HSTAT (Health Services/Technology Assessment Text)
The HSTAT (Health Services/Technology Assessment Text) electronic resource
includes the full-text of clinical practice guidelines, quick-reference guides
for clinicians, and consumer brochures developed under the auspices of the
Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR), National Institutes of
Health (NIH) consensus development conference and technology assessment
reports, and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force
Guide to Clinical Preventive Services.
AHCPR's technology assessment reports also will be available later in 1994.
Developed by the National Library of Medicine's (NLM) Information Technology
Branch of the Lister Hill Center, HSTAT is the latest component of the expanded
Health Services Research Information Program coordinated by NLM's National
Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology
(NICHSR); see NICHSR Fact Sheet, March 1994. NICHSR works closely with AHCPR
to improve the organization and dissemination of the results of health services
research, including practice guidelines and technology assessments.
Accessing HSTAT
NLM provides free, electronic access to HSTAT through a number of different
methods. To accommodate users with a range of computing and communications
environments, users can access HSTAT using direct dial or the Internet.
Internet users can reach HSTAT through telnet and ftp (file transfer protocol),
or through software clients such as Gopher (for Gopher servers) and Mosaic
(for World Wide Web servers).
Full-Text Retrieval System
The NLM Full-Text Retrieval System (FTRS) provides a menu-driven interface to
HSTAT, a table of contents for each document from which a particular section
can be selected, and the ability to search by words or phrases. To access
HSTAT via NLM's FTRS, users of Grateful Med [reg.]
(6.0 or higher) may obtain a script that will load a Grateful Med menu
option for HSTAT. See the Grateful Med Bulletin Board or contact NICHSR
for instructions or use the Internet to ftp the script from the nlmpubs/
hstat/gmhstat directory on nlmpubs.nlm.nih.gov. This script will accommodate
modem access only. If you use a Novell communication server, if you use the
Internet and do not have a modem locally attached to your computer, or if you
are using Grateful Med for the Macintosh, you should use the other options for
accessing HSTAT outlined below. (Access to HSTAT will be built into
Grateful Med beginning in 1995.)
Users can also search HSTAT via the FTRS by telneting to text.nlm.nih.gov or by
dialing 1-800-952-4426 and logging in as hstat or HSTAT. FTRS users need the
ability to emulate a VT100 or VT102 terminal when telneting or dialing into the
system.
Gopher
Internet users may access HSTAT through the NLM Gopher which uses the Gopher
server protocol developed at the University of Minnesota. The NLM Gopher is
available from any Gopher client at the address gopher.nlm.nih.gov. Once
connected to the NLM Gopher, select HSTAT from the menu. The Gopher menu makes
it simple for users to browse HSTAT documents, search them by text word, and
transfer them over the Internet for local use.
FTP
NLM distributes many publications and software programs via anonymous ftp.
Users can ftp HSTAT documents from the nlmpubs/hstat directory on
nlmpubs.nlm.nih.gov. The NLM publications server provides most documents in
both plain text and PostScript formats. These two formats allow users to
select either plain text files that contain all the textual information, or a
PostScript file that allows printing the publication in its original format.
Many of the clinical practice guidelines have graphics files (.gif) that must
be transferred in binary mode.
Mosaic
NLM also provides clinical guidelines and technology assessments through its
World Wide Web servers. Users must have a Web client such as Mosaic that is
available for UNIX, Macintosh, and PC Windows platforms. Mosaic and other Web
clients provide access to hypertext documents composed of text, images, and
sound. Through Mosaic, it is possible to view the text, graphics, and tables
of clinical guidelines in a form which is very similar to the printed copy.
Users must specify the URL http://www.nlm.nih.gov/. Select NLM Online
Information Services, and then select HSTAT. Mosaic is available at no charge
from NCSA (National Center for Supercomputing Applications) through anonymous
ftp to ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu.
The current forms of accessing HSTAT are an initial step toward more
user-friendly, integrated access to the full-text of practice guidelines in the
context of a MEDLINE [reg.] search or a computer-based
patient record system. Individuals affiliated with a health sciences library
may wish to consult their librarians for advice and assistance in making use of
this new information source.
For additional information, contact:
National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology (NICHSR)
National Library of Medicine
8600 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, MD 20894
1-800-272-4787 (Select 1,6,3,2) (Voice)
(301)496-0176 (Voice)
(301)402-3193 (FAX)
nichsr@nlm.nih.gov (Internet)
NLM HyperDOC / HSTAT FactSheet / April 1994