RUSA’s Health Information 101 course now offers IACET CEUs; next offering in September, 2012

CHICAGO — Beginning with the upcoming fall offering in September, 2012, the online course "Health Information 101" offered by the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), will offer one CEU credit for course participants who complete required coursework.

“Health Information 101,” the first RUSA course to offer CEU credit since ALA became an IACET Authorized Provider in 2011, will take place Sept. 17 - Oct. 28, 2012. The course content is of particular interest to public librarians--especially those who serve older adults--and other librarians serving populations who need access to timely, reliable and accurate healthcare information in order to make healthcare decisions. Primary, secondary and academic librarians will also find the information presented in this course to be useful.



This six-week course will demystify and decode medical terminology and also cover the basics of evidence-based biomedical literature searching. Participants will learn how to systematically evaluate a health website and then look at some the best of best sites for medical, pharmaceutical and drug information. The course covers the business of healthcare: PPACA, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, HealthIT and HITECH, Meaningful Use, Physician and Hospital Rankings & Ratings and the Personal Health Record. Students will also participate in a discussion of health literacy issues and how to create partnerships with hospital and academic medical librarians through the National Network of Libraries of Medicine. Course content is asynchronous; this allows participants to work through course material at times convenient to them. Participants may also choose to schedule online chat time with the instructor.



Online registration is open now for this and other upcoming RUSA online courses. Registration rates start at $150 for RUSA members, with additional savings for student and retired members of ALA. Group registration rates are available for two or more members of the same library, library system or network who register for the same course--more information is available on the RUSA online learning page.



The course’s instructor, Maura Sostack, MLS, AHIP, has been involved in the library science and research analytic field for 25 years. Currently, she manages the health sciences libraries at Virtua Health and is a member of Virtua’s Speakers Bureau. She is the government relations chair for the Hospital Library Section of the Medical Library Association, is an active member of the American Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Roundtable and serves on the OVID Technologies Advisory Board.



In order to achieve Authorized Provider status, the American Library Association completed a rigorous application process, including a review by an IACET site visitor, and successfully demonstrated adherence to the ANSI/IACET 1-2007 Standard addressing the design, development, administration and evaluation of its programs. The American Library Association has pledged its continued compliance with the standard and is now authorized to use the IACET name and Authorized Provider logo on promotional course material. In addition, the ALA is now linked to the IACET website and is recognized as offering the highest quality continuing education and training programs.

The Reference and User Services Association, a division of the American Library Association, represents librarians and library staff in the fields of reference, specialized reference, collection development, readers’ advisory and resource sharing. RUSA is the foremost organization of reference and information professionals who make the connections between people and the information sources, services, and collection materials they need. Learn more about the association at www.ala.org/rusa.