ICML 2009: Great Hall 1 Session 16

Theme: Panel discussion- Uptake of evidence: challenges and opportunities ICLC

Time: 16.00-17.15
Date: Wednesday 2nd September 2009
Chair: Joanne Dunham

Encouraging the uptake of evidence within Queensland Health
Bronia Renison, Townsville Hospital, Australia
Ms Megan Neumann, Central Library Queensland Health, Australia

Bronia manages the health library at a tertiary referral hospital in North Queensland. She started working in health libraries in 1984, and her special interest is evidence based practice.

Megan is a Senior Librarian at Queensland Health Central Library in Brisbane, responsible for the literature search service. She has worked in health libraries for over 15 years and enjoys continuing to develop her skills as an expert searcher.

Abstract:
Getting evidence into practice is difficult. How can librarians contribute? We suggest a panel discussion on partnerships and collaborations. Our results to date are modest, but we expect to be able to report significant outcomes before July 2009. A panel discussion with colleagues would provide an opportunity to share experiences: what has been attempted, what worked, what didn’t, what has been our contribution, future plans.

Our experience is as follows:

• Two Queensland Health library staff have been members of the Evidence-Based Practice Interest Group within the Clinical Practice Improvement Centre since its inception in 2006. CPIC has responsibilities across the decentralised health service. Our contributions to date mainly relate to coordination e.g. of training, and provision of content for the CPIC website e.g. links and predefined searches.
• One of us delivers multidisciplinary training in evidence based practice, supports and participates in clinical research, and is a member of committees engaged in the development of nursing practice, clinical guidelines and hospital-wide quality improvements. Collaboration with a local university ensures future clinicians are well supported in a regional area with limited resources.

Developing an EBM website - experiences from the University of Western Australia
Carol Newton-Smith, UWA Library, Australia

Carol Newton-Smith is the Manager of the University of Western Australia Medical and Dental Library. She is responsible for Library Services to the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences. She has a strong interest in teaching and learning and collaborates closely with the Faculty Clinical Training and Education Centre to integrate information skills into all areas of the curriculum. Prior to her current position, Carol has had a range of library positions across Australia including the first Senior Librarian resident with the Faculty at Curtin University, and as a Librarian and Database Consultant with CSIRO in Brisbane. She tries to practice evidence based librarianship by basing her decisions on the best possible research. Carol is a keen bushwalker and loves discovering new areas of wilderness and is looking for a four to five day walk in Queensland.

Getting Evidence into Practice
Linda Ward, Clinical Librarian, National Health Service, United Kingdom.

In a previous life BC (before children) Linda trained and worked as a Community Psychiatric Nurse.  Since 1997 she has been working as a professional librarian at Leicester General Hospital, now part of University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust.  Initially as Information Services Librarian, her remit was to develop and deliver a proactive information service to clinical staff, as well as training in information skills.  Along with her colleagues, Linda has been involved in the development of the trust's Clinical Librarian Service, whereby librarians become part of the multidisciplinary team at clinical meetings and ward rounds, taking information services to the point of clinical need.