Digital Liberary Access-Rural Taylor County, Kentucky

Taylor County Hospital, Campbellsville KY

Investigators

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-term objective of the Digital Health Library Access Partnership for Rural Taylor County, Kentucky is to provide online access to reliable medical information for rural healthcare professionals and the public at Taylor County Hospital, the county public library, and the county public health department. A hospital medical library is urgently needed because no digital, print, or microfilm information resources are available in the hospital for rural health professionals and patients. The county does not have a degreed medical librarian. Aim 1: To purchase and install 12 public-access personal computers and software and 3 printers at the hospital, public library, and public health department and to upgrade Internet access for the library and the health department. Aim 2: To provide online access to free databases and electronic resources such as NLM's MEDLINE and to subscription databases such as OVID, MDConsult, the Kentucky Virtual Library, and Stat!Ref for 35 staff physicians, nursing staff, patients, and the public of Taylor County, Kentucky. Aim 3: To advertise the three community sites and promote access to Web-based health Information and then provide 10, two-hour training sessions for 35 physicians, 45 nurses, a public librarian, a hospital education director, and a community health nurse who will, in turn, train the public. Aim 4: To evaluate the success of the project by examining usefulness and use of online medical resources at all three sites by user evaluations, surveys to medical staff, and by counting the number of users and articles downloaded. The project includes a medical librarian as a consultant, a full-service urban hospital library as the Lonesome Doc contact for Taylor County, and training courses both during and after the grant. Sustainable funding has been pledged for the continuation of this partnership, and experienced computer support people are available for desktop services. Access to the Kentucky Virtual Library and to medical librarians by phone will supplement the databases requested in this proposal and will provide further support for library users. Taylor County Hospital has renovated a large room with Internet connectivity for the new medical library. Now, the 22,000 citizens of rural Taylor County will have a hospital, a library, and a public health department with a digital medical library to provide access to online practice guidelines, drug information, primary literature, and medical textbooks.