Poster presentation at the Medical Library Association 2011 Annual Conference

1. Going Mobile:
Librarians Supporting Distance Learning Students with Mobile Resources
Billie A
Billi Anne Gebb, MSLS Zach Young, MSLS
G bb MSLS; Z h Y
Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing
Introduction Methods (continued) Results Results (continued)
Selected comments in response to the question, “How often did you
For four of these sessions in early 2011, students were surveyed
use your mobile device to access information to assist you in
The following criteria were considered when evaluating clinical about their level of comfort and the efficacy of the training. clinical?”
Objective: To demonstrate how medical resources: Students were asked to rate their level of comfort with using
librarians can support an institution’s their mobile device for school related activities on a scale of 1 to
overarching goal to graduate • Content - clinical content needed to be evidence-based as well 5 with 5 being very comfortable and 1 being very uncomfortable.
technologically competent practitioners to as applicable and appropriate for nurse-midwives and nurse The mean response was 3.73. Students were also asked the
provide quality health care by increasing practitioners. Depth of coverage, frequency of updates, and
question below:
ability to link to other resources was also considered.
availability of electronic resources to
better match those available to clinicians • Platform - cross-compatibility with mobile platforms is
and providing training and support for somewhat dependent on the mobile device requirement for
those resources. students. A resource that can be used via the web with a
downloadable component is ideal.
The small library staff of a distance-based graduate nursing • Usability - ease of use was a very important consideration as
school selected resources and provided training and support for students would be using the resources at the point of care.
those resources as part of a grant funded emerging media
project. The institution received funding to initiate a proposal to • Sustainability (cost) - though grant funds were available for
incorporate new technologies for enhancing delivery of distance initial subscriptions, in order to continue the subscriptions past
education. One objective of the grant was to increase the the term of the grant, the resource needed to be affordable.
electronic resources available to students to better match what
will b available t th
ill be il bl to them as clinicians. B
li i i Because th grant also
the t l
The resources chosen were:
provided for a mobile initiative, the resources selected were all
available on mobile platforms. The library staff was integrally
involved in choosing the resources, providing support and • Epocrates Essentials - drug and disease reference
training, and by extension, providing support and training on
mobile devices. Various student surveys reveal that students feel • DynaMed - clinical reference
Clinical students (n=228) were also surveyed over the course of
comfortable and confident using these resources and consider
them essential for practice. • Essential Evidence Plus - clinical reference the academic year to determine how often they used a mobile Conclusions
device to access information to assist them in clinical. Percentage
• Natural Standard - complementary and alternative of students responding “very often” is shown below:
•Point of care clinical reference resources are an important tool for
Methods therapy reference
Percentage of Clinical Students' Using their Device
clinical students.
li i l t d t
“Very Often”
FSMFN received a Nurse Education, Practice and Retention Before beginning their clinical rotations, students attend an on- •Librarians and faculty should collaborate in choosing clinical
60%
(NEPR) grant from the Health Resources and Services campus skills intensive. During this time, librarians lead a session resources for purchase.
Administration (HRSA) to implement an emerging media demonstrating these clinical reference resources. A document
camera is used so that the students can see the resource on a 50% •Students are becoming more comfortable with using mobile
project. The overarching goal of the grant was to graduate
devices.
technologically competent advanced practice nurse-midwives mobile device. Students are encouraged to follow along on their
and nurse practitioners to provide quality health care own devices, and they have the opportunity to ask questions. 40%
•Librarian led software specific training is well received by all
throughout the country with a focus on rural and medically Examples are taken from their clinical scenarios to increase the students no matter their comfort level with using mobile devices.
underserved areas. One objective was to increase the relevance to real-life situations. One challenge with these sessions 30%
electronic resources available to students to better match what is that students have varying levels of comfort with using mobile •Librarians providing training on mobile resources must also be
Librarians
will be available as clinicians. Since another objective of the devices in general and often seek technical support. Students who experts in using mobile devices.
20%
grant called for students to begin using mobile devices, and have technical difficulties such as problems downloading the
due to the introduction of clinical reporting software on resources are offered one on one assistance.
10%
handheld devices, it was decided that the clinical reference
resources should be available on mobile platforms as well.
While specific resources were mentioned in the grant 0%
Winter 2010 Spring 2010 Summer 2010 Fall 2010
application, the library staff was charged with vetting those
resources and proposing alternatives where necessary.