Ebola Outbreak West Africa: Information Resources Cindy Love October 9, 2014 National Library of Medicine Worlds largest biomedical library - 9 million items in collection National Network: 8 U.S. Regional Medical Libraries
Home of PubMed, MedlinePlus, National Center for Biotechnology Information, informatics research, specialized information on public health, toxicology, HIV/AIDS, health services research, disasters, and more Part of the National Institutes of Health Bethesda, Maryland, US
Disaster Information Management Research Center (DIMRC) Mission To develop and provide access to health information resources and technology for disaster preparedness, response, and recovery Connect people to quality disaster health information and foster a culture of community resiliency St. Johns Hospital, Joplin, MO after 2011 tornado 3
Why DIMRC and Ebola? Events that overwhelm, or threaten to overwhelm, the local capacity to respond. Pandemic or epidemic infectious diseases; outbreaks following disasters All-hazards topics: Children in Disasters Mass Gatherings
Ethics & Legal Concerns Emotional Coping with Disasters Health information resources for professionals Chemical, biological, radiation, nuclear and explosive causes of
multiple injuries and death Natural Disasters Agenda
Tracking Ebola information Ebola-related resources from NLM Ebola on every channel, every format Roles for librarians and information specialists Managing and avoiding info overload 5 Tracking Ebola information: the dream The reality
What IS Ebola information?
The virus itself, basic science, sequencing of the virus Public health practices and their ethical/legal implications Clinical care and infection control Impact on the availability of health care for other needs Implications for family well-being and the functioning of society Emotional well-being of caregivers, family and friends, survivors Long-term health effects of Ebola for recovering survivors Ebola orphans Stigma More
Can I just search on Ebola? YES! Synonyms: Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever (EHF) Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) for PubMed searches: Do NOT use MeSH for articles added since the start of this outbreak. Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola = Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever = Ebola Virus Disease Ebolavirus
Ebola Vaccines Older or additional materials may be found using: Viral hemorrhagic fever(s) Ebola-related Resources from NLM
Guide to Ebola information resources PubMed Disaster Lit Emergency Access Initiative MedlinePlus Virus Variation Outreach to information specialists via listserv, webinars Guide to Ebola Information Resources Not just literature Situation reports
Maps Social media Lead U.S. federal organizations NGOs Non-English materials http ://disasterinfo.nlm.nih.gov/dimrc/ebol a_2014.html Disaster Health Information
Peer-reviewed scholarly literature Journal articles Books Grey Literature Reports Summaries Surveillance data Training materials Conference proceedings 12
PubMed On average, 98 articles per year in last 10 years 127 articles about this outbreak added Mar 1-Sept 19 Few have been indexed Most are news, editorials, commentary for a general professional audience Early research results started appearing at the end of
Sept. 8 journals dominate because they publish fast, frequently, and online Single articles in each of 40 journals Grey Literature Formal definition: That which is produced on all levels of government, academics, business, and industry in print and electronic formats, but which is not controlled by commercial publishers. Working definition:
Not in PubMed. Disaster Lit: home of grey lit 111 documents about this outbreak added Mar 1-Sept 19 Most are guidelines, also factsheets, reports, training materials, etc. 14 Disaster Lit: Ebola Documents Refine Your Results: Source
Publication Type Year Author http://disasterlit.nlm.nih.gov/search/?sea rchTerms=ebola+OR+hemorrhagic&sear ch.x=0&search.y=0&search=Search Disaster Lit: Ebola Documents Scroll down (2)to
continue your search: PubMed MedlinePlus DIMRC web site Emergency Access Initiative (EAI) http://eai.nlm.nih.gov Searching PubMed for EAI Journals
MedlinePlus http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ebola.html Virus Variation Resource for Ebolavirus NLM National Center for Biotechnology Information http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genome/viruses/variation/ebola Stay Connected DISASTR-OUTREACH-LIB 1,300+ subscribers disasterinfo.nlm.nih.gov/dimrc/dim
rclistserv.html Twitter @NLM_DIMRC Ebola information Beyond NLM Every channel Every format Every minute of the day Ebola Info Alerts Set up alerts and RSS feeds from sources relevant to you.
CDC, https://service.govdelivery.com/accounts/USCDC/subscriber/new ProMED-mail, http://ww4.isid.org/promedmail/subscribe.php Your states public health or emergency management agencies Google news and other news aggregators Local TV, newspaper
This is an official CDC HEALTH ADVISORY News Media Radio, TV, Print Newspapers, Online News, Blogs Look for: Trusted sources Articles with a publication date Frequent updates Original, on-site reporting Multiple authors on a single article
Social Media Twitter, Facebook, RSS feeds, Blogs, Newsletters, updates and alerts in your mailbox Expect: Vast number of choices consider the source Twitter now the place for breaking news Increasing, almost commonplace, use of social media by well-resourced agencies Social media scene during/after a disaster evolves constantly
The age of the infographic Visualizing Health Policy: The 2014 Ebola Outbreak JAMA. 2014;312(14):1388. doi:10.1001/jama.2014.13666. The age of the
infographic (2) SOURCE: CDC, New England Journal of Medicine, NIH, Science, The Lancet, Nature. By Patterson Clark, Darla Cameron and Sohail Al-Jamea, The Washington Post October 3, 2014 The age of the
infographic (3) CDC http:// www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/resourc es/infographics.html The age of the infographic (4)
World Health Organization http:// www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/ put_on_ppequipment.pdf Visualizing the outbreak from the simple to the complex Simple: bar graph of Medline/PubMed Ebola articles, 1977 (5 articles) to 2014 (308 articles) Health Map
http://healthmap.org/ebola/#timeline NowTrending.HHS.gov Heatmap of Ebola Tweets Roles for Information Specialists Information specialists: Should my organization have a webpage for Ebola? Focus on:
Unique content: information specific to your institution or community not on any other website Content that you will be able to maintain and update Meeting unique or specific needs of your institution
Using distribution channels already familiar to you and your users, and within your control Using Ebola resources created, maintained by others
Controlling your users expectations Keeping your website current: Embed, dont dread https://tools.cdc.go v/medialibrary CDC microsite
embedded on NIH website Embed, dont dread http://www.nih. gov/health/ebol a.htm https://tools.cdc.gov/medialibrary Information specialists:
Distributing Ebola-related information Subscribe and forward, try Ebola News Digest https:// docs.google.com/forms/d/1TnRFnNjd3H-3jp8ZUcVvThxYB9HvxiCBKj8VIEJPqx0/viewform?usp=send_form Add key links on appropriate web pages Consider outreach to:
Hospital preparedness decision makers Instructors using the Ebola outbreak as a case study Local community members with family in West Africa Humanitarian and medical volunteers deploying to West Africa University researchers working on Ebola Information specialists: An Outreach Example: West Africans in Your Neighborhood Dr. Fine of the Rhode Island Department of Health said that one of the most
important ways to keep more Ebola cases from emerging in the United States was to encourage West African immigrants to reach out to friends and relatives in their homelands and educate them. In Rhode Island, West African community leaders were urging people to call five relatives or friends in their homeland and give them advice about preventing the spread of Ebola. The United Way has even provided a van with phones for free calls, he said. Countering Fear of Ebola With Education Where West Africans Live in U.S. New York Times, October 2, 2014 http:// www.nytimes.com/2014/10/03/us/countering-fear-of-ebola-with-education-where-west-afri cans-live-in-us.html
Information specialists: Be a Trusted Source Rumored preventives & cures: Drinking copious amounts of salt water or condensed milk or holy water or coffee Eating raw onions or kola nut What do you do about comments from family and
friends that you see on social media? Managing Overload or How much do you REALLY need to know? Let this sentence be your guide I am tracking information because I need to find [types of info] for [who?] so that they can [do what?] Examples: stay current, make a healthcare facility response plan, conduct research, make evidence-based clinical decisions, write
federal policy, teach a class, train medical personnel, etc. Tips for Avoiding Overload
Select your trusted sources. Use their *alert* and RSS functions. Set a schedule for reviewing and updating. The 24-hour news cycle isn't. Diminishing returns, especially overnight and on weekends. In the absence of actual news, there's a lot of opinion. Do you need to be well-informed on opinion? Limit your personal exposure to photos, videos and audio they have more emotional impact than text. Set limits. "I can do my job without looking at the pictures." Limit your reading of Comments following news stories and blogs. Some are well-informed but many provide more emotion than insight. Say no to
negativity. Manage stress by limiting exposure to media. What's good for the kids (turn it off, go outside and play) is good for the adults too. [It is okay to] Protect yourself. Questions? To unmute your phone, press *6. Type your questions in the chat box. Send email to [email protected] Thank you!
Cindy Love [email protected] Disaster Information Management Research Center http://disasterinfo.nlm.nih.gov
