Lucy Webb, MSLIS, Lead Librarian
Aurora Libraries - St. Luke’s Medical Center
Milwaukee, WI

An update on the Aurora Libraries’ recent article in the Journal of Hospital Librarianship about Patient Information Rounds.

As we have continued the project we have discovered that patients are very appreciative of the offer of information. Even if they have no questions at the particular time we visit they repeatedly tell us “what a nice service!” We have also noticed an increase in the number of nurses calling us for information for their patients on days that we have not visited the floors and in calls from patients once they have arrived home. The Aurora Sheboygan Memorial Hospital (Sheboygan, WI) has now overcome their concerns and has invited the librarian to interdisciplinary rounds which sometimes results in visits to patients similar to the Aurora Medical Center-Oshkosh model.

The Aurora Libraries are working on adding a new form using a model based on Michelle Spatz’s program at the Medical Library Association. This form will help focus the patient’s requests for information. We plan to continue the program, and we continue to look for ways to improve.

Abstract: The Aurora Health Care Libraries wanted to reach out to patients in a new way. Inspiration regarding hospital librarians visiting patients on the floors was taken from a Planetree Librarian and from an article written by Librarians at the Englewood Hospital and Medical Center. In the first six months of implementation at Aurora Health Care, November 2004 through April 2005, Patient Information Rounds were well received at three of the Aurora hospitals in which it was proposed. The Rounds remind patients, family members, and nursing floor staff that Librarians are available and experienced at finding reliable, appropriate, and hard-to-locate information to supplement standard patient handouts and instructions.

Strube, K, Hoffmann, ML, Melchiors, A, Egebo, H. Webb, L. Patient Information Rounds in a Hospital System. J Hosp Lib 2006 6(4):13-27.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 7th, 2007 at 12:58 pm and is filed under Consumer Health, News from the Region. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.