West Virginia Outreach II Promotes Wiser, Healthier West Virginians
by Linda Celet Bane, Assistant College Librarian, Mary F. Shipper Library/LRC, Potomac State College, Keyser, WV
Americans, especially those in rural areas without easy access to medical libraries, are turning to the Internet for health information. Many, however, fear that they won’t be able to find reliable health information. The Western Maryland Health Education Center (WMAHEC) and its partners designed West Virginia Outreach II (subcontract #N01-LM-6-3502) to train high school and college students, teachers, librarians, and parish nurses in Northern and Central West Virginia to use the National Library of Medicine’s free databases to find the high quality and reliable health information they need to make sound health care choices.
West Virginia Outreach II was the second project sponsored by the National Network/Libraries of Medicine, Southeastern/Atlantic Region. It continued the first project and expanded the audience and geographic area covered by West Virginia Outreach I. In order to reach a broader range of West Virginians, WMAHEC partnered with the Health Sciences and Technology Academy (HSTA) of West Virginia University, the Nurse Program of the West Virginia University School of Nursing, the West Virginia Library Commission (WVLC), the Northern West Virginia Rural Health Education Center (NWVRHEC), the Northern West Virginia Rural Health Education Partnerships (NWVRHEP), and the West Virginia University Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP).
Susan Stewart, WMAHEC’s Executive Director, directed the project. D. Michele Beaulieu, WMAHEC’s Program Coordinator, coordinated the training and traveled throughout West Virginia presenting workshops in Farmington, Flatwoods, Grantsville, Kingwood, Morgantown, Mt. Zion, and Spencer. An additional workshop was held in Cumberland, MD for students in the WMAHEC Exploring Careers in Health Occupations (ECHO) program.
The goals of the project were to teach individual West Virginians to locate and use reliable health information when making medical decisions and to train professionals so that they can train their students, library patrons, and patients in the future.
Each workshop lasted two hours and involved hands on use of computers. Each participant received an information package with an agenda, a pre-test, a post-test, handouts on basic Internet terms and each of the databases. Trainees searched the Medline/PubMed, MedlinePlus, and ClinicalTrials.gov databases. They also searched the NIHSeniorHealth.gov, Genetics Home Reference, and GoLocal databases.
The results of the pre/post tests and evaluations were overwhelmingly positive. While the range of each group’s pre/post test scores varied, they invariably improved for each group. One HSTA group average improved from 38% on the pre-test to 80% on the post-test. The evaluations and comments were also extremely positive. Some sample comments:
- “I thought this was a very good tool for the future.”
- “Wonderful presentation. Can’t wait to share with coworkers and patrons.”
- “The program was very helpful and has given me information I was not aware of. I have learned to be more careful when using search engines.”
One measure of the success of the project is that the West Virginia Library Association (WVLA) workshop had standing room only and WMAHEC has been invited to present the workshop again at the next WVLA Spring Fling in 2008. Another is that the instructors in the HSTA program were pleased that the flexibility of the workshop design allowed it to mesh with their student’s individual research projects.
For more information about West Virginia Outreach II or WMAHEC, please contact WMAHEC at Columbia Building, 11 Columbia Street, Cumberland, MD 21502 or (301) 777-9150.
Web Sites for the groups/programs mentioned:
- Western Maryland AHEC - http://ahec.allconet.org/
- National Library of Medicine - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/
- National Network/Libraries of Medicine, Southeastern/Atlantic Region - http://nnlm.gov/sea/
- Health Sciences and Technology Academy of West Virginia University - http://www.wv-hsta.org/
- Parish Nurse Program of the West Virginia University School of Nursing - http://www.hsc.wvu.edu/son/academicPrograms/parish/index_parish.htm
- WV Library Commission - http://librarycommission.lib.wv.us/
- WV Library Association - http://www.wvla.org/
- Northern West Virginia Rural Health Education Center - http://www.glenville.edu/NWVRHEC/
- Northern West Virginia Rural Health Education Partnerships - http://www.wvrhep.org/nwvrhec/INDEX.HTM
- West Virginia University Health Careers Opportunity Program - http://www.cahcon.org/index.html
- WMAHEC Exploring Careers in Health Occupations - http://ahec.allconet.org/echo/
For additional information, please contact:
Linda Celet Bane
132 James Street
Keyser, WV 26726-2620
LCBane@verizon.net
304-788-3793
