Franciscan Children's Hospital (""""""""FCH"""""""") provides medical, rehabilitation, behavioral health, education, and related support services to 15,000 children annually who have severe and complex special health care needs. The National Library of Medicine Internet Access to Digital Libraries grant will be used to expand, and enhance our new Family Resource Center (""""""""FRC""""""""), which we opened on a 40-bed pediatric inpatient medical unit in 2001. The purpose of the FRC is to contribute to improved quality of care for these children and to reduce the stress on caregivers. FCH patients are children (birth to age 22) with severe developmental disabilities, genetic disorders, or traumatic injuries requiring specialized care and technology, including frequent hospital stays, typically of at least 30-60 days. The FRC provides parents of patients with 24-hr/day Internet access to digital information and support related to their children's health care, discharge planning, advocacy, and support. Access is through our easy-to-use, well-organized web page, which contains links to health-related information, organizations, and events of interest to parents of children with special health care needs. On-site, parents can use the designated Family Resource Center computer, located in a quiet room on the nursing floor. Off-site, they can access the website through their own computers. No password or subscription is required. The NLM grant will be used to increase usership by: establishing an additional FRC on an inpatient pediatric & adolescent psychiatric unit; promoting the FRC as a resource among FCH's 15,000 patient families and all families of children with special health care needs; and translating the web page and promotional materials into additional languages to make it accessible to more families. This grant will enhance the digital resources that the FRC has available by increasing the Internet access speed, expanding its content with an emphasis on behavioral health additions, and adding one-click links to key web information sources (such as MEDLINEplus).
