Are you responsible for Health Professions Education? Do you want to teach evidence-based practice like a pro? Consider partnering with a clinical librarian.

In a study published in Academic Medicine in 2011, the impact of a clinical librarian program in health professions education was evaluated (Aitken et al, 2011).  In an internal medicine unit of a large, tertiary care teaching hospital in Calgary, Alberta, a clinical librarian accompanied a team of residents, clerks, a pharmacist, and attending physicians for morning intake clinical rounding, or an afternoon patient list review for six-months. The librarian provided immediate literature searches, formal group instruction, informal bedside teaching for use of pre-appraised resources and evidence-based practice search techniques. On the other hand, there was a control group with an identical structure to the intervention group, working on the same group of patients but with no librarian assistance. The clinical librarian program positively improved the trainees’ information-retrieval skills, their attitude toward working with a librarian, as well as enhanced informed clinical decision making when the intervention and control groups were compared.

• Aitken EM, Powelson SE, Reaume RD, Ghali WA. Involving clinical librarians at the point of care: results of a controlled intervention. Academic Medicine. 2011 Dec 1;86(12):1508-12.