by Terri Ottosen, Consumer Health Coordinator, NN/LM, SE/A and Andrew Youngkin, Emerging Technologies/Evaluation Coordinator, NN/LM, SE/A

Last month in Las Vegas, the 44th annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) — dubbed “the world’s largest consumer technology show” — allowed companies to announce new products and showcase exciting and innovative new products, devices, and technologies. It also offered consumers, retailers, and industry insiders a birds-eye view of emerging tech trends to come. Of particular significance to health care consumers, the 2012 CES included the first Digital Health Summit to promote and facilitate conversation surrounding the growing volume and increased presence of mobile health or “mHealth,” and the overall trend of emerging consumer-focused technologies designed to monitor, assess, and communicate about various areas of our health and well-being.

Healthcare consumers are experiencing a revolution in technology and unprecedented information access that empowers them to incorporate new mHealth tools into their daily lives. The fact that the largest consumer electronics show added a digital health summit for the first time this year points to the wave of the future. Companies are focusing on creating new products, apps, and devices that enhance health and give patients access to appropriate care that improves outcomes while helping to manage escalating costs. These new products focus on prevention and wellness and raised the level of excitement among the conference attendees and the public at large. Dr. Eric Topol of Scripps Health delivered two keynote presentations at the conference. He spoke about personalized medicine and the idea that a newer, more precise method of characterizing the genetic qualities of individual patients for diagnosis and treatment is at odds with the century old population-based practice of medicine. “Wireless medicine is not some sort of far-fetched science fiction dream – it’s real and it’s here right now.” He believes that none of these things will happen, however, unless consumers become informed about these new technologies and lead the revolution. [1]

Personalized medicine through the genomic revolution is one of the most intriguing ideas in healthcare today. One of the most talked about products at the summit was the Life Technologies Ion Proton Genetic Sequencer. Dan Costa of PC Mag called it “the coolest thing I saw at CES 2012.” [2] A full genome sequence can be completed in one day using this machine, which costs about the same as an MRI machine. What used to cost approximately $10,000 now can be done for $1000 per sequence. And as the technology continues to improve, the cost of the machine and the time and cost to do the analysis will continue to drop. There are still many unknowns when it comes to using genomic data in healthcare, but machines like this are going to make it possible for medicine to find new ways to use this data for good, including personalizing medications tailored to an individual’s genetic makeup.

Many other products were also featured at the show and included robotic aids, tele-health systems, remote monitoring devices for the home, electronic medical records, and therapeutic and diagnostic medical devices. The opportunities are endless when it comes to these technologies which can eliminate distance and borders and be preventive in their approaches. Apps, including games, can reinforce healthy behaviors and help people monitor vital information to take more control of their own health. There were over 20,000 new products launched at this year’s convention, so it can be a bit overwhelming. However, some products could make an even bigger splash this year. One such buzzed about product is the Doctor in Your Car, which is to be developed by Ford and Microsoft this spring as a method of monitoring the health and wellness of drivers. Inventors say the idea for this technology stemmed from a Pew Research study that found 93% of people say they search online health information because of its convenience. The study also found that 83% seek online health information because they get more information from the Internet than their own doctor. [3] The goal for the developers is to determine how to noninvasively extend health management into the personal vehicle using wearable devices that will monitor health data such as blood pressure, heart rates, glucose levels, and behavioral data.

There’s no question that we, as health consumers, will be exposed to these new technologies and that they will change our lives. There are still hurdles to overcome, but we are at an exciting junction. We are delicately poised on the edge of the revolution and are indeed living in interesting times. The following link is to a video available on the challenges of mHealth, made at the Digital Health Summit, and provides further insight into these technologies and their challenges: http://healthworkscollective.com/node/27831

From the daily lives of consumers to the daily practices of healthcare providers, to medical school classrooms and health sciences libraries, technology has made and will continue to make consumer healthcare more mobile, more visible, more accessible, and more personal.

Exhibits

Exhibiting at national, regional, state, and local conferences is an integral part of life at SE/A.  As part of the contract with NLM, we establish a comprehensive plan of when and where we plan to exhibit each year. Still, there is a good deal of flexibility beyond our fixed schedule. A key part of my job is to manage the exhibiting schedule, and in consultation with the other coordinators and the executive director (and with the support of our awesome staff), I select, register, and schedule all of the conferences where we will exhibit. I also work with RML members who are awarded exhibit grants to make sure that appropriate materials arrive on time for conferences all over the region.

Communication

Twitter? Facebook? RSS? Blog? Email? How do we get the word out? These are some rather challenging issues I face as the Communications Coordinator. We have a small group here who help make some of these decisions, but it is my responsibility to make sure that the word gets out. All of the coordinators contribute original content to SEA Currents and it is my goal to make our blog an informative resource. I am currently working with our editorial team to put together a more comprehensive plan on how and where we disseminate information. I have also been asking various members in the region how they currently receive and how they prefer to receive information. Many institutions limit the ways their employees can receive information which makes our efforts more of a challenge. My biggest goal is to inform without overwhelming.

Education

I have been an educator for many years teaching both Anthropology and Library and Information Science. I also taught informational sessions to medical and health science students and faculty prior to my position at the RML. I plan to teach some of our existing classes as well as develop classes on qualitative methods, virtual communication, and working with special populations. I am always looking for new ideas for classes, especially topics that are of great interest to those in the region.

Awards

I will be working with awardees to help them manage their awards and report on their successes. Most of the awards I will be working with are for exhibits, but I am also working with some outreach and technology awards. I think this is one of the most important areas of RML work as it requires a great deal of collaboration and support. Things are always changing, and with the pending implementation of a new reporting system, I look forward to guiding awardees through a new process.

Despite being new to SE/A, I have had a great deal of contact with multiple RMLs over my career and it is wonderful to finally be able to work for such a wonderful program. As a North Carolina native, it is a great feeling to return to the region where I spent so much time growing up. I look forward to working with everyone in the region and hope that you will feel free to contact me with questions, concerns, ideas, and suggestions.

Presenter: Sybil Bullock, MLIS, EdS, has had a full career as a Federal Librarian in medical, scientific, and technical libraries/scientific information centers.  Upon early retirement, she chose a new career track:  Teaching at the University of Alabama School of Library & Information Studies (SLIS), Tuscaloosa, Alabama as well as establishing a Library Consultant Business.

The Healthcare environment continues to experience rapid change affecting hospitals and hospital libraries.  Some of the things happening are outside the control of the Librarian but have big impacts on the Library and the Library Staff.  Some libraries/librarians are disappearing; others are adapting to these outside changes.  If you are one of those affected by these changes, what can you do?  This Webinar will look at some of the options available to you and will offer advice on how to re-frame your thinking, leverage your information knowledge skills, update your professional  ID/Brand, and offer examples of what others are doing to succeed in this turbulent environment.

To hear this webconference, please go to our list of previously presented web conferences.

“Culture plays a big role in the way patients and providers perceive services.”

Christianne Pinell-Jansen
Community Development/Public Health & Beyond
University of Mississippi Medical Center
Mississippi Institute for Improvement of Geographic Minority Health/Delta Region Institute
UMMC Phone: (601) 815-9000

What is your position and what was the path that led you to it?

For the last 20 years, I have been working as a biostatistician and community development and public health practitioner. I am employed at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC), where I currently wear many hats. I serve as a Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) program coordinator and biostatistician for UMMC’s Mississippi Institute for Improvement of Geographic Minority Health/Delta Region Institute (MIGMH/DRI); I have also functioned as the Medical Spanish Coordinator for UMMC’s Family Medicine Pre-doctoral Program and a study coordinator for the Neurocognitive Reading Center of the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (SOL) in the Department of Medicine.

At MIGMH/DRI, my functions include being an instructor, program development/administrator, evaluator, and social marketing contact while providing a model to the Department of Family Medicine (DFM). At the DFM I coordinate a 10-hour course to introduce Hispanic linguistic and cultural awareness into their M3 (3rd year medical student) rotation. I have also planned a longitudinal Medical Spanish course to be included into the SoM curriculum. Additionally, I have created cultural and linguistic awareness training among healthcare workers and students within academic health services systems in Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana, functioned as interpreter and translator and developed evaluation tools to collect data and information among institutional partners and cores. Finally, in the Department of Medicine, I have collaborated with counterparts to improve the Spanish version of a battery of neurocognitive tests (both in English and Spanish) given to multi-state Hispanic study participants. As part of the latter, I have monitored and evaluated its procedures and development for quality and effectiveness in order to maintain certification and homogeneity along all four sites involved in the study.

Prior to the positions I now hold at UMMC, I served as a program coordinator or project data administrator for several multi-state epidemiological studies. These studies included the Genetics of Microangiopathic Brain Injury (GMBI), the Ambulatory Blood Pressure (AMBP), the Genetic Epidemiology Network of Arteriopathy (GENOA), the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) and the ARIC MRI and Neurocognitive Longitudinal. I have also functioned as the Program Coordinator for the Arthritis Program at the Mississippi Department of Health (MSDH), and as the first patient navigator and data manager at the Cancer Preventorium, The Washington Cancer Institute, Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C.

Is there something in your own personal story that led you to do the work you do?

Since high school in Nicaragua, I knew I wanted to work in the health field. I studied statistics with the idea of applying it in the health field. My thesis was developed as a collaborative effort of the Department of Statistics and Applied Mathematics (Department of Science) and the Division of Preventive Medicine and Public Health (in the Department of Medicine). When I graduated, I was able to work as the Statistician of the Epidemiological Surveillance of the Nicaraguan Health Department. This experience motivated me to learn more and allowed me to obtain my Master of Public Health in Autonomous University of Madrid.

What do you love most about your outreach work?

I love to work on medical research and health education, cultural and linguistic awareness, and occupational Spanish.

What is the biggest challenge in what you do?

Marketing the workshops. The hardest part is identifying the key person to talk to in order to make our workshops and training available to the healthcare providers.

What has been the most fulfilling part of your work in terms of health outreach to your community’s underserved populations?

It is certainly fulfilling to see physicians, pharmacists, nurses, public health workers, and health professionals take 4 hours of their busy schedule, sit through our sessions, ask questions, perform the exercises, and not apply for CE credits because the just “wanted to know this information.” It is also rewarding to meet with the students and receive their feedback, comments, and questions, and realize in one way or another, this sessions have been fulfilling for them as well.

What do you see as the biggest health concerns in the communities you serve?

In my experience, one of the biggest health concerns in our communities is the difficulty that well intended and knowledgeable health care providers have in communicating with their patients. Culture and language barriers accentuate the communication barrier. The services we offer are only a drop in the bucket – there are so many cultures interacting in our country. Culture plays a big role in the way patients and providers perceive services. There is still a lot to be done.

How did you first come to know NN/LM SE/A?

In 2005, I was looking for curricula and Spanish materials. I searched the web, as well as asked around.  That’s when I found “¿No Comprende?”. I reviewed the materials, handouts, and lesson plan. The workshop targeted librarians, but it contained information that most certainly would be helpful for healthcare providers.

In what ways has NN/LM SE/A been of help to you?

When I contacted NN/LM SE/A and asked what I needed to do in order to provide this workshop to the university medical center healthcare personnel, I talked with the person who developed the program, Becky Hebert, and she told me she would come and do the presentation. I was ecstatic! I organized two groups, one with my local librarians, and the other group integrated by bilingual healthcare personnel and our medical librarians. When later on, and due to my new title, I was looking for cultural awareness and health literacy materials, I thought again about this workshop. I contacted again NN/LM SE/A.  Mandy Meloy and then Sheila Snow-Croft taught subsequent well-attended classes.  Subsequently, the new instructor, Nancy Patterson did two sessions and, later on, paired us with our local medical librarians.”

 Can you share a success story about the impact of health outreach in your community?

We have been able to offer a couple of sessions in the spring and a couple of sessions in the fall. The sessions are open to faculty and staff (clinicians and non-clinicians), as well as to students. At this point, we offer CE credits to physicians, nurses, occupational therapists, physical therapist, social workers, psychologists, dentists, and pharmacists. Specifically with students, we have been able to serve all 3rd year regular and accelerated nursing students, as well as 3rd year occupational therapy students. Most recently, we offered a reduced (2.5 hour) session to the 3rd year pharmacy students.

What advice would you give others who are interested in doing health outreach work in their communities?

There are resources available out there. Partner and collaborate with other institutions and/or groups with the same goals/dreams. We have been able to partner with our own medical library, Rowland Medical library, and we have been able to offer more services in this way.

If you would like to share your story or suggest another person for our “Inspiring People” feature, please email Nancy Patterson:  npatters@hshsl.umaryland.edu

NLM will be closed on Monday, February 20, 2012 in observance of Presidents Day.  The NN/LM, SEA offices will be open.

“Don’t expect to dust off your hands and wave good-bye after the grant project is done – this is a long-term commitment.”

Kay Hogan Smith
Community Services Librarian
University of Alabama, Birmingham
Lister Hill Library:http://www.uab.edu/lister/

What is your position?
I’m Community Services Librarian at UAB Lister Hill Library, and director of Health InfoNet of Alabama, a free health information service of the state’s medical and public libraries (since 1999).

Is there something in your own personal story that led you to do the work you do?
I was a public librarian before I became – quite by accident – a medical librarian. This was in the dark ages of course, but I remember how flummoxed I and my colleagues then would get by the medical questions. I was so afraid of steering people wrong! So, when I came to Lister Hill Library and was put in charge of consumer health information services, I decided that what was really needed was a cooperative health information service that pulled on the strengths of both the public and the medical librarians throughout the state. The major strength of both is their expertise in finding just the information needed that is reliable and current at the time it’s needed. We focus on that and on training and collection development as well as the use of the academic medical libraries as reference backup for the public libraries.

What do you love most about your outreach work?
Knowing that just by being sympathetic, if nothing else, I really am helping someone who may be struggling with serious health issues. I also really enjoy meeting community health advocates and partners all around the state, even around the country – I’ve met some terrific folks and become involved in some wonderful community health initiatives, especially in the faith community.

What is the biggest challenge in what you do?
Given the nature of what I do and the times we live in, I’m often contacted by uninsured people who are desperately seeking health care services. Some are even homeless, or close to it. It breaks my heart and frustrates me to no end that so many are left to fall through the cracks.

What has been the most fulfilling part of your work in terms of health outreach to your community’s underserved populations?
I’ve gotten to know a lot of truly wonderful people in my community that I might never have met but for the work I do. It is really through them that I find my greatest fulfillment in truly connecting with a community and helping them to empower themselves with reliable health information. Also, having been away from the public library myself for many years now, I continue to be impressed with the public libraries’ vibrancy and relevance in the community. They’ve truly earned this place of respect through their continuing innovation and openness to new ideas.

What do you see as the biggest health concerns in the communities you serve?
Our fragmented and inadequate health care system, especially when it comes to the poor and uninsured. Even the relatively well off, however, find it confusing at best. Our system demands a very high level of health literacy, and often it just isn’t there. Of course, that isn’t just in Alabama, although given what a poor state this is, the problem may be more acute here than elsewhere.

How did you first come to know NN/LM SE/A?
Typically, I think my very first awareness of NNLM was its funding awards, at that time for Grateful Med teaching. I got an award to teach the program to medical residents at the hospital where I worked at the time.

In what ways has NN/LM SE/A been of help to you?
In many ways, Health InfoNet of Alabama might never have been – at least not on its current scale – if not for NN/LM. They’ve always been so supportive of our work, both financially and otherwise. I’m eternally grateful to them all!

Can you share a success story about the impact of health outreach in your community?
Just recently, I helped a young woman locate information on a prescription for a skin cream her doctor had given her for severe psoriasis. The woman had just found out she was pregnant, and it turned out the skin cream was reported to increase risks of birth defects when used by pregnant women. Needless to say, she was relieved to have found out this fact before something more serious than the psoriasis happened to her baby! And I thought it was nice to know that we did our part to prevent birth defects.

What advice would you give others who are interested in doing health outreach work in their communities?
Start early getting to know, on a personal level, the people in the target communities you’ll be working with (even if you don’t know what you’ll be working on with them yet).  And, don’t expect to dust off your hands and wave good-bye after the grant project is done – this is a long-term commitment, not a “one night stand” – or at least it should be!  Finally, keep at it – things don’t always fall immediately into place.

If you would like to share your story or suggest another person for our “Inspiring People” feature, please email Nancy Patterson:  npatters@hshsl.umaryland.edu

We are pleased to say that the SE/A Professional Development Library has grown by 4 new titles:

• Kvale and Svend. Interviews: Learning the Craft of Qualitative Research Interviewing.
• Patton. Essentials of Utilization-Focused Evaluation.
• Booth. Reflective Teaching, Effective learning: Instructional Literacy for Library Educators
• Rossman and Rallis. Learning in the Field: an Introduction to Qualitative Research

Within the next month, we will be adding titles on grant-seeking, retirement, and library marketing.

As always, borrowing these books is free. For instruction on borrowing these items and a list of all titles, please visit our Professional Development Library page at:

http://nnlm.gov/sea/services/professionaldevelopmentlibrary.html

An important step in professional recognition of clinical informatics (CI) occurred in September 2011. The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), whose function is “to assist its Member Boards in implementing educational/professional standards to evaluate and certify physician specialists,” voted to approve and recognize CI as a subspecialty with an administrative home belonging to the American Board of Preventive Medicine (ABPM). Though ABPM has sole responsibility for developing and administering the certification exam and the resulting certificates, it was joined by the American Board of Pathology as a co-sponsor.

The approval of the ABPM’s certification application allows board examinations to start with a target of Fall 2012, with the first set of physician certificates awarded sometime in early 2013. According to American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), rigorous CI core competencies will be influenced by publications on the subject that were developed by AMIA and its members, many of whom have pioneered the field and supported CI’s new status as an ABMS-recognized area of clinical expertise. Read more about AMIA’s vision of the role of the clinical informatician.

How might this affect health sciences librarianship? In a healthcare delivery world increasingly reliant on one electronic “play-space,” clinicians and their leadership eventually want the electronic health record (EHR) to seamlessly integrate with essential ancillary systems and resources. While the technology, institutional capabilities, and resources are not completely universal as yet, there are indications of movement in that direction. For more information on these developments, be sure to read the September 2011 issue (18:5) of JAMIA. The issue is dedicated to recent developments in the area of natural language processing techniques and their impact on unstructured content in health information systems, especially EHRs.

Though this designation covers physicians, there is a collateral need to develop similar designations for nursing and public health informaticians. In the meantime there are good degree and academic certification programs in clinical, nursing, and public health informatics which are open to clinical and non-clinical students. Many programs have online programs to accommodate workers who need to attend classes in the virtual realm. Additionally, Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) funding is available (to anyone eligible through a participating school) to strengthen workforce development in an assortment of informatics roles. Individual funding is provided in a variety of ways from participating community colleges and universities that administer the ONC funds. These HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) funds are short-lived, so if you are interested in CI, I encourage you to do your research now. These institutions are tasked with producing an informatics workforce to mitigate the U.S. shortage of qualified workers as addressed in previous health information technology (HIT) reform legislation.

For more information, please contact PJ Grier, SE/A Outreach and Access Coordinator.

Consumer Health Coordinator – Terri Ottosen

Having been the Consumer Health Coordinator for the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Southeastern Atlantic Region, for almost seven years, I have had the privilege of serving the region’s members through two contracts with the National Library of Medicine and now have begun a third. In this capacity, I have developed new consumer health classes and provided extensive training for consumers, public librarians, and health sciences librarians who serve the public.

Beginning with the last contract, I have focused on new topics of interest including patient informatics (e-patients), veteran’s health resources, and consumer genetics. These classes have proved popular and have been taught in-person and online for several years. Intrigued by the move to increase NN/LM’s distance education offerings, I began adapting many of the existing consumer health classes to Moodle, an open-source version of course management software similar to Blackboard. Focusing my efforts on a suite of consumer health classes online has allowed many in the Region (and some outside our Region) to obtain credits towards earning their Consumer Health Information Specialization (CHIS) from the Medical Library Association. As we all know, the economy has reduced or eliminated travel budgets for librarians to attend classes and it’s sometimes difficult to get a group large enough for an in-person class. Offering free classes online has increased many of our network members’ options for continuing education. For descriptions of all of our consumer health classes please visit the NN/LM SE/A CHIS page: http://nnlm.gov/sea/training/chis/

This year I have set a specific schedule for courses rather than just announcing their availability via the electronic discussion lists and a personal notification list. This has proven to be a good method, as potential participants can plan ahead for the classes they are interested in taking. Also, I am targeting two states per contract year to increase participation of public librarians. The first two are Mississippi and West Virginia. If you know anyone in the Region who may be interested, please share this post with them or have them contact me directly. A total of six consumer health classes are now available via Moodle, which allows participants to complete assignments and readings at their own pace, 24/7. I enjoy developing and adapting classes to the online environment and derive a great deal of satisfaction interacting with everyone. I find that I can get to know the individuals in this environment in an in-depth manner over a longer period of time.

Plans for the current 2011-2016 contract include the continuation of existing classes, online and in-person, as well as the development of some new ones. Many of you may remember Beth Wescott’s Easy-to-Read class. This class has been modified and taught throughout our Region several times. The current version of the class, Promoting Health Literacy Through Easy-to-Read Materials, is in the process of being adapted for Moodle, thus increasing the potential audience and availability. Additionally, the consumer genetics class, ABCs of DNA: Unraveling the Mystery of Genetics Information for Consumers, will be adapted for distance education and hopefully be available by the middle of 2012. These two offerings will bring the total number of online classes to eight, thereby increasing the opportunities for consumer health education anytime and anywhere.

As many of you know, the Consumer Health Coordinator works closely with our Community Outreach Coordinator, Nancy Patterson. Together we coordinate the consumer health program for the Region. Nancy focuses on outreach to faith and community organizations and I focus on consumers and librarians who work with consumers. During this contract period, we plan to create a health and wellness class with a significant focus on the science of happiness, an area of specific interest to us both. We will also create a nutrition class and adapt it for each of our respective audiences. I will also continue to offer new SEAGuides (NN/LM SE/A’s version of LibGuides) on a variety of topics pertinent to consumer health. If you have not had a chance to view the existing guides, including the state pages, please visit: http://seaguides.hshsl.umaryland.edu/, and as always, suggestions for future topics are most appreciated.

Consumer health funding opportunities will continue to focus on providing outreach to seniors, veterans, public and health sciences library partnerships, technological improvements to consumer health centers, and many more. Nancy and I will also be consulting with the appointed Consumer Health Regional Access Committee to continue to bring a robust and exciting consumer health program to the Region. Please continue to give us your feedback and input so we can continue to improve.

The Rural Assistance Center and the National Rural Health Resources Center recently announced the release of an online health IT toolkit aimed at helping rural health care providers plan and implement health IT projects, AHA News reports.

HHS’ Office of Rural Health Policy provided funding to support the development of the online toolkit (AHA News, 1/27).

Toolkit Details

The toolkit offers resources on:

• The planning, setup, implementation and maintenance of health IT systems;
• How to find health IT training programs, management expertise and funding support; and
• The meaningful use program.

Under the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health records can qualify for Medicaid and Medicare incentive payments.

Goals of Toolkit

The toolkit aims to help rural communities:

• Address hurdles to raising capital for health IT projects;
• Improve community college-based health IT training programs;
• Obtain federal resources to support health IT initiatives; and
• Stay informed about health IT policy (RAC release, 1/26).

Read more: http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2012/1/31/groups-release-online-health-it-toolkit-for-rural-health-providers.aspx#ixzz1lAGwQOUr

Resource Links: http://www.raconline.org/collaborate/pr_hittoolk
http://www.raconline.org/hit/