Reshaping a Health Information Clearinghouse to Improve User Experience and Outcomes of Rural Primary Healthcare Providers

This proposal reflects a partnership between the Savitt Medical Library at the University of Nevada, Reno, and the Office of Statewide Initiatives, University of Nevada, Reno, School of Medicine. The overarching aim of the proposal is to apply the expertise of professional health sciences librarians in order to improve access to health information resources, and to increase rural healthcare professionals’ engagement with curated online clinical educational materials. The focus of this effort is a health information clearinghouse that was developed as part of the successful Project ECHO Nevada implementation of videoconference- based clinics. Providing primary care providers with access to subject expertise and an online clearinghouse of resources allows them to deliver much-needed specialty care to their patients. Project ECHO Nevada bridges divides within the provider community and makes medical expertise shared and distributed more widely. We intend to optimize the impact of the Project ECHO Nevada clearinghouse by creating a more intuitive navigation architecture; facilitating discovery of content through enriched annotation and descriptive indexing; and identifying new content to support trending health concerns such as opioid prescribing practices and addiction management.Specific Objectives* Conduct a needs assessment of rural health care professionals’ information seeking habits and interactions with the Project ECHO Nevada information clearinghouse.* Conduct a detailed audit of all content, including clinic recordings, slide presentations, and related health information resources available through the Project ECHO Nevada information clearinghouse to identify areas for enhancements with respect to information architecture, content, navigation, subject indexing, and annotation of resources.* Develop and implement enhancements to the existing clearinghouse to better align content and linked resources with the needs of rural healthcare personnel.* Promote awareness and use among rural health professionals of online resources available through the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control, Savitt Medical Library, and other relevant organizations through a program of webinars and online tutorials.* Facilitate document delivery requests through the Savitt Medical Library of the University of Nevada, Reno, School of Medicine.