Haiti Relief Toolkit

Stopped by Burlew Medical Library this morning to say hello to the library gang and Julie told me about this amazing new resource. the Haiti Relief Toolkit . Created by K4Health with the aid of virtual collaborators, this toolkit "is a one-stop source for technical and practical information that will help health workers respond to earthquake relief efforts underway in Haiti. This toolkit covers the vital sectors in emergencies, including health, water and sanitation, food security and shelter. It also covers field activities supporting the operations such as logistics."If you know any health professional or aid worker who needs information for managing the Haiti Relief effort, this is the resource!!

Haiti Earthquake resources from Burlew Medical Library

Just stopped by Burlew Medical Library today to see what information they could give me about helping earthquake vicitims in Haiti.  Julie Smith told me about this new web page of Haiti earthquake information now available at http://disaster.nlm.nih.gov/dimrc/haitiearthquake.html.  Compiled by the Disaster Information Management Research Center, this page includes resources about the Haiti earthquake situation from both government and non-governmental organizations as well as related  resources for first responders and health issues such as management of crush injuries, management of dead bodies etc. This is an extremely rich source of information which will continue to expand. When I asked Julie about a list of organizations which are accepting donations for Haiti, she made me aware of a group called Charity Navigator. This organization was founded in 2001 and has become the nation's largest and most utilized evaluator of charities. In fact, TIME Magazine called this website "One of America's 50 Coolest Websites for 2006." Charity Navigator maintains a completely objective stance and accepts no funding by any of the organizations it reviews.

Magnet Maggie Visits Burlew Medical Library for Orientation

Despite my harrowing experience in surviving a collapse of books and documents while in Burlew Medical Library, I have returned to Burlew Medical Library to learn all I can about the  fabulous services and resources available to all staff at St. Joseph Hospital, Orange/CHOC. Here's what I learned in my initial orientation.

• Burlew Medical Library serves the information needs of all the staff at St. Joseph Hospital, Orange and Children's Hospital of Orange County. The medical library also meets the information needs of hospital patients and their families and even offers a website that is open to the public http://www.sjhhealthresourcecenter.org/ . This website attempts to direct lay people to authoritiative information. As a nurse. I find this website helpful to look up general information about health conditions with which I have little familiarity.
• The medical library is open weekdays from 8:30 - 5:00 but staff can access the library anytime by checking out the library key. The library is staffed by 3.2 FTE's and even has two librarians with Master's degrees who are also certified by the Medical Library Association. These people really know their stuff!!
• The staff are really friendly and welcoming. I guess they must really like it there because two of the staff have been there for more than 30 years. They are more than happy to show you around the library, explain how to navigate the library website, teach you the basics of literature searching, obtain documents for you and much more. BTW- the library website is password protected for the exclusive use of SJH/CHOC staff. Call the library if you don't know the password and id.
• Since more of their journals have migrated to electronic status, the library website is where it's at. Did you know that they now have more than 850 full text journals on their website? And that over 150 of these journals are nursing journals?  That's impressive!!
• The library website has some electronic books, but the majority of their books are in the physical library collection. To look up a book in the library, use CyBurCat.  CyburCat is linked prominently on the library website. If they don't have a book that you need, they'll borrow it for you from another library. All the nursing books and nursing journals are in a separate section of the library. The call numbers for all the nursing books end in NSG .
• This library has one of the best nursing collections I've ever seen. Julie Smith, MLS, Library Manager, tells me that years ago they received a grant from the National Library of Medicine  to support their nursing collection and that they have always maintained their committment to nursing resources.

         That's enough orientation for me for now. I'll be back again to learn much more about this outstanding
          resource and all of the library services available to staff.
   

Maggie's Welcome Marred by Incident in Burlew Medical Library

Magnet Maggie was also attending the fall Magnet conference, hoping to find a hospital committed to nursing excellence that she could join. Maggie met the St. Joseph Hospital team, felt they were a great fit and was invited to accompany the team back to Orange. Burlew Medical Library was one of the first locations visited by Magnet Maggie. Unfortunately, some of the Magnet manuals fell off the shelf, flattening Maggie in the process.

Above, Director of Regulatory and Privacy Compliance Marty Jones and Director of Risk Management and Patient Relations Julie Hernandez assess the painful situation. (A patient consent form was signed by Maggie before the release of this information.) Medical Librarian Julie Smith reacts with horror when she discovers Maggie's mishap.

Inspired by her new friend Flat Stanley, Maggie has not let this crushing injury slow her down. She is alive and well and working with St. Joseph Hospital nurses on their Magnet redesignation.