Crossing Over: Health Sciences Librarians Contributing and Collaborating on Electronic Medical Record (EMR) Implementation

Abstract

Getting the right internal and best external information to the points of need is critical in the health system/hospital enterprise. This information access can be enabled by the skills and experiences of catalogers for internally generated information and by reference librarians for integrating the best external information into the electronic medical record (EMR) system. Through the author's experiences of inventorying and classifying clinical documents and physician order sets, a case is presented for health sciences librarians to cultivate deeper connections with clinical colleagues and health system/hospital enterprises. A literature review and informal listserv survey of EMR activities andinterest among health sciences librarians indicate that contributions and collaboration are emerging and a significant impact of 53% of survey responders favored or participated in EMR development.

Emerging Data Management Roles for Health Librarians in Electronic Medical Records

“…The literature indicates that health librarians in the United States have been successful in collaborating with faculty, clinicians, and hospital departments to increase the efficacy and educational opportunities of EMRs [14,15] and in supporting patient care with additional information tools [16,17]. Beyond these early successful EMR collaborations, data management is an emerging area of EMR initiatives in which health librarians can become involved.…”

Expert searching in health librarianship: a literature review to identify international issues and Australian concerns

“…Fourth, the boundaries of different professions are blurred in the area of information retrieval. Health informaticians undertake work also performed by health librarians 7,8,16,18–23 . Health informatics is defined as ‘…the science and practice around information in health that leads to informed and assisted healthcare’ 24 .…”

It was the worst of times, it was the best of times: positive trends influencing hospital libraries

“…The electronic health record (EHR) can effectively distribute such practice guidelines, and librarians are already actively involved in integrating practice guidelines with KBI resources [14,15]. Deepening their involvement with the EHR, librarians are using their classification and electronic record knowledge to inventory physician order sets and develop record databases [16]. Beyond installation, librarians stay on to educate staff in information retrieval, as training is a longstanding function for librarians.…”