Download - Partnering with the Health Disciplines
Partnering with the Health Disciplines: Challenges
and Opportunities
Robin Featherstone
April 7th, 2009
Presentation available at: http://uwohealthlibrarian.blogspot.com/
Topic
The Health Sciences Librarians at the Allyn and Betty Taylor Library collaborate with research, clinical, and teaching faculty in many health disciplines, students at all levels, and librarian colleagues. These user groups are located across the Western campus, in the hospitals and on the distributed medical campus.
Please describe the challenges and opportunities that are involved in establishing and maintaining effective communication and productive relationships with members of these diverse groups.
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Outline
User groups
Challenges
Opportunities
Sustainability
Questions
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Users
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Undergraduate Programs
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Faculty of Health Sciences Schulich School of Medicine &
Dentistry
Bachelor of Health Sciences Basic Medical Sciences
Kinesiology Dentistry*
Nursing* Medicine*
Combined Programs (Medicine with
Engineering, Bachelor of Medical
Sciences with Business)
Graduate, Postgrad & Postdoc Programs
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Faculty of Health Sciences Schulich School of Medicine &
Dentistry
Communication Sciences and
Disorders
Clinical Dental Fellowship Program
Health & Rehabilitation Sciences Dental Clinician Scientist Program
Kinesiology Internationally Trained Dentists
Nursing MD/PhD
Occupational Therapy Orthodontics
Physical Therapy Postdocs
Postgraduate Medical Education
Residency Programs
Research Centres*
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Faculty of Health Sciences Schulich School of Medicine &
Dentistry
Canadian Centre for Activity and
Aging
Canadian Research and Development
Centre for Probiotics
International Centre for Olympic
Studies
Canadian Surgical Technologies &
Advanced Robotics (CSTAR)
National Centre for Audiology Centre for Pain Research
Centre for Studies in Family Medicine
Centre for Critical Illness Research
Centre for Vascular Imaging Research
*Not including dozens of other research groups, clinics, networks & units
Educational Partnerships
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Faculty of Health Sciences Schulich School of Medicine &
Dentistry
Fanshawe College University of Windsor
Southwestern Ontario Medical
Education Network (SWOMEN)
Clinical Education Settings
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Faculty of Health Sciences Schulich School of Medicine &
Dentistry
Affiliated Teaching Hospitals
Clinical Education Suites
Clinical Skills Lab
Out-patient Clinics (both private and public)
Acute Care Hospitals
Long Term Care Facilities
Schools
Clinical Experience Sites
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Western Catchment Area for
clinical education sites:
Extends from Sarnia/Windsor in
the west, to Owen Sound in the
north and to Kitchener/Waterloo
in the east.
Librarian Colleagues
Southwestern Ontario Health Libraries Information Network (SOHLIN)
Western Ontario Health Knowledge Network (WOHKN)
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Health Discipline User Overview
Diverse & geographically dispersed
Not heavy users of physical library spaces
Early adopters of mobile/handheld devices (McAlearney, 2004)
Early adopters of social software (Giustini, 2006) but less likely to implement in professional settings due to privacy concerns and standards of care issues (Hawn, 2009)
View “traditional” library services as most important in a liaison program (Tennant 2006; Yang, 2000)
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Health Discipline User Overview
Medical students, in particular, have packed schedules which make course-integrated instruction difficult (Tennant et al., 2006)
Email is the preferred mode of communication from librarian liaisons to users in the health disciplines (Glynn & Wu, 2003; Tennant et al., 2006; Tennant et al., 2001)
Nurses had the highest awareness (97.1%) of library liaison services (Tennant et al., 2006)
Medical residents had the lowest awareness (16.0%) of library liaison services (Tennant et al., 2006)
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Challenges
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Challenge –Remote Access
“Generally, electronic resources have made faculty and students less reliant on liaisons for help with their research [...]” (Glynn & Wu, 2003, p. 122)
“[Electronic access] has been highly appreciated by clients but it has also changed the nature of the relationship with them as it has reduced their need to access the physical space of the library and reduced the opportunity for contact between them and liaison librarians.” (Rodwell & Fairbairn, 2008, p. 119)
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Challenge – Indirect Communication Channels
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Email 1: From Lucy V. to Fanshawe Help Desk – Nov 3
- Do you know how I can get access to articles from the Western site?
Email 2: From Lucy V. to Valerie W. (Fanshawe’s Support Services Officer) – Nov 5
- Help! How do I access articles from the Western site. Helpdesk was not helpful in this case.
Email 3: From Valerie W. to Denice L. (Western’s Nursing Admin Officer) – Nov 7
-Hi Denice: Lucy V. is a Yr 2 Collaborative clinical teacher. How can I help her get access to the UWO library?
Email 4: From Denice L. to me – Nov 12
-Hi Robin, are you able to help with this request?
Challenge - Geography
Me again, Robin. What's the slickest, quickest, and most expedited process for getting Ross-Kerr & Wood (2003) book into Debbie's hands within 2-3 days for final N3322E assignment?
Doing so, that is, without her having to make a road trip to London? Sarnia is the closest city to her. Thanks for advising.
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Challenge –Expectations
Do you think I can stop by tomorrow quickly and just make sure I did my references right. My class is done at 1030 and my paper is due at 4. So anytime in between would be much appreciated.
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Challenge – Time
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General Observations
Challenges:
Managing expectations
Opening communication channels
Making services and collections accessible to distance students
Work depends on building personal relationships
Effort to redefine the liaison role may not appeal to all users
Balancing act between innovation and maintenance
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Opportunities
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Opportunity –Educative Task
“The complexity of the information environment has, however, allowed liaison librarians to grasp the function of information literacy as one of the ways to re-integrate themselves with the faculties and their clients.” (Rodwell & Fairbairn, 2008, p.119)
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Opportunity – Electronic Communications
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Opportunity – Alternative Communication Channels
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Opportunity –Virtual Instruction
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Opportunity –Faculty Partnerships
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Opportunity – Curricula Development
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Opportunity –Collaborative Research
Health informatics
International demand for electronic health records
Increasing emphasis on EBP (Evidence Based Practice) in clinical settings
Interprofessional Education
Health education is a signature area for research at Western
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Opportunity –Collaborative Teaching
Leverage partnerships with hospital libraries to extend information literacy and/or EBP into clinical practice settings
Academic librarians play a part in simulated clinical practice
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General Observations
Challenges are “good” – demand is there
Opportunities are abundant (and growing)
Opportunity to redefine library roles
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Sustainability
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Sustaining Innovation
Emphasis on innovation and development of new ways to operate with users in the health disciplines
“The social climate surrounding innovation has much to do with how it is perceived. And perception has much to do with the success or lack thereof of any innovation [...]. A primary political area for reflection is that of readiness: it matters a great deal whether or not a public is ready for the innovation” (Deiss, 2004).
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What are users in the health disciplines telling us?
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Conclusions
Innovation needs to be coupled with continual assessment
Cannot assume with such a diverse user group
Must be flexible – willing to change course
Productive relationships will be built on innovation and sustained through assessment and flexibility
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References
Deiss, K. J. (2004). Innovation and strategy: Risk and choice in shaping user-centered libraries. Library Trends, 53(1), 17-32.
Giustini, D. (2006). How Web 2.0 is changing medicine. BMJ, 333, 1283-1284.
Glynn, T., & Wu, C. (2003). New roles and opportunities for academic library liaisons: a survey and recommendations. Reference Services Review, 31(2), 122-128.
Hawn, C. (2009). Take two aspirin and tweet me in the morning: How Twitter, Facebook, and other social media are reshaping health care. Health Affairs, 28(2), 361-368.
McAlearney, A. S., Schweikhart, S. B., & Medow, M. A. (2004). Doctors’ experience with handheld computers in clinical practice: qualitative study. BMJ, 328, 1162.
Rodwell, J., & Fairbairn, L. (2008). Dangerous liaisons? Defining the faculty liaison librarian service model, its effectiveness and sustainability. Library Management, 29(1/2), 116-124.
Tennant, M. R., Cataldo, T. T., Sherwill-Navarro, P. & Jesano, R. (2006) Evaluation of a liaison librarian program: Client and liaison perspectives. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 94(4), 402-409.
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