Health literacy is defined as “the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions” (Healthy People 2010. Health Communication Terminology). According to the Institute of Medicine, up to 90 million Americans have low health literacy. Low health literacy can affect anyone, but is particularly acute in older adults, minority populations, the poor, and the medically underserved. Low health literacy can negatively impact the use of preventive services, knowledge about medical conditions and treatments, and rates of hospitalization. It has also been linked to increased healthcare costs.
In order to support Henry Ford Health System’s efforts in combating low health literacy, the Sladen Library provides access to many web and print resources addressing health literacy. The webpage Health Literacy Resources http://www.henryfordconnect.com/sladen.cfm?id=413 is an annotated bibliography of web sites on health literacy. The Library has also compiled an extensive list of web sites on literacy and health literacy. In order to access this listing, go to Sladen Web Resources http://sladen.hfhs.org/links/index.htm and scroll down to Health Literacy. In addition to web resources, the Library offers a collection of pamphlets and brochures written for patients on various health topics.
Additional Resources:
- Health Literacy, http://www.hrsa.gov/healthliteracy/default.htm
- Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion, http://www.iom.edu/?id=32784
-Quick Guide to Health Literacy, Health Literacy and Health Outcomes http://www.health.gov/communication/literacy/quickguide/factsliteracy.htm
-Quick Guide to Health Literacy, Health Literacy Basics http://www.health.gov/communication/literacy/quickguide/factsbasic.htm
Friday, September 11, 2009
Check Out Our New Books
These are some of the titles recently added to our circulating collection. For a complete listing of new materials, visit the New Materials webpage.
Adult and Family Nurse Practitioner Certification Practice Questions, Amelie Hollier, 2009
Chestnut’s Obstetric Anesthesia: Principles and Practice 4th ed, David H. Chestnut, 2009
AO Manual of Fracture Management Elbow & Forearm, 2009
Anesthesiology Keywords Review, Raj K. Modak, 2008 (Also available as an online book)
The Resident’s Guide to Ambulatory Care: Frequently Encountered and Commonly Confused Clinical Conditions 6th ed, Michael B. Weinstock, 2009
Adult and Family Nurse Practitioner Certification Practice Questions, Amelie Hollier, 2009
Chestnut’s Obstetric Anesthesia: Principles and Practice 4th ed, David H. Chestnut, 2009
AO Manual of Fracture Management Elbow & Forearm, 2009
Anesthesiology Keywords Review, Raj K. Modak, 2008 (Also available as an online book)
The Resident’s Guide to Ambulatory Care: Frequently Encountered and Commonly Confused Clinical Conditions 6th ed, Michael B. Weinstock, 2009
Save Time By Renewing Your Library Books Online
You no longer need to call or visit the library in order to extend your loan on library materials. It is now possible to log-in to your account from any computer and renew your library checkouts online. The process is quick and easy, but you need to know your Sladen Library ID and password in order to be able to log-in to your account. Your Sladen Library ID and password is the same as the library-issued credentials you use for remote access to library resources when off-campus, but it is different from your Outlook ID.
To renew materials checked out from the Sladen Library collection, begin by going to the Sladen Library catalog. A link to the catalog can be found in the blue Quick Links box on the Sladen Library homepage.
1. From the catalog, click on “My Account.”
2. Click on “Renew My Materials.”
3. Enter your library ID and password, and then click on “List Charged Items.”
4. A list of the items you currently have checked out will appear.
5. Place a check in the box in front of the items you want to renew and click “Renew Selected Items.”
6. Lastly, you’ll get a confirmation screen showing the items you renewed and the new due date.
Please be aware that the standard renewal rules still apply. Books are checked out for three weeks and you are allowed two additional renewals for a total checkout of 9 weeks. Audio-visual materials check out for 1 week and are also allowed two renewals. If another patron has placed a hold on an item you have checked out, you will not be able to renew it. After reaching your renewal limit you must return the material and leave it on the library shelf for at least 24 hours. After that time, if no one else has checked out the material, you are welcome to check it out again.
Renewing Materials Borrowed thru ILLiad
You can also renew materials borrowed from other libraries through the ILLiad system. To do so, log-in to ILLiad with your ILLiad ID and password.
1. Under View on the left toolbar, click on “Checked Out Items.”
2. A list of the items you have checked out will appear. Click on the Transaction Number of the item you want to renew.
3. A Transaction Information box will open listing details about the item. A line in this box will notify you if the lending library allows renewals. If allowed, click “Renew Request” located at the top of the box.
All renewals of borrowed items are left to the discretion of the lending library. If the lending library rejects a renewal, the item(s) must be returned to the Sladen Library by the original due date.
If you have any questions about renewing online, please contact the library at 313-916-2550 or sladen@hfhs.org.
To renew materials checked out from the Sladen Library collection, begin by going to the Sladen Library catalog. A link to the catalog can be found in the blue Quick Links box on the Sladen Library homepage.
1. From the catalog, click on “My Account.”
2. Click on “Renew My Materials.”
3. Enter your library ID and password, and then click on “List Charged Items.”
4. A list of the items you currently have checked out will appear.
5. Place a check in the box in front of the items you want to renew and click “Renew Selected Items.”
6. Lastly, you’ll get a confirmation screen showing the items you renewed and the new due date.
Please be aware that the standard renewal rules still apply. Books are checked out for three weeks and you are allowed two additional renewals for a total checkout of 9 weeks. Audio-visual materials check out for 1 week and are also allowed two renewals. If another patron has placed a hold on an item you have checked out, you will not be able to renew it. After reaching your renewal limit you must return the material and leave it on the library shelf for at least 24 hours. After that time, if no one else has checked out the material, you are welcome to check it out again.
Renewing Materials Borrowed thru ILLiad
You can also renew materials borrowed from other libraries through the ILLiad system. To do so, log-in to ILLiad with your ILLiad ID and password.
1. Under View on the left toolbar, click on “Checked Out Items.”
2. A list of the items you have checked out will appear. Click on the Transaction Number of the item you want to renew.
3. A Transaction Information box will open listing details about the item. A line in this box will notify you if the lending library allows renewals. If allowed, click “Renew Request” located at the top of the box.
All renewals of borrowed items are left to the discretion of the lending library. If the lending library rejects a renewal, the item(s) must be returned to the Sladen Library by the original due date.
If you have any questions about renewing online, please contact the library at 313-916-2550 or sladen@hfhs.org.
Update on PubMed Redesign
PubMed is undergoing a facelift. In the coming months, the site will be completely redesigned. The redesign is aimed at making PubMed easier to use, organizing information better, and refreshing the look of the interface. There will be no functionality changes with this redesign, however, functions and buttons will be moved and organized in new ways. A preview version is tentatively scheduled to be up on PubMed in mid-September. Stay tuned to the Sladen website for more information in the coming weeks.
Pubget - Quick Access to PDFs
The Library recently joined Pubget (http://pubget.com), a search engine that displays the PDFs of articles directly beside your search results. In order to be able to view articles the Library subscribes to, you must first set your subscriptions to “Henry Ford Hospital” from the drop down list on Pubget’s main page. When using Pubget off-campus, you must also choose HFH as your institution and log-in with your remote access ID/password. While the search engine is not nearly as robust as PubMed’s, and there are still some glitches in its ability to access all of Sladen’s subscriptions; if you just need a few quick articles, you may want to give Pubget a try and save yourself a couple clicks of the mouse.
Google Search Tips and Tricks
In the previous issue we examined the differences between searching Google and PubMed. For the times you do use Google to search, here’s some advice on how to get the best retrieval.
For most of us, Google is the first place we turn to in order to find something on the Internet. Because it retrieves so many documents, the chances of finding something are fairly high. However, Google does not search everything on the Internet; you may find information in other search engines which cannot be found using Google. It’s helpful to know a few search techniques in order to search Google more effectively.
You can use Boolean operators in Google:
• AND (the default Boolean operator, you do not need to type it) – heart attack will search both words, even if not next to each other, and retrieves 46,800,000 documents.
• To search for a phrase, enclose the terms in double quotes – “heart attack” will search only the exact phrase within the quotes, and retrieves 29,300,000 documents.
• OR – "henry ford hospital" OR "henry ford health system"
• To exclude something from your search, use the minus sign – bush -president
• To make a term mandatory in your search query, use the plus sign – French open +tennis
• To search for Related Terms, use the tilde (~). For example, cancer retrieves 187,000,000 documents, while ~cancer retrieves 638,000,000 documents, including leukemia, oncology, tumor, and pain.
Search Hints:
• Google ignores most punctuation
• Google is NOT case-sensitive
• Google gives priority to search terms in the same order as the query
• There is a 32 word limit for your search query
• If you select Advanced Search, you are able to limit to a specific file type (PDF, Excel spreadsheet, PowerPoint, Word, etc.), limit to a specific language, exclude words from your search, or change the number of results displayed per page (10 through 100).
Here are some of the unique features available on Google:
• Weather – weather Detroit, mi
• Calculator – type in the formula you need – 5280 * 16
• Stock Quotes – type in the company stock abbreviation (F – Ford Motor)
• Time Zone – time London (will give you the current time in London)
• Unit Conversion – 100 pounds in kg (will convert pounds to kilograms)
• Currency Conversion – 100 USD in GBP (you must know the currency abbreviations)
• Map – Detroit map
• Definitions – define palliative
• Find out the current population of a state - Population mi
• Find out the current unemployment rate of a state - Unemployment mi
• Local searches – Type what you are looking for followed by your zip code
Pizza 48202 or Movies 48202
• To find related web sites – related:www.medlineplus.gov (Retrieves related web sites such as MedMed, NIH, WebMD and Mayo Clinic)
For most of us, Google is the first place we turn to in order to find something on the Internet. Because it retrieves so many documents, the chances of finding something are fairly high. However, Google does not search everything on the Internet; you may find information in other search engines which cannot be found using Google. It’s helpful to know a few search techniques in order to search Google more effectively.
You can use Boolean operators in Google:
• AND (the default Boolean operator, you do not need to type it) – heart attack will search both words, even if not next to each other, and retrieves 46,800,000 documents.
• To search for a phrase, enclose the terms in double quotes – “heart attack” will search only the exact phrase within the quotes, and retrieves 29,300,000 documents.
• OR – "henry ford hospital" OR "henry ford health system"
• To exclude something from your search, use the minus sign – bush -president
• To make a term mandatory in your search query, use the plus sign – French open +tennis
• To search for Related Terms, use the tilde (~). For example, cancer retrieves 187,000,000 documents, while ~cancer retrieves 638,000,000 documents, including leukemia, oncology, tumor, and pain.
Search Hints:
• Google ignores most punctuation
• Google is NOT case-sensitive
• Google gives priority to search terms in the same order as the query
• There is a 32 word limit for your search query
• If you select Advanced Search, you are able to limit to a specific file type (PDF, Excel spreadsheet, PowerPoint, Word, etc.), limit to a specific language, exclude words from your search, or change the number of results displayed per page (10 through 100).
Here are some of the unique features available on Google:
• Weather – weather Detroit, mi
• Calculator – type in the formula you need – 5280 * 16
• Stock Quotes – type in the company stock abbreviation (F – Ford Motor)
• Time Zone – time London (will give you the current time in London)
• Unit Conversion – 100 pounds in kg (will convert pounds to kilograms)
• Currency Conversion – 100 USD in GBP (you must know the currency abbreviations)
• Map – Detroit map
• Definitions – define palliative
• Find out the current population of a state - Population mi
• Find out the current unemployment rate of a state - Unemployment mi
• Local searches – Type what you are looking for followed by your zip code
Pizza 48202 or Movies 48202
• To find related web sites – related:www.medlineplus.gov (Retrieves related web sites such as MedMed, NIH, WebMD and Mayo Clinic)
National Medical Librarians Month
The Medical Library Association has designated the month of October as National Medical Librarians Month in order to acknowledge the important role the health information professional plays in connecting doctors, nurses, students, researchers, and patients to quality health information. Not only in October, but all year long, Sladen Library librarians and staff take great pride in organizing, searching, and providing access to the information our hospital and its staff needs in order to continue to provide excellent patient care and engage in scientific discovery.
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
The National Breast Cancer Awareness Month program is dedicated to increasing public knowledge about the importance of early detection of breast cancer. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in October, the Sladen Library will hold giveaways for breast cancer awareness items. This year some of the items we will be giving away include a sports watch, t-shirt, a designer pen, cookbook, and an “In The Pink” jewelry set. Visit the Sladen Library website in October for a schedule of events and rules on how to enter. And remember, early detection saves lives!
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