------- Forwarded message follows -------
    For information.
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: [log in to unmask] 
    To: Isabel Members 
    Sent: Sunday, June 16, 2002 8:30 PM
    Subject: ISABEL Medical Charity Launch - 17th June

    Dear ISABEL User
     
    Since the last update, the site (www.isabel.org.uk) has undergone
    many changes and we are pleased to announce that ISABEL is being
    launched at a press conference on Monday 17th June at the Royal
    College of Physicians in London.  Channel 4 News have also offered
    us a 10 minute slot which successfully went out tonight.  
     
    The latest updates to the site include:-
     
    Differential Diagnostic Tool
     
    There are four textbooks which currently provide the data for the
    tool to operate, these are:-
    * Nelson's Textbook of Pediatrics - 16th Edition 
    * Forfar and Arneil's Textbook of Pediatrics - 5th Edition 
    * Rennie and Roberton - Textbook of Neonatology - 3rd Edition 
    * Jones and Dargan - Pocket book of Toxicology.
    Our display text for reference purposes on the site is now Nelson's
    Textbook of Pediatrics -16th edition as Elsevier Science has allowed
    the Charity to take out a licensing agreement for two years and use
    Nelson's as display text.
     
    We have another 5 textbooks which are currently being tested on our
    repetitive testing system to see how they impact on the Differential
    Diagnostic Tool.  These include specialist textbooks concentrating
    on individual fields of paediatric medicine like Haematology and
    also general textbooks, if these perform well in our testing system
    then these will also be uploaded to enable the tool to function even
    more efficiently. 
     
    Stage 1 and 2 validation stages have now been completed and the
    results have been written up for a key medical journal.  A Simulated
    Field Trial has also just been completed which measures how the
    system impacts on medical users behaviour.  The results of this
    trial are in the final stages of analysis at the moment.  In
    September we hope to start our Stage 3 validation trial which will
    involve the system being used everyday in key areas of 30 different
    hospitals where children are seen.  If you would like your hospital
    to participate in this major validation trial, please contact our
    trial coordinator by email on: [log in to unmask]
     
    Guidelines
     
    There are now over 40 guidelines in algorithmic format on the site
    which can be accessed.  The Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne
    has allowed us to reproduced their clinical guidelines for certain
    paediatric conditions.  They have been adapted slightly by us to fit
    into our format of how we display them.  These guidelines are all
    available to be printed off as required.  The guidelines are also
    crosslinked to diagnoses produced by the tool.  So when you click on
    the diagnosis in the tools output to read the Nelson's reference
    text, you also have the opportunity of viewing the image, guideline
    or experience associated with that diagnosis.
     
    The Image Library
     
    We now have about 200 images on the site which are viewable from the
    image library.  There are another 200 currently being annotated by
    contributors and so we hope to have all these on the site by the
    time we launch.  These images are also crosslinked to diagnoses
    produced by the tool.
     
    Experiences
     
    This section has recently been redesigned and allows users to
    disseminate their clinical lessons learned with other health care
    practitioners.  Please post your own clinical experiences on the
    site in this section for the benefit of others.  You can enter the
    information anonymously if you so wish.  
     
    About ISABEL
     
    Over the past few months, articles have been published in the
    medical press, these include the General Medical Council News, the
    Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health Newsletter and also
    Practice Nursing.  ISABEL has also been presented at key medical
    conferences including the RCPCH Conference in York.  These articles
    can all be viewed in the About ISABEL section of the site.  These
    have raised the profile of the ISABEL site and we now have over 3000
    registered users.  
     
    As always, your feedback is much appreciated.  If you have any
    guidelines or images that you would like to share with the wider
    paediatric medical community then please contact me.
     
    If, for any reason, you wish to unsubscribe from the ISABEL mailing
    list, please log-in to www.isabel.org.uk, click on "profile" on the
    menu bar and then uncheck the "receives email" box. Please rest
    assured that your e-mail address is not passed on to any third
    parties.
     
    Mandy Tomlinson
    Research Assistant
    The Isabel Medical Charity
    020 7476 6288

    Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
NB. Best work email for me [log in to unmask]
Anne Weist
Co-ordinating Librarian
NE London Workforce Development Confederation
Aneurin Bevan House
81-91 Commercial Road
London E1 1RD

work number 020 7655 6714 / 6627