Hi Jennifer

Does the hospital have access to the internet?

If so, the BMJ (British Medical Journal) offer free access to their publications to people in developing countries.
See http://group.bmj.com/group/customerservice/hinari/?searchterm=free%20acc...

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1125171 is an article about them donating journals and books to developing countries via the BMA/BMJ Information Fund. Its from 2003.

It is also mentioed on http://www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/LIBDisposalAgencies but the link to the page giving details does not work. We may need to contact them and ask for details.

Mary

Yes they do have access at the hospital office now. That's a great resource. I wonder about download speed though. We can try it out and see!

Jennifer

Bramuel-

Were you able to try accessing the British Medical Journal from the office? Did it work?

Also-is anyone interested in helping me contact the organizations from the resource that Mary submitted to see if we can get some reference books for the hospital?

The list is located here in case you missed it in the task description:

http://www.operationgivingback.facs.org/content77.html

I think all but the first one would be good to contact as the Asia Foundation works specifically with projects in Asia.

If you are interested, we need to know if they can help provide medical reference books, how many and how shipping is handled.

Anyone interested in making some contacts via email?

Jennifer

As the link to the application for BMA/BMJ Information Fund was not working, I emailed them and they have now sent me a link to the document for 2008.

This is at http://www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/WORDinformationfund/$FILE/Applicationform2008.doc and the link to this from their website will be corrected soon.

The document says that applications closed in September 2008, so I have asked them when they will be accepting applications for next year. I will post once they reply.

Mary

I talked to Bramuel this morning. He is going to work on getting the hospital staff to prioritize the books they need the most and send me a list with titles. Will post here, or he can do it once he's finished.

Jennifer

Had a reply from them today:

"We hope to launch a new round of applications next year for the Information Fund. Please check the BMA website for information about the launch which usually takes place in the summer with the deadline for applications in September."

So unfortunately this will not be a quick solution to Arrow's book needs, but it is worth keeping an eye on it for the future.

Mary

Hello Jennifer,

Hesperian Foundation also offers free downloadable copies of our health care manuals. They range in topics from Where There Is No Doctor, to children with disabilities and midwifery. They can be accessed on our website at www.hesperian.org .

hope you find this useful,

Hesperian

Here is the list of books the staff has requested for use as reference books. There are not too many, so hopefully the cost and/or shipping costs will not be too expensive.

"1. PHYSICIAN OFFICE BOOK
2. MIDWIFERY BOOK
3. MEDICAL BILLING BASICS BOOK.
4. FACILITIES AND ANCILLARY SERVICES BOOK
5. DENTAL PROCEDURES BOOK
6. MEDICAL PROCEDURES CODING MADE EASY BOOK
7. PRINCIPLES OF CODING BOOK.

These books were written by Faye Brown and Janatha Ashlon-USA."

Bramuel-I do need to clarify with you about the billing/coding books. I haven't looked specifically at these books yet, but if they are written by people here in the USA, there is a high liklihood that they related to the medical billing/insurance process here in the US which I am not sure is something that is used all over the world. I just want to be certain that you know these are definitely applicable to your situation/needs in Kenya as your insurance structure is completely different than ours.

I am also surprised you didn't include a drug reference guide-wouldn't that be beneficial for your pharmacist to have? or does she already have one?

Have you looked over any of the other free resources listed in this task discussion?

Jennifer

Bramuel-

I know last time we talked, you planned on going back to the hospital staff to get clarification on the list of books they submitted to you, specifically in regards to the medical billing/coding books because I believe those apply specifically to the system used in the United States and would not be applicable in Kenya. Can you update on whether or not you've talked to them yet?

Thanks-

Jennifer

Hi Jen
sorry i was so busy on doing putting some things up and i have not called a meeting for that purpose but tomorrow we are going to have our hospital team meeting i and i think i will have good time to ask them.
But of the books need is
1,Drug index book-2008/9 addition
2,midwifes book
3,clinical book
this are some of the common books that you find in any hospital here in kenya.
i will come back with more name tomorrow
best wishes
bram

Bramuel-

Did you get names/publishers and/or authors for the books that you'd like to have on hand at the hospital? We last talked about this before Christmas. Please post here when you have the list.

Thanks-

Jennifer

Bramuel and I met this morning and reviewed all tasks in the village. We revisited whether this task was truly necessary and after further discussion with the doctors at the hospital, it was decided that the reference materials they need are available locally and they do not feel this is necessary, so I will be closing this task today.

Jennifer