October celebrates medical librarians

By Elysia Conner
Thursday, October 22, 2009 10:23 PM MDT

Forget about pulled-up hair secured by a pencil. And medical librarian Nicole Cormia hasn’t “shushed” anyone while peering over a pair of spectacles.

She’s too busy keeping up with the fast pace of the Wyoming Medical Center Health Sciences Library.

October is National Medical Librarian Month, a fact only a little less known than the library itself, nestled in the main floor of Wyoming Medical Center.

But physicians and other hospital personnel rely on it for everything from finding the latest health care information to preparing presentations.

Some people were surprised that the adventurous Cormia, who has enjoyed sky-diving, been in the military and was a gymnast and sprinter would find working in a library much fun.

The “fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat kind of exciting” is what appealed to her about many of her interests, like the ice-hockey team she plays on.

But there is so much to do and so much to learn, she said, that it is exciting.

Keeping up intellectually with the new technology medical advancements keeps her stimulated. Despite stereotypes, it’s not a silent or dull job.

On the cutting edge of technology and medical research

The one-person library does everything any other kind of library does, except maybe story time. Actually, she legally can’t read information to a hospital patient lest it be inferred as medical advice.

But she does sometimes help the hospital provide information patients or their families need to understand a medical issue.

Cormia shelves and checks books in and out and organizes the collection using the National Library of Medicine Classification system rather than Dewey Decimal System.

She also manages inter-library loans and catalogues materials into the database.

A current project is entering electronic medical texts on the book catalogue so patrons can see what texts are available electronically and where they can find items either in print or on a database. She also organizes and manages the collection, weeds out the old and orders new.

“For our size hospital we have an amazing amount of resources that we invest in,” Cormia said. She hears compliments all the time from medical professionals from all over, Cormia said, and not all hospitals are lucky enough to have such an advantage.

Health professionals not associated with WMC in the community and around the state also conduct research from the library on site and remotely. It also is available to all hospital employees.

The first thing Cormia does in the morning is check her phone messages and e-mail for urgent requests.

Most are for evidence-based practices for particular procedures or a set of symptoms and background.

“You wonder why are they asking me that if they’re clinical,” said Cormia, who has master’s degrees in library science specifically in medical research and also in health studies.

“Well, there are lots of new procedures and so many new things that come up.” She saves them time so that they can tend to patients. “I have time, all I do all day long is do research for people.”

Physicians attending a conference once called to request an article to answer a question. They told her that she made them look good because they were able to get the correct answer during a 15-minute break.

Doctors might, for example, need an article they remember to find treatment options for a patient if what they tried isn’t working.

Most of the day, Cormia checks for requests, researches and helps people learn how to use resources.

She has also daily and weekly tasks from her department and several committees as well.

Staying on top of library technology she evaluates database contracts they subscribe to and investigates options.

If a new and better database offers better resources for the facility, she passes that on to clinical staff to let them decide if it fits their needs.

Like most libraries, the move to online resources has been underway for some time.

“This is a small-print journal collection here,” she said pointing to the periodicals on the shelves. There are thousands electronically available at physician’s fingertips.

The librarian totes an MP3 player, a digital organizer and other gadgets and loves upgrading the library resources.

Rather than a book on the bookshelf being unavailable when it is checked out, she noted, several people can access the same text at once without even having to come to the library.

Making a difference

In the nine years she has worked as the WMC librarian, she has seen her work bring positive changes.

The research she did for a hand-hygiene committee led to positive changes in the way WMC made on practice patters of hand hygiene.

The committee pursued “Magnet” status, a recognition program through the American Nursing Credentialing Center. The program recognizes hospitals with nursing services that promote positive patient outcome.

For the committee seeking Magnet status, everyone had their role in helping. One of the things she could so was to find the evidence they needed to help them meet the criteria. Sometimes she researches cost comparison for equipment.

Besides her usual duties, Cormia often is asked questions about the community or things she generally does not access.

She then communicates with other libraries like the Natrona County Public Library to find the information or refers people to them.

“It’s a friendly and open community” she said about the Casper College and public libraries.

Working alone much of the time has advantages but sometimes feels isolating to the people-oriented worker. Her nature drives her to keep in touch with what people are looking for and feel more of a sense of community within her job.

Cormia enjoys every chance to lead workshops in the hospital or community and or go teach faculty to use databases, the Internet and other resources.

“One of the most rewarding things is feeling that I’m making a difference and helping people,” Cormia said. “The current evidence I provide has in the past helped the physician or the nurse improve the patient outcomes.”

When that happens, it kind of feels like her team just slammed the puck into the net.

“Indirectly, I have been like the goalie-assist,” she said. “Maybe I didn’t score the goal but I assisted!”

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