Bee Stings and the Library
Siobhan Champ-Blackwell - Community Outreach Liaison at the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, MidContinental Region.
My parents both immigrated to the United States from Ireland in the 1940s. In my family, if you were sick, chances are that Vicks Menthol Rub, aspirin and/or baking soda would somehow play a major role in your treatment. I don't know how many pans of boiling water and Vicks I steamed over as a child! And baking soda cured everything from bee stings to upset stomachs. I'm sure if I asked all the members of the Nebraska Library Association, you could all recall similar home remedies. Health, prevention and wellness are all tied to family and culture.
It is important for us as librarians to provide sensitive and culturally appropriate health information to our patrons when they come to us for help. We also want to be sure that we are providing reliable trusted information, not medical advice, and that the patron is clear on this distinction. And we want to fifind information that fits the needs of the patron, taking into account the language they speak, their cultural identity, their reading level, and more. This is a delicate task, considering the emotional state many people are in by the time they come to the library for help on a medical question.
Reference Interview
The reference interview sets the stage for developing a trusted encounter with the patron. There are two resources that provide basic guidelines for conducting a health related reference interview. Start with the Connecticut Consumer Health Information Healthnet's Guidelines for Providing Medical Information to Consumers at http://library.uchc.edu/departm/hnet/guidelines.html. This guideline provides an easy-to- follow step-by-step process. The icon Library Consortium of Nebraska and Western Iowa put together a video and handbook The Librarian Is In: Facing Modern Consumer Health Issues in the Public Library. You can view the streaming video, or order the video and handbook at http://www.iconlibrary.org/hhqvideo.html. With the video, you can view encounters between a librarian and a patron and follow it through to the recommended action.
Web Sites
I know my mother did not go online to fifind out if baking soda really was an effective treatment for bee stings. It was something she learned from her mother and just “knew” that it worked. While baking soda and bee stings are fairly harmless (for most people), there are other home remedies that are worth fifinding out more about. The National Library of Medicine's consumer health web site MedlinePlus http://med-lineplus.gov/ includes a section on over the counter and prescription drugs as well as herbs and supplements. See http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginformation. html. This section is also available in Spanish by clicking on the “español” button on the right side of the page, or by entering through the Spanish language portal at http:// medlineplus.gov/spanish/. This new feature of MedlinePlus adds to its usefulness as a tool for librarians to assist patrons in fifinding reliable online health information. MedlinePlus also includes health topics for specifific demographic groups. See the “Population Groups listing at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/populationgroups.html The National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) has put together a listing of “Other Language Resources” at http://nnlm.gov/outreach/consumer/multi.html. This lists web sites that provide patient education materials in numerous languages.
Health Disparities
In 2003, the Institute of Medicine released a study that concluded that health disparities do exist in the United States and that they are based on race and ethnicity. The report Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care is available online at http://newton.nap.edu/books/030908265x/html/ index.html. One of the recommendations of the report is that we need to “implement patient education programs to increase patients' knowledge of how to best access care and participate in treatment decisions” and includes providing culturally appropriate programs in this recommendation. (p. 198).
Library Response
Knowing that the disparities exist and that culturally appropriate patient education is an appropriate response, libraries can begin to take action based on sound evidence. Minority Health Month takes place in April 2007; perhaps your library can partner up with a clinic or public health agency and host informational programs. See http:// www.nmhmf.org/. For assistance in these types of events, contact the MidContinental Regional Medical Library http://nnlm.gov/mcr/ , at 1-800-338-7657. For Marty Magee, Nebraska Liaison, select option #1, #2, then #5. To reach me, select option #1, #2, then #1. Marty and I are anxious to work on collaborative efforts that bring health information directly to community members.
Immigrants coming to the US have to learn to navigate a new health system. Those of us who were born to fifirst generation Americans sometimes bring two value systems to the table. It is an important, yet challenging task to assist people with a variety of health experiences to fifind reliable and culturally sensitive health information. Let's take on this challenge and make strides toward the elimination of health disparities through a more informed public.
[note: this article was published in the December 2006 issue of Reforma Newsletter]
