Under the leadership of Nunzia Giuse, MD, MLS, a physician-librarian-informatician, EBL prepares librarians to meet the challenges of current and future health care environments in innovative ways, including the use of

• The Clinical Informatics Consult Service
• The Research Informatics Consult Service
• The Patient Informatics Consult Service

Clinical Informatics Consult Service (CICS)

The Clinical Informatics Consult Service provides a direct link between information and clinical practice by promoting integration of librarians and interns with clinical teams. Each CICS librarian participates weekly in the morning rounds of a specific clinical unit. Instead of simply attending rounds as bystanders, EBL librarians are a true part of the clinical team, participating much as clinical pharmacists do – as expert consultants and as information resources, rather than dispensable individuals who merely “trail” behind the rounding team. This creates an environment where evidence-based medicine forms a part of daily life, and information is viewed in the vivid context of actual patient cases. Participants undergo continuous in-depth training in medical terminology, practice, and treatment, as well as tenets of evidence-based medicine. They attend formal courses in the School of Nursing and School of Medicine to increase their understanding of the health sciences. Strong emphasis is placed on the acquisition of medical knowledge, both in a broad spectrum and in a specific area (such as hematology/oncology or trauma), which provides a basis for understanding clinical discussions and responding to clinical queries. The library is refining the CICS program to allow expansion to more hospital units and to provide informatics training in context. For more simple questions, such as requests for a general overview of a disease or a review article on a specific treatment regimen, CICS information specialists have recently begun a new initiative to provide search strategy and/or resource suggestions instead of in-depth packets. This service allows librarians to provide case-specific instruction in the use of various electronic resources at the point of information need, equipping clinicians to handle basic information needs from the unit or bedside. CICS librarians continue to provide in-depth packets in response to more complex requests, such as questions that require searching multiple resources or the construction of sophisticated search queries.

Participating Faculty: Nunzia B. Giuse, M.D., M.L.S., A.H.I.P.
Participating trainees: multiple library interns; D. Sheshelidze, MD (Post-doctoral)

Research Informatics Consult Service

The Research Informatics Consult Service (RICS) was begun in February of 1998 as an outgrowth of the CICS specifically oriented towards health sciences researchers. However, because researchers are accustomed to working in relative isolation, the RICS incorporates a more remote form of assistance. RICS librarians utilize electronic resources, online information delivery, and outreach methods to meet the needs of researchers. RICS also analyzes researcher interests to develop proactive information alerts and to guide collection development. Services fall into the broad categories of Current Awareness, Training, Information Delivery, Grant Writing Assistance, Database Resources, Information Filtering, and Comprehensive Database Searching. One librarian attends the regular laboratory meetings and seminars of VUMC's General Clinical Research Center in order to provide immediate, point-of-need information services much as CICS librarians provide to their rounding teams. Also, the RICS program has become a forum for researchers to request new library services or resources and offer feedback on the library’s performance. Researchers come to view RICS staff as liaisons to library resources, and often call upon them to answer resource or technology questions. In 2001-02, RICS staff have begun an initiative to establish the RICS program as a key information resource for the Medical Center in genetics, molecular biology, and structural biology resources.

Primary Contact: Nunzia B. Giuse, M.D., M.L.S., A.H.I.P..