A proposal of a virtual library for patients = Propuesta de una biblioteca virtual para pacientes.

According to the Survey on the equipment and use of information technologies and communication in the home, 2009 (Statistics National Institute, INE) 53,8% of internet information searches’ were about health. Although Internet is a simple and flexible tool, patients and general public have information needs totally different from health professionals. This dynamism and growth of internet information suggests that users will have a greater autonomy to search information on health topics, but also makes evidence the need to adequately site’s design and organize services offered. The aim of this paper is to provide health information for this group through a proposal to develop a virtual library for patients. Methodology: Web pages specialized in health information for patients have been selected. These pages are: Medgle (beta version, with a powerful search engine and a live chat with a nurse, to ask for information); Patientslikeme (organized in communities of patients, it allows information exchange); NHS choices (National Health Service platform for patients); Scienceroll (it searches in some well-known databases about drug information, illnesses and others). Selection criteria have been: innovative approaches; usefulness for patients. These criteria have been recovered from recognized pages that gather information for patients, like NOAH or NHS Choices to guarantee contrasted quality criteria. They help us to analyze chosen resources to offer them organized. These webpages were analyzed in order to incorporate similar tools in the virtual library for patients. Results: The present work presents a structure with the contents that should be offered in a page of a public health system’s virtual library for patients. In the example of the Galician Region (Spain, NO), the starting point was the website Espazo da Cidadania (Space for Citizens), where resources such as health legislation, medical appointments, healthy life advices, information on waiting lists and others are offered to patients. After analysing this gateway, we recommend to create more informative spaces like directories, chat rooms, or chat lists. Conclusions: - Virtual libraries must begin to integrate selected and assessed information for patients. - This information must not be limited to AZ links to pathology directories for patients. - Services like forums, live chats or tools where patients can communicate between them and with health professionals; information about health services use, functioning and provision; health advices; waiting lists; virtual offices to carry out procedures such as medical appointments or physician changes, health card or electronic prescriptions and patients and health professionals association directories must be included in this virtual library for patients. - Librarian professionals must explorer the web and analyzed the resources in order to offer it organized, their work warrant pertinence and updated resources.