Highlighted Resource for September 1, 2025: Integrating Medication Management and Access, Medicare Counseling, and Tailored Referrals
Pharmacy services and medication management are a challenge for many patients, becoming more even more complicated as the population ages.
The NC Medical Journal recently highlighted a community-based pilot program from Durham that supports older adults with medication management, insurance counseling, referrals, and other services.
To learn more, check out the ADL’s September 1 Highlighted Resource: Integrating Medication Management and Access, Medicare Counseling, and Tailored Referrals: Planning to Scale a Community-Based Model
For more on this topic, read the rest of the recent NC Medical Journal issue: From Access to Outcomes: Pharmacists as Catalysts for Better Health
Highlighted Resource for August 15, 2025: Effectiveness of naloxone distribution in community settings
August 31 is recognized each year as Overdose Awareness Day, to share knowledge necessary to end overdose deaths and to remember those who have passed from overdoses.
A recent meta-analysis from BMC Public Health reviews studies on survival after an overdose, examining the effectiveness of community-based naloxone distribution programs.
To learn more, check out the ADL’s August 15 Highlighted Resource: Effectiveness of naloxone distribution in community settings to reduce opioid overdose deaths among people who use drugs: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Highlighted Resource for August 1, 2025: Climate Resilience Toolkit: Extreme Heat
As summers get hotter and heat waves become more common, the number of heat-related illnesses also increases.
The Climate Resilience Toolkit includes resources to support healthcare providers, patients, and administrators through extreme heat events, such as heat action plans, advice for medications in extreme heat, and communication templates.
To learn more, check out the ADL’s August 1 Highlighted Resource: Climate Resilience Toolkit: Extreme Heat
Highlighted Resource for July 15, 2025: Talking with Parents and Caregivers About Vaccines
A new toolkit from NCDHHS offers a variety of resources to support healthcare providers with giving vaccines. The information and tools address the challenges involved in providing vaccines, including conversation guides, communication tools, and population-specific guidance.
To learn more, check out the ADL’s July 15 Highlighted Resource: Talking with Parents and Caregivers About Vaccines
Relaunch of the AHEC Digital Library
The NC AHEC Digital Library (ADL) has been a critical component in the training, retention, and continuing education of North Carolina’s health workforce since its inception in 1999. On June 23, 2025, a new and improved ADL will be launched. Notably, the ADL will introduce a simplified and more efficient search function, called a discovery service, which will work more intuitively, similar to the functionality of the Google search engine.
The current ADL features a vast array of resources, including thousands of individual databases, journals, books, and research guides; currently users must search these resources individually, leading to multiple searches before the user can access the needed information. The new ADL’s discovery service will allow users to search in all these resources at once. This makes searching easier, faster and more efficient; it also increases user satisfaction, as the user can be sure that all the relevant information will be presented in the search results.
In addition, the new ADL will feature a Publication Finder to browse journals and databases individually. Users will also be able to create a personal profile to save their searches and bookmarks in one central place, which adds to efficiency and ease of use. The ADL will be upgraded in other ways as well: It will feature an entirely new interface, with an attractive, contemporary design and intuitive user experience. In addition to all the visually and experientially-apparent upgrades, the new ADL will feature new back-end architecture, for improved speed, security, and reliability.
Signing into the ADL will change as well. While some North Carolina institutions will allow for single-sign-on (SSO) access, most users will access the ADL through the MyAHEC portal. For that reason, users who do not currently have a MyAHEC account should plan on creating onebefore the week of June 22, 2025.
“The newly relaunched NC AHEC Digital Library will be a major improvement in the way our users interact with the thousands of resources we have in our collection,” said Sarah Kimmel, MLIS, the Director of Library Services for NC AHEC. “The new ADL will make it easier to search everything in our universe, and to keep all their searches together in the user’s profile, making the ADL an entirely new experience and learning tool.”