Diane M. O'Keefe, Editor Table of ContentsWhere We Came From Where We Came FromAfter listening to discussions at a meeting, I realized that many medical librarians in MDMLG started out in other fields before becoming librarians. Since I had gone straight through high school and college planning to be a librarian, I thought it would be interesting to learn where some of us came from and how our previous careers contributed to our librarianship. I received several stories from colleagues and will share some of them with you. More will follow in the next issue. Maureen LeLacheur contributes: Jean Gilbert wrote: From Sandra Studebaker: As a very young adult, I worked for a brief time in a clerical position for one of the branches of a large public library. The head clerk and I didn’t seem to see eye to eye on alphabetizing of the Mc’s and the Mac’s at the circulation desk. Perhaps that was why I was selected to be tutored in the fine art of book repair on the fourth floor attic of the main library. Later, those book repair skills proved invaluable in a part-time clerical position in a high school library. My next experience in school libraries was at the elementary school level. When the principal of the neighborhood elementary school sought mothers to volunteer in the library, I stepped up to the plate. It wasn’t long before I was supervising the other volunteers, which often meant substituting for a volunteer who might have other priorities. The experience also included engaging the principal in a thorough end-of-school-year inventory of the library books. I next began "hanging out" in academic libraries, first at the community college level, then, following matriculation, in the hallowed halls of a university that catered to commuting students. That staff on the reference desks seemed very knowledgeable and they excelled at pointing. Pointing, self-discovery, and serendipity became the cornerstones of my academic library experience and I became quite adept at finding my way out of the stacks. When friends and family began asking why I was going to college, I eventually settled on a path to librarianship. I obviously had always gravitated to libraries. Plus, I had had all that practical, first-hand experience, both paid and unpaid. Hadn’t I been exposed to the A,B,Cs of alphabetizing, books and copying? Not to mention—in alphabetical order—behavior control (aka "sssssshhhing"), book repair, circulation rules, coffee breaks, collection inventories, library stacks, library volunteers, school principals, Sears subject headings and students at all levels. All that "hanging out" in public, school and academic libraries may have been a contributing factor to my librarianship---in a medical library! Cherrie Mudloff wrote: From Jill Van Buskirk: ............Continued in the next issue! Diane
M. O'Keefe Competency AssessmentWhat are the JCAHO standards and how does the library meet them? Competency is addressed in several of the standards. Some apply to library personnel and some do not. For example RI.1.2.8 Involves assessment and management of pain. This applies to those in clinical areas that need to be educated in pain assessment and management. Another example is PE.1.12 those performing tests have adequate, specific training and orientation to perform the tests and demonstrate satisfactory levels of competence. Once again this does not apply to the library. One of the standards that apply to everyone who works in the hospital is under the Environment of Care. The standard EC.2.8 Personnel have been oriented to and educated about the environment and possess the knowledge and skills to perform their responsibility in the environment. What exactly does this mean and how do you measure competencies? Theses are what we commonly refer to as mandatories. The list of mandatories at Beaumont includes fire safety, electrical safety, disaster/emergency preparedness, hazardous material/right to know, confidentiality, infection control, patient rights, and organizational ethics. We have several ways to assess these. We have videos which employees watch and then sign and date a sheet when the video was seen. We also have learning modules via our intranet which consists of a series of slides and a post test which the employee complete on their own and the date of completion is record in the system under the employee’s identification number. And last under patient rights and organizational ethics we have a document, which each employee must read, and the date it was read and their signature is recorded. There are several standards under the Management of Human Resources section, which apply to competency assessment. These are: HR.3 The leaders ensure that the competence of all staff members is assessed, maintained, demonstrated, and improved continually. HR.4 An orientation process provides initial job training and information and assesses the staff’s ability to fulfill specified responsibilities. HR.4.2 Ongoing in-service and other education and training maintain and improve staff competence. HR.4.3 The hospital regularly collects aggregate data on competence patterns and trends to identify and respond to the staff’s learning needs. And last HR.5 The hospital assesses each staff member’s ability to meet the performance expectations stated in his or her job description. There are three things identifying and assessing competencies for a specific job. First is the job description, which should clearly identify the specific skills the employee needs to have to do the job. Second is the orientation for new employees. This includes the general hospital orientation and the department orientation. The department orientation should include everything the in the department that the employee needs to know to do his or her job. Employee’s should be trained under each item and should initial and date a checklist of when the training was given. The third item is the performance evaluation. This is where you identify what the employee is doing well and where more training is needed. Training can be done one-on-one or be giving an inservice to the whole staff. The method of assessment could be giving a test or in most cases by observation i.e. watching the employee do the job. Everyone asks about age specific competencies. According to JCAHO only those in the clinical areas have to show age specific competencies. Normally those who work in a hospital library only work with adults. So relax you do not have to show age specific competencies. One other standard dealing with competency is IM.4. The necessary expertise and tools are available for the analysis and transformation of data into information. This does not usually involve all library employees. It usually refers to your professional staff. In most organizations training is provided on data gathering methods and statistical analysis. There are classes and workshops where training is given. Once again you would document attendance and observation would be a method of assessment. All that JCAHO wants is for us to show that employees are trained and are competent on the things they need to know work in a hospital and specifically to do their job. Information for this article was taken from the 2000 Joint Commission Videoconference Series "Effective Staff Competency" December 14, 2000. Donna Marshall MDMLG Directory - Future DirectionsI was asked by the Board for a recommendation on how to handle the directory in upcoming years. I was asked to consider formats, the frequency of updates, and whether or not to continue the distribution of binders. It was recommended and the Board agreed that one version of the MDMLG Directory shall be maintained. That version should be the HTML version available on the MDMLG website. The Membership Chair shall be responsible for providing the Webmaster with the initial file for the directory. The Webmaster will be responsible for maintenance and updating. The directory will be updated on a monthly basis. MDMLG will no longer distribute binders for the directory. This recommendation was made for the following reasons:
Gina Hug The Board of MDMLG has recommended that the following changes be made
to the Bylaws:
MDMLG Meeting - April 19, 2001The next MDMLG general membership meeting will be held April 19, 2001 at Bon Secours Cottage Hospital (Bon Secours site). Ann Viviano, Director of Senior Health Services at Mount Clemens General Hospital, will be speaking on community resources for seniors. The MDMLG business meeting will begin at 1:00 p.m. followed by the program at 2:15 p.m. Sue Skoglund Jean Marie Brennan, 1944-2001 Jeannie Brennan finally lost her battle with ovarian cancer on February 23. Her struggle had taken place over the last couple of years, with surgery, chemotherapy, and other treatments. For as long as she could she maintained a work schedule in the library at Harper Hospital. Those of us who attended her funeral mass at Our Lady of Fatima church in Oak Park were able to share in memories of her many activities and her passion for life. We learned that following her undergraduate education at the University of Detroit, she was a special education teacher. Later she became a medical librarian, first at Saratoga Hospital, then at Hutzel Hospital, and finally at Harper Hospital. Her patrons became her friends, communicating on a first name basis. Sr Gretchen Webb provided the eulogy, highlighting her interest in dogs, going to concerts and movies, arranging dinner parties, and golf! The audience laughed at several points when it was noted that her enjoyment was sometimes greater than her skills in golf, for instance. Jeannie really enjoyed gardening and had hoped to travel to England to attend gardening shows. She was a very hospitable person; one event which she enjoyed hosting was a brunch for her friends who participated in the Race for the Cure. Readers of the MDMLG listserv will already know that this year a good-sized contingent of MDMLG members plan to walk in her memory in the Race for the Cure at Comerica Park on April 21. Other memorials suggested include Paws for a Cause or the Capuchin Soup Kitchen. We will miss Jeannie at MDMLG meetings, and we extend our sympathy to her mother and brother who survive her, as well as to her DMC colleagues. Maureen W.
LeLacheur
In Memory of Barbara Coe JohnsonMDMLG mourns the recent passing of Barbara Coe Johnson, a pioneer in the hospital library field. Barbara Johnson came to Detroit in 1956 to assume the Director of Libraries position at Harper Hospital. Barbara was one of the first librarians in the country to have an integrated library, serving everyone in the hospital including the patients. She believed in giving all of her patrons the same level of service. As a librarian she was always completely unselfish about sharing her knowledge with her colleagues and trained many new librarians in the Harper Library. She was an early and respected leader on the local scene where she was a charter member of the union list projects, ILL network, MDMLG, MHSLA and DC3. Her prominence and influence on the national scene culminated in 1975-76 when she served as the first hospital librarian to be elected president of MLA. She also served on its Board of Directors (1968-71) and many of its committees. She was the first hospital librarian to take and pass the MLA certification exam in 1959. She also served on the editorial boards of the MLA Bulletin and the International Nursing Index and as a member of the JCAHO Advisory Committee on Revision of Standards for Hospital Professional Libraries and the ALA Library Services to Patients Project as well as on the Participating Library Advisory Committee for the KOM Region Five Program and the NLM Biomedical Library Review Committee. She served as a consultant to the WSU Library Science Reaccreditation Program and as a consultant on integrated libraries to a number of hospitals across the country since 1956. In addition, she was a frequent speaker at national and regional meetings of MLA, SLA and the National League for Nursing and authored, co-authored or edited a number of journal articles and books. Barbara was also made a fellow of the Medical Library Association in 1987 to honor her outstanding service to the field. She was recommended for this honor by the Metropolitan Detroit Medical Library Group. Barbara Coe Johnson was born in Detroit but left at the age of seven. She studied archeology and ancient Greek at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania and received a B.A. in 1944. She received her library degree from the university of California at Berkeley in 1951 and took the position of Patients’ Librarian at the V.A. Hospital in Palo Alto, CA. After moving to the position of Medical Librarian, she remained until October, 1956 when she returned to Detroit to become Director of Libraries at Harper Hospital. She remained there until her retirement in 1986. Barbara Coe Johnson made invaluable contributions to the field of medical librarianship and was an example of professional leadership to her colleagues in MDMLG for many years. Diane M. O'Keefe AnnouncementsHarper University Hospital, Detroit Medical Center, has an opening for Coordinator, Library Services. Description: Master degree in Library Science required. Three to four years progressively more responsible related experience in a medical library, including experience performing on-line computer database searches. Medical Library Association certification desired. Please respond by mail, e-mail (preferred) or fax to:
Sylvia Graham will be retiring. Her last day at Henry Ford Hospital Sladen Library will be on April 12th.
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