As health organizations stretch and change to accomodate new health laws (HITECH Act), medical librarians have an integral part to play in making “meaningful use” an integrated aspect of health care and health services. Medical librarians need to be involved in the implementation process of EHRs (electronic health records) bringing unique skills such as knowledge of controllved vocabulary systems and understanding of how users access information to the table. By providing information on what resources need to be available to patients, librarians can help to expand the educational/patient empowerment aspect of EHRs. In order to be relevant in today’s changing health profession, librarians need to market their abilities, participate in committees, and most importantly, strive to be knowledgable of the changes that are occuring.
For interesting resources on EHRs and Librarians:
EHRs and Librarians: A Symposium (Dec 2010, NN/LM GMR, Chicago)
Vital Pathways for Hospital Librarians
I am currently taking a course titled “Making Connections: Electronic Health Records and Medical Librarians” through the National Network of Libraries of Medicine. Much of this information and thoughts are from or are a result of this course. Even though I do not currently work in a hospital library, it is important to understand what is happening in the health profession and how it affects Healthwise’s products etc. We currently provide products that can be used in EHRs to provide meaningful content to patients.
Curb Service 