Member Spotlight

Delaware Academy of Medicine: Equitable Access to All

By Kathy Anderson
Photo Credits: Kathy Anderson

Services for Consumers

“I need a diabetes cookbook with large photos for my 85-year-old mother.”
“My husband had a stroke. Do you have any books that will help him to exercise his brain?”
“My daughter has bipolar disorder. Can you find us any support groups in the area?”
“My wife was recently diagnosed acoustic neuroma. What are the standard treatments?”

Delaware residents can get high-quality answers to questions like these through services provided by the Delaware Academy of Medicine. Through the innovative concept of embedding consumer health librarians in public libraries around the state, the Academy serves the general public directly. Academy staff librarians are headquartered in each county: in New Castle County at the Bear Public Library; in Kent County at the Dover Public Library; and in Sussex County at the Rehoboth Beach Public Library. In addition, the Gail P. Gill Consumer Health Library, located in Christiana Hospital, Newark, is operated by the Academy and open to the public.

PJ Grier, Director of Library &
Information Services

“The Academy is a unique institution on the medical landscape, as a non-profit, independent medical library, not aligned with a medical school or clinical institution,” explains PJ Grier, Director of Library and Information Science. “In the early part of this decade, when we had the opportunity to re-envision our mission, we chose to go beyond the walls of the Academy and move consumer health information services to where the people are.”

Founded in 1930 by sixteen doctors and dentists, the Delaware Academy of Medicine’s original goal was to provide a professional library and a meeting place where medical professionals could gather to exchange ideas and experiences, in order to improve the quality and delivery of health care.

Standing: Susan LaValley, Consumer
Health Librarian - New Castle County,
and Robb Mackles - DeLMIRA Project
Coordinator
Seated: Meg Ward - Consumer Health
Librarian, Gail P. Gill Library

Today, the consumer health librarians who work directly with the public tailor their services to the communities they work in. “We have found that the needs are often very different from county to county and from library to library,” explains Susan LaValley, who works in community libraries in New Castle County. “We rely on the front-line public library staff to refer people to us. Of course, with sensitive health issues, trust and face-to-face contact also play a huge part.”

Meg Ward, who works in the Gail P. Gill Consumer Health Library in Christiana Hospital, serves patients, families, and caregivers with material related to diseases, testing, and treatment. “We have a Patient Portal where patients can even request materials to be brought to their rooms,” says Ward.

Linda Leonard, Consumer Health Librarian -
Sussex County, assists a patron at
the Rebohoth Beach Public Library

Patrons can ask their questions by visiting public libraries on Wellness Wednesdays or any time the librarian is there, or they can call/email their requests. Delawareans have access to the Delaware Library Catalog, which allows them to search and order books and materials from the Academy of Medicine collection and many other libraries in the state, with delivery to their local library.

The Academy recently re-branded its consumer health library services as “Delaware Health Source” with a new logo and philosophy “You Ask. We Search.” Funded primarily through the Delaware Health Fund Advisory Committee, the service offers answers to health questions received from the public by phone, fax, email, or online form.

Services for Medical Professionals

For medical professionals, the Delaware Academy of Medicine created DelMIRA (the Delaware Medical Information Resource Alliance), which provides access to electronic databases, textbooks, and journals to acute care hospitals in the state. DelMIRA’s goal is to offer comparable resources to what are available at the best hospitals and research institutions in the country.

“We level the playing field for Delawareans, by providing equitable access to health information for all,” says PJ Grier, the Delaware Academy of Medicine’s Director of Library and Information Services. “As a patient, it shouldn’t matter where you live in the state or which hospital you go to. Your practicing clinician should have electronic access to critical health information resources.”

DelMIRA was created to address the disparity in access to biomedical information and health data that existed statewide and affected all types of healthcare institutions. “This is a problem of national significance, with many states trying to ensure that underserved areas have equitable access to the clinical information that is essential for better patient outcomes,” says Grier.

DelMIRA provides access to important resources like CINAHL (nursing and allied health literature index), New England Journal of Medicine, Stat!Ref, Nursing Reference Center, MD Consult, and others. “We go to the hospitals and set up demos and workshop sessions – in the cafeterias, libraries, staff areas,” says Robb Mackes, DelMIRA Project Coordinator. “It’s all about publicizing the tools that DelMIRA puts in their hands, to help clinicians make the best decisions for their patients.”

In 2008, the Delaware Academy of Medicine was awarded top honors by the Delaware Library Association for “outstanding support for Delaware libraries.” PJ Grier welcomes questions and comments at plg@delamed.org.

Links:

Delaware Academy of Medicine
www.delamed.org

Delaware Health Source
www.dehealthsource.org

Delaware Library Catalog
www.lib.de.us

DelMIRA
www.delmira.org

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