ICML 2009: Great Hall 1 Session 32

Theme: International Clinical Librarian Conference (ICLC)

Time: 15.30-16.45
Date: Thursday 4th September 2009
Chair: Louise Hull

The role of the Clinical Librarian in consumer health: a Report on an 18-month innovative joint Melbourne Health-Cochrane Consumer Network project
Mr Terence M Harrison, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Australia

Terence Harrison commenced as Clinical Librarian, Royal Melbourne Hospital, in January 2007. He conceived and designed the Evidence Direct website, organised RMH Evidence Week, and contributed to several EBM courses. Previously he has organised a Knowledge Management system for the National Institute for Clinical Studies (Australia); worked as a consultant ontologist for Sensis (Telstra) search engine; was responsible for the Peripatetic Librarian service (training in advanced searching, evidence searching, developing relevant learning modules, etc) for Plymouth Hospital NHS Trust; developed commercial internet/extranet sites; was responsible for the AEI database indexing for the Australian Council for Education Research; and worked on Serials retrieval, British Library. He also held the position of Publicity Manager, British Post Office; has lectured in Professional Writing; organised rock concerts (UB40, Chumbawamba, Planxty, etc); worked as free-lance investigative researcher (The Observer, London); was Night Manager, Amsterdam Hilton; and is an author (novels).

Abstract:
The teaching and practice of evidence-based medicine has been largely directed to healthcare professionals. A novel project to assist healthcare consumers to pose clinical questions and access and evaluate evidence-based health information, commenced at the Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH) early in 2008, with a pilot session, involving RMH patients, run in August of that year. Since then, more sessions have taken place, with the client base expanded to include health consumers generally. The sessions, conducted in a teaching space, are led by Terence Harrison, Clinical Librarian, and Janet Wale (Cochrane Consumer Network) and are facilitated by two members of the Project's steering group.

The purpose of the Project is to help consumers manage their own health care and make better informed healthcare decisions by familiarising themselves with websites that provide relevant, reliable and evidence-based information. This presentation provides a detailed report on the evolution of the Project and the workshops trialled. It also makes recommendations for similar projects for the future. The project has been evaluated by healthcare consumers and professionals.

Approaches to evaluating clinical librarian services: a systematic review
UK North West Clinical Librarian Systematic Review Group
Presenting on behalf of this group will be:
Alison Brettle Msc, BA (Hons)
Anne Webb BSc. DipIM, MBA

The North West Clinical Librarian Systematic Review Group is a group of health librarians from the North West region of the UK. Members of the group are either clinical librarians or librarians with an interest in undertaking systematic reviews. The group have come together to undertake a systematic review on clinical librarianship as part of continuing professional development.

Alison Brettle is a Research Fellow within the Institute for Health and Social Care Research University of Salford. She is a health information specialist with expertise in systematic review methodology, literature searching and evidence based practice. She has managed and undertaken a number of systematic reviews in health and social care and the health libraries domain. Her research also includes evaluations of information skills training, the evaluation of library services and effective literature searching. She has published widely and is Associate Editor for the journal of Evidence Based Library and Information Practice and book reviews editor and a member of the editorial board for the journal “Counselling Psychotherapy Research” and has co-authored a book entitled “Finding the Evidence for Practice: a workbook for health professionals”. She is co-module leader for the Masters level Evidence Based Practice Module, and has also taught information skills/literature searching to a wide range of health and social care professionals. She is currently undertaking a PhD by publication on the topic: “The impact of the information specialist on evidence based practice” and is due to submit early 2009.

A science graduate from Sheffield University, Anne Webb initially worked on a variety of projects to develop diagnostic tests for use in endocrinology and oncology. With a wealth of experience gained from the biomedical science and commercial sector Anne went on to obtain an MBA from Durham University and then finally a postgraduate information management qualification. After working in consultancy on a variety of business research and healthcare information projects Anne moved into NHS Health Libraries and Medical Librarianship in 2002. As Electronic Resources and Systems Librarian at Christie Hospital, Anne was responsible for developing the library web pages, maintaining access to electronic resources, information skills training and managing the library’s literature searching and alerting services. An active member of the Library and Health Information Network North West (LIHNN) Clinical Librarians and Electronic Resources special interest groups, Anne is now Library Operations Manager at Christie Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester.

Abstract:
Introduction: UK NHS library policy guidelines have recommended that libraries evaluate the impact of their library services (Hill, 2007). Rigorous evaluations of Clinical Librarian (CL) services will demonstrate their value and improve the evidence base of the profession. However what is the best way of evaluating clinical librarian services? Given the various models of service provision, there is unlikely to be a “one model fits all” approach? A systematic review will be undertaken to examine these issues and provide guidance for future evaluations.

Methods: Systematic review methodology comprising a search of 21 electronic databases will be used to determine:

• What models of CL services have been evaluated
• What outcomes have been measured and what outcome measures have been used
• Whose perspective has been measured
• The quality of the measures used

Each relevant paper will be critically appraised by 2 members of a team of 8 librarians.

Results and Conclusions: The results will be tabulated and presented as a narrative synthesis in order to draw conclusions about the methods of evaluation used in previous studies and suggest an evidence based way forward for future evaluations. Hill, P. Report of a national review of NHS library services in England: from knowledge to health in the 21st Century, National Library for Health, 2008. Available from: http://www.library.nhs.uk/aboutnlh/review (accessed 5th May 2008)

Extreme Outreach: Having a Librarian in the Operating Room Areas
Denise P Hersey, Cushing/Whitney Medical Library, Yale University, United States
Presented By: Janene Batten, Cushing/Whitney Medical Library, Yale University, United States

Denise Hersey works at Yale University's Cushing/Whitney Medical Library as the Librarian for Liaison Activities, a position she job shares with a colleague. In addition to coordinating the library's liaison program she is also the library's liaison to Yale University's Anesthesiology Department, Comparative Medicine Department, and the Cancer Center.

Janene Batten is the Reference Librarian to the Yale School of Nursing. She currently works with nursing faculty, graduate and PhD students, assisting them with all aspects of their research. Janene has extensive experience teaching evidence-based research principles to nursing students through course-integrated instruction. She works closely with nursing staff in the hospital setting training them to do research for their clinical setting. Janene also coordinated and administered the NLM/NIH Grant which partners with school nurses in addressing their health information needs.

Abstract:
Objective: To increase awareness and use of library-funded resources by physicians and residents who work in the operating room (OR) areas of a busy teaching hospital, and to promote the inclusion of medical librarians in clinicians' information-seeking activities and curriculum decision making.

Methods: In an effort to provide library assistance to clinicians typically unable to find time to get to the library, a medical librarian was available in the ORs for one hour, four days a week. Statistics were recorded on they types of inquiries she received and from whom. In addition to these data, a survey was distributed to those who used the service to determine if they were satisfied with the "perioperative librarian" service.

Results: During the initial two and half month period of the program, the librarian collected data from the reference interviews and the survey that indicated that anesthesiologists felt having a perioperative librarian was useful, and that they wanted the service to continue. She has since been added to curriculum committees, participated in resident interviews and orientations, coauthored articles with anesthesiologists and presented papers with them at their national meetings.

Conclusion: Since the time that the perioperative librarian began working in the ORs, she has been invited to work more closely with the anesthesiology department faculty. Data from this experience indicates that having a librarian in the operating room area is important to the medical staff working there and a useful way to integrate librarians into hospital and academic departments.

Are the charts in the carts or records in the trolley? Clinical Librarianship UK versus USA experience
Dr. Janet Harrison, Loughborough University, United Kingdom
Professor Vera S Beraquet, Campinas University, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Dr. Janet Harrison is a well established academic in the field of Health Information. Over the past ten years she has conducted a series of studies depicting and describing the information behaviour of Clinical Librarians in the UK .Her expertise and experience are informing the pilot Clincial Librarian project in Campinas,Sao Paulo, Brazil and she is the UK lead for this project.

Vera Beraquet is a Professor of Information Studies and has taught and researched in the area of Health Infomation for some twenty years.She is the Brazilian project lead for the Clincal Librarian pilot in Campinas,Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Abstract:
This paper reports the findings of research investigating the activities of Clinical Librarians in both the UK and USA. It was conducted in 2007 and 2008 by an international team of researchers from the UK and Brazil. The aims of the project were to identify the similarities and differences between the UK and the USA Clinical Librarians in practice and their education and backgrounds. The objectives were to discover if the two co- horts are the same underneath the differing use of a common language, English, or are there genuine differences in their practices. Given that the UK offers a state funded healthcare system and the USA does not it could be expected that these two groups of professionals operate differently. Are both groups operating in the same way, providing a similar service for clinicians? Can an international standard for a Clinical Librarian service be established? The scoping of the UK group has been completed; the scoping of the USA group is to be completed by the end of 2008.Will professionalism win out? Will it be globalization for the Clinical Librarians or localization? This project is both unique and timely as it will add to the body of literature that has identified Clinical Librarian practices in both environments. The results of this project will be presented in full in 2009.