Scenario
I'm always excited when I get to look stuff up in Italian. This time I'm asked to find information about sleep apnea in either French or Italian (preferably both).
Resolution
I look both terms up in HonSelect:
French: syndromes d'apnées du sommeil
Italian: sindromi di apnea del sonno
apnea: disturbi del sonno
I decide to look for the French first. I go to Passeport santé and type in apnées du sommeil. That brings me to two pages of interest: Apnée du sommeil: signe précurseur d'un AVC? and Vaincre les ennemis du sommeil, a book by Charles M.Morin.
CISMeF directs me to the website for the Ordre des dentistes du Québec. This has some information on snoring which also talks about apnea.
Next I look for information in Italian.
Benessere.com has an introduction to apnea but does not have the HonCode stamp of approval, so I keep looking.
I find another site called Dica33 which has some information on sleep disturbances including the complications of apnea. The site looks dinky but surprisingly has the HonCode badge right up at the top of the page for a change (I guess either they are really proud of it, or they are aware that the dinky design of the site might turn people off) and it turns out the site is developed by Edra spa, una società del gruppo ELSEVIER. Roughly translated they are a member of the Elsevier group.
Showing posts with label Passeportsante. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Passeportsante. Show all posts
Monday, June 30, 2008
Friday, January 11, 2008
Low back pain week: 2 cases
I am glad to report that this week I was presented with not one, but two cases, both having to do with low back pain.
Case #1
Scenario
A French-speaking middle-aged man has been referred to me by his physician at the clinic. He suffers from chronic low back pain and would like to know which exercises might help.
Resolution
First I go to Passeportsanté, hoping to find something in French similar to the MedlinePlus interactive tutorials, or at least with illustrated exercises.
Passportsanté > A-Z > D > Dos (mal de). This takes you to the same page as Douleurs lombaires.
Unfortunately there are no illustrations and certainly nothing interactive. I print it out anyway and then try CiSMeF (sites médicaux francophones à destination des patients et de leurs familles) to see what they have there.
CiSMeF > keywords: "exercises dos." I get two results, neither of which include illustrations, or even examples of exercises. Somewhat interesting though, so I print them out too.
Mal de dos: guide pratique
Mal de dos: pour faire le point
At this point I decide it's time to go to MedlinePlus. Since the information is illustrated, and the patient does speak some English, he will still be able to benefit from it.
MedlinePlus > keywords: "back exercises." I print out the list of results so he can access it again at home, and also print out the text summary of the interactive tutorial (which includes illustrations), and the second hit on the list which is a Low back pain exercise guide from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.
Case #2
Scenario
One of the health professionals (HP) at the clinic comes into my room and asks if there is a pamphlet on back exercises. I know which one he is thinking of but we have run out.
Resolution
Since the patient speaks English and I have already fielded a similar question earlier in the week, I go directly to MyHq where I have bookmarked some useful links under the Pain management section.
I show the HP the aforementioned MedlinePlus interactive tutorial which he thinks is great (it really is), and Low back pain exercise guide from the American Academy of orthopaedic Surgeons, and this time I also include Low back pain: tips on pain relief and prevention from familydoctor.org.
I ask the HP to fill out an Rx so I can document the consultation and he is happy to do so even though it means returning to the exam room to get the patient's information (name, chart no.). I run into him later in the hall and he tells me he was impressed by how quickly I was able to find the information and that he is going to go back and explore MedlinePlus for himself.
Discussion
I often find that the French language information I am able to find is rich in theory and somewhat lacking in terms of image/illustration and maintaining an appropriate reading level. Fortunately most of the patients I see at the clinic are able to read enough English to still benefit from those resources. It is interesting to note that CiSMeF links directly from each topic to the corresponding section in MedlinePlus. All roads lead...
It is also interesting to note that this resource that we (librarians/information professionals) take for granted, is still not well known to all health professionals. I think this is true of many of the resources we use on a regular basis. I have noticed that health professionals at the clinic often request information in pamphlet form, even though they are all too aware that their patients are going online for information. The clinic used to have a "pamphlet room" and a pamphlet database, so I suspect that this is partly due to habit rather than ignorance.
Case #1
Scenario
A French-speaking middle-aged man has been referred to me by his physician at the clinic. He suffers from chronic low back pain and would like to know which exercises might help.
Resolution
First I go to Passeportsanté, hoping to find something in French similar to the MedlinePlus interactive tutorials, or at least with illustrated exercises.
Passportsanté > A-Z > D > Dos (mal de). This takes you to the same page as Douleurs lombaires.
Unfortunately there are no illustrations and certainly nothing interactive. I print it out anyway and then try CiSMeF (sites médicaux francophones à destination des patients et de leurs familles) to see what they have there.
CiSMeF > keywords: "exercises dos." I get two results, neither of which include illustrations, or even examples of exercises. Somewhat interesting though, so I print them out too.
Mal de dos: guide pratique
Mal de dos: pour faire le point
At this point I decide it's time to go to MedlinePlus. Since the information is illustrated, and the patient does speak some English, he will still be able to benefit from it.
MedlinePlus > keywords: "back exercises." I print out the list of results so he can access it again at home, and also print out the text summary of the interactive tutorial (which includes illustrations), and the second hit on the list which is a Low back pain exercise guide from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.
Case #2
Scenario
One of the health professionals (HP) at the clinic comes into my room and asks if there is a pamphlet on back exercises. I know which one he is thinking of but we have run out.
Resolution
Since the patient speaks English and I have already fielded a similar question earlier in the week, I go directly to MyHq where I have bookmarked some useful links under the Pain management section.
I show the HP the aforementioned MedlinePlus interactive tutorial which he thinks is great (it really is), and Low back pain exercise guide from the American Academy of orthopaedic Surgeons, and this time I also include Low back pain: tips on pain relief and prevention from familydoctor.org.
I ask the HP to fill out an Rx so I can document the consultation and he is happy to do so even though it means returning to the exam room to get the patient's information (name, chart no.). I run into him later in the hall and he tells me he was impressed by how quickly I was able to find the information and that he is going to go back and explore MedlinePlus for himself.
Discussion
I often find that the French language information I am able to find is rich in theory and somewhat lacking in terms of image/illustration and maintaining an appropriate reading level. Fortunately most of the patients I see at the clinic are able to read enough English to still benefit from those resources. It is interesting to note that CiSMeF links directly from each topic to the corresponding section in MedlinePlus. All roads lead...
It is also interesting to note that this resource that we (librarians/information professionals) take for granted, is still not well known to all health professionals. I think this is true of many of the resources we use on a regular basis. I have noticed that health professionals at the clinic often request information in pamphlet form, even though they are all too aware that their patients are going online for information. The clinic used to have a "pamphlet room" and a pamphlet database, so I suspect that this is partly due to habit rather than ignorance.
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