Outreach to Underserved Health Professionals

Expanding Digital Library Services to Public Health Professionals in Western Washington

Public Health - Seattle & King County
Seattle, WA
Period of Performance: January 1, 2007 - June 30, 2008
Final Report

With funding from the Sewell Memorial Fund, Public Health -Seattle & King County established a Public Health Digital Library for its workforce (PHSKC Digital Library). This library consists of both free and fee-based online public health information resources, including:

• Reviewed and annotated public health oriented websites
• Links to open access and public library electronic journals
• Links to institution owned electronic journal subscriptions
• Access to reference and document delivery information services
• Training in information access and knowledge management

In this project, Public Health - Seattle & King County will extend and expand these services, both free and fee-based, to underserved public health professionals in Western Washington. They will survey information needs in selected regions of Washington State and identify appropriate local health jurisdictions with which to collaborate. They will plan and develop library resources tailored to these groups, and expand the PHSKC Digital Library to reflect the needs of that extended public health workforce.

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Web-Based Immunization Information Resource Library Project

Healthy Roads Media
Bozeman, MT
Period of Performance: January 1, 2007 - March 31, 2008
Final Report

This project will involve the development of English and Spanish written vaccine information statements (VIS) that cover most of the common children and adult immunizations (Chickenpox, DPaT, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Hib, MMR, Inactivated Influenza, Pneumococcal polysaccharide, Td, and Polio) into enhanced formats. These enhanced formats include audio, multimedia, and web-based video. In addition to the full content versions of the VIS materials, shortened versions that cover key concepts about each vaccine will be developed. These shortened versions are anticipated to be particularly useful in busy clinical settings where a short patient education presentation (less than 5 minutes) is more practical than the 10-15 minutes that the full versions will typically run. All materials (in addition to the written format) will be made available on the web. Formal evaluation of the materials will be done in immunization clinics at the local public health department (Gallatin City-County Health Department, MT). Training of staff will be carried out in the clinical evaluation site(s). Evaluation of the effectiveness of the web dissemination will also be carried out.

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Community Outreach Project

Information Rx for Cascade County Project

Great Falls Public Library
Great Falls, MT
Period of Performance: January 1, 2007 - September 30, 2008
Final Report

Great Falls Public Library will partner with community-based health organizations, the Great Falls Clinic, and the local public health jurisdiction to help citizens of Cascade County make more informed health care decisions. The project will focus on health literacy improvement and will utilize the National Library of Medicine/American College of Physicians Information RX program materials. Health literacy and information skills development trainings will be offered and a Cascade County Health Commons Website will be developed.

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Express Outreach Projects

Serving up Resources for Healthy Eating

Port Townsend Public Library
Port Townsend, WA
Period of Performance: January 1, 2009- March 31, 2010

Port Townsend Public Library plans to expand its capacity to provide high quality information that supports parents in making healthy eating choices for their families. The library will build on strategies that have proven successful in the past: promotion of online resources, small-group instruction, and distribution of printed information at the library and community venues. Specific activities and services include development of a special "Serving Up Resources for Healthy Eating" web site, training of staff in using high quality online resources - especially MedlinePlus - for health and nutrition information, online search workshops for library patrons, presentations to community groups such as the PTA, and production and distribution of promotional materials. A key partner for the project is the Port Townsend Food Co-op, a community resource for locally grown, organic foods that is active in consumer education.

Oregon 211 Outreach Project

OR211
Portland, OR
Period of Performance: September 1, 2008 - August 31, 2009

This project is for targeted outreach to Oregon communities outside the Metropolitan Portland area to promote expansion and use of health and human service information available through 2-1-1 and NNLM resources as part of a coordinated initiative to extend phone and online access to 2-1-1 services statewide. It will complement and expand upon outreach activities being undertaken by Oregon 2-1-1 to educate communities about the need for and benefits of simplified access to health information and services through 2-1-1 in order to build the constituency for expanding 2-1-1 coverage to all communities in the state. The project incorporates a particular focus on emergency response organizations, such as 9-1-1, police and fire departments, to educate them about resources that can assist them in preparing and responding to disaster situations. This includes NNLM resources such as PubMed, the Household Products Database, ToxTown, TOXNET and HazMap that are not as well-utilized as they can be to support risk reduction and effective emergency response in the event of a public health crisis or hazardous materials incident.

Building Capacity for Quality Health Information in School Communities

Center for Public Health Nutrition - University of Washington
Seattle, WA
Period of Performance: May 1, 2008 - April 30, 2009

The Coordinated School Health (CSH) model, developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, provides a structure for integrating health across eight components of school life in order to assure that children are healthy and ready to learn. In Washington State, the Healthy Schools, Successful Students website (www.healthyschoolswa.org) is an important, accessible and comprehensive vehicle for providing tools, information and support to all individuals involved in CSH. The web site has been developed, pre-tested, evaluated and managed by the Center for Public Health Nutrition (CPHN) and currently receives over 2,300 visits per month. Website links will target the leading adolescent health behaviors contributing to death and disability: physical inactivity; poor nutrition; tobacco use; sexual risk taking; alcohol and other drug use and injury and violence.

This project proposes to promote MedlinePlus through the Healthy Schools website and workshops to provide health professionals, administrators, librarians, health educators, and other stakeholders working with K-12 schools throughout the state with increased access to quality health information. Workshops will be conducted at a minimum of four conferences and visits to two or three school districts. Proposals for workshops will be submitted for the Washington Library Media Association in October 2008 in Portland, Oregon; and the Washington Joint Conference on Health in October 2008 in Yakima.

This project targets school nurses, school librarians and health educators in school districts throughout the state. Due to the nature of their work, these professionals can individually benefit from the tools and information, disseminate the information to impact Washington's 1.1 million school age children and promote awareness and use of MedlinePlus to colleagues, community members, other health professionals, parents and students.

Promotion of the New MEDICOR Region-Wide Health Information Portal

Spokane County Medical Society Library
Spokane, WA
Period of Performance: May 1, 2008 - February 28, 2009
Final Report

The Spokane County Medical Society (SCMS) has recently launched an Internet-hosted, region-wide health information portal called MEDICOR. This single sign-on, remotely accessible library portal offers area physicians (phase one) a convenient way to search and retrieve information from a diverse range of free and proprietary electronic health resources useful in treating patients at the point-of-care. Licensed resources of three health systems are now remotely available through a single point of entry and authentication: 1) Empire Health Services (Spokane), 2) Sacred Heart Medical Center & Children's Hospital (Spokane), and 3) Kootenai Health (Idaho, still under development). Extensive outreach services will be necessary to raise awareness of this valuable information resource as well as train physicians on its features and functionality.

Through a comprehensive awareness, education and training program developed for physicians and administrators -- which will emphasize remote accessibility, the features and functionality of the MEDICOR information portal, and the availability and use of NLM-produced or sponsored resources -- a ten-month outreach effort will substantially increase the number of physicians in the Spokane geographic region who routinely access, search, retrieve and apply quality health care information to patient care.

Dialogo Informativo - A Spanish Radio Network Program Focused on Health Education and Outreach

Community Choice PHCO
Cashmere, WA
Period of Performance: October 15, 2007 - October 15, 2008

Radio is the leading community information source for Spanish speakers in the North Central Washington Region. Community Choice PHCO, Physician-Hospital-Community healthcare Organization proposes a culturally appropriate, efficient and effective venue to reach the Spanish speaking community with health and emergency preparedness information and resources. The goal is a one year Radio Health Education Initiative targeting listeners of Spanish language radio in the 5 county North Central Region of Washington State. Community Choice PHCO, Amezola Productions & Services and North Central Regional Library (NCRL) will partner to promote health resources and information through Spanish language Public Service Announcements (PSAs) on radio stations in the 5 county North Central Region of the state. The PSAs will focus on the leading health conditions Hispanics face, navigating the complex health system and fraud prevention. Listeners will be directed to a local hotline supported by trained volunteers to provide answers and guidance to calls generated as a result of the outreach and education through this informative radio network. The PSAs will also refer listeners to MedlinePlus Espanol and will promote the NCR libraries (or appropriate libraries within the catchment area of the broadcasting radio stations) as a community resource for public access computer use and relevant health resources. NCRL and Community Choice PHCO will develop a Spanish/English health resources bookmark (promoting www.medlineplus.gov in Spanish and English), that will be inserted in the NCR libraries "Mail a Book" service. Community Choice PHCO will be responsible for planning, finances, monitoring and evaluation of the project.

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Web Tools Training for Rural Oregon Health and Social Service Professionals

211info
Portland, OR
Period of Performance: October 15, 2007 - October 15, 2008
Final Report

Oregon SafeNet, a statewide toll-free helpline, connects more than 30,000 women and children a year to information about local health and human services. This project will expand on a partnership that began in January, 2007 with the Oregon Child Development Coalition (OCDC), an agency that provides family-focused, comprehensive child development services to over 3500 children in Oregon. By partnering with OCDC, this project will provide training at established meetings of health, education and social service professionals who work with low income, primarily Spanish speaking individuals and families in specific rural areas of Oregon. The trainings will focus on four web tools - Oregon SafeNet, MedlinePlus, Oregon Helps and the Beehive - that combined provide a wealth of health and human service information. Currently the 211info website has a comprehensive statewide online directory of health and social service organizations. By December, 2007, through funding from the Office of Women's Health Region X, a new Oregon SafeNet website will not only present information on maternal and child health programs but will also include the online directory. Funds are being requested from NNLM PNR to conduct the web tools workshops and to update Oregon SafeNet outreach materials.

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Connecting Verbena's TRANSform Health Project & Cultural Competency

Verbena
Seattle, WA
Period of Performance: October 15, 2007 - October 15, 2008

Verbena's TRANSform Health Project works with transgender individuals and connects them to health resources. Verbena's Cultural Competency Trainings educate health and human services providers on LGBTQ health and provide resources to them. This project will connect individuals with NLM resources within these two programs. First, transgender individuals will receive accurate information in two workshops about NLM library resources and how to effectively find accurate research and information on the internet. Second, a booth about internet resources and research will be included at a Transgender Health Fair as well as a workshop about how to utilize NLM research libraries in October, 2007. Third, more than 200 health care and human service providers will receive research and resources made available using NLM resources. Fourth, at least one cultural competency training will be offered to librarians within King County. Fifth, an accurate transgender health website with NLM resources and links to MedlinePlus, ClinicalTrials.gov, and PubMed will be set up through the Verbena website.

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Outreach Program to Underserved Speech Language Pathologists and Audiologists in Southeastern Idaho

Idaho Health Sciences Library - Idaho State University
Pocatello, ID
Period of Performance: January 8, 2007 - January 31, 2008
Final Report

The purpose of this outreach project is to provide a training program to the underserved speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and audiologists in the southeast region of Idaho. Partners will be school districts, medical centers and libraries. SLPs and audiologists in this area will be taught basic principles of evidence-based practice (EBP) and procedures and methods of searching for the best evidence in PubMed and other related online resources. These skills and knowledge will ultimately lead to more efficient and better patient care for the Southeastern Idaho citizens with communication disorders. Free workshops will be offered to SLPs and audiologists to gain knowledge of EBP, improve searching skills and increase confidence in using the National Library of Medicine and other related information resources. Follow-up support to implement EBP will be provided. Follow-up evaluation will be conducted following the training. In addition, this outreach project will provide the investigators with experience and insights to go statewide for future research on EBP implementation and information searching in the field of speech language pathology and audiology.

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Building Capacity for Quality Nutrition Information in Seattle Public Schools

Center for Public Health Nutrition - University of Washington
Seattle, WA
Period of Performance: January 8, 2007 - January 31, 2008
Final Report

Schools play an important role in promoting awareness about the link between nutrition, lifelong health, and student learning. This requires key school staff to have information about and access to high quality and accurate information. The purpose of this project is to provide targeted training on access to quality nutrition information for health professionals, librarians, and health educators in the Seattle Public Schools (SPS). The Center for Public Health Nutrition (CPHN) at the UW will work closely with the school district staff to assess needs and to design and deliver workshops that will increase the capacity and capability of staff to access resources from the National Library of Medicine. The trainings will focus on competency in the evaluation of quality nutrition information, accessing downloadable information for student clinics, libraries, and classrooms, and methods for dissemination of skills to students, teachers, and staff.

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Tacoma Hilltop Health Outreach 2007

Allen Renaissance, Inc.
Tacoma, WA
Period of Performance: January 8, 2007 - January 31, 2008

This project will provide community outreach health education for residents of the Hilltop community in Tacoma, Washington, a predominately African American Community with many underserved, low income and senior residents. The Health Coalition for Communities of Color (HC3) has provided health education programs in the Hilltop since 2004. Allen Renaissance, Inc. (ARI), a 501 (c ) (3) arm of Allen AME church offers community outreach services on the Hilltop and has a history of collaboration with HC3 in delivering these community health education programs. The partnership, between ARI and HC3, will continue to expand and will begin to offer services on a monthly basis, to include training session health education that covers from birth to death issues and training to community leaders for ongoing health prevention models. These services will improve the health and quality of life for residents of the Tacoma Hilltop.

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MedlinePlus Go Local

Go Local Oregon

Oregon Health & Sciences University
Portland, OR
Period of Performance: February 15, 2008 - February 15, 2009

OHSU is Oregon's only comprehensive public academic health center. Its fundamental purpose is to improve the health and well being of people in Oregon and beyond. As part of its multifaceted public mission, OHSU strives for excellence in education, research and scholarship, clinical practice and community service. OHSU works to lead and advocate for programs that improve health for all Oregonians, and extend OHSU's education, research and health care missions through community service, partnerships and outreach. Within the first two months of the development of the database for MedlinePlus Go Local Oregon, the Principal Investigator will develop an online survey to measure awareness of the project among Oregon Librarians. The survey will be distributed via listservs. At the beginning of the last month of the granting period, the survey will be sent again to measure changes in awareness of the project. The second survey will also include questions to determine use of the service by librarians. The Principal Investigator will include the results of the second survey in project reports to NN/NLM and NLM.

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Montana MedlinePlus Go Local

Voices of Hope
Great Falls, MT
Period of Performance: May 1, 2007 - April 20, 2008

This project will provide the citizens of the state of Montana access to health services information through MedlinePlus Go Local. The Go Local Montana project will be a locally-hosted system based on the already-existing Montana 211 database (Missouri model). The geographic area of the project will be the entire state of Montana. Voices of Hope will serve as the lead agency for Go Local Montana. The end goal of the project is to link from MedlinePlus Go Local to health services information that is currently housed in the Montana 211 database.

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Technology Improvement

Mobile Clinical Librarian Program/Satellite Librarian Program

Kootenai Medical Center
Coeur d'Alene, ID
Period of Performance: January 1, 2009 - December 1, 2009

The purpose of this award is twofold:

The Satellite Librarian Program will address the information needs of the medical staff at Kootenai Medical Center by providing research, reference and instructional services in the physicians' lounge area via a mobile technology unit with a laptop computer, printer, projector and cart.

The Mobile Clinical Librarian Program will be a partnership with KMC's Intensivist and Hospitalist teams. Librarians will use the mobile technology unit to answer questions at the point of care while participating in rounds with the physicians.

Up To Speed/Implementing Equipment for a Rural Health Clinic in Montana to Enable Seamless Patient Information Transfer

Northern Rockies Rural Health Clinic
Cut Bank, MT
Period of Performance: January 1, 2009 - December 1, 2009

This award will allow clinical staff at the Northern Rockies Rural Health Clinic (NRRHC) timely access to accurate health information regarding patient care. Computers will be placed at the nursing stations and the physician offices within the NRRHC clinic. The project will enable the healthcare providers to access, review, and document patient information efficiently. A scanner will be used to convert paper-based medical records into an electronic record format.

Mobile Library Outreach System

Bastyr University
Kenmore, WA
Period of Performance: January 1, 2009 - December 1, 2009

This award will enable the Bastyr library professional staff to provide information outreach to practitioners and health consumers at the Bastyr Center for Natural Health and at numerous other community centers and clinics. This outreach will require a mobile workstation which is to include a portable LCD projector, laptop computer, wireless mouse, laser pointer, portable projection screen, and portable table.

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Medical Library Impact

My Health-E Vet Marketing

Portland VA Medical Center Library
Portland, OR
Period of Performance: April 15, 2008 - April 15, 2009

The Portland VA Medical Center Library is an invaluable supporter of My Health-E Vet (MHV, www.myhealth.va.gov), an institution-wide health information website currently featuring online prescription refills, as well as many other self-management resources. Veterans may research a health condition (using reliable resources such as MedlinePlus and HealthWise), review their Federal and VA benefits and resources, track and graph their vital statistics, and build up a lifelong health record including their emergency contacts, caregivers, treatment facilities, insurance information, labs and tests, allergies, immunizations, and family and military health history. Veterans can access and update their health record from any computer, and can share it with whomever they please. These veterans will be using My Health-E Vet to create a lifelong health record for themselves that they could access from their doctor's office, while on vacation - anywhere, anytime.

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Assessment and Planning

Rural Physicians and Physician Assistants Practicing in the Pacific Northwest: A Study of the Impact of Library Services on Clinical Decision Making for Patient Care

Kootenai Medical Center
Coeur d'Alene, ID
Period of Performance: October 1, 208 - March 1, 2009

The goals of the study are to determine: 1) To what extent, and in what ways, does clinical information impact decision-making for patient care by physicians and physician assistants; 2) By what method do physicians and PAs prefer to receive information; 3) To what extent do physicians and PAs prefer to do their own searching; 4) What library services are being utilized by physicians and PAs practicing in rural areas, and what types of consortial arrangements make this access possible; and 5) To what extent would librarian-led instruction impact physicians and PAs' perception of competency in searching the clinical literature?

Go Local Proposal Needs Assessment and Planning

Spokane County Medical Society Library
Seattle, WA
Period of Performance: May 15, 2008 - August 15 2008

Target communities, populations and major stakeholders will be identified; and the availability of consumer health information resources will be assessed for a [proposed Go Local project covering the Eastern Washington geographic region. Spokane County Medical Society Library will identify and evaluate existing health information organizations, resources and databases.

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Improving Health Literacy in King County's Immigrant and Refugee Community

Literary Source
Seattle, WA
Period of Performance: February 1, 2008 - April, 30 2008
Final Report

Literacy Source will continue to develop relationships with agencies providing health and social services to immigrants and refugees in the greater Seattle area and, from those agencies, will identify partners who can commit staff and resources to an eventual project. Second, we will survey online resources relevant to the health education of immigrants and refugees and their healthcare providers. Third, we will conduct a community assessment in order to survey the health literacy of King County's refugee and immigrant communities and determine the best method(s) to improve their access to and comprehension of health information.

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Montana Baby Boomers Get Fit at the Library

Montana State Library
Helena, MT
Period of Performance: April 1, 2007 - March 30, 2008

The Montana State Library will plan and evaluate programming to promote public libraries as sources of health information for baby boomers. The state library will partner with Montana's hospital libraries and their corresponding hospitals, as well as with Montana public libraries, to produce a health fair and to provide trainings to both librarians and to the public. The Montana AARP will distribute information on the health fair and trainings to their 100,000+ Montana members. A TV and radio PSA will be distributed to TV and radio stations statewide. The Montana Medical Association will promote the health fair and NLM resources to their members.

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Planning Project to Assess the Health Information Needs of Upper Kittitas County, Washington

Kittitas Valley Community Hospital
Ellensburg, WA
Period of Performance: January 8, 2007 - January 31, 2008
Final Report

The KVCH Community Health Library hopes to accomplish two main objectives in the Upper Kittitas County assessment and planning:

1. A Community Assessment of the health information needs of Upper Kittitas County including assessing the target audience, target demographics, priorities of health information needed, cooperation of local healthcare professionals, and potential community partners.

2. A Location Assessment/Planning of the type of facility, building, or kiosk that would be the most efficient in providing health information to the target community, the location of the new health information center, and the cost of implementing a new Upper County Community Health Library satellite location.

The community assessment will provide imperative background information; establishing the level of need for health information expansion into Upper County and also provide the Library with critical information on the type of facility/kiosk that will work best to fulfill that need. The assessment will accomplish the above by collecting data on community demographics, health status of population, barriers to obtaining health information, cooperation level with local medical staff, and by identifying potential partners.

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Assessment of the Current State of Awareness of Medical Literature Search and Document Delivery Services in Benton County

Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center
Corvallis, OR
Period of Performance: October 15, 2007 - January 15, 2008
Final Report

Librarians at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center will gauge the current state of awareness among a cross section of the general public in Corvallis, Oregon and its near environs of the medical literature search and document delivery services of the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library and of Murray Memorial Library of Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center. Data generated by this survey will be utilized to enhance services already offered and to look into offering other services that the data indicate would be welcomed by the public.

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Healthy Eating Every Day: Planning for a Community Based Nutrition Literacy Program

Port Townsend Public Library
Port Townsend, WA
Period of Performance: September 1, 2007 - November 30, 2007
Final Report
Survey
Toolkit

The library will use this award to plan for implementation of a community-wide initiative that encourages healthy eating: at home, at school and out and about in the community. Specifically they will: 1) Document community needs and community assets, including library resources. 2) Determine opportunities for outreach. 3) Identify potential partners. 4) Develop specific program components. 5) Create an evaluation plan, with specific outcomes and desired impact. 6) Identify sources of funding for program support and begin to develop grant proposals.

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The Health for Kitsap Project

United Way of Kitsap County
Bremerton, WA
Period of Performance: April 15, 2007 - June 30, 2007
Survey Instrument
Final Report

The HEALTH for Kitsap project, a partnership between United Way of Kitsap County and the Kitsap County Health District, seeks to connect public health professionals, community based organizations and residents of Kitsap County to current data regarding health care, safe home environments, social services, and to help to make children "ready for school." Investigators will use this Planning Award to work with Kitsap County Health District, Kitsap County Library staff, and community based organizations to develop and administer a survey that assesses the health information skills and needs of participating agencies and their constituents. The survey will ask participants about their knowledge and use of web-based resources, workshops or trainings, and how they share information with their members. The tool will also solicit suggestions about how the HEALTH for Kitsap project should disseminate and integrate information regarding the Standard of Health for Kitsap Families and the recently conducted United Way of Kitsap County Community Assessment.

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Suicide Prevention Curriculum Assessment & Planning Project

Flathead City-County Health Department
Kalispell, MT 59901
Period of Performance: December 1, 2007 - July 1, 2008
Final Report

This project will review evidence-based suicide prevention curriculums for implementation into all county school health classes as a short term goal. A long term goal is provision of sustainability for Suicide Prevention activities long after our current SAMSHA grant ends in 2009.

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