Objective: To increase knowledge of National Library of Medicine resources by using a train-the-trainer approach.
Methods: Workshops were held in spring 2016 to increase knowledge of 4 National Library of Medicine tools. Data were collected before the workshop and immediately, 3 months, and 1 year after the workshop. Knowledge questions were scored as 1 point per question; an aggregated knowledge score could range from 0 to 16 points. A paired t test assessed the change in knowledge from before to after the workshop.
Results: Four workshops were hosted, with a total of 74 attendees. The response rate for the surveys ranged from 50% to 100%. Knowledge scores changed significantly from 7.2 to 11.9 (t = 15, P < .001). One year after the workshop, more of the participants reported having informally trained others (56.8%) than reported providing 1 or more formal training session (8.1%)(P < .001).
Conclusion: Objective measures of knowledge and information dissemination showed that the National Library of Medicine workshop was successful and resulted in both short- and long-term gains. This workshop could be repeated with other populations to further disseminate information regarding the National Library of Medicine tools, which could help improve disaster response.
Keywords: chemical terrorism; disaster; preparedness; radiological event.