Health information disparities? determining the relationship between age, poverty, and rate of calls to a consumer and patient health information service

Abstract

Growth and demand for consumer health information services has been well documented [1–4]. In the past twenty years, medical librarians have transitioned from cautious providers of consumer and patient health information to leaders of outreach programs in which they coordinate with medical professionals and public librarians to serve their communities' health information needs. So prevalent are these services that the Medical Library Association provides guidance on its Consumer and Patient Health Information Section (CAPHIS) website [5], and the American Library Association has issued a policy to guide the growing number of services in providing consumer health information [6]. Beginning with a grant from the Tennessee State Library and Archives, Preston Medical Library, located in Knoxville, Tennessee, has provided a free telephone-based consumer health information service for area citizens and University of Tennessee Medical Center patients and their families since 1989. Despite the wide availability of the Internet, a recent survey of consumers in Tennessee funded by the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM), Southeastern/Atlantic Region, to which 233 individuals responded, showed that the inability to identify reliable sources was the single most important stumbling block to finding health information. In the same survey, 37% of respondents ranked libraries as one of their top 3 sources of health information along with doctor's office (61%); Internet and magazines (54%); and newspapers, magazines, and books (25%) [7]. A recent Pew report on the demographics of Internet users shows that while 71% of all adult Americans go online, only 32% of those over 65 and just 55% of those living in households with less than $30,000 in annual income have Internet access [8]. Because a library-based telephone reference service is a low technology way to obtain health information and libraries are a trusted source of health information, populations who are not using the Internet are an important target for the Preston Medical Library's consumer health service. Preston markets its service in various ways. Brochures in physicians' offices and flyers sent to public health departments promote the service to outpatients. In the hospital, information is provided in new patient packets. The library website includes a page describing the Preston Consumer and Patient Health Information Service and suggests other reliable consumer health sites. Preston partners with Knox County Public Library to distribute brochures and provide train-the-trainer classes to staff. Librarians exhibit at community events and speak to consumer groups. This project was undertaken to analyze the demographics of those who called the service in order to assess outreach methods, and change them if needed, and was designed to reach two target groups without Internet access: the elderly and those living below the poverty level. Demographic information could also be helpful in obtaining additional funding to reach these target groups.