Health Libraries Australia explain it best; hospital libraries are critical to Australia’s healthcare system. They provide clinicians, researchers and policymakers with immediate access to evidence-based medical literature which directly reduces errors, improves patient outcome, and supports continuous clinical learning. We are lucky to have a library onsite at SCHI to support students and clinicians for this very reason.
Our librarians conduct more than 200 literature searches each year to supply health care workers with the latest clinical information. Clinicians are also encouraged to dive deeper into databases via the Queensland Health information portal Clinical Knowledge Network (CKN), allowing them to conduct and publish health research. This helps to ensure treatments are based on the most current evidence, improving the safety and quality of patient care.
Our library team also support our tertiary education partners, particularly Griffith University Doctor of Medicine students. The first and second stage students have established a home away from home in the SCHI library. The SCHI team work closely with the Griffith University librarians to provide advice on essential scholarly research projects.
SCH librarians are great proponents of Open Access publishing so anyone can find freely available journal articles free of charge. Like all Queensland Health libraries, the SCHI library and it’s clients are fortunate to benefit from the resources via the state-wide CKN.
CKN, the information portal for all Queensland Health staff, includes a mixture of subscription-based and Open Access resources, and the SCHI library team recently conducted a project to assess the extent of this Open Access coverage.
SCHI Library Manager, Megan Giles explained, “This project was designed to see where the gaps were. In terms of patient care, we want clinicians to find contemporary literature as quickly as possible and for the library the less clicks possible. We knew there were quality, freely available articles on the internet but they were not being retrieved through CKN.”
Megan found other QLD Health libraries were in the same boat, so she invited other libraries in the QLD Health Network to take part in the project. Seven libraries participated. “Participating libraries gathered examples of articles requested by clinicians that were not retrievable via CKN, despite being freely accessible to anyone on the web. The process provided valuable insights into where access pathways could be strengthened.”
The SCHI Library team were delighted to work with CKN, using real data requests from Sunshine Coast Health clinicians, to address some of the recommendations and further enhance clinician access to evidence for better patient care.
To find out more about the project here.