Conducting Focused Outreach with Patient Populations

Abstract

Hospital librarians working with patient populations will be encouraged by a recent publication that supports their involvement with the patient experience. The article, “Involvement of information professionals in patient- and family-centered care initiatives: a scoping review” published in the Journal of Medical Librarianship, states that burgeoning efforts in participatory care and the inclusion of patients in the decision-making process pose a unique opportunity for librarians and information professionals to offer more personalized information services. The authors collected data on patient- and family-centered care programs that included the direct participation of a consumer health librarian or other information professional. Librarians interested in increasing their services to patients will find Focused Outreach techniques useful. What follows is an explanation of Focused Outreach techniques developed by the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, New England Region. This includes a description of the techniques employed in community outreach projects, as well as suggestions as to the application of these techniques for hospital librarians interested in working with patient populations.