pm2mail - pubmed to email k brauchli 1, k chanda 2, f asah 3, f oyabola 4 1 university of basel,...

pm2mail - Pubmed to Email

K Brauchli1, K Chanda2, F Asah3, F Oyabola4

1 University of Basel, Switzerland2 University of Lusaka, Zambia

3 University of Natal, South Africa4 Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta, Nigeria

Contact: kurt.brauchli@unibas.ch

The problem I

Access to health information is becoming more and more difficult in developing countries. Example Zambia: once 250 journals in medical library, now 20. Example Cameroon: currently 0 subscribed journals !!!

Current and relevant health information is more and more published in electronic form and online.

Internet access in many developing countries is slow, expensive and there are few access points.

The problem II

On-line Health Information is scattered over many sites.Example: search in Medline, fulltext articels on publishers websites.

Online access to resources provided - e.g. WHO HINARI - often not possible due to technical restrictions.

Available Technology

Most commonly available and usable technology is plain email.

often faster than on-line access.often used in daily work.simple.

Even implementable in remote areas:e.g. through VHF radio (EHAS in Peru, no power and no phone line) or satellite-email

Possible Solution ?

Use existing technology.

Provide access to current literature by email.

provide single access point to literature search AND full text retrieval.

--> Pubmed-to-Email

pm2mail

Software: http://www.freesoftware.fsf.org/pm2mail(open source, released under GPL)

Test-server (WADN): http://ipath.krot.org/pm2mail

Test email address: ipath-ref@krot.org

Access by Email

to: ipath-ref@krot.org

Access by Email

to: ipath-ref@krot.org

Subject: PM

Access by Email

to: ipath-ref@krot.org

Subject: PM

Query: Search TermMax: n

Result

Fulltext Access

Fulltext Access

Fulltext Access

Based on links to publisher sites provided through NLM linkout.

journal specific rules for finding fulltext on link provided by linkout. (based on set of regex)

basic retrieval as html stripped of images(small file size)

optional retrieval as pdf.(with maximum file size check)

Fulltext Access

The Website

Weekly Alerts

Further Plans for Website

Personalised web page with list of current abstracts on selected topics.

Tutorial for searching Pubmed by email. (Available through email)

“query constructor using MeSH” (ev. with off-line version)

Queries based on speciality of journal.

How to Set up pm2mail

Set up pm2mail as single access point for the whole world. E.g. HINARI or Publishers

How to Set up pm2mail

Set up pm2mail as single access point for the whole world. E.g. HINARI or Publishers

--> YET ANOTHER ACCESS POINT !!!

How to Set up pm2mail

Release pm2mail as tool to set up regional or specialty specific access point.

Tools to create local access pointsto Health Information

Possibility to adapt to regional/specialty specific needs.

Faster access to (local) on-line services.

easier for admins to interact with and help their users.

Creation of regional usergroups

Tools to create local access pointsto Health Information

Examples:

West African Doctors Network (WADN). Provides pm2mail server as part of their information services: http://www.wadn.org

Healthnet Nepal wants to offer pm2mail as part of their integral access to health information for health professionals in Nepal:http://healthnet.org.np/pm2mail

University of Zambia. Integrating pm2mail into the medical library's health information services (also off-line access for students).

current state

Start: July 2002

first released: August 2002

usage: >1200 queries

fulltext: BMJ & BMC only

next steps

Increase the number of fulltext journals availble(e.g. through WHO HINARI)

Improve documentation and user guides

Improve support for users unfamiliar with PubMed.

Pm2mail

Credits: Paul Fontelo, Francis George, Kirill Miazine, Gideon Chonia, Nabin Limbu

Software: http://www.freesoftware.fsf.org/pm2mail(open source - GPL)

Test-server (WADN): http://ipath.krot.org/pm2mail

Test email address: ipath-ref@krot.org

Contact: kurt.brauchli@unibas.ch