title: Bringing evidence to practice: a team approach to teaching skills required for an informationist role in evidence-based clinical and public health practice.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objectives were (1) to develop an academic, graduate-level course designed for information professionals seeking to bring evidence to clinical medicine and public health practice and to address, in the course approach, the "real-world" time constraints of these domains and (2) to further specify and realize identified elements of the "informationist" concept.
  
  
  METHODS
  The course took place at the Division of Health Sciences Informatics, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University.
  
  
  METHODS
  A multidisciplinary faculty, selected for their expertise in the course core competencies, and three students, two post-graduate National Library of Medicine (NLM) informationist fellows and one NLM second-year associate, participated in the research.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 1.5-credit, graduate-level course, "Informationist Seminar: Bringing the Evidence to Practice," was offered in October to December 2006. In this team-taught course, a series of lectures by course faculty and panel discussions involving outside experts were combined with in-class discussion, homework exercises, and a major project that involved choosing and answering, in both oral and written form, a real-world question based on a case scenario in clinical or public health practice.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This course represents an approach that could be replicated in other academic health centers with similar pools of expertise. Ongoing journal clubs that reiterate the question-and-answer process with new questions derived from clinical and public health practice and incorporate peer review and faculty mentoring would reinforce the skills acquired in the seminar.
authors.affiliation: Welch Medical Library and Division of Health Sciences Informatics, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, 1900 East Monument Street, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA. koliver@jhmi.edu
authors.forename: Kathleen Burr
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Oliver
authors.forename: Prudence
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dalrymple
authors.forename: Harold P
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Lehmann
authors.forename: Deborah Ann
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: McClellan
authors.forename: Karen A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Twose
mesh_terms: D015142:Baltimore; D003479:Curriculum; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007255:Information Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D024382:Professional Role; D011634:Public Health / Q000193:education*; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration