Library Tools at the Nurses\u27 Station: Exploring Information-Seeking Behaviors and Needs of Nurses in a War Veterans Nursing Home

Objectives: Analyze the information-seeking practices and identify the information and education needs of nurses in a war veterans nursing home. Develop an online toolkit for use at the nurses’ stations to meet nurses’ health information needs. Methods: Investigators employed mixed methods to determine the health information needs of the participating nurses at the skilled nursing facility using an online questionnaire and in-person observations. Resulting data was compared to determine how nurses’ self-reported data corresponded with investigator observations. Results: Twenty-seven out of a total of thirty-five nurses responded to the online questionnaire. The study principal investigator also observed a total of twelve nurses working across all shifts. The online questionnaire asked nurses to identify when they need health information for an acute clinical scenario. Nurses self-reported feeling most confident in assessing falls and pain, followed by medication adherence and skin integrity. Issues most frequently encountered during observation of nurses were falls, interventions surrounding cognitive ability or dementia, and use of antibiotics. Nurses reported and were observed to consult colleagues most frequently, followed by drug handbooks and relying on nursing experience. Conclusion: Nurses in skilled nursing facilities will benefit from ready online access to current drug handbooks as well as information resources surrounding commonly encountered clinical issues and stated needs. An outcome of this project is an online toolkit site using a LibGuide created specifically for this purpose. Researchers purchased laptop computers that were installed at each of the nurses’ stations to provide ready access to the toolkit site

We\u27re Virtually There: Providing Health Sciences Education and Wellness Through Virtual Reality Experiences

This is a presentation by Gail Kouame for the MLA 2022 Annual Meeting. This presentation describes two virtual reality projects undertaken by the Greenblatt Library at Augusta University in Augusta, Georgia. The first project is one that her two co-authors, Jenn Davis and Lachelle Smith, initiated. Jenn is the Data and Scholarship Librarian and Lachelle is the Allied Health Sciences Librarian. They wanted to figure out a way to introduce concepts surrounding data literacy and data management in a more engaging way. The primary objective of this project is to instruct graduate students in the health sciences disciplines on how to ethically manage data. The second project is a collaboration between the Greenblatt Library and the Medical College of Georgia, as well as the Augusta University School of Computer and Cyber Sciences and the Computer and Game Design and Development program at Kennesaw State University. Faculty members from the Medical College approached Mrs. Kouame to inquire about the possibility of designating a space in the library as a virtual reality room. They had been developing some virtual reality experiences to integrate into the curriculum for undergraduate medical students. These experiences are geared primarily to build empathy surrounding patients with vision impairments such as macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy, or physical limitations resulting from Parkinson’s Disease or a stroke

Leveraging a Digital Platform to Address Health Literacy and Equity Needs of a Vulnerable Population: The Justice-Involved

This is a presentation given by Gail Koumae addressing the health disparities of incarcerated populations at the Wisconsin Health Literacy Summit in Madison Wisconsin

A Scoping Review of Institutional Policies and Recommendations for Trans Inpatient Mental Health Care

Introduction: Access to culturally sensitive care is critical for addressing known mental health disparities among trans-and gender-non- conforming (TGNC) individuals. Although there has been a proliferation of TGNC healthcare guidelines from accrediting bodies, policies have failed to address the needs of TGNC patients in inpatient psychiatric settings. Aim: To identify unaddressed needs in policies and policy recommendations for the care of TGNC patients to inform recommendations for change. Method: A scoping review protocol was developed following the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses 850 articles were reduced to seven relevant articles with six themes identified via thematic analysis. Results: Six themes were identified: lack of consistency in preferred and pronoun use, lack of communication among providers, lack of training in TGNC healthcare, personal bias, lack of formal policies, and housing segregation by sex rather than gender. Discussion: The creation of new guidelines or bolstering of existing guidelines to specifically address identified themes and gaps may improve the well-being and treatment outcomes of TGNC individuals in inpatient psychiatric settings. Implications for practice: To provide a foundation for future studies to integrate these identified gaps and inform the future development of comprehensive formal policies that generalize TGNC care in inpatient settings

Public Safety Redefined: Mitigating Trauma by Centering the Community in Community Mental Health

The summer of 2020 marked a shift in public perception of police brutality and racism in the United States. Following the police murder of George Floyd and ensuing social unrest, the appropriate role and function of the police in communities have been a frequent topic of debate. Of particular concern is the intersection of policing and mental health where we see a pattern of police using excessive force disproportionately against persons with disabilities, especially mental health disabilities (Autistic Self Advocacy Network, 2017). The introduction of race only exacerbates this disparity (Saleh et al., 2018). Given the realities of these mental health inequities, the aim of this scoping review is to explore first response models/programs that emphasize a therapeutic intervention as an alternative to policing. Seventeen articles were selected for inclusion in the review, six exploratory or experimental studies and 11 review or discussion articles. Using findings from the review, we offer recommendations to help reimagine this country’s approach to emergency response. We urge psychologists and other health care providers to step out of the clinic and engage the community in the development of crisis responses for mental health emergencies that are therapeutic rather than inflammatory, healing rather than harming