Association of Academic Health Centers 35 th Annual Meeting October 9, 2004

1. Association of Academic Health Centers35th Annual MeetingOctober 9, 2004 Knowledge Management in the Academic Health Center J. Roger Guard, President, Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries and Chief Information Officer, University of Cincinnati Medical Center J. Michael Homan, President-Elect, Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries and Director of Libraries, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine

2. AAHSL Background • Founded in 1977 • 128 AHC libraries in U.S. and Canada • Affiliated with AHC (New!); Affiliated with AAMC as a member of its Council of Academic Societies (CAS) • Collaborates with National Library of Medicine, Medical Library Association, and Association of Research Libraries

3. AAHSL enhances the success of its members in advancing health through their recognized leadership in managing and utilizing the intellectual resources within and beyond the institution. AAHSL Mission

4. Knowledge Management:Helping to Ensure Institutional Success by Creating Efficiencies for Others Through... • Partnerships & Collaborations • Ongoing Relationships • Core Academic Health Center Services • Core Academic Health Center Systems

5. AHC Challenges: The AHC Library as a Strategic Advantage • Competition To Build & Maintain Excellence • Competition From Industry • Building a Better & Safer Health System • Conserving Scarce Human Attention

6. Competition from Industry • Intense competition in the areas of creation of new knowledge, new technology, new treatments • “When current medical knowledge is ubiquitous and medical technology widely diffused, what added value can AHCs bring to the patient and student experience?” (Blue Ridge Academic Health Group, 2000)

7. Conserving Scarce Human Attention • “Today, the improvement of organizations and the information systems in them is not a matter of making more information available, but of conserving scarce human attention so that it can focus on the information that is most important and most relevant to the decisions that have to be made…Information isn’t the scarce resource; human time and attention is the scarce resource.” (Simon HA. The future of information systems. 1997)

8. Emerging Opportunities for Strategic Partnerships & Relationships • Example: Office of Research Integrity-funded instructional tool to teach researchers “the fundamentals of responsible literature searching for research practice” • Example: NetWellness -- an AHC-based consumer health system built on significant collaborations within and external to the AHC

9. Responsible Literature Searching for Research Background • AAMC-ORI cooperative agreement to fund academic societies to undertake activities to promote “responsible conduct of research.” • AAHSL sponsors University of Pittsburgh proposal to develop a self-paced interactive educational program to teach researchers the fundamentals of “responsible literature searching for research”. • Advisory committee of librarians from 5 other AAHSL libraries (Yale, U North Carolina, George Washington, Wisconsin-Madison, and Medical College of Georgia)

10. Responsible Literature Searching for Research Project Description • A self-paced interactive Web-based program • Users can work through program with no restrictions on pace or order • Consists of 9 chapters with didactic information, practice guidelines, examples, supplementary materials • Includes tests and quizzes to measure knowledge gained

11. Responsible Literature Searching for Research Goals • Program will assist researchers to: • Learn about the biomedical literature search process • Use major information resources appropriately • Appreciate the role of reference librarians in the literature search process • Understand the limitations of information resources • Determine best approaches for topics such as animal use, drug safety, and identification of adverse events

13. Responsible Literature Searching for Research Product Availability • Content to be freely available to all academic health sciences libraries and medical centers for adaptation to local settings & resources

14. NetWellness • Non-profit, web-based consumer health information and education service • Collaboration of Ohio’s leading research universities – UC, OSU, & Case • Easy to understand information on hundreds of health topics, current health news, and an “Ask an Expert” feature • Expertise from academic medical and health research professionals who donate their time

15. NetWellness Facts • Founded in 1994 at UC by librarians • 20 million hits a year • 280 university physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other allied health professionals volunteer to answer questions • 24,000 questions answered to date • Over 33,000 pages of reliable, science-based information

16. NetWellness Purpose • Provide highest quality health information on the Internet • Enhance provider/patient communication and reduce health care costs, through understandable, focused, interactive communication of complex medical issues • Serve all age groups and populations including minorities and underserved populations in rural and urban areas

17. NetWellness Grantors • U.S. Department of Commerce • U.S. Public Health Service, National Action Plan on Breast Cancer • State of Ohio • Ohio Department of Health • Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati • City of Cincinnati • Ohio Commission on Minority Health • U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration

18. NetWellness Success Factors • Network of university-based experts • Unbiased, science-based information • Broad range of specialties with state-of-the-art perspective • No advertising, giving visitors confidence that the information is not influenced by sponsors • Privacy and anonymity give visitors comfort to ask questions openly, knowing their personal information is not collected • Impact: 77% of visitors who provide feedback indicate they take action as a result of using NetWellness, such as visiting a doctor, seeking a second opinion, and communicating more effectively with their physician • Studies demonstrate the importance of patient involvement in their health care to achieving the best outcomes - NetWellness provides a vital public resource to increase such patient involvement

19. Collaborations & Partnerships Major keys to success from day one: • Cincinnati community partnerships, 1994- • Integration of UCMC libraries and IT, 1995- • Ohio library agencies partnerships, 1995- • Working with Ohio legislators, 1995- • Press conference with Governor in 1996 • Partnering with OSU and Case, 1997- • Working with national legislators, 1997- • Building block for IAIMS Operations Grant, 2003-

20. Why AHC Affiliation for AAHSL? • We offer a strategic advantage to AHCs in the knowledge age • We’re good at strategic collaboration and partnering • We understand how knowledge is used for scholarship and decision-making at all levels of the AHC • We help ensure institutional success by creating efficiencies for others • We don’t make clinical and scientific decisions -- but we can make them better through the value we add • We’re in the *knowledge* business -- not strictly the library or IT business -- and provide an essential bridge

21. Thank you for your attention!