Identifying credible resources and using them effectively to answer complex questions. Bringing together information from a range of sources and disciplines to inform debates and decisions on specific issues.
The Health Information Services (HIS) and Collection Management (CM) division provide an extensive array of biomedical resources and instructional and consulting services. These services cater to faculty instructing future healthcare leaders, students acquiring evidence-based practice skills, and healthcare providers delivering quality patient care at the bedside. The division collaborates closely with the school’s educational programs to align with their curricula and supports evidence-based practice in conjunction with affiliated teaching hospitals.
Specifically, the division conducted 109 librarian consultations, providing targeted guidance to meet the diverse needs of users. Additionally, there were 59 one-on-one training sessions with librarians, reinforcing the commitment to tailored support.
Systematic & scoping reviews
The HIS Team completed 131 reviews running the gamut of topics from “biceps brachi ruptures in athletes” to “parental interventions in their children’s education.” Librarians were co-authors on 36 published systematic reviews. To streamline the review process, a management tool, Covidence, was purchased and made available to systematic review teams. There are 173 Covidence accounts representing 466 reviewers.
Providing support to educational programs
Medical Students
Librarians conducted an in-person evidence-based medicine session for all medical students in Module One – Molecules to Society. Throughout Phase 1 of the curriculum, librarians offered feedback for several self-directed learning (SDL) assignments, co-scoring them with faculty. These assignments evaluated each student’s ability to identify a knowledge gap, pose an answerable question, conduct a literature search, assess the validity of found research, and explain the relevance of a study to their original research question.
Librarians also participated in the two Clinical Immersion assignments, during which students formulated questions based on patients they had encountered during their hospital rotations.
This year marked the inaugural instance where an HIS librarian provided instruction to students within the Gateway curriculum EXPLORE program, creating scholarship opportunities in global health, education, innovation and research.
Literature searches
Library staff continued to be the go-to resource when patrons need help finding what they’re looking for, or aren’t entirely sure what they’re looking for at all. Over 3,200 requests were fielded with prompt and expert assistance through askbecker@wustl.edu, over the phone and in person.
EndNote support
EndNote, a software tool for publishing and managing bibliographies, formats citations, figures, and tables in Microsoft Word using the “Cite While You Write” feature. Additionally, it functions as a reference and image database, allowing users to store, manage, and search for bibliographic references in their reference library.
Librarians provided EndNote training and trouble-shooting support through 46 one-on-one sessions and 10 group sessions, engaging with a total of 142 participants.
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