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Topics in Consumer Health

January 18–May 6
$415
3.0 CEUs/30 LEUs

Login information will be emailed to students a few days before the course begins.

Course Description

This online course focuses on the special domain of consumer health information (CHI) in print, non-print, and electronic formats.  It is appropriate for future or current information professionals in diverse places: medical and public libraries, healthcare organizations, community agencies, middle and high school library media centers, academic libraries serving students intending careers in the health or allied health professions, and people who want to build better web sites, search engines, or information systems.

Course Topics

  • Overview of consumer health and the role of libraries, librarians, and information professionals, and the history of consumer health
  • CHI sites and providers
  • Standards and policy statements
  • Organization schemes and classifications
  • Collection development and reviewing sources
  • Online resources: MEDLINE, CINAHL, and other databases
  • Medical terminology and health literacy
  • CHI in the public media: role of print and broadcast journalism
  • Introduction to MedlinePlus and World Wide Web materials in general
  • Evaluation
  • Who uses CHI?
  • Consumer informatics
  • Ethics
  • Alternative Medicine
  • CHI for special populations (by ethnicity, age, gender, health status, etc.)

Expectations

The pass/fail grade is based on regular participation in the course discussion board (50%) and completion of a 15-page practically oriented paper focusing on collection evaluation and development in the consumer health collection of the student’s choice (50%).

Textbook

Lynda Baker, Virginia Manbeck.  Consumer Health Information for Public Librarians. Scarecrow Press, 2002.  ISBN: 0810841991

Instructor

Catherine Arnott Smith, MA, AMLS, MSIS, PhD, is an assistant professor at UW-Madison School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS).  She was formerly a reference librarian at the Galter Health Sciences Library, Northwestern University, Chicago, and a medical information systems specialist at Lincoln National Reinsurance Companies, Fort Wayne, IN.  Her research interests include consumer health vocabularies and the content and structure of medical records.

To register:

ONLINE - Topics in Consumer Health

PHONE - Pyle Center Registration Office: (608) 262-2451

FAX or MAIL - Print out a registration form

Questions? Contact Anna Palmer or Meredith Lowe