A MN eHealth Library Refresher and Call to Action

We’re happy to share an update about the proposed MN eHealth Library along with a few actions steps you can take to support a healthy and Informed Minnesota! Here it is!

What: As a refresher, the proposed MN eHealth Library is a joint initiative of Minitex and the UMN Health Sciences Libraries. With funding, MN eHealth Library will provide statewide access to professional-level health information (clinical support tools and prescription drug references, learning and development tools, and full-text books and journals). MN eHealth Library resources will be selected based on the needs of our state’s health providers, researchers, educators, and students, and will be made available to all Minnesotans.

So what: As you know, free health information resources are not enough to support education and patient care needs, and licensed resources vary from institution and institution.  We see MeHL as an opportunity to level the playing field, freeing up resources for reinvestment at the local level.  

Now what:  We’re happy to report that this effort is moving forward with the help of a MeHL Advocacy Group, and all of you, and are offering several ways to get involved.

1. Tell us your health information story, and let us know why the MN eHealth Library is important to you.

2. Attend (and/or volunteer for) the Library Legislative Day on February 20 at L'Étoile du Nord Vault B15.  

3. Review our draft bill language and offer advice and suggestions on who we might ask to carry the bill. 

4. Help us understand and ask the hard questions you all need to know about MeHL so we can use this opportunity to improve the health of all Minnesotans by suggesting additions to our Q&A.

5. Be a connector - share news of the MN eHealth Library within your network.

Thank you for all you do to champion a healthy and informed Minnesota!

Sharing MeHL with MnPals

It was great to share news of the Minnesota Electronic Health Library (MeHL) with MnPALS today.  The MnPALS consortium of libraries facilitates reliable and cost-efficient access to library resources for the benefit of their user communities - just like MeHL!

In our discussion, we learned how MeHL could benefit transfer students in Minnesota, who would be able to have continuity of access to professional-level health information as they move between programs. 

What would this look like in practice?  Health professions students who are completing 2 year programs will be trained on information resources that will also be available in 4 year schools. These same students will also have access to the same information resources after they graduate and move into practice. And when they begin practice, they will be working alongside other providers who have benefited from the same opportunity.  That makes MeHL a win, win, win, win!

Free resources are not enough!

We had a great conversation at the Council of Academic Library Directors conference, where we shared that freely available online health information is not enough. This is true for providers who are seeking information for patient care, and patients who are seeking information to understand their own diagnosis and treatment options.

And then we invited our library colleagues to DREAM BIG WITH US as we envisioned a Minnesota where

• health providers had access to information to support informed patient care and advance workforce development?
• health researchers from across Minnesota could more seamlessly collaborate as they work to address our state’s healthcare priorities?
• health professions educators had a shared set of resources to train our state’s future healthcare workforce?
• health professions students had continuity of information access between education and practice?
• caregivers could be better prepared to manage the health needs of their loved ones?
• patients — including you — had access to tools to support informed decision-making?

MeHL advances evidence-based care.

If funded, the Minnesota Electronic Health Library (MeHL) MeHL will promote evidence-based care by providing a single point of access to a core set of clinical information resources that will be available from work, home, campus, or library 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  MeHL - for a Healthy Minnesota!

Introducing the Minnesota Electronic Health Library!!!

Welcome!  We are thrilled to introduce the Minnesota Electronic Health Library.  This joint initiative of Minitex and the University of Minnesota Libraries seeks to bring a core suite of professional-level health information resources to every health provider, student, educator, researcher, caregiver, and patient in Minnesota!!!!

We're imagining a healthy Minnesota in which every one of us is empowered to engage in health care conversations and make informed health decisions.

We're inviting you to imagine the possibilities at the intersection of good health and quality health information.  Stay tuned for more information and ways to be an advocate and become a champion.