The Road to EBM Literacy: The Dividends of Investing in Professional Development in EBM at the WCMC-Q Distributed eLibrary

Introduction

Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (WCMC-Q) is part of Weill Cornell Medical College in New York and shares its mission of dedication to excellence in education, patient care and research.

The Distributed eLibrary  (DeLib) at WCMC-Q is a predominantly electronic “library without walls”, transcending space and place, existing in a distributed environment. One of its key defining features is its disseminated yet interconnected services, resources, and presence that are accessible, flexible, and dynamic.  Its collection consists of about 15,471 ebooks and 7,874 ejournals in addition to databases, images and a small print collection of about 3,950 titles.

Supporting the mission of WCMC-Q, DeLib’s mission is: “Applying our concept of Library as Presence, our mission is to deliver diverse information resources and services that engage students, faculty and staff of WCMC-Q, as well as local, regional, and international communities.“

In June 2008, DeLib launched a strategic plan, Futura, which called for DeLib to support and facilitate professional growth for all DeLib staff, and, promote a continuum of learning; offer relevant support of the pre-medical and medical programs, clinical medicine and research; extend DeLib’s presence by seeking opportunities for collaboration and outreach.

Since the inception of the Medical Program in 2004, WCMC-Q has taught Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) to its first-year medical students. Initially, DeLib librarians’ participation was limited to providing in-class searching support.  However, in 2008 the librarians were invited to play a greater role in this course, which required them to develop their knowledge of the concepts and teaching methods of EBM.

Objective

Within the framework of DeLib’s mission and strategic plan, describe the EBM training and professional development undertaken by DeLib librarians and the consequent growth and change in their teaching roles.

Methods

DeLib librarians were offered a variety of internal and external professional development opportunities to develop their basic subject knowledge of EBM and expose them to different ways of teaching the subject. To begin with, one librarian, who already possessed some knowledge of EBM, conducted a six-week internal train-the-trainer style workshop to introduce the others to the basic process and principles of the topic. Then, in order to learn the widest possible range of EBM teaching techniques, librarians attended courses at established centers of EBM education (Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, Oxford University, UK; McMaster University, Hamilton, ONT, Canada; New York Academy of Medicine, New York, NY). Librarians also attended EBM sessions at various library conferences to pick up other teaching tips. Finally, librarians took advantage of opportunities within DeLib to share what they had learned and put their teaching skills into action. “EBM Delight” sessions were held where one librarian would provide an in-depth example of teaching an EBM session to the other librarians, such as how to introduce students to searching for information on a diagnosis question. Librarians also instructed DeLib’s library technicians in how to provide support during EBM workshops.

Results

The professional development and training undertaken by the DeLib librarians over the period of 2008-2011 had several outcomes.

First was the competence and confidence that comes from having an understanding of the concepts of EBM, as a substantial degree of subject familiarity is essential for teaching such a technical topic. A well-developed understanding of the objectives of EBM also allowed DeLib’s librarians to assess what was within their area of expertise (question formulation and searching) and in particular to place that in the context of the EBM process. Exposure to a wide variety of teaching practices allowed the development of a consistent approach in DeLib’s EBM teaching sessions. For example, this included beginning with a case scenario to engage student interaction immediately, before explaining how to optimize searching strategies to suit the scenario. Anecdotal evidence from student and faculty feedback indicates an improvement in students’ enjoyment of EBM training sessions, and in learning outcomes as measured by assignment scores. 

This also led to the DeLib librarians being invited to provide EBM training in other institutions within Qatar where WCMC-Q’s students receive clinical training. In 2009 DeLib librarians began training Hamad Medical Center medical staff (physicians, pharmacists, and occupational therapists) on EBM concepts and in the basics of searching for clinical evidence. In 2011, DeLib also begun providing some EBM-related training at Qatar’s Aspetar hospital, the first specialized orthopedic and sports medicine hospital in the Gulf Region.

Another outcome was an increased role in teaching EBM within WCMC-Q. After becoming an essential part of the EBM section of a first-year medical course, Liaison Librarians to the third-year clerkships successfully introduced an “EBM refresher” in third-year clinical clerkships.

DeLib librarians have also found opportunities to teach further afield in the GCC, having provided an EBM workshop for medical librarians and physicians at the Royal Hospital Medical Library in Muscat, Oman in January 2012. This workshop formed part of a conference accredited by the Oman Medical Specialty Board and was accredited by the Medical Library Association in the US.

Discussion

Investing in professional development in EBM and then sharing the techniques learned have paid off handsomely for DeLib. The librarians gained a valuable professional knowledge base and an improved skill set that met a clear need in WCMC-Q’s medical curriculum. In doing so, they demonstrated DeLib’s capacity to contribute to the education of medical students. By responding to other EBM teaching opportunities that arose, both within and outside WCMC-Q, DeLib librarians earned valuable lessons in dealing with a variety of audiences, particularly students and health professionals with widely differing degrees of familiarity with EBM. As DeLib begins to share its experience with other medical librarians in the Gulf Region, it is clear that a well-targeted investment in professional development, aligned with the institution’s mission and the department’s strategic plan, can pay dividends beyond any library’s walls.