Volume 3 - Issue 4
In This Issue: |
 CHIC CHATMedlinePlus Matters Name Change: MEDLINEplus soon to be MedlinePlus On February 18, the National Library of Medicine will introduce some changes to MedlinePlus. In the new design, MedlinePlus appears in upper/lower case lettering, replacing "MEDLINEplus" throughout the site. This capitalization format better reflects common use of the site name. Also, you can link to the home pages of the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health from the text in the banner on every MedlinePlus page. Most notable will be the relocation of the "Home" tab on each secondary page beside the other navigational tabs. Also, the "printer-friendly version" and "e-mail to friend" icons are colored more brightly to draw users attention to these handy features. MedlinePlus en español also reflects these improvements and clarifies some text links. "Sobre" is now "Sobre MedlinePlus." "Mapa de Contenido" is now "Índice." The toggles between English and Spanish are more prominently located as tabs on the right hand side of the banner on each page. Please note the new taglines appearing on each page, "Trusted Health Information for You" in English and "Información de Salud para Usted" in Spanish. We know these changes will affect your promotional and educational materials and apologize for the inconvenience. We're making these changes based on your feedback and usability studies to continue improving MedlinePlus. Visit http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/comingsoon.html for a preview of the new look. -Naomi Miller MedlinePlus Usage Statistics for 2003 Are you wondering how many unique visitor or page views MedlinePlus had lately? Quarterly statistics for MedlinePlus may be found at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/usestatistics.html. This page is linked from the MedlinePlus "About Us" page. MedlinePlus Milestone for December MedlinePlus received an 86, the highest score for a federal agency e-government web site, on the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). MedlinePlus en español received a score of 83. (Learn more about the ACSI.)  Profile: UCONN Healthnet Consumer Health Library/Program Profile This article is the first in a series of profiles of consumer health libraries and programs throughout the New England region. The goal of the profile is to raise awareness about the best practices of consumer health libraries throughout the National Network of Libraries of Medicine/ New England Region. Ultimately, these profiles will be compiled into a publication for the NNLM/NER website about consumer health libraries and programs in New England.  Mission The purpose of Healthnet is to help make consumer health information available to Connecticut's residents through their local public libraries and to help consumers who contact the program directly to get answers to their medical questions Staffing/Volunteers Alberta L. Richetelle, Program Director Web Site http://library.uchc.edu/departm/hnet/Administrative Structure As Program Director for Healthnet, Alberta Richetelle reports to the Library Director, Ralph D. Arcari, PhD. Funding/Budget The Healthnet program is funded as a line item in the library budget. Healthnet is not funded by grants. Profile of User Population Healthnet is a librarian to librarian outreach program. Programs and services are designed to assist in the development of local public libraries as primary access points for consumer health information. Consumers may also call Healthnet directly to get answers to their medical questions. Healthnet librarians also conduct workshops for consumers. Programs & Services Healthnet programs and services include:
Frequently Requested Topics Healthnet's most frequently requested topics include: information on diseases and medical conditions, and their treatments; side effects of medications; credentials of doctors; the "best" specialists who treat certain diseases or medical conditions; best clinics that specialize in a particular disease or condition; surgical procedures, including possible complications and recovery time; and alternative therapies. The majority of questions received concern adults, although Healthnet does receive questions pertaining to children. Collection/Databases Healthnet is a librarian to librarian service. With the Healthnet office located on the ground floor of the Lyman Maynard Stowe Library of the University of Connecticut Health Center, the Healthnet librarians may utilize the library's collection to answer health questions from public librarians. Outreach Healthnet offers a "Healthy Websites" program to public libraries. This program teaches consumers how to find quality health information on the Internet. The workshop may be one to two hours and is held during the day or evening. Healthnet will designs a flyer and writes a press release for use by the library hosting the program. This past November, Healthnet sponsored a program for librarians on Alternative Medicine at the Farmington Public Library. The program featured Dr. Karen Prestwood discussing the classification of Alternative Therapies by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and also the integration of alternative therapies into her practice. There was also a demonstration of Qi Gong, a healing art combining movement and meditation. A list of recommended books and websites on alternative medicine was developed for the program and is available on Healthnet's website at http://library.uchc.edu/departm/hnet. In April of 2002, Healthnet sponsored a very successful conference in Sturbridge, MA entitled, "Consumer Health Information: Networking and Technology". This conference was attended by 89 librarians, public health professionals and clinicians. Marketing "Healthnet News", a newsletter for public librarians and others interested in consumer health information services, is available on the UCONN Healthnet website. This informative newsletter includes updates on programs by Healthnet, recommended reading for consumer health, and reviews of consumer health websites. Also included in the newletter are reviews of new consumer health books recommended for purchase by public libraries and health sciences libraries with consumer health collections. Librarians may subscribe free via email notification of the publication of the current issue on the Healthnet website or they may receive a print copy in the mail for a $10.00 yearly subscription fee. Challenges/Obstacles for the Library A challenge for Healthnet deals with providing training for all public library staff who work on the reference desk. Many public libraries use part-time reference librarians or support staff for this function and they may only spend a few hours a week on the reference desk. They may not have the opportunity to answer many health questions. When they're trained they don't have the opportunity to use what they've learned in a timely way. Consequently, it's difficult for them to maintain a skill level adequate to answer health or medical questions when they come up. Another challenge is meeting the information needs of individuals who expect to find information specific to their unique situation. Many times this is not possible because of the nature of the question. A person may want case studies of individuals of the same age who have the disease or condition. Oftentimes these case studies may not exist. Also, individuals are usually unaware of the limitations of online and print information. Much of this information may be too technical for the average person to understand or too basic to answer their specific question. Future Plans Future plans include reaching more people at health fairs and through organizations to tell them about the research services Healthnet provides for consumers who need medical information. Healthnet also plans to provide more training programs for librarians on different topics, similar to the program offered on alternative medicine. Contact Information Healthnet: Connecticut Consumer Health Information Network Telephone: (860) 679-4055 Sources Healthnet Website Interview with Alberta Richetelle & Judith Kronick, January 31, 2004 Michelle Eberle, Consumer Health Information Coordinator, NN/LM/NER In Review: AMA Foundation's The American Medical Association created a wonderful health literacy resource for physician education. The resource includes a manual, a 20 minute instructional video, buttons to wear, and a table top display for the:
The 20 minute instructional video is suitable for use at CME and other educational programs for clinicians. The manual on health literacy by Barry Weiss is full of tips and strategies to enhance your patient's health literacy. Barry Weiss points out that the three main strategies to improve your patient's health literacy are to make your practice patient-friendly, to improve interpersonal communication with patients, and to create and use patient-friendly written materials. In my former position as a hospital librarian, I served on the Patient Education Lead Team for my hospital. As a committee, we were constantly trying to find educational tools for staff that would educate clinicians about the complexity of health literacy and how to improve communication between care providers and patients. This kit provides a great opportunity for busy clinicians to learn new skills to interact more effectively with patients of different literacy levels. Ultimately, when patient education is improved; patient care is improved. The AMA Foundation will provide free health literacy toolkits to AMA Alliance chapters and state, county and specialty medical societies that make a formal commitment to launch health literacy educational programs of their own. If you do not meet this criteria, kits may be ordered at a cost of $35 each from the AMA Foundation. To borrow the kit from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine/ New England Region, please contact Michelle Eberle at michelle.eberle@umassmed.edu or 508-856-2435 to borrow the kit. Michelle Eberle |
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NLM | NN/LM | NER Comments to: Rebecca.Chlapowski@umassmed.edu |
University of Massachusetts Medical School 222 Maple Avenue Shrewsbury, MA 01545 Phone: 800-338-7657 508-856-5979 Fax: 508-856-5977 |