Angela Smith; Daniel McDonald

With COVID again interrupting plans for an annual face to face Professional Development (PD) event, the small PD committee focused efforts on planning a program of online workshops and activities for 2021. 

The Automation Tools for Systematic Searching workshops run by Justin Clark were consistently sold-out this year. Demand for professional development in the systematic searching area continues to be high. In addition to Justin’s workshops, we were fortunate enough to be able to offer both webinar and small group workshops on systematic searching which were presented by expert searcher Wichor Bramer. Wichor, who is based in Rotterdam at Erasmus MC, publishes regularly on systematic review methodology as well as co-authoring many systematic reviews with colleagues.

Our Lunchtime Smorgasbord sessions proved very popular with over 100 attendees per session. Steve McDonald kicked off the inaugural event taking attendees through the PRISMA 2020 guidelines and important changes relevant to health librarians supporting clients with systematic and other reviews. 

The June Smorgasboard session focused on Research Services with presentations provided by our colleagues Sally French, Gemma Siemensma, Beth Flack, Debbie Booth and Suzanne Lewis. Topics ranged from Registered Reports, research profiles, bibliometric and organisational impact, digital archives and the Librarian’s role on HREC. 

The July Smorgasboard event, All Things Open, was run over two sessions and generated a lot of interest. Catherine Clark (CAUL) and Ginny Barbour (Open Access Australia) co-presented on the work they have been doing at a national level to progress an open research strategy. Danny Kingsley (ANU) challenged the audience to consider the issues associated with identifying and acquiring the skills needed in scholarly communication. Lisa Kruesi presented her research into a conceptual Australasian biomedical repository from a knowledge management perspective. The second session focussed on open educational resources and practices, open research data and FAIR Principles and OA in health libraries with Kate Davis (CAUL), Fiona Salisbury (LaTrobe/CAUL), Julie Toohey (Griffith University) and Cheryl Hamill (Library & Information Service, South Metro Health Service, WA).

Marketing was the theme for our Smorgasbord event in August. Thanks to Fiona Jensen (Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service), Katya Henry and Rani McLennan (QUT), Tanja Ivacic-Ramljak (Monash), Blair Kelly (Deakin) and Barry Nunn (Northern Sydney LHD) who covered topics like copyright, social media marketing, market analysis and marketing skills for health libraries and librarians.

We were fortunate to secure the services of Renee Otmar to run Designing Posters and Infographics workshops in the second half of the year. These workshops focussed on teaching librarians how to conceptualise, design and present a poster or infographic to communicate key information in engaging ways. 

The My Health Record workshops were run throughout the year in conjunction with the Australian Digital Health Agency. These important workshops provided participants with an opportunity to learn more about the “My Health Record” from both the public or consumer perspective and the healthcare provider perspective. A more detailed description of this program is provided below. 

I’d like to thank the Professional Development Portfolio committee for their assistance in developing what proved to be an engaging and informative series of events for 2021. I’d like to thank all those that attended workshops and sessions this year. 2022 is shaping up to be a year that combines online events and with a bit of luck some face-to-face offerings as well. Look out for our PD calendar announcements in early 2022. I hope you all enjoy a well-deserved break over the Christmas period. Thank you for your continued support of HLA events and activities.

~Angela

Health Libraries Australia and My Health Record

From 2019-2021, ALIA, the Australian Public Library Alliance and Health Libraries Australia (HLA) have been funded by the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) to deliver consumer health education programs through libraries. Health Libraries Australia has made varied contributions to these efforts. Initially several hospital-based librarians attended the “train the trainer” sessions which were coordinated by the State Library of Queensland (SLQ) and delivered in numerous public library settings. Having a health librarian attend these full-day workshops allowed for a different perspective on health information and consumer health to be in the mix. It also allowed health librarians to meet with public library colleagues and explore the potential for collaboration on programs. Fiona Jensen, librarian from Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service, describes attending one such session in the first issue of the first volume of the Journal of Health Information and Libraries Australasia.  

In addition to these “train-the-trainer” sessions, and the subsequent online modules delivered to many public library staff across Australia, it was felt that “My Health Record” education sessions targeted more specifically for library staff working in the healthcare sector could be beneficial. After piloting a proof-of-concept test event among executive members of HLA, four 90 minute sessions were held in June, July, August and September of 2021. These were delivered via zoom. Each session offered the same content, but took on its own characteristics depending on the questions asked. Daniel McDonald or Ann Ritchie from HLA “hosted” each event, providing introductory remarks and coordinating the Q&A. The bulk of each presentation was delivered by Briana Meawad, adoption lead and educator with the ADHA. The unique element of the content Briana covered, and how it differed from that which was delivered by SLQ, was that this training addressed “My Health Record” from both the public or consumer perspective and also the healthcare provider perspective. This allowed attendees to more fully appreciate how “My Health Record” is used across the care continuum. It also reflects the unique position health-oriented librarians occupy at times in serving the information needs of clinicians while also considering the health literacy needs of the broader communities in which they are situated. It is hoped this more comprehensive overview of “My Health Record” will allow attendees and their colleagues to tailor local solutions to improving awareness and understanding of “My Health Record” among the clinicians and communities they serve.

Each session was free to attend. Moreover, a support pack of “My Health Record” and digital health literacy resources was offered to all those attending. Funding from the ADHA grant was used to purchase these resources. Across the four sessions 102 people registered to attend. Tables 1 and 2 depict more details about the participants.

Feedback regarding the sessions was very positive overall. All bar one participant providing feedback rated the session overall either very good or excellent. All bar one participant either agreed or strongly agreed that they understood the main features and functionality of the digital health tools described in the session. All participants either agreed or strongly agreed that they feel more confident in addressing stakeholder questions about the digital health tools described in the session.

Each of the sessions had very lively questions and discussions. The presenter, Briana, commented how engaged the audience always was and how much she enjoyed presenting to the HLA group. A selection of indicative additional comments from participants left in the feedback include:

•          It was a good session and very useful thanks.

•          Thank you for making this available and live so that we could have immediate interaction.

•          Nice, clear and well paced session. Presenter was very knowledgeable.

•          I was hitherto unaware of access codes or that I could upload records to my own file so this training was enormously helpful.

•          Thank you for organising this session. It's a year since I did the training so it was useful to learn about more recent changes and issues.

•          Even though I don't work in the health area, and was not sure if I should activate a My Health Record, I found the presentation answers my questions. I am glad that the presentation will be available so I can share with my work colleague what My Health Record is all about.

•          The information provided identified more questions and has encouraged me to read the relevant legislation. I am concerned that it is assumed that everyone has easy access to online resources.

This suite of training has been very successful in upskilling health-oriented librarians about “My Health Record” and where it fits in the broader digital health landscape. It is anticipated that health librarians will continue to adopt and adapt and articulate the tools and strategies of digital health as it becomes a more integrated part of Australian healthcare.