Unified Health Communication 101: Addressing Health Literacy, Cultural Competency, and Limited English Proficiency
http://www.hrsa.gov/healthliteracy/training.htm/

Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) online course will be of interest to librarians who provide support and information to the public and health professionals. To take the course, register with TRAIN (https://www.train.org/DesktopShell.aspx), the distance-learning resource for public health professionals. The course has been awarded five MLA CE credits.

Health Literacy: New Fields New Opportunities
http://healthliteracy.worlded.org/docs/tutorial/SWF/flashcheck/main.htm

Developed by World Education with support from the NN/LM Northeast Region, this tutorial covers: Health Literacy Challenge, Health Literacy Practitioners, Successful Strategies and Practices, and Applying What You Have Learned.

Assuring Quality Care for People with Limited Health Literacy
http://www.medscape.com/viewprogram/8603

Developed by Medscape, this tutorial defines health literacy and reviews how limited health literacy may affect the quality of healthcare. Also, it examines the relationship between health literacy and patient safety, identifies communication skills and clinical interventions that improve health communication for all patients, and reviews clinical care strategies that improve care for those most vulnerable to the effects of limited health literacy.

Assessing Health Literacy in Clinical Practice
http://www.medscape.com/viewprogram/8203

Developed by Medscape, this fact filled and well referenced tutorial assists clinicians and librarians learn how frequently they deal with patients with limited health literacy. It suggests strategies to use to adjust communication style to meet the needs of all of patients.

Health Literacy and Public Health: Communicate to Make a Difference series
http://www.nynj-phtc.org/phLit/Home/phlit-login.cfm

New York/New Jersey Public Health Training Center’s information-packed, referenced course in 2 modules: Module 1: Health Literacy & Public Health, and Module 2: Strategies for Addressing Low Health Literacy.

Is Your Document Readable for Your Target Audience?
http://wchs-web.asp.radford.edu/Old%20Web%20site/tutorial/index.htm

This tutorial assists the learner to analyze the reading ability of a target audience and to evaluate existing materials. Guides the learner through the steps in the process of developing, or revising, appropriate materials and provides links to outside resources.

http://www.medicalhome.alabama.gov/default.aspx?ID=1704

http://www.medicalhome.alabama.gov/default.aspx?id=539

Also available for download. the test on the Medicaid Agency website at www.medicaid.alabama.gov that can be taken and mailed. Contains all of the CME module post tests.

Great Rivers Partners for Health-E People!
http://www.literacycoalition.org/healthliteracy.html

Provides teaching tools to help the health care provider understand, and learn, how to work with patients who hide their lack of literacy skills. Users must register to get a login id. One program is for healthcare consumers (general public) and one is for healthcare professionals. Each program takes about 15 minutes to complete.

http://www.healthlawyers.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Public_Interest_and_Affairs/Public_Information_Series/Pan-Flu08.pdf or http://tinyurl.com/5fu55h

Community Pan-Flu Preparedness: A Checklist of Key Legal Issues for Healthcare Providers, is co-sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Health Lawyers’ Association and the Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. The 94-page report addresses and reflects the perspectives of the myriad professionals along the continuum of healthcare and public health legal preparedness. Its coverage includes legal impediments, gaps and implementation challenges in the event of a pandemic or other such wide scale disaster.

Invitees to the public interest dialog session framing this report “focused on ways for healthcare providers to coordinate preparedness planning with local, state and federal authorities. These recommendations have been incorporated into the Checklist to reflect the perspectives of numerous public and private stakeholders so the Checklist is as practical and relevant as possible.”

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

What a difference a decade makes. Since its debut in 1998:

MedlinePlus has grown from 22 health topics to information on more than 770 health topics.

A Spanish version, MedlinePlus en español, was launched in 2002 in response to requests from the public and health care community. It is the most comprehensive Spanish language health site in the United States.

A “Go Local” feature was launched in 2003 when MedlinePlus users expressed the desire for help finding health services in their community.

A multiple languages collection with information in more than 40 languages and English translations was launched in 2008. It was created to help the millions of people in the United States with limited English, as well as the health care professionals they visit.

On October 11, 2008, Jan Orick, director of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital’s Biomedical Library, and Gloria Hayden, public services librarian, promoted MedlinePlus as part of St. Jude’s 12th annual Survivor’s Day celebration. Orick and Hayden greeted over 100 participants at their booth where they handed out pens, bookmarks, and brochures provided by the NN/LM. A laptop was set up, and one-on-one demonstrations were featured.

Are you looking for Consumer Health Classes to offer to your staff or patrons? Do you know community or faith-based organizations who are looking for free classes about Consumer Health? Do you serve consumers, veterans, teenagers, women, men, or the Spanish-speaking? If so, you have found the right place.

Please contact Terri Ottosen, Consumer Health Coordinator, at tottosen@hshsl.umaryland.edu or Mandy Meloy, Community Outreach Coordinator, at mbayerme@hshsl.umaryland.edu to schedule our classes.

The Canny Consumer: Resources for Consumer Health Decision-Making With the sharp rise in web-informed consumers and today’s fast paced communication technology and inclusive health care systems, information is readily available. Many health care systems now offer portable electronic records and electronic prescription services. The technologically savvy generation makes use of tools such as YouTube, blogs, and websites to share experiences in their health care. Yet, with the estimated 90 million Americans who do not understand how to read, comprehend, or use health information, health literacy will determine who is left behind in this techno cultural revolution. This class focuses on the interaction among technology, culture, and politics. An interactive session allows participants to explore new and upcoming technologies such as personal health records and e-health tools. The resources covered will assist consumers and those helping consumers to find quality health information and to navigate the health care system. Implications for those left behind, including the ethical, social, and privacy issues concerning these new technologies will also be discussed.
3 MLA CE Contact Hours

Combatting Information Fatigue: Health Information Resources for Veterans Veterans and their families need reliable health information resources and training to locate health information that is sensitive and pertinent to their needs. This course covers resources for finding information on general health conditions, mental health resources including those for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), family issues, substance abuse, amputations, support groups and more. Additionally, this class will prepare participants to find and assess additional veterans’ health resources.
3 MLA CE Contact Hours

“Let’s Talk about Sex”:Sexual Health Resources Adults and teenagers need quality health information that is sensitive and relevant to their needs. This course offers reliable resources on sexual and reproductive health including physical, emotional, mental health. Understanding that seniors, men, women, and teenagers have different needs in regards to sexual and reproductive health information, this class is modified for each audience. Each class, depending on the audience, will offer quality websites about body changes, sexually transmitted diseases, specific conditions, women’s and men’s health conditions, domestic violence, and gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered sexual health information sources.

Información confiable de salud: recursos de Internet que puede utilizar
(Trustworthy health information: Internet resources you can use) The Region’s Spanish-speaking population is increasing by leaps and bounds, so this class, which is taught in Spanish, explores four consumer health websites:

• for the whole family: general health – MedlinePlus and Kidshealth
• for environmental health – Tox Town and ToxMystery.

HHS’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality will host a free Webcast entitled, “Lessons Learned From the Field of Emergency Preparedness” on Nov. 6, 2008, from 12-1:30 PM EST.

Presenters will offer diverse perspectives on emergency planning and the use of AHRQ tools in order to enhance surge capacity, medical supply allocation planning and resource inventories reporting systems. Participants will receive key insight on customizing AHRQ tools in order to address the distinct needs of their communities. Emergency preparedness planners as well as federal, state and local community health planners, providers and first-responders are invited to attend. Before registering, check to sure that you have the appropriate players to view UCF (Universal Communications Format) rich media files in the Webcast.

The following are valid players for rich media files using UCF:
FlashPlayer 6.0 or later
Windows Media Player 9.0 or later
Quicktime 6.0 or later

Register online at http://tinyurl.com/3gxl8p

The joint MLA-NLM Task Force was commissioned with the goal of assessing opportunities for integration of live and virtual information assistance into electronic personal health records products. The work of the Task Force has progressed on two fronts: identification and examination of PHR tools and development of ways to better integrate PHRs and the library community.

The Task Force defined the “personal health record” (PHR) and investigated PHRs meeting this definition. Approximately 90 PHRs were identified.

Electronic Personal Health Record (PHR) Definition: A PHR is a private, secure application through which an individual may access, manage and share his/her health information. The PHR can include information that is entered by the consumer and/or data from other sources such as pharmacies, labs, and care providers. The PHR might or might not include information
from the electronic health record (EHR) which is maintained by the health care provider and is not synonymous with the HER. PHR sponsors include vendors who may or may not charge a fee, health care organizations such as hospitals and health insurance companies, or employers.

In support of better integration of PHRs and the library community, the Task Force wrote an information assistance statement for inclusion in PHR products. The model statement instructs users to connect to MedlinePlus and two MLA consumer health Web sites for quality consumer health information. It also
tells users how to contact medical librarians through the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) 1-800-338-7657 toll-free number and what services to expect when they do so. Letters requesting inclusion of the assistance statement have been sent to seven vendors (Medem, Access Strategies, AHIMA,
CapMed, Microsoft, Google, Tolven Health Care Innovations) as part of a pilot project.

To increase librarian awareness of these potential new users, the Task Force will present posters at the South Central and Mid-Continental Chapter meetings during fall 2008. As a first effort, the Task Force chair presented information about the project during the March 2008 NN/LM Regional Medical Library All Staff Teleconference. Further, the task force is collaborating with the MLA Health Information Literacy Research Project, other MLA CE instructors and in the near future the NN/LM consumer health coordinators.

To better understand current librarian-PHR roles, the group conducted an informal survey using library discussion lists. Respondents reported several roles, including: 1) assisting patients in registering for an organization’s PHR (My HealtheVet, Kaiser Permanente), 2) training employees in the use of an organization’s PHR (My HealtheVet), and 3) providing staff with information and documents about how use of PHRs might reduce costs, inform consumers, and benefit the institution.

Please contact a member of the task force listed below if you have questions or comments.

Joint Task Force Members

Dixie A. Jones, Chair, VA
Michael Ackerman, NLM
Joan S. Ash, Oregon Health and Science University
Patti Corbett-Bregman, Wolters Kluwer
Taneya Koonce, Vanderbilt University
Daphne Plaut, Kaiser Permanente
Catherine R. Selden, NLM
David Sweet, AHIMA
Carla Funk, MLA Staff Liaison
Jean Shipman, MLA Board of Directors’ Liaison

“Harry Potter’s World” explores the plants, animals, and magic featured in the Harry Potter book series and their roots in Renaissance traditions that played an important role in the development of Western science. The exhibition incorporates the works of several 15- and 16th-century thinkers mentioned in Harry Potter and looks at topics such as alchemy, astrology, and natural philosophy, as well as the ethical issues faced by both the fictitious characters from the novels and the historical figures that influenced them. This exhibition runs through December 31, 2008.

“Everyday Miracles” examines the relationship between faith and healing as expressed in personal devotional painting from Italy and Mexico called ex-votos. These small religious paintings that were commissioned by the faithful for perceived “healing miracles” were hung in community churches as testimony to their devotion and gratitude. The exhibition also showcases Spanish colonial medical texts, which are displayed in the History of Medicine Division Reading Room. This exhibition runs through January 31, 2009.

Both exhibitions, as well as accompanying texts from the History of Medicine Division’s collections, can be viewed in the History of Medicine Division Reading Room and the lobby of building 38. For more information about the new exhibitions, visit their websites at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/harrypottersworld and http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/exvotos/.

Thanks to Doodle fan Lisa Oberg for suggesting this topic.

E-mail. Most of your contacts use it all the time, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best tool for every job. Let’s say you need to schedule a meeting for a group of people who don’t share a common calendaring system. You could ask each invited person to e-mail you with dates and times when they are available. You would then need to manage numerous incoming messages to find the best time to meet. Depending on the number of invitees, this could turn into quite a chore. Next time, try Doodle instead.

Doodle is a simple web-based application for scheduling meetings and creating polls.  It works with your e-mail, so you can use Doodle without signing up for a separate Doodle account. To create a meeting proposal, enter a title, description, and several suggested meeting times. Doodle will send you two e-mail messages. The first message contains a link you can use to modify the meeting proposal. The second message contains a link for you to forward to your list of invitees. Instead of replying directly to you, your invitees visit a web page where they enter their names and indicate which meeting times work best for them.  The result is a clear, easy-to-interpret table showing the group’s availability:

Doodle is also available as a Facebook application.

Thanks to Alison Aldrich, Technology Coordinator,  for allowing us to reprint this article from Dragonfly, newsletter of the NN/LM Pacific Nortwest Region.

The October issue of NIH News in Health, the monthly newsletter bringing you practical health news and tips based on the latest NIH research, is now online at http://newsinhealth.nih.gov/. In this issue of NIH News in Health:

Hey, Parents: It’s a Noisy Planet: Protect Kids’ Hearing
The tricky thing about hearing loss is that you may not notice it until the damage has already been done. Have a heart-to-heart talk with your kids now about protecting their hearing.

Keep Your Kidneys Clear: Kicking Kidney Stones
Some say that passing a kidney stone is like delivering a baby made of razor blades. The good news is that, although they can be excruciatingly painful, kidney stones rarely cause permanent damage, and you may be able to prevent them.

Health Capsules:

• Genetic Quirks Linked to Schizophrenia
• Understanding Vitamin D
• Featured Web Site: Body & Soul

Click here to download a PDF version for printing. http://newsinhealth.nih.gov/pdf/NIHNiH%20Oct2008.pdf