From The Library Director:

The UAMS Library has recently subscribed to two new Ovid-based tools designed especially for clinicians.

The first, Clineguide, is a point-of-care clinical decision support system that delivers diagnostic, management, and treatment guidance. Clineguide offers information specific to the patient and to the disease. Driven by the clinician's responses, an interactive question-and-answer process determines the treatment recommendations. At this point information on more than 360 diseases or syndromes are represented in Clineguide. Information on new diseases is added regularly; by July 2002 there will be 600 diseases represented. All content contains references to the primary literature so that a clinician can confirm that the best evidence-based recommendations are presented. In addition, Clineguide offers direct access to Medline through the Ovid search interface and to the full-text journals the Library subscribes to through Ovid.

Clineguide provides two pathways to information:

• The Disease option answers questions regarding specific conditions.
• The Drug option supports a clinician's choice of drug for treatment. All USDA-approved drugs are represented, as well as many not yet approved but intensely researched. All of this information can be retrieved quickly at the point of need.

The second tool, MedWeaver, integrates differential diagnosis tools with information resources to answer clinical questions. MedWeaver uses the DXplain decision support system, which incorporates information on more than 2,000 diseases, 4,500 clinical findings, and 65,000 interrelationships. Like Clineguide, it provides direct access to Medline and full-text journals through Ovid and even assists in the search formulation. A clinician can follow a differential diagnosis path to information or look up a specific disease. Both approaches bring up relevant information very quickly.

Both tools are available to all UAMS faculty, students, and staff. They can be accessed through the Ovid section of the Library's we site (www.library.uams.edu). We encourage everyone to look at these tools and explore their powerful features.

Mary L. Ryan
Library Director

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The UAMS Library's Annual
Used Book Sale

Thursday, March 28
9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Lobby of ED II

Great bargains
at $1.00 a book!