From Bangor, Maine to Greenwich, Connecticut, as CHIC or Consumer Health Information Coordinator I have traveled all throughout New England. As the former medical librarian at the Somerville Hospital of the Cambridge Health Alliance, I was not accustomed to daily commutes of up to four hours. If you asked me two and a half years ago, "What is the easiest route to Orono, Maine?" Or, "How do you get to Whately, Massachusetts?" These are questions I could not answer. Now of course, it is not uncommon for me to commute to Concord, New Hampshire or Meriden, CT in a day for a class.

Since the fall of 2003, I have served as the liaison to Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont medical libraries. I have enjoyed getting to know the cultures of HSLIC and HSNH-VT. Of course, it was interesting to see how each organization has its own unique composition of committees and meeting style. The HSNH-VT meetings took me to the White River Junction and the HSLIC meetings to Bangor, Orono, and Farmington.

In my role as Consumer Health Information Coordinator, one of the main initiatives of the past five years has been outreach to public libraries. My approach to reach public librarians from the widest geographic area has been to present classes at the regional and state library systems. Through the class offerings, the NN/LM-NER was able to cultivate relationships with administrators and education coordinators at the regional and state library systems. These public library leaders attended our 2005 Regional Advisory Board. The medical librarians and public librarians on the Regional Advisory Board shared stories and remarked on commonalities among their current experiences in the library field.

A new initiative for the next five years is outreach to CBO's. You may ask, "What is a CBO?" CBO stands for community based organization. Funding will also be available for CBO outreach. The NN/LM-NER hopes to reach senior centers, home health care agencies and visiting nurse associations to educate about NLM resources in the next contract. I am interested to hear how libraries are collaborating with CBOs. If you have a CBO story, please share it with me by e-mailing me at michelle.eberle@umassmed.edu.

Michelle.Eberle@umassmed.edu, Consumer Health Information Coordinator

NIH MedlinePlus Magazine

Washington, D.C - May 8, 2006) - Stating that consumers can now have access to "information that comes directly from the world's leading medical and health research organization," the Honorable Paul Rogers, former member of Congress and Chairman of The Friends of the National Library of Medicine, today announced the launch of NIH MedlinePlus Magazine. This quarterly publication will be distributed free of charge to patients and their families in the waiting rooms of selected practicing physicians across the nation.

"The American people have made a long-term investment in the crucial medical research being carried on by NIH," said NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D. "NIH MedlinePlus magazine is an important way to make this research and healthcare information even more accessible and useful to health professionals and patients alike. This magazine will provide the public with a gold standard of reliable, up-to-date health information," he continued, "in a very user-friendly format that can act as a springboard to the Web site: MedlinePlus.gov."

"NIH MedlinePlus Magazine, like the Web site, is completely free and has no advertising," commented Donald A.B. Lindberg, MD, Director of the National Library of Medicine.

"The magazine sorts through the clutter of competing health claims that are out there to provide reliable information that can be used by the public.The magazine is based on the NIH Web resource - http://medlineplus.gov - with its many links to consumer-friendly information about diseases and health conditions, prescription and over-the-counter drugs and supplements, 27,000 clinical trials, and much more," said Lindberg.

Each issue of NIH MedlinePlus Magazine will link readers with celebrities and other individuals who share their own health-related experiences and discuss how these issues may affect others. The premiere issue features an in-depth MedlinePlus interview with athlete/Tour de France bicycle race winner Lance Armstrong, who talks about his own experience with life-threatening cancer.

NIH MedlinePlus Magazine is organized to help readers learn more about specific health conditions and offer the latest advice on prevention, diagnosis, treatment and research findings. Regular features will include the latest information on how to stay healthy for a lifetime and will also profile some of the most fascinating people - from laboratory scientists and public figures to patients who are making a difference in the search for medical advances.

NN/LM network members will receive complimentary copies of each issue of NIH MedlinePlus Magazine. A pdf version of the magazine is also available at: .
Press release from the Friends of the National Library of Medicine dated May 8, 2006

Director's comments Podcast

Podcasts seem to be more and more popular. Director of the National Library of Medicine, Donald Lindberg has jumped on this bandwagon. His "Director's comments" podcast is available both on the MedlinePlus homepage and by subscription to iTunes. Of course the podcast is free. A text version of the transcript is also available.

MedlinePlus adds navigational images on health topics pages

The health topics pages have been enhanced to include navigational images of the body which link to corresponding health topic pages. The new health topics page is available at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/healthtopics.html.

The new health topics page groups topics by body location/ systems, disorders, diagnosis and therapy, demographic groups, and health and wellness. Of course, there is still an alphabetical search and the search box. By clicking on a specific body part in the body location/ systems, a related list of health topics will appear.

Released May 2, 2006, the latest Pew Internet & American Life Project report discusses the use of the internet for finding health information. According to the report, consumers are searching the internet with increasing rates for shopping, pursuing hobbies and job related activities. The report charts attitudes about how much the Internet has improved for these purposes versus health information seeking between 2001 and 2005.

The satisfaction level of consumers, particularly "e-caregivers", with information found on the internet when faced with a critical decision about a major illness or health condition is a main finding in this report. The report cites that,

• 36% of e-caregivers said the internet helped them find advice or support from other people.
• 34% of e-caregivers said the internet helped them find professional or expert services.
• 26% of e-caregivers said the internet helped them find information or compare options.

Just 6% of e-caregivers reported getting from the internet either bad information or advice that made their experience more difficult. By comparison, 91% of e-caregivers said that was not a problem for them."

The abstract of the report cites that "Fully 58% of those who found the internet to be crucial or important during a loved one's recent health crisis say the single most important source of information was something they found online."

The report also lists key sources that consumers consult. This list provides librarians with insight into what health topics are vital to consumers. This list includes:

• Health facilities' websites
• Doctors/physicians
• Medical advice and information online
• WebMD.com
• [Finding out] exactly what my condition was
• My medical background and self-knowledge
• Journals through the National Institutes of Health
• Head of a cancer support group
• Went online to get information about medications that could not be mixed together
• [Finding out] about medical condition treatment options
• Information I received from different breast cancer sites; information the women had posted about their experiences
• Support group; families [dealing with] a particular disease
• Medweb to find out what medicines were, what the side effects were, and the dosage that was sufficient
• Researching the surgical process that was going to be taken; heart bypass and valve replacement
• Found out [how to] live with disease
• Arthritis doctors and research on arthritis
• American Cancer Society
• Looking for elderly care options
• Lymphoma Society
• Hospice."

The conclusion of the report summarizes that the range of topics show the significance of the internet as an information and decision making tool for consumers for health care matters. The report shows that while health searching is not constant for consumers, there is growth in the population that finds it a critical resource.

Check out the full report at:http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/183/report_display.asp.

Source:

Madden, Mary and Fox, Susannah. (May 2, 2006) Pew Internet & American Life Project Report, "Finding Answers Online in Sickness and in Health", http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/183/report_display.asp, Retrieved May 31, 2006.

On May 10, 2006, Google issued a press release, "New Google Search Technologies Make Information Easier to Discover, Organize and Share". http://www.google.com/press/pressrel/new_tech.html

Of particular note is Google Co-op Beta, which will include Health topics. The National Library of Medicine (NLM) is one of the contributors to the Health topics. Other contributors include the CDC, HON, Harvard Medical School, Mayo Clinic, the University of California San Francisco, and Kaiser Permanente.

Each search may be limited to "health labels" including condition information, drug information, for doctors and information type. The results come from the above listed authoritative sources many of which are from MedlinePlus.

For more information on Google Co-op, http://www.google.com/coop.

Funded by the FIMDM, Foundations for Informed Medical Decision Making, Health News in Review reports the evidence behind the latest health news stories. Health News in Review evaluates health news stories based on the ABC's of health journalism or:

• Accuracy
• Balance
• Completeness

Health news stories are evaluated on a 10 step standardized criteria rating system. The 10 criteria include:

• Novelty of treatment
• Availability of treatment
• Treatment options
• Disease Mongering
• Quality of Evidence
• Quantifying treatment benefits
• Treatment harms
• Treatment costs
• Sources of information
• Relies on press release

  Each of these steps is rated satisfactory, unsatisfactory or not applicable with an explanation why and a review of the news headline.

  Check out the Health News in Review site at: http://www.healthnewsreview.org/.
  

  By Michelle Eberle, Consumer Health Information Coordinator