Improving Awareness of NLM Resources at Continuing Care Retirement Communities

Emergency planners will tell you the time to plan for an event is in advance of the event. Waiting until the last second can have dire consequences. So too is it true for most of life's challenges. In a business setting, managers plan far enough ahead to meet deadlines, avoid penalties, and assure proper utilization of resources. We can learn about future needs by looking at past history, as well as at current trends and making assumptions of future needs. Our project involves educating the staff of various Continuing Care Retirement Communities CCRCs, and identifying patient trends for Medicare and private insurance utilization. The goal is simply to identify the areas of concern, or opportunities for future planning, which can affect the demand for resources in CCRCs. This data-driven health care focus enables meeting that demand by utilizing the resources of the National Libraries of Medicine. By making presentations to the CCRC staffs, the identification is expected to produce improvements in knowledge of health information available from the NLM, delivery systems, and assistive technology. We expect outcomes to include a better understanding of NLM resources, and better access to information.