Evidence-based public health (EBPH) informatics training for public health practitioners in Central and Southwestern Virginia

This poster outlines a project providing Evidence Based Public Health Informatics training for public health practitioners in Central and Southwest Virginia. The project has been undertaken by outreach librarians from the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library at the University of Virginia and will replicate a randomized-controlled trial previously completed in New Mexico. It will commence in Spring 2007 and will address three problem areas in public health. First, it will provide needed evidence-based public health (EBPH) informatics training. Second it will generate practical information about the questions that practitioners formulate in the course of fulfilling their everyday responsibilities. This information will add to that gathered in the previous New Mexico study and will help build a foundation for developing relevant informatics tools and skills for health care practitioners. Third, the study will advance the goals of EBPH by giving practitioners skills in question formulation, problem quantification, search strategy development, and critical appraisal of acquired information.