Available Until 5/18/2025
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CHIS on demand*

For more information or to schedule this course, please contact the NNLM Training Office at nto@utah.edu . 

This class is designed for anyone interested in providing consumer health information to their community, with a focus on libraries and information centers. The goal of this class is to allows learners to earn up to 5 continuing education credit hours towards the Level 1 Consumer Health Information Specialization (CHIS) from the Medical Library Association. 5 separate modules cover each Level 1 CHIS competency:

  1. Know the Community
  2. Know the Health Consumer 
  3. Knowledge of Subject Matter and Resources 
  4. Evaluation of Health Information 
  5. Communication, Reference, and Instruction 

Modules can be completed in any order.

Each Module takes about 1 hour to complete and includes a reading and a knowledge check. 

This class is provided entirely online and self-paced through the Moodle learning management system.

Resource URL: https://nnlm.gov/chis-on-demand (Opens June 1, 2022) 

Learning Objectives

Through books and knowledge checks, learners will

  1. Learn about the Consumer Health Information Specialization
  2. Identify resources to identify characteristics of their community
  3. Identify issues, barriers and the library's role in providing medical information to health consumers
  4. Identify MedlinePlus, PubMed, Clinical Trials and other NLM resources as sources for health information
  5. List simple criteria to evaluate online health information
  6. List 3 communication techniques and 2 ways to protect patron privacy during a health reference interview.

Agenda

Module 1: Know your Community

By reading 2 books and taking a quiz, you will be able to:

  • List resources that can identify characteristics of the community served by your library, including resources for demographics, health issues in your community, and needs of community members.
  • Summarize the characteristics of their own community, including demographics and health status indicators.
  • Recognize the 3 pillars of cultural humility as they relate to libraries and how they influence workplace environments.

Activities

  • Reading 1 - Knowing your Community
  • Reading 2 - Cultural Competence and Cultural Humility
  • Quiz

Module 2 - Know the Health Consumer

By reading a book and taking a quiz, you will be able to:

  • Define the terms consumer health, health literacy, and health misinformation
  • List issues and barriers faced by health information seekers that might have an effect on their information-seeking behaviors
  • Understand the library's role in providing non-biased, appropriate, and relevant health information that is not medical advice to meet the needs of users.

Activities

  • Reading
  • Quiz 

Module 3: Knowledge of Subject Matter and Resources

By reading a book, taking a quiz, and completing a poll you will be able to...

  • Identify MedlinePlus as a resource for health topics, drug, and genetics information written in plain language for general audiences in English and Spanish.
  • Identify PubMed as a database of citations to biomedical journal articles.
  • Identify ClnicalTrials.gov as a registry of clinical studies and repository of results.
  • Identify DailyMed, MedlinePlus, and PubChem as resources for drug and chemical information
  • List 3 or more training options where you could learn more about MedlinePlus, PubMed,  ClinicalTrials.gov, or drug resources from NLM

Activities 

  • Reading
  • Quiz
  • Poll - What will do you next?

Module 4: Evaluation of Health Information

By reading a book, taking a tutorial on evaluating internet health information, and taking a quiz, you will be able to:

  • Understand the principles of evaluating consumer health information for quality.
  • Have the ability to critically examine and filter materials from web-based and other resources when choosing an appropriate resource for a particular patron.
  • Provide users with evaluation criteria and guidance for finding appropriate health materials.

Activities

  • Reading
  • Evaluating Health Information Tutorial
  • Quiz

Module 5: Communication, Reference, and Instruction 

By reading a book and taking a quiz, you will be able to:

  • List at least 3 effective communication techniques to use during a health reference interview
  • Differentiate between providing health information versus providing healthcare
  • List at least 2 ways to protect patron or client privacy during the health reference interview
  • Identify teachable moments with patrons or clients and effectively integrate educational tips to increase knowledge of health information resources

Activities

  • Reading
  • Quiz

MLA CE Credits: 1 per module