Complementary competencies: public health and health sciences librarianship.

OBJECTIVES: The authors sought to identify opportunities for partnership between the communities of public health workers and health sciences librarians. METHODS: The authors review competencies in public health and health sciences librarianship. They highlight previously identified public health informatics competencies and the Medical Library Association's essential areas of knowledge. Based on points of correspondence between the two domains, the authors identify specific opportunities for partnership. RESULTS: The points of correspondence between public health and health sciences librarianship are reflected in several past projects involving both communities. These previous collaborations and the services provided by health sciences librarians at many public health organizations suggest that some health sciences librarians may be considered full members of the public health workforce. Opportunities remain for productive collaboration between public health workers and health sciences librarians. CONCLUSIONS: Drawing on historical and contemporary experience, this paper presents an initial framework for forming collaborations between health sciences librarians and members of the public health workforce. This framework may stimulate thinking about how to form additional partnerships between members of these two communities.     

Biomedical and health informatics in Peru: significance for public health

Introduction

This issue of the feature column reports on developments in Peru on the use of information and communication technologies to improve public health. The authors describe how cell phones and hand‐held devices are being deployed to monitor diseases. Recent concerns about the spread of swine flu highlight the importance of robust public health systems in developing countries. 1 Jeannete Murphy

Reference

1 Swine flu could be a disaster for weak public health systems in developing countries . British Journal of Healthcare Computing and Information Management , 30 April 2009. http://www.bjhcim.co.uk/news/2009/n904046.htm (accessed 18/05/09).     

Medicine and health care: implications for health sciences library practice

The American health care system is experiencing a period of unprecedented change. This paper identifies and discusses the major changes in patient care, research, control of the health care system, and medical education, and their implications for health sciences librarians. These changes have resulted in new demands for effective information delivery and a broader health sciences library clientele. There are both challenges and opportunities for health sciences librarians as they respond to information pressures of the current health care environment and anticipate future needs.     

The health periodicals database: full-text access to consumer and technical health information

The HEALTH PERIODICALS DATABASE, produced by the Information Access Company, is a unique online file which provides full-text access to both general interest health-related literature and key technical resources in the medical field. Available on DIALOG and CompuServe, the database is described as a useful tool for information on the health, fitness, and nutrition industries. Special features of the database are reviewed and comparisons are made with resources of similar scope.     

Native American health: traditional healing and culturally competent health care internet resources

Health disparities between Native Americans and the general population of the United States are a major health concern. Traditional healing and culturally competent health care offer much promise in raising the health status of Native Americans. Traditional healing, although uniquely practiced by each indigenous culture, is generally a system of medicine based on the inseparability of mind, body, and spirit. Culturally competent health care, care that is congruent with the culture and language of the patient, is a growing initiative in western medicine. This article outlines Internet sites and online resources relevant to the study and practice of traditional healing and culturally competent health care.     

Current access to health information in Zambia: a survey of selected health institutions

OBJECTIVE: To assess the current situation of access to information by health staff at selected central, provincial, district hospitals and health centres in Zambia. METHODS: Government and non-governmental institutions were visited in the Lusaka Urban District and nine rural districts in the North-Western, Western and Central Provinces of Zambia in 2001. Thirty interviews were held with provincial and district health directors, medical doctors, nurses and clinical officers in district hospitals and rural and urban health centres. In 2006, a follow-up visit was undertaken to the health centres in the Lusaka Urban District in Lusaka Province and the Sesheke District in the Western Province. RESULTS: There is limited access to health information for health workers in Zambia. In hospitals and health centres, where there is access, it is usually provided in an ad hoc manner without a central policy from the government. In all the places visited, there was also an overwhelming expressed need for different types of information relating to the professional or personal needs of health care workers. CONCLUSIONS: The study found that access to information was very poor. There were some excellent examples of local initiatives showing that, even under difficult financial and infrastructural circumstances, it was feasible to improve health workers' access to information by using low technology, information access initiatives. These existing local initiatives deserve to be scaled up, while new initiatives should be adopted to improve access to information in a much more structured way. Of paramount importance is the formulation and implementation of an information policy that will guarantee the provision of health information to Zambian health workers.     

Spirituality and health care: Internet resources

Medicine and spirituality have had an enduring, complementary relationship from the earliest days of health care. Recent publications, Web site developments, and education programs underscore the continuing enthusiasm for the study of the relationship between spirituality and patient care in the health care community. This article outlines a selective list of Internet sites and online resources and serves as a guide for further inquiry into spirituality and health care concepts.     

Surfing for health: user evaluation of a health information website. Part one: Background and literature review

The Government in Britain is set on using the Internet to expand the provision of health information to the general public. Concerns over the quality of the health information have preoccupied commentators and organizations rather than the way users interact with health information systems. This report examines the issues surrounding the provision of electronic health information, and describes an evaluation undertaken of a commercial health website-that of Surgerydoor (http://www.surgerydoor.co.uk/), and comprises two parts. Part one outlines the literature on electronic health information evaluation. It discusses quality issues, but also redresses the imbalance by exploring other evaluative perspectives. Part two describes an evaluation of a health information Internet site in terms of its usability and appeal, undertaken as part of a Department of Health funded study on the impact of such systems.     

Outreach to public health professionals: lessons learned from a collaborative Iowa public health project

In 1995, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and the Public Health Service (PHS) recommended that special attention be given to the information needs of unaffiliated public health professionals. In response, the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) Greater Midwest Region initiated a collaborative outreach program for public health professionals working in rural east and central Iowa. Five public health agencies were provided equipment, training, and support for accessing the Internet. Key factors in the success of this project were: (1) the role of collaborating agencies in the implementation and ongoing success of information access outreach projects; (2) knowledge of the socio-cultural factors that influence the information-seeking habits of project participants (public health professionals); and (3) management of changing or varying technological infrastructures. Working with their funding, personnel from federal, state, and local governments enhanced the information-seeking skills of public health professionals in rural eastern and central Iowa communities.     

Accessing public health information: a preliminary comparison of CABI's global health database and medline

Background: Access to a comprehensive public health index or database has been identified as problematic for health professionals. Public health literature contains many varied sources including reports, journal articles, and grey literature. Traditional biomedical databases such as medline often do not meet the needs of public health workers and researchers. Aim/Methods: The aim of the study was to examine the unique content of the global health database, by comparing it to the medline database. Pre‐determined terms were used as baseline comparators where controlled vocabulary definitions in each database were sufficiently matched. Retrieved results were stored and compared using EndNote libraries. Results: Results obtained from the terms used in the comparison study protocol suggest that the global health database holds a high proportion of unique records in comparison to medline . The largest overlap of duplicates from the global health database perspective came from the coccidiomycosis results set which contained 70.5% of references retrieved from both databases. Analyzing the results from a medline perspective, the subject with the largest overlap was dengue, with a 43% overlap. Conclusion: The results of this study show that the global health database is complimentary to medline in the subject areas of public health and global health.     

The Journey Project: a case study in providing health information to mitigate health disparities

The Journey Project, part of the Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries' Social Work Information Specialist in Context Fellowship, was designed to merge social work and consumer health librarianship skills in order to improve the provision of health information to patients. A resource notebook was created encompassing the many dimensions of cancer health information. A social work informationist distributed the notebooks and provided individualized consultations with respect to patients' health information needs. Areas of congruence as well as key differences between social work and consumer health librarianship emerged during the course of the project. Merging the two professions into the role of a social work informationist increased the ability to attend holistically to clients' health information needs.     

Developing health information literacy: a needs analysis from the perspective of preprofessional health students

Objective:

The research identified the skills, if any, that health preprofessional students wished to develop after receiving feedback on skill gaps as well as any strategies they intended to use to address these gaps.

Methods:

A qualitative approach was used to elicit students'' reflections on building health information literacy skills. First, the students took the Research Readiness Self-Assessment instrument, which measured their health information literacy, and then they received individually tailored feedback about their scores and skill gaps. Second, students completed a post-assessment survey asking how they intended to close identified gaps in their skills on these. Three trained coders analyzed qualitative comments by 181 students and grouped them into themes relating to “what skills to improve” and “how to improve them.”

Results:

Students intended to develop library skills (64% of respondents), Internet skills (63%), and information evaluation skills (63%). Most students reported that they would use library staff members'' assistance (55%), but even more respondents (82%) planned to learn the skills by practicing on their own. Getting help from librarians was a much more popular learning strategy than getting assistance from peers (20%) or professors (17%).

Conclusions:

The study highlighted the importance of providing health preprofessional students with resources to improve skills on their own, remote access to library staff members, and instruction on the complexity of building health literacy skills, while also building relationships among students, librarians, and faculty.

Highlights

• After receiving feedback on skill gaps, most preprofessional health students intend to develop their information literacy skills.
• Some students report that a trip to the library is a barrier to using library resources.
• Students see the need to build their information evaluation skills, knowledge of citations and plagiarism, and library skills, which they differentiate from Internet skills.
• Students are more likely to identify librarians as sources for assistance in finding information than faculty or peers after receiving individual feedback explaining the role of libraries and library staff members.

Implications

• Students'' health information competencies can be built through assessment and feedback that reveals skill gaps, highlights misconceptions, and offers ideas on how to improve.
• Access to professionally designed self-study resources is needed for students who intend to develop health information competencies on their own.

     

Market orientation: a concept for health libraries

OBJECTIVES: This paper is the result of exploratory research forming part of ongoing study into the value and relevance of market orientation as a strategic option for library managers. The aim of the study is to gain an understanding of the concept of market orientation relative to the health library sector. METHODOLOGY: A focus group was used to gather data from health librarians working at different levels in the sector. The data was coded and categorized by an expert panel and analysed using a taxonomic map developed during the study. RESULTS: Health library professionals define and understand market orientation in the same way as the concept is defined in the management literature. Their understanding of the concept is developing. A greater emphasis is given to some aspects of market orientation than others. CONCLUSIONS: There are implications for further research. Methods used to measure market orientation in other domains are likely to be relevant for libraries. Research should be extended to different sectors to explore any cross-sector differences. Fostering an organizational culture that supports market orientation has implications for service management and development.