The day began with a keynote address by Kenneth D. Mandl, M.D., M.P.H., an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Intelligent Health Laboratory at the Children’s Hospital Informatics Program in Boston Massachusetts. Dr. Mandl’s talk on “Patients at the Center of an Innovation Platform: Personally Controlled Health Records and the App Store for Health” focused on what creating an effective personal health record system should look, and how it could enhance the learning side of our healthcare system.

Following a break for food and discussion, the group returned to the George and Dolores Eccles Institute of Human Genetics Auditorium for a “Meet the Experts” panel discussion on the topics raised by Dr. Mandl. Panelists included representatives from corporate, Veterans Affairs, healthcare providers, informatics and patient-centered perspectives.

Following the panel discussions, participants were treated to an online presentation of the new MedlinePlus Connect from Sarena Burgess, M.S., Librarian, Health Information Products Unit, of the National Library of Medicine.  This free service “allows any electronic health record (EHR) system to easily link users to MedlinePlus, an authoritative up-to-date health information resource for patients, families and health care providers. MedlinePlus provides information about conditions and disorders, medications, and health and wellness” (from website).

Wrapping up the event the Library provided a light lunch in the atrium of the Health Sciences and Education Building next door. Participants and visitors alike were treated to finger foods while they perused information tables provided by various vendors, including two companies specializing in personal health records services.

Date:

InfoFair 2010 focuses on the personal health record. Kenneth D. Mandl, Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School, presents the Clifford C. Snyder, M.D. and Mary Snyder Lecture Patients at the Center of an Innovation Platform: Personally Controlled Health Records and the App Store for Health.

From 10:15-11:45 the Meet the Experts panel responds to Dr. Mandl’s remarks. Jean P. Shipman moderates panelists Amy Rees Anderson, Kirk L. Davis, Leslie Lenert, Curtis Newman and Nancy T. Lombardo. Panelists represent private, government, academic, hospital and patient interests.

At 11:45-12:15 Sarena Burgess from the National Library of Medicine will join us virtually to provide an overview of MedlinePlus Connect, a tool to link quality information to a patient record.

Exhibits with lunch take place from 12:00 p.m. -1:30 p.m. in the Spencer F. and Cleone P. Eccles Health Sciences Education Building Atrium. Exhibits highlight various online personal health tools including MyChart, My Health, My HealtheVet, myMediConnect and My WebMD.

For details about InfoFair 2010 please visit the website. There are links to the schedule, presenters, and exhibits.

Contact Jeanne Le Ber if you have questions. 801-585-6744.

Lately, it seems almost anything medical regarding Apple’s iPad generates immediate interest. Nimble, the new iPad electronic health record (EHR) by Clear Practice, has been no exception. In the few short weeks since its release, this application has rapidly generated interest across medical blogs, mainstream press and, most importantly, from doctors themselves.

The demonstration pictures on the vendor’s website illustrate how a doctor can show a patient images that teach about their condition. From a medical librarian’s perspective, it is critically important to ask:

1. Where is the patient-focused information coming from? Is it evidence based or found through Google?
2. Can the patient access the same information themselves after leaving the doctor’s office?

Libraries have been providing information to patrons on all topics for centuries, and are uniquely qualified to offer critical evaluation of resources in this setting. The Eccles Health Sciences Library is currently working on including links to top-quality resources such as MedlinePlus for patients in the institutions we support. This requires collaboration with service providers and their vendors as well as taking steps to protect patient privacy. As our current project — a mashup combining Google Maps, and the locations of medical clinics and local libraries — comes online, watch this blog for updates.

In the meantime, the Library will be hosting its annual InfoFair on the topic of “The Personal Health Record: Possible, Portable, Private?” on Wednesday, December 1, 2010. Check the InfoFair 2010 website for more details.

Details:

• When: December 1, 2010
• Where: Genetics Auditorium
• Time: 8:30 am – 2:00 pm.
• Cost: FREE

More information is forthcoming and will be posted on our Infofair 2010 web page.

The Infofair concept originated with Nina Dougherty in 1983. Nina was employed by the Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library from September 1974 until her retirement in January 1999. During her 25 years at the Eccles Library, Nina was instrumental in establishing innovative reference services and mediated user searching. In addition, Nina developed an expertise in the use of online environmental health and toxicology databases and resources. Her vision and foresight were important motivators for educating faculty, staff, students and the public about accessing and using online information resources and databases. The first annual InfoFair focused on “personal computer access to health related databases.” Now in its 27th year, InfoFair 2010 continues the tradition started by Nina to inform and educate the user.