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MedlinePlus & Consumer Health Resources

PRESENTED BY JAMIE SARAGOSSI

HEALTH SCIENCES LIBRARY STONY BROOK UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

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http://bit.ly/2FaMGlf

HTTP://WWW.RECYCLEDMINDS.COM/2013/02/HEALTH.CARE.AS.HUMAN.RIGHT.HTML

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How it all began….

  • In 1976 Congress created the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion with the mission to:

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  • Disseminate health information.

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  • Since 1976, a few things have changed!

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HTTP://HEALTH.GOV/COMMUNICATION/ABOUT.ASP

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1976 THUNDERBIRD HTTPS://FLIC.KR/P/THPMJN - APPLE WATCH PHOTO

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SMART CAR - HTTPS://FLIC.KR/P/YKBOM7

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HTTPS://COMMONS.WIKIMEDIA.ORG/WIKI/FILE:APPLE_I_COMPUTER.JPG#/MEDIA/FILE:APPLE_I_COMPUTER.JPG

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HTTPS://FLIC.KR/P/THPMJN - APPLE WATCH PHOTO

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Health Literacy Today

According to the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion:

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Health literacy is the degree to which a person has the capacity to obtain, communicate, process, and understand basic health information and services in order to make appropriate health decisions.

HTTP://HEALTH.GOV/ABOUT-US/

HTTP://WWW.NESTA.ORG.UK/EVENT/HOW-CAN-OPEN-DATA-BE-USED-INNOVATION-AND-BETTER-PATIENT-OUTCOMES-PRIMARY-CARE

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Who’s involved in this initiative?

  • Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
  • US Department of Health and Human Services
  • National Institute of Health
  • National Library of Medicine
  • National Network of Libraries of Medicine – Mid Atlantic Region
    • Of which; Stony Brook University Health Sciences Library is a resource library
  • Individual clinicians, health professionals, librarians and the consumer.

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US Department of Health & Human Services

  • Healthy People Initiatives
    • Healthy People provides science-based, 10-year national objectives for improving the health of all Americans. For 3 decades, Healthy People has established benchmarks and monitored progress over time in order to:
        • Encourage collaborations across communities and sectors.
        • Measure the impact of prevention activities.
        • Empower individuals toward making informed health decisions.

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HTTP://WWW.HEALTHYPEOPLE.GOV/2020/ABOUT-HEALTHY-PEOPLE

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Healthy People 2020 – Health IT

  • Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion continues to play a key role in the development and tracking of Healthy People national objectives.
  • In partnership with CDC and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), ODPHP set measurable objectives and targets within the Healthy People 2020 Health Communication and Health Information Technology topic area.

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National Institute of Health

  • Conducting research on the public’s understanding of health information and the best ways to communicate this information to the consumer.
    • Highlights from recent study results:
      • Everyone, regardless of the level of education, can misunderstand health information. Especially in emotionally charged situations.
      • In almost all cases, physicians and other health professionals, try to and believe they are, communicating accurate information.
      • Patients are sometimes embarrassed to ask questions to confirm they have actually understood the information.

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      • It is increasingly difficult for people to separate evidence based information, especially online, from misleading ads and gimmicks.
          • That’s where librarians and information professionals come in!

HTTP://WWW.NIH.GOV/CLEARCOMMUNICATION/HEALTHLITERACY.HTM

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National Library of Medicine

  • The National Library of Medicine has been taking an increasingly prominent role in promoting health literacy initiatives through:
    • Funding opportunities – sponsoring grants to research health information seeking behavior, pilot programs to provide reliable health information to communities who would not otherwise have access to this type of information.
    • Training and educational materials for health professionals and information professionals.
    • Funding outreach programs to meet local community needs.
    • Dissemination of reliable health information in easily readable articles via MedlinePlus.

HTTPS://VSEARCH.NLM.NIH.GOV/VIVISIMO/CGI-BIN/QUERY-META?QUERY=HEALTH+LITERACY&V%3APROJECT=NLM-MAIN-WEBSITE

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NNLM – MAR

  • National Network of Libraries of Medicine – Middle Atlantic Region
    • “Our role is to support the efforts of the National Library of Medicine for this region to provide all U.S. health professionals with equal access to biomedical information and improve the public’s access to information so they can make informed decisions about their health.”

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    • Stony Brook University Health Sciences Library & NNLM
      • We support this goal of NNLM by providing access to our collections and reference services to patients, consumers and community members in addition to SBU faculty, staff and students.

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HTTP://NNLM.GOV/MAR/ABOUT

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NNLM – Selection of �Suggested Resources

  • These National Library of Medicine resources are good starting points for information on health and wellness topics, drugs, and directories for locating health organizations.
  • MedlinePlus:
    • Providing consumers with immediate access to authoritative information to help them research health-related questions and increase their understanding of health topics.
  • Drug Information Portal:
    • Gateway to drug information from NLM and other US government agencies.
  • ClinicalTrials.gov:
    • Regularly updated information about federally and privately supported clinical research in human volunteers

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HTTP://NNLM.GOV/MAR/CONSUMER

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MedlinePlus – suggestions for searching

  • Recommendations/Information Literacy skills applied to health information searching:
    • Consider the source -- Use recognized authorities
    • Focus on quality--All Web sites are not created equal
    • Be a cyberskeptic--Quackery abounds on the Web
    • Look for the evidence--Rely on medical research, not opinion
    • Check for currency--Look for the latest information
    • Beware of bias--What is the purpose? Who is providing the funding?
    • Protect your privacy--Health information should be confidential
    • Consult with your health professional--Patient/provider partnerships lead to the best medical decisions

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HTTPS://WWW.NLM.NIH.GOV/MEDLINEPLUS/HEALTHYWEBSURFING.HTML

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MedlinePlus – content areas

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Learn More

  • National Network of Libraries of Medicine
    • Consumer Health

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  • Free Resources for K-12

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  • K-12 Resource Guide
    • Several subtopics of interest for this community group

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Drug Information Portal

  • Quick access to various resources on particular medications

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    • Mobile version available, easily accessible from phone.
    • Search for a particular drug or browse by drug class, various factors.
    • Provides definitions for drug classes and frequently used terms.

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HTTP://WWW.CLIPSHRINE.COM/A-BOTTLE-FOR-PILLS--9231-MEDIUM.HTML

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ClinicalTrials.gov

  • ClinicalTrials.gov is a service of the U.S. National Institute of Health
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    • Created as a result of the Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act of 1997 (FDAMA).
    • FDAMA required the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through NIH, to establish a registry of clinical trials information for both federally and privately funded trials conducted under investigational new drug (IND) applications.
    • NIH and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) worked together to develop the site, which was made available to the public in February 2000.
    • Site can be used to find information about trials that are recruiting participants (for public).
    • Glossary of terms to find out more about conducting clinical research.

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Resource List

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References