A common health language

The newsletter ADVANCE for Health Information Management Professionals has a really nice brief article on health literacy, "Dream of a Common Health Language" by Shawn Proctor. The article a few simple but striking examples from the world of respiratory therapy to illustrate signs and potential implications of low health literacy.

For Mari Jones, RRT, FNP, AE-C, the predicament hit home when she found her college-educated father struggling to understand his doctor's instructions. He had returned home knowing he should stop taking one of three medications. But he was unclear as to which one. He didn't want to admit he didn't understand.

The article mentions The Newest Vital Sign, a health literacy test that Pfizer makes freely available and the NN/LM health literacy page.

New documentary on addiction

On Thursday March 15 from 8:00 - 9:30 Central time (other air times), HBO will be airing a documentary, Addiction, produced in collaboration with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). It's part of an HBO free preview weekend and also will be streamed on the web and available through "on demand" cable services too.

"The documentary will explore many elements of drug and alcohol addiction, through the eyes of those who are addicted and those of the scientific experts working to better understand and treat this devastating disease....

Bringing together the nation's leading experts with award-winning filmmakers, it consists of nine separate segments, including: "Saturday Night in a Dallas ER," by Jon Alpert; "A Mother's Desperation," by Susan Froemke and Albert Maysles; "The Science of Relapse," by Eugene Jarecki and Susan Froemke; "The Adolescent Addict," by Kate Davis and David Heilbroner; "Brain Imaging," by Liz Garbus and
Rory Kennedy; "Opiate Addiction: A New Medication," by D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus; "Topiramate: A Clinical Trial for Alcoholism," by Alan and Susan Raymond; "Steamfitters Local Union 638," by Barbara Kopple; and "Insurance Woes," by Susan Froemke. ADDICTION is produced by John Hoffman and Susan Froemke; executive produced by Sheila Nevins."

The project also includes a community outreach component, with activities currently scheduled in ~40 cites so far (also includes a PDF viewer's guide to help facilitate discussion).

Related links:
NIH press release
Companion materials from the National Institute on Drug Abuse
Drugs, Brain, and Behavior: The Science of Addiction (booklet)
MedlinePlus: Substance abuse problems

New Pew report: Internet users don't check source of health information

A new Pew report released today, "Online Health Search 2006," outlines results of survey research indicating that surveyed Internet users report that they do not typically check the source or the date of last update for health-related information.

Eighty percent of American internet users, or some 113 million adults, have searched for information on at least one of seventeen health topics. Most internet users start at a general search engine when researching health and medical advice online. Just 15% of health seekers say they “always” check the source and date of the health information they find online, while another 10% say they do so “most of the time.” Fully three-quarters of health seekers say they check the source and date “only sometimes,” “hardly ever,” or “never,” which translates to about 85 million Americans gathering health advice online without consistently examining the quality indicators of the information they find. Most health seekers are pleased about what they find online, but some are frustrated or confused.

The full report and the questionnaire employed by the survey (with data illustrating how the results have changed over the duration of the project) are also available online.

Related: the Reuters story about the report

Update:
MLA has posted a press release responding to the report.

Health Q&A: Go Ask Alice

I have been browsing through the questions and answers on Go Ask Alice! for the last half hour and I'm loving this site -- produced by Columbia University Health Services, the service provides accessible, brief answers to health-related questions, in sort of a "Dear Abby" format.

It covers mental, emotion, and physical health - so many interesting questions - Some Q&A examples:

- Calcium - how much is enough?
- Pondering the pros and cons of tongue piercing
- Sick about going to counseling
- Healthy vs. unhealthy relationships

More information on the site:
- New to Go Ask Alice
- About Go Ask Alice

"Who answers the questions? Go Ask Alice! is supported by a team of Columbia University health educators, health care providers, and other health professionals, along with information and research specialists from health-related organizations worldwide."

- press kit

Found via LifeHacker.

Striking image: potato chips and oil

BBC News reports a few examples from the British Heart Foundation's Food4Thought campaign -- children that eat a bag of potato chips each day (though the estimate is based on a larger bag than a 28 g snack size bag of Lay's chips) end up consuming the equivalent of about 5 liters of cooking oil in a year. Also includes a downloadable PDF poster of the girl-chugging-cooking-oil image.

The Food4Thought site is geared toward adolescents and contains other junk food stats in a "Gross Me Out" section and a health quiz, as well as tips for healthy eating (including celebrity examples) and for exercise and fitness.

MedlinePlus magazine

The National Library of Medicine has posted the 2nd issue of the MedlinePlus magazine, targeted at consumers. The site notes, "NIH MedlinePlus , the magazine, is the free, trusted consumer guide to the vast array of authoritative online health and medical information at www.medlineplus.gov. Published four times a year, the magazine showcases the NIH’s latest medical research and healthcare information."

This issue (PDF, 2.7 MB) features Mary Tyler Moore and her fight with type 1 diabetes, as well as covering the flu, arthritis, vaccine development news, and the Sister Study of breast cancer in families.

You can subscribe to the magazine for free (PDF) and also join the Friends of the National Library of Medicine.

Update:
Donald A.B. Lindberg, M.D., Director of the National Library of Medicine, regularly records a Director's Comments podcast, and today's discusses the MedlinePlus magazine (mp3 file, text transcript).