Poster presentation given to the e-Health 2012: Innovations in Health e-Care conference in Vancouver, BC.

1. Mobile connecting
clinicians to librarians
for just-in-time medical
evidence: mPaL
Ho, K.1, Cordeiro, J.1, Smith, R.2,
Hornby, K.1, and Liman, Y.1
1Universityof British Columbia
2Simon Fraser University

2. PURPOSE AND
METHODS
• Problem: While health librarians can assist
clinicians develop skills to find and apply research
evidence to guide patient management, the
librarians may not be available to those working in
remote areas.
• mPaL: mobile Phone-a-Librarian
– Examine how mobile phones can support
clinician learning needs by:
1. Enabling consultations with health librarians.
2. Connecting clinicians to their peers to
discuss appropriate application of evidence
into practice.
• mPAL is comprised of two phases:
• Conducting a focus group with clinicians to
understand their information seeking needs in
1 clinical situations.
• Developing a mobile platform and protocol
to connect clinicians to librarians and to
2 cultivate an online dialogue.
• UBC medical residents completing their training in rural
and remote communities were involved in this study.

3. FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS
• Results: Focus group showed medical residents:
– Most frequently used mobile phones for:
• Storing and accessing evidence-based
medical and drug information
• For emails and texting while on-the-move
– Recognized the benefits of having mobile and
on-demand access to „live‟ librarians for
assistance with information gathering.
• Outcomes: Interdisciplinary team of UBC
medical librarians, medical resident leaders, and
technology experts developed:
1. Smart phone-mediated communication protocol
for residents to work with librarians to support
literature searches; and
2. An online journal club for residents to discuss
appropriate application of medical evidence
uncovered through librarian consultations.

4. CONCLUSION
• Questionnaires to assess the residents‟ and
librarians‟:
– Satisfaction with the platform;
– Effectiveness in knowledge exchange; and
– The influence of the knowledge on clinical
management.
• Overall, the study:
– Showed that mobile technologies can fulfill a
critical learning gap for clinicians working in
remote and underserved communities, and
– Uncovered important insights about “mobile
digital librarians.”
• Acknowledgements: The mPAL project team would
like to thank:
– All participating UBC medical residents and
librarians, and
– The Nokia Foundation, and TEKTIC and the
Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research
for funding.
• For more information on the eHealth Strategy Office visit
http://ehealth.med.ubc.ca/ or go visit: