What would you say if your doctor gave you a prescription to gather information on your particular condition? This is when the UVA Patient and Family Library can help. A more informed patient can be a better patient, with better outcomes.
Listen as Lydia Witman, MLIS discusses information prescriptions as a way for your doctor to guide you to be your own best health advocate.
Learn more about the UVA Patient and Family Library
Selected Podcast
A Prescription for Information? The UVA Patient and Family Library Is There to Help
Featured Speaker:
Lydia Witman, MLIS
Lydia Witman, MLIS is the manager in the Patient and Family Library at UVA Medical Center. Transcription:
A Prescription for Information? The UVA Patient and Family Library Is There to Help
Melanie Cole (Host): Well, if you’ve ever wanted information or to be educated to be your own best health advocate which is just so important, whether you are somebody who’s suffering from disease or whether you’re looking for prevention information, now you can really find it. This is like a prescription for information. My guest today is Lydia Witman. She’s the manager of the Patient and Family Library at UVA Medical Center. Welcome to the show, Lydia. What is meant by information prescription? How are we using this term?
Lydia Witman (Guest): This is a phrase that was originally developed by the National Library of Medicine to describe when the clinical team that’s taking care of a patient believes that a bit of information from the library or from a library resource would be helpful to the patient. So, it’s a prescription in the way medicine would be, and that’s what it’s based on. Just like if your doctor thinks that a medicine would help you and write you a prescription, then they can also think maybe a trip to the library or a visit from the librarian would help you. So, they can write a prescription for that.
Melanie: And so then, when people get a prescription, is this so that they can then educate themselves a little bit more on whatever their condition is or whatever information that they’re looking for?
Lydia: Yes. So, at UVA, our process is a little different whether you’re an outpatient--someone who is not acutely sick in the hospital. If you’re going to a clinic or you maybe have a chronic illness but you’re not in the hospital, then we would hope you would be able to come into the library and talk with one of the librarians and have that conversation about the information that you need. If you are in the hospital, you or your family member--because a lot of times it’s not just a patient but it’s also their partner or their family who are involved--and the librarians will go to the hospital room and have a discussion with the care team about what information could really help this patient understand.
Melanie: I think that’s a great point that you bring up especially for their caregivers and families because a lot of times these people want information so that they know how best to help their loved one, and they want to understand the disease process or they want to understand caregiver stress in the case of Alzheimer’s or what they should be looking for. So, I think that that’s a real great piece of the puzzle here. What do you want people to know about getting that information and getting that prescription that we want them to get?
Lydia: Well, I do want to just follow up with one thing you said about the families really wanting to understand what’s happening to their loved ones. Aside from the prescriptions, people are also of course welcome to use the library whenever they wish, and we see twice as many family members as we actually see patients themselves. And, I have seen it many times where someone feels very reassured when we look up a health topic, like you said, Alzheimer’s or whatever it is, people are reassured when they see, “Oh, my husband or my son is just like all these other patients.” It is reassuring for them to see that they’re not alone in what they have to work with, and how they’re trying to help. So, what I’d like people to know is that this is available and, hopefully, the doctors and nurses and anybody on the care team who is able to write a prescription might think of it but, you know, they’re very busy, they have a lot going on. Even if they don’t think of it, you’re always welcome to come into the library or call the library or ask your clinician about, “Is there some way I can get good information? I just feel like I want to know more about this topic.”
Melanie: So, they don’t necessarily need that prescription from their healthcare provider?
Lydia: No.
Melanie: They can come in to the library. Now, tell us where it is.
Lydia: The library is called the Patient and Family Library, and it’s located right in the main hospital lobby. This is the main building of the medical center. The primary care clinics are there. So, we serve outpatients going to the clinics and their families, or day-stay procedures. We’re not too far from the surgical family waiting lounge, and we see people there. We’re very easy to get to--right by the cafeteria.
Melanie: Well, it certainly is a quiet place to study, read or wait. You can go to the Patient and Family Library and find that information on www.hsl.virginia.edu. You’re listening to UVA Health Systems Radio. And for more information on the Patient and Family Library, you can go to www.uvahealth.com. That’s www.uvahealth.com. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.
A Prescription for Information? The UVA Patient and Family Library Is There to Help
Melanie Cole (Host): Well, if you’ve ever wanted information or to be educated to be your own best health advocate which is just so important, whether you are somebody who’s suffering from disease or whether you’re looking for prevention information, now you can really find it. This is like a prescription for information. My guest today is Lydia Witman. She’s the manager of the Patient and Family Library at UVA Medical Center. Welcome to the show, Lydia. What is meant by information prescription? How are we using this term?
Lydia Witman (Guest): This is a phrase that was originally developed by the National Library of Medicine to describe when the clinical team that’s taking care of a patient believes that a bit of information from the library or from a library resource would be helpful to the patient. So, it’s a prescription in the way medicine would be, and that’s what it’s based on. Just like if your doctor thinks that a medicine would help you and write you a prescription, then they can also think maybe a trip to the library or a visit from the librarian would help you. So, they can write a prescription for that.
Melanie: And so then, when people get a prescription, is this so that they can then educate themselves a little bit more on whatever their condition is or whatever information that they’re looking for?
Lydia: Yes. So, at UVA, our process is a little different whether you’re an outpatient--someone who is not acutely sick in the hospital. If you’re going to a clinic or you maybe have a chronic illness but you’re not in the hospital, then we would hope you would be able to come into the library and talk with one of the librarians and have that conversation about the information that you need. If you are in the hospital, you or your family member--because a lot of times it’s not just a patient but it’s also their partner or their family who are involved--and the librarians will go to the hospital room and have a discussion with the care team about what information could really help this patient understand.
Melanie: I think that’s a great point that you bring up especially for their caregivers and families because a lot of times these people want information so that they know how best to help their loved one, and they want to understand the disease process or they want to understand caregiver stress in the case of Alzheimer’s or what they should be looking for. So, I think that that’s a real great piece of the puzzle here. What do you want people to know about getting that information and getting that prescription that we want them to get?
Lydia: Well, I do want to just follow up with one thing you said about the families really wanting to understand what’s happening to their loved ones. Aside from the prescriptions, people are also of course welcome to use the library whenever they wish, and we see twice as many family members as we actually see patients themselves. And, I have seen it many times where someone feels very reassured when we look up a health topic, like you said, Alzheimer’s or whatever it is, people are reassured when they see, “Oh, my husband or my son is just like all these other patients.” It is reassuring for them to see that they’re not alone in what they have to work with, and how they’re trying to help. So, what I’d like people to know is that this is available and, hopefully, the doctors and nurses and anybody on the care team who is able to write a prescription might think of it but, you know, they’re very busy, they have a lot going on. Even if they don’t think of it, you’re always welcome to come into the library or call the library or ask your clinician about, “Is there some way I can get good information? I just feel like I want to know more about this topic.”
Melanie: So, they don’t necessarily need that prescription from their healthcare provider?
Lydia: No.
Melanie: They can come in to the library. Now, tell us where it is.
Lydia: The library is called the Patient and Family Library, and it’s located right in the main hospital lobby. This is the main building of the medical center. The primary care clinics are there. So, we serve outpatients going to the clinics and their families, or day-stay procedures. We’re not too far from the surgical family waiting lounge, and we see people there. We’re very easy to get to--right by the cafeteria.
Melanie: Well, it certainly is a quiet place to study, read or wait. You can go to the Patient and Family Library and find that information on www.hsl.virginia.edu. You’re listening to UVA Health Systems Radio. And for more information on the Patient and Family Library, you can go to www.uvahealth.com. That’s www.uvahealth.com. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.