This article discusses various educational interventions implemented in a new patient/family education program at the University of South Alabama Children's & Women's Hospital in Mobile, Alabama, for patients and family members of those newly diagnosed with pediatric cancer and other chronic illnesses. Tablet computers were made available to access reputable, easy to understand health resources during the educational processes upon diagnosis and continued treatment at the hospital. MedlinePlus, Patient Education Institute's X-Plain videos and other National Library of Medicine resources were available at the bedside and while receiving chemotherapy infusions. Surveys were developed to determine the efficacy of the educational interventions.

No abstract

Background: Culinary medicine is an innovative approach to teaching health sciences students and other health professionals the basics of healthy eating, food preparation, and nutrition through applied instruction. It is hoped these professionals will, in turn, share their knowledge with patients. The University of South Alabama Mitchell Cancer Institute licensed the Tulane University’s Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine curriculum and began teaching medical, nursing, and other health sciences students as well as community members in 2017. The authors describe a collaboration between librarians and health professionals to connect with underserved community members by teaching the basics of good nutrition and healthy meal preparation.Case Presentation: Two health sciences librarians provided instruction to community members in the use of quality health information resources during various modules of the culinary medicine curriculum. Demonstrations of the use of MedlinePlus and ChooseMyPlate were conducted using topics from module content. Evaluations were distributed after each module to evaluate the effectiveness of the library component, the results of which enabled librarians to subsequently increase their instruction time and implement iPad use for more engaging participation.Conclusion: Librarians were seen as invaluable partners in this innovative program and became an integral part of the curriculum. Evaluation results helped librarians advocate for more instructional time. As a result of their involvement, librarians were given additional outreach opportunities to educate younger populations at risk of developing chronic health diseases.

At Eastern Washington University, integrating basic library skills has become part of a unique computer literacy program stemming from a general education (GE) reform. The new GE curriculum has been designed to prepare students with writing, mathematics, and computer literacy skills. The computer literacy courses teach basic computer skills as well as how to access and use electronic information resources. The instructional services librarian, in cooperation with the computer literacy director, designed a lecture and lab assignment covering the components of the library’s information system, Griffin. Seven 50‐minute lectures were provided. After lecture, students were given a library assignment to complete. Pretests and post‐tests were used to evaluate students’ learning. Relationships between lab assignments and lecture attendance to post‐test scores also were analyzed. In this article, Fenske examines the development and design of the instructional program, the assessment of students’ learning, and the overall effectiveness of the program.

Patient education at the bedside, with Android tablet computers, has proven to be successful at the University of South Alabama Children's & Women's Hospital in Mobile, Alabama. Plans to expand the program within the USA Health System were made possible with a National Network of Libraries of Medicine Southeastern Atlantic Region Technology Improvement Award in 2018. This article discusses the implementation of tablet computers in a larger hospital setting within the USA Health System and discusses the impact of the educational interventions used in patient education within this health disparate community.