Wellness Programs and Patient Services

I had the privilege of moderating the "Wellness Programs and Patient Services" paper session this afternoon. Each of the presenters described innovative programs they had implemented at their libraries and/or shared interesting information about the world of patient services. Those of us in attendance left with a lot of great ideas that we could bring back to our own libraries.

Ann Gonzalez from the Preston Medical Library at the University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine reported on a wellness program designed to bring National Library of Medicine resources to the employees of Alcoa, a Knoxville-based company. The library's goal is to develop a toolkit for partnering with industry that other institutions can use. Some of the successes and challenges they've encountered (such as an employee health fair the Friday before Labor Weekend!) were things I would have never anticipated.

Pat Higginbottom of the Lister Hill Library at the University of Alabama at Birmingham shared several really fun ideas and strategies for promoting health and wellness to faculty and staff. A few of my favorite topics were walking meetings, a standing desk, salad potlucks, indoor walking trials, and a farm stand of fresh produce right outside the library. (Her co-author, Valerie Gordon was unable to attend.) I want to try some these ideas out at my library!

Next, Cynthia Vaughn described a new service she and her colleagues at the University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine have implemented over this past two years. They have been using Skylight In-Room Television to deliver information to hospital patients. It was interesting to learn that the patient requests they've received have involved 130 different Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) and to hear about how they get information to patients in different units of the hospital efficiently.

Terri Ottosen of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Southeastern Atlantic region wrapped up the session with a presentation on patient advocacy. Terri has recently completed a certificate program in patient advocacy and so was able to provide an overview of this emerging field. I hadn't heard of patient advocacy before, but I was excited to learn that health sciences librarians and patient advocates share a number of skills and values. It's definitely an area of healthcare to keep an eye out for in the future!