Poster Board Number: 6
Title: Putting the Teeth in Outreach: Patient Education at Free Rural Dental Clinic Using Mobile Devices
Objective: To introduce and put into practice the concept of the Information Rx program created by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the Missions of Mercy Dental Clinic in rural Maryland, to familiarize the clinicians with point-of-need patient education materials available via mobile devices, and to demonstrate the utility of mobile devices such as iPads in a community clinical setting.
Methods: Two librarians from the Health Sciences and Human Services Library, University of Maryland-Baltimore, and one from the Western Maryland Area Health Education Center attended the two-day clinic. At the volunteer orientation, the librarians provided guidance on how to use the information prescription as well as demonstrated professional dental applications on the iPads to familiarize the dental health professionals with the accessible resources. During the clinic, librarians used iPads, laptop computers, and a wireless printer to respond to information needs of both patients and clinicians. In addition to handing out information packets, patient education videos and tutorials were streamed using MedlinePlus.
Results: As a result of attending the Missions of Mercy Dental Clinic, librarians acted as a support system for over 1,500 uninsured dental patients, volunteers, and clinicians; represented the value of librarians and libraries; and handed out over 250 health information packets that consisted of information about oral health, diabetes, hypertension, smoking cessation, and more. Over 35 iPad demonstrations were performed for clinicians, and information was provided for over 50 specific patient education questions.
Conclusions: Overall, the librarians’ presence was well received. Clinicians appreciated the introduction to the use of iPads in patient education and clinical use. In the future, the librarians would like to be part of the initial implementation process earlier on and recommend providing a longer volunteer orientation to better familiarize the clinicians with resources available to them and services that the librarians can provide.
Authors: Meredith I. Solomon, Outreach Librarian; Anna Tatro, Liaison and Outreach Services Librarian; Liaison and Outreach Services, Health Sciences and Human Services Library; University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD
