About the Project

The Cushing/Whitney Medical Library - Yale University has received funding from the National Library of Medicine and National Institute of Health to determine the healthcare information needs of Connecticut school nurses, and to develop resources and training that match those needs.

To the best of our knowledge the information needs of the school nurse population have not been reported in the literature, and it is therefore assumed that it is an understudied area.

Librarians spend a great deal of time thinking about how to provide resources and services in anticipation of the information needs of library users. Without fully understanding the information needs of any group, the result is an offering library services and information sources that Librarians perceive are the users’ needs when in fact that may not be the case. And this is no different for the population of nurses that work in schools. 

For that reason the purpose of this project is to determine how Connecticut school nurses currently retrieve information and what there information needs are, as well as what the barriers are to information.  The study of these needs will help us to develop resources and design training to match those information needs.

The project will center on the use of a survey as well as focus groups as the main tools to discover how school nurses currently find new information, what their needs are, and what would be the most helpful way for them to access information in the future. Results of the data collection will be analyzed to develop a strategy of information delivery and potential training opportunities.

In October 2007, we distributed a survey to school nurses in Connecticut a survey to gather information about these needs. We look forward to receiving your completed surveys.

For further information about this Project contact investigators at ysnlib@yale.edu, and use the subject line SCHOOL NURSE SURVEY, or phone 203-785-2396.

R. Kenny Marone                                               Janene Batten
Principal Investigator                                          Investigator
Director, Cushing Whitney Medical Library          Nursing Librarian, Cushing Whitney Medical Library

Members of the Advisory Board

• R. Kenny Marone – Director, Cushing/Whitney Medical Library
• Janene Batten – Librarian to YSN, Cushing/Whitney Medical Library
• Joan Cagginello -President, Association of School Nurses of Connecticut
• Kathy Carbone -Director Public Health Nursing, New Haven
• Judy DeRosa – Public Health School Nurse, New Haven
• Andrea Divilio – Public Health School Nurse, New Haven
• Pat Jackson Allen – Faculty, Yale School of Nursing (YSN) coordinates students in school based health centers.
• Jan Glover – Education Coordinator, Cushing/Whitney Medical Library
• Elaine Gustafson - Consultant to YSN and Department of Education in Connecticut regarding activities of school nurses; active member of the Technical Assistance and Training Committee of the National Assembly of School based Health Care.
• Tony Ma – Data Manager, Yale School of Nursing
• Cheryl Resha, Health Promotion Consultant, Connecticut Department of Education
• Lynn Sette – Librarian, Cushing/Whitney Medical Library