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/

Consumer Health Apps of Interest

by Terri Ottosen

Throughout the year, as Consumer Health Coordinator, I gather information from a variety of resources to keep abreast of interesting happenings in the field of consumer health. In this gathering of information, I’ve found one of the most interesting aspects of consumer health is the explosion of health apps for health-conscious consumers.

According to the Health Care Blog, there are about 9000 consumer health apps in the iTunes store that offer an astonishing array of creative tools that help consumers take control of their health and health care. These include apps that calculate calories burned during exercise, create soundtracks to help people fall asleep, and display pictures that can elicit memories from Alzheimer’s patients. If the store doesn’t offer something for what ails you now, it probably will soon. The selections will proliferate within the next year, with an additional 4,000 consumer apps expected by next summer, industry experts say.[1]

The blog post also points to the problems this can create, as consumers have trouble finding what is available and evaluating information for scientific validity. The government is starting to regulate these apps and recently the Federal Trade Commission brought its first cases against the makers of two health apps who claimed to cure acne with colored lights emitted from cell phones.[2]

Just as health sciences librarians help consumers and health professionals to evaluate health websites, we can assist in the evaluation of health apps. To that end, here are five selected apps that are potentially of value to the health consumer:

1. iTriage
   Users can evaluate symptoms, learn about possible causes, find appropriate medical facilities, and get quality reports and information to make better, more informed health care decisions.
2. Vitals.com
   This app provides federal, state, provider-supplied, patient-supplied and private data to help web users make intelligent decisions about finding the health care provider that is right for them. Vitals gathers the data, normalizes it, benchmarks it, applies quality metrics and presents it to web users as an aid in deciding which health provider to choose.
3. Asthmapolis
   (in design process and not yet available)This app helps asthma suffers to track symptoms, triggers, and use of medications to learn more about and manage the condition. Physicians, public health workers and scientists can also use the app for various remote monitoring and better control uses.
4. Fooducate
   As someone who continually strives to eat healthier, I think using this app will make it easier for me. This app lets users scan the barcodes of food products and receive more information about it, including how much sugar is added, any ingredients or preservatives to watch for, and a letter grade that rates the nutritional value. Healthier alternatives and the ability to compare products are also provided.
5. Glucose Buddy
   This application is ranked #1 Diabetes iPhone Application by the founder of TuDiabetes.com and has been featured in the American Diabetes Association’s Diabetes Forecast magazine, as well as Wired magazine. Diabetes patients can keep logs on the foods they’re eating and track activities, which are integrated with calorie and nutrition information. There are over 100,000 food items and 200 exercise activities.

What’s your favorite consumer health app?

 Sites Offer Federally Approved Information on HIV Treatment and Research

To mark World AIDS Day 2011 (December 1), a redesigned AIDSinfo Web site has been released, along with the Spanish-language infoSIDA.  These sister sites offer federally approved information on HIV treatment and research to health care providers, researchers, people affected by HIV/AIDS, and the public. Resources include medical practice guidelines, treatment and prevention research studies, educational materials for consumers, and information on approved and investigational HIV/AIDS-related drugs.

Information is available in both English and Spanish. AIDSinfo and infoSIDA are services of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), managed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM). NLM is the world’s largest medical library and a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Redesign of the sites was based on research on user needs and behaviors and focused on reorganization of content and improved navigation to make information easier to find.

Changes to the sites include: 

·         Reorganizing content logically into six main categories, including new categories for Education Materials and Mobile Resources and Tools.

·         Creating a home page design that gives users a snapshot of the entire Web site, direct access to all site content, and the ability to search for information without having to click away from the home page.

·         Improving navigation to reduce the number of clicks necessary to access information anywhere on the sites.

·         Providing links to resources such as mobile applications and social media tools (including Facebook and Twitter) throughout the sites to make them accessible from any page.

·         Creating a distinct Web address for infoSIDA-http://infoSIDA.nih.gov to make it easier for users to bookmark and for search engines to index infoSIDA.

AIDSinfo welcomes feedback on the redesigned Web sites by e-mail (ContactUs@aidsinfo.nih.gov), phone (800-448-0440), or Live Chat.

AIDSinfo and infoSIDA are sponsored by: 

·         National Library of Medicine (NLM), Office of AIDS Research (OAR), and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the National Institutes of Health

·         Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), US Department of Health & Human Services;

·         Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), US Department of Health & Human Services;

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/news/aidsinfo_infosida_redesign.html

Nancy Patterson

In October of 2009, I left my position in Resource Sharing at the Health Sciences & Human Services Library at the University of Maryland to join the Regional Medical Library team just a couple of floors up in the same building. As the new Community Outreach Coordinator, I was to fill Mandy Bayer-Meloy’s shoes. Many of you in the Region had the pleasure of working with my predecessor, Mandy, so can imagine what a daunting idea that was.

In my first week as a new RMLer, I attended the MLA Southern Chapter meeting in Memphis. I want to thank you all now for being so kind to me when I didn’t even know what my job was – Southern hospitality at its finest. Since that time, I’ve learned a great deal – about my job, of course, but even more about the Region and what works best when doing health outreach for our consumers.

I work mainly with community and faith-based groups – nonprofits, volunteer organizations, and health ministries. It’s very rewarding to work with this group of people who give of their limited time and resources so freely in an effort to help their communities. Some of the communities I visit are the poorest of the poor, yet the community leaders and volunteers feel so fortunate in life that they want to give back. It’s a great lesson in the importance of gratitude, no matter what.

NN/LM SE/A has basically 3 outreach avenues:  exhibiting, funding and teaching. In my position, I man the exhibit booth at consumer health shows, design and teach classes related to consumer/minority health, and monitor assigned NN/LM SE/A funded outreach projects. My 2-year education has provided these insights:

Exhibiting:

• Pace the tchotchkes! If you put all of the pens out at the beginning, no one will be lured to your booth later in the day.
• Remind people that they own the National Library of Medicine and all of its resources. It gets their attention.

Funding:

• There really is no dumb idea. If you think a Health Research Computer can be installed at the local beauty salon and people will use it, let’s talk.

Teaching:

• Never go into a consumer health class to tell people what their community needs.
• Never leave a consumer health class without asking what their community needs.

Of those three aspects of my job, I’ve evolved in my approach to teaching the most. I now discuss more than lecture and I often ask more questions than are asked of me. I’ve also added health disparities, health literacy and cultural competency components to most of my classes. Because so many of the groups I work with consist of “special populations” like racial and ethnic minorities and senior citizens, I am passionate about reducing the health disparities that exist between their communities and those of more fortunate Americans. Improving health literacy is a huge component in affecting such social change.

Over the course of the next five years of our contract, some of the plans I have in store are:

• Creating and promoting new classes:

• Immigrant Health
• Nutrition Across the Lifespan
• Health, Wellness and the Pursuit of Happiness (which addresses the strong link between a person’s happiness and health)

• Creating outreach partnership models that can be easily duplicated – based on successful projects. The first will be based on a health ministry model.

• Facilitating introductions between health outreach enthusiasts throughout the Region that have complementary needs and resources – as requested and also via advertised web summits.

As I head into my third year on the job, I look forward to working with all of you. Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions or ideas – I’d love to hear from you.

Nancy Patterson
Community Outreach Coordinator
(410) 706 2858
npatters@hshsl.umaryland.edu

”I learn from the community as well as they learn from me.”   

Joyce Linnen
Community Health Advisor
REACH US: SEA- CEED
Project:  Georgetown County Diabetes CORE Group
http://www.georgetowncountydiabetes.com/index.html
Georgetown, South Carolina

What is your position? 

I am currently the Community Health Advisor for the REACH US: SEA-CEED (SouthEastern African American Center of Excellence in the Elimination of Disparities in Diabetes) program with the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) College of Nursing & the Georgetown County Diabetes CORE Group.

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

Several years ago I lost my paternal grandfather due to the diabetic complications. With all the education I thought I had I never knew why he had so many issues with his eyes and circulation in this hands and feet. Later on several other problems arose from uncontrolled diabetes. One day I attended a workshop on diabetes at my church being done by the Georgetown County Diabetes CORE Group. From that 90-minute presentation, I realized what was going on with my grandfather. I was amazed because if I only knew some of what I learned that evening I probably would have been able to help my grandfather much more. After that night I decided I wanted to become a member of the Georgetown County Diabetes CORE Group and to be trained to go out to educate my community about diabetes and other health disparities from a layman’s point of view.

What do you love most about your outreach work? 

I love meeting people of various ethnicity and cultures and enjoy knowing that I have made a difference in someone’s life. I really enjoy the teaching and being taught as well. Sometimes I learn from the community as well as they learn from me.

What is the biggest challenge in your work?

One of my challenges is not having an adequate amount of funds that sometimes puts limits in what I would like to do for the people. Another challenge is sometimes lack of commitment on the part of the participants, which leads to non-compliance and not achieving goals due to their limited personal resources.

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

The most fulfilling part of my work is seeing my clients accomplish their goals and learning what they need in order to live a longer and healthier life.

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

 The communities I serve are very rural areas within Georgetown County. The nearest health facility for the majority of the residents is 20- 30 miles away; therefore, it’s difficult for them to have access to a lot of health information (health education & health literacy) or services (access to care) because of lack of transportation. They are subsequently being left out of the loop and that’s why they are not controlling their diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension, and obesity issues.

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

I first came to know NN/LM SE/A when I worked on a library health education project with Barbara Carlson, a librarian from the MUSC REACH 2010 Diabetes Education Program, Marilynn Lance-Robb, (Ma Flo) Florene Linnen and several other librarians and community partners that were being trained on Pub Med and Medline Plus. We all returned to our respective communities and educated people on how to use the Internet and modern technology to access reliable health information. Our program in 2006 won 1^st place and receive the National Health Information Award.

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

The grant funding we have received from the NN/LM SE/A has allowed us to bring our community up to par with modern technology where they may not have had an opportunity otherwise. It also allowed me to educate them on various health topics in a more creative and interesting manner (i.e. using MedlinePlus interactive tutorial program). Also, since being introduced to MedlinePlus has helped inform me about several health issues of my own. The website has become a part of me and I make it a point to regularly introduce it to people from many different educational and socioeconomic backgrounds.

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

One of many success stories is about my Men’s Health Campaign that began in 2010. I wrote a grant through the NNLM to educate men about various health issues and concerns. I had a computer workspace in one of their group-meeting locations and did several trainings with them about Men’s Health. I am very pleased to say this men’s group is continuing today educating men about various health issues and the issues and concerns men deal with. I can say that I currently provide technical assistance. The group is growing very strong on their own. They still have computer health classes and they have health pointers and tips discussions during their meetings. I count this as a success because “working with men”, training them to be educators, was totally different from “educating men”.

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

 The advice I would give others is to make sure this is your passion and you are willing to be dedicated and committed because it takes a lot of hard work and long hours. Also be willing to “think outside the box” and make adjustments.

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

This month, in celebration of National Medical Librarians Month, we will be sharing stories of librarians who have advocated for librarians or for libraries. We are kicking off our celebration with a story about a librarian advocating for her consumer health library and the need for health literacy by Amy Six-Means.

Demonstrating the value of librarians within the organization to improve patient’s experience throughout their healthcare interaction
by Amy Six-Means, MLIS, Hanesbrands Health Learning Center, Forsyth Medical Center, Winston-Salem, NC

Right after completing my MLIS, I started a position as a clinical medical librarian. At my first Mid-Atlantic Chapter meeting that year, I first heard the term “health literacy.” As a former elementary teacher, this captured my attention and I investigated it. The more deeply I investigated and learned, the more involved I wanted to become in helping healthcare professionals and healthcare consumers become aware of health literacy and its impact.  Empowering patients by being more aware of how to support and increase health literacy and therefore strengthen patient-healthcare interactions became my passion.

In January of 2008, I realized the beginning of that passion becoming a reality when I was hired by Novant Health (NH) to be their first Consumer Health Librarian. My goal to empower patients was slow to start. Many had heard the term “health literacy” but were unable to internalize it so that it could be incorporated into the organization more thoroughly. About a year ago this changed as the organization initiated a system of Organizational Improvements.

One of these was a strategy to improve patient “Voice and Choice.” I saw an opportunity and after sharing with the Director of Patient Services here at Forsyth Medical Center about how I became a consumer health librarian, I was asked to be part of the Novant Health Patient Education Team. As part of that corporate group, I have had the pleasure of being heavily involved in several team initiatives to improve the information we offer to patients. I was then asked, because of my health literacy expertise, to be one of the persons responsible for revamping the 30+ page corporate diabetes manual. That was a project with which I was honored to be asked to participate. It not only introduced me to more of my organizational colleagues, who may or may not have known about how the consumer health library could support their patient education, but also allowed me to offer suggestions about the manual to address and meet health literacy guidelines. I have been pleased by the overwhelmingly positive feedback by the majority of reviewers.

My involvement with the NH Patient Ed Team has opened another opportunity which will further expand the improvement of patient-healthcare interaction.  Recently, I was approached by someone in Administration as they were looking to change all their materials and processes for the Ambulatory Surgical Centers across the corporation. They were interested in knowing if the librarians could help them as they seek to find better ways to utilize resources in the Ambulatory Surgical Centers. Overall, they realize the value of providing information to patients and families that they can understand and act upon prior to as well as following a procedure. Their several goals include; 1) reducing patient/family fear and stress caused by not knowing what to expect, 2) improving patient satisfaction by giving better information about their surgery experience, and 3) improving patient safety and comfort throughout the healthcare experience. This last goal will be realized through 1) better patient compliance, and 2) empowering patients to know when to call their healthcare provider.

I was thrilled that we were approached to participate in this, a result of my work with the NH Patient Education Team.  It demonstrated that those within the highest levels of the organization realize how health literacy can positively impact the healthcare experience of patients and families. It also demonstrated the realization of the significant role we librarians have to offer in the process of organizational change.

by Terri Ottosen, Consumer Health Coordinator, NN/LM, SE/A

The Pew Internet & American Life Project (PIALP) released another series of interesting reports this summer. Published in June, the report, “Social networking sites and our lives,” examines social networking sites in a survey that explored people’s overall social networks and how use of these technologies is related to trust, tolerance, social support, and community and political engagement.[1] Later this summer, several other reports were released which illustrate the profound impact social media sites have had on the lives of the American public. Among the headlines for these reports are startling statistics, 28% of American adults use mobile and social location-based services, 65% of online adults use social networking sites, half of U.S. adults use social networks such as Facebook, and young women are “power users” of social media sites.[2]

As the Consumer Health Coordinator, I found the survey, “Mind the Gap: Peer-to-peer Healthcare,”³ the most fascinating. The rise of the e-patient in health care has been an interest of mine as the burden of managing one’s health has shifted from health professionals to the consumer. Susannah Fox (PIALP) delivered the results of this survey as part of a lecture series at the National Institutes of Health.  These lectures explored a wide range of issues “at the intersection of research, evidence, and clinical practice” ³ where most health consumers find themselves; unsure they are making the best possible health care decisions. As the introduction to the survey summarizes, “peer-to-peer healthcare acknowledges that patients and caregivers know things – about themselves, about each other, about treatments – and they want to share what they know to help other people.”[3]

As health information professionals, many of us are aware of some of these social sites that allow peer-to-peer health connections. One example I use in the Canny Consumer class is PatientsLikeMe.com. This site has over 115,000 patient users with 500+ conditions. Users can share their experiences by searching for others with a condition, symptom or treatment. As the site touts, you have questions about your disease but you also have answers for others, change your life while helping others change theirs.

This new form of participation in the online world is called the “new Zeitgeist of Participation” by the Pew report. This new zeitgeist of participation is transforming health care, political campaigns, news and the entertainment world. They compare peer-to-peer healthcare with the transformation of the music industry by allowing people to share what they know and as a result of two powerful forces: our ancient instinct to seek and share advice about our health and our relatively new ability to do it at Internet speed and scale.[4]

We all will need health information in our lives for ourselves or our friends and families at some point. Health issues are scary and it’s good to know there are places we can go to share our experiences and get help from others with similar issues.

(more…)

”Do not just focus on what you are trying to do, take some time and listen to your community and what they need..”

Geetha Sridaran
Head of Reference
Drs. Sid E. & Nell K. Williams Library
Life University
http://www.life.edu/library
Marietta, Georgia

What is your position?

I am head of the reference department at Drs. Sid E. & Nell K. Williams Library of Life University in Marietta, GA.  The majority of our patrons are students, faculty and staff.  We also provide service to our alumni and visitors when requested.

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

When I was growing up in India, I had no idea about the Dewey or LC classification, even though the ideology of librarianship was created by Indian-born Shiyali Ramamrita (SR) Ranganathan known as ‘The Father of Library Science’ in his classic The Five Laws of Library Science. As a child, I organized my father’s collection with my own classification system for easy identification. Little did my father know that I would become a librarian later in life. When I was deciding on my career, it was an easy choice for me. I always enjoyed reading and writing poetry, but as my family and responsibilities grew those interests lost priority.  I certainly passed it on to my children.  All three of my children are avid readers although the subjects vary widely.

What do you love most about your outreach work?

The best part of being a librarian is reaching out to people and quenching their thirst for information. Every time I attempt to do that I learn something new.  During my recent NN/LM/ NIH outreach grant project I had the opportunity to reach out to the senior community.  It was gratifying to disseminate a little part of the vast ocean of online health information to those who really need it most.

What is the biggest challenge in your work?

Getting everybody involved on the same page/pace in order to complete a successful project.

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

I am thankful for the many projects that NNLM/ NIH has in place to reach out to underserved populations in several parts of the South Eastern Atlantic region. Without the ‘Outreach Project’ grant, I would have missed the opportunity of meeting some wonderful people. Toward the end of the project our library hosted a ‘Healthy Aging’ reception and invited all the participants. It was a great feeling to see all of them sharing their newfound knowledge and technical tips for online searching. It is fulfilling to know that they will be taking their expertise into their communities and spreading it to others.

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

Everybody is too busy to take time to understand their body’s needs.  Sometimes even the most educated people do not listen to their bodies and end up becoming part of the statistics in the endless list of diseases.

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

Several years ago when I was volunteering at a health science library my mentor hosted a training session by NN/LM SE/A staff.  Since then I attended many such sessions and met/communicated with most of the staff members of NN/LM SE/A. All of them are very knowledgeable and helpful.

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

NN/LM SE/A has played a big role in shaping my career and I am very thankful for that.  It has expanded our ability as a health sciences library to move out into the community and provide resources to residents. I appreciate the opportunities it has given our institution and me that are still thriving.

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

I have opportunities to continue to see some of the senior members I got acquainted with through the outreach project. It is a great feeling when they tell me that they share the knowledge with their friends and family, which I shared with them. Some of them regularly check out resources on healthy aging and one member in particular stays in touch with me through email and phone. They have become experts in searching for reliable information, not intimidated by technology, and applying the knowledge to make healthy choices.  Those were the objectives of the project.

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

It is hard to get started and earn the confidence of your audience, but once they are comfortable with you it is an ongoing and gratifying service. Do not just focus on what you are trying to do, take some time and listen to your community and what they need.

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

by Terri Ottosen, Consumer Health Coordinator, NN/LM, SE/A

The “nature” vs. “nurture” argument took an interesting turn recently. An article in the journal Science, describes recent research that found that genes, not a healthy lifestyle, determine whether most people make it to age 95 or beyond. Of course, lifestyle matters, but according to Dr. Jill P. Crandall, a professor of clinical medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and co-author of a new study on longevity, “the genetic component that allows people to survive into extreme old age is probably a very powerful one, even counteracting the effects of unhealthy lifestyle choices.”[1] This article has since been retracted, but in the full notice of retraction, the main scientific findings remain supported by the original data.

The study authors interviewed people living independently at ages 95 through 109, and asked them to recall things such as their weight, height, alcohol consumption, smoking and their physical activity at age 70. They were also asked whether they ate a low-calorie, low-fat or low-salt diet at that age. All the subjects were Ashkenazi Jews, who share a similar genetic heritage. The researchers then compared the responses to those from a group of 3,164 people who took part in a survey in the 1970s.  The participants in the earlier study were at about the same ages as the elderly subjects who appear in the new study.

So, did today’s elderly people act differently back when they were 70, from people in general? Were they healthier, or did they smoke less and exercise more? The researchers found the answer to be, not really. They discovered that centenarians in general did not stick to any specific healthy diet any more than the general population. The same was found for smoking and exercise. For example, only 43% of men 95 and older reported exercising regularly with moderate intensity, compared with 57% of men in the comparison group.

Generally, science knows relatively little when it comes to genetics. Since the Human Genome Project was completed in 2003, we are learning more and more as the data from that project is analyzed. As librarians, you may get questions regarding genetic conditions occasionally, but not routinely. In the future, we will probably see this change as consumers and health professionals seek knowledge and answers. Additionally, there are many social, ethical and legal issues surrounding genetic information. It is important as health information professionals that we know good sources of reliable genetic information to assist those with questions. Some health sciences librarians are adept at searching genomic databases and assist researchers with genetic sequences and more. Some of us may simply recognize that a particular disease or condition is genetic in nature and will refer patrons beyond MedlinePlus, to the National Library of Medicine’s Genetic Home Reference database. [2]

The NN/LM SE/A has a consumer genetics class, “ABCs of DNA: Unraveling the Mystery of Genetics Information for Consumers,” that has been taught several times throughout the Region and at MLA. It will be updated and offered in Seattle at MLA 2012 and will be added to the suite of courses via distance education on Moodle in the future. The Consumer Health Coordinator has a keen interest in genetics information and constantly strives to increase her knowledge of the subject. There are quite a few interesting genetics blogs for those interested in the topic. Tomorrow’s Table: http://scienceblogs.com/tomorrowstable/ is a blog that explores genetically modified food and its future.  The U.S. PharmD.com site has a great list of the top 50 genetics blogs for further reading: http://www.uspharmd.com/blog/2009/top-50-genetics-blogs/. A SEAGuide (our version of a LibGuide) will also be forthcoming on the topic.

For those of you that would like to take a look at the resources and materials from the class, please visit: http://nnlm.gov/training/genetics/index.html