Moving Forward
How can we strengthen the section? What are the projects and initiatives needed to fulfill the opening sentence found on our website? It reads:
ICS provides opportunities for participation in international cooperation projects, promotes awareness of international issues, provides a mechanism for addressing and responding to the needs of international members, and fosters communication in the international library area.
Although these are good questions, as someone working in a library with reduced budgets and staffing, as many of us are, I have to wonder where there is time for additional professional activities.
Yet we are still well off, especially when we consider the work environment of Grace Ajuwon, recipient of the 2009 MLA Librarians Without Borders (LWB) Grant. Grace’s library, the E. Latunde Odeku Medical Library at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, used the grant, in part, to increase the number of computers with Internet access to seven, in support of a medical student body of more than 400. There is much we can learn from Grace and her colleagues, who work under difficult financial circumstances and strive to provide the best library services possible. I am also grateful to Min-Lin Fang from the UCSF Library who secured the donation from the FlySheet Med-Informatics Company that made the LWB Grant possible.
We have a lot to be proud of as a section. Even so, in this time of the Great Recession, what are the ideas you have to help build and further work of our section? And what can you contribute to give life to those ideas?
2010 LWB Grant
The International Cooperation Section is pleased to announce the 2010 MLA Librarians Without Borders® Grant. The grant supports health science librarianship in HINARI Access to Research Initiative eligible countries, by funding training opportunities and/or the purchase of materials that further the use of biomedical resources for education, research or clinical practice.
Completed applications must be received in the Medical Library Association office on or before December 1, 2009. Maximum funding under the grant is $5,000 (USD). For complete information and application instructions, http://www.mlanet.org/resources/global/lwb_mla_grant.html
Questions: please contact Daniel Dollar
Daniel Dollar
Yale University
Cushing/Whitney Medical Library
Email:daniel.dollar@yale.edu
Voice: (203) 785-2883
Monday, October 12, 2009
Report on International Partnership
The Beginning of a Medical Library Partnership with Ukraine
Donna Flake and Diane Darrow of the SEAHEC Medical Library in Wilmington are providing help and consultation to the Danylo Halytskyi Scientific Medical Library of the National Medical University in Lviv, Ukraine.
They traveled to Lviv, Ukraine in June 2009 to work with medical librarians. They visited the two locations of a Medical Library and met with the Deputy Director (Ludmilla Lutsky) along with Medical University officials. Furthermore, they provided training to the medical librarians, doctors, and medical residents.
(Photo: Donna Flake (middle) with Diane Darrow (far right) and the librarians from the Scientific Medical Library, Lviv, Ukraine)
Before the trip they requested and were very generously provided with STAT!Ref and Anatomy TV, as well as EBSCO’s Dynamed for this library for one year period. In addition, three other U.S. medical libraries, plus SEAHEC Medical Library, agreed to supply the Ukrainian medical library with 30 free electronic interlibrary loans. The four U.S. medical libraries are listed as below:
• Hirsh Health Sciences Library at Tufts University in Boston
• Houston Academy of Medicine Texas Medical Center Library in Houston
• Louisiana State University – Health Sciences Center – Shreveport Medical Library in Shreveport, LA
• Fales SEAHEC Medical Library in Wilmington, NC
During Lenny Rhine’s excellent (and free) HINARI training at MLA in Honolulu in May 2009, Donna Flake met Triza Crittle from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. After each of the HINARI participants provided an overview of his/her work with international medical libraries, Triza told Donna that she wanted to help with their new partnership in Ukraine. Triza contacted Ukrainian Associations based in the U.S. to try to find one that would help to ship current medical books and journals to Lviv, Ukraine. The librarians from SEAHEC Medical Library are excited about Triza’s help with Ukraine.
(Photo: Donna Flake and Diane Darrow with the
librarians from the Scientific Medical Library, Lviv, Ukraine)
Donna and Diane also have contacted two other medical libraries in Ukraine for cooperation. The two Libraries include
the National Scientific Medical Library of Ukraine in Kiev, Ukraine and Dnepropetrovsk State Medical Academy in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine. They also arranged for these databases to be available to these two libraries:
• STAT!Ref
• Anatomy TV (through STAT!Ref)
• Dynamed (through EBSCO)
The medical librarians from Lviv certainly want them to return to Lviv for further cooperation. This partnership with the Medical Library in Lviv is really a “hybrid” partnership. This medical library partnership contains U.S. librarian leaders from NC and Nevada; Interlibrary loan support from Boston, Houston, Shreveport, and Wilmington; and database support from STAT!Ref and EBSCO.
Third visit to Moldova - The NC-Moldova Medical Library Partnership update on activities.
Donna Flake and Diane Darrow lead the NC-Moldova partnership. All the NC Academic Medical Libraries and some of the NC AHEC Libraries participate in the partnership.
Donna and Diane visited the Scientific Medical Library of the State Medical and Pharmaceutical University of Moldova in Chisinau, Moldova for ten days in June 2009. This was their third visit in four years.
They taught HINARI at the library to 23 health professionals including physicians, residents, medical students, medical school faculty members, medical librarians, and representatives from the Ministry of Health. Benefited from Lenny Rhine’s excellent “Train the Trainer” HINARI class at MLA in May 2009, Donna taught a HINARI class in Moldova, which was the first HINARI class of this magnitude taught in Europe. Silvia Ciubrei, Deputy Director of the Scientific Medical Library, advertised the class, registered participants, and created certificates of completion. Other classes were taught during their time in Moldova.
• Dynamed
• STAT!Ref
• Anatomy TV
• Evaluating Medical websites
• Friends of the Library Program
• The Reference Interview
• Marketing the Medical Library
• Integrating the Library’s Electronic Resources into the Electronic Medical Record
(Photo: Donna Flake with librarians and physicians from the Scientific Medical Library, Chisinau, Moldova. Donna taught HINARI to this group.)
While in Moldova they had several meetings with the Medical University’s President and several faculty members. They brainstormed how to improve the medical library and how to expand their partnership. One big accomplishment is that a course will be developed which integrates HINARI and medical database instruction into the curriculum of the Medical University. Prior to their visit, the librarians in Moldova advertised their databases but did not offer classes to the doctors, residents, medical students, and medical faculty members. Also the President of the Medical University has mandated that the medical library develop a marketing plan. This appears to be a direct result of the course they taught on marketing the Medical Library. Other accomplishments of the partnership include sending 20,000 current medical books and journals to this library. These were delivered in three shipments over a four year period. The books and journals were donated by the NC libraries, but the vast majority of the donations came from two medical libraries: the Laupus Health Sciences Library at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC, and the SEAHEC Medical Library in Wilmington, NC. In addition, all the NC medical school libraries and all the AHEC libraries furnish electronic document delivery to the Moldova medical library.
During the visit, Donna Flake was invited to a dinner at the home of the U.S. Ambassador to Moldova. Unfortunately, Diane Darrow had to return to the U.S. before this dinner. In attendance at the Ambassador’s home was also the Minister of Health, the President of the Medical University, and others who had helped our Medical Libraries partnership.
The partnership has been very successful – more successful than they ever anticipated.
Partnership with the Medical Library of Latvia
From 1999-2003 International Cooperation Section had an international medical library partnership with the Medical Library of Latvia in Riga. As this MLA pilot project ended, SEAHEC Medical Library became the permanent sister library to the Medical Library of Latvia. They still are partners and communicate regularly. Latvian Welfare Society, based in Illinois, U.S., is so gracious and generous that they are willing to ships current medical books and journals to the Medical Library of Latvia with free of charge. These donations are from SEAHEC Library in Wilmington, Diane Olson from Loyola Health Sciences Library in Chicago, and several other U.S. libraries. In 2003 when the MLA sister libraries pilot project ended, forty U.S. and Canadian medical libraries were providing free interlibrary loans to the Medical Library of Latvia. Today, thirty of the original forty libraries continue to provide free electronic interlibrary loans.
Velta Poznaka, a longtime friend of Donna Flake and tremendously capable Director of the Medical Library of Latvia, expressed that economic problems were mounting for her library, just as it is happening in many libraries worldwide. Velta has had to decrease hours and staff and buy much less. “Fortunately,” she says,” it is a great comfort and support to have a sister library with much assistance from other U.S. medical libraries for interlibrary loans and gifts of current medical books and journals.”
Donna Flake
Robert M. Fales Health Sciences Library
SEAHEC / South East Area Health Education Center
Email: Donna.Flake@seahec.net
Donna Flake and Diane Darrow of the SEAHEC Medical Library in Wilmington are providing help and consultation to the Danylo Halytskyi Scientific Medical Library of the National Medical University in Lviv, Ukraine.
They traveled to Lviv, Ukraine in June 2009 to work with medical librarians. They visited the two locations of a Medical Library and met with the Deputy Director (Ludmilla Lutsky) along with Medical University officials. Furthermore, they provided training to the medical librarians, doctors, and medical residents.
(Photo: Donna Flake (middle) with Diane Darrow (far right) and the librarians from the Scientific Medical Library, Lviv, Ukraine)
Before the trip they requested and were very generously provided with STAT!Ref and Anatomy TV, as well as EBSCO’s Dynamed for this library for one year period. In addition, three other U.S. medical libraries, plus SEAHEC Medical Library, agreed to supply the Ukrainian medical library with 30 free electronic interlibrary loans. The four U.S. medical libraries are listed as below:
• Hirsh Health Sciences Library at Tufts University in Boston
• Houston Academy of Medicine Texas Medical Center Library in Houston
• Louisiana State University – Health Sciences Center – Shreveport Medical Library in Shreveport, LA
• Fales SEAHEC Medical Library in Wilmington, NC
During Lenny Rhine’s excellent (and free) HINARI training at MLA in Honolulu in May 2009, Donna Flake met Triza Crittle from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. After each of the HINARI participants provided an overview of his/her work with international medical libraries, Triza told Donna that she wanted to help with their new partnership in Ukraine. Triza contacted Ukrainian Associations based in the U.S. to try to find one that would help to ship current medical books and journals to Lviv, Ukraine. The librarians from SEAHEC Medical Library are excited about Triza’s help with Ukraine.
(Photo: Donna Flake and Diane Darrow with the
librarians from the Scientific Medical Library, Lviv, Ukraine)
Donna and Diane also have contacted two other medical libraries in Ukraine for cooperation. The two Libraries include
the National Scientific Medical Library of Ukraine in Kiev, Ukraine and Dnepropetrovsk State Medical Academy in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine. They also arranged for these databases to be available to these two libraries:
• STAT!Ref
• Anatomy TV (through STAT!Ref)
• Dynamed (through EBSCO)
The medical librarians from Lviv certainly want them to return to Lviv for further cooperation. This partnership with the Medical Library in Lviv is really a “hybrid” partnership. This medical library partnership contains U.S. librarian leaders from NC and Nevada; Interlibrary loan support from Boston, Houston, Shreveport, and Wilmington; and database support from STAT!Ref and EBSCO.
Third visit to Moldova - The NC-Moldova Medical Library Partnership update on activities.
Donna Flake and Diane Darrow lead the NC-Moldova partnership. All the NC Academic Medical Libraries and some of the NC AHEC Libraries participate in the partnership.
Donna and Diane visited the Scientific Medical Library of the State Medical and Pharmaceutical University of Moldova in Chisinau, Moldova for ten days in June 2009. This was their third visit in four years.
They taught HINARI at the library to 23 health professionals including physicians, residents, medical students, medical school faculty members, medical librarians, and representatives from the Ministry of Health. Benefited from Lenny Rhine’s excellent “Train the Trainer” HINARI class at MLA in May 2009, Donna taught a HINARI class in Moldova, which was the first HINARI class of this magnitude taught in Europe. Silvia Ciubrei, Deputy Director of the Scientific Medical Library, advertised the class, registered participants, and created certificates of completion. Other classes were taught during their time in Moldova.
• Dynamed
• STAT!Ref
• Anatomy TV
• Evaluating Medical websites
• Friends of the Library Program
• The Reference Interview
• Marketing the Medical Library
• Integrating the Library’s Electronic Resources into the Electronic Medical Record
(Photo: Donna Flake with librarians and physicians from the Scientific Medical Library, Chisinau, Moldova. Donna taught HINARI to this group.)
While in Moldova they had several meetings with the Medical University’s President and several faculty members. They brainstormed how to improve the medical library and how to expand their partnership. One big accomplishment is that a course will be developed which integrates HINARI and medical database instruction into the curriculum of the Medical University. Prior to their visit, the librarians in Moldova advertised their databases but did not offer classes to the doctors, residents, medical students, and medical faculty members. Also the President of the Medical University has mandated that the medical library develop a marketing plan. This appears to be a direct result of the course they taught on marketing the Medical Library. Other accomplishments of the partnership include sending 20,000 current medical books and journals to this library. These were delivered in three shipments over a four year period. The books and journals were donated by the NC libraries, but the vast majority of the donations came from two medical libraries: the Laupus Health Sciences Library at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC, and the SEAHEC Medical Library in Wilmington, NC. In addition, all the NC medical school libraries and all the AHEC libraries furnish electronic document delivery to the Moldova medical library.
During the visit, Donna Flake was invited to a dinner at the home of the U.S. Ambassador to Moldova. Unfortunately, Diane Darrow had to return to the U.S. before this dinner. In attendance at the Ambassador’s home was also the Minister of Health, the President of the Medical University, and others who had helped our Medical Libraries partnership.
The partnership has been very successful – more successful than they ever anticipated.
Partnership with the Medical Library of Latvia
From 1999-2003 International Cooperation Section had an international medical library partnership with the Medical Library of Latvia in Riga. As this MLA pilot project ended, SEAHEC Medical Library became the permanent sister library to the Medical Library of Latvia. They still are partners and communicate regularly. Latvian Welfare Society, based in Illinois, U.S., is so gracious and generous that they are willing to ships current medical books and journals to the Medical Library of Latvia with free of charge. These donations are from SEAHEC Library in Wilmington, Diane Olson from Loyola Health Sciences Library in Chicago, and several other U.S. libraries. In 2003 when the MLA sister libraries pilot project ended, forty U.S. and Canadian medical libraries were providing free interlibrary loans to the Medical Library of Latvia. Today, thirty of the original forty libraries continue to provide free electronic interlibrary loans.
Velta Poznaka, a longtime friend of Donna Flake and tremendously capable Director of the Medical Library of Latvia, expressed that economic problems were mounting for her library, just as it is happening in many libraries worldwide. Velta has had to decrease hours and staff and buy much less. “Fortunately,” she says,” it is a great comfort and support to have a sister library with much assistance from other U.S. medical libraries for interlibrary loans and gifts of current medical books and journals.”
Donna Flake
Robert M. Fales Health Sciences Library
SEAHEC / South East Area Health Education Center
Email: Donna.Flake@seahec.net
Flahiff Returns to Liberia to Teach Nursing Faculty and Students
Thirty years ago I left Liberia after two satisfying years of Peace Corps service teaching math and science in a rural junior high school. This past May I returned for a much shorter stay of three and a half weeks to again share knowledge and learn more about Liberia first hand. This time I traveled with a group sponsored by the Friends of Liberia.
The Friends of Liberia is largely made of "returned" Peace Corps volunteers across the United States. Our group of 27 was divided into 3 teams: health/medical, teacher training and environmental. I was on board as the sole medical librarian with nine other team members including a physician, several nurses, mental health professionals, social workers and a laboratory technologist.
Our team worked at two different upcountry mission hospitals for a week each as guest lecturers in their nursing programs and consultants to the faculty and staff. My goal was to teach basic computer skills and how to find free, relevant reputable health/medical websites.
Both hospitals had Internet connections via satellite; however, electricity is only available for about nine hours each day at both hospitals. Fuel costs for the generators are high, and publicly available electricity is limited to only about ten square blocks in the capital.
Before traveling to Liberia, I collected more than 100 websites (in about 10 categories) and posted them on Delicious for the two hospital sites GantaHospital's Bookmarks and CurranHospital's Bookmarks.
I was hoping to refine them after consulting with faculty and staff at both sites.
Ganta Hospital had 2 computers in a small room that could seat 6 people and no means to show the Web live or through screen shots in a classroom. I presented an hour and half lecture to a nursing class of 30 students and separately to a group of 7 faculty. I focused on the rudiments of searching, Web site evaluation and Web based heath/medical information directories. Most of the students seemed alert and interested and took notes. Two sessions were planned for each class.
A nursing instructor, Professor Andrew Mambu, approached me at the start of the second session of the class for students and proposed that I use his laptop so that students (in groups of five) could view the basics of Web searching. I showed them the Delicious sites and a Web directory, stressing Web evaluation, links and navigation. Many were able to apply what they had learned in lecture and were extremely interested in the website content (disease information). They read as much as they could before their ten minutes was up. The Internet connection was slow but workable.
Curran Hospital had a library (about the size of a reading room) with seven computers. The Internet connection at this site was very similar to what I experience at work. Teaching (similar in content to that at Ganta Hospital) was limited to 2 interested faculty members, a Peace Corps education volunteer on site who showed interest, and the hospital's librarian who had recently completed a 3-month library certificate.
One faculty member was having challenges with using a mouse while the other faculty member seemed adept at navigating a website. I was seated between them and did the best I could strike a balance between their learning levels. The Peace Corps volunteer asked for another meeting. I was happy to oblige, and we went over questions she had about good websites for specific classes the students were taking.
The level and length of training at both sites was limited for several reasons. Teaching schedules by members of our group were not made until on site and were entirely at the discretion of the hospital administration. Faculty, staff and students spend long days at the hospitals so Internet sessions were worked into their existing schedules and the classes conducted by other members of the health/medical team.
A few things probably would have made the experience more relevant for the staff and students. I could have made email contact with hospital administrators ahead of time and gauged expectations and Internet knowledge and experience among the students and staff.
Most staff and many students seemed to own cell phones. Not only could I have "advertised" office hours, but I could have made myself available for consultations by providing my cell phone number. That being said, those who were able to attend the presentations were given basic information on the Internet and, I hope, a good starting point for relevant websites.
Janice Flahiff
Mulford Library
University of Toledo/Health Science Campus
Email: Janice.Flahiff@utoledo.edu
The Friends of Liberia is largely made of "returned" Peace Corps volunteers across the United States. Our group of 27 was divided into 3 teams: health/medical, teacher training and environmental. I was on board as the sole medical librarian with nine other team members including a physician, several nurses, mental health professionals, social workers and a laboratory technologist.
Our team worked at two different upcountry mission hospitals for a week each as guest lecturers in their nursing programs and consultants to the faculty and staff. My goal was to teach basic computer skills and how to find free, relevant reputable health/medical websites.
Both hospitals had Internet connections via satellite; however, electricity is only available for about nine hours each day at both hospitals. Fuel costs for the generators are high, and publicly available electricity is limited to only about ten square blocks in the capital.
Before traveling to Liberia, I collected more than 100 websites (in about 10 categories) and posted them on Delicious for the two hospital sites GantaHospital's Bookmarks and CurranHospital's Bookmarks.
I was hoping to refine them after consulting with faculty and staff at both sites.
Ganta Hospital had 2 computers in a small room that could seat 6 people and no means to show the Web live or through screen shots in a classroom. I presented an hour and half lecture to a nursing class of 30 students and separately to a group of 7 faculty. I focused on the rudiments of searching, Web site evaluation and Web based heath/medical information directories. Most of the students seemed alert and interested and took notes. Two sessions were planned for each class.
A nursing instructor, Professor Andrew Mambu, approached me at the start of the second session of the class for students and proposed that I use his laptop so that students (in groups of five) could view the basics of Web searching. I showed them the Delicious sites and a Web directory, stressing Web evaluation, links and navigation. Many were able to apply what they had learned in lecture and were extremely interested in the website content (disease information). They read as much as they could before their ten minutes was up. The Internet connection was slow but workable.
Curran Hospital had a library (about the size of a reading room) with seven computers. The Internet connection at this site was very similar to what I experience at work. Teaching (similar in content to that at Ganta Hospital) was limited to 2 interested faculty members, a Peace Corps education volunteer on site who showed interest, and the hospital's librarian who had recently completed a 3-month library certificate.
One faculty member was having challenges with using a mouse while the other faculty member seemed adept at navigating a website. I was seated between them and did the best I could strike a balance between their learning levels. The Peace Corps volunteer asked for another meeting. I was happy to oblige, and we went over questions she had about good websites for specific classes the students were taking.
The level and length of training at both sites was limited for several reasons. Teaching schedules by members of our group were not made until on site and were entirely at the discretion of the hospital administration. Faculty, staff and students spend long days at the hospitals so Internet sessions were worked into their existing schedules and the classes conducted by other members of the health/medical team.
A few things probably would have made the experience more relevant for the staff and students. I could have made email contact with hospital administrators ahead of time and gauged expectations and Internet knowledge and experience among the students and staff.
Most staff and many students seemed to own cell phones. Not only could I have "advertised" office hours, but I could have made myself available for consultations by providing my cell phone number. That being said, those who were able to attend the presentations were given basic information on the Internet and, I hope, a good starting point for relevant websites.
Janice Flahiff
Mulford Library
University of Toledo/Health Science Campus
Email: Janice.Flahiff@utoledo.edu
Librarians Without Borders® Activities at the International Congress of Medical Librarianship
Two ICML courses were provided at the International Congress of Medical Librarianship, Brisbane, Australia, from August 30 to September 4, 2009.
ICML Course – 'HINARI Training the Trainers'
Particulars of Workshop:
The 6-hour course was held on September 1, 2009. Eight individuals participated equally split between health librarians from the Australia and the USA and those from HINARI eligible institutions.
The industrialized countries participants primarily were from institutions that have linkages with HINARI eligible organization. For this group, the objectives were to train these individuals to teach graduate students or visitors from HINARI eligible institutions, conduct workshops at partner institutions and/or become facilitators for HINARI distance learning courses.
For those from HINARI eligible countries, the objectives were to increase their baseline skills and introduce new tools that would be of use – MY NCBI, MY Collections, EndNoteWeb, PubMed Limits, etc.
The course material emphasized on HINARI overview – general environment, background, eligibility/registration process, do's and don'ts, HINARI, which includes the Basics using the 'Short Course' (searching skills, HINARI website, Partner Publishers' websites, HINARI/PubMed, MY NCBI), training materials overview, funding options and a Questions and Answers session (teaching environment, potential participants, logistics of workshops, travel considerations, etc.).
Uniqueness of the Workshop:
The 'hands on' activities of this course focused on the unique details of
HINARI and HINARI/PubMed. (e.g. HINARI and Free Full Text tabs, MY NCBI with filters for saved searches). The Internet access was industrialized country level and, consequently, there were no bandwidth or electricity issues. The training room at the University of Queensland was the best facility that I have taught in.
The participants' skill level was high as many of these individuals who have experience teaching in health libraries (although different material) or were active users of HINARI. Regarding the instruction, the most difficult aspect was knowing the level of detail necessary for the participants. At times, more detail and hands on activities were requested.
The interaction between the HINARI users and those from organizations with linkages was excellent. The participants from industrialized countries got insight into the users’ environment and, in one case, two participants plan to develop a partnership.
Several of the participants from Australia already had groups that they plan to train. For example, Monash University has a M.A. Nursing program for individuals from Papa New Guinea.
The turnout was somewhat lower than expected perhaps because the location was quite a distance from the hotels and Congress venue. At the Congress itself, I was able to talk with several individuals interested in working with HINARI eligible institutions; hopefully, some of these individuals will follow up on what we discussed.
ICML Course – ‘Authorship Skills'
Particulars of Workshop:
The 6-hour course was held on August 31, 2009. Ten individuals participated split between health librarians from the Australia and the USA and those from HINARI eligible institutions.
The material is a supplemental HINARI course with the objective to facilitate publishing from HINARI eligible countries. The modules are relevant for participants from industrialized countries. For both groups, the objectives were to increase the participants’ skills for publishing and to give them resources to use in training at their institutions.
The course material included How to Publish a Scientific Paper, Frequently Asked Questions – discussion, Web-bibliography, Intellectual Property: Copyright/Plagiarism and Strategies for Effective Writing.
The course also contained numerous ‘hands on’ exercises including
developing structured abstracts, assigning keywords, reviewing Web-bibliography links, from abstracts and scope of journals, selecting journal to submit the article to and multiple choice, true false and open-ended questions for the Intellectual Property and Effective Writing modules.
Uniqueness of the Workshop:
This was the first day long-course devoted to the authorship skills material and two new modules were introduced (Intellectual Property: Copyright and Plagiarism and Strategies for Effective Writing). With the group being split between those from industrialized countries and HINARI eligible institutions, the course participants had a broad perspective and this enhanced the discussions.
Both groups felt that the material was relevant and useful for their own interests in publishing and also as training material. These comments were noted in the evaluations. Since two new modules were piloted, I received ‘feedback’ from the students that resulted in several corrections on the slides and revisions to the exercises.
This teaching experience reinforced that the modules are valuable and that time should be devoted to this material during the four-day HINARI workshops or as a one day additional course.
I also presented a paper titled ‘HINARI Access to Research Initiative:
Overview, Training and Impact’. As previously mentioned, several industrialized country participants who attended this presentation spoke to me about working with institutions in HINARI eligible countries.
Lenny Rhine
E-Library Training Initiative Coordinator
E-mail: rhinel@ufl.edu
ICML Course – 'HINARI Training the Trainers'
Particulars of Workshop:
The 6-hour course was held on September 1, 2009. Eight individuals participated equally split between health librarians from the Australia and the USA and those from HINARI eligible institutions.
The industrialized countries participants primarily were from institutions that have linkages with HINARI eligible organization. For this group, the objectives were to train these individuals to teach graduate students or visitors from HINARI eligible institutions, conduct workshops at partner institutions and/or become facilitators for HINARI distance learning courses.
For those from HINARI eligible countries, the objectives were to increase their baseline skills and introduce new tools that would be of use – MY NCBI, MY Collections, EndNoteWeb, PubMed Limits, etc.
The course material emphasized on HINARI overview – general environment, background, eligibility/registration process, do's and don'ts, HINARI, which includes the Basics using the 'Short Course' (searching skills, HINARI website, Partner Publishers' websites, HINARI/PubMed, MY NCBI), training materials overview, funding options and a Questions and Answers session (teaching environment, potential participants, logistics of workshops, travel considerations, etc.).
Uniqueness of the Workshop:
The 'hands on' activities of this course focused on the unique details of
HINARI and HINARI/PubMed. (e.g. HINARI and Free Full Text tabs, MY NCBI with filters for saved searches). The Internet access was industrialized country level and, consequently, there were no bandwidth or electricity issues. The training room at the University of Queensland was the best facility that I have taught in.
The participants' skill level was high as many of these individuals who have experience teaching in health libraries (although different material) or were active users of HINARI. Regarding the instruction, the most difficult aspect was knowing the level of detail necessary for the participants. At times, more detail and hands on activities were requested.
The interaction between the HINARI users and those from organizations with linkages was excellent. The participants from industrialized countries got insight into the users’ environment and, in one case, two participants plan to develop a partnership.
Several of the participants from Australia already had groups that they plan to train. For example, Monash University has a M.A. Nursing program for individuals from Papa New Guinea.
The turnout was somewhat lower than expected perhaps because the location was quite a distance from the hotels and Congress venue. At the Congress itself, I was able to talk with several individuals interested in working with HINARI eligible institutions; hopefully, some of these individuals will follow up on what we discussed.
ICML Course – ‘Authorship Skills'
Particulars of Workshop:
The 6-hour course was held on August 31, 2009. Ten individuals participated split between health librarians from the Australia and the USA and those from HINARI eligible institutions.
The material is a supplemental HINARI course with the objective to facilitate publishing from HINARI eligible countries. The modules are relevant for participants from industrialized countries. For both groups, the objectives were to increase the participants’ skills for publishing and to give them resources to use in training at their institutions.
The course material included How to Publish a Scientific Paper, Frequently Asked Questions – discussion, Web-bibliography, Intellectual Property: Copyright/Plagiarism and Strategies for Effective Writing.
The course also contained numerous ‘hands on’ exercises including
developing structured abstracts, assigning keywords, reviewing Web-bibliography links, from abstracts and scope of journals, selecting journal to submit the article to and multiple choice, true false and open-ended questions for the Intellectual Property and Effective Writing modules.
Uniqueness of the Workshop:
This was the first day long-course devoted to the authorship skills material and two new modules were introduced (Intellectual Property: Copyright and Plagiarism and Strategies for Effective Writing). With the group being split between those from industrialized countries and HINARI eligible institutions, the course participants had a broad perspective and this enhanced the discussions.
Both groups felt that the material was relevant and useful for their own interests in publishing and also as training material. These comments were noted in the evaluations. Since two new modules were piloted, I received ‘feedback’ from the students that resulted in several corrections on the slides and revisions to the exercises.
This teaching experience reinforced that the modules are valuable and that time should be devoted to this material during the four-day HINARI workshops or as a one day additional course.
I also presented a paper titled ‘HINARI Access to Research Initiative:
Overview, Training and Impact’. As previously mentioned, several industrialized country participants who attended this presentation spoke to me about working with institutions in HINARI eligible countries.
Lenny Rhine
E-Library Training Initiative Coordinator
E-mail: rhinel@ufl.edu
As Old As Tomorrow
Modern Buddhist monastics and healing arts practitioners of Tibet are increasingly engaging in a syncretism of sorts with interdisciplinary, foreign medical and scientific scholars and institutions- not unlike that which took place almost 1,400 years ago in central and upper Asia. By official invite of Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo (Chi: Qizonglongzan), physicians from China, India, Nepal, and Persia (Tagzig, Tajikistan) convened on the "Roof of the World" in a 7th century CE Pan-Asian symposia ('The Old Medical School') which produced the first collation of their collective medical knowledge translated into the Old Tibetan language: mijigpei-tsoncha (Fearless Weapon).
The 8th century CE Tibetan King Trisong Detsen hosted an international medical conference at the Sam-Ye Gompa (Tib: བསམ་ཡས, Samye Monastery) where he gathered together native Tibetan masters of secular and non-secular sciences, lotsawa (discipled translators), along with scholars and skilled practitioners of the medical systems of China, Dol-po, Greece, Guge, India, Kashmir, Mi-nyag, Mongolia, Nepal, Persia (Sogdiana), and East Turkistan. Post-conference proceedings resulted in a translated synthesization of the differing foreign medical traditions of Indian Ayurveda and Siddha, Græco/trans-Arabic/Persian Unani Tibbia, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), native curative therapies of Iron Age elders of the Qingzang Plateau, mi chos family folk medicine, and indigenous, pre-Buddhist root culture of Bönpo healers of the Himalayas.
[At its genesis, systematization of traditional Tibetan medicine (TTM) was informed and influenced by earlier Bön belief systems, including those observed by Yungdrung, hermits, ascetics, and shamanic invokers existing outside of the monastic construct. Born from this mystifying matrix were medical and veterinary teachings (gSo rig mdo dgu 'bum bzhi, among others) attributed to founder Tönpa Shenrab Miwo, said to be transmissions transcribed in the Zhang Zhung sMar-yig script and transliterated into Tibetan. Scholarly disputation remains unresolved regarding recension and reconstruction of the earliest Bön tantric texts (otherwise known as the Four Volumes of the Healing Sciences) and the protohistory and epistemiology of Bön medicine vis-à-vis evolution of TTM as understood and acknowledged by mainstream Buddhists. Certain botanic medicaments denoted in Tibetan Materia Medica do bear archaic BCE names of Bön origin].
The amalgamated conference compilation of 156 chapters presented to King Detsen reconciled the foreign medical methodologies with Vairotsana's translated Four Medical Tantras said to be originally transmitted by Shakyamuni Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama). Known as Gyud-Shi (Tib: rGyud-bZhi ,Chi: Sibu Yi Dian) – redacted by Tibetan royal court physician Yuthok Yonten Gonpo the Elder, supplemented later in the 12th century CE with revisions and the Yuthok Nyingthig Root Text and Commentary composition of Gongpo the Younger and his disciple Sumton Yeshe zung – these formed the classic, fundamental medical treatise of the Tibetan healing sciences system (gso ba rgba) upon which Gonpo the Elder's 'New Medical School' (Tanadug Institute) was founded in 762 CE.
Forward-thinking bhikkhuni, bhikkus, lamas, and geshes of this era are similarly engaged in scientific and medical knowledge exchange efforts with pre-meds, other undergrads, and faculty teams in fully- formalized East/West collaborations such as those between the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives (LTWA) and Emory University.
Envisioned as a bridge of discourse between the "inner and outer sciences" by Emory College's Dean Robert Paul and the 14th Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso), the Emory-Tibet Partnership (ETP) has yielded significant contributions to interdisciplinary scholarly communications, not the least of which is the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives' Emory-Tibet Science Initiative (ETSI). Administered via the College's Program in Science and Society and by the Emory NeuroScience and Behavioral Biology Program, ETSI oversees curriculum development, training materials creation, and instructional model design in the implementation of comprehensive, standardized, sustainable coursework for monastics. Coalescing scientists, science educators, philosophers, physicians, scholars, and Buddhist practitioners from cross-disciplinary fields of biology, religion, physics, neuroscience, behavioral biology, psychiatry, and philosophy, ETSI's pedagogical approach is grounded in principles of problem-based, collaborative, experiential learning, with opportunities for discourse and discovery anchored by field work. The Science Curriculum for Tibetan Monastics introduce advanced-level concepts of cosmology, life sciences, and neuro/cognitive sciences, augmented by mathematics.
This summer, in a new ETSI collaboration, Emory faculty and students undertook an intensive Tibetan Mind/Body Sciences program in Dharamsala, India (residence of the Dalai Lama and location of LTWA). While devotees were lectured in math, philosophy, cosmology, biology, physics, and neuroscience, University students simultaneously explored Buddhist contemplative ethos of mind/body medicine, subtle anatomy, and science of the spirit. Several pre-meds were introduced to aspects of ethnobotany and medical anthropology while collecting botanical samples during their Himalayan field trips – just as the ancients sought out pharmaceuticals and adapted uses and laws of the Materia Medica (Menze-rigpa) based upon regional resources provided by the landscape of the Land of Snow.
(Photo: © Ajay Pillarisetti. Courtesy of Emory-Tibet Partnership, Emory)
LTWA and ETSI expanded the Sager Science for Monks Program (which included introductory biophysics, math, computer workshops) and now offers the Sager Science Leadership for Tibetan Monastics (SSLTM) program. This June past, LTWA organized the 1st Science Exhibition by Monastics, presenting interactive projects of ETSI and SSLTM participants. Students from Drepung Monastery presented distinctions and correlations between Buddhist texts (San: Abhidharma-kosha, Tib: chos mngon pa mdzod) which expound on sense power and perception of manifested phenomena in relation to sound source, vibrations, waves, and the mechanism of hearing. Fellow truth-seekers from the same Drepung Monastery discerned dialectical challenges to prevailing "big bang" and quantum fluctuation theory within the cosmologic precepts as taught in the Kala-chakra (དུས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོ, time-wheel, time-cycles) texts - yet discovered agreement with lesser-established modern scientific theories of multiple universes and space particles within the same tantric texts. The Zhang-Zhung group from Menri Monastery demonstrated scientific properties and nature of light in accordance with Dzogchen teachings and tantric texts within the Bön tradition. Inspired by Mendeleev's periodic table of chemical elements reduced to quantum particles, exhibitors from Saakya Dhongag Choeling Monastery generated a comparative Buddhist table of elements of subtle consciousness as constituent factors in the experienced world in keeping with the Abhidharmasamuchaya (Compendium of Higher Knowledge).
(Photo: ©Theresia Hofer. Courtesy of Wellcome Trust Images Collection.
Tibetan doctor with an old copy of a Gyu Shi ("Four Tantras") and a book on compounding medicines, which was composed by the previous generations of his medical family lineage and takes into account the locally available materia medica, Tibet Autonomous Region, China, 2003.
Released under Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial No-Derivatives version 2.0 licence, England & Wales.)
Further contributing to cross-continental medical and scientific knowledge transfer, L TWA maintains world-wide manuscript exchange projects such as with the Gorky Scientific Library in Leningrad. It disseminates information on doctors and medical practitioners, medical history, and medicinal plants in its annual Tibetan Medicine publication. Under Directorship of LTWA's Geshe Lhakdor, its Research and Translation Department conducts intensive 3-months-long translation training sessions year-round (its current cycle ends this October). Its Seminar on Science Terminology (ཚན་རིག་གི་ཐ་སྙད་ཕབ་སྒྱུར་ཚོགས་འདུ) has generated a science textbook (produced by Emory University professors and Buddhist translators who hold degrees in life sciences, engineering and philosophy) in the Tibetan and English languages and a contemporary science glossary introducing into contemporary Tibetan lexicon concepts such as electromagnetism, climate change, cloning. LTWA produces Science Journal, a bi-annual Tibetan/English publication of translations of in-depth articles on neuro-biology, foundations of science, solar system, and meterology. Published quarterly, its Science Newsletter presents short articles, stories, and facts about science and science-related subjects. Section features include news, cosmology, physics, biology, scientists' biographies, and articles along the science/Buddhism paradigm. ETSI and ETP organized the 1st International Conference on Science Translation into Tibetan (ICSTT) at Emory this past March, expecting to further extend discourse while developing translational techniques in this developing field.
(Provided here is a list of LTWA desiderata in an appeal for donated titles for its Foreign Language Reference (in- and out-of-print), University Dissertations/Theses, and Journals collections. http://www.ltwa.net/Support_edited.html. Many medical and sciences works are denoted).
Driven by forces internal and external to Tibet (political exigencies," biomedicalization", medical tourism, epidemiological vicissitudes, insurance approval for complementary/alternative therapeutics, and health market globalization), momentum is rapidly accelerating in the worldwide adoption and adaptation of TTM. TTM formulae have been manufactured for years in Switzerland (covered by health insurance), Denmark, Lithuania, and Latvia. Evidence-based clinical studies, formalized coursework, controlled experiments in cancer, hepatitis, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular function, hypertension and other afflictions have been conducted by universities, medical schools, and hospitals of Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Virginia, Texas, Miami, Toronto, Austria, Scotland, Italy, China, Russia, Japan, and elsewhere. As of this month, India's Medicine Central Council has accorded legal status to the TTM system. China has issued an international call for paper presentations at its March 2010 TTM conference. "Biomedicization" and modernization of TTM is not welcomed by all, won't be a cure-all, nor necessarily will it be cohesive or even comprehensive, and vigilance should be maintained with a view towards mutual benefit. But as ailing, aging populations face the frontiers of tomorrow, we'll all be drawing from the waters of very ancient wells. Ostensibly, the way forward is back.
LaVerne Poussaint
Plutonic Research & Knowledge Teams Intl (PRAKTI)
Email: laverne.poussaint@deepmed.net
The 8th century CE Tibetan King Trisong Detsen hosted an international medical conference at the Sam-Ye Gompa (Tib: བསམ་ཡས, Samye Monastery) where he gathered together native Tibetan masters of secular and non-secular sciences, lotsawa (discipled translators), along with scholars and skilled practitioners of the medical systems of China, Dol-po, Greece, Guge, India, Kashmir, Mi-nyag, Mongolia, Nepal, Persia (Sogdiana), and East Turkistan. Post-conference proceedings resulted in a translated synthesization of the differing foreign medical traditions of Indian Ayurveda and Siddha, Græco/trans-Arabic/Persian Unani Tibbia, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), native curative therapies of Iron Age elders of the Qingzang Plateau, mi chos family folk medicine, and indigenous, pre-Buddhist root culture of Bönpo healers of the Himalayas.
[At its genesis, systematization of traditional Tibetan medicine (TTM) was informed and influenced by earlier Bön belief systems, including those observed by Yungdrung, hermits, ascetics, and shamanic invokers existing outside of the monastic construct. Born from this mystifying matrix were medical and veterinary teachings (gSo rig mdo dgu 'bum bzhi, among others) attributed to founder Tönpa Shenrab Miwo, said to be transmissions transcribed in the Zhang Zhung sMar-yig script and transliterated into Tibetan. Scholarly disputation remains unresolved regarding recension and reconstruction of the earliest Bön tantric texts (otherwise known as the Four Volumes of the Healing Sciences) and the protohistory and epistemiology of Bön medicine vis-à-vis evolution of TTM as understood and acknowledged by mainstream Buddhists. Certain botanic medicaments denoted in Tibetan Materia Medica do bear archaic BCE names of Bön origin].
The amalgamated conference compilation of 156 chapters presented to King Detsen reconciled the foreign medical methodologies with Vairotsana's translated Four Medical Tantras said to be originally transmitted by Shakyamuni Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama). Known as Gyud-Shi (Tib: rGyud-bZhi ,Chi: Sibu Yi Dian) – redacted by Tibetan royal court physician Yuthok Yonten Gonpo the Elder, supplemented later in the 12th century CE with revisions and the Yuthok Nyingthig Root Text and Commentary composition of Gongpo the Younger and his disciple Sumton Yeshe zung – these formed the classic, fundamental medical treatise of the Tibetan healing sciences system (gso ba rgba) upon which Gonpo the Elder's 'New Medical School' (Tanadug Institute) was founded in 762 CE.
Forward-thinking bhikkhuni, bhikkus, lamas, and geshes of this era are similarly engaged in scientific and medical knowledge exchange efforts with pre-meds, other undergrads, and faculty teams in fully- formalized East/West collaborations such as those between the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives (LTWA) and Emory University.
Envisioned as a bridge of discourse between the "inner and outer sciences" by Emory College's Dean Robert Paul and the 14th Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso), the Emory-Tibet Partnership (ETP) has yielded significant contributions to interdisciplinary scholarly communications, not the least of which is the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives' Emory-Tibet Science Initiative (ETSI). Administered via the College's Program in Science and Society and by the Emory NeuroScience and Behavioral Biology Program, ETSI oversees curriculum development, training materials creation, and instructional model design in the implementation of comprehensive, standardized, sustainable coursework for monastics. Coalescing scientists, science educators, philosophers, physicians, scholars, and Buddhist practitioners from cross-disciplinary fields of biology, religion, physics, neuroscience, behavioral biology, psychiatry, and philosophy, ETSI's pedagogical approach is grounded in principles of problem-based, collaborative, experiential learning, with opportunities for discourse and discovery anchored by field work. The Science Curriculum for Tibetan Monastics introduce advanced-level concepts of cosmology, life sciences, and neuro/cognitive sciences, augmented by mathematics.
This summer, in a new ETSI collaboration, Emory faculty and students undertook an intensive Tibetan Mind/Body Sciences program in Dharamsala, India (residence of the Dalai Lama and location of LTWA). While devotees were lectured in math, philosophy, cosmology, biology, physics, and neuroscience, University students simultaneously explored Buddhist contemplative ethos of mind/body medicine, subtle anatomy, and science of the spirit. Several pre-meds were introduced to aspects of ethnobotany and medical anthropology while collecting botanical samples during their Himalayan field trips – just as the ancients sought out pharmaceuticals and adapted uses and laws of the Materia Medica (Menze-rigpa) based upon regional resources provided by the landscape of the Land of Snow.
(Photo: © Ajay Pillarisetti. Courtesy of Emory-Tibet Partnership, Emory) LTWA and ETSI expanded the Sager Science for Monks Program (which included introductory biophysics, math, computer workshops) and now offers the Sager Science Leadership for Tibetan Monastics (SSLTM) program. This June past, LTWA organized the 1st Science Exhibition by Monastics, presenting interactive projects of ETSI and SSLTM participants. Students from Drepung Monastery presented distinctions and correlations between Buddhist texts (San: Abhidharma-kosha, Tib: chos mngon pa mdzod) which expound on sense power and perception of manifested phenomena in relation to sound source, vibrations, waves, and the mechanism of hearing. Fellow truth-seekers from the same Drepung Monastery discerned dialectical challenges to prevailing "big bang" and quantum fluctuation theory within the cosmologic precepts as taught in the Kala-chakra (དུས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོ, time-wheel, time-cycles) texts - yet discovered agreement with lesser-established modern scientific theories of multiple universes and space particles within the same tantric texts. The Zhang-Zhung group from Menri Monastery demonstrated scientific properties and nature of light in accordance with Dzogchen teachings and tantric texts within the Bön tradition. Inspired by Mendeleev's periodic table of chemical elements reduced to quantum particles, exhibitors from Saakya Dhongag Choeling Monastery generated a comparative Buddhist table of elements of subtle consciousness as constituent factors in the experienced world in keeping with the Abhidharmasamuchaya (Compendium of Higher Knowledge).
(Photo: ©Theresia Hofer. Courtesy of Wellcome Trust Images Collection.
Tibetan doctor with an old copy of a Gyu Shi ("Four Tantras") and a book on compounding medicines, which was composed by the previous generations of his medical family lineage and takes into account the locally available materia medica, Tibet Autonomous Region, China, 2003.
Released under Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial No-Derivatives version 2.0 licence, England & Wales.)
Further contributing to cross-continental medical and scientific knowledge transfer, L TWA maintains world-wide manuscript exchange projects such as with the Gorky Scientific Library in Leningrad. It disseminates information on doctors and medical practitioners, medical history, and medicinal plants in its annual Tibetan Medicine publication. Under Directorship of LTWA's Geshe Lhakdor, its Research and Translation Department conducts intensive 3-months-long translation training sessions year-round (its current cycle ends this October). Its Seminar on Science Terminology (ཚན་རིག་གི་ཐ་སྙད་ཕབ་སྒྱུར་ཚོགས་འདུ) has generated a science textbook (produced by Emory University professors and Buddhist translators who hold degrees in life sciences, engineering and philosophy) in the Tibetan and English languages and a contemporary science glossary introducing into contemporary Tibetan lexicon concepts such as electromagnetism, climate change, cloning. LTWA produces Science Journal, a bi-annual Tibetan/English publication of translations of in-depth articles on neuro-biology, foundations of science, solar system, and meterology. Published quarterly, its Science Newsletter presents short articles, stories, and facts about science and science-related subjects. Section features include news, cosmology, physics, biology, scientists' biographies, and articles along the science/Buddhism paradigm. ETSI and ETP organized the 1st International Conference on Science Translation into Tibetan (ICSTT) at Emory this past March, expecting to further extend discourse while developing translational techniques in this developing field.
(Provided here is a list of LTWA desiderata in an appeal for donated titles for its Foreign Language Reference (in- and out-of-print), University Dissertations/Theses, and Journals collections. http://www.ltwa.net/Support_edited.html. Many medical and sciences works are denoted).
Driven by forces internal and external to Tibet (political exigencies," biomedicalization", medical tourism, epidemiological vicissitudes, insurance approval for complementary/alternative therapeutics, and health market globalization), momentum is rapidly accelerating in the worldwide adoption and adaptation of TTM. TTM formulae have been manufactured for years in Switzerland (covered by health insurance), Denmark, Lithuania, and Latvia. Evidence-based clinical studies, formalized coursework, controlled experiments in cancer, hepatitis, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular function, hypertension and other afflictions have been conducted by universities, medical schools, and hospitals of Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Virginia, Texas, Miami, Toronto, Austria, Scotland, Italy, China, Russia, Japan, and elsewhere. As of this month, India's Medicine Central Council has accorded legal status to the TTM system. China has issued an international call for paper presentations at its March 2010 TTM conference. "Biomedicization" and modernization of TTM is not welcomed by all, won't be a cure-all, nor necessarily will it be cohesive or even comprehensive, and vigilance should be maintained with a view towards mutual benefit. But as ailing, aging populations face the frontiers of tomorrow, we'll all be drawing from the waters of very ancient wells. Ostensibly, the way forward is back.
LaVerne Poussaint
Plutonic Research & Knowledge Teams Intl (PRAKTI)
Email: laverne.poussaint@deepmed.net
Medical Spanish Programs and Courses
In the 1969 movie “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” Butch and Sundance and Etta moved to Bolivia and were unsuccessful in robbing a bank because they couldn’t give instructions in Spanish. For example, “Raise your hands” and Back against the wall” and Give me the money” and Where’s the safe? Open it.” Etta teaches them phonetic Spanish so they could give the instructions during their next bank robbery, but they didn’t practice saying the phrases aloud. And, Etta reminds them that their “line of work requires a specialized vocabulary”.
There are many occupational Spanish programs and courses in the U.S.. The most common are legal, medical, and business. This article will describe several programs and courses of medical Spanish which I have connections with. They are offered by college departments of Spanish, schools of nursing, and the private companies that offer community education courses on college campuses.
Command Spanish provides occupational Spanish language training materials and programs for the workplace. These classes require no prior knowledge of Spanish. They try to eliminate grammar instruction. Beginners use a phonetic system to allow immediate control of Spanish pronunciation. One-way communication techniques are used in order to give commands and statements that require only a “yes” or “no’ response or a “screen question” that requires only a plausible response.
At Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas Command Spanish is offered as continuing education. This CE program is called “Survival Spanish in the Workplace.” The instructor lived and was educated in the United States and Mexico and trained by Command Spanish. Classes can be offered on campus or any location that has necessary facilities, such as a computer, a projector, a white board, chairs and tables. Students need only a pencil or pen to make notations in a manual which includes 2 CDs. The instruction includes a medical vocabulary and controlled situations and choral response and modeling and role-playing and situation response. You can read more about the CE program at TWU at www.twu.edu/ce/Survival-Spanish.asp and Command Spanish at www.commandspanish.com.
The University of Texas at Austin was the first university to require medical Spanish in the nursing program. This required course instituted by the UT School of Nursing is titled “Spanish for Health Care Professional.” This course also focuses on conversational Spanish. All class activities and course materials are linked to nursing practice. This course will help nurse to communicate with Spanish-speaking patients. Nursing students will learn to converse in Spanish using medically related expressions. This approach will enable students to articulate and respond to patient concerns and be able to conduct basic interviews in Spanish. Students will also learn cultural and social factors that influence practitioner-patient communication with Latinos.
The textbook used in the UT School of Nursing program is titled “An Introduction to Spanish for Health Care Workers: Communication and Culture.” This textbook is designed for students with little or no formal background in Spanish. It uses readings, exercises, interactive activities, Spanish medical vocabulary, and colloquial terms needed most by health care professionals. And, the textbook contains cultural notes that explain customs and communicative styles of Latinos. In the new third edition there is a DVD video featuring interactions between a family and health care providers. There is a companion Web site at yalebooks.com/medicalspanish which provides self-correcting quizzes and links to medical and language sites.
Along with the textbook the other course materials consist of children’s books, articles about Latinos and health care, a Web site, and dialogs. The chapters of the textbook are based on health and medical themes and these themes are linked to the children’s books such as “My body mi cuerpo” by Rosa-Mendoza because of its illustrations and repetitive use of the language. Each chapter has dialogs related to tasks that nurses typically perform. You can read more about the text at http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300124262
The School of Nursing at the University of Texas at Austin also offers a study abroad course in Guadalajara, Mexico titled “Spanish for Health Care Professionals.” This program offers students the opportunity to practice Spanish in clinical settings. The first of the two courses is Independent Study of Nursing along with a Spanish language course. Students will take placement test to be registered in one of ten levels of Spanish instruction. In addition to the Spanish language instruction students will do research and make tours of clinics and hospitals. In the second course, “Spanish for Health Care Professionals”, students will learn vocabulary and phrases for health care settings. Although the students will not perform nursing procedures, they will observe patients in clinical settings, explore and research community resources for health, learn about Mexico’s system for health care, and examine social and cultural beliefs of Latinos.
The department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Texas at Austin offers a course for pre-medicine students. The title of the course is “Spanish for Health Care Professionals/Pre-Med.” This course is designed to build fluency in both written and spoken Spanish so that the future health care professional can communicate effectively with the Spanish-speaking patient who doesn’t speak English. The primary goal of this course is advanced oral proficiency. The prime objectives of the course are efficiency and clear diction. All assignments will involve translation, scholarly reading and writing in order to build vocabulary and improve reading comprehension and above all improve grammar usage. In order to develop professional speaking and writing skills the students will be given assignments that are in line with patient care. To learn more about oral proficiency take a look at http://www.laits.utexas.edu/spe/ These Spanish proficiency exercises were developed by Dr Orlando Kelm who also developed the medical Spanish program, the first in the nation, for the School of Nursing at the University Of Texas at Austin.
The textbook for this Spanish for Pre-meds course is titled “A Su Salud: Spanish for Health professionals.” The textbook is part of a multimedia package that includes the textbook and 2 DVDs and a CD-ROM and video clips to work with vocabulary and grammar and speaking and understanding and reading and writing skills. The DVDs contain a 96 minute telenovela drama so students can hear authentic Spanish spoken by native speakers in a variety of accents and learn more about the culture of their Hispanic patients.
In addition to improving and practicing the four language skills using the multimedia package, students will listen to medical tutorials and read medical literature and acquire a select medical vocabulary and construct phrases and design questions to ask patients. Students will use this medical vocabulary and phrases and questions to write an original script of a dialogue between doctor and patient. Students will also use academic Spanish to write essays relevant to medical topics and short book and movie reviews of prominent medical issues and current events that affect the medical community. This program is compatible with Blackboard and WebCT. Ancilliary materials are available at yalepress.yale.edu/salud. This multimedia package was developed by health science professionals and Spanish professors at the University of North Carolina (http://salud.unc.edu ).
The University of Texas Pan-American in Edinburg, Texas has created the first academic minor in Medical Spanish designed specifically for heritage language learners of Spanish. The instructional program aims to develop the skill sets of medical interpreting and translation and medical terminology and patient interviewing skills that future health care providers can use to improve communication with Spanish speaking patients. The curriculum is designed to raise awareness about the language issues that intersect with access to health care among Spanish speaking patients. These students will experience evidence-based learning experiences at two local community health centers. The aim is to develop a leadership for the health care professions that will increase access to health care services for Latino patients and engender excellence in the quality of services and make a positive impact on the health outcomes Latino populations.
The course Intermediate Spanish for Health professions students will improve their language skills in two different ways. They will practice the art of medical interpreting and study medical terminology in Spanish. Their general proficiency in conversational Spanish will improve with a systematic study of Spanish words and grammar. By reading cultural and scientific texts students will gain an awareness of the profound impact that language barriers play in the health of the Spanish-speaking linguistic minority in the United States. The course bibliography includes the Merck manual, a family medical encyclopedia and the PAHO’s Health in the Americas. By the end of the semester students will have at least an advanced low proficiency in conversational Spanish, be able to interpret clinical encounters, understand the basic terminology of anatomy, physiology and the structure of words including tense, mood and aspect, and have an understanding of the primary public health concerns related to language barriers and limited English proficiency. This course is also a multi-platform course that uses online instructional tools. UTPA uses the Blackboard interface for its online courses. For more information about this course and the powerpoint presentations, please go to the webpage http://portal.utpa.edu/utpa_main/daa_home/coah_home/mod_lalit/medspan_home/teachers_home/SPAN2317_home.
The Spanish department of the University of Texas Pan-American also offers a senior seminar Spanish 4348 Sociolinguistics and Latino Health. This seminar examines the relationship between language, health care, and health among Spanish speakers in the United States. Since limited English proficiency affects the access to health information this course examines measures in place to improve the transmission of health information across language boundaries. You can read about this course and view the powerpoint presentations at http://portal.utpa.edu/utpa_main/daa_home/coah_home/mod_lalit/medspan_home/teachers_home/SPAN4348_home. By the end of the semester students of the senior seminar Spanish 4348 will be required to understand the major language issues that arise in health service delivery and the impact of language diversity on the health status of the Spanish speaking minority in the United States. Students must also understand the protections and entitlements afforded to minority language speakers in the U.S. and understand the major initiatives to improve health services for LEP (limited English proficient) patients.
This course is a combined lecture and study group format and it will use online instructional technologies. Each group will explore one illness or condition that affects the Latino community. They will provide a synopsis of the biology and etiology of the illness or condition in Spanish, the epidemiology of the illness or condition, the availability of information on the illness or condition in Spanish, a survey of bilingual providers in the area that treat the illness or condition, and an assessment of the impact of information availability in Spanish on the prevalence of the illness or condition within the Spanish speaking community in the Rio Grande Valley.
The two textbooks used in this course are part of the Mexican American Experience cluster of modular texts that deal with a single topic concerning the Mexican American population. The titles used in this course are “Mexican Americans and Health: !Sana, Sana!” by Adela de la Torre and Antonio Estrada and “Mexican Americans and Language: Del dicho al hecho” by Glenn Martinez. Dr Martinez is the project manager of the Medical Spanish for Heritage Learners program at the University of Texas Pan-American located in Edinburg, Texas. For more information about this program and contact information about Dr Glenn Martinez, click the link
http://portal.utpa.edu/utpa_main/daa_home/coah_home/mod_lalit/medspan_home/contactus.
These medical Spanish programs and courses help the future health care professional to offer better service to patients. In addition to a textbook or workbook they all use today’s technology. Some courses emphasize grammar. Others require no previous knowledge of Spanish and little emphasis on grammar. One course teaches the learner how to get a one or two word response from the patient. Some of the courses teach grammar and the four language skills in order to have a conversation with the patient. And, all the programs and courses teach the specialized vocabulary of medical Spanish.
James Phillips
South Texas College
Email: phillips@southtexascollege.edu
There are many occupational Spanish programs and courses in the U.S.. The most common are legal, medical, and business. This article will describe several programs and courses of medical Spanish which I have connections with. They are offered by college departments of Spanish, schools of nursing, and the private companies that offer community education courses on college campuses.
Command Spanish provides occupational Spanish language training materials and programs for the workplace. These classes require no prior knowledge of Spanish. They try to eliminate grammar instruction. Beginners use a phonetic system to allow immediate control of Spanish pronunciation. One-way communication techniques are used in order to give commands and statements that require only a “yes” or “no’ response or a “screen question” that requires only a plausible response.
At Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas Command Spanish is offered as continuing education. This CE program is called “Survival Spanish in the Workplace.” The instructor lived and was educated in the United States and Mexico and trained by Command Spanish. Classes can be offered on campus or any location that has necessary facilities, such as a computer, a projector, a white board, chairs and tables. Students need only a pencil or pen to make notations in a manual which includes 2 CDs. The instruction includes a medical vocabulary and controlled situations and choral response and modeling and role-playing and situation response. You can read more about the CE program at TWU at www.twu.edu/ce/Survival-Spanish.asp and Command Spanish at www.commandspanish.com.
The University of Texas at Austin was the first university to require medical Spanish in the nursing program. This required course instituted by the UT School of Nursing is titled “Spanish for Health Care Professional.” This course also focuses on conversational Spanish. All class activities and course materials are linked to nursing practice. This course will help nurse to communicate with Spanish-speaking patients. Nursing students will learn to converse in Spanish using medically related expressions. This approach will enable students to articulate and respond to patient concerns and be able to conduct basic interviews in Spanish. Students will also learn cultural and social factors that influence practitioner-patient communication with Latinos.
The textbook used in the UT School of Nursing program is titled “An Introduction to Spanish for Health Care Workers: Communication and Culture.” This textbook is designed for students with little or no formal background in Spanish. It uses readings, exercises, interactive activities, Spanish medical vocabulary, and colloquial terms needed most by health care professionals. And, the textbook contains cultural notes that explain customs and communicative styles of Latinos. In the new third edition there is a DVD video featuring interactions between a family and health care providers. There is a companion Web site at yalebooks.com/medicalspanish which provides self-correcting quizzes and links to medical and language sites.
Along with the textbook the other course materials consist of children’s books, articles about Latinos and health care, a Web site, and dialogs. The chapters of the textbook are based on health and medical themes and these themes are linked to the children’s books such as “My body mi cuerpo” by Rosa-Mendoza because of its illustrations and repetitive use of the language. Each chapter has dialogs related to tasks that nurses typically perform. You can read more about the text at http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300124262
The School of Nursing at the University of Texas at Austin also offers a study abroad course in Guadalajara, Mexico titled “Spanish for Health Care Professionals.” This program offers students the opportunity to practice Spanish in clinical settings. The first of the two courses is Independent Study of Nursing along with a Spanish language course. Students will take placement test to be registered in one of ten levels of Spanish instruction. In addition to the Spanish language instruction students will do research and make tours of clinics and hospitals. In the second course, “Spanish for Health Care Professionals”, students will learn vocabulary and phrases for health care settings. Although the students will not perform nursing procedures, they will observe patients in clinical settings, explore and research community resources for health, learn about Mexico’s system for health care, and examine social and cultural beliefs of Latinos.
The department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Texas at Austin offers a course for pre-medicine students. The title of the course is “Spanish for Health Care Professionals/Pre-Med.” This course is designed to build fluency in both written and spoken Spanish so that the future health care professional can communicate effectively with the Spanish-speaking patient who doesn’t speak English. The primary goal of this course is advanced oral proficiency. The prime objectives of the course are efficiency and clear diction. All assignments will involve translation, scholarly reading and writing in order to build vocabulary and improve reading comprehension and above all improve grammar usage. In order to develop professional speaking and writing skills the students will be given assignments that are in line with patient care. To learn more about oral proficiency take a look at http://www.laits.utexas.edu/spe/ These Spanish proficiency exercises were developed by Dr Orlando Kelm who also developed the medical Spanish program, the first in the nation, for the School of Nursing at the University Of Texas at Austin.
The textbook for this Spanish for Pre-meds course is titled “A Su Salud: Spanish for Health professionals.” The textbook is part of a multimedia package that includes the textbook and 2 DVDs and a CD-ROM and video clips to work with vocabulary and grammar and speaking and understanding and reading and writing skills. The DVDs contain a 96 minute telenovela drama so students can hear authentic Spanish spoken by native speakers in a variety of accents and learn more about the culture of their Hispanic patients.
In addition to improving and practicing the four language skills using the multimedia package, students will listen to medical tutorials and read medical literature and acquire a select medical vocabulary and construct phrases and design questions to ask patients. Students will use this medical vocabulary and phrases and questions to write an original script of a dialogue between doctor and patient. Students will also use academic Spanish to write essays relevant to medical topics and short book and movie reviews of prominent medical issues and current events that affect the medical community. This program is compatible with Blackboard and WebCT. Ancilliary materials are available at yalepress.yale.edu/salud. This multimedia package was developed by health science professionals and Spanish professors at the University of North Carolina (http://salud.unc.edu ).
The University of Texas Pan-American in Edinburg, Texas has created the first academic minor in Medical Spanish designed specifically for heritage language learners of Spanish. The instructional program aims to develop the skill sets of medical interpreting and translation and medical terminology and patient interviewing skills that future health care providers can use to improve communication with Spanish speaking patients. The curriculum is designed to raise awareness about the language issues that intersect with access to health care among Spanish speaking patients. These students will experience evidence-based learning experiences at two local community health centers. The aim is to develop a leadership for the health care professions that will increase access to health care services for Latino patients and engender excellence in the quality of services and make a positive impact on the health outcomes Latino populations.
The course Intermediate Spanish for Health professions students will improve their language skills in two different ways. They will practice the art of medical interpreting and study medical terminology in Spanish. Their general proficiency in conversational Spanish will improve with a systematic study of Spanish words and grammar. By reading cultural and scientific texts students will gain an awareness of the profound impact that language barriers play in the health of the Spanish-speaking linguistic minority in the United States. The course bibliography includes the Merck manual, a family medical encyclopedia and the PAHO’s Health in the Americas. By the end of the semester students will have at least an advanced low proficiency in conversational Spanish, be able to interpret clinical encounters, understand the basic terminology of anatomy, physiology and the structure of words including tense, mood and aspect, and have an understanding of the primary public health concerns related to language barriers and limited English proficiency. This course is also a multi-platform course that uses online instructional tools. UTPA uses the Blackboard interface for its online courses. For more information about this course and the powerpoint presentations, please go to the webpage http://portal.utpa.edu/utpa_main/daa_home/coah_home/mod_lalit/medspan_home/teachers_home/SPAN2317_home.
The Spanish department of the University of Texas Pan-American also offers a senior seminar Spanish 4348 Sociolinguistics and Latino Health. This seminar examines the relationship between language, health care, and health among Spanish speakers in the United States. Since limited English proficiency affects the access to health information this course examines measures in place to improve the transmission of health information across language boundaries. You can read about this course and view the powerpoint presentations at http://portal.utpa.edu/utpa_main/daa_home/coah_home/mod_lalit/medspan_home/teachers_home/SPAN4348_home. By the end of the semester students of the senior seminar Spanish 4348 will be required to understand the major language issues that arise in health service delivery and the impact of language diversity on the health status of the Spanish speaking minority in the United States. Students must also understand the protections and entitlements afforded to minority language speakers in the U.S. and understand the major initiatives to improve health services for LEP (limited English proficient) patients.
This course is a combined lecture and study group format and it will use online instructional technologies. Each group will explore one illness or condition that affects the Latino community. They will provide a synopsis of the biology and etiology of the illness or condition in Spanish, the epidemiology of the illness or condition, the availability of information on the illness or condition in Spanish, a survey of bilingual providers in the area that treat the illness or condition, and an assessment of the impact of information availability in Spanish on the prevalence of the illness or condition within the Spanish speaking community in the Rio Grande Valley.
The two textbooks used in this course are part of the Mexican American Experience cluster of modular texts that deal with a single topic concerning the Mexican American population. The titles used in this course are “Mexican Americans and Health: !Sana, Sana!” by Adela de la Torre and Antonio Estrada and “Mexican Americans and Language: Del dicho al hecho” by Glenn Martinez. Dr Martinez is the project manager of the Medical Spanish for Heritage Learners program at the University of Texas Pan-American located in Edinburg, Texas. For more information about this program and contact information about Dr Glenn Martinez, click the link
http://portal.utpa.edu/utpa_main/daa_home/coah_home/mod_lalit/medspan_home/contactus.
These medical Spanish programs and courses help the future health care professional to offer better service to patients. In addition to a textbook or workbook they all use today’s technology. Some courses emphasize grammar. Others require no previous knowledge of Spanish and little emphasis on grammar. One course teaches the learner how to get a one or two word response from the patient. Some of the courses teach grammar and the four language skills in order to have a conversation with the patient. And, all the programs and courses teach the specialized vocabulary of medical Spanish.
James Phillips
South Texas College
Email: phillips@southtexascollege.edu
Report on IFLA Annual Meeting
The IFLA held their annual meeting, August 22-27, 2009 in Milan Italy. It was a very successful conference. The IFLA web page (http://www.ifla.org) states: The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) is the leading international body representing the interests of library and information services and their users. It is the global voice of the library and information profession.
My primary role has been to represent MLA on the IFLA Science and Technology Libraries Section of IFLA which has been extremely interesting during my five years. I have been Chair of the Section’s Standing Committee for the past two years but did not renew for another four years. Our new chair is Janet Webster from the Oregon State University.
The Science and Technology Libraries Section meets one day prior to the IFLA conference and once again during the meeting. Our primary activity is selecting the speakers for our open session at the annual meeting. This year the theme was “Open access to science and technology research worldwide: strategies and best practices”. We selected four fabulous speakers who were very compelling.
You may view the papers presented at: http://www.ifla.org/annual-conference/ifla75/programme2009-en.php#tuesday and go to #142.
The Agricultural Libraries is sponsored by the Science and Technology Section and their program was “Worldwide trends in open access to agricultural information”. Their program can be view at http://www.ifla.org/annual-conference/ifla75/programme2009-en.php#tuesday, #101.
This year we were asked to co-sponsor the Geography and Map Libraries along with the Division of Special Libraries. Their excellent program was “Cultural heritage preserved: the role of digital maps” and can be viewed at #121.
To our wonderful surprise, LaScale prepared a special program for the IFLA attendees. The opera house was breathtaking and the opera was lovely and will remain a wonderful memory.
The Science & Technology Libraries Section enjoyed a study tour to Museo Nazionale della Scienza e Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci (http://www.museoscienza.org/). Our tour guides showed us may facets of this enormous museum and everyone enjoyed our visit.
Jill Byerly Mayer
Health Sciences Library
UNC Chapel Hill
Email: jbmayer@email.unc.edu
My primary role has been to represent MLA on the IFLA Science and Technology Libraries Section of IFLA which has been extremely interesting during my five years. I have been Chair of the Section’s Standing Committee for the past two years but did not renew for another four years. Our new chair is Janet Webster from the Oregon State University.
The Science and Technology Libraries Section meets one day prior to the IFLA conference and once again during the meeting. Our primary activity is selecting the speakers for our open session at the annual meeting. This year the theme was “Open access to science and technology research worldwide: strategies and best practices”. We selected four fabulous speakers who were very compelling.
You may view the papers presented at: http://www.ifla.org/annual-conference/ifla75/programme2009-en.php#tuesday and go to #142.
The Agricultural Libraries is sponsored by the Science and Technology Section and their program was “Worldwide trends in open access to agricultural information”. Their program can be view at http://www.ifla.org/annual-conference/ifla75/programme2009-en.php#tuesday, #101.
This year we were asked to co-sponsor the Geography and Map Libraries along with the Division of Special Libraries. Their excellent program was “Cultural heritage preserved: the role of digital maps” and can be viewed at #121.
To our wonderful surprise, LaScale prepared a special program for the IFLA attendees. The opera house was breathtaking and the opera was lovely and will remain a wonderful memory.
The Science & Technology Libraries Section enjoyed a study tour to Museo Nazionale della Scienza e Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci (http://www.museoscienza.org/). Our tour guides showed us may facets of this enormous museum and everyone enjoyed our visit.
Jill Byerly Mayer
Health Sciences Library
UNC Chapel Hill
Email: jbmayer@email.unc.edu
ICS Task Force Formed to Investigate Job Exchange Program with the Korean Medical Library Association
ICS Chair Daniel Dollar has created a special task force charged with conducting a thorough feasibility study of a possible job exchange program with the Korean Medical Library Association. Members of the ICS Job Exchange Task Force are:
Beth Whipple, Research Informationist/Assistant Librarian, Ruth Lily Medical Library, Indianapolis
Charles Greenberg, Coordinator, Curriculum and Research Support, Program Development and Research, Cushing/Whitney Medical Library, Yale
Dav Robertson, Library Director, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park
Fred Pond, Biomedical Librarian, Department of Community and Family Medicine, Dartmouth College
Brian Bunnett, Director of Library and Education Services, Health Sciences Center, University of New Mexico
The task force will complete its work in December of this year and present its recommendation to the MLA Board immediately thereafter.
Brian Bunnett
Chair, ISC Job Exchange Task Force
Email: bbunnett@salud.unm.edu
Beth Whipple, Research Informationist/Assistant Librarian, Ruth Lily Medical Library, Indianapolis
Charles Greenberg, Coordinator, Curriculum and Research Support, Program Development and Research, Cushing/Whitney Medical Library, Yale
Dav Robertson, Library Director, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park
Fred Pond, Biomedical Librarian, Department of Community and Family Medicine, Dartmouth College
Brian Bunnett, Director of Library and Education Services, Health Sciences Center, University of New Mexico
The task force will complete its work in December of this year and present its recommendation to the MLA Board immediately thereafter.
Brian Bunnett
Chair, ISC Job Exchange Task Force
Email: bbunnett@salud.unm.edu
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Library “Reorganized”
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Library, Piscataway, New Jersey, will be "reorganized" under the Information Technology Department. All library staff are being laid off as of Oct. 9, 2009. The library will not be staffed by library professionals and will not support a print collection.
The library director, Zana Etter, is the librarian who has been dedicated to furthering medical information service to the faculty and students for twenty two years. Once her membership to MLA ends, unless she finds a position as a medical librarian, she will no longer be involved with MLA or ICS. She has enjoyed working with and knowing all of the ICS members, especially Donna Flake.
Her email after Oct. 9 will be zanaett77@yahoo.com.
The library director, Zana Etter, is the librarian who has been dedicated to furthering medical information service to the faculty and students for twenty two years. Once her membership to MLA ends, unless she finds a position as a medical librarian, she will no longer be involved with MLA or ICS. She has enjoyed working with and knowing all of the ICS members, especially Donna Flake.
Her email after Oct. 9 will be zanaett77@yahoo.com.
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