Dana Medical Library Receives Grant for "Information Prescription"

The University of Vermont, Dana Medical Library, received a grant from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, New England Region to support a project that helps doctors and nurses at UVM/FAHC outpatient practice in Milton (Milton Family Practice) to use consumer-oriented health information available on the internet to improve communications about health. The project also encourages the nearby Milton Public library to expand and promote its health information services for the community at large.

The key feature of the project is advocacy for use of the “Information Prescription,” a protocol developed by the ACP Foundation and the National Library of Medicine. In this system, a health care provider gives a patient or family member a written prescription to seek further information on a health or disease topic on MedlinePlus. Medlineplus.gov is the comprehensive evidence-based commercial-free Web site with over 740 health related topics developed and updated daily by the National Library of Medicine.

Principal Investigator Marianne Burke, Director of the University of Vermont’s Dana Medical Library, and co-Principal Investigator, Peggy Carey MD, Assistant Professor of Family Medicine, College of Medicine, are leading a team of medical librarians from Dana Library and Fletcher Allen’s Frymoyer Community Resource Center in partnership with Milton Family Practice and Milton Public Library. The demonstration project is being conducted at those two Milton, VT locations.

The project includes educational meetings with all providers at the Milton Practice and distribution of custom prescription pads to them, educational bulletin boards featuring MedlinePlus brochures, the installation of an Internet accessible computer and printer to allow patients to follow-through on suggestions made by their physicians, and a phone line tied to the Frymoyer Community Resource Center to enable patients to seek assistance in navigating the internet for health information.

John Ferguson MD, Medical Director at Milton Family Practice said, “The prescription pad makes it simple for the doctor to suggest topics patients can find in MedlinePlus and seek further information on their own.”

Marianne Burke, project PI said, “Health care providers need a streamlined way to recommend Web sites to their patients and be confident that the information patients will find is evidence-based and at the right level for different needs. The Information Prescription combined with MedlinePlus helps promote communication between physicians and their patients who use the Internet.”

The project team is also training librarians and staff at the Milton Public Library on using MedlinePlus and other health information sites to better assist library users seeking health and wellness information.

The demonstration project was awarded $40,000. The project period is May 2007 until July 2008.