Library involvement in health informatics education for health professions students and practitioners: a scoping review

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this scoping review is to evaluate the extent of library or librarian involvement in informatics education in the health domain.Methods: We searched eight databases from their inception to 2019 for reports of informatics educational activities for health professionals or health professions students that involved library staff or resources. Two reviewers independently screened all titles/abstracts (n=2,247) and resolved inclusion decisions by consensus. From the full text of the 36 papers that met the inclusion criteria, we extracted data on 41 educational activities.Results: The most frequent coded purposes of activities were “teaching clinical tools” (n=19, 46.3%) and “technology” (n=17; 41.5%). Medical students were the most frequent primary audience (34.1%), though 41.5% of activities had multiple audiences. Evaluation was reported for 24 activities (58.5%), only a few of which assessed short or post-activity impact on attitudes, knowledge, or skills. The most common long-term outcome was applying skills in other courses or clinical experiences. Thematic analysis yielded three areas of outcomes and issues for the library and organizational partners: expanded opportunities, technology and resource issues, and value demonstration.Conclusions: Limited published examples of health informatics educational activities provide models for library roles in informatics education. More librarians should report on their informatics educational activities and provide sufficient details on the interventions and their evaluation. This would strengthen the evidence base about the potential impact of libraries within informatics education.

Health Sciences Librarians’ Instructional Engagement in Continuing Education: A Scoping Review

“…As part of the discussion surrounding purposeful instruction, Lauseng et al’s recent scoping review of health informatics training conducted by libraries or librarians included practicing HCPs in their data, and within their conclusions they noted that the “paucity of included studies and activities demonstrates the need for more libraries to report on these educational activities, with sufficient details on the interventions and evaluation” [ 5 ]. While that review excluded evidence of teaching on “bioinformatics, data management or data science, literature/database searching, evidence-based practice, or general mobile apps” [ 5 ], other literature demonstrates that these topics are being taught by HSLs in a CE context [ 6 – 9 ]. There is also evidence that chronicles the more intricate nuances of HSL instruction to practicing HCPs, such as unconventional settings [ 10 ], a pilot project where measurable objectives were employed [ 11 ], or librarians’ considerations for how to ensure their teaching was suited to the online environment [ 12 ].…”