In this Issue:

From the Desk of the Editor

Membership Renewal Time!

MAHSLIN Education Committee Report

Annual Meeting Update

AHIP

Consumer Health Classes

People & Places

The Evolution of a Class

Consumer Health Database Searching Seminar Series

The Brigham and Women’s Hospital Michele and Howard Kessler Health Education Library is a comprehensive resource center dedicated to the needs of our patients and families for support and information while receiving care at the hospital. During its first four years of operation, the library has acquired a number of consumer health databases, as well as leveraged the databases available through the Partners HealthCare System, the Boston Regional Library System and the National Library of Medicine. A user-friendly Intranet site was developed to let visitors know what databases are available. The library’s WebTrends statistics showed that while the Intranet’s “Reference Databases and Tools” page was occasionally one of the most visited pages, it wasn’t always. This identified a need – a need to publicize and provide training on the Kessler Library’s reference databases!

Kessler Library Chief Librarian and Program Manager Cara Helfner drafted a proposal for a monthly series of consumer health database searching seminars. Each seminar would focus on a specific National Institute of Health “national health theme of the month” and target an individual database. Instructors would be invited from the National Library of Medicine, the Boston Regional Library System and Partners HealthCare System, as well as experts on staff at the database producers. The format complimented other library programs, including theme-based displays, the Morning Film Series and a new wellness series that Kessler Library Health Education Program Manager Sarah Planche plans to launch in 2005.

To choose from the myriad of national health themes, library staff and volunteers were asked to select the ones that they wanted to focus on over a period of two years. These were tallied and the “winners” have been showcased through displays, BookTalks, films, etc., and served as candidates for the new wellness series and the consumer health database searching seminars. Cara selected twelve themes for the CHDSS that would appeal to a wide audience (such as Healthy Weight Week, Brain Awareness Month, Arthritis Awareness Month, etc.) and matched them with databases that were strong in those areas (BWH Health-E-Weight for Women, MedlinePlus, NetLibrary, etc.). Instructors contacted have been very enthusiastic and are working with Cara to create one-page handouts about searching the various databases. The handouts will be used to create a loose-leaf database searching book and online instructional tools.

The class structure will be simple: a half hour tutorial followed by a half hour of guided hands-on searching practice. Instructors will use the health themes to show different types of searches (title, subject, Boolean, etc.) and how the results may vary depending on the search strategy (for example, if one subject searches for “breastfeeding” or “breast feeding” in InfoTrac, result sets will be different). Participants will be able to leave with printouts of the articles they retrieved related to the monthly health theme. With six Internet access computers, twelve attendees will be able to participate during each session, but additional classes may be added if there is sufficient interest. Evaluation forms will be collected and analyzed to structure the classes based on participants’ needs and learning preferences.

The seminars are targeted toward patients and family members, as well as healthcare providers who disseminate consumer health information to patients and families. The Hospital’s Nursing Professional Development Program provides continuing education credit for nurses, and approved the CHDSS for 1.2 CEUs per session. Nursing Professional Development also helped with promoting the series. The series was additionally publicized through the hospital bulletin and website, the library website and Internet site, and flyers posted throughout the hospital.

The kick-off class is slated for January 26, 2005 – showcasing a very special database in conjunction with Healthy Weight Week. The Brigham and Women’s Hospital Department of Nutrition’s Health-e-Weight for Women database is a collection of information geared at making life changes in several areas that can contribute to quality of life: food, emotions and feelings about food, and physical activity. BWH Registered Dietitians and/or Licensed Dietitian/Nutritionists write the articles in the database. Cara is already planning for 2006, and with the abundance of national health themes and consumer health databases to choose from, the Consumer Health Database Searching Seminar Series will keep users learning and searching for years to come.

- By Cara Helfner

MAHSLIN Network News

January 2005

Volume 25 (1)