see the wiki version: http://hlwiki.slais.ubc.ca/index.php/Top_Ten_Competencies_in_Medical_Reference,_2012
With the rise of search engines and Twitter, information appears to be more findable and accessible in 2012 than any point in history. However, how many times have health librarians heard lately that their users are overwhelmed? Or that they can’t find authoritative health information? During periods of information overload, health librarians must advocate for the return to some of the basic competencies in medical reference discussed on this entry.
In the last decade, the MLA – Medical Library Association (U.S.) articulated The role of expert searching in health sciences libraries — a document that defines the main roles that health librarians assume “in expert retrieval and evaluation of information in the support of knowledge and evidence-based clinical, scientific, and administrative decision making” (MLA, 2003). Health librarians provide reference services using a range of information sources and tools but also demonstrate and teach end-users – physicians, nurses, pharmacists, students etc. – how to search effectively. Before assuming teaching and expert search roles in health, however, reference librarians must first develop basic competencies in information retrieval.
Medical librarians provide reference services in the library, in-person outside the library, on the phone, virtually (using chat, instant messaging, social media) and over e-mail. Instruction – “one-on-one”, small group or large workshops – is central to providing reference services in medical libraries. In using digital and web 2.0 tools of various kinds, end-users are able to communicate with their peers and health librarians without having to visit health libraries. However, health librarians must consider poor access and broadband where end-users are concerned because of authentication issues, licensing, “free vs. fee” based content, distributed libraries services and hospital networks. Proxy servers, firewalls and VPN settings affect reference service in that librarians are often called upon to lead users across technical barriers before the information itself can be accessed.
Ten Competencies in Medical Reference 2012
1. Help users locate words, terms, phrases and syndromes. Decode abbreviations. Provide abbreviations/ acronyms for journals. Locate biographical information in directories.
2. Help users verify, complete and/or correct citations. Locate supplementary materials.
- Library catalogues
- EMBASE (Excerpta Medica), PubMed Citation Matcher
- PsycINFO (Psych Abs)
- MEDLINE
- CISTI & NLM Locatorplus
- Web of Science (Science Citation Index)
- CINAHL, BIOSIS (Biological Abstracts)
- Google, Google scholar, Scirus
3. Demonstrate and teach users how to access major biomedical databases (print & online) using multiple interfaces, vocabularies and gateways. Use document delivery and interlibrary loan services.
- MEDLINE via OVID or PubMed
- NLM Gateway & Index Medicus back to 1879
- Web of Science (Science Citation Index)
- EMBASE (Excerpta Medica); CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature)
- BIOSIS (Biological Abstracts) and Bioinformatics resources at NCBI
- Current Awareness Tools (e.g. citation alerts, journal ToC services )
- Chemical Abstracts SciFinder Scholar
- PsycINFO (Psych Abs)
- Interlibrary loan policies
4. Help users locate authoritative information on diagnosis & therapy for diseases, disorders & treatments.
- Merck Manual (print and free online)
- Conn’s Current Therapy (online via MD Consult Core Collection
- Lange Handbook series –
- Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine / Goldman’s Cecil Textbook of Medicine
- CMA Infobase: Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs)
- Consumer health i.e. MedlinePlus
5. Help users locate drug information by brand, trademark or generic name. Locate therapeutic class, contraindications, synonyms & adverse effects. Overdosing/poison control & drug question referral.
- CPS (Compendium of Pharmaceutical Specialities)
- Goodman and Gilman’s manual of pharmacology and therapeutics
- The United States pharmacopeia
- American Hospital Formulary Service (AHFS) Drug Information
- Martindale’s The Complete Drug Reference
- Physician’s Desk Reference (PDR)
- Pharmacy pathfinder 2011
6. Help locate reference values (or ranges) used in interpreting diagnostic procedures & laboratory tests.
7. Help users identify location of psychological tests/measurements. Mental Measurements Yearbook, Tests
- CINAHL
- PsycINFO (Psych Abs)
- Health and Psychosocial Instruments – HaPI (OvidSP)
- Psychological tests and measures
8. Teach users how to navigate search engines, websites, open access repositories, blogs, podcasts, web 2.0 media.
- Search engines
- Free sources ie. PubMedCentral, Free Medical Journals, Medical Student.com
- Institutional repositories
- Blogs, RSS & Podcasting
- Searching for grey literature
9. Help users find and interpret local, provincial and national data & statistics in health and other major sources.
- Statistics Canada health publications
- Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI)
- BC Statistics – see Health
- Canadian Cancer Statistics
- MMWR – Morbidity Mortality Weekly Report
- Proquest Statistical Insight
- Statistics in health
- World Health Organization – Statistics]
10. Locate periodic table, chemical names, structures, formulas, elements, common properties (molecular weight or melting point). Conversion tables. Health & safety. Use indexes and appendices.
- Merck Index
- CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (print & online)
- Navigating national formulary information (British, American, etc.)
Yvonne Chan
lse721