Emergency Preparedness & Librarians: A Match Made In Hospitals
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Up to bat: how did you get involved? 3 common scenarios: 1. Librarians asking to be involved by directly contacting key hospital emergency or safety personnel. 2. Librarians being invited to participate in activities, drills, committee work, etc. by hospital emergency or safety personnel. 3. Librarians required to be involved as managers or single person departments in greater, hospital-wide emergency activities. Librarians provided numerous situations and stories as to how they got involved, ranging from personal initiative to specific events. These are just a few: 1. 9/11 footage prompted me to become a member of CERT. Our hospital's Disaster Planner has a role in CERT. My involvement and training in CERT sensitized me to the needs of the hospital, and I have been involved in salvaging medical records due to water damage. 2. Previous experience as an EMT with a volunteer ambulance corps, experience as a firefighter on a volunteer fire department, instructor with American Red Cross for CPR and first aid. 3. I am a solo and am also the manager of our CME program. Our Emergency Response Coordinator approached me to inquire about providing education for our physicians on emergency/disaster response. We have provided several CME programs over the past three years. Emergency Preparedness and Librarians: A Match Made in Hospitals Amy Donahue, MLIS, AHIP Aurora Health Care 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the Joplin tornado – these are well known examples of disasters that had huge impacts on local hospitals. In response to the awareness these events raised, hospitals around the country have acknowledged the responsibilities they have in their communities if a disaster should strike. Organizations from the Joint Commission to the Department of Health & Human Services have played their part, developing standards, initiatives and resources to help hospitals develop their roles in preparedness, response, and recovery (1). What follows on this poster are the results of a mixed-method study looking at the ways hospital librarians are involved in their hospitals’ disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. By documenting and connecting the collective hospital librarian experience, perhaps we can all be better prepared to respond to our hospitals' and our communities' needs in this vital area – a home run in a game that can save lives. The Lit Review: Searched MEDLINE & CINAHL (one additional article was found in an article’s references). Selected only articles that dealt specifically with hospital libraries or in hospital settings; additional literature exists in academic health sciences and other library settings. 21 articles were sorted into 4 categories. Six articles fell into the category of case studies/real life examples of roles hospital librarians can play (2-7). Example: Featherstone, Lyon, and Ruffin capture an oral history of the roles librarians (including 4 hospital librarians) played in actual disasters (4). Three articles serve as general calls for hospital librarians to be involved in emergency management (8-10). Example: Volesko calls on hospital librarians to have plans in place so that they can offer resources and services right away in the event of a disaster (10). Disasters in hospital libraries were another frequent topic: five articles explored either hospital library-specific planning or The Survey 149 hospital librarians responded to the Google Documents survey between February 15 th and March 1 st , 2012*. They represent areas from all around the US (with 3 responders outside of the country). They work in different types of hospitals in different sectors, but the majority were either involved in emergency activities or would like be. Imagine a ballpark filled with fans who have acknowledged hospitals’ responsibility in disasters. This is a serious game, and hospital librarians can (and have) stepped up to the plate. Yes (n=59); 40% No, but would have some assigned role in the event of a disaster (n=28); 19% No, but interested in being involved (n=47); 32% No & not interested (n=15); 10% Are you (or have you been) personally involved with emergency management (preparedness, response, and/or recovery) in any way at your current hospital? Who: A newly minted hospital librarian (aka the author) What: Joined her hospital’s emergency preparedness committee, helped with its information needs, became active with the local emergency preparedness partnership, and received a Community Preparedness award from the NN/LM GMR. When: March 2011-March 2012, and still going! The Case Study Where: A brand new, 107 bed community hospital in eastern WI Why: Recognition of the roles she could play, and an interest in contributing. How: By identifying the emergency preparedness manager, and asking to come to a committee meting. 13 7 8 14 14 22 36 44 NN/LM Region South Central Outside the US Pacific Northwest Midcontinental New England Southeastern/ Atlantic Pacific Southwest Mid Atlantic Greater Midwest Acknowledgements Many thanks to Cindy Love and Robin Featherstone for their advice, feedback, and support. And many, many heartfelt thank-yous to all the hospital librarians who took the time to take this survey, and to those who passed it along to their colleagues. This poster is the result of their work! * This poster was not the platform to present the entirety of the survey results. It is hoped that full dataset will be published in a paper at some point in the near future. As a community educator, involved with classes or outreach As a member of a hospital Incident Command team As a creator of an emergency plan for your library or department 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 5 6 16 17 28 33 34 15 In what ways are you or have you been involved in emergency/disaster activities at your hospital? References 1. Sauer LM, McCarthy ML, Knebel A, Brewster P. Major Influences on Hospital Emergency Management and Disaster Preparedness. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness. 2009 Jun 1;3(Supplement 1):S68. 2. Auflick PA. Bioterrorism and JCAHO. Journal of Hospital Librarianship. 2003 Jun;3(3):105–10. 3. Estabrook AD, Byrnes GA, Gilbert CM. Terrorism. Journal of Hospital Librarianship. 2002 Mar;2(2):35–54. 4. Featherstone RM, Lyon BJ, Ruffin AB. Library roles in disaster response: an oral history project by the National Library of Medicine. J Med Libr Assoc. 2008 Oct;96(4):343–50. 5. Gilbert C. Code yellow: library 9-1-1. J HOSP LIBR. 2008 Mar;8(1):25–37. 6. McKnight M. Health sciences librarians’ reference services during a disaster: more than collection protection. Med Ref Serv Q. 2006;25(3):1– 12. 7. Reynolds P, Tamanaha I. Disaster Information Specialist Pilot Project: NLM/DIMRC. Med Ref Serv Q. 2010 Oct;29(4):394–404. 8. Frey A. From the editor’s desk. NATL NETW. 2010 Feb;34(3):3. 9. Glazer M. Hospital library emergency and disaster preparedness and response plans. MLA NEWS. 2010 Jun;50(6):11. 10. Volesko MM. It Wasn’t Raining When Noah Built the Ark. Internet Reference Services Quarterly. 2001 Sep;6(3-4):99–131. 11. Beales D. Before disaster strikes: essentials of formulating a library emergency management plan. J HOSP LIBR. 2003 Dec;3(4):11–24. 12. Green D. After the flood: disaster response and recovery planning. Bull Med Libr Assoc. 1990 Jul;78(3):303–6. 13. Hayes S. Disasters and libraries: a short story. J HOSP LIBR. 2009 Jul;9(3):335–7. 14. Stoneham L. Immeasurable losses. Tex Med. 2001 Sep;97(9):58–62. 15. Wells MJ. Disaster planning. J Am Med Rec Assoc. 1990 Nov;61(11):54–5. 16. Editorial: The country hospital library. Med. J. Aust. 1974 Aug 10;2(6):190–1. 17. Coats TJ, Sutton S, Vorwerk C, Cooke MW. In an emergency--call the clinical librarian! Emerg Med J. 2009 May;26(5):321–3. 18. Gonnerman K. The health sciences library and professional librarians: important resources for busy ED nurses and nurse managers. J Emerg Nurs. 2003 Apr;29(2):183–6. 19. Hamilton GC, Epstein FB, Jagger J, McCabe JB, Singer JI. A new library for emergency medicine. Ann Emerg Med. 1983 Nov;12(11):687–96. 20. Kirz HL, Turner KA. A sample reference library for the emergency department. JACEP. 1976 Mar;5(3):200–4. 21. Meyer TC, Hansen RH, Ragatz RT, Mulvihill B. Providing medical information to physicians by telephone tapes. J Med Educ. 1970 Dec;45(12):1060–5. 22. Pearson KM Jr, Bloch AD. Dial access libraries: Their use and utility. J Med Educ. 1974 Sep;49(9):882–96.
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Objectives: The objective of this poster is to look at whether hospital librarians are actively involved in their organizations' emergency and disaster preparedness activities and to explore what those roles can and might look like to encourage further involvement. Involvement may range from sitting on committees to finding and providing related information to community outreach and everything in between. Methods: This will be a mixed-method project, consisting of a case report, a narrative review of the literature (including gray literature), and a descriptive survey. The case study will be the author's experiences with her hospital emergency preparedness committee and the roles she has played since getting involved, including literature searches for emergency preparedness activities and working on outreach to both hospital employees and community members. The literature review will build off of Featherstone et al.'s Journey of the Medical Library Association paper, "Library Roles in Disaster Response: An Oral History Project by the National Library of Medicine" (PMID: 18974811) and will look specifically at the roles hospital librarians are playing in their organizations. The survey will be sent out over MEDLIB-L, DISASTR-OUTREACH-LIB, and the MLA Hospital Librarians email discussion list to collect responses from hospital librarians on whether they are currently involved with emergency preparedness activities within their organizations, and, if so, how. Results: The author's own experience with her emergency preparedness committee over the course of her first year of employment has served as a case report. The literature review led to more than ten articles in MEDLINE, seven articles in CINAHL, and a number of reports and anecdotes in the gray literature describing ways hospital librarians are currently involved in disaster and emergency preparedness, response, and recovery activities as well as potential roles. The final survey results will be made available in full on the poster itself, but the preliminary results indicate that around a third of respondents are currently involved in emergency or disaster roles at their hospital, that a number play multiple roles, and that often even those librarians who are not actively involved have still identified or been assigned a role should a disaster affecting their organizations occur. Conclusions: Hospital librarians can be and are involved with emergency/disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. Moreover, opportunities exist for continued and increased involvement, and while many would gladly volunteer, some librarians may be asked to take on these challenging and rewarding roles even if they have not expressed interest. By documenting and connecting the collective hospital librarian experience, perhaps we can all be better prepared to respond to our hospitals' and our communities' needs in this vital area.
Transcript of Emergency Preparedness & Librarians: A Match Made In Hospitals
Up to bat: how did you get involved?
3 common scenarios:
1. Librarians asking to be involved by directly contacting key hospital emergency or safety personnel.
2. Librarians being invited to participate in activities, drills, committee work, etc. by hospital emergency or safety personnel.
3. Librarians required to be involved as managers or single person departments in greater, hospital-wide emergency activities.
Librarians provided numerous situations and stories as to how they got involved, ranging from personal initiative to specific events. These are just a few:
1. 9/11 footage prompted me to become a member of CERT. Our hospital's Disaster Planner has a role in CERT. My involvement and training in CERT sensitized me to the needs of the hospital, and I have been involved in salvaging medical records due to water damage.
2. Previous experience as an EMT with a volunteer ambulance corps, experience as a firefighter on a volunteer fire department, instructor with American Red Cross for CPR and first aid.
3. I am a solo and am also the manager of our CME program. Our Emergency Response Coordinator approached me to inquire about providing education for our physicians on emergency/disaster response. We have provided several CME programs over the past three years.
Emergency Preparedness and Librarians: A Match Made in HospitalsAmy Donahue, MLIS, AHIP
Aurora Health Care
9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the Joplin tornado – these are well known examples of disasters that had huge impacts on local hospitals. In response to the awareness these events raised, hospitals around the country have acknowledged the responsibilities they have in their communities if a disaster should strike. Organizations from the Joint Commission to the Department of Health & Human Services have played their part, developing standards, initiatives and resources to help hospitals develop their roles in preparedness, response, and recovery (1).
What follows on this poster are the results of a mixed-method study looking at the ways hospital librarians are involved in their hospitals’ disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. By documenting and connecting the collective hospital librarian experience, perhaps we can all be better prepared to respond to our hospitals' and our communities' needs in this vital area – a home run in a game that can save lives.
The Lit Review:
Searched MEDLINE & CINAHL (one additional article was found in an article’s references).
Selected only articles that dealt specifically with hospital libraries or in hospital settings; additional literature exists in academic health sciences and other library settings.
21 articles were sorted into 4 categories.
Six articles fell into the category of case studies/real life examples of roles hospital librarians can play (2-7).
Example: Featherstone, Lyon, and Ruffin capture an oral history of the roles librarians (including 4 hospital librarians) played in actual disasters (4).
Three articles serve as general calls for hospital librarians to be involved in emergency management (8-10).
Example: Volesko calls on hospital librarians to have plans in place so that they can offer resources and services right away in the event of a disaster (10).
Disasters in hospital libraries were another frequent topic: five articles explored either hospital library-specific planning or described hospital library disasters (11-145.
One common way hospital librarians get involved in emergency management is by connecting with their emergency departments. Seven articles looked at providing services to the ED (16-22).
The Survey149 hospital librarians responded to the Google Documents survey between February 15th and March 1st, 2012*. They represent areas from all around the US (with 3
responders outside of the country). They work in different types of hospitals in different sectors, but the majority were either involved in emergency activities or would like be.
Imagine a ballpark filled with fans who have acknowledged hospitals’ responsibility in disasters. This is a serious game, and hospital librarians can
(and have) stepped up to the plate.
Yes (n=59); 40%
No, but would have some as-signed role in the event of a
disaster (n=28); 19%
No, but inter-ested in being
involved (n=47); 32%
No & not in-terested
(n=15); 10%
Are you (or have you been) personally involved with emergency management (preparedness, response,
and/or recovery) in any way at your current hospi-tal?
Who: A newly minted hospital librarian (aka the author)
What: Joined her hospital’s emergency preparedness committee, helped with its information needs, became active with the local emergency preparedness partnership, and received a Community Preparedness award from the NN/LM GMR.
When: March 2011-March 2012, and still going!
The Case Study Where: A brand new, 107 bed community hospital in
eastern WI
Why: Recognition of the roles she could play, and an interest in contributing.
How: By identifying the emergency preparedness manager, and asking to come to a committee meting.
1 3 7
8
14
14
2236
44
NN/LM Region
South CentralOutside the USPacific NorthwestMidcontinentalNew EnglandSoutheastern/AtlanticPacific SouthwestMid AtlanticGreater Midwest
AcknowledgementsMany thanks to Cindy Love and Robin Featherstone for their advice, feedback, and support. And many, many heartfelt thank-yous to all the hospital librarians who took the time to take this survey, and to those who passed it along to their colleagues. This poster is the result of their work!
* This poster was not the platform to present the entirety of the survey results. It is hoped that full dataset will be published in a paper at some point in the near future.
As a community educator, involved with classes or outreachAs a trainer, providing healthcare providers with demos or training
As a member of hospital emergency planning committees, councils, etc.As a member of a hospital Incident Command team
As a collector/provider of emergency/disaster resources for your usersAs a researcher, providing lit searches on emergency and disaster topics
As a creator of an emergency plan for your library or departmentOther
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
5
6
16
17
28
33
34
15
In what ways are you or have you been involved in emergency/disaster activities at your hospital?
References
1. Sauer LM, McCarthy ML, Knebel A, Brewster P. Major Influences on Hospital Emergency Management and Disaster Preparedness. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness. 2009 Jun 1;3(Supplement 1):S68.
2. Auflick PA. Bioterrorism and JCAHO. Journal of Hospital Librarianship. 2003 Jun;3(3):105–10. 3. Estabrook AD, Byrnes GA, Gilbert CM. Terrorism. Journal of Hospital Librarianship. 2002 Mar;2(2):35–54.4. Featherstone RM, Lyon BJ, Ruffin AB. Library roles in disaster response: an oral history project by the
National Library of Medicine. J Med Libr Assoc. 2008 Oct;96(4):343–50.5. Gilbert C. Code yellow: library 9-1-1. J HOSP LIBR. 2008 Mar;8(1):25–37. 6. McKnight M. Health sciences librarians’ reference services during a disaster: more than collection protection.
Med Ref Serv Q. 2006;25(3):1–12.7. Reynolds P, Tamanaha I. Disaster Information Specialist Pilot Project: NLM/DIMRC. Med Ref Serv Q. 2010
Oct;29(4):394–404.8. Frey A. From the editor’s desk. NATL NETW. 2010 Feb;34(3):3. 9. Glazer M. Hospital library emergency and disaster preparedness and response plans. MLA NEWS. 2010
Jun;50(6):11.10. Volesko MM. It Wasn’t Raining When Noah Built the Ark. Internet Reference Services Quarterly. 2001
Sep;6(3-4):99–131.11. Beales D. Before disaster strikes: essentials of formulating a library emergency management plan. J HOSP
LIBR. 2003 Dec;3(4):11–24.12. Green D. After the flood: disaster response and recovery planning. Bull Med Libr Assoc. 1990 Jul;78(3):303–
6.13. Hayes S. Disasters and libraries: a short story. J HOSP LIBR. 2009 Jul;9(3):335–7. 14. Stoneham L. Immeasurable losses. Tex Med. 2001 Sep;97(9):58–62.15. Wells MJ. Disaster planning. J Am Med Rec Assoc. 1990 Nov;61(11):54–5.16. Editorial: The country hospital library. Med. J. Aust. 1974 Aug 10;2(6):190–1.17. Coats TJ, Sutton S, Vorwerk C, Cooke MW. In an emergency--call the clinical librarian! Emerg Med J. 2009
May;26(5):321–3.18. Gonnerman K. The health sciences library and professional librarians: important resources for busy ED
nurses and nurse managers. J Emerg Nurs. 2003 Apr;29(2):183–6.19. Hamilton GC, Epstein FB, Jagger J, McCabe JB, Singer JI. A new library for emergency medicine. Ann
Emerg Med. 1983 Nov;12(11):687–96.20. Kirz HL, Turner KA. A sample reference library for the emergency department. JACEP. 1976 Mar;5(3):200–
4.21. Meyer TC, Hansen RH, Ragatz RT, Mulvihill B. Providing medical information to physicians by telephone
tapes. J Med Educ. 1970 Dec;45(12):1060–5.22. Pearson KM Jr, Bloch AD. Dial access libraries: Their use and utility. J Med Educ. 1974 Sep;49(9):882–96.
