July 2003 Vol. 24 (3)

In this Issue:

From the Desk of the Editor

Welcome New MAHSLIN Members!

MAHSLIN Education Committee Report

NAHSL 2004 Update

UMASS Medical School to "Go Local", NLM Associate Fellow at Lamar Soutter

Open Houses at Faulkner Hospital

People & Places

MAHSLIN NETWORK NEWS

A Quarterly Publication
of the Massachusetts Health Sciences Libraries Network

Open Houses at the Faulkner Hospital

By Molly Foley, Director of Library Services, Faulkner Hospital

In February of 2003 we started a monthly open house program in our Patient/Family Resource Center as part of a promotional campaign to increase usage in the Center. The open houses are publicized in local papers through our marketing department as well as in internal publications. Each month we highlight a particular topic. Topics have included heart health, arthritis, endometriosis, diabetes, alternative medicine, women’s health, and cholesterol, to name a few. Patients, their family members, community members, and employees have all taken advantage of this program. Each open house features printed materials from the Center on the monthly topic. We also provide a light snack for patrons, usually fruit or baked goods. In addition we try to involve other areas of the hospital during the open houses by doing things like inviting a nutritionist to be in the Center for questions from patrons, or having the community benefits department provide free cholesterol screenings or offering free short massages from a hospital staff member who is also a massage therapist. Providing access to clinicians or providing free tests have been highly effective in drawing in patrons. The massages have been so popular we are looking into providing this service on a more regular basis. We see about 20-30 patrons during the 3 hour open houses, which has helped increase our usage from 40 total users in the first quarter of 2003 to 320 users this past quarter. We plan to continue these open houses as well as introduce a new program of open houses targeting specific clinician populations. We’re hoping to have an open house for the nurses in August.