Automatic Loan Extensions: All due dates for books/items out on loan have been extended until May 22nd, 2020. If you are continuing at GW, you don’t need to take any action. We will continue to extend due dates as needed until we reopen.
Graduating Students and Residents
Items Currently on Loan: If you have books/items out on loan, please mail them to Himmelfarb Library using the United States Postal Service (USPS). We are not able to accept UPS/FedEx/DHL, because no one will be available to sign off on deliveries.
All books/items should be mailed to:
George Washington University
Himmelfarb Library
c/o Kathy Lyons
2300 I (Eye) St, NW
Washington, DC 20037
Check your Account Status: Check the status of your library account for loans and fees. To check the status of your library account, visit himmelfarb.gwu.edu. Under Services, click on My Library Account, and login using your GW NetID and password.
Graduating Students: If you have outstanding library fees and/or library-related Banner account blocks, please send an email to Kathy Lyons (klyons2@gwu.edu) and Catherine Sluder (crharris@gwu.edu).
Graduating Residents: Library sign-out instructions will be forthcoming from the GME office.
Questions?
Please direct any questions to Kathy Lyons (klyons2@gwu.edu) and Catherine Sluder (crharris@gwu.edu).
As Dr. James Griffiths noted in his recent Grand Rounds presentation, trauma shifts how the brain processes information, and we lose our capacities to reflect and to relate and to maintain our sense of identity. When faced with the fear and uncertainty of a medical illness - or a global pandemic - we lose our ability to concentrate. We cannot sit still to read the books we once loved. We pick up our pens and put them down again. Each time we try to explain what we are going through, it seems like we aren’t being clear enough, like there is no language adequate to encapsulate our experiences. Patients, family members, health care providers, we are, each of us and in our own ways, experiencing these strange times. Providers on the front lines - to whom we extend our sincere gratitude - may not be able to separate themselves from their work. Others of us, working from home for over a month now, may have established a schedule, but we still cannot bring ourselves to concentrate on the novel on our bedside table.
In our virtual meetings and phone calls, there is a tacit understanding that these are not normal times. Where do we start the conversations we need, and do not necessarily want, to have? How can we express ourselves and find the connections necessary to cope?
Graphicmedicine comic creators often grapple with these and other questions. How does one illustrate both the events and the emotions of coping with the pain, fear, and hope that accompany medical crises?
By Weimankow, 6 April 2020
The New England GraphicMedicine conference was among the many that moved online this spring. The organizers added a COVID-19 comics panel discussion to the agenda. In this discussion, presenter Alice Jaggers described how the comics appearing - online, on social media channels, and via other platforms - provide a sampling of how graphicmedicine is used [see: https://www.graphicmedicine.org/covid-19-comics/]. While no comic fits neatly into a single category, they can be generally divided by a main tone or aim. Some provide educational information about diseases and treatment or various medical conditions and can thereby improve health literacy. They can provide historical information or context. Others address difficult ethical questions such as triage or end-of life care. Patients and providers alike draw comics as an outlet for expression, taking the time to reflect and cope during difficult times. These comics can be heartwarming and hopeful, or they can achieve the ironic synergy of humor and sadness unique to the comic medium.
I am not surprised that I find myself turning to COVID-19 comics. Comics “provide companionship through shared experience” (Williams, 2012). When we are socially distancing, physically isolated, reading a comic strip that encapsulates the quarantine experience can make us laugh, make us cry, and remind us that we are not alone (Myers & Goldenberg, 2018).
By Weimankow
Even when we cannot focus, especially when we cannot or do not want to focus, this rich medium, with all its layers, accomplishes through the synergy of drawing, words, and dialogue, that feat of connecting us. The space between the comic panes allows us to pause and process as we encounter traumatic events and difficult emotions on the page or screen (Williams, 2012).
Graphicmedicine has been accepted and embraced by long-standing institutions and publishers. The Annals GraphicMedicine Channel includes comic strips that bring to the surface struggles healthcare professionals face. In comic format, these stories are human, relatable, and non-threatening. Since 2016, JAMA has issued an annual “Best Of” list for graphicmedicine. (remember to access JAMA via the Himmelfarb Library’s website; check out their medical humanities section for articles about graphicmedicine and more).
A search for “Graphicmedicine” in PubMed returns 155 results, with most appearing within the last 5 years. Recognizing the growth in this area, two MeSH terms were added: in 2016, Graphic Novel as a publication type was introduced and, in 2018, “Graphic Novels as Topic” with the entry term “GraphicMedicine as Topic” was added. This is defined as “Works about book-length narratives told using a combination of words and sequential art, often presented in comic book style.” Graphicmedicine is a diverse and growing field, with, as described, a broadly inclusive definition. Graphicmedicine is at the intersection of the already blurry spheres of health and medicine and comic style. Graphicmedicine can come in the form of an Instagram post or a strip on the Annals GraphicMedicine channel or a 200-page graphic novel. The topics range from anxiety to spanish flu (both pertinent to these times). The perspective may be that of the patient or provider or the family members and friends of those affected.
The National Library of Medicine collects graphicmedicine materials for several reasons, including to “record progress in [medical] research, especially from the perspective of the patient patient”, contribute to medical education, describe “policies that affect the delivery of health services” in a straightforward manner, and depict “the public’s perception of medical practice” (Tuohy & Eannarino, 2018) As they go on to state, the perspectives and stories found in graphicmedicine are unique from those found in technical and research literature.
According to Dr. Griffiths, to be resilient, we must step into adversity. We can use graphicmedicine to reflect, cope, and connect and to ultimately help us step into adversity.
Tuohy, P., & Eannarino, J. (2018). Reading graphicmedicine at the National Library of Medicine. Journal of the Medical Library Association: JMLA, 106(3), 387–390. https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2018.449
"All comics in the infocomic series about COVID19 are free to use for educational purposes with credit. If you would like to support me through donations, it would be greatly appreciated."
Covidence, a service recently added to Himmelfarb's collection, greatly streamlines the process of creating a systematic review. In this webinar, Tom Harrod will review the common steps performed when creating a systematic review and explore how Covidence can help you during all of these stages. He will also show you how to get a Covidence account through the Himmelfarb Library’s subscription.
The American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) presents a free webinar today (4/20) at noon ET entitled: Maximizing Health IT, Modeling, Tracking, Tracing, and Other Public Health Tools during the COVID-19 Outbreak.
"As part of AMIA's ongoing COVID-19 Webinar Series exploring the role informatics experts are playing in the fight against the global pandemic, this session will discuss the use of informatics by public health agencies to assist in determining where best to allocate resources to maximize health efficiency and efficacy.”
The journal Academic Medicine is soliciting original submissions from medical students, residents, and fellows related to COVID-19 for their Letters to the Editor feature. Editors are looking for pieces that emphasize courage and connection in light of the global pandemic. More specifically, editors want to hear how COVID-19 might be contributing to health care and healthcare education in a positive manner.
More information related to the call for papers can be found here in a blog post from Academic Medicine. Letters of 400 words or less should come from students, residents, and fellows and should be submitted here by 5pm EST on Monday, June 1st, 2020.
If you need writing support, the Himmelfarb Library has tools to help. Make a distance appointment with the Writing Center or utilize RefWorks to manage citations.
The American Association of Medical Colleges' iCollaborative is building a resource collection in response to the COVID-19 pandemic’s significant impact on the teaching and learning of health professionals. Designed by diverse educators, this working collection features clinical learning experiences, which can be readily used or easily adapted for specific, local settings, without the need for physical patient contact.
The AAMC is actively seek submissions of learning experiences, particularly those that support patient care, but do not involve direct patient contact. Once submitted, the resources will be included in a collection that will be free and widely available to the community of medical education.
Have objectives focused on skills with clinical relevance in broad competency areas.
Submissions may also include supplements such as: checklists, worksheets, lesson plans, cases, or lecture outlines.
All submissions will be reviewed by the collection editor, Lisa Howley, PhD, Senior Director of Strategy Initiatives and Programs, to ensure criteria for inclusion are met. If you have a learning experience you would like to submit to the collection but need additional support, please contact curricularinnovation@aamc.org.
AccessMedicine has added an exciting new interactive anatomy study tool for medical and allied health students: Complete Human Anatomy Modules. (If this link does not work, click on the AccessMedicine link from our library homepage, choose the Multimedia tab, and then select Human Anatomy Modules.)
You can choose between a male and female module. Once you’ve selected either, the module offers controls that allow you to pan, zoom, rotate in 3D, and strip away layers of anatomy. Clicking on the magnifying glass enables you to focus on a body system, such as respiratory or cardiovascular. Or you can use the search window to bring into view any part of the human anatomy.
If you are looking to expand your knowledge base in any area of the health sciences, StatPearls is the ideal tool for you. It features a growing database of articles written for health care professionals. Search from over 6,000 free and peer-reviewed articles, all of which are indexed in PubMed. Content is updated daily using a peer review process. An example of content that is kept current is their review article on COVID-19: Features, Evaluation and Treatment Coronavirus COVID-19.
Additionally, the StatPearls website offers access to a bank of over 53,000 test questions in 432 specialty databases. The basic learning management system is offered free of charge, with an upgraded subscription option available. The test bank available via subscription uses adaptive learning to tailor your learning experience by identifying areas of strength and weakness as you answer questions. All activities and adaptive learning content are reviewed at least once a year. In addition, users can post comments on all content. Managing editors review customer feedback on content daily and, if they choose, submit the proposed revisions for review.
