Consumer Health Librarians and Drug Advertisements
Via Dr. Kevin Pho at Kevin, M.D. (one of my favorite physician blogs), I just read this article about the American Medical Association asking the Food and Drug Administration "…to impose a waiting period before new drugs and devices can be marketed to consumers."
"Dr. Melvyn Sterling, an internist who practices in Orange, attended the medical association meetings that led to the policy changes. He said people should consider the source when reading or watching drug ads."
In an age where the traditionally paternalistic attitudes of physicians towards their patients shifts towards greater responsibility and choice for patients, the need for medical libraries to serve consumer health information needs has grown, and some fortunate communities have libraries with desiginated consumer health librarians.
But what can medical libraries do to help consumers deal with the confusing nature of direct-to-consumer advertising?
Ever read Adbusters magazine? How about an MLAdbusters, which could deconstruct brand hype and marketing?
The NLM's MedlinePlus (already the best portal for consumer healthcare information online) already has a great section on its site on Drugs and Supplements, (anyone how much time elapses between FDA approval of a drug and an entry appearing in MedlinePlus?) but how can consumer health librarians get consumers to check there? Physician outreach could do a lot. I love the ideas of Information Rx. (I'll post more on Information Rx another time)
Related question for other kinds of librarians: What sort of consumer advocacy programs does (or should) your library offer? (No, making Consumer Reports available doesn't count as a consumer advocacy program.)
Could a public library set up email alerts or RSS feeds for patrons for consumer health information on particular conditions? How do public, school, and academic libraries route and serve the consumer health information needs of users? Any readings on the topic you'd recommend?
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July 6th, 2006 at 7:59 pm
Our library particpates in the School of Medicine’s Mini Med School program. For two weeks we give classes to the community on consumer health resources on the internet. It is very popular and we have a lot of fun participating.
July 6th, 2006 at 9:23 pm
Mary, would you be willing to elaborate on the “Mini Med School”? How do you develop the materials? How do you publicize the event(s) in your community? Perhaps you could blog about it?
July 24th, 2006 at 4:05 pm
[...] The wonderful, David Rothman, not so recently asked on his blog, “What sort of consumer advocacy programs does (or should) your library offer?” To expand on the comment I left to that post and at David’s request. I’ll share the low-down on our school of medicine’s Mini Medical School program and how the library participates. [...]
January 28th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
The government should organize easy access to Medline and Health topics, medical dictionaries, directories and publications. WBR LeoP
January 28th, 2007 at 6:54 pm
Marina, the National Library of Medicine does these things now. Anyone can search Medline for free at http://www.pubmed.gov, and there’s loads of consumer literature, including medical dictionaries, at http://www.MedlinePlus.gov.
Is there something else in addition you’d propose?