QMedCONNECT: November 2009

QMedCONNECT Newsletter: November 2009

Dear friends,

QMed Knowledge Foundation is nearing two years of existence, and we feel we are on the edge of the runway, all ready for a take off! We have been loaded with training programs and requests for proposals and it feels very good. The trade off has been that this issue of the newsletter reaches you a little late; and again - we hope that we will soon be in a position to ensure sticking to publication dates!

We'd like to introduce a change in our newsletter by offering something special to readers every month. It may be information about new resources, or events, or simply some tips. We invite readers to share anything that they would like us to publish in QMedCONNECT.

November had us conduct two training programs and deliver two lectures. We have also approached the Tamil Nadu Government and the Department of Medical Education with a proposal for our training programs and a specific value addition for their medical college libraries. The proposal was appreciated, and we hope it translates into our involvement at the earliest.

The Symposium on Evidence Informed Healthcare in CMC Vellore (January 2010) introduces something special for students. Check out the program on the Cochrane-SACN website.

We will be having our Foundation Day event on the 8th of January, 2010 in the afternoon. Those who are in Mumbai on that date, please block your calendar and join us; we would like to share our plans for the year with you. We want to help introduce new ideas in your libraries and in your medical information usage!

Vasumathi Sriganesh

Do You Know

1. PubMed Redesign. In the end of October, PubMed - one of the worlds largest indexes to peer reviewed medical journals, underwent a complete redesign. The new interface was launched with the objective of introducing an "easier to use" interface, while promoting scientific discovery. (More details in the NLM Technical Bulletin). Our observations have been that while certain features are better, there are some utilities that need more clicks in the new interface! We have updated our manuals and presentations, and participants of our recent programs have been really happy that our programs have made it much easier for them to use the new PubMed.

2. PubMed Customization. PubMed can be configured to show which articles in your search results are available in your library.

The picture above shows the number of articles available in the KEM and NIRRH libraries, for the search done.
Would you like this facility for your library? Do get in touch with us.

Our Forthcoming Projects:

December 13 - Talk on Literature searching at KEM Hospital, Mumbai, at a Research Methodology workshop for Postgraduate students.

We invite medical colleges/hospitals to contact us for organizing a program for PG students, faculty and health professionals. Please check out details at our website.

Other Events of Interests:

January 11-14, 2010 - 8th Winter Symposium of the Christian Medical College, Vellore and the 3rd South Asian Regional Symposium on Evidence Informed Healthcare. More details.

If you are organizing or know about other conferences, pre-conference workshops or training programs related to medical research, do let us know; we would like to include these in our website and newsletter

Resources for You:

1. MDConsult. Doctors in India can avail of access to MDConsult at special rates, thanks to the efforts of the HELP Library. With MDConsult, you get access to about 50 reference books, 70 journals (including Clinics), Practice guidelines and lots more. For more details click here.

2. Supercourse Lectures. Supercourse is a repository of lectures on global health and prevention designed to improve the teaching of prevention. Supercourse is a library of 3623 lectures in 30 languages. It has been produced at the WHO Collaborating Center University of Pittsburgh, with core developers Ronald LaPorte and others.

Our Foundation has received a CD of entire content, and are distributing it for free to institutions during our training programs and also to anyone requesting for the same. This will be useful if you do not wish to view all lectures on the Internet for various reasons. Please get in touch with us at info@qmedkf.org.in if you wish to receive a copy.

Article of this Month:

Young SN.

Bias in the research literature and conflict of interest: an issue for publishers, editors, reviewers and authors, and it is not just about the money. J Psychiatry Neurosci 2009;34(6):412-7.

The article discusses a key issue in medical research - "conflict of interest" and focuses on how the Journal attempts to deal with these issues. The goal is to see how to minimize the negative impact of CIOs in medical research. A good guide for anyone interested in medical writing.

What we did – November 2009

Training programs: PubMed - Basics and Talks on Literature Searching

In November, we conducted the following events.

November 7 - PubMed-Basics at the Columbia Asia Referral Hospital, Bengaluru. This program was sponsored by a Pharmaceutical company, and we had about 40 participants. The feedback was very good. Two doctors who had trained abroad specially mentioned that they had not had this level of training "out there" (Australia and USA), and they were very happy to have gone through this program.

November 29 - PubMed-Basics at the Cancer Institute (WIA), Chennai. The Institute had invited us to conduct the program after one of its doctors had attended our lecture at the IASG conference in Mumbai, in October. The Institute had a sponsor for its PG students and residents, and consultants paid for their participation. We appreciate the Institute for its efforts and had a good session with 32 participants. One interesting feedback was "I wish I had had this 10 years earlier"!

Early December

December 2 - Talk on "Importance of Literature Searching" at a one-day workshop on Scientific Writing, at the JSS University Mysore for over 400 students.

December 4 - Talk on "Importance of Literature Searching" at the JPGM workshop on Medical Writing, at the KEM Hospital, Mumbai, for around 100 participants.

December 5 - PubMed Basics - for Nephrologists & Urologists in Chennai - sponsored by a Pharma company.

Document Delivery of Journal Articles

In the month of November 2009, we delivered 160 articles to individual members, libraries and corporate clients. The total number of documents delivered since April this year is 1330.

New Website

We created the website for the National Assembly on Pediatric Emergency Medicine - www.napem.org.in. You can find details of their second National Conference- ( 2 - 4 April, 2010) in this website.

Do Join Us: Experience the "Joy Of Giving" Anytime.

We believe we have made a big beginning to making a significant difference to healthcare professionals and institutions with our work and offerings. We need support from every individual reading this newsletter. Every Rupee you donate or help us get will make a difference. Do contribute at least a day's salary/earnings to our Foundation any time you can. And do not forget to spread this message. We have big plans and we would like you to be a part of our efforts.

We accept donations by cheques in favour of Quality Medical Knowledge Foundation. Please send the cheques to our address, or write to us for our account details. You will get the applicable IT Exemption for donations under Section 80G of the Indian Income Tax Act.

Quote of the Month

An information system may be used but not be useful; it may also be useful and not used. It may even be neither useful nor used. It is ideal if it is both used and useful.

- Manfred Kochen

Directory Of Indian Medical Sites(www.indianmedicalsites.in)

We have added 55 new sites in the last month and the total number of sites is about 2590.

We invite volunteers to add new sites. If you would like to help, do write to us and we will send you a set of instructions that will make it easier for you to work. Please write "Volunteering for Indian Medical Sites" in the Subject of the email.