Medical Terminology

Edit: Transcript http://bit.ly/12TGnPa

Medical Terminology for Librarians
Thursday, December 11, 2014
9pm Eastern/6pm Pacific

Join Margaret (@mehlibrarian) and Mike (@mscully66) for an introduction to medical terminology, Thursday, December 11, 9PM ET.

It may seem as if medical terminology is used to obscure, but it is actually used to clarify and to specify. Once you know the basics, it helps when the MD requesting a literature search presumes you know his terminology.

Most medical terms are constructed from roots, prefixes and suffixes, usually Latin or Greek:

• neuro- , append- ,- plasm, ortho- , athero-, pedi-, geriat- , podia-, tibia-
• intra- , inter-, hypo- , hyper-, endo- , neo-
• -ectomy, -otomy, -osis, -itis

Unlike regular dictionaries, medical dictionaries, for example this one from mediLexicon, include such roots, prefixes and suffixes, such as “intra-“, so they can be used as resources to deconstruct and then reconstruct words.

MedlinePlus also has a medical dictionary plus a tutorial on understanding medical words

It can also help to have to have a couple of medical guides on hand. Some guides are available through subscriptions like AccessMedicine - Clinician’s Pocket Reference, for example. But you might also find print guides handy as well.  Internal Medicine Clerkship Guide (Mosby) and Wards 101 pocket: Clinician’s Survival Guide are both helpful to learn more about tests and terminology related to different specialties.

If you have questions about medical terminology, please join us.

If you have a favorite resource, please come and share it.  

Maybe you have a tried and true way to ask about an unknown topic without looking like an idiot.  We’d love to hear it.

See you Thursday.

Journal Club: Emerging roles for biomedical librarians

Edit: Transcript Saved here: http://bit.ly/1oTpz37 http://zbit.ly/1oTpz37

#medlibs Journal Club Chat 
Thursday, July 31, 2014 
9:00 pm Eastern/6:00 pm Pacific time  

Journal Club is back! In preparation for Thursday's chat, I’ve selected the following article:

Crum JA, Cooper ID. Emerging roles for biomedical librarians: a survey of current practice, challenges, and changes. J Med Libr Assoc. 2013 Oct; 101(4):278-86. doi: 10.3163/1536-5050.101.4.009. PubMed PMID: 24163599; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3794683. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=24163599. Accessed July 25, 2014.

* Supplementary resources can be found here: 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3794683/#supplementary-material-sec. 

Why was this article chosen?

1. Anyone can read it for FREE on PubMed Central. Free is awesome.
2. This article is pre-approved by the MLA for 1 MLA CE contact hour in the MLA Independent Reading program (IRP).
3. Janet A. Crum, MLS, AHIP, one of the authors of the article will join in the chat. This is a great opportunity for you to gain author insight and become more informed. 
4. #medlibs may have some interest in the emerging roles of biomedical librarians or is that just me?

More information about the MLA IRP can be found here:  https://www.mlanet.org/education/irp/articles.html. After our discussion, you can fill out the IRP Article Analysis Application: https://www.mlanet.org/education/irp/analysis.html and submit payment for CE credit. Please note that 3 MLA CE Contact Hours a year can be obtained with IRP.

Here’s the current Journal Club structure. As you read the article, consider the following in 131 characters or less. (The #medlibs tag does take some space and we need it for see what you would like to add to the discussion.)

• xx:05 or xx:10 – Facts: It's important to discuss the facts. However, since we have the author(s) present, we can ask them questions directly. and talk about what stood out in the survey and interested you. We can ask the authors what issues they came across when developing the survey, obtaining participation, etc. Whatever comes to mind.

• xx:25 – Interpretation: If you've looked over their methods and results, what were the strengths/weaknesses that you found? If you've looked over the supplementary resources, was there something that could have been asked in the survey that was not?

• xx:40 – Implications: After reading this article, how do you feel that this impacts your education and career development? What have you done in contribution to the emerging roles listed? 

Grab your favorite beverage and get ready to discuss this article. I know from any and all previous Twitter chats we may diverge from the topic at hand and that’s perfectly fine.

I look forward to seeing you on Thursday’s #medlibs chat!

@TonyNguyen411