Increasing state public health professionals' proficiency in using PubMed

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Information Science
• Health Informatics

Background:

• Public health workers often underutilize online bibliographic databases for literature searches.
• Limited access to training hinders effective use of these critical information resources.
• Assessing current usage and training needs is essential for improving information retrieval skills.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate a strategy for increasing public health workers' utilization of online bibliographic databases.
• To assess the impact of targeted training on database proficiency and usage intentions.

Main Methods:

• A web-based survey was administered to assess current use and training needs regarding online bibliographic databases among public health staff.
• Collaborative, brief (90-minute) training sessions on PubMed were developed and delivered based on survey findings.
• Post-training proficiency and future usage intentions were evaluated.

Main Results:

• Survey response rate was 61% (70/115 staff).
• Only 39% of staff reported using online databases for literature searches in the past year; 10% had prior training.
• Post-training, participants reported higher perceived proficiency with PubMed, with a majority intending to use it for literature searches.

Conclusions:

• Collaboratively designed training effectively enhances public health workers' proficiency with online bibliographic databases.
• Targeted, brief training interventions can increase the intention to use databases like PubMed for literature searches.
• Strategies focusing on user needs and collaborative development can improve information resource utilization in public health settings.