Clinical Engagement
What is "Clinical Engagement"?
A common question that we receive is, “What does clinical engagement mean in the context of the medical library?” Clinical engagement is the identification and cultivation of clinical information partnerships and education opportunities to support patient care within JPS and JPS Health Network affiliated sites and clinics.
Our overall goal is to create opportunities for the medical library team to work more directly with providers while prioritizing their convenience and our ability to meet them where they are. We practice clinical engagement in a variety of ways, both virtually and in-person, including attending rounds, pop-up libraries, participating in office hours, and tabling at JPS events.
Clinical Engagement Services
Click on each of the headings below to learn more about the services we offer. Contact Raven Hill, Clinical Engagement Librarian, at RHill02@jpshealth.org for more information.
Medical library staff can support clinicians at the point-of-care through rounding support.
Currently, medical librarians round in the ICU once a week. We listen in as the clinical team discuss their patient cases and follow along in EPIC. We attend rounds so that when clinicians feel the need to refer to the literature regarding topics such as diagnoses and treatment plans, we can perform a literature search, compile both annotated citations and full-text articles, and send them to the clinicians in the immediate moment.
We also attend Labor & Delivery report once a week. Our presence there is like our presence during ICU rounds. We listen in as the clinical team discuss their patient cases. When difficult or unusual cases come up, the attending physicians often ask us to perform a literature search. Other times, we perform preemptive searches based on the discussion and send the annotated citations and full-text articles shortly after check-out ends.
The medical library staff can provide library services outside of the physical medical library space by traveling to and setting up a station at off-site clinics and to various floors of the hospital.
Although we can always be reached virtually, we understand that being able to interact face-to-face with patrons offers a more dynamic experience. Meeting clinicians where they are allows them the convenience and opportunity to ask us questions and explain what they need in-person.
The medical library staff are available to sit-in on office hours and didactics to support research endeavors.
Whether the office hours or didactics take place virtually or in-person, a librarian can attend and help residents apply best research practices or assist them with literature searching.
The medical library staff can collaborate with other departments to support their outreach events.
Recently, the medical library had a table at the Wellness department’s Yoga Day event. We performed a literature search on the health benefits of yoga, printed the citation list, and created a QR code so that the citations could be accessible to those who wanted them in a digital format. We created a game that tested participants’ knowledge of yoga and the medical library; participants received prizes for simply visiting our table and engaging with us.