Beyond an Apple a Day: Providing Consumer Health Information at Your Library
Class Resources
Consumer Health: Then and Now
1)Patient Bill of Rights:
2)Googling for Diagnosis BMJ article:
3)Pew Internet & American Life Project report: Online Health Search 2006:
Health Literacy
1)Healthy People 2020:
2)Health Literacy Tutorial:
3)MedlinePlus Easy-to-Read Pages:
4)MedlinePlus How to Write Easy-to-Read Health Materials:
5)Ask Me 3 Patient Education Program:
6)World Education Health & Literacy Special Collection:
The Reference Interview for Health Information
1)Info People Reference Interview Skills: but helpful)
2)MLA Code of Ethics for Health Science Librarianship:
3)NN/LM Health Infoquest: but helpful)
4)CAPHIS: Librarian’s Role in the Provision of Consumer Health Information and Patient Education:
5)MedlinePlus Guide to Healthy Web Surfing:
6)MedlinePlus Evaluating Internet Health Information: A Tutorial from the National Library of Medicine:
7)Health on the Net Foundation (HON Codes):
8)MedlinePlus Evaluating Health Information health topic:
Planning the Service – Know the Community
1)Potential DRG information:
2)Leap Frog Group:
3)HealthGrades:
4)Joint Commission:
5)Hospital Compare:
6)CDC Fastats:
7)Kaiser State Health Facts:
8)NN/LM State Pages (available on each Region’s homepage by clicking on geographic location):
Consumer Health Information Resources on the Internet
1)MedlinePlus:
2)NIHSeniorHealth:
3)Clinical Trials:
4)NCCIH: National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health:
5)National Library of Medicine:
6)American Heart Association:
7)Cancer.gov:
8)Drug Information Portal:
9)DailyMed:
10)Dietary Supplements Labels Database:
11)Drugs.com:
12)Patient Inform:
Further Information
1)Finding Health and Wellness @ the Library: A Consumer Health Toolkit for Library Staff:
2)CAPHIS: Consumer and Patient Health Information Section of the Medical Library Association:
3)NNLM National Evaluation Office:
4)Guides for Developing a Community-Based Health Information Program:
5)Health Literacy Studies Overview (Harvard):
6)Rand Report Summary: Consumer Use of Information When Making Treatment Decisions:
7)The Challenge of Providing Consumer Health Information Services in Public Libraries:
Collection Development
1)CAPHIS and MLA Collection Development Lists: and
2)Pediatric Consumer Health Information: A Bibliography by Brenda Pfannenstiel:
Articles
Bibel, Barbara. Best Consumer Health Books of 2013. Library Journal. Each December Barbara writes an article on the best consumer health books of the year. These may be no longer available online, but can be found in Library Journal.
Fuller, H. (2005). Consumer Health Collecting Made Easy: A Librarian Prescribes a Remedy for Understocked Medical-Advice Shelves. American Libraries, 36(5), 47-48.
Health-Related Video Vendors
Channing-Bete Company
800-477-4776
Films for the Humanities and Sciences
800-257-5126
Milner-Fenwick
800-432-8433
Krames Patient Education
Healthy Roads Media (online videos and pamphlets)
Databases
1)AltHealthWatch®
This database focuses on the many perspectives of complementary, holistic and integrated approaches to health care and wellness. It offers libraries an immediateresource of full text articles, from 140 international, and often peer-reviewed, reports,proceedings and association & consumer newsletters. In addition, there are hundreds ofpamphlets, booklets, special reports, original research and book excerpts. Some resources are full-text.
2)Health Source®: Consumer Edition
This resource provides access to nearly 300 full text, consumer health periodicals. Thisdatabase also includes searchable full text for more than 1,000 health-related pamphletsand more than 140 health reference books, including books published by the People’s Medical Society. Additionally, Health Source: Consumer Edition contains 7,000 ClinicalReference Systems reports (in English and Spanish); Clinical Pharmacology, whichprovides access to 1,100 drug monograph entries and 2,700 patient education factsheets; and Stedman’s Medical Dictionary. This full text database covers topics such asAIDS, cancer, diabetes, drugs & alcohol, aging, fitness, nutrition & dietetics, children’shealth, women’s health, etc.
3)Health & Wellness Resource Center
This resource answers the need for a fully integrated, ever-growing electronic resourcecenter for all levels of health research. Rely on the Health & Wellness Resource Centerfor instant access to carefully compiled medical reference and periodical materials thatyour users can trust.
4)Health & Wellness Resource Center - Alternative Health Module
Available 24 hours a day via the Internet, Health & Wellness Resource Center's Alternate
Health Module provides a one stop, full-service resource for alternative and complementary therapies. It provides a rich collection of books, journals, magazines andpamphlets for consumers and health care professionals.
5)Health Reference Center – Academic
How can you easily provide current, reliable health information for your patrons, including your nursing and allied health students? Give them access to Health ReferenceCenter -- Academic on InfoTrac® Web. This multi-source database provides access tothe full text of nursing and allied health journals, plus the wide variety of personal healthinformation sources in InfoTrac's award-winning Health Reference Center™ plus 40 fulltextnursing and allied health journals.
6)Well-Connected
Inc)
WELL-CONNECTED is a library of about 100 reports on common diseases and wellnessissues. Each report is an in-depth discussion of the latest information on treatments, riskfactors, causes, diagnostic tests, and preventative measures.All reports are written by experienced medical writers and reviewed for accuracy andrelevancy by a board of physicians at Harvard Medical School and MassachusettsGeneral Hospital.
7)Yoursurgery.com
YourSurgery.Com® provides easy to understand information for common and specificsurgical procedures. YourSurgery.Com® organizes the information so that you and yourfamily can understand each procedure and help you ask your physician questions. Belowis a list of the topics explained for each procedure:
oAnatomy of the operative site
oAlternative surgical solutions
oPathology of the Illness
oPossible complications of surgery
oSymptoms associated with the condition
oPost Operative Care
oMethods of diagnosis
oInnovations in surgical technique
oConcise description of each surgery
8)Rare Disease Database
Organization for Rare Disorders)
A rare or "orphan" disease affects fewer than 200,000 people in the United States. Thereare more than 6,000 rare disorders that, taken together, affect approximately 25 millionAmericans. One in every 10 individuals in this country has received a diagnosis of a raredisease. Some have familiar names (Lou Gehrig’s Disease or ALS) and some haveunusual names (Subacute SclerosingPanencephalitis). This database contains reportsfor thousands of rare diseases and includes a general discussion of each disease as wellas symptoms, affected populations, standard and investigational therapies andassociations or organizations to contact for additional information. Some information is free on the site.
Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database
Research Faculty)
This database provides access to evidence-based information about herbals and othernatural medicines. This is the most comprehensive, scientifically-based, and practicaldatabase on natural medicines available anywhere. A Patient Education version available.
9)Stat!Ref
Data Systems) Stat!Ref facilitates access to the full-text of your choices from a list of 300+ medical books. Subscriptions can be web-based, over the Internet or through Intranet access.
Rise of the E-Patient
1)Healthline:
2)iMedisearch.com:
3)Top Fifty Medical Wikis:
4)Patients Like Me blog: and site:
5)DailyStrength:
6)Report: Expanding the Reach and Impact of Consumer e-Health Tools:
Collaboration/Community Partnerships
1)TechSoup for Libraries: Effectively Collaborating with Other Libraries:
2)Guides for Developing a Community-Based Health Information Program:
3)NN/LM Funding: and past projects:
Please note: Each NN/LM Region has their own funding page and link to past projects. Please go to the general page to find your region:
Marketing (Please note: Some of these sites are older, but contain archive of helpful marketing information)
1)University of Illinois Marketing:
2)Articles:
Brawn, Tammy S. Consumer Health Libraries: What Do Patrons Really Want? Journal of the Medical Library Association, 2005 October; 93(4): 495-496.
Dowd, Nancy. “The Results are In and They Aren’t Good: Library Marketing.” Library Journal February 5, 2013.
Dowd, Nancy. "The LibraryAware Community Survey: Marketing Our Libraries." Library Journal, March 7, 2013.
Shamel, Cynthia L. "Building a Brand: Got a Librarian?" Searcher v10 n7 Jul/Aug 2002 p60-71.
3)HealthFinder.gov National Health Observances:
4)Marketing Treasures Archive:
5)ALA’s Campaign for America’s Libraries:
6)American Library Association (ACRL) Strategic Marketing for Academic and Research Libraries:
7)Info Today Marketing Newsletter:
8)American Marketing Association:
9)Know This: Principles of Marketing Tutorials: