Informed Innovations in Community Outreach: Analyzing Data to Effectively Deliver Health Information

Brenda Linares, MLIS (Project Manager)Suzetta Burrows, MSLS, AHIPMary Moore, PhD (PI)Emily Vardell, MLSDepartment of Health InformaticsLouis Calder Memorial LibraryUniversity of Miami Miller School of Medicine This project has been funded in whole or in part with Federal funds from the

National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Contract No. NO1-LM-6-3502. With the University of Maryland Baltimore. For additional information, please contact: Mary Moore mmoore@med.miami.edu

Funding • NN/LM RML Outreach Award• Librarians and DOCS for Health in

2008-2009– $10,000

• Second year funding for Librarians and DOCS for Health Plus project in 2009-2010– $16,400– Built on lessons learned – Expanded attendance to other

nursing and allied health events• Continued involvement in year 3

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Goals and Objectives of Award Introduce medically underserved consumers, medical students,

and public librarians to MedlinePlus, MedlinePlus en espanol and other NLM consumer health information resources

Train consumers and public librarians to evaluate health information available on the web and make informed and better health decisions

Inform consumers of locations and policies of places to access Internet resources, such as public libraries

Improve patient education skills of 1st and 2nd year medical students Identify barriers to accessing and using quality health information

resources and find ways to overcome those barriers Identify opportunities for follow up activities among the partners, the

community based organizations and those they serve

This project has been funded in whole or in part with Federal funds from the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Contract No. NO1-LM-6-3502. With the University of Maryland Baltimore. For additional information, please contact: Mary Moore mmoore@med.miami.edu

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Department of Community Services (DOCS)

• Partnered with the well-established program – Run by medical students– Serves health information

needs of one of the most underserved and ethnically, racially, and socioeconomically diverse areas in the nation

– Includes attendance at ten health fairs in a tri-county area and different locations

• schools, churches, flea market, community centers

What We Do• Library staff demonstrate

MedlinePlus and other consumer health resources to both patients and community representatives at the health fairs

• Table close to checkout stations

• Use of Info Rx pads• Partner with public

librarians• Collect information

from surveys

Public Librarians’ Role• Share about public

libraries free resources

• Attended at least 5 of the 10 health fairs each of the three past years

• Measuring success: number of library cards

What Do We Do with Numbers?

• Review and analyze data Identify lessons

learned Create strategies for

improvementPlan future steps

Year One Survey Results• One survey in English and one

in Spanish• 168 surveys collected in total

– 141 English and 28 Spanish

• Received only 12 surveys out of 227 participants at Little Haiti Fair

• 72% of respondents stated it was their first health fair

• 68% (English) and 31% (Spanish) used the Internet before for health info

Year One Survey Results

• Public Library Use

Year One Survey Results

• Did you find the information you needed?

• Would you like the information printed out?

Lessons Learned from Year One

• Create bilingual survey• Address digital divide between English and Spanish attendees• Capitalize train-the-trainer opportunities• Meet requests for printed materials• Increase collaborative opportunities with public librarians• Ask follow up question about use of MedlinePlus between Year One

and Year Two

In Year Two… Implemented bilingual survey Translated MedlinePlus brochure into Creole Offered a box of pre-printed material More closely incorporated public librarians into the

fair settings Created a train-the-trainer outreach plan and survey

– Community-based health care organizations

– Technologically-savvy fair attendees (act as intermediaries in the information seeking process)

Survey • Same survey questions in both years

– Added question to determine MedlinePlus use between the first and second year of library involvement

– Of survey responders, only 14% stated that they had spoken to us in the first year.

• Supports continued involvement.

Train-the-Trainer Outcomes

• 43% familiar with MedlinePlus

• 98% will use MedlinePlus in the future

• 79% stated the training they received was “very helpful”

• Led us to pursue NN/LM Award to partner with public librarians on Safety Fair

Year Three• Closer integration

with the DOCS program– Name on t-shirt– Yearly start-up

meetings– Better communication

with health fair organizers

– Increased use of Information RX pads

Year Three• Using iPad to promote

MedlinePlus to patients while they are in line waiting

• Library is included list of things to do for medical students at the checkout table

• Invited to include consumer health information reseouces in the DOCS patient booklet

Year One vs. Year Two vs. Year Three• Will you make health changes based on

this information?

Year One vs. Year Two

• Would you use MedlinePlus in the future?

Year One results combined = 82% said yes

Lessons Learned: Survey• We receive surveys from about 10% of fair

attendees each year.• Attendees are reluctant to complete surveys

because:– Time consuming– At the end of the day– Questions are too long

• Plan to create a shorter version or other ways to evaluate our interaction with the patients

Thank you!