, which is supported by an incredible positive animated film" said Philippe Cayla, Chairman of the Executive Board of Euronews. "We are glad to open Euronews' influential and far-reaching network to such professionals and experts fighting to eradicate HIV transmission during pregnancy. We are mobilized to make a success of this campaign and we strongly believe that Euronews' viewers will be deeply moved and will want to participate in the Born HIV Free campaign," Mr Cayla added.

CNBC has also been broadcasting the video on its network in Europe, Middle East and Africa since the launch of the campaign.

Speaking about the distinctive nature of the “Baby in the Sky” project, Jack-Antoine Charlot, a designer from Les Bonzoms said: “It was necessary to stop playing with the notion of guilt as an incentive for people to act and instead to reinforce a sense of wanting to share and take part in something. In the case of mother-to-child HIV transmission, the medications already exist to stop it. The problem is one of mobilization.”

After the film, viewers are invited to show their support by signing their name on the campaign’s “virtual wall of support”, on the www.bornhivfree.org website. The campaign asks people - by the simple act of clicking a button - to register their support for the work of The Global Fund and for the elimination of mother to child transmission of HIV by 2015.

Watch the videos on: www.youtube.com/bornhivfree

Editorial JRN. Coalition in leadership: Politics - the big picture and the big game

In the Journal of Research in Nursing, Veronica Bishop's editorial -

Coalition in leadership.
Politics - the big picture and the big game

- explores the state of the body politic in nursing. Bishop's focus is research, but the implications extend beyond the UK, to nursing globally. The body is indeed immersed in politics, but it seems the feet are dry and there is no one at home.

Considering that The Politics of Nursing by Jane Salvage was published c. 1991 political maturity is long overdue?

While the sexual politics of nursing have been campaigned for in the nursing media and vigilance is needed, it seems that a political birth for nursing needs to be induced. There is a political mentality there, there has to be. The future is too challenging, too fraught, too close to be mollified by appeals of "Anything for an easy life (and death)!."

Bishop begins with a quote:

The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision. It’s got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet.
Theodore Hesburgh (1917–)

If you are familiar with the health career model then you know what is coming. ... In quantitative terms 25% of our deliberations using Hodges' model can be POLITICAL. This is not just the political dimensions of the patient, carer and the health and social care enterprise. The model includes the practitioner, but back to Bishop:

Having ‘power’ is a concept that sits uncomfortably with many nurses – it does not fit with the ideal of caring and many clinical nurses are quite open in their lack of regard for those in management, seeing them as power-seekers rather than power-movers. Clearly nurse leaders have in many cases failed to take their clinical colleagues with them in the drive to put nursing where it belongs, at the decision-making point that drives the agenda for health services, a point borne out by Stanley (2009).

How ironic that 'comfort' itself has been the subject of concept analysis and theorising in the nursing literature. If student nurses are exposed to the POLITICAL from the outset of their careers, then surely at the very least they will be more comfortable dealing with the guises and disguises of power?

Bishop refers to leadership and ownership and the two are frequently conjoined. The question of politics in nursing - in thought, practice, management and policy (research!) - makes me wonder ownership of what?

If the political domain is so frequently a vacant lot as far as nurses are concerned, then perhaps when we do put in an appearance we are not taken seriously. It really is a case of: what are you doing here?! As Bishop points out through -

Nurses are scientific. When they want to get to the core of a problem they always try to drill down. Yet politics are about the big picture. Nurses are agriculturalists in that they grow and nurture things but politicians are hunters – they’re always after the big game. It’s these kinds of differences nurses need to start to understand. (Cumberlege, 2007).

Nurses are there in the POLITICAL domain: they are constantly trying to complete the big picture.

... we were considering the best way for her [Baroness Cumberlege] to approach an interview the following day, and eventually, after we had viewed the uppermost issue of the day from every angle she said ‘Oh, nursing is so big!’. How right she was – there is hardly any aspect of life that it does not overlap or impinge on, so considering the big picture is a mammoth task! And again, she was right, we need leaders who have clarity and energy, and can cut through the detail and focus on the professional entity.

Yes, the big 'P'-icture is a mammoth task, hence the need to uncover, compose and frame it early. POLITICS is not just a matter of whistle blowing, industrial relations, policy, the system, us-and-them, banner headlines. ...

Politics is much more and crucial to research as Bishop attests. So, if our students do not reflect upon and articulate the politics of health: ill-health, well-being, equality and inequality, wealth and poverty ... then that professional entity will be a political ghost. A ghost playing a little game in an alien and alienating domain.

Veronica Bishop (2010) Coalition in leadership. Politics - the big picture and the big game, Journal of Research in Nursing; 15; 291.
DOI: 10.1177/1744987110374692

RCN UK 2010 General Election 6 priorities - framed in Hodges' model

Please sign up: NURSING COUNTS

The RCN's 6 priorities hit the POLITICAL sweet-spot. In the table below I have related each of the priorities to a care domain of Hodges' model with a rationale that follows:

Give nurses time to train	Protect the Nation's health
Improve care for those with long term conditions	Standing up for staff who speak out Safer staffing levels Sustain health care investment

Timeout from the clinical arena for training is always a political issue. It is also at the behest of the individual. This includes individual practitioners and their managers.

The public's health (and mental health) is of course grounded in the group, but is initially framed by evidence, knowledge and preventive medicine.

Long term conditions may impact the quality of life of the individual concerned, but the effect on carers and the social ripples are also profound.

The Demand - Supply equation in health care may be reduced to raw, mechanical numbers, but they quickly become the political football of investment statistics.

So many false economies in stretching the more expensive resources when it comes to staff AND patient (carer) safety. Skill mix and staffing levels are vital for job satisfaction, service development, quality and safe outcomes.

Motivation and intent may be concepts exercised by individuals, but the political environment must support nurses who speak out for high standards of care, safety, the public good.

International Leprosy Day

Fighting for a Just Cause
Sunday 31 January 2010

How would you respond if, because of a disease,
your family no longer wanted you to live at home?
How would you feel if, because of a disease,
your husband or wife wanted a divorce?
What would you say if you lost your job
because of an illness that had no impact on your ability to carry out your work?
What would you do if your children were no longer allowed to go to school
because of your ill health or disability?

These situations may sound remarkable, unbelievable even, and yet these are real situations, faced by real people everyday. They happen just because the person has leprosy.

TLM-UK: In 2010 The Leprosy Mission is focusing on Nepal to celebrate World Leprosy Day. At Anandaban hospital, patients not only receive medical care, but staff also help them begin the slow process of emotional healing and release. The hospital's projects include medical treatment and surgery, counselling, education support, housing support and small business loans.

Additional links:

http://www.leprosymission.org.uk/

http://www.who.int/lep/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/medical_notes/166163.stm

Call for papers: IFLA Health and Biosciences Libraries Section open session

Colleagues from around the world are invited to submit an abstract for consideration for the HBS Open Session:

Health and Biosciences Libraries Section


Aim and Scope of the Session

It is hoped that papers will cover a wide range of areas - for example:

• Partnerships and collaborations that support free access to health information.
• Health libraries/health information professionals role in promoting open and / or equitable access.
• How health information is disseminated to the general public?
• How useful is free health information? Is it evidence based?
• How evidence based information is incorporated into freely available health information?
• Is there a decline in the use of health information that is not freely available e.g. library subscriptions?
• How do consumers prefer to access health information e.g. mobile devices, magazines, newspapers?
• What role health information literacy may have in health information?

It is anticipated that presentations be 15 minutes with time for questions at the end of the session.

Important dates:

February 1st 2010: Deadline for submission of abstract
March 1st 2010: Notification of acceptance/rejection
May 1st 2010: Deadline for submission of text

Submission Guidelines:

The proposals must be submitted in an electronic format and must contain:

Title of paper
Summary of paper (250 - 350 words maximum)
Speaker's name, address, telephone and fax numbers, professional affiliation, email address and biographical note (40 words)

Submissions are to be submitted before February 1st 2010 by email to:

Paivi Pekkarinen
National Library of Health Sciences
Haartmaninkatu 4
FI-00290 Helsinki, Finland
paivi.pekkarinen@helsinki.fi
www: http://www.terkko.helsinki.fi

Regrettably IFLA's Sections do not have funds available to pay for speakers expenses, including registration for the conference, travel, accommodation.

http://www.ifla.org/en/calls-for-papers/1930

Paivi Pekkarinen
IFLA Health and Biosciences Libraries Section / Secretary
National Library of Health Sciences
Haartmaninkatu 4
FI-00290 Helsinki
email: paivi.pekkarinen at helsinki.fi

HIFA2015 profile: Paivi Pekkarinen is Head of the WHO Information Service Centre, National Library of Health Sciences, Finland. Professional interests include:

• To enhance equal access to health information, in particular in the WHO European Region;
• To enhance collaboration and networking of the Public Health Special Interest Group of EAHIL http://www.eahil.net/PHISIG-page.html;
• and knowledge management issues.

Click here to read online.

HIFA2015: Healthcare Information For All by 2015 www.hifa2015.org
With thanks to our 2009 Sponsors: *British Medical Association, ePORTUGUESe, Network for Information and Digital Access, Royal College of Midwives, Royal College of Nursing*

To join or unsubscribe from HIFA2015, email:
hifa2015-admin at dgroups.org
To join our sister group CHILD2015 (child health), go to:
www.hifa2015.org/child2015-forum
To join our sister group HIFA2015-Portuguese, go to:
www.hifa2015.org/hifa-pt

My source:

HIPNet Listserv hjohnson at jhuccp.org

Global health: Organ failure and systemic sustainability

or
Blue Planet :: Blue People

Original image sources:
Northern Europe - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Northern_Europe_10.17239E_63.58242N_center.png
Stethescope - http://www.brookvillehospital.org/images/stethescope.jpg

The Communication Initiative Network and holistic bandwidth

In 2004 I attended a day at a community informatics conference in Brighton, UK (see the side bar for details). My interest in that event stems from recognising the different schools of informatics and the multidisciplinary potential for Hodges' model that extends beyond health and social care. The model provides a cognitive gymnasium for us to test and exercise our holistic bandwidth.

The notion of 'holistic bandwidth' really comes into its own within global development and communication. In 2004, or soon after I discovered The Communication Initiative Network. They kindly posted the Brighton position paper on their site and were very encouraging regards the model. Now they are developing a new Communication Initiative Social Networking Platform - http://groups.comminit.com/

There are many groups including:

• The Future of ICTs and Development
• Communication and Climate Change Adaptation

In the above group I learned of the following initiative :

There is an interesting initiative in Africa called AfricaAdapt. It is a network that works to facilitate the flow of climate change adaptation knowledge for sustainable livelihoods between researchers, policy makers, civil society organisations, and communities who are vulnerable to climate variability and change across Africa. There is a whole section on their website that allows for communities to upload their own information on how they are adapting to climate change. The initiative also offers an award for best community project which helps elicit contributions. See http://www.africa-adapt.net/AA/

Africa: never far from the news. Lets hope this next week there is some +ve news from COP15 Copenhagen.

• Students - Communication for Development
• HIV/AIDS Strategy: Future Directions
• Polio Communication Consultation Group

There are diseases lost to the developed nations and with diseases like polio and leprosy communication and education are central to those who are ill and their families. Even as a nurse there is a stark reminder in the need for an International Leprosy Day.

• Gender, Education, and HIV/AIDS

On the teaching psychology list someone asked this past week about alternatives to structure a student's lifespan assignment. I suggested Hodges' model an approach that can also be adapted to educate people about disease ....

SCIENCES: aetiology, prevention, transmission, hygiene, diagnosis, prognosis, evidence, research, physical resources, drugs, nutrition, age, weight...
INTRAPERSONAL: attitudes, beliefs, education, literacy, personal responsibility, mood...
SOCIOLOGY: social networks, cultural beliefs, gender expectations, community, family, friends, trust...
POLITICAL: policy, leadership, funding, activism, infrastructure: housing heating..., access to services, media, employment, governance...

• Ethics in Communication for Development
• Gathering Theories and Models

This group only has 5 members and is of obvious interest to me. I can't recall whether I signed up: must check! Planning and development in this context covers topics and issues I know nothing of and yet I am sure that dressed in its socio-technical guise Hodges' model can contribute to the theoretical development here. It could be that there are other perspectives, models and conceptual frameworks to be found that can inform the global health agenda?

• DRAFT: Technical Update on Social Change Communication and HIV/AIDS
• Human Rights and Technology
• Web Site Directors

So, do visit the Communication Initiative both the new groups above and the general website.

IMIA monthly news bulletin; no. 8, 08 December 2009

My source: Rita Arafa, BCS Health Northern Specialist Group, Membership Secretary.
Original source - IMIA: International Medical Informatics Assoc. see below.

For more frequent news updates, and subscription options by email, RSS feeds, etc., see the IMIA News site at http://imianews.wordpress.com/

IMIA website: http://www.imia.org
MedInfo2010 website: http://www.medinfo2010.org
For all official IMIA communications, please use imia@imia-services.org

Items:

1. MedInfo2010
a] Early bird registration deadline
b] Submissions feedback dates
2. Forthcoming events
a] IMIA Working Group activities
b] Regional events
c] National/international events
3. Boards (deleted for brevity)
4. Publications
5. Corresponding members - new SOP (deleted for brevity)
6. January 2010 bulletin

1. MedInfo2010

MEDINFO 2010 - 13th World Congress on Medical and Health Informatics;

12 to 15 September 2010 in Cape Town , South Africa.

a] Early bird registration deadline

Early bird registration closes 18 December 2009 - book early to save money. The site for conference registration and accommodation booking payment is open - via the main MedInfo 2010 website (www.medinfo2010.org), or directly at https://events.confco.co.za/ei/cm.esp?id=126&pageid=_2OO0LACU8

(NB BCS Health will be offering funding for those participating in Medinfo 2010 – details to be announced soon).
b] Submissions feedback dates

The SPC and reviewers are currently working hard on the paper submissions and other scientific submissions. Notification on acceptance of papers should be by 28 February, 2010.

2. Forthcoming events

Due to the increasing number of events, we will only here mention those in 2009-10. Notices of events in 2011 and beyond will be added to the IMIA website and IMIA news website when they are announced or when there is significant new information.

a] IMIA Working Group and Special Interest Group activities

The IMIA Health Information Systems Working Group (IMIA HIS WG) will be organising a two day workshop on Health Information Systems – 30 Years of Evolution, that will take place on September 10-12, 2010 in Stellenbosch, South Africa, just before the Medinfo 2010 Conference in Cape Town, South Africa. Further details will be advised in due course.

A number of WG/SIG chairs and vice chairs have changed as of the 2009 GA. This information will be updated on the IMIA website in the next few days, and on http://imianews.wordpress.com/
If WG/SIGs have activities planned, please send in the information so that we can help promote them.

b] Regional events

The 2010 Special Topic Conference (STC) of the European Federation for Medical Informatics (EFMI) will take place in Reykjavík, Iceland on June 2-4, 2010. The event has the theme ‘Seamless care – safe care. The challenges of interoperability and patient safety in health care’. - http://www.sky.is/efmi-stc-2010-.html

c] National/international events

HIMSS10 - March 1-4, 2010. Atlanta, Georgia, USA. http://www.himssconference.org/

BCS HC2010 Health Informatics Congress, April 27-29, 2010. Birmingham, UK. http://www.hcshowcase.org

eHealth2010 - May 6-7, 2010. Vienna, Austria. http://www.ehealth2010.at/index_en.html

e-health 2010 - May 30 - June 2, 2010. Vancouver BC, Canada. http://www.e-healthconference.com/index.htm

HINZ2010 - 2-4 November, 2010. Wellington, New Zealand. http://www.hinz.org.nz

AMIA2010 - 13-17 November, 2010. Washington DC, USA. http://www.amia.org

4. Publications

Applied Clinical Informatics (ACI) is a new official eJournal of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) and the Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems (AMDIS), and will be published by Schattauer. This is Schattauer's first online journal. Full information about this new development, including instructions for authors, can found at the journal website –

http://www.aci-journal.org See also IMIA News website:

http://imianews.wordpress.com/2009/10/13/applied-clinical-informatics-aci-ejournal-launches/

The proceedings of the Post-Congress Workshop of the 10th International Nursing Informatics Congress (NI2009), which was held at Vanajanlinna, Finland on July 1-4, 2009, are titled “Personal Health Information Management – Tools and Strategies for Citizens’ Engagement”. The 215 page book has been edited by Kaija Saranto, Patricia Flatley Brennan and Anne Casey. See IMIA News website:

http://imianews.wordpress.com/2009/12/05/ni2009-post-congress-workshop-proceedings/

6. January 2010 bulletin

The January 2010 bulletin will be published on 04 January. We welcome all feedback (to imia@imia-services.org) and any news items, conferences, etc for the websites.

END OF IMIA News Bulletin, December 2009
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Dr Peter J. Murray
Executive Director
IMIA, International Medical Informatics Association
http://www.imia.org

Medinfo 2010 - Cape Town, South Africa - 12-15 September 2010 - http://www.medinfo2010.org
NI2012 - Montreal, Canada - June 23-27, 2012 - http://www.ni2012.org

NIGH message for GANM network - We Need Your Help with the UN General Assembly

Please assist if you can....

Dear GANM Colleagues,

The Nightingale Initiative for Global Health (NIGH) (www.nightingaledeclaration.net) team invites you to join with us to ask the 2009 UN General Assembly to consider the UN Resolution proposal (see below) as they will be voting until the end of December 2009.

Currently the NIGH team is working in and around the United Nations in New York City — to propose a UN Resolution (below) recognizing the work of global nursing.

Please write to your country's UN Ambassador in New York City.

To find your country's UN Ambassador:

1.) A list of permanent representatives and observers to the UN in New York will be emailed right behind this message.

[Heads of Permanent Missons to the UN in New York - 146.3 KB, application/pdf ]

2.) to find the mailing address and a link to your country's web page (where you can find their email address) for your country's representative - go to:
http://www.un.org/en/members/index.shtml

Address the following message to your UN Ambassador. Finding the email address may take a little more effort, but it is quicker. We hope you will take the extra effort to let your representative know how important this issue is.

If you want to add a personal note to this example message please feel free:

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
re: Resolution to Acknowledge Campaign for 2010 to Support UN MDGs

(Enter the name of your UN Ambassador and country)

Permanent Mission to the United Nations

EXCELLENCY,

We ask you please to consider, now, initiating or supporting a Resolution for this 2009 General Assembly:

1/. The General Assembly, in recognition of the devotion and dedication of the world’s nurses and midwives and their care and concern for the health and well-being of the “peoples of the United Nations,” hereby acknowledges, with gratitude, their celebration of the “2010 International Year of the Nurse,” the Centennial of Florence Nightingale, through their campaign to raise global public awareness and support for the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

2/. The Assembly recognizes, in particular, their vital contribution to reducing child mortality and improving maternal health — as specified in MDGs 4 and 5 — and expresses appreciation for their overall commitment to the achievement of these United Nations’ objectives.

Sincerely yours,

Phalakshi Manjrekar, MScN, RN, India
Barbara Dossey, PhD, RN, AHN-BC, FAAN, USA
Dionne Sinclair, MSN, RN, Jamaica
Cynda H. Rushton, PhD, RN, FAAN, USA
Deva-Marie Beck, PhD, RN, Canada

Co-Directors, Nightingale Initiative for Global Health (NIGH) on behalf of 20,000 nurses from 110 nations who have signed the ”Nightingale Declaration for a Healthy World.” See: http://www.NightingaleDeclaration.net

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈ end of message~~~~~~~~~

”Global Public Health“ has been a key focus of the United Nations, until December 31, 2009, and then the UN focus moves to “Gender Equality” for 2010. We believe that it is, therefore, urgent that we get this Resolution into the UN General Assembly agenda for adoption before the end of 2009.

We have contacted Ambassadors from all 192 Member States, asking them to support this proposal. As well, we have sent them the attached press release, which we will also be forwarding on to all 200+ media representatives and media agencies accredited at the UN.

The NIGH team thank you for your consideration of our request. Please circulate this request to other colleagues.

Additional links: 2010 International Year of the Nurse (IYNurse)

GANM (Global Alliance for Nursing and Midwifery)

Blog Action Day: Imagine a generation taking nothing for granted from the start

Blog Action Day 2009:

"Climate change" - these words spoken in so many different languages may be the first uttered by the World's infants over the next decade. It really could happen! If these words are the constant they need to be, on the lips of all parents, teachers, leaders and all who 'know'.

That would be no bad thing for the (near) future.

Just imagine:
a generation taking nothing for granted from the start.

People respond best to change they see. In particular change in their environment. We are hard-wired to react to change that represents a threat. We respond with flight or fight. On island Earth, this rock we share, the options are becoming ever more limited, limite, limit, limi. ...

In order to respond now, we must rely on several forms of vision. We must take into account not just ourselves, but as is often highlighted:

• future generations, our legacy - their inheritance (SOCIOLOGY)
• other individuals - our brothers and sisters - and their situation (INTERPERSONAL)
• the evidence for climate change and solutions (SCIENCES)
• those in power and their translation of the agenda for positive change (POLITICAL)
• the effect of climate change on flora and flora (SCIENCE, SOCIOLOGY and POLITICAL)
• the physical health impact (SCIENCES)
• the emotional and mental health impact (INTERPERSONAL)
• the changes needed in policy and political change succession (POLITICAL)
• the ethical values that are shared and debated - consumerism (business at any price $1, £1, €1 .... stores), Deep Ecology (INTERPERSONAL & POLITICAL).

Things, especially human 'things' are never that straight forward. The impact of climate change is writ large in that last word - change. Perhaps in erecting the faces the lesson of Easter Island is environmental dominoes. For us of course this means that as the climate changes so does the environment. For some the change is quickly evident if you live by the ocean, tundra or mountainous glaciated regions.

Change happens on local, regional, national and international levels.

From the Earth observing satellites above, to survey vessels on the oceans, and the research stations in the Antarctic and Arctic vision is everything in hearts and minds paving the way for action in classrooms, homes and eco-prise. ...

Additional links:
How psychology can help the planet stay cool, New Scientist

Maldives government takes a dive for climate change, NatGeo

Hodges' model SCIENCES links 'Environment, Sustainability, Ecology & Eco-system Health'

Image source: Easter Island photo -
http://www.fractalenlightenment.com/2007/08/easter-island-and-us.html

Political shortsightedness and the power of nuclear weapons

The political expense debacle for ALL the main political parties* here in the UK and the consequences have numerously been described as 'fall-out'.

Although the lasting image is one of MPs staring into the headlights, there are many politicians who must be quietly pleased. When you listen to the leaders explain how the mess will be fixed, they appear to treat the expenses shinannighans as the problem that demands political reform. Once expenses are transparent and the public reassured then the problem is resolved and democracy will be strengthened.

As the political domain links at Hodges' model has attested for many years (and this resource merely scratches a personal political itch) politics covers rather more than 'expenses' and their governance. Long term calls for reform have included aspects of government and democracy beyond the clamour over the voting system. There is a need for global political reform and if this needs to start at a national level from the 'bottom' (literally in this case) -up then so be it. Ideally though political reform must happen in several quarters simultaneously. That is, socially, nationally and reform of the UN. This is happening and through the activism of various World Citizenry - Global Parliament initiatives that exist.

A meeting of minds is not enough: there is a need for a meeting of global consciousness. On a more mundane level - for Westminster the politicians and voters must wake up and grasp the opportunity for wider political reform.

A nuclear blast gives rise to much more than expense laden fall-out.

What about:

• Overpressure
• Electromagnetic pulse
• ....?

Just like clean-up and decommissioning in the nuclear industry, reform and cleaning up the bloat and detritus of political institutions is complex, labour intensive, time consuming, scary for some. Oh yes, and probably expensive too....

*And a shot across the bows for all the others!

Hodges' model: POLITICAL domain resources