Medical Requests

General Consumer

The Reference and Loan Library provides general factual information in health science fields to assist individuals in assessing health needs and problems, defining terms, formulating questions to ask health care providers, or interpreting information provided by health care providers. Materials will generally be written for the layperson or allied health care professionals. Materials written for health care professionals may be sent when they are the only sources available. Books, photocopies of pages, lists of articles, or full-text periodical articles, and audiovisual materials may be provided in response to requests.

Examples include but are not limited to information in the following areas:

• Diseases, disorders, disabilities, syndromes
• Home patient care
• Individual and family health care (all ages)
• Nutrition
• Exercise
• Diet and disease
• Medications
• Alternative therapies
• Mental health
• Substance abuse
• Psychology, psychiatry
• Occupational health
• Chemical hazards

Health Care Personnel

Information will be provided to allied health care personnel, nurses, and physicians working in state agencies or institutions outside the University of Wisconsin System.

Database Searches

Database searches may be provided at the discretion of the Reference and Loan Library staff using licensed databases such as DIALOG, BadgerLink, or other reliable Internet medical information sources. Provision of a database search does not guarantee that an exhaustive search has been done.

In cases requiring technical information, it is desirable to have the name and daytime phone number of the person making the request so that reference staff may contact this person if further clarification of the request is needed.

Suggested Information to Include With Requests

The more information provided by the patron and the requesting library, the more likely it is that the patron will receive relevant information.

• Purpose for which information is required (e.g. student paper, patient information).
• Level of information to be supplied (e.g. basic/lay, advanced, professional).
• Age level of patient (e.g. infant, child, adolescent, adult, elderly).
• Immediacy of the need; deadline for receiving information (e.g. surgery scheduled for May 14; need info by May 3).
• Name and daytime phone number of person making the request, if the person is willing to supply this.

Referral to the UW-Madison, Ebling Library

Referrals will be made to the UW-Madison, Ebling Library if the request is beyond the resources of the Reference & Loan Library.

Disclaimer

Staff will provide the following disclaimer when supplying materials in response to medical requests:

This material is provided for informational purposes only and is not designed to provide medical advice. This information may not pertain to your specific situation. Because of the rapid growth of medical knowledge, more recent or complete information may be available. Accuracy cannot be guaranteed. Please consult with your physician or health care professional regarding any medical issues.

For more information about requesting medical information from Reference and Loan Library, Wisconsin librarians may call the library toll-free at 1-888-542-5543 (Choose 5 for Reference services). Individual library users should contact their local public library.

For questions about this information, contact Shiela A. Pollock (608) 224-5395

Last updated on 2/25/2008 1:35:50 PM