Outreach to Improve Patient Education at South Carolina Free Medical Clinics

The University of South Carolina (USC) School of Medicine (SOM) librarians have partnered with eight free medical clinics in South Carolina to enhance patient education efforts. During these outreach projects, project librarians purchased and installed computers, projectors, screens, LCD monitors, and touch-screen information kiosk equipment in each clinic, conducted MedlinePlus® training sessions with clinic staff, and added links to MedlinePlus on the patient education area of the clinics' websites. As a result, the free medical clinics incorporated MedlinePlus into their patient education classes or used the self-playing tutorials in patient waiting rooms.