Discover Health Services Near You! The North Dakota Story: Part I

Abstract

Since the 2003 launch of NC Health Info, the National Library of Medicine has encouraged the development of Go Local databases. A team of Go Local enthusiasts at North Dakota's only medical school library wanted to obtain NLM funding and build a resource for their rural state. Although short on staff, money, and time, the team found a way to realize a Go Local database that serves the state's residents and helps them "Discover Health Services Near You!" A team approach and collaboration with health providers and organizations worked well in this small rural state. North Dakota's Go Local project offers a low-cost model that stresses collaboration, teamwork and technology. Part I, which appears in this issue, describes the rural setting, explains how the project was conceived, and the processes necessary to begin building the database. Part II, which will appear in the next issue, details how records were created, including developing the input style guide and indexing decisions, the NLM testing and review process, the maintenance and auditing process, and publicity and promotion of the project.

Tools, frameworks and resources to guide global action on strengthening rural health systems: a mapping review

“…This review identified many tools related to technology which aimed to improve rural service, workforce and information blocks. These included telehealth [ 22 , 25 , 43 , 46 , 89 , 93 ], development of health-related website [ 24 , 28 , 63 , 121 ] and developing electronic health records [ 17 , 107 , 108 ]. There are some factors that might influence the readiness of rural health systems to implement and apply telehealth successfully, including managing resistance to change, and the efficiency of the technology introduced [ 122 ].…”

“…There were 26 tools that aimed to improve rural health system information (electronic record keeping, data systems and information gathering), most of which involved health records enhancement. The development of information systems in rural areas included a tool concerning the use of cloud-based health information centres or databases that provided access to healthcare services remotely [ 72 , 106 , 107 ]. One tool was developed specifically to help improve medication administration, in order to reduce errors [ 108 , 109 ].…”

Discover Health Services Near You! The North Dakota Story: Part II

“…Go Local North Dakota’s promotion and outreach activities rely to a large extent upon the library’s already existing clinical campus library structure explained earlier in Part I of this article 1. Clinical campus librarians, all located at partner libraries, work directly with other collaborating institutions and stakeholders in their part of the state both to identify resources and to provide training.…”

“…Part I of this article, which appeared in the previous issue of Journal of Consumer Health on the Internet , described the rural setting of North Dakota and highlighted activities that librarians at the University of North Dakota’s School of Medicine embarked upon to make Go Local North Dakota <http://www.medlineplus.gov/golocalnd> a reality 1. Among these were project planning and identification of service information.…”

Reaching Out by Going Local: Outreach Activities and My Health Minnesota → Go Local

“…The Journal of Consumer Health on the Internet has published many articles about MedlinePlus Go Local projects, [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] including a review of the literature related to MedlinePlus Go Local programs. 12 Articles about MedlinePlus Go Local projects have also been published elsewhere.…”