# Presentation: 316689

## Prescription for Success:  Consumer Health Information on the Internet

- National Network of Libraries of Medicine
- _[http://nnlm.gov](http://nnlm.gov/)_
- Michelle Eberle
-  michelle.eberle@umassmed.edu

## Agenda	

- Consumer Health – then and now
- MedlinePlus and more...
- Health literacy
- PubMed
- Hands on...

## Consumer Health – then and now...

- 1972 – Patient Bill of Rights
- 2002 – Pew Internet and American Life
- 2006 – “Googling for a diagnosis”  [BMJ]
- 2006 – Pew Internet and American Life
- Only one quarter of online health seekers said they always or usually check the source and date of health information online!

## Realities of health care today

- Patients are now asked to make decisions about their own disease process.
- Most patients do not have the tools to make these kinds of decisions
- Libraries can help!

## A rose is a rose...

- “A high degree of intelligence, tact, imagination, and resourcefulness coupled with such a background of education, professional training, and experience will enable the medical librarian to administer a library efficiently and to assist readers in the use of the bibliographic and other materials of his collection.”
-  Lucretia McClure quotes Judity W. Hunt from the first edition of A Handbook of Medical Library Practice (1943)
- Source:  McClure, L. A rose is a rose.  JMLA 91(2) April 2003.

## Health Literacy

- The ability to read, understand and act on health information [Pfizer 2002]
- The degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions [Healthy People 2010]

## Pop Quiz

- Open book!
- Take 5 minutes to answer the 5 question health literacy quiz.  We will review the answers together.

## Why is health literacy so critical?

- Essential life skill
- Public health imperative
- Essential part of social capital
- Critical economic issue
- Source:  “Navigating Health:  The Role of Health Literacy”, Kickbusch

## Resources for health literacy

- _[MedlinePlus](http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/easytoread/easytoread_a.html)__[ – Easy to read](http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/easytoread/easytoread_a.html)_
- easy to read resources and a how to write easy to read page
- _[Ask Me 3, Partnership for Clear Health Communication](http://www.askme3.org/)_
- 1. What is my main problem?
- 2.  What do I need to do?
- 3.  Why is it important for me to do this?

## Consumer Health on the Internet

- The ABC’s of evaluation
- Accuracy
- Authority
- Bias
- Currency
- Coverage
- And, user friendliness

## Web sites you can trust...

- _[MedlinePlus](http://medlineplus.gov/)_
- _[NIH Senior Health](http://nihseniorhealth.gov/)_
- _[Clinical Trials](http://clinicaltrials.gov/)_
- _[NCCAM](http://nccam.nih.gov/)_
- _[National Library of Medicine](http://www.nlm.nih.gov/)_

## More...

- _[National Cancer Institute](http://cancer.gov/)_
- _[Dirline](http://dirline.nlm.nih.gov/)_
- _[Drug Digest](http://www.drugdigest.org/)_
- _[Family Doctor](http://familydoctor.org/)_
- Health News in Review

## Hands on Exercises

## Resources for further information...

- CAPHIS
- OERC
- Public Libraries and Community Partners Working Together to Provide Health Information
- The Challenge of Providing Consumer Health Information Services in Public Libraries
- National Network of Libraries of Medicine

## Thank you!

- Contact information:
- Michelle Eberle
- E-mail:  michelle.eberle@umassmed.edu
- (508) 856-2435 / (800) 338-7657
- http://nnlm.gov