LI Course
CE Hours: 3 contact hours

Partnership: HIIT member

Statement of Purpose and Institute Overview: The purpose of this course is to teach the public health practitioner how to find and use the best health information in their daily practice. We are bombarded by information throughout each day: from newspapers, magazines, radio, television, books, e-mail, conversations and the Internet, literally from all directions and irrespective of geographic borders. Searching Google is easy, but finding quality, evidence based research from trustworthy resources on the Web can overwhelm and confuse the savviest among us. Public health practitioners need access to multi- and interdisciplinary research, data sets, grey literature and statistics to be most effective in their work. The content of this course will include an active discussion of Evidence Based Public Health with relevant, real-world case studies featuring how to distinguish between quality and biased information, practice constructing a precise search strategy, and lessons on how to search several databases for Public Health information. Hands-on activities throughout the session will engage participants in a dynamic institute exploring a range of current health problems. This course appeals to the educational needs of all public health practitioners who feel overwhelmed by the volume of information they see in their daily practice, yet underwhelmed by the amount of high quality, evidence-based research applicable to their daily practice. The course will intentionally move beyond Google and MEDLINE to explore resources addressing the interdisciplinary nature of current health situations. All participants will leave with a ready list of databases for searching and sample case study problems and solutions. A low participant-instructor ratio ensures individualized attention. Participants will improve their health information literacy and become strategic searchers with time-saving tips and knowledge. The faculty are a team of experienced Public Health librarians whose expertise will help practitioners cross several borders to reach the best information. They bring a combined 20+ years of teaching and working with public health researchers, doctors, nurses, epidemiologists, environmental engineers, students and faculty. The course is relevant to current public health concerns because everyone faces a crisis of information overload. We all need to quickly cut through to significant and important data, statistics and studies while understanding and applying the principles behind evidence based practice. The case studies and course examples are from the recent experiences of librarians at the NYC Department of Health and Hygiene.

Session Objectives: Upon completion of the course, the participant will be able to distinguish between good quality versus biased information. Upon completion of the course, the participant will be able to identify key resources for finding public health information. Upon completion of the course, the participant will apply evidence-based principles in their daily practice. Upon completion of the course, the participant will be able to construct strategic and valuable search strategies.

CE Credits: CME, Health Education (CHES), Nursing