And why did that physician not get up on his hind legs to at least protest the end of library Services - ?


Elyse Pike
Health Science Librarian/ Telecom Manager
Grey Bruce Health Services
1800 8th St. E
Owen Sound 
Ontario, N4K 6M9
 
[log in to unmask]
519-376-2121 ext 2043
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Medical Libraries Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Weiss, Ardis
Sent: January 12, 2012 17:49
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: sad state of a hospital library (long)

We had a young man in ICU for many weeks a couple of years ago - I won't say what he had since it might be a HIPAA violation, but one of the gastroenterologists asked me to research obscure treatments since they'd tried all the usual ones and the poor man was very, very ill.  We found one that worked.  Interestingly, when describing my job to a Nursing Director who had been recently placed in charge of the medical library, she told me that librarians "really don't do research."  When I told the physician about the exchange, he said it was a ridiculous comment and showed her ignorance.
Even so, she still has her job - and mine, along with the library itself, is gone.

Ardis Weiss, MS, BA
Resource Coordinator, Marketing Department San Antonio Community Hospital
Phone    909.920.4755
Fax       909.920.6357
E Mail    [log in to unmask]

"Google can give you 1,000 answers to your question. A librarian will give you the right one."


-----Original Message-----
From: Kennedy, Joy [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2012 2:31 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: sad state of a hospital library (long)

Yep, I brought an article on treatment of infection with an indwelling catheter up to a room on the floor after finding it in a search.  Doctor came out gowned and gloved and masked and asked me to hold it up and turn the pages for him to read.  Then he went back in to decide whether to leave it in or risk taking it out to best treat the infection (as best I remember after these years). Anyone who think an information product however nice (here's looking at you UptoDate, etc.) can replace a librarian for the tough stuff is really in a sad state.

Joy Kennedy, MLS
Health Resource Library
Northwest Community Hospital
800 W. Central Rd.
Arlington Heights, IL 60005-2392
Phone: 847-618-5180; Fax 847-618-5189
email: j1kennedy @ nch.org; library @ nch.org
 
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Medical Libraries Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
> On Behalf Of Patricia Scholl
> Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2012 1:59 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [MEDLIB-L] sad state of a hospital library (long)
> 
> I remember, years ago, a surgeon calling from the OR asking for a 
> certain article, or maybe it was a chapter from a text; I ran like 
> hell to get it to him. Later he told me I helped to save a life.  He 
> was probably exaggerating but it made me feel good.
> 
>  
> Patty Scholl, MLIS
> Medical Librarian
> St. Joseph Mercy - Oakland
> 44405 Woodward Avenue
> Pontiac, MI  48341-2985
> (248)858-3495
> FAX (248)858-6496
> [log in to unmask]>>> Susan van Beek <[log in to unmask]> 
> 01/12/2012 2:50 PM >>> Some years back, I recall reading a story in 
> the Special Libraries Association journal, wherein the librarian 
> recounted this story:
> A surgeon, calling from the theatre, said to the librarian: 
> "I just read an article which describes the situation I have before 
> me. Would you please find the journal article and read it to me? We 
> have you on speaker." Of course, the librarian in the article did just 
> that. Saved a life.
> 
> 
> Susan van Beek
> Director of Library Services
> Budd Larner
> 150 John F. Kennedy Parkway
> Short HIlls, NJ  07078
> (973)315-4541
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Medical Libraries Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
> On Behalf Of Weiss, Ardis
> Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2012 2:24 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: sad state of a hospital library (long)
> 
> Oops, I meant, "Librarian, heal thyself!"
> 
> Ardis Weiss, MS, BA
> Resource Coordinator, Marketing Department San Antonio Community 
> Hospital
> Phone    909.920.4755
> Fax       909.920.6357
> E Mail    [log in to unmask]
> 
> "Google can give you 1,000 answers to your question. A librarian will 
> give you the right one."
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Weiss, Ardis [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2012 11:19 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: sad state of a hospital library (long)
> 
> This is not really a joking matter, but may I be a little facetious 
> and suggest that in the near future, healthcare librarians - or shall 
> I say former healthcare librarians, since we will be unemployed or 
> have been lucky enough to find alternative careers - will be the 
> healthiest of the Healthy People in studies?  We will be the only ones 
> left who can find reliable information and negotiate the healthcare 
> system.  Librarian, health thyself?
> 
> 
> 
> Ardis Weiss, MS, BA
> 
> Resource Coordinator, Marketing Department
> 
> San Antonio Community Hospital
> 
> Phone    909.920.4755
> 
> Fax       909.920.6357
> 
> E Mail    [log in to unmask]
> 
> 
> 
> "Google can give you 1,000 answers to your question. A 
> librarian will give you the right one."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Anthanett C Mendoza [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2012 8:40 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: sad state of a hospital library (long)
> 
> 
> 
> OMG !
> 
> 
> 
> What will hospitals, docs, and residents do in the case of malpractice
> 
> suits and other dire situations, as in critical diagnoses of complex
> 
> co-morbidities, failure to point out current pharma alerts 
> NOT handed to
> 
> docs and residents by pharma reps who really only want to 
> push their own
> 
> products into the office/resident program drug cabinets (some drugs of
> 
> which have passed their self life) and cough up ski passes to 
> Jackson Hole
> 
> or lavish dinners and other  perks?  Also, who is teaching 
> these younger
> 
> docs to effectively use the NCBI complement of databases, 
> including PubMed
> 
> and other new available medical resources?  Are medical personnel even
> 
> using these resources?
> 
> 
> 
> The ineptitude I have experienced in medicine in the last 
> year and a half
> 
> has made clear to me I need to keep myself as healthy as I 
> can, because
> 
> once I get into the healthcare system I am at its mercy in lack of
> 
> procedural efficiencies, appropriate follow-up by the correct 
> agency or
> 
> even correct department under the same roof. How can we feel 
> our care is
> 
> supported by the latest research when they put an ID band on 
> your arm that
> 
> belongs to someone else or when you ask your attending about a recent
> 
> finding on a specific drug related to your treatment and he 
> just looks at
> 
> you with a blank stare then dismisses your inquiry-and you-- 
> then tells
> 
> you to open your mouth and say "ah" ?  [Didn't they used to call this
> 
> vaudeville?]
> 
> 
> 
> Tone Mendoza
> 
> Reference Librarian
> 
> Calvin T. Ryan Library
> 
> University of Nebraska - Kearney
> 
> 308-865-8587
> 
> [log in to unmask]
> 
> 
> 
> "Without justice people have no respect for each other".  A 
> peasant from
> 
> the film "Reckoning".
> 
> Research Guides:  Ethnic Studies, Health Sciences & Nursing, 
> International
> 
> Studies, Music, Women & Gender Studies
> 
> "Be not inhospitable to strangers, lest they be angels in disguise."
> 
> --Yeats
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From:   Julie Stielstra <[log in to unmask]>
> 
> To:     [log in to unmask]
> 
> Date:   01/12/2012 08:09 AM
> 
> Subject:        sad state of a hospital library (long)
> 
> Sent by:        Medical Libraries Discussion List 
> <[log in to unmask]>
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yesterday I had a doctor's appointment at the community 
> hospital where I
> 
> used to be the library director ten years ago.  The library served a
> 
> nursing college and the hospital with two residency programs. 
>  In the ten
> 
> years since I left, the hospital changed hands twice and is 
> now owned by a
> 
> for-profit entity while the nursing college was absorbed by another
> 
> faith-based hospital organization.
> 
> Being a bit early for my appointment, I stopped by the 
> library.  The young
> 
> woman at the front desk was occupied with a student, so I 
> wandered around
> 
> for a few minutes.  Aside from a lot of outsized new furniture and new
> 
> computers, it looked pretty much the same.  As I had 
> transitioned heavily
> 
> into e-resources during my tenure, I was a little surprised 
> to see the new
> 
> journal display shelves very full... till I saw that the most recent
> 
> issues
> 
> on the stands were from 2008 and 2009.  Stacks of literally yellowed
> 
> copies
> 
> of the main local newspaper from 2010 stuck on bottom 
> shelves.  The book
> 
> stacks were still largely filled with the editions of texts that I
> 
> purchased and cataloged.  Old back runs of print journals that were
> 
> regularly weeded in my day were crammed on the limited shelf 
> space.  The
> 
> office was a shambles: more gigantic new furniture, every available
> 
> surface
> 
> piled with papers, journals, books, stuff.   I then was able 
> to chat for a
> 
> few minutes with a bright, affable student worker, who 
> identified himself
> 
> as "one of the librarians."  There is no professional librarian.  An
> 
> administrator with the nursing college oversees the library 
> which is now
> 
> staffed just by student workers.  And next year, the nursing 
> college will
> 
> be pulling out of this hospital and relocating to another hospital
> 
> elsewhere in the city.  "Will the library go too?" I asked.  
> Well, maybe
> 
> some of it.  "What about the hospital and the residents?" I asked.  A
> 
> shrug
> 
> - whatever the hospital administration decides to put in, I 
> guess, was the
> 
> answer.  This library has gone into a death spiral: usage 
> drops, resources
> 
> aren't renewed or updated, resources become obsolete, usage 
> drops further,
> 
> the professional librarian gives up or is deemed superfluous. 
>  The model
> 
> now is apparently to subscribe to some electronic resources and tell
> 
> users:
> 
> here you go, have fun.  The end.
> 
> 
> 
> I then went on to my appointment with my doctor, who also 
> happens to be
> 
> the
> 
> director of the internal medicine residency program.  I asked 
> him what the
> 
> heck the deal was.  He said he had gone immediately to the council who
> 
> accredits residency programs to find out about library 
> requirements.  You
> 
> know what the answer is, right?  There aren't any now.  Just 
> that print
> 
> and
> 
> e-resources must be available.  Period.  He said the library 
> really hadn't
> 
> been actively involved with the residency programs in years.  
> I used to
> 
> help teach courses, attended grand rounds and cancer conferences,
> 
> presented
> 
> to medical staff, residents, nursing students... all of that had died
> 
> away.  They are in negotiations with another hospital in the 
> area in the
> 
> same for-profit chain for their library to provide services "in case
> 
> someone needs something."  At least there IS a library 
> somewhere in the
> 
> system.
> 
> 
> 
> I am heartsick.  I and my cherished assistant took such pride in that
> 
> place.  We were organized, we were active, we were involved.  
> I monitored
> 
> usage of everything to be able to purchase and offer 
> resources staff and
> 
> students needed and used.  I bought e-journals, not armchairs.  We
> 
> provided
> 
> expert service.  We coached, we taught, we hunted, we 
> provided, we served.
> 
> And none of that is wanted any more.  I guess I just had my 
> nose rubbed in
> 
> the reality of "it's all on the internet, I can just google 
> what I need"
> 
> in
> 
> a very personal way.  I made really great buggy whips, I 
> guess.  Everyone
> 
> thinks they're a great driver, no one thinks they need advice 
> on how to
> 
> search google, for heaven's sake - you just type in a couple words and
> 
> voila, there it all is.  Right or wrong, that has become the reality.
> 
> 
> 
> I  think we are indeed doomed.
> 
> 
> 
> --
> 
> Julie Stielstra, MLS
> 
> Manager, Knowledge Resource Library
> 
> Central DuPage Hospital
> 
> 25 N Winfield Rd
> 
> Winfield, IL 60190
> 
> phone 630-933-4536
> 
> fax     630-933-4530
> 
> email jstielstra [ at ]  gmail.com
> 
> 
> 
> "Never...be mean in anything; never be false; never be cruel. 
> Avoid those
> 
> three vices...and I can always be hopeful of you."  -- Betsy 
> Trotwood to
> 
> David Copperfield (Charles Dickens)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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