by Terri Ottosen, Consumer Health Coordinator, NN/LM, SEA Office

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Southeastern Atlantic Region is committed to serving the needs of its members. Toward that effort, the Consumer Health Program has established a CHollaboration resource designed for network members to share consumer health best practices. We decided to call it CHollaboration in the spirit of Consumer Health collaboration and our quest to maintain clever titles. You may have already used the LibGuides on the state pages: health literacy and electronic medical records. The Southeastern Atlantic Region is now sharing our LibGuides with the entire country and all Regions of the NN/LM. (See http://guides.nnlm.gov) If you’ve bookmarked our previous SEA Guides URL, you can continue to access our guides that way, but you can also access them with the new URL. The Chollaboration space is a specific kind of LibGuide called a CampusGuide, which enables password protection of the guide while allowing members to post and share their successful outreach projects and ideas. To directly access this guide, see http://guides.nnlm.gov/chollaboration.

Nancy Patterson, Community Outreach Coordinator, and Terri Ottosen, Consumer Health Coordinator, share the responsibilities for managing the Consumer Health Program for the Region, although each targets a different audience. Nancy primarily serves community and faith organizations, and Terri focuses on public and health sciences librarians along with the general consumer. The creation of this collaborative space is the direct result of feedback received at the Year 04 Regional Planning Meeting which also revealed a need for ready-made, “to-go” outreach materials for the many outreach leaders who have networks in place and passion for their work but lack the time to create materials. Nancy will be working on developing packaged outreach models over the next few years, the first of which will be a health ministry outreach model. Once completed, the models will be uploaded to the CHollaboration space. All members of CHollaboration are encouraged to upload their own successful outreach models as well. Together, we can create a wealth of resources to help organizations and individuals engage in the outreach required to improve the health of their communities.

Several different platforms were considered for this collaborative space, including Moodle, which is the course management system the NN/LM uses for distance education classes, a wiki, which is less than ideal considering security concerns, and other means of providing a secure, shared space. Having gained access to SpringShare’s LibGuides, it was decided to make use of the additional features of CampusGuides, which will easily allow network members to securely share best practices. This platform will also allow sharing by other Regions of the NN/LM, making it a truly cross-regional effort. Once we see how this initial collaborative space works, we will promote it and open it to other Regions in the network. We know that there are some very creative and successful projects in the consumer health field and we’d love to see these projects shared and replicated whenever possible. The collaborative space has a discussion board, so members can post questions or comments to each other, as well as a link to share websites or material locations. Currently, the following categories are tabbed in the CHollaboration space: Training, Outreach Models, Exhibits/Health Fairs, Projects, Webinars, and Websites. We also welcome suggestions for additional categories or anything you may think of that would improve the Guide. Please think of this space as yours, as we are completely open to your ideas. To view the CampusGuide CHollaboration, please visit: http://guides.nnlm.gov/chollaboration. To submit your idea, project or anything else you’d like to share, please contact Terri (tottosen@hshsl.umaryland.edu) or Nancy (npatters@hshsl.umaryland.edu) for the password. If you’ve never created or added to a LibGuide before, we’d also be happy to accept your submission and add it to the site ourselves. We are excited to see what results from our CHollaboration.

Recorded Presentation: May 9, 2012 – Beyond the SEA: Study Design and Systematic Reviews (SR)

Date:  May 9, 2012

Time:  Noon to 1:00 pm (ET)

Presenter: Mary Lou Klem, PhD, MLIS – Dr. Klem received a PhD in clinical psychology from University of Memphis in 1993, going on to complete a residency in clinical psychology at University of Mississippi Medical Center and the Jackson Mississippi VA Medical Center.  From there, she moved to the University of Pittsburgh and served as a postdoctoral fellow in cardiovascular epidemiology at the Graduate School of Public Health.  From 1999 to 2003, Dr. Klem held an appointment as an assistant professor of psychiatry at Western Psychiatric Institute & Clinic at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. During this time period, she also completed a Master’s degree in Library and Information Sciences at Pitt.  In 2003, as part of a career transition from clinical psychologist to librarian, she completed a traineeship in Health Sciences Librarianship and Biomedical Informatics at Pitt’s Center for Biomedical Informatics.  Dr. Klem is currently a faculty librarian for the Health Sciences Library System, University of Pittsburgh.

Presentation: Study Design and Systematic Reviews (SR)

Systematic reviews are literature reviews that critically appraise and summarize the “best available evidence” for a clinical question or topic. While the most well-known “best evidence” is the randomized controlled trial (RCT), other study designs may also be appropriate for use in systematic reviews. This presentation provides an overview and description of two broad classes of study designs (experimental and observational), an explanation of critical differences between these two types of design, and a real-world example of the impact of such design differences on study outcomes.

Please click on the link below to hear the recorded presentation:

https://webmeeting.nih.gov/p59735852/

 ”Our greatest impact is achieved when we are flexible enough to adapt our programs to meet real, articulated needs.”

Judith Rogers
Manager, Learning Resources & Faculty Technology Services
University of the Virgin Islands
St. Thomas & St. Croix, USVI

What is your position?

Manager, Learning Resources & Faculty Technology Services – meaning: manager for University Libraries (both campuses of UVI), and faculty support for the learning environment.

Is there something in your own personal story that led you to do the work you do?

There are three major events that have led to what I do:

1. I began my affiliation with the libraries as a paraprofessional in the Greenblatt Library, Medical College of Georgia (MCG). Through this association, I became affiliated with the Medical Library Association, through which I was awarded a scholarship to complete my MLS degree. The attainment of the MLS degree equipped me to return to the U. S. Virgin Islands and take up a professional position at the University of the Virgin Islands Library (UVI) Library on St. Croix Campus
2. With my medical library experience at MCG and knowledge of the NN/LM programming, I reached out to the Juan Luis Hospital (JLH) librarian for partnership in a grant to educate health professionals throughout the Territory about Medline and other NLM resources. At the time, St. Thomas and St. John did not have access to a medical library locally. We introduced participants to Grateful Med, and successfully promoted the JLH Hospital and UVI libraries to meet some of their information needs.
3. My appointment as the UVI campus librarian opened up several opportunities to grow the library programs through closer collaboration with faculty at UVI. One such opportunity was in chairing an ad hoc committee for faculty development. Through leadership in this position, we established faculty resource centers that are still sustained today through the Libraries as Centers for Excellence in Teaching & Learning.

What do you love most about your outreach work?

I enjoy seeing participants develop an awareness of the vast resources freely available through the NLM and NN/LM SE/A. When you are immersed in the profession, it is easy to assume that information about these resources is being communicated effectively simply because announcements have been made here or there. It is so important to promote our programs actively and continuously using a wide variety of media. Otherwise, folks simply don’t get it!

What is the biggest challenge in what you do?

Developing professional staff who “buy-in” to the vision that effective promoting, teaching and program outreach is very necessary for succession planning. But, that is also our major challenge. In the environment of Internet and social media, some may feel that human interaction for outreach and communicating the value of the profession is diminished. In fact, it is even more important for ensuring that libraries get attention as dynamic entities that meet communities where they are, and provide solutions for their critical needs of daily living.

What has been the most fulfilling part of your work in terms of health outreach to your community’s underserved populations?

Outreach to Juan Luis Hospital and health professionals, including UVI faculty and students, amazingly, continues to produce dividends for the UVI library programs. The library’s strong partnership with the UVI School of Nursing actually grew out of the JLH project, and continues to be strengthened through our outreach to health professionals in the community. I believe the School of Nursing sees us as genuine partners with them in developing students to be effective and nurturing caregivers in the community

What do you see as the biggest health concerns in the communities you serve?

Asthma cases are extremely prevalent here. I’ve experienced this first hand with two members of my own family. Infants, young children and the elderly particularly are impacted. HIV-AIDS and hypertension issues are probably the second and third major concerns.

How did you first come to know NN/LM SE/A?

I learned about NN/LM SE/A as an employee at the Greenblatt Library, MCG. I became more aware of the programs through the visits of various SE/A outreach coordinators who have embraced the USVI since the early 1990’s.

In what ways has NN/LM SE/A been of help to you?

Outreach from SE/A for training and funding opportunities has been especially helpful. In 2010-11, UVI participated in another NN/LM SE/A funded project to provide training for community healthcare professionals and lay persons. In addition to the success with project participants, the activity brought an added dimension to the UVI programs through the services of an additional staff member, and promotion of the library within the community.

Can you share a success story about the impact of health outreach in your community?

In the early 1990’s I was contacted by a physician on St. Thomas as a follow-up to the health information outreach training conducted there. She became quite proficient in locating articles to support her work and used my library as a supplier for the full-text of articles. Although the St. Thomas Hospital had since established a mechanism for supporting physicians there, our relationship continued for over 10 years until she passed away a couple years ago. She often expressed that the benefit of friendly service and understanding towards her needs was worth reaching out across the water when she needed help.

What advice would you give others who are interested in doing health outreach work in their communities?

1. Ask your contacts in the community to identify their needs and look for ways to match your ideas/resources with solutions to meet those needs. Our greatest impact is achieved when we are flexible enough to adapt our programs to meet real, articulated needs.
2.  Be prepared to have back-up plans for every activity.
3. Don’t give up, even if the response is weak in the beginning. Health outreach enhances the quality of life in the community and, by association, the work that we do.

For more information, please contact Nancy Patterson (npatters@hshsl.umaryland.edu).

Date:  May 9, 2012

Time:  Noon to 1:00 pm (ET)

Presenter: Mary Lou Klem, PhD, MLIS – Dr. Klem received a PhD in clinical psychology from University of Memphis in 1993, going on to complete a residency in clinical psychology at University of Mississippi Medical Center and the Jackson Mississippi VA Medical Center.  From there, she moved to the University of Pittsburgh and served as a postdoctoral fellow in cardiovascular epidemiology at the Graduate School of Public Health.  From 1999 to 2003, Dr. Klem held an appointment as an assistant professor of psychiatry at Western Psychiatric Institute & Clinic at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. During this time period, she also completed a Master’s degree in Library and Information Sciences at Pitt.  In 2003, as part of a career transition from clinical psychologist to librarian, she completed a traineeship in Health Sciences Librarianship and Biomedical Informatics at Pitt’s Center for Biomedical Informatics.  Dr. Klem is currently a faculty librarian for the Health Sciences Library System, University of Pittsburgh.

Presentation: Study Design and Systematic Reviews (SR)

Systematic reviews are literature reviews that critically appraise and summarize the “best available evidence” for a clinical question or topic. While the most well-known “best evidence” is the randomized controlled trial (RCT), other study designs may also be appropriate for use in systematic reviews. This presentation provides an overview and description of two broad classes of study designs (experimental and observational), an explanation of critical differences between these two types of design, and a real-world example of the impact of such design differences on study outcomes.

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