The Kindle: A Novel Way to Increase Access to Medical Information in Community Clinics

Objectives:
Part of the academic medical center’s mission is to provide outreach and service to the surrounding community. This grant-funded project seeks to determine whether the Kindle, an e-book reader featuring a basic web interface and “Whispernet” wireless technology, can increase access to medical information for health professionals and students working in community-based clinics with poor connectivity and few information resources.

Methods:
The library has recruited cohorts of second year medical students and health professionals working in three community clinics to receive Kindles for use during rotations in Family Practice in April – December 2009. Librarians worked with the course director to select relevant medical textbooks and relevant clinical material and reformatted library help documentation, including an EBM toolkit, for loading on the Kindle. Librarians are training participating students on the Kindle, including how to search both electronic books and the PubMed for Handhelds interface over the “WhisperNet” wireless connection. After each cohort completes their rotations, librarians are surveying participants about the efficacy and efficiency of using the Kindle for accessing medical information and whether information gained from the Kindle changed a clinical decision.

Early Results:
Students and preceptors have commented that Kindle is slow compared to other handheld devices and laptops when used for finding quick clinical answers in a patient care setting. Comments are favorable for educational and leisure reading. The sites that Kindles have been sent to thus far have had some computer access; locations with less computer access may find Kindles more valuable if there are not faster alternatives available.

Attachments:
See attachments below for list of items added to Kindle and for the poster presentation from the Medical Library Association 2009 annual meeting

Project team:
Megan von Isenburg, Associate Director of Public Services (contact)
megan.vonisenburg@duke.edu, 919-660-1131
Karen Grigg, Associate Director, Collection Services
Pat Thibodeau, Associate Dean
Brandi Tuttle, Information and Education Services Librarian


This project has been funded in whole or in part with Federal funds from the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Contract No. N01-LM-6-3502 with the University of Maryland Baltimore.