>> > Summary of Responses: Thank you for all of the responses. I
>> > decided to edit them and put them in categories to make the summary
>> > more user friendly (I hope).
>> >
>>
Steve Krompf
Librarian
Greater SE Community Hospital
Washington, DC

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>> >
>> >
>> > SUGGESTED RESOURCES/MATERIALS:
>> >
>> > A few inexpensive models to be useful, large anatomic charts
>> > and skeleton, automated blood pressure machine and scale.
>> >
>> > Books:
>> > Mayo Clinic Family Health Book
>> > Merck Manual Home ed.
>> > The Encyclopedia of Genetic Disorders and Birth Defects
>> > Insructions for Patients
>> > Instructions for Sports Medicine Patients
>> > The Essential Guide to Prescription Drugs
>> > Everyone's Guide to Cancer Therapy
>> > AMA Complete Guide to Men's Health
>> > New Harvard guide to Women's Health
>> > The Patient's Guide to Medical Texts
>> > A Consumer's Guide to Dentistry
>> > The Physician's Guide to Rare Diseases
>> >
>> > Subscriptions to consumer health periodicals. There used to be a
>> > LOT
>> > of free pamphlet sources, but the goverment sites are about the
>> > only ones
>> > you can still get free pamphlets from. The Arthritis Foundation,
>> > American
>> > Heart Assoc. & National Cancer Inst. have pamphlets that are not
>> > terribly
>> > expensive (I think $1.00+ each is expensive for things people just
>> > come in
>> > and pick up). We do order Krames & Channing Bete pamphlets for our
>> >
>> > patient-guests if there is not a less expensive alternative
>> > available on our
>> > most-frequest diagnoses.
>> >
>> > We have HealthOnlne on our website (were able to get free access
>> > through our state hospital association).
>> >
>> > We also have some good consumer links from our library on our
>> > hospital's website:
>> >
>> > If I had to run the consumer service on almost no budget, I would
>> > buy a
>> > basic drug reference, lab values reference, nutrition book,
>> > diagnosis and
>> > treatment text, etc. That plus an Internet connection would
>> > suffice.
>> >
>> > Check out the suggested Consumer Health books / resources listed on
>> > the MLA
>> > Collection Development Section site (anyone can view):
>> > http://colldev.mlanet.org/subject.html
>> >
>> > Check out the information on consumer health libraries at the
>> > Consumer & Patient Health Information Section (CAPHIS) of MLA
>> > website at http://caphis.mlanet.org
>> >
>> > I wouldn't bother with print pamphlets, when you can get current
>> > ones for less space in MEDLINEplus.
>> >
>> >
>> > NETWORKING:
>> >
>> > If you haven't already, join CAPHIS-L (at
>> > http://caphis.mlanet.org/activities/Caphis_listserv.html), post
>> > your questions there, and keep watching it for more ideas
>> >
>> > Network with the MLA Section folks from CAPHIS (Consumer and
>> > Patient Health
>> > Information Section) http://caphis.mlanet.org/
>> >
>> > Visit other libraries listed in the CAPHIS and NLM sites:
>> > http://caphis.mlanet.org/directory/
>> > http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/libraries.html
>> >
>> >
>> > PROBLEMS/EXPERIENCES:
>> >
>> > Finding volunteers.
>> >
>> > Ownership. Who will pay to keep the materials up to date?
>> >
>> > How do you keep the books from walking?
>> >
>> > Circulating collections need a regular infusion of
>> > budget to stay up-to-date.
>> >
>> > Pamphlet collections are a bear to keep
>> > current involving constant inventorying, evaluating and ordering,
>> > not to
>> > mention more storage space than anticipated. So many pamphlets are
>> > online
>> > free now that we stock very few and prefer to print them on demand,
>> > although
>> > there are patrons who seem to think this takes too long.
>> >
>> >
>> > USERS:
>> >
>> > I find 2 major types of users:
>> > 1. Those who want it short and fast. They want a pamphlet or two on
>> > their
>> > specific complaint. They do not want to wait for you to look it up.
>> >
>> > MedlinePlus can be great for these folks, if you can type fast
>> > enough!
>> > 2. Those who have complex personal medical issues beyond the
>> > consumer
>> > material's ability to answer. For these I sometimes dip into the
>> > medical
>> > literature which is conveniently in the same room and/or do
>> > extensive
>> > Internet research.
>> >
>> > SAMPLE CUSTOMER QUESTIONS;
>>
>> > What is the eye surgery DLK, how is it done, etc?
>> > What are the most recent treatments for MS, why do an MRI?
>> > What can be donefor IPF (found to be Idiopathic Pulmonary
>> > Fibrosis)?
>> > Can vitamins E, C and folic acid prevent a second heart attack?
>> > What does the Anticyclic Citrullinated Peptide result on my lab
>> > report mean?
>>
>> > STAFFING:
>>
>> > I also think a trained staffer is essential. Another hospital in
>> > our area
>> > opened a consumer library with a social worker in charge and later
>> > had only
>> > volunteers. It didn't work well. People have some tough questions
>> > to ask and
>> > it takes some skill and training to handle them. Your volunteers
>> > may be able
>> > to refer patrons to the medical collection but will people comply?
>>
> Train your volunteers in medical terminology and with "Questions of
> health: trigger tapes on the health care reference interview"
> (Seattle,
> Wash. : King County Library System, 1986; OCLC: 21869377). This is an
>
> excellent video that presents four different health reference
> scenarios
> with wrong and better ways to handle them. Also, remind the
> volunteers
> about confidentiality, and that anything beyond pointing patrons to
> published sources can be considered practicing medicine.
>
>> >
>> >
>> > We have a Consumer Health Library occupying a corner of the Medical
>> > Library.
>> > Once it had a nurse running it but that job ended and now I do
>> > both.
>>
>> > A number of consumer health libraries (eg. the one at our
>> > affiliated hospital library, Northwestern Memorial Hospital) have a
>> > heavy involvement by nurses. They actually even rotate through and
>> > staff the desk...So you may want to consider a team approach
>>
>>
>> LOCATION/EQUIPMENT/ ENVIRONMENT/ SERVICES
>>
>> > I think one of the greatest things about our service is the
>> > proximity of the
>> > medical collection. The other greatest thing is using the Internet
>> > because
>> > this can provide info that doesn't need to be returned, keeping
>> > overdues and
>> > lost material to a minimum. Many of our users do not feel
>> > comfortable on the
>> > Internet so I do that research for them, often with them beside me
>> > at the
>> > computer.
>>
>> We outsourced our (larger, offsite) consumer health library to the
>> public library 5 years ago; I almost exclusively use MEDLINEplus for
>> those patients that happen in.
>>
>> >
>> > My hospital is suburban. We serve anyone who walks in or calls. We
>> > have a
>> > computer in the consumer area but 6 others elsewhere in the
>> > library. These
>> > are often used by employees or visitors for online searching for
>> > any reason
>> > at all as well as for email. ICU families especially use email to
>> > connect
>> > with other family members.
>> >
>> > Our experience with AVs is that people would rather use them at
>> > home than in the library.
>> >
>> > Be sure people can use the computers and AVs privately.
>> >
>> > Furnish and decorate the place with comfort in mind. Green, "the
>> > color of healing", is very effective for this.
>> >
>> > Eventually, the space became an office rather than a resource room.
>> >
>> >
>> >
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