The Atlanta - Tbilisi Healthcare Partnership |
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PROBLEM
No modern information: books; journals; information in electronic databases.
Information access habits of clinicians based on former Soviet model:
Little or no journal reading
Not much more textbook reading
Principally an update course of several months every five years or soConsequently healthcare providers not accustomed to seeking out and keeping up with new information.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
NILC opened by President Shevardnadze and US Ambassador William Courtney December, 1996.
The approximate funding was $180,000 from partnership funds. The institution is located in an old hospital of traumatology. In addition to the NILC the following organizations are located in the same building: the World Bank Continuing Education Center; National Health Management Center of the Ministry of Health; the Emergency Medical Services Training Center of the Atlanta-Tbilisi Partnership; and the Partnership offices.The principal purpose of the NILC is to provide health professionals, biomedical institutions and the public with consistent and cost-effective access to the global information resources essential to medical education, the provision of health care and biomedical research.
Services provided include:
Training of librarians, healthcare providers and the public in searching electronic data bases
Searching of electronic data bases for health care providers and students
Document delivery
On site materials: print and electronic
Remote sites: there are now seven in TbilisiDuring the past four years there have been over 6,000 users, 5,000 searches performed, 1,000 full text articles delivered and 1,500 people trained in using the Internet and searching electronic data bases. A still image telemedicine service has been instituted. A distance education auditorium has been furnished and equipped, and three courses with the US held (see Distance Education' in Accomplishments section).
The NILC has teamed with the Partnership for Peace Information Management System (see link above) to establish a 2 megabyte wireless network that links several institutions: military medical school; military hospital; Ministry of Health; Georgian Technical University; Ministry of Defense; other links are planned. This network serves the purpose of providing educational programs and consultation among the institutions. It has been the site of state-of-the-art distance learning programs linking centers in the US with the NILC (see Distance Learning' under Accomplishments for more detailed information). Video streaming has been used in continuing education programs for cardiology and tuberculosis; other programs are planned.A bulletin is issued by the NILC, the Internet Medical Digest, a compilation of abstracts from the medical literature of the world, in both Georgian and English. This is the only source of contemporary medical information produced regularly in Georgia. The bulletin contains eight pages that includes digests of current information: public health; preventive medicine; cardiology; oncology; infectious diseases; epidemiology; clinical pharmacology; obstetrics and gynecology; and others.
A young Georgian physician who worked in the NILC spent two years in the medical informatics program at Vanderbilt University, sponsored by the National Library of Medicine of the US. He is now back at the NILC providing leadership in modern medical informatics.
"These Few Rooms in This Old Building....."
Remarks of H. Kenneth Walker M.D.
at the opening of the
NATIONAL INFORMATION LEARNING CENTER
Tbilisi, Georgia
Tuesday, December 17, 1996
President Shevardnadze, Minister Jorbenadze, Ambassador Courtney, ladies and gentlemen.
These few rooms in this old building began as a dream three years ago. What you see today has been accomplished through the efforts of many Georgians and Americans. It is truly a joint venture.
This is a period of great opportunity for Georgia. The people of Georgia are where we in the United States were in 1770. They are building a new nation, one on the foundations of an old and proud nation.
This is a propitious time to be building a new nation. The world has changed dramatically in a few short years, especially in terms of politics and technology. We are moving into the 21st century full of hope.
Georgia is fortunate to have leaders who have the vision and will necessary to build this new nation. President Shevardnadze is recognized throughout the world as a principal architect of the new order. His vision and wisdom have made the world a better place. We at Emory University are proud that he holds an honorary doctorate from Emory. Tamuna, the granddaughter of the President and Mrs. Nanuli Shevardnadze, worked with us in the Atlanta-Tbilisi Partnership for two years. She is now a law student at Emory.
President Shevardnadze has assembled an outstanding group of individuals to work with him to lead a new Georgia into the 21st century. One of these, Minister of Health Avandtil Jorbenadze, has been our associate, close friend and valued supporter in this project. Avto's wisdom and leadership have been much appreciated by us.
The capital of the new age we are entering is information. Information is to our age what gold, diamonds and oil were to previous generations. Georgia is uniquely suited to take full advantage of this new wealth. Georgians are highly intelligent, intensely motivated, and have the will to become leaders of the world. They have valued education and learning all their history. The creation of Gelati by King David is a testament to their respect and love of education.
This library will supply the raw material, the capital, that Georgians will use to attain a new golden age. Today we stand in a few rooms in an old building. But these few rooms in this old building contain something more precious than all the gold and silver and jewels of Aladdin. They contain the open sesame to the world of information.
These few rooms in this old building will be the center of the following:
Librarians will help anyone who enters to search through the knowledge of the world to find the information they seek.
Georgian people will be trained in the methods of searching the electronic data bases of the world.
The library will be the center of a network of regional libraries, in Batumi, Poti, Zugdidi, Kutaisi, Telavi and eventually all other cities, that will have electronic access through the Internet to the knowledge of the world.
There will be close collaborations with
Tbilisi State Medical University
Tbilisi State University
Georgian Technical University
The National Medical Library
and ultimately many other institutionsIn a collaboration with the National Archives historical material of great value will be put into digital form and made available to the rest of the world. Georgians will give information, as well as get information
The library will serve as an information anchor for hospitals, medical schools and nursing schools.
Students will come to the library to learn, and professionals will come to refresh and renew their information.
Information about public health and preventive medicine will be made available to the public for the improvement of the health of individuals.
These few rooms in this old building contain the most advanced information technology available in the world
These few rooms in this old building are the realization of the dreams and hard work of many people from Georgia and the United States.
These few rooms in this old building are the beginning of tomorrow for Georgia.
PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS
Sheshelidze D, Giuse NB, Miller RA, Walker K, Burns CA, Kirtava Z. 'Training of future information professionals: a general model and an individual perspective.' Proceedings of the 8th International Congress on Medical Librarianship. London, UK, July 2-5, 2000.
Kirtava Z, Burns C. National Information Learning Center opens in Georgia. CommonHealth. 1997, 1:24.
FUTURE PLANS
To develop national data bases in selected subjects helpful in catastrophe planning
To become a Caucasus regional center in medical information, modeled after the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda
FUNDINGAmerican International Health Alliance
US Agency for International Development
Soros Foundation
Ministry of Health of Georgia
Partnership for Peace Information Management System
Emory University Woodruff Health Sciences Center
Cummins South Inc.
MORE INFORMATIONNILC Report 1999-2000 [PDF file]
Zviad Kirtava <zkirtava@nilc.org.ge>
Carol Burns <libcb@emoryu1.cc.emory.edu>
LINKS:
National Information Learning Center [www.nilc.org.ge]
Emory University Health Sciences Library [http://www.emory.edu/WHSCL/]
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences [http://www.usuhs.mil/]
Partnership for Peace Information Management System [http://www.ppc.pims.org/]
National Library of Medicine [http://www.nlm.nih.gov/]
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