Publications by authors named "Sandy Oelschlegel"

Background: A librarian led task force at the University of Tennessee Medical Center sought to evaluate their medical centre's health literacy attributes utilizing a widely used tool. This research ultimately led to the update of the tool.

Objectives: To discuss the evaluation of health literacy attributes of health care organizations and detail the process of updating the Health Literacy Environment of Hospitals and Health Centers (HLEHHC) tool.

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Patient engagement in health care decisions largely depends on a patient's health literacy and the health literacy attributes of the health care organization. Librarians have an established role in connecting patients with health information in the context of their care. However, librarians can play a larger role in helping to make changes in their organization's health literacy attributes.

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Background: Historically, health literacy has been viewed as the patient's problem; however, it is now accepted that the responsibility for improving health literacy lies with the health care professionals and systems. An Institute of Medicine report outlines the health literacy attributes, such as printed patient education and technology, which both play a role in patient decision-making and engaging them in their health care. Research suggests that patients who are engaged in their health care have improved health outcomes.

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Objective: The research compared and contrasted hand-scoring and computerized methods of evaluating the grade level of patient education materials that are distributed at an academic medical center in east Tennessee and sought to determine if these materials adhered to the American Medical Association's (AMA's) recommended reading level of sixth grade.

Methods: Librarians at an academic medical center located in the heart of Appalachian Tennessee initiated the assessment of 150 of the most used printed patient education materials. Based on the Flesch-Kincaid (F-K) scoring rubric, 2 of the 150 documents were excluded from statistical comparisons due to the absence of text (images only).

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Objective: The author investigated the educational needs of nurses in an American Nurses Credentialing Center Magnet hospital to determine topics of interest, instruction time and delivery preferences, and interest in a research information skills certificate provided by the library.

Methods: A 9-question survey was distributed to 1,500 nursing staff of the hospital through email.

Results: Surveys were completed by 865 respondents, which represented a response rate of 58%.

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Librarians at an academic medical center library gathered data to determine if library services and resources impacted scholarly activity. A survey was developed and sent out to faculty and residents asking how they used the library during scholarly activity. Sixty-five faculty members and residents responded to the survey.

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