Campus-community pharmacy partnership to foster awareness and use of MedlinePlus.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the impact of a campus-community pharmacy partnership to foster awareness and use of National Library of Medicine (NLM) databases, including MedlinePlus, among minority populations.


METHODS
Uncontrolled study with pretest and posttest.


METHODS
Two community pharmacies and Bethel World Ministry in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.


METHODS
8 student pharmacists and pharmacy residents and 92 patients.


METHODS
Training of patients by student pharmacists and pharmacy residents in the use of NLM databases during prescription-fill wait time.


METHODS
Pre- and post-survey responses and telephone followup designed to assess familiarity with NLM databases, including MedlinePlus.


RESULTS
Overall, the familiarity of the participants with MedlinePlus and NLM databases increased fivefold before versus after training. The 1-week follow-up confirmed this trend. However, no statistically significant differences in responses (pre-and posttest/follow-up) to the surveys were observed in regard to specific questions on daily and future use of the NLM databases available on the Internet.


CONCLUSIONS
Awareness and use of MedlinePlus by study participants increased.
Hailemeskel
Bisrat
B
School of Pharmacy, Howard University, Washington, DC, USA.
Dutta
Arjun P
AP
Daftary
Monika
M
Akiyode
Oluwaranti
O
Ayuk-Egbe
Patricia
P
Koomer
Ajoy
A
Ellis
Larry
L
Ward
Latoya
L
Xue
Zhenyi
Z
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001364:Awareness; D003157:Community Pharmacy Services; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D049293:MedlinePlus; D008913:Minority Groups / Q000193:education*; D009317:National Library of Medicine (U.S.); D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010595:Pharmacists; D012580:Schools, Pharmacy; D014481:United States