Health care providers' information seeking: recent research

Recent research studies describe typical information-seeking behavior of doctors, nurses, and other health care providers. This review identifies and analyzes thirty-nine studies and nine reviews published since 1990. The researchers are from many disciplines and often work in multi-disciplinary teams. They have used both quantitative and qualitative methods to gather self-report and observational data. In spite of the increased availability of online bibliographic and full-text sources in this decade, health care providers are using the same sources they used twenty years ago. Self-report studies usually show a higher use of published literature than of advice from colleagues; observational studies usually show the opposite.     

Health care librarians and information literacy: an investigation

Until relatively recently, the concept of information literacy, and teaching the skills to enable it, was mainly a concern of academic libraries. Now, it is also seen to be of high importance within the context of health care libraries. Health care libraries and librarians can provide crucial support towards the implementation of evidence‐based practice in patient care through both information literacy skills training and by conducting mediated searches on behalf of health care practitioners. This article reports the findings from an investigation conducted by Charlotte Kelham as part of her MA in Librarianship from the University of Sheffield. Her dissertation investigated how health care librarians understand the concept of information literacy, the implications of this for their role and their perceptions around how their role is valued. Charlotte graduated from Sheffield in 2013 and is currently job hunting. AM     

Health care, information needs, and outreach: reaching Ohio's rural citizens

As a rural state, Ohio has a vital interest in addressing rural health and information needs. NetWellness is a Web-based consumer health information service that focuses on the needs of the residents of Ohio. Health sciences faculty from the state's three Carnegie Research I universities--University of Cincinnati, Case Western Reserve University, and The Ohio State University--create and evaluate content and provide Ask an Expert service to all visitors. Through partnerships at the state and local levels, involving public, private, commercial, and noncommercial organizations, NetWellness has grown from a regional demonstration project in 1995 to a key statewide service. Collaboration with public libraries, complemented by alliances with kindergarten through twelfth grade agencies, makes NetWellness Ohio's essential health information resource.     

Health information seeking in the information society

This article is the second student contribution to the Dissertations into Practice feature. It reports on a study that investigated the everyday health information-seeking practices of a small group of the 'general public' and the implications for information-seeking theory and health information provision. The first student article, about the implementation of radio frequency identification (RFID) in a hospital library, was very different, and the two articles illustrate the broad spectrum of possible subjects for the Dissertations into Practice feature. This study was conducted in summer 2011 by Abir Mukherjee for his MSc dissertation in the Library and Information Sciences programme at City University London. Further information and copies of the full dissertation may be obtained from Abir Mukherjee or David Bawden. AM.     

Health literacy and consumer health information

The rigours of the past few years have demonstrated the importance of good health literacy levels with the imperative of being able to obtain and interpret information to maintain and improve one's health never more apparent. With this in mind, this issue is focused on consumer health information, the gender and population group differences that exist in information seeking behaviour, the challenges of understanding medical explanations and terminology, and existing criteria to assess and ultimately produce better consumer health information.     

Effective use of health care information

A new book commissioned by the BritishLibrary looks at research in the field and highlights opportunities for health care librarians. Theauthor, Peter Merry, is a freelance consultant editor and writer, and editor of the NHSConfederation’s NHS Handbook.     

Health information outreach: the land-grant mission

Service to the state is one of the core principles of the land-grant mission. This concept of service is also fundamental to a significant number of outreach activities in academic health sciences libraries, particularly those libraries affiliated with the public land-grant universities. The Dana Medical Library at the University of Vermont has a lengthy tradition of outreach to health care providers and health care consumers of the State of Vermont. Building on the foundation of the land-grant institution-which grew out of federal legislation introduced in the mid nineteenth century by Justin Morrill, Vermont's congressional representative--the Dana Medical Library has based its outreach activities on its dedication of service to the state in the promotion of healthy citizens through information dissemination in support of health care delivery. Reengineering library services designed to meet the specific information needs of its diverse clientele, partnering with disparate health care organizations, and relying on fees for service to expand its outreach activities, the Dana Medical Library has redefined the concept of health information outreach for the new millennium.     

Health sciences libraries and information services in Bangladesh

Basic problems relating to the status of health sciences libraries and information centers in Bangladesh are highlighted and discussed; strategies for improving the country's health sciences information services are suggested. A survey of libraries is reported, the country's national science and technology information policy is defined, and recommendations for action are proposed.     

Health information for patients: The hospital library's role

Libraries today, including most hospital-based patients' libraries, are involved only peripherally in providing patient health science information. Hospital libraries should collaborate with health professionals in getting health information to patients--along with the library's more traditional roles of providing recreational reading for patients and serving the informational needs of the physician and medical staff. The library should act as the center for educational materials and programs within the hospital. Many health agencies, health educators, physicians, and librarians have been discussing the need for patient health education, but there are few effectively organized or established education centers. This paper discusses an overview of patient health education and intellectural freedom, proposes a new role for the existing hospital library in patient health education, and suggests guidelines for establishing a patient education center.     

Health information practice: integrating,inspiring and innovating

The 2017 virtual issue of the Health Information and Libraries Journal (HILJ) is published to link to the 12th International Congress on Medical Librarianship and the 2017 EAHIL Workshop taking place in Dublin, Ireland on 12–16 June 2017. The conference title is Diversity in Practice: integrating, inspiring and innovative and it is exploring how health science librarianship, in all its diversity, is integrating, inspiring and innovating practice. These themes have been used to compile this virtual issue, which contains published articles selected from HILJ from the June 2014 issue through to September 2016. The virtual issue mirrors the format of a regular issue of HILJ, namely a review article, six original articles and our three regular features: ‘Dissertations into Practice’, ‘International Perspectives and Initiatives’ and ‘Teaching and Learning in Action’. All articles included in this virtual issue are available free online.     

Health smart cards: merging technology and medical information

Smart cards are credit card-sized plastic cards, with an embedded dime-sized Integrated Circuit microprocessor chip. Smart cards can be used for keyless entry, electronic medical records, etc. Health smart cards have been in limited use since 1982 in Europe and the United States, and several barriers including lack of infrastructure, low consumer confidence, competing standards, and cost continue to be addressed.