For quality health care, seek out hospitals with a health science librarian
KENNEBUNK — Hug a medical librarian – if you can find one. If you were indeed a fortunate patient during your last trip to a clinic or hospital, your visit was positively affected by this increasingly rare, unsung professional working in our country’s most progressive health care institutions.
Medical librarians (or “health sciences librarians,” to more fully capture the interdisciplinary nature of modern medicine) are uniquely trained reference librarians who specialize in the research and dissemination of medical and health information. In teaching and nonteaching hospitals, their users include physicians, nurses, pharmacists, allied health professionals, students and patients.
Health sciences librarians can also be found in outpatient clinics, university and college libraries, health care and biotechnology centers, and state and local government agencies. Importantly, all are trained to assess the credibility of electronic and print information sources and to process and deliver that information appropriately – whether it’s for specialized surgical rounds or for a layperson’s outpatient handout.
Health sciences librarians can perform literature searches using countless references in all formats that include the latest evidence-based sources, including peer-reviewed print and online journals, electronic databases, textbooks, monographs, clinical trial reports, statistical reviews and authoritative websites, as well as enduring historic literature. Essentially, they know where to search, how to search, how to winnow and how to deliver this material.
Read more: http://www.pressherald.com/2016/07/12/maine-voices-for-quality-health-care-seek-out-hospitals-with-a-health-science-librarian/
