The Informatics Review Vol. 6 No. 7 - Apr 1 2003 -- Current Reviews in Clinical Informatics

BestTreatments can help you and your doctor use the evidence from medical research to decide together which treatments are best for you
What they do:
* Sort through hundreds of thousands of research studies to tell you which treatments work.
* Tell you which drugs work and what side effects they have.
* Tell you how other patients live with their condition.
* Give you a way to learn more by taking our online classes. Our first class is for women with breast cancer.

Uncle Sam issues data-sharing standards for medical info (For Official Statement)
The initiative will require agencies to adopt five standards:
* For messaging, the Health Level 7 standard to share patient information (HL-7)
* For ordering drugs from pharmacies, the National Council on Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP)
* For systems integration, IEEE 1073 series to plug medical devices into information and computer systems (MIB)
* For diagnostic data retrieval, the Digital Imaging Communications in Medicine standards (DICOM)
* For laboratory records, the Logical Observation Identifier Name Codes (LOINC)
For now, there is no deadline for agencies to adopt the standards.

"e-Thrombosis": a new threat for the 21st century
The risk of developing life-threatening blood clots from sitting for long periods at a computer was revealed today in a case report from New Zealand. A young man who spent up to 18 hours a day sitting at his computer nearly died after developing a massive blood clot that formed in his leg veins, broke off and travelled to his lungs (pulmonary embolism).

Palm reading 2. Handheld software for physicians
The aim of this article is to provide an updated and extended summary of some of the more widely used programs, in order to help practitioners find software resources that are most appropriate to their needs.

What is CDC doing to combat the SARS health threat?
CDC has activated its Emergency Operations Center (EOC); is distributing health alert notices to travelers who may have been exposed to cases of SARS; is assisting state and local health departments in investigating possible cases of SARS in the United States; is providing safe specimen-handling guidelines to laboratories; is analyzing laboratory specimens to identify a cause for SARS; and has deployed more than a dozen CDC medical officers, epidemiologists, infection control specialists, and pathologists to support the World Health Organization in the global investigation.

Field Guide to MEDLINE: Making Searching Simple -- (Click to Buy)
The main purpose of this pocket guide is to help medical and related professionals construct and conduct faster, easier and more effective MEDLINE searches. It also helps you decide when it's more appropriate to use the free PubMed interface for MEDLINE or Ovid, a commercial (fee-based) alternative, in case you have access to both or wonder whether it's worth subscribing to Ovid.

Factors Influencing Medical Informatics Examination Grade - Can Biorhythm,
Astrological Sign, Seasonal Aspect, or Bad Statistics Predict Outcome?
Medical Informatics examination grades correlated with general learning capacity and computer habits of students, but showed no relation to other investigated parameters, such as examination term or pseudoscientific parameters. Inadequate statistical analysis can always confirm false conclusions.
Other issues from Volume 6 -- 2001

1 -- Jan 1

5 -- Mar 1

9 --- May 1

13 -- Jul 1

17 -- Sep 1

21 -- Nov 1

2 -- Jan 15

6 -- Mar 15

10 -- May 15

14 -- Jul 15

18 -- Sep 15

22 -- Nov 15

3 -- Feb 1

7 -- Apr 1

11 -- Jun 1

15 -- Aug 1

19 -- Oct 1

23 -- Dec 1

4 -- Feb 15

8 -- Apr 15

12 -- Jun 15

16 -- Aug 15

20 -- Oct 15

24 -- Dec 15

3/30/03 dfs

1 -- Jan 1	5 -- Mar 1	9 --- May 1	13 -- Jul 1	17 -- Sep 1	21 -- Nov 1
2 -- Jan 15	6 -- Mar 15	10 -- May 15	14 -- Jul 15	18 -- Sep 15	22 -- Nov 15
3 -- Feb 1	7 -- Apr 1	11 -- Jun 1	15 -- Aug 1	19 -- Oct 1	23 -- Dec 1
4 -- Feb 15	8 -- Apr 15	12 -- Jun 15	16 -- Aug 15	20 -- Oct 15	24 -- Dec 15