Hospital librarians fulfill many mission-critical roles in today's hospital, providing the right information at the right time in a variety of ways to enhance hospital and medical staff effectiveness, optimize patient care, improve patient outcomes, and increase patient and family satisfaction with the hospital and its services. Because hospital librarians and their services provide an excellent return on investment for the hospital and help the hospital keep its competitive edge, hospital staff should have access to the services of a professional librarian.
March 2008 ''Introduction to Evidence based Practice in a Magnetic World'' Yancey T, Snow-Croft S: in-person or web-based learning via National Network of Libraries of Medicine Moodle MLA CE www.cech.mlanet.org May 2008 ''Connecting Libraries, Nurses, and Accreditation/Credentialing Organizations to Improve Patient Care'' Sponsored by Hospital Libraries Section and NAHRS, includes papers on MLA white paper, NAHRS surveys, and a play promoting importance of evidence-based nursing (EBN)
Hospital librarians understand they need to move outside the four walls of the physical library and provide information support for clinicians in various settings. Librarians round with patient care teams as clinical librarians. They sit on quality improvement and patient safety committees in order to provide information to those groups. Many are members of their organization's Institutional Review Board. Some of these activities are done for a specific purpose and are short-lived. Other activities become institutionalized as the value of the librarian's contribution is recognized. This article will describe examples in which hospital librarians are part of multidisciplinary teams created to improve patient care in their hospital.
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