Library Bulletin

November 1997

EVIDENCE BASED MEDICINE
ByMary Doherty

Physicians strive to utilize the best and most up to date therapies for their patients.  The body of knowledge can change quickly in medicine, so that even their best efforts may not be as  effective as they might be without access to current, valid research studies.

Librarians can play an important role in assisting our patrons in finding such “gold star” studies,  by helping them utilize the principles of  Evidence Based Medicine, or EBM.

Originally spearheaded by such institutions as  McMaster University in Ontario, this  exciting methodology enables physicians to identify literature that contains the most useful, pertinent and valid research available. That’s where the library and its services come in. For example, the library’s  literature searching utility (Ovid), can be used  to narrow a Medline  retrieval of journal articles to those citing double blind or randomized studies. In this way, the best research can be identified for use in patientcare. That is the core of EBM and the core of the library’s mission to its patrons.

The librarians are eager to share their knowledge of the Ovid searching software in order to make use of EBM principles easier for our patrons.  To this end, we have developed a World Wide Web based tutorial that is included on the library’s home page under “What’s New.” This self -paced tutorial allows the searcher, whether novice or experienced, to learn how to apply EBM methods to Medline searching. Various parts of the tutorial can be visited as needed at the user’s discretion. The simple point and click interface offers speed and flexibility to theuser. Practical examples help make the principles of EBM Medline searching clear. The tutorial gives many pointers on terminology and other techniques that can be used.   It also describes EBM, and the reasons why it is beneficial in planning  patient care.

 Specialized tutorials on this subject can also be requested from the Reference Department (270-7453). Learn more about EBM from the library’s web page, under “What’s New.”   Web sites having to do with EBM are also categorized on the library  web pages by linking to “Other Health Science  Sites” under “Web Sites    of the Month.”

By Dr. Richard M. Winant, AHIP
Dean, Academic Information Access

During late spring 1997 a library survey was mailed out to faculty, staff and students. The Library Survey was also available in the library where a return box was provided. Over 200 folks took the time to fill out the survey questionnaire. Thank you! These 200 health care professionals represented our faculty, residents, students from all  colleges, staff and affiliates. To date the survey findings have been shared with Dr. JoAnn Bradley, Vice President for Academic Affairs, the LCME sub-committee on the Library, and the Library staff.

The Library received an overall grade of 3.5. Our goal is 4.0 or better, so we began to look at some of the concerns. First, let me thank our administration for their support in positioning us to respond to the concerns. The Library will be purchasing between 1500-2000 monographs during 1997-98. We will weed or repair monographs currently in the collection. The Library’s journal collection is evaluated on a usage, cost and quality basis. We will be cutting some journals and adding others this year. In addition, we will begin to provide OVID-linked journals (over 80 of them). We are evaluating other sources for electronic journals which we may add next year.

Thanks to the efforts of the Vice President of Academic Affairs and the College of Medicine, we have clerical coverage Sunday through Thursday night until 2 a.m.; thus the Medical Research Library of Brooklyn is open more hours than any other medical library in the New York metropolitan area. The Library’s hiring plan has provided staff for the Learning Resources Ctr. (LRC) with professional help on the weekends. Week night evening clerical coverage in the LRC is a goal for the near future.

The Library introduced its new Web page, Web-based Online Catalog and Web-based OVID literature Searching services in September. At this same time we were installing new computers throughout the Library.  New servers are to be brought up over the next few months. There is a lot to learn about the new software and operating systems; however, Library Systems, the LRC, SACC and University Information Systems have been working on the issues and we are bringing the services up.

Recently our contract to operate an electronic “help desk” for the Brooklyn Medical Education Consortium (BMEC) ended. The Library Resources and e-mail segment of this service will continue. We are recommending that new users may wish to try using handouts previously designed for Kermit telecommunications software. (See the BMEC Kiosk on the second floor of the Library for further information). If the user can not get Kermit to work, then we recommend that the user move to an Internet provider.  BMEC Account management will be handled via mail to: BMEC Acct. Mgr., Library, Box 14. The following issues only will be addressed: opening or closing a BMEC account; resetting a password that has expired. Voice mail for the BMEC Help Desk is no longer operational. Meanwhile, we will be joining with other campus services to design an updated service.

The highest rated service was Interlibrary Loan. The staff that make up that department have kept us a net lender for a number of years. For them I’d like to say thank you for recognizing their service. On behalf of our entire staff, I would like to say thank you for the opportunity to serve you. To our administration, your help in addressing the survey’s concern is most appreciated.