Health Information Outreach Award 45

In cooperation with the Georgia War Veterans Nursing Home in Augusta, Georgia, the 'Assessing the Health Information Seeking Behaviors and Needs of Nurses in Skilled Nursing Facilities' project will assess the information seeking practices as well as information and educational needs of nurses working in the long-term care environment with frail elderly patients. Assessments will be performed utilizing both questionnaires and observations of the nurses on the floor in the care facility across all three shifts. The findings of the assessments will inform the development of an online toolkit for the nurses to consult which will include resources such as MedlinePlus, NLM Drug information, PubMed, and other relevant content, depending on the findings. The toolkit will be loaded onto desktop computers placed at the nurses' stations at the Georgia War Veterans Nursing Home to facilitate easy access for the nursing staff. A second phase of this project to be funded separately will be to develop a training program for the nurses, and potentially other facility staff, surrounding use of resources included in the toolkit.