HICUP for good health: Partnering to link consumer health information in Chinese to patients, physicians and the public

The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

4023.0: Tuesday, November 12, 2002 - Board 5

Abstract #49772

Gail Y. Hendler, MLS¹, Paul Wrynn, MS¹, Xiomara Cruz, MS², May Chang, RN, BSN, CCRN², and Huiling Guan, MS². (1) Frederick L. Ehrman Medical Library, New York University School of Medicine, 550 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016, 212-263-8925, hendler@library.med.nyu.edu, (2) Elisha Walker Medical Libary, NYU Downtown Hospital, 170 William Street, New York, NY 10038

Founded in 1853 by Elizabeth Blackwell, America’s first licensed female physician, NYU Downtown Hospital (NYUDH) was born to meet the evolving needs of the community it serves. An affiliated hospital of NYU Medical School, NYUDH continues the medical school’s 100-year commitment to the immigrant populations of New York City. Located in Lower Manhattan, NYUDH serves several diverse neighborhoods that include Chinatown. Special outreach efforts currently exist to serve NYUDH’s predominantly immigrant Chinese patient population. A need to easily access Chinese language health information materials from the point of care and beyond, namely via the World Wide Web, was identified. An Internet search revealed there were no sites in existence that filled this need. Thus, the Health Information in Chinese Uniting Patients, Physicians and the Public (HICUP) was launched to meet the specific needs of this linguistically underserved population. The goal of HICUP is to link our patients, their physicians and the public to our in-house patient education documents and to existing Chinese language consumer health web sites. Documents from other websites are reviewed by NYUDH health educators literate in Chinese. The site is organized into basic subject categories, plus an additional category for NYUDH-specific documents. Moreover, HICUP is a model for collaboration between librarians and clinical educators who partner their unique skills to improve the public’s health with quality information. A survey/evaluation will be conducted in the spring, 2002 to determine whether this pilot project will continue to grow to serve other linguistic minorities in the community in the future.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

1- Identify the appropriate information types and content organization for a health web site for Chinese speaking patients, their health care professionals and the public.
2- Describe each partner's roles and tasks in creating a consumer health web page for Chinese speaking patients, the public and their health care providers.

Keywords: Asian and Pacific Islander, Patient Education

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: NYU Downtown Hospital, New York University School of Medicine
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Designing Health Promotion and Providing Access to Service for Cultural and Linguistic Minorities

The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA