The North Idaho Health Information Network, NIHIN, 6 hospitals in north Idaho, is proposing to maximize 24 hour self-sufficient access to the information necessary to support the provision of health care services in the north Idaho rural health care environment. In order to meet this overall objective we propose extensive on-site and electronically accessible end-user education program for a variety of information services. These will include GRATEFUL MED, a diagnostic service similar to AMA-NET's DxPlain, and a bulletin board and electronic mail service. A professional librarian will provide educational and back-up services. It will be necessary to squire the appropriate software for those programs as well as the following equipment for each of the rural sites: a computer with modem, color monitor, 20 MB hard drive, printer and facsimile machine. The GRATEFUL MED software will provide unmediated access to the MEDLINE databases. The diagnostic software will help to provide 24 hour diagnostic assistance to physicians. The bulletin board will facilitate colleague-colleague interaction as well as communication with the professional librarian. The facsimile machine will make it possible to transmit documents in a timely manner. The hard drive will allow for space to print directly to disk, so that communications costs can be reduced. CD-ROM drives will be purchased for Kootenai Medical Center (NIHIN resource library) as well as a subscription to the CD-ROM version of the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL). Due to the slow access time of the CD-ROM technology, access to this product will be mediated by the NIHIN resource library. Evaluation of this project will be accomplished by statistical analysis of data captured during a sophisticated logon process requiring minimum end-user input. Additional evaluation tools will include participant evaluations of each training session, bulletin board and/or mail or phone solicited comments from end-users, and informal surveys conducted over the bulletin board and/or mail.
