http://foundation.acponline.org/hl/hcc2007.htm

On Wednesday, November 28, 2007, the American College of Physicians Foundation sponsored its 6th annual National Health Communication Conference, “Advances in Health Literacy” at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. This year’s conference challenged researchers, clinicians, and educators to “present evidence-based solutions to the problems associated with low health literacy and discuss meaningful innovations to improve health outcomes and service” (Introductions and Opening Remarks by Harold J. Fallon, MD, MACP http://foundation.acponline.org/files/hcc2007/fallon07.pdf). Accessed 12/4/2007.

The conference forums, mainly presented as roundtable discussions, produced thoughtful solutions to the difficult problem of increasing health literacy. One such solution, presented by Alastair J. J. Wood in “Simplifying Medication Scheduling – Can We Confuse Patients Less?” is to develop a universal medication schedule on pill bottles whenever possible (there are always exceptions). According to Wood, medications require that people “know what to take, how many pills to take, and when to take them” (http://foundation.acponline.org/files/hcc2007/wood07.pdf Accessed 12/4/2007. Presentation slide 2). This universal medication schedule would show people what to take, how many to take, and when to take them in a picture format such as below:

Although the conference was directed towards physicians, nurses, pharmacists, educators, patient education material writers, librarians, and others working to increase health literacy also attended. The most notable presentation stated the importance of partnerships. Elyse Barbell Rudolph, Executive Director, New York City’s Literacy Assistance Center, shared her experience with a local hospital. The literacy assistance center and the hospital partnered with each other to increase health literacy. After the literacy center staff trained the health professionals to be clear and speak in plain language, the literacy center asked the hospital health professionals to speak to a basic ESL class at the literacy center about their jobs and responsibilities as health care providers. After the health professionals spoke with the class, the class on a separate occasion went to the hospital to tour the relevant facilities (emergency room, maternity ward, etc.) and ask questions. The class participants then participated in a teach-back session with their classmates in hopes of increasing their knowledge and expectations of and comfort with the health care system in the United States. Barbell Rudolph demonstrated that the partnerships helped both the students and the health professionals. She states,

Partnerships have helped adult educators to “contextualize” the curriculum by using real life material (e.g. registration forms)…[and] demystify the health care system through visits to health care facilities…[and] partnerships have helped demonstrate the gap between what doctors and other health care professionals and administrators think they have communicated and what patients have understood…[and] demonstrate that clinical communication can be a barrier, along with educational deficits of patients (Literacy Community Centers and Health Literacy, Elyse Barbell Rudolph, http://foundation.acponline.org/files/hcc2007/rudolph07.pdf Accessed 12/4/2007. Presentation slides 8 and 9).

The American College of Physicians Foundation 6th annual National Health Communication Conference, “Advances in Health Literacy” was useful and informative. The participants heard from researchers, clinicians, and educators and gained new knowledge and even took home the new easy-to-read American College of Physicians Foundation Living with Diabetes, an Everyday Guide for You and Your Family. This guide has photographs and stories of real people who have diabetes and focuses on the “need to know and do vs. the nice to know” (Terry Davis, http://foundation.acponline.org/files/hcc2007/davis07.pdf Accessed 12/4/2007. Presentation slide 3).

For fuller information on the conference, health literacy issues, and the call for submissions for the November 19, 2008 conference, please see http://foundation.acponline.org/. Hopefully there will be librarians presenting on their partnerships at the 2008 conference.

www.cdc.gov/ncipc/duip/spotlite/3d.htm

December is National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month (3D Month) by Presidential Proclamation. Though thousands of people die or are injured in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes each year in the United States, effective measures to prevent these deaths and injuries do exist.

Resources available on the Internet include:

MedlinePlus.gov: Motor Vehicle Safety
(http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/motorvehiclesafety.html)

About every twelve minutes, someone in the U.S. dies from a motor vehicle crash. Trying to prevent these crashes is one part of motor vehicle safety.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(www.nhtsa.dot.gov)
Over the limit, under arrest! This promotional planner provides marketing materials, media tools and marketing ideas you can distribute to fit your local needs and objectives while at the same time partnering with other states, communities and organizations all across the country on this promotional program.

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
(http://www.iihs.org/)
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit, independent, scientific and educational organization, was founded in 1959.It sponsors English and Spanish materials about drunk and other unsafe driving particulars at http://www.stopimpaireddriving.org/ and http://www.iihs.org/spanish/default.html

American Academy of Family Physicians
(http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/common/addictions/alcohol/273.html)

Drinking: It Can Spin Your World Around: Facts for Teens

Alcohol changes the way you act. It makes you let go of the feelings that keep you from doing things you know are risky or dangerous. This can lead you to make bad decisions–like driving when you know you shouldn’t. You might think that it won’t happen to you, but everyone knows someone who has said that and then ended up hurt.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
http://www.family.samhsa.gov/stop/talk.aspx

Start Talking Before They Start Drinking: A Family Guide

You are the most powerful influence on your teen’s behavior. Underage drinking can have serious consequences, so protect your child from the risks associated with drinking by maintaining open communication and expressing a clear, consistent message about alcohol. Building a close relationship with your kid will encourage shared decisions that impact health and well-being. This guide provides facts and practical advice on how to talk with your child about underage drinking. It helps you create household rules to support your values.

Unified Health Communication: Addressing Health Literacy, Cultural Competency, and Limited English Proficiency, at http://www.hrsa.gov/healthliteracy/training.htm
is an online interactive training course developed by the Health Resources and Services Administration of DHHS. The program aims to raise the quality of provider-patient interactions by teaching providers and their staff how to gauge and respond to their patients’ health literacy, cultural background, and language skills. It focuses on how to:

• improve patient communication skills
• increase awareness and knowledge of the three main factors that affect communication with patients: health literacy, cultural competency and low English proficiency
• implement patient-centered communication practices that demonstrate cultural competency and appropriately address patients with limited health literacy and low English proficiency

Compiled by AcademyHealth
Funded by the National Library of Medicine http://www.nlm.nih.gov/nichsr/corelib/hsrmethods.html

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) contracted with Academy Health to develop a core and a desired list of books, journals, bibliographic databases, web sites, and other media in the field of health services research methods. Both core and desired lists serve as guides for health librarians who want to develop a health services research methods collection.

Due to the breadth of the methodological areas covered by health services research, the library is organized both by core and desired materials, as well as by topic area, offering a framework for developing a collection of HSR methods resources. The benefit of dividing the resources based upon “core” and “desired” resources, as well as by discipline, is that librarians will have a choice of which specific subtopics they deem to be most beneficial for their collection.

Across all topic areas identified, the core list contains 56 books, 50 journals, 6 bibliographic databases, and 23 web sites (and ‘other’ resources such as instructional videos).

The NIH Health Services Research Study Section sought to define HSR as a distinct field of scientific inquiry at the intersection of public health and medical care, informed by disciplinary perspectives. The field has evolved to encompass multiple disciplinary perspectives, including methods from cognate disciplines such as economics, statistics, political science, sociology, and many other schools of thought. The field has also developed new models and techniques to address research questions in specialized areas of inquiry such as patient safety and access to care.

The Academy Health definition of health services research, developed in 2000 by Kathleen Lohr and Don Steinwachs, is as follows:

Health services research is the multidisciplinary field of scientific investigation that studies how social factors, financing systems, organizational structures and processes, health technologies, and personal behaviors affect access to health care, the quality and cost of health care, and ultimately our health and well-being. Its research domains are individuals, families, organizations, institutions, communities, and populations

HSR methods are not confined to disciplinary methods, but rather, are unique in their approach to medical and health care delivery questions because the field was developed to facilitate study of applied questions. These include:

• Who has access to health care?
• Do patients in large urban areas receive the same level of services as those in rural areas?
• At different levels of care, which patients have the best outcomes?

Librarians may wish to utilize the modules by choosing specific content areas that will benefit their library’s needs. Likewise, faculty developing new courses may look to this list for suggested current textbooks in the field. The organization of the list is intended to facilitate understanding of the array of options in different disciplines.

These lists of resources are not intended to define the full range of HSR methods texts. They provide a set of resources considered valuable by librarians and academics in the field of health services research.

The field of health services research is continually expanding and developing new methods to apply to health care and health care delivery questions. Due to the fact that the field is growing rapidly, users of these lists should search for updated versions of the resources cited here in order to ensure the most recent information on methodological topics.

by Kathy Cravedi, NLM Office of Communications and Public Liaison
publicinfo@nlm.nih.gov

Landmark Framingham Heart Study Forms Foundation of New Understanding of Diseases and Disorders

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) - the nation’s medical research agency - is launching one of the most extensive collections of genetic and clinical data ever made freely available to researchers worldwide. Called SHARe (SNP Health Association Resource), the Web-based dataset enables qualified researchers to access a wealth of data from large population-based studies, starting with the landmark Framingham Heart Study. Funded by the NIH’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), SHARe will accelerate discoveries linking genes and health, thereby advancing scientists’ understanding of the causes and prevention of cardiovascular disease and other disorders.

Framingham SHARe includes data on more than 9,300 participants spanning three generations, including over 900 families, who had their DNA tested for 550,000 genetic variations (single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs). In addition, the participants’ clinical data gathered during the study, such as test results or weight, are included. SHARe will enable researchers to relate study participants’ genetic variations with their clinical and laboratory test results. The Framingham Heart Study is funded by NHLBI in collaboration with Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston University School of Public Health.

“The widespread availability of Framingham Heart Study data provides unprecedented opportunities to investigate the connections between genes and disease,” said Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Mike Leavitt. “SHARe represents a major milestone in moving toward an era of personalized health care - a future in which the ways we prevent, diagnose, and treat health problems are tailored to an individual’s genetic makeup.”

Resources now available include:

• Framingham SNP Health Association Resource (SHARe), http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/projects/gap/cgi-bin/study.cgi?id=phs000007
• NIH Policy on Genome-Wide Association Studies, http://grants.nih.gov/grants/gwas/index.htm
• dbGaP (database of Genotypes and Phenotypes), http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/dbgap
• Framingham Heart Study, http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/about/framingham/index.html
• Personalized Health Care: Opportunities, Pathways, Resources, http://www.hhs.gov/myhealthcare

Finding the Key: Healthier Homes and Communities
http://sophe.org/singlenews.asp?item_ID=7940

The Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) will celebrate National Health Education Week (NHEW) October 15-20, 2007 with the theme, Finding the Key: Healthier Homes and Communities.
The 2007 NHEW theme addresses environmental health literacy - awareness that individual and collective behaviors impact our environments at home and in our communities. NHEW 2007 will be carried out during the next 12 months with specific focused quarterly topics related to environmental health, including:

Oct – Nov 2007 – Introduction to Environmental Health Literacy and the year-long National Health Education Week campaign
Jan - Mar 2008 - Environmental Health Affects of Children and the Elderly
Apr - June 2008 - Environmental Impacts of the Built Environment
July - Sept 2008 - Environmental Consequences of the Infectious Diseases namely water borne, vector borne and food borne pathways.

National Health Education Week materials, resources and updates are available and feature a free guide to assist health education professionals to plan national, local or regional health education activities throughout the year; an activity toolkit that includes samples and templates; and fact sheets.

View the 2007 NHEW Planning Guide and Toolkit: NHEW Planning Guide 2007

by Mandy Bayer Meloy, consumer health coordinator

Observation of Hispanic Heritage Month began on September 15, the anniversary of independence for Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Mexico declared its independence on September 16 and Chile on September 18. The celebration extends through October 14, 2007. (http://www.factmonster.com/spot/hhm1.html).

If you plan to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, you may want to obtain some NN/LM SE/A’s MedlinePlus.gov® and Pubmed.gov capability cards and MedlinePlus.gov® bookmarks in Spanish. Please email mbayerme@hshsl.umaryland.edu if you are interested in ordering capability cards or bookmarks. Please state which ones you would like and how many of each.

Reminder, NN/LM SE/A also has classes available for librarians, such as, ¿No Comprende? Spanish Health Information Resources for English Speaking Librarians and Vive La Vida sana recursos sobre la salud para bibliotecarios que hablan español. See http://nnlm.gov/sea/training/classes.html for more information about our classes.

assembled by Beth M. Wescott, editor

Millions Can’t Process Health Data: Health literacy problems linked to higher mortality rate

by Leslie Goldman | Special to the Tribune, September 25, 2007

Almost one-quarter of patients older than 65 were deemed medically illiterate based on a study that tested their ability to understand medical information, including appointment slips, X-ray preparation instructions and prescription labels. Researchers also found that people with low health literacy had a 50% higher mortality rate over five years compared to people with adequate literacy rates. Chicago Tribune (free registration)

From: Health Beat: Making Good Health Decisions http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-0925_health_literacy_halfsep25,0,1922837.story

October Is Health Literacy Month

Health Literacy Month, celebrated each October, is a time when health literacy advocates around the world promote the importance of understandable health information. Started by Helen Osborne in 1999, this month is a time for all health literacy advocates to let the world know why health literacy matters. Below is a range of Health Literacy Month possibilities:

• Health conferences for providers
• Health Information Literacy Kit from NN/LM SE/A
  http://nnlm.gov/sea/outreach/healthlitkit/
• Consumer health programs for patients and families
• Websites with understandable health information
• Research about ways to improve health communication
• Easier-to-read health booklets and other teaching materials
• Media attention to health literacy on radio, TV, and the press

The Health Literacy Month website has tools to help, including:

• Events. A searchable database about recent and upcoming Health Literacy Month events. You can read what others are doing as well as post your own.
• Health Literacy Month resources. These include a free downloadable logo plus other valuable resources to help make your event a great success.
• Free e-newsletter. What’s New in Health Literacy Consulting is a brief monthly e-message with updates about the latest articles, tips, and resources on the Health Literacy Consulting website. From April through October, What’s New also includes information about Health Literacy Month.

To learn more about Health Literacy Month, visit http://www.healthliteracy.com/hl_month.asp or email Helen Osborne at helen@healthliteracy.com or call Helen at 508-653-1199.

Discussion of the Health Literacy Results from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL), moderated by Cynthia Baur, Ph.D., Director, Division of Health Communication and Marketing, National Center for Health Marketing, CDC, and Mark Kutner, MD., Vice President for Workforce Research and Analysis at the American Institutes for Research (AIR).
http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Health_Literacy or
http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/healthliteracy/07healthNAAL.html

More topics related to adult literacy education (ALE) are available from: http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Main_Page

The American College of Physicians Foundation will host its Sixth Annual National Health Communication Conference, Advances in Health Literacy, on November 28, 2007 in Washington, DC. This year’s conference will feature panel presentations that focus on successful models that improve health outcomes. For conference information and to register, visit:
http://foundation.acponline.org/hl/hcc2007.htm

Health Resources and Services Administration will be rolling out a unified health communications training course which includes a health literacy module, cultural competency module and limited english proficiency module in October, which will be an online interactive 4-5 hour course. Contact: Linda Johnston Lloyd, HRSA Health Literacy Coordinator phone: 301-443-0831, fax: 301-443-9795 ljohnston-lloyd@hrsa.gov , www.hrsa.gov

http://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov/

This version features a new home page and new header and footer across all pages.

The text version and Spanish version pages have a very different look.
See, for example,
http://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov/text_version/chemicals.php?id=1 and
http://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov/espanol/chemicals.php?id=32 .

The major changes to the web site, how it all works behind-the-scenes, are invisible to users but will allow for easier maintenance and expansion of the web site. The subject content remains the same.

http://emall.nhlbihin.net/product2.asp?sku=07-2720

This newly revised handbook, with a special message from First Lady Laura Bush, provides new information on women’s heart disease and practical suggestions for reducing your own personal risk of heart-related problems. The handbook presents the latest information on how to live a healthier and longer life, by taking action steps to prevent and control heart disease risk factors.

You’ll also find new tips on following a nutritious eating plan, tailoring your physical activity program to your particular goals, quitting smoking, and getting your whole family involved in heart healthy living. The Healthy Heart Handbook for Women is part of The Heart Truth for Women, a national public awareness campaign for women about heart disease sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and many other groups.

PDF file available: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/other/hhw/hdbk_wmn.pdf