1. “NO DECISION ABOUT ME
WITHOUT ME”
Collaborative opportunities to support shared
decision-making in the NHS

2. AGENDA
 Health literacy vs health information literacy
 Research justification
 Evidence Based Patient Choice
 Summary of literature review
 Survey analysis
 7 pillars vs EBP vs health information literacy
 Proposed model

3. HEALTH LITERACY VS HEALTH
INFORMATION LITERACY
 Health literacy = ability to understand medical
instructions
 Health information literacy = ability to find and
appraise information to help make an informed
decision

4. RESEARCH JUSTIFICATION
 England – 15 million people suffer from at least one
chronic condition (diabetes, epilepsy, asthma)
 NHS Care Summary records
 Department of Health - Information Revolution
http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/@dh/@en/do
cuments/digitalasset/dh_120598.pdf
 ‘No decision about me without me’
 Shared decision-making
 Access to data vs information
 Evidence-Based Practice
= best research
+ clinical expertise
+ patient values

5. EVIDENCE BASED PATIENT CHOICE

6. CURRENT STATE OF ONLINE
CONSUMER HEALTH INFORMATION
LITERACY
 Access to the Internet
 UK has highest proportion of households with Internet access
(82%)
 Searching behaviour
 More likely to search if they have chronic conditions
 Disparity due to poverty and lack of Internet access
 Knowledge of clinical terminology
 Quality of online health information
 Papers found that the majority of sites looked at were
inaccurate or completely wrong
 Incorrect information leads to poor decisions
 No requirement to adhere to quality standard
 Shared decision-making
 Involved patients are more likely to be compliant

7. SURVEY ANALYSIS
 Formal survey to identify what people want in terms
of information skills support
 Quick and dirty review of what public and medical
libraries offer to the general public

8. CURRENT HEALTH INFO PROVISION
 Potential sources:
 Public libraries 
 Patient libraries 
 Medical libraries 
 Pharmacies 
 Patient Advisory and Liaison Services (PALS) 

9. 7 PILLARS VS EBP VS HEALTH INFO LIT
Column 1: Society of College National and University Libraries (SCONUL), 1999. SCONUL Seven pillars model for
information literacy, Available at: http://www.sconul.ac.uk/groups/information_literacy/sp/.
Column 2: Sackett, D.L., 1997. Evidence-based medicine. Seminars in Perinatology, 21(1), p.3-5
Column 3: Author’s own.

10. PROPOSED MODEL
 Peripetetic Outreach Librarian:
 Train the trainer – public librarians
 Teaching public librarians about health information sources
 Searching skills – public and health professionals
 Teaching searching skills to public and health professionals
 Current awareness
 Newsletters of latest research on relevant chronic conditions
 Information clinics – general public
 Mediated searches with patients present
 Literature searching and information provision
 Located in public libraries, GP surgeries, pharmacies, and
hospitals
 Regular days per week
 Trust employed and Trust and council funded

11. BENEFITS – DOING MORE WITH LESS
 Sharing resources, knowledge, and expertise
 Professional development across sectors
 Improved information literacy skills for public
 Better informed decisions

12. “Knowledge
is the enemy
of disease”
Sir Muir Gray
NHS Chief Knowledge Officer

13. ANY QUESTIONS?
Mrs Caroline De Brún MA DipLIS MCLIP
Research Student and Clinical Support Librarian
debrunc@uni.coventry.ac.uk