Knowledge management session announcement

Knowledge Management in Hospitals: the Librarians Role

This 6-hour workshop will explore how the concepts of knowledge management as applied in the corporate environment could be realized in a hospital/health system. Participants will work together to craft a foundational strategy for adoption of an expanded role for librarians in hospital knowledge sharing efforts to support the clinical environment and its provision of high-quality care.

The purpose of the 6-hour interactive workshop is to:
• Engage participants to explore how a corporate-modeled knowledge management process might be enabled in hospitals.
• Craft a description of an optimal role for medical librarians in knowledge management.
• Share ideal examples of participation in knowledge sharing in hospitals – both traditional and expansive in nature -- from which to build a list of model activities. Tactics currently in the field include: building expertise directories, managing communities of practice, collecting and sharing best practices and stories to support clinical and organizational improvement.
• Draft processes to implement these tactics in hospitals to illustrate an expanded application of the expertise of information professionals, break down silos, share experiences and sustain organizational learning.
• Define how to test this role and measure its impact on the quality and safety of health care.
• Engage participants in testing in order to change and improve the role of librarians as partners in healthcare safety and quality.

Participants should commit to:
• Complete a modest amount of pre-work to prepare for the session (light introductory reading and 30-minute peer-to-peer pre-session interview).
• Engage with others in a positive way to ensure group interaction and consensus building.
• Partner with other participants to run a post-workshop pilot test of tactics described using the Plan-Do-Study Act concept.
• Review a white paper for broad dissemination to inform the profession and hospital leadership about knowledge management as an avenue for utilizing the expertise of the hospital librarian.
• Conduct a pilot project and report back to the group on their successes and “lessons learned” as a component of a learning session to be held in conjunction with the May 2008 MLA meeting in Chicago.

Audience: This session is primarily designed for hospital librarians. It will also interest corporate librarians, knowledge managers and hospital personnel with an interest in doing creative work to contribute to an understanding of how knowledge management can be applied in the acute care setting through modeling hospital corporate culture.

Date and time: Friday, November 16th, 2007 -- 10am to 4pm.

Cost: $20 (to cover working lunch and refreshments for the day).
Payment will be collected on site. Checks should be made out to: Resurrection Health Care.

Location: Our Lady of the Resurrection Medical Center
7th floor conference center
5645 West Addison Street, Chicago, IL 60634
Free parking available

To RSVP by November 5th contact: Beth Carlin, MALS, AHIP, Manager, Library Services
bcarlin@reshealthcare.org

The session will be limited to 30 participants to facilitate effective small group work.

For questions contact: Lorri Zipperer, Cybrarian and meeting facilitator.
Lorri@zpm1.com / 847-328-5075

This project has been funded in whole or in part with Federal funds from the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Contract No. N01-LM-6-3503 with the University of Illinois at Chicago.