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Dear Wanda Thank you for raising this important question about the implications of patient confidentiality in the context of an “embedded” Clinical Librarian service. Although I don’t have any direct experience of providing such a service, I was interested in learning of the hospital doctors’ response to your presentation on the topic. Perhaps there will be other colleagues on LIS-MEDICAL who can address your question from their own experience. Prompted by your email, I performed a free-text search in the LISA database (Library and Information Science Abstracts), as follows: (“clinical librarian” OR “medical librarian" OR “health librarian” OR “outreach librarian” OR “embedded librarian”) AND confidentiality. This identified only one reference, which wasn’t directly relevant to the clinical librarian role. It does seem remarkable that this important question seems largely unexplored in the professional librarianship literature. Colleagues may be interested to know that I have set up a new Jiscmail list, LIS-NHS, to provide a forum in which to discuss issues such as this in more depth - issues that are specific to librarians working within the context of health service delivery, particularly in the NHS. This question of patient confidentiality seems like one that needs to be explored further. To join LIS-NHS, send an email with: subscribe lis-nhs (in the body of the email) to [log in to unmask] Best wishes, Nina -- Nina Kennedy Information professional, LIS-NHS list owner email: [log in to unmask] On Wed, Feb 1, 2017 at 4:28 AM, Pomeroy, Wanda (Health) < [log in to unmask]> wrote: > Hello colleagues, > > > > I recently gave a Grand Round presentation at our public teaching hospital > on the benefits of a Clinical Librarian working in closer collaboration > with clinicians. I had done a lot of research and reading both in Australia > and overseas – UK and USA. One of the services I said that could be > offered, and was offered by other clinical librarians, was to: > > *“attend ward rounds / clinical meetings where patients are present, at > the point of decision-making, to provide quality, evidence based > information to the clinician.”* > > A couple of doctors raised issues of patient privacy and confidentiality, > and I said I would discuss this further with our Privacy Officer to find > out more. The doctor’s concern involved whether the patient would be > comfortable with another person present on the care team who was not a > clinician or not part of the multidisciplinary team. It is part of SA > Health’s documentation on the *Rights and Responsibilities of Patients > <http://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/8be0bd004324a784bb78fb15eab6e6ef/16002.1+Rights+%26+Responsibilities+A5+Booklet-v11.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=8be0bd004324a784bb78fb15eab6e6ef>* > . > > > > The Privacy Officer said the Hospital would most likely not approve of me > being present with patients in Ward Rounds for privacy, confidentiality and > dignity reason. But I could be present at clinical handover, or “huddles” > where patients were not present. At handover, I was informed, the > clinicians would be talking more about care options and treatments where > research may be required, more so than they would in front of the patient, > as they only spend about 5 minutes per patient. > > > > Has anyone who is running a clinical librarian service ever come across > this particular issue when working with clinicians. How did you deal with > it? Would you be willing to contact me to discuss it? I would be very > grateful. Thank you. > > > > Kind regards, Wanda > > *Wanda Pomeroy* > > *Site Library Manager *Lyell McEwin Hospital > SA Health Library Service > Government of South Australia > > *Tel:* (08) 8133 2207 > > *Front Desk Tel:* (08) 8182 9170 > *Fax:* (08) 8182 9321 > *E-mail:* [log in to unmask] > > > > *HEALTH LIBRARIES: BETTER EVIDENCE : BETTER HEALTH : $9 return for every > dollar invested* > > > > This e-mail may contain confidential information, which also may be > legally privileged. Only the intended recipient(s) may access, use, > distribute or copy this e-mail. If this e-mail is received in error, please > inform the sender by return e-mail and delete the original. If there are > doubts about the validity of this message, please contact the sender by > telephone. It is the recipient's responsibility to check the e-mail and any > attached files for viruses. > > > > [image: > http://dev.health.sa.gov.au/cnahs_dev/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=xfMJDAyibx4%3d&tabid=980&mid=7007] > > > -- -- Nina Kennedy Librarian, LIS-NHS list owner email: [log in to unmask]