Developing an interactive website to support teaching
of public health informatics

Brynn E. Mays, MSLS
Information Services Librarian

Brian Boston, MA
Academic Technology and Internet Development Coordinator
Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship,
Georgetown University Medical Center

Purpose: This paper will report on the development and use of an innovative Web database and selected Web resources to support a public health informatics project for first-year medical students.

Setting/Participants/Resources: Dahlgren Memorial Library, Georgetown University Medical Center. Through a faculty, library, and academic technology collaboration, we developed a Website to assist the students in retrieving, managing, and analyzing county-level demographic and health data.

Brief Description: The goal of the Public Health Informatics Project is to familiarize students with the various data sources on the Web that can be used to assess population health and propose appropriate interventions. A Website front-end was designed for students to input into a database information pertaining to their selected county. Librarians select appropriate resource links and provide support in-person or through an "Ask A Librarian" email link. Faculty keep librarians informed of any difficulties students encounter and make suggestions for improving the support provided.

Results/Outcome: The Web database provides students with a streamlined alternative to other methods of submitting and managing data. It provides a secure record of each student's work and allows students to compare and contrast their results with those of their peers in the course. The selected resources introduce students to primary data collectors, aggregators, and retrieval systems. Through their own efforts and with support of faculty and information services librarians, students also gain an appreciation of the challenges in obtaining county-level data.

Evaluation Method: Students write a report comparing health status indicators and problems in their current county of residence to that of their selected rural, suburban, or urban population. In addition, they summarize their analyses in the form of an oral presentation. In the fall 2002 semester, librarians were invited to attend the student presentations, providing insight into additional opportunities for library support of this project.