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| IMHA workshop Brest 2/3 juillet 2004 | ||
In the
IMHA workshop that was held in Barcelona, 28-29th November, 2003
about “Continuing education”
we detect the need to have data bases related to maritime health. That’s why
the IMHA board approved a workshop about “collection and validation of data
in maritime medicine” to be held in Brest, July, 2nd- 3rd,
2004. We have had 16 participants of several countries (Spain, Sweden, Denmark,
Norway, France, Latvia, Philippines, Germany and Vietnam). The program was
organised taking into account to main objectives. The first objective was to
decide about the type of database that we wanted to work in and the second was
to implement the European project about the education in maritime medicine.
Let’s explain how the program was developed. During the first morning, two
presentations about supports for databases were exposed.
Demonstration
of a bibliographic data base program (RefWorks).
Mrs
Sophie Panagi demonstrated RefWorks which is the only web-based literature
database program on the market: This means that it is accessible from any
computer connected
to the
Internet. It does not need installation of software on the hard disk. except
from a small plug-in for Word which could easily be downloaded. You only need
a user-id and a password to log in. Bibliographic data, including abstract and
index terms, from other data bases e.g. Medline (PubMed), EndNote or Reference
Manager could be exported and imported into RefWorks. Data could also be
entered manually as well as commentaries and key words for indexation and
links to e.g. the original article, if it is available for free on the
internet. Otherwise you have to order the original report from a library or
from the author: RefWorks is primarily a bibliographic data base and not so
well suited for cataloging of e.g. members, institutions or lectures. The cost
is 70€ /year for the individual. If IMHA signs a contract for its members
the individual costs will be lower.
The
second exposition was about a previous experience from the Spanish Society of
Maritime Medicine and its bibliographic database, BiblioMedMar, which could be
consulted by internet in their webpage and which their own members were the
providers of the information. So they had a page for consultation and another
one for the inputs with several fields ( title, authors, type of publication,
if it was reviewed,etc.).
In
relation to the educational materials the URV of Tarragona has a project , MED-C@t,
to collect standardized resources and classify them ( conferences, courses,
information about institutions, digital materials, presentations, etc.). This
material has a process of validation. They use an internet based system ( IMS
Content Packaging Information Model).
In the
afternoon, Dr Anthony Low from Hamburg (Germany) presented the extensive
collection of books, reports and articles in the field of maritime medicine
which has been collected in the HPHC library in Hamburg through many years.
Copies of his presentation, including the thesaurus used, were at disposal of
the participants of the workshop. The bibliographic data could be available on
the internet in the future. Everybody
is welcome to use the library after contact with Dr Low or one of the
librarians e.g. Mrs Jana Fischer (phone +49-(0)40-428894-377/79, e-mail : jana.fischer@bwg.hamburg.de
).
The
sources, validation, limits and supports of data were discussed among the
workshop participants. A preliminary list of sources of data in the field of
maritime medicine had been prepared by Ralph Nilsson and will be supplemented
as an appendix and discussed in the IMHA website. The first thing is to know
what do we need (users), what do we want (type of information), in what
context (education, research, etc.). There was a lively discussion about if
the database shoud be validated or just catalogated. Olaf Jensen pointed out
that the validation of data is the art of limitation, one example of this is
to ask if the data would be valid for compensational purposer. He also pointed
out that articles indexed in Medline (PubMed) are peer rewieved and free (at
least the abstracts). However there are also a vast amount of “grey”
litterature and also usefull data on e.g. fatal injuries which are not
available in Medline, from different countries. Such data could be collected
prospectively in a first phase and then retrospective data could be added
depending on the resources available.
Don
Eliseo pointed out that the data could be validated by the individual user
depending on the purpose. Emmie Knudtzon Snincak said that it would be of
value if lists of educations and tutorials could be included, perhaps also
data from different countries on occupational exposures and
accidents/injuries. Il was suggested that everyone could send information on
e.g. articles and reports they find valuable to the database. Ralph Nilsson
suggested that the homepage of IMHA could contain links to different sources
of information and educations related to maritime health and possibly
complemented by a literature database and other useful information (list of
institutions, etc.). Olaf Jensen promised to look on the internet if there
were any database programs which could be used for free. He also demonstrated
“supercourse”, a collection of lectures and tutorials which could be
downloaded for free from the internet.
On Saturday, 3rd July, the workshop discussions were summarized by
Luisa Canals. She also suggested how IMHA could proceed in this matter, as
responsible for the IMHA website. She will work to elaboreate it and
supplement it with appropriate links. There could also be a discussion place
and mailing lists for different topics. If a search engine is to be included
extra funding have to be find.
European Project.
Luisa
Canals presented the background to the European project which was discuss in
the last workshop in Barcelona in November 2003. An application with six
collaborating countries in Europe was sent to the Socrates/Erasmus programme
in April 2004. The European Commission will decide if it is going to be funded
in October 2004. The programme will run for 18 months from november 2004.
Further information about the project could be found in the IMHA Newsletter or
website.
Mr
Jean-Marie Filloque, UBO, presented the process towards certification, using
the 3 weeks diploma course in Maritime Medicine, as an example. To be
certified, either on a national or a European level, several steps and
criteria should be furfilled. A copy of his Powerpoint presentation was made
available. In the following discussion it was emphasized that Maritime Health
is not only a European matter, since seafaring is international with about 80%
of the workforce from South East Asia. However, more funding is available in
Europe and thererfore it could be feasible to start with a European project,
which also will contain international aspects and could be expanded with
additional modules to cover the needs in other countries.
Emmie
Knudtzon Snincak pointed out that maritime health is not solely a medical
problem and that it is important for IMHA to work closely with other
international organisations such as IMO and ILO and to push for international
conventions in this field. Luisa Canals answered that IMHA already does this
and has e.g. participated on a joint WHO/ILO meeting where it was stated that
doctors examining seafarers should be experienced on maritime medicine or be
specialized in maritime occupational health so we need previous medical
training in maritime medicine.
Dr
Costigliola, EMA, updated us about the funding from the European Commission
and about how the application is processed. He pointed out that it could be
worthwile to send applications both for educational projects and research, if
we have good and clear ideas about projects, and if they are new, innovative
and have a European dimension.
As a
example he mentionned that a project about how to reduce the risks in the
maritime sector could be of value.
Dr M. Luisa CANALS
Dr Dominique JEGADEN
Dr Ralph NILSSON