Resources for Quality Health Information Online Exploring Resources

Resources for Quality Health Information Online Exploring Resources for Minority, Multilingual and Multicultural Clients

Agenda Define consumer health information as compared to patient education, Identify current trends of health information, Identify health seeking behavior of consumers, Define problems, challenges, concerns with health literacy for multilingual consumers, List selected multilingual consumer health resources, and Identify diversity and communication issues with serving multilingual consumers.

Assumptions Access to quality health information improves health decisions Health disparities positively affected with access to credible health information Access to health information leads people to ask informed questions

What Is Consumer Health Information? “…an umbrella term encompassing the continuum extending from the specific information needs of patients to the broader provision of health information for the lay person" (Consumer and Patient Health Information Section [CAPHIS] of the Medical Library Association [MLA] at www. caphis. mlanet. org/activities/)

Patient Education vs. Consumer Health Information on health and medical topics provided in response to requests from the general public, including patients and their families May be information on the symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of disease May encompass information on health promotion, wellness, preventive medicine, and accessing the health care system Can be actively sought or provided through a campaign targeting a specific health condition

Patient Education vs. Consumer Health Information A planned activity Initiated by a health professional in order to impart knowledge, change attitudes and build skills Has the specific goal of changing behavior, increasing compliance with therapy and, thereby, improving health

Factors That Stimulated Consumer Health Information ü ü ü Patients started taking more responsibility for their own health care decisions and acting as their own advocates. The "baby boom" generation, known for questioning authority, started to reach the age when medical concerns increase. Health care providers adopted managed care models to curtail health care costs. The introduction of user-friendly Web browsers in 1995 made both access and dissemination of information on the Internet fast, easy and free. Computers became affordable From MLA News, January 2003/Number 351, pg. 14

Current Trends Eighty percent of American internet users--some 113 million adults--have searched for information on at least one of seventeen health topics Most internet users start at a general search engine when researching health and medical advice online (66%) 72% visited multiple sites Most felt confident in their search From the Pew Internet & American Life Project, October 29, 2006 http: //www. pewinternet. org/

Current Trends Only a quarter of online health seekers said they always or usually check the source and date In the 2001 report – half said they did so And, half of the searches on the Internet are on behalf of someone else From the Pew Internet & American Life Project, October 29, 2006 http: //www. pewinternet. org/

Where Else Do People Get Health Information? Family and friends Newspapers, magazines, pamphlet Television, radio Family doctor or other physician, doctor’s staff Health educators & patient educator Public health workers and…

Where Else Do People Get Health Information? Medical libraries (if open to the public) Consumer health libraries Public libraries Churches, parish nurses, health ministers Pharmacy/pharmacist

The Nature of the Problem Conversations with doctors are often confusing for me. They might well have warned me about the [procedure], but I didn’t catch it. They carefully explain things to me, and I make like the intelligent, deeply comprehending person I wish I could be. I nod and furrow my brow. The doctors’ words run down one of my deep furrows and keep right on running, out to the foggy sunset…I just can’t focus on all the variables. Jack Slater Seattle Times, December 3, 2003

Health information-seeking Physician’s query: “I need information on the management of hypomagnesemia. ” Patient’s query: “I had diarrhea and I was in the hospital for 18 days and now I’m supposed to have transfusions. The doctor says it’s to fix my muscles and nerves. Can you look this up? ”

Health Information-Seeking Actual reference question What the patron meant Sick lick vomiting Vascular urethral reflux Dropped bladder Fireballs in the eucharist Cyclic vomiting Vesicoureteral reflux Cystocele Fibroids in the uterus

Health Literacy Concerns The set of abilities needed to: recognize a health information need; identify likely information sources and use them to retrieve relevant information; assess the quality of the information and its applicability to a specific situation; and analyze, understand, and use the information to make good health decisions. MLA Task Force on Health Information Literacy

Health Literacy Concerns An estimated 90 million adults may lack the literacy skills to use the US health system effectively Over 300 studies show that health-related materials far exceed the average reading ability of US adults Health literacy is fundamental to quality health care Institute of Medicine report “Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion”

Health Literacy Concerns Imagine how much more complicated this gets when you also factor in multicultural and multilingual considerations!

Cultural Competence Set of behaviors that allows effective work to occur Culture – patterns of behavior Competence – having the capacity to function effectively

Resources for Understanding Cultural Competence

National Center for Cultural Competence http: //gucchd. georgetown. edu/nccc/

The Cross Cultural Health Care Program • http: //www. xculture. org/ • Bilingual medical glossaries in 21 different languages --downloadable

Ethno. Med http: //ethnomed. org/

Refugee Health ~ Immigrant Health • http: //www 3. baylor. edu/~Charles_Kemp/refugee_health. htm

Culture Clues http: //www. depts. washington. edu/pfes/cultureclue s. html

Multilingual Resources NN/LM- Consumer Health Information in Many Languages Resources http: //nnlm. gov/outreach/consumer/multi. html A collaboration of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) Consumer Outreach Librarians Customized Search Engine to search the listed web sites (not dictionaries)

http: //nnlm. gov/outreach/consumer/multi. html

Multiple Language Resources Immunization Action Coalition ◦ http: //www. immunize. org/catg. d/noneng. htm ◦ Includes Vaccine Information Sheets in 36 languages

Healthy Roads Media ◦ http: //www. healthyroadsmedia. org/

Twenty Four Languages ◦ http: //library. med. utah. edu/24 languages/

Low Literacy Resources National Center for Farmworker Health ◦ http: //www. ncfh. org/pateduc. htm US FDA Easy to Read English/Spanish ◦ http: //www. fda. gov/opacom/lowlit/englow. html Oregon Health Sciences University/Hood River Community Health Outreach Project http: //www. ohsu. edu/library/hoodriver/pam phlets/pamphletindex. shtml

The National Library of Medicine Responds Medline. Plus ◦ Over 750 health topics including conditions, procedures, wellness topics, and demographic groups ◦ Full-text drug and herbal information ◦ Full-text encyclopedia with illustrations ◦ También en español and…

Health Information in Multiple Languages Over 40 languages Quality guidelines for health information in multiple languages

More NLM Resources Several web-based resources focusing on selected ethnic and cultural groups: ◦ American Indian Health americanindianhealth. nlm. nih. gov ◦ Tribal Connections www. tribalconnections. org ◦ Asian American Health asianamericanhealth. nlm. nih. gov ◦ Arctic Health www. arctichealth. org More are in the works…

Additional Resources Diversity. RX ◦ http: //www. diversityrx. org/ University of Michigan Health System: Cultural Competence Web Resources ◦ http: //www. med. umich. edu/Multicultural/ccp/culco mp. htm American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy: Cultural Competence ◦ http: //www. aacp. org/site/page. asp? TRACKID=&VID =1&CID=1181&DID=6751

Pharmacy Resources

Use Medicines Wisely/My Medicines http: //www. fda. gov/ womens/taketimeto care/mymeds. html US FDA Office of Women’s Health and The National Association Of Chain Drug Stores 1999!

My Medicines

My Medicines

My Medicines in Spanish

My Medicines in Hmong

Rex the Talking Bottle

Walgreens. Español. com http: //www. walgreens. com/spanish/default. jsp

SPIRAL http: //spiral. tufts. edu/ Selected Patient Information Resources in Asian Languages

Variety of SPIRAL Documents Aging, Medicines and Alcohol (U. S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration SAMSHA) Antibiotics (Federation of Chinese American and Chinese Canadian Medical Societies - FCMS) Using Herbs (Health Information Translations) Coumadin (Warfarin) (NYU Downtown Hospital/Ehrman Digital Library) Pain Management (University of Michigan Health System)

SALUD http: //palantir. lib. uic. edu/salud/

Evaluation Health Information A Tutorial from the NLM http: //www. nlm. nih. gov/medlineplus/webeva l/webeval. html

Diversity & Communication Issues RHIN: Refugee Health Information Network http: //www. hablamosjuntos. org/pdf_files/Bri ef_Non. Engl-Final 2. pdf Developing Better Non-English Materials: Understanding the Limits of Translation

Questions…

Thank you Lisa Massengale, MLS Assistant Information Services Librarian University of Illinois at Chicago Library of the Health Sciences lmassen 1@uic. edu

For more information about NLM products and services, contact your Regional Medical Library: Jacqueline Leskovec, MLIS, MA, RN Outreach and Evaluation Coordinator NNLM/GMR leskovec@uic. edu For all regions: 800 -338 -7657 Press 1 for your Regional Medical Library