Trout Library Blog - Library Guides at Charles H. Trout Library

The CDC defines health literacy as the degree to which individuals have the ability to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others. Emphasis is placed on the ability not only to comprehend health information, but also to use it to make well-informed decisions. The Trout Library has many resources to help you find quality health information and to assist you in communicating it to patients. We encourage all students in the Allied Health programs to take advantage of these resources.

In our General Reference library guide, you will find a Health tab that lists a variety of resources that you can use to locate good health information. For basic information, listed are a number of print dictionaries, encyclopedias, and guides to medical terminology that we have in the Library as well as online reference sources from the Credo Reference database. You will also see links to government agency websites, which are good places to go to locate primary sources. In addition, other important medical websites are provided here. MedlinePlus and Merck Manuals contain detailed information about varied health topics, including health conditions. Prescriber's Digital Reference and RxList feature extensive drug information. For health-related statistics, find links to the National Center for Health Statistics, America's Health Rankings, and State Health Facts.

To obtain peer-reviewed journal articles in the health fields, we provide access to a number of databases, both subscription and open access. There are links to these databases on our Databases A-Z list, under the Health tab in the General Reference guide, and under the Databases tab in the various program and topic library guides. Some useful databases to help you locate scholarly health articles are:

CINAHL (Subscription) -- For off-campus access, retrieve the username and password under Quicklinks in Harcum Hatch.
PLOS (Open Access)
PubMed (Open Access)
ScienceOpen (Open Access)

You should consult the sources provided in our Media Literacy guide as well as those under the Website Evaluation tab of our Research Help guide to help you determine the quality and accuracy of the health information that you find. These resources can be applied to the health fields just as they can to any other realm of information.

We have added a number of new health books to the print collection this semester, and some of them are on display on the slatwall near the Library entrance. One such book that I would like to recommend is the following:

Health Literacy from A to Z: Practical Ways to Communicate Your Health Message by Helen Osborne

Call Number: 610.696 .Os81 2018

ISBN: 9781947937130

The focus of this book is the effective communication of health information by health professionals to their patients. Sometimes patients find medical information to be incomprehensible or they find misleading information on their own that a health professional needs to correct. This book is easy to read and will help you learn strategies for meeting patients on their level so that you can convey the best information to them in a way that they can understand. The book's 42 brief chapters cover topics such as empathy and humanity, humor and healing, listening and speaking, document design, numeracy, plain language, and stories. Several chapters are devoted to knowing your audience and to technology. Each chapter consists of Starting Points; Strategies, Ideas and Suggestions; Stories from Practice, Citations, and Sources to Learn More. All students in the Allied Health programs who work with patients would find this book to be a valuable asset.

Remember that if you have questions about the resources mentioned in this post or any other research need, please don’t hesitate to ask us. You may visit the Library during the hours posted on the Library's homepage, email us at library@harcum.edu, schedule a Zoom Reference session, or call us at 610-526-6085.

Bill Fanshel

Evening/Weekend Librarian

wfanshel@harcum.edu

610-229-9311

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Election 2023

Election Day is Tuesday, November 7. Polls are open in Pennsylvania from 7am until 8pm. Although 2023 is not a federal election year, there are still many important judicial and municipal races on the ballot. If you live in Philadelphia, for example, you will be electing a mayor. The right to vote is sacred, and we encourage everyone to exercise it. While off-year elections do not receive the same level of attention as presidential races, the outcome of elections for local offices and judgeships also can have a significant impact on your life -- sometimes a greater impact than higher-level offices. In addition, your vote is more likely to make a difference in municipal races since the constituency is smaller and races therefore can be decided by a handful of votes. Note as well that people who occupy local elected positions sometimes will run for higher office at a later date. So there are many reasons to go to the polls and vote! The race at the top of the Pennsylvania ballot is for a vacant seat on the seven-member state Supreme Court. Click the hyperlinks below for information about the candidates: Daniel McCaffery (Democrat) Carolyn Tornetta Carluccio (Republican) A good site to use for election information is Vote 411 from the League of Women Voters. It provides links that will allow you to verify your voter registration and to create a sample ballot for your precinct. The most efficient way to use the site is to enter your home address (the address at which you are registered to vote) into the box where you are given the opportunity to create "Personalized Voting Information." Click the Submit button, and you will see a list of the races on the ballot in your precinct. Click on individual races to see the candidates, information about them, and links to their websites. In some cases, appearing here are answers to interview questions that the candidates have submitted. Scroll down further to find the address of your polling place along with a map to help you locate where it is. In addition to the source mentioned above, you can also find your polling location on the site of the Pennsylvania Department of State. Ballotpedia, an online encyclopedia of American politics, is another good source for finding candidate information. The site also allows you to generate a sample ballot for your precinct by entering your home address. Students living on campus may register to vote either at their campus address or their home address. For students who are registered at their campus address, type Harcum's address (750 Montgomery Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA, 19010) into either Vote 411 or Ballotpedia to see the races on the ballot in Harcum's precinct. The polling place for Harcum's precinct is: First Presbyterian Church of Ardmore 5 West Montgomery Avenue Ardmore, PA 19003 To keep up with the latest news related to the election, remember to consult the extensive number of sources that I have included in my News, Politics, & Current Events library guide. Bill Fanshel Evening/Weekend Librarian wfanshel@harcum.edu 610-229-9311 ...