Title: Empowering Health Ministry Leaders
Author: Judy F. Burnham (Director), U of South Alabama Biomedical Library Abstract: Research has shown that the church is a strong influence in the African American community. While many of the churches have a health ministry and share many of the same challenges, often the ministry leaders work in isolation. The purpose of this project was to form a network of Health Ministry Leaders (HML) for sharing and for collaboration. Health ministry leaders from ten African American churches in the three zip codes of highest health disparity in Mobile AL participated in the project. Health Ministry Leaders completed a
pre-project survey with questions about their congregations’ health information needs and how those needs were met and each HML’s information seeking skills. Demographics on the HML and the church were also collected. The project funded essential equipment for the HMLs: small laptop computers, printers and heath check tools. HMLs attended weekly computer training classes and monthly meetings for information sharing and for collaborating on community health fairs. They completed a post-project questionnaire determining impact. Participating HML reported enhancement of their ministry through the project. They felt the project met the stated goals. Information needs were addressed as well as providing needed health check tools.
Working together on a community health fair provided networking opportunities with other area churches. Networking opportunities will be continued through the Center for Healthy Communities Community Health Advocate program. The project helped HML better meet the health information needs of their congregation and provided an opportunity for them to network with other HMLs on common goals.
Title: Solo Hospital Librarian Road Show
Author: Jessica Gunther (Librarian), Mayo Health System
Abstract: Inspired by recent buzz about elevator speeches in the library community, solo hospital librarian, Jessica Gunther, takes to the road to promote library services to the Mayo Clinic Health System’s western region. New to the organization and her role at the start of 2011, Gunther was immediately faced with discussion of hospital space limitations, convergence, and whispers that the library space would become a conference room. Some rethinking (and lucky, good timing) helped transform the challenge into an opportunity. With the 2011 health system re-branding, regionalization, and overall environment of change, Gunther expanded her audience to include the entire region; she now actively promotes library services to staff at several locations, along with those at the hospital where the library is physically located. Armed with a stereotype-defeating attitude, a quick, “less is more” presentation, and a boatload of enthusiasm, she
capitalizes on the first few minutes of staff meetings at various locations to increase awareness and demand for library services. She will share the strategies and outcomes of her efforts, true to form, in a high-powered, five-minute Ignite Talk.
Title: Using tag clouds to analyze responses to open-ended survey questions
Author: Sarah K. McCord (Head of Reference & Instructional Services and Associate Professor), MA College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences
Abstract: Analyzing answers to open-ended questions on surveys can be time consuming and tedious, although the information gained from asking these kinds of questions is often very valuable. The use of
tag cloud generators can provide a quick “rough cut” of the ideas in open-ended responses. Tag clouds, or weighted lists, are a visual method of displaying text frequency information, where the font size and prominence of a word in the display indicates the frequency of the use of that word. Freely available online tools were used to create tag clouds for open-ended responses in several sources of data, including student evaluations of teaching. The results provide a visual guide to the most frequently used words in the given texts, and include links to those words in context. While this method does not replace traditional techniques for qualitative data analysis, using a tag cloud generator as a first step in analyzing free-text data can help bring recurring ideas to the surface without the need for expensive software or large amounts of time, thereby increasing the likelihood that data gathered from open-ended questions will be put to use.
Title: Crowdsourcing Your Diagnosis
Author: Sharon Leslie (Public Services Librarian), Georgia State University
Abstract: Obviously, the WWW has changed how patients obtain information about health issues. Access to online medical records allows individuals to track their own disease and health process. But what happens when several hundred people get together to discuss their illnesses and compare their progress to each other? Several websites are designed to let patients do just that. “CureTogether” (http://www.curetogether.com) and “Patients Like Me” (http://www.patientslikeme.com) provide the technology (graphs, data, tracking ability, etc.) while the patients themselves provide the data
(lab results, demographics, treatments, personal experiences). Searching the sites lets patients find others with similar symptoms and relate these in discussion forums. The Society for Participatory Medicine (http://participatorymedicine.org) exists to “… advance the understanding of physicians …” about this concept and engage patients as active participants in their healthcare. Will patients continue to research diseases when they have each other from whom to get first-hand data? Should patients use this information to design their own treatment? Will physicians and researchers be willing to encourage this type of interaction? Will e-doctors and e-patients become the norm? How will librarians assist in this movement?
Title: Clinical Use of iPads
Author: Laura K. Cousineau, MLS (Assistant Director, Program
Development & Resource Integration), Medical University of South Carolina Library
Abstract: With funding from a grant from the National Library of Medicine, the MUSC Library is investigating the clinical use of iPads in the Department of Pediatrics. Seven iPads were distributed: 5 to
residents, one to an attending physician/faculty, and one to the librarian who rounds in the Children's Hospital. A survey was designed to log usage, divided into different categories of use. The data collected included use of specific resources as well as the purpose for the use, such as patient education or accessing patient information. The information from this survey forms the basis for a behavioral and attitudinal survey that will be conducted in late spring. For our Ignite session, we will show picture of the teams at work with their iPads and reveal some of the results from the survey.
Title: An Anytime, Anywhere Elective that Students and Administrators Love
Author: Gale G. Hannigan (Informatics for Medical Education Librarian), Texas A&M Medical Sciences Library Abstract: The Computers & Medical Information Elective is a fourth-year offering that almost every Texas A&M medical student completes. The attraction is that it is totally online and can be completed wherever there is a good Internet connection. Also, it is offered in one, two, or three-week versions. Students enroll throughout the year and no request for adding or changing or dropping the elective has been denied in its more than 15 years of existence. The Office of Student Affairs loves to recommend this elective as students face scheduling changes and crises. These features get students enrolled but what they come to appreciate is that the content is relevant, timely, and useful, and they can accomplish some of their own goals while learning about resources and skills related to information management. What the instructor likes is developing new modules that reflect the variety of topics in and the dynamic nature of health information management, and the ability to use course management software (Blackboard) to deliver the curriculum and monitor students’ progress. The elective consists of self-directed but structured modules that guide students through a topic. Topics include information resources (ebooks, drug information, consumer health, diagnostic-assist programs), issues (electronic health records, curriculum, information ethics, comparative health), skills (residency interviewing, time management, statistics), and self-selected activities (special topics and underutilized technology). Each module provides a structure but also gives students choices when possible. The elective is purposely “decompressed” to encourage students to explore and have some fun while learning.
Title: More than a Handful: Mobile Health Apps and Sites
Author: Kelli Ham, Consumer Health and Technology Coordinator, National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Pacific Southwest Region, UCLA Biomedical Library
Abstract: Using the mobile devices in our pockets, we now have the ability to access nearly all the health information in the world. Thousands of mobile health resources are being marketed to hea
