Rural Outreach Training Efforts to Clinicians and Public Library Staff: NLM Resource Promotion

Abstract

Abstract A project provided access to NLM resources for health care providers, public library staff, and consumers in rural New York. Computer workstations and training were provided for hospital and public library staff. Use of NLM resources was evaluated through pre- and postsession surveys and comparisons with control libraries. A total of 118 staff was trained in hospitals, 67 in libraries, and 488 public end users. NLM resource usage increased dramatically and stayed high one year post-training for all groups. Public library staff made the most dramatic changes in acquiring consumer health information. Familiarity with NLM resources increased consumers' and physicians' use of online health information. KEYWORDS: computer user trainingMedlinePluspublic librariesrural health servicesrural hospitals This project was supported by NIH Grant no. G08-LM-008006-02 from the National Library of Medicine. The authors also wish to gratefully acknowledge Pamela Gilbert, Adrienne Hendricks, and Dawn Rogers Kroll of the Sidney Memorial Public Library for administrative support and training efforts; Joy Olson of the Rural Health Network for helping to coordinate rural outreach efforts; Laura Dixon of the George Miner Mackenzie Library for assistance with document delivery; Dr. Uday Dandamundi, formerly of the Margaretville Memorial Hospital, for his enthusiastic support; and Jay Pound of Creative Computers for computer and technical support. Notes ∗PubMed and MedlinePlus. ∗∗MedlinePlus. Additional informationNotes on contributorsMary Grace Flaherty Mary Grace Flaherty, MLS, MS ([e-mail]) is a Doctoral student, Syracuse University, 221 Hinds Hall, Syracuse, NY 13244. She was formerly Director, Sidney Memorial Public Library. Les Roberts, PhD ([e-mail]) is Associate Clinical Professor, Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY 10032.