From Karen's Desk

This is NOT what the view out of my office door is looking like at the moment!  Summer is definitely here and the Library has begun its planned renovations.  For those of you who have not yet joined my Facebook group and seen the photos I have been sharing  - I wanted to show you some pictures of what’s been happening.

First of all, the computer carrels have been removed from this main floor location.  The computers and scanners that were here have permanently moved to the downstairs computer lab.

The CavAdvantage machine has been moved to the bottom of the stairs – where the room display board is.  The CavAdvantage machine is used to purchase copy cards and add value to them.

The new carpet continues to be put in.  The ground floor small group rooms and main spaces have all been done.  I believe the Carter and Tolleson classrooms are also about to be finished.  As a result of areas being cleared for the re-carpeting, please expect to see some of this [below]:

And last but not least – for now anyway – is this exciting picture of them installing “sound masking technology” into the ceilings [below]!

Now, back to the lake!

Please consider joining my closed Facebook group that I created just for us – updates will appear more in “real time” :  https://www.facebook.com/groups/fromkarensdesk/

I advise taking a moment to read a wonderful essay by Kent A. Sepkowitz, M.D. that appears in today’s New York Times health section (May 14, 2014).  He addresses the importance of the Systematic Review in separating hype from fact in the ever-burgeoning glut of new and often conflicting health information.

This is your future!

Are you an USMLE Easy user yet?

This product, available from the Medical Student Portal, contains thousands of online questions covering all the disciplines and organ systems you need to review for USMLE Step 1, Step 2CK and Step 3.

I just received some usage data on its use since the first of the year 2014:

Of the 422 tests taken so far, 10 have been for Step 1, 388 for Step 2CK, and 24 for Step 3.

Whether it is for Boards prep or class review – give USMLE Easy a try!

The popular program known as MD Consult ceased to exist on January 1, 2014, and has been morphed into an even larger new product called Clinical Key.  You will get to know Clinical Key primarily for the thousand plus online books that it makes readily available.

I plan to have several more posts about important features of Clinical Key – but for now, the most important thing is to register for a “personal account”. The personal account will allow you to take full advantage of Clinical Key’s many features – the best one being the ability to download whole book chapters!

The other reason to establish a personal account is to use the First Consult app.  First Consult is an evidence-based point-of-care tool that can be searched from within Clinical Key, but works best as an app on your phone or ipad. You will find First Consult in the Apple App Store.

Load it and begin using it with your Clinical Key login.  Please let me know what you think of First Consult and Clinical Key.

I have gotten many questions about this exciting new partnership - PHS @ the Library, such as:

•  “How do you make an appointment?”
• “What kinds of help can you receive?”

I plan to add a link to this service and the larger Bioconnector site in the near future from the Medical Student Portal page in the right column under “Resource Guides”

I am including more details below:

Drop in Hours:

Tuesdays and Thursdays 12:00 – 4:00pm or schedule an appointment

We are happy to assist you with the following questions:

Basic data collection and management

• What is my research question?
• How do I collect and store this data most effectively?
• How do I encode the data to make it most useful for downstream analysis?
• What university infrastructure resources are available for me to handle this (SAS, SPSS, GIS, etc. )?
• How would I design, conduct, and analyze a chart review for about 100 patients?
• How do I arrange a consultation on clinical database creation and management?

 Basic biomedical and science statistical questions

• How do I analyze this data?
• How do I calculate what sample size I need?
• How do I know what statistical test or model is most appropriate with this data?
• What assumptions must I satisfy to use this test or model appropriately?
• What software can I use to do this analysis?
• How do I learn to use this software?
• How would one interpret these results?

Today a new collaborative service starts in the Health Sciences Library.  We are partnering with Public Health Sciences (PHS) to provide free basic data collection and statistical support .  

Public Health Sciences @ the Library is a service available to medical and nursing students, BIMS students, residents, nurses and other clinicians, lab personnel, and anyone in the Health System who could benefit from such service for their work or studies. This service is intended to address questions about research methods and statistics of a basic and introductory nature and is not an effort to reproduce more substantive and comprehensive research collaborations or research methodologies currently available within the Health System. Requests beyond the scope of this service will be referred to other University resources when appropriate.

The service is available every Tuesday and Thursday from 12-4pm on a drop in basis, or patrons can also schedule an appointment if those times are not convenient.  The Library-PHS collaborative space is in the open Media Studio area on the first floor just outside the rest rooms and Carter Classroom.

Happy New Year!!

The Library now provides online access to the full-scale version of McGraw-Hill’s USMLE Easy exam preparation tool.  Prior to this, there was a limited version of USMLE Easy available as part of the Library’s Access Medicine subscription.

USMLE Easy helps medical students prepare for the USMLE Step1, Step 2 CK, and Step 3.  Users will find thousands of online questions covering all the disciplines and organ systems covered on the exams – along with powerful customization features that allow them to focus on the topics they need to master and bypass what is already known.

USMLE Easy is the online counterpart to the very popular PreTest book series, and all subject review materials and questions from this print series, plus more, are contained in the USMLE
Easy database.  It is recommended that you establish a personalized login so you can take advantage of all the features.

Link from Karen’s Medical Student Portal to USMLE Easy

If you have not already seen this nice news piece about your colleague Ryan Jones –  be sure to take a look:

http://www.nbc29.com/story/24347685/uva-med-student-detects-life-threatening-condition-during-training-session

Well done Ryan!

I want to thank all of you who have provided input and made suggestions this year to me for ways to improve your library experience.  I may not be able to make all your wishes come true – but I do listen and take your concerns and desires to library administration.

Together, we have accomplished a lot this year in making your library work better for you.  Here are just a few of the items I can think of:

• Added a water cooler in the After-Hours space for refilling your water bottles
• A Keurig coffee machine is coming soon to the After-Hours space
• VLS Player is being added to all library computers for your fast listening delight
• Added the ability to reserve the 6 new group study rooms on the main floor so you have first dibs on their use
• Added same-day reservations for the downstairs group study rooms
• Added over 1,000 new e-books with chapter PDFs in a new product called Clinical Key
• In the process of adding a subscription to the full online USMLEasy

Best wishes for a fun and relaxing holiday.  I look forward to seeing you in 2014!

Beginning on Friday, December 6th – tomorrow – the six group study rooms on the main floor in the Library’s after-hours study space may be reserved.  This is NEW!

These rooms may be reserved for up to 3 hours at a time by anyone affiliated with the Health System.  During times the rooms are not reserved, they are available to anyone on a first come, first served basis.  At this time, same day reservations will not be allowed for these upstairs rooms, but remember that they are for the downstairs group study rooms.

Reservations will only be taken for hours the Library is open.  When the Library closes, this after-hours space can only be accessed by Health System affiliates and the rooms will then be available on a first come, first served basis.

All group study rooms may be reserved in person at the service desk or by phone at 924-5444.

I would strongly urge you to reserve these rooms ahead of time for every day and then share the space as much as possible among yourselves – otherwise they are open to other non-health system affiliates who are currently in the Library studying for exams.

Also, as CPD afternoon sessions wind down for the term, those group study rooms will also have greater availability and can be reserved same day.  We hope this helps provide more quiet study space as you prepare for exams and the Boards.