Vesalius, De Humani Corporis Fabrica, and Today's Evidence-based Medicine
3:05 PM - 3:21 PM
Description: This presentation is a historical look at Andreas Vesalius's life, his best-known book, and his relation to modern evidence-based medical practice. Vesalius is known as the founder of modern human anatomy. Traditionally, he has been beloved by medical librarians because of his groundbreaking book, De Humani Corporis Fabrica. He also was very progressive in terms of his scientific methods, investigative techniques, and medical practices, which make him an important figure to know about today in the era of evidence-based medicine.
Conclusion: Andreas Vesalius helped define medical science for the Renaissance and beyond.
Author: Robert Cagna, AHIP, Library Director, Health Sciences Center Library, Charleston Division, West Virginia University, Charleston, WV
Diagnostic Related Groups Demand Informed Consumers
3:21 PM - 3:37 PM
Aim: To illustrate how the introduction of diagnostic related groups (DRGs) demanded more informed consumers.
Background: Medicare spending doubled every five years. The 1972 Social Security amendments began setting limits on Medicare reimbursement. DRGs were developed to categorize hospital products and the costs for each one. The concept of prospective payment for the products of each DRG became a method of controlling runaway hospital costs. It was argued that, under this reimbursement plan, hospitals would become more frugal and physicians would adjust their practice methods. Greater responsibility to learn about their health maintenance now fell to patients. Consumer research demonstrates that when faced with an uncertain decision, consumers adopt simplifying strategies that may lead to suboptimal choices. Hospitals opened consumer health information centers to provide in-person assistance and quality information. Consumer health librarians now have a new role to suggest quality information links to the electronic patient record.
Objectives and Method: This historical overview will highlight the creation of preferred provider options and DRGs, and the reason for the inception and growth of the consumer health education movement. It will also suggest the future of consumer health information with ways to link consumer health information to the electronic patient record.
Discussion: In the 1970s, government was influencing delivery of patient care. In the 1980s, librarians started to ask who should be responsible for meeting consumers health information needs. One answer was to open a consumer health information library. The National Library of Medicine (NLM) had a campaign encouraging doctors to write “information prescriptions” that patients would bring to the library. Today, the patient visits in person or virtually. The patient may meet the librarian on bedside rounds or in the clinic. Soon MedlinePlus will be linked to the patient electronic record.
Conclusion: Government influence gave rise to the need for a more informed health consumer. Consumer health information centers opened with physical and virtual collections. Going forward MedlinePlus will “pop up” when a patient moves a computer mouse over sections of their electronic patient records. Pew Research Center reports eight in ten Internet users have looked for health information. Consumer health information significantly impacts their care.
Authors: Helen-Ann B. Epstein, AHIP, Head, Education and Outreach, Weill Cornell Medical Library; Rhonda J. Allard, Manager, Myra Mahon Patient Resource Center; Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY
Rethinking Instruction: The Historical Relationship Between Library Instruction and Medical Education
3:37 PM - 3:53 PM
Objective: For nearly 100 years, health sciences librarians have been reaching out to their clientele through library instruction. Sessions have ranged from one-time lectures to full-credit courses in the curriculum; topics have ranged from the use of library tools to thinking critically about the creation and management of information. Yet how successful has library instruction been? Has success been based on librarians championing library instruction, or has success been based on outside influences?
Methods: This paper will explore the intertwined history of library instruction and medical education, looking specifically at the importance of problem-based learning, end-user searching, evidence-based medicine, and information literacy as trends affecting library instruction. By knowing the importance of outside influences on library programming, librarians will be able to use current and future trends to market their services and serve the needs of their clientele.
Results and Conclusions: My results and conclusions are not complete yet.
Author: Rebecca S. Graves, AHIP, Educational Services Librarian, J. Otto Lottes Health Sciences Library, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO
How Not To Be a Crash Test Dummy: Lessons in Survival from the Rust Belt
3:53 PM - 4:09 PM
Background: Strong historical evidence indicates that library collections and staffing are negatively impacted during profound economic downturns. Given that some libraries survive and flourish during these difficulties, extrapolated lessons may be applied to the current situation of an academic health sciences library.
Objectives: (1) To describe the historical impact of the automotive industry on academic health sciences libraries’ services and resources during two severe economic downturns. (2) To extract from these historical events lessons that might be applied in a current academic health sciences library grappling with funding uncertainties.
Methods: Two macroenvironment scans of severe economic downturns (the Great Depression and the oil crisis of the 1970s) and one of the current recession will be undertaken including data gathering on demographics, economic forecast, emerging technologies, social and educational trends, and political landscapes. In addition, using academic health sciences libraries and the automotive industry as the foci, a narrative review of published materials (scholarly and news articles, conference proceedings and abstracts, other secondary sources) and unpublished archival documents (fiduciary and policy statements, annual reports, internal correspondence, external correspondence with publishers and major library associations, other primary source documents) associated with an academic institution will be conducted for two historical economic periods.
Results: The macroenvironment scans will reveal common issues: space constraints, spiraling serial costs, demands for searching expertise, new technologies, and global health initiatives. The narrative review will identify immediate and long-term consequences and themes. Cumulative analysis of the historical data is expected to show how academic health sciences libraries practiced fiscal restraint via staff reductions, serial cancellations, diminished collection growth, restricted services, and abandoned facility projects. Despite dire economic circumstances, these libraries implemented innovative solutions that expanded their supportive roles in research, education, and the provision of health care services.
Conclusions: Although libraries can be negatively impacted during extreme economic periods, growth in innovative health sciences libraries’ services and quality resources for its primary user populations can occur. It is possible for these libraries to emerge from economic crisis in stronger positions to collaborate with researchers, educators, health care providers, and the communities served by these groups
Authors: Nadia J. Lalla, Coordinator, Collections and Information Services; Scott Hanley, Information Services Librarian; Taubman Health Sciences Library; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Rethinking Parasitology Research: Reinventing the Index Catalogue of Medical and Veterinary Zoology
4:09 PM - 4:25 PM
Objective: The Index Catalogue of Medical and Veterinary Zoology is a historical compendium of parasitological literature that is still of importance to today’s researchers in accessing literature related to reemerging diseases that are historically and presently challenging, such as schistosomiasis and malaria. Our objective is to provide freely available, stable, high-quality electronic access to this unique print resource.
Methods: This series, begun in 1892, was created by Charles Wardell Stiles and Albert Hassall, parasitologists working for the Bureau of Animal Industry in the US Department of Agriculture. It was suspended in 1982 after more than 100 separate issues and more than 20,000 pages. In 2008, librarians at Texas A&M University and Oklahoma State University received a Library Technology Award of $20,000 from the National Library of Medicine through the South Central Region of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine to digitize and preserve this publication. The PDF/a files are full-text searchable, described with standard metadata, and uploaded on both university websites through their respective institutional repositories. High quality TIFF files were created and copies of the TIFFs will be retained by
