The NER will fund a new Knowledge Management project proposal from the Clinical and Academic Resource Center at Maine Medical Center (MMC) in Portland, ME.  The Medical Library at Maine Medical Center is currently a pilot project participant in the NER’s Regional KM Initiative.  At the core of the initiative lies a 5-year strategic plan to help develop and transition from traditional hospital libraries to more broadly defined healthcare knowledge services centers (HKSCs).

This additional project represents Stage Two of Maine Medical Center Library’s Knowledge Management Pilot. Their initial Knowledge Management project created a repository of locally generated research, clinical and academic content.  That award funded an environmental scan, product development, staff and workflow design to implement this new service. The Library partnered with the Sports Medicine program to gather content, survey user needs and test repository software.

The second phase of the Knowledge Management project will expand the content area, and gather current practices and processes from MMC’s Research Institute. From their conduct of an environmental scan, it was learned that the Research Institute had been gathering content for principal investigators and other departments on an “as needed” basis. This second project will allow the Library to work closely with the Research Institute, extending the Library’s knowledge of content areas, while expanding their influence to standardize practice across the institution.

The HLAG (Hospital Library Advisory Group) held a meeting to discuss several issues pertaining to hospital libraries as well as to receive updates from individual KM (Knowledge Management) pilot projects taking place in the region.

For issues, HLAG members provided comments on the feasibility of regional consortial purchasing as well as on the limited role the NER could play.  The group also discussed suggestions on developing a future program to showcase KM pilot projects.

As for project updates, the group heard from Anne Fladger, who is currently funded project for the Rehabilitation Services Department at Brigham & Women’s Hospital.  Anne is working on a project to digitize the “standards of care” for the Rehab Services Department.

Gary Strubel from Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington filled us in on a current project to completely transform the library function into a knowledge services center.   Gary will continue to look out for additional opportunities to help the library through its transition to a knowledge services center.

And finally, Dina McKelvy from Maine Medical Center in Portland, ME, filled us in on a current project to create a repository of academic, research-oriented materials for the Sports Medicine Department.  Dina will do a lightning presentation at NAHSL’12 later this October, and is preparing to work on a poster to be presented at MLA’13 next May.

Please stay tuned for more updates down the road!