Consumer Health Informatics
Work Group Seeks Input
By Peggy Turner, MS, RD/LD
The Consumer
Health Informatics (CHI) Work Group conducted its first Roundtable Discussion
on March 28, 2012. The purpose of the event was to seek input from members to
better determine how the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics can help us all
drive the topic of CHI forward. After a brief welcome and introductions made by
the work group chair Jody Engel, the
moderator, Nadine Fisher, got the discussion underway. Brief questions were
asked so members could share their experiences, insights, and suggestions for
how the Academy could help make their jobs easier.
The
attendees had a wide variety of backgrounds. The list included the head
dietitian for shopwell.com, a teacher, a clinical RD, an urban dietitian who
works for a county extension service, and many others. Regardless of their area
of practice, they all agreed that they work every day with consumers or clients
who use technology to get their health information.
Suggestions
for information that they would find helpful included:
·
A
central library of approved applications
·
More
information or education in the area of telecommunications
·
A
resource outlining approved sources of blogs, books, and Internet sites
·
Reusable
resources for various types of media, such as generic YouTube videos and tweets
that you could access quickly for retweeting
·
Resources
for people with disabilities, such as videos in sign language and alternate
text
·
Resources
that are appropriate for low-income clients/patients
·
Establishment
of guidelines for the do’s and don’ts of CHI
·
Establishment
of guidelines for what information is appropriate to share and what is not
·
A
calendar of events promoting timely topics and resources to help promote those
ideas
With this
information in hand, the CHI Work Group can now begin the task of figuring out
how to best move forward. But in the meantime, you can continue to share all
your wonderful ideas with members in the Nutrition
Informatics Community or e-mail the ideas to Nutritioninformatics@eatright.org.
And speaking of blogs, make sure to subscribe to the Nutrition
Informatics Blog, if you haven’t already. Guest
bloggers are always welcome.