The Evolving Health Information Landscape Symposium: Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, Distributed eLibrary

Research data are a variety of products produced during research that are collected, observed, or created for purposes of analysis to produce original research results. This may come in the form of instrument measurements, experimental observations, still images, video and audio, text documents, spreadsheets, databases, quantitative data (e.g., household survey data), survey results and interview transcripts, simulation data, models and software, slides, artifacts, specimens, samples, sketches, diaries, lab notebooks, and the list goes on.

Depending on the infrastructure available to them, librarians can integrate data catalogs with library retrieval services such as Koha, Alma, WorldShare Management Services (WMS), and Sierra among others, making data search easier. Data management librarians provide advice on conditions under which datasets can be reused and promote the use of common standards and tools among researchers. This is how it is possible for researchers to relate to the research data lifecycle, data analysis, tools, and statistics (Chiware, 2015).

Because librarians curate and preserve datasets, they can help researchers understand their metadescriptions. It is therefore important for them to guide researchers on discipline-specific best practices in data creation and intellectual property rights, research data management support, including data management plans for grant applications, intellectual property rights advice, and the integration of data management into the curriculum. Librarians also guide and support data creators on bibliometrics (for example, by explaining impact factor, h-index) and altmetrics facilitated with the use of tools such as Mendeley, Scopus author management, ORCID identifier, and Data Management Plan Tool (Chiware, 2015).

In the course of undergraduate medical education, some elements of health literacy and patient communication are integrated into the curriculum. Finding and assessing high-quality patient information is an element often tackled by liaison librarians. However, students require additional knowledge of the visual and written communication skills required to overcome barriers to positive patient interactions and outcomes, particularly in groups that have specific needs such as older adults.

In conjunction with an NGO working with older adults, an elective course was developed by senior clinical faculty, librarians, and health communication specialists to teach medical students how to apply their health knowledge in the creation of patient information materials. Modules were developed in an online learning environment covering how to research topics in geriatric medicine, understanding health literacy and targeting older adults and their caregivers, finding reliable pre-existing patient information sources, and how to create patient information resources and patient education materials using written and visual communication skills.

Students participated in asynchronous learning, a series of lectures, and designed patient education pamphlets using plain language, needs assessment, and design principles learned. These pamphlets were presented and evaluated by the collaborating NGO and clinicians working in the field. Participants learned about the specific needs of older adults, the importance of using non-medical jargon, translating knowledge into action, developing key messages, and tools for appraising patient information, such as DISCERN.

Response to the elective from participating students was positive and each was able to demonstrate improved knowledge about health literacy and communicating with older adults. Some suggested changes to the structure of the course included feedback from the clinicians earlier in the schedule, additional templates and visual tools for pamphlets, and allowing for more time to fully develop the materials.

Robust evidence synthesis methods are essential to collating and evaluating existing evidence rigorously and systematically. Retrieving all relevant literature is the first, fundamental step of evidence synthesis. This has become more challenging in many contemporary evidence syntheses due to 1) the volume and diversity of literature available; 2) the range and complexity of topics addressed; and 3) the ‘fuzziness’ of complex research questions. Collectively, this makes it challenging to effectively identify relevant information for broad, complex evidence syntheses, compared to conventional effectiveness reviews which draw on homogenous clinical trial reports.

This presentation will evaluate a range of citation analysis techniques as a primary search method utilizing tools to uncover multi-step links along a spectrum between exposure and outcome, the development of a novel classifier for complex study designs, and integrating these elements into an iterative process. The output will be a “search-classifier bundle” that can be used to optimize information retrieval by balancing sensitivity and specificity. This will be relevant and transferrable across a range of study designs and specialties and has the potential to facilitate the development of new types of evidence ecosystems where synthesis of existing evidence is integrated into continuous processes built around substantial questions that are of interest to the wider knowledge-user communities.

This method should enable more nuanced searching, reducing reliance on the “big” medical databases and facilitating more efficient retrieval of information pertinent to specific populations without having to search multiple databases, which should be beneficial to researchers in the Middle East.

Much of the world population now access health information online. However, navigating social media (SM) can become challenging with time constraints and information overload. Hashtags have gained increasing popularity to organize information in themes, topics, groups, or activities. SM users can generate information pockets by including the ‘#’ symbol to posted vocabulary or a series of characters. Carefully curated hashtags at academic meetings and on specialty topics are already being used by health professionals. Audiences can stay informed on topics of interest by searching and following specific hashtags.

This presentation describes #hashtag use to organize and share health information online. The Institute for Population Health (IPH) at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar uses SM to promote health awareness, educate, and transfer credible health information to the community. We use unique and identifiable hashtags in our content which is evidence-based, timely, culturally appropriate, and visual. This helps organize content into themes like #lifestylemedicine, #mentalhealth, #culturalcompetence and our branded hashtag #IPHQatar.

When communicating on SM, health professionals need to know what engages their audience, and how to communicate scientific information responsibly so that it can be easily understood. Labeling content with hashtags can help organize content, improve visibility and discoverability, and facilitate information dissemination. Using a structured set of hashtags can facilitate seeking credible health information. For hashtags to be successful, ambassadors need to deliberately promote their use with the relevant context and meaning.

This study investigates the health information-seeking behaviours of women in Qatar, to identify sources and resources used to obtain health information, and particularly whether women used libraries as a source of health information. An online survey questionnaire was used to explore health information-seeking behaviour among adult women (aged 18 years or over) living in Qatar.

Results were obtained from 1150 participants. Most were confident in their health information-seeking behaviors: they understood how to use the information to improve their health, were able to find reliable health information, and could discuss their health with their doctor. More than half (55.11%) obtained information about staying healthy from reading, watching educational videos, and online searches. The most commonly used sources of health information were search engines such as Google and Yahoo (43.37%). Internet use was higher among younger and more educated women. About threequarters (74.50%) of the participants did not use libraries to obtain health information.

Both Qatari and non-Qatari women were active seekers of health information, especially from online sources. Future studies need to consider how to involve older people, or those without internet access, and use more qualitative data, perhaps from interviews, to improve understanding of behaviours. Future studies might also examine whether married respondents, or those with children, adopted different behaviors. The study suggests that public libraries need to market their services, including online resources, and educate the public on how to evaluate online sources of information.

Over the past 22 months or so, we have all worked and lived through a total societal event. We still are. It has been really the first time when, as public health practitioners and as people, we have been faced with the full impact of how much technological progress has changed how we connect with each other, how we make decisions, how we enact health behaviors, and how we influence each other in personal and professional spheres. In effect, we have experienced amplification and spread of information of all kinds, including concerns, questions, rumors, misinformation, and information of varying quality. WHO describes this phenomenon as an “infodemic.” Infodemics intensify when there are shocks to the system. The shocks can include new worrying scientific information, new programmatic guidance, new disease dynamics (like the emergence of a new variant of a virus), evidence of harm (like violence against health care workers or detection of a cluster of adverse events to a medication or vaccine), or rumors of any of the above.

Infodemics have become more intense and can potentially cause more harm because of the changes in the digitized society, the challenges of the information ecosystem, the changes in the dynamics in the relationship of people to health information, and the factors leading to health behaviors. Therefore, responding to the infodemic is so multidimensional that we need to think about it as a new public health threat that has emerged through the changes in the societal dynamics and lifestyles – just like noncommunicable diseases that emerged through societal change, for example. To respond to it, we need to adapt our public health practice and health systems, using human-centered approaches to evolve the work towards health and well-being of all people. Infodemic management is a new public health practice that can help public health adapt to these challenges.

The health system and libraries can work together in preventing, preparing, and responding to infodemics in several ways: 1) libraries are trusted community places that connect people. Because the infodemic dynamic plays out at an individual level, having trusted spaces to search for and discuss health information is vital. Trust is important in supporting health behaviors; 2) libraries also play a role by trying to be the trusted buffer between the infodemic and people they are serving. Librarians with specialist backgrounds who work in settings like schools or medical libraries who also can offer infodemic management resources appropriate to their audiences; 3) the interface between libraries and people is the important trusted relationship for health education and promotion of all literacies – information, media, digital, and health literacy.