1. Quick Start Training Activities
Ann Glusker, MLIS The Seattle Public Library
Laura Haines, MLS University of Vermont

2. Using the Quick Start Guide Training Activities
These scenario-based learning activities are meant to accompany the Quick Start Guide to Providing Excellent Health Reference
After the Quick Start Guide presentation, participants may be divided into groups
Each group will be given a reference scenario and prompts to elicit discussion
Groups are to refer to the Health and Medical Reference Guidelines to engage in discussion about the scenario

3. Reference Scenario and Prompts
A patron calls and wants to know the symptoms of stroke. As you read her that information, she tells you she thinks she has had a stroke, a few days ago, and wonders if you agree. Near the end of the call she also wants to know the symptoms of Japanese encephalitis. Discussion Prompts How would you handle this question? Have you had situations like this at your library? How do the Guidelines inform your response and behavior? Which Guidelines apply? What issues would arise for a staff member in this scenario?

4. Reference Scenario and Prompts
A nursing student needs help with an assignment. She is to write a paper on the “lived experience” of multiple sclerosis. The assignment requires a literature search on the psychosocial aspects of MS, in particular what it is like to have the disease. She confides that she picked the topic because her sister has MS, and it is partially why she is becoming a nurse. She needs help with the literature search. Discussion Prompts How would you handle this question? Have you had situations like this at your library? How do the Guidelines inform your response and behavior? Which Guidelines apply? What issues would arise for a staff member in this scenario?

5. Reference Scenario and Prompts
A patron calls from a nursing home, and says that none of the staff there will help her, and that they hate her. She is afraid that they are giving her the wrong dosage of her drugs for her blood pressure. She wants you to tell her the right dosage, and also the billing code for her condition (but she’s not sure the name of it).
Discussion Prompts
How would you handle this question?
Have you had situations like this at your library?
How do the Guidelines inform your response and behavior? Which Guidelines apply?
What issues would arise for a staff member in this scenario?

6. Reference Scenario and Prompts
A patron wants to know about Huntington’s Disease (a friend had been diagnosed with it). You print out a definition for her from the Huntington’s Disease Society of America web site:
“Huntington’s disease (HD) is a fatal genetic disorder that causes the progressive breakdown of nerve cells in the brain. It deteriorates a person’s physical and mental abilities during their prime working years and has no cure.”
She hadn’t known about the nature of the disease, and this was how she found out. You watch as she reads the diagnosis.
Discussion Prompts
How would you handle this question?
Have you had situations like this at your library?
How do the Guidelines inform your response and behavior? Which Guidelines apply?
What issues would arise for a staff member in this scenario?

7. Reference Scenario and Prompts
A 92 year old with high blood sugar calls and says her doctor had told her if her next blood sugar was high, they’d have to treat her for diabetes. The doctor said that she should cut out gluten in order to deal with it, but her question was, how much sugar is in strawberries, because she eats a lot of them. 
Discussion Prompts
How would you handle this question?
Have you had situations like this at your library?
How do the Guidelines inform your response and behavior? Which Guidelines apply?
What issues would arise for a staff member in this scenario?

8. Resources
RSS: Health and Medical Reference Committee:
Health and Medical Reference Guidelines:
National Network of Libraries of Medicine:
MedlinePlus: