Are Canadian medicine librarians directly supporting medical student health and wellness? A nation-wide survey

Introduction: Students in Undergraduate Medical Education (UGME/UME) programs face a variety of stressors that can impact well-being. To address this, the Committee on Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools (CACMS) mandates that medical schools offer support and programming that promotes student well-being. Academic librarians are accustomed to providing outreach that meets their faculties’ needs. Therefore, the goal of this study was to explore if Canadian undergraduate medical education librarians are supporting medical student wellness at their medical schools, and how they are doing so. Methods: A bilingual, electronic survey containing multiple choice and open-ended questions was distributed across two Canadian health sciences library listservs during the summer of 2020. Librarians supporting UGME/UME programs now or within the last three years were invited to participate. Results: 22 Responses were received, and 17 complete datasets were included in the final results. The majority of respondents have encountered a medical student in distress (n=10) and have adjusted their teaching style or materials to help reduce stress in medical students (n=9). Other initiatives such as resource purchasing, wellness-themed displays, planning wellness-themed events and spaces, and partnerships on campus in support of medical student wellness were less common. Discussion: The data in this study provides evidence that Canadian undergraduate medical education librarians are mindful of medical student well-being, and are taking steps to provide relevant support to this learner group. Librarians could adopt similar initiatives at their libraries to show support for learner wellness, and enhance their programs’ accreditation efforts in this area.

H5P (product review)

H5P is an open-source tool for producing HTML5 content is built with reuse and variety in mind. With it, you can quickly and easily design or adapt different interactive widgets and embed them into a webpage. This is a useful application for anyone who teaches online.

PICO Portal (product review)

PICO Portal is a Web-based systematic review management tool launched in September 2020 to better facilitate collaborative knowledge synthesis in biomedical research. Most notably, it uses machine learning and Natural Language Processing algorithms to continuously refine the screening process by analyzing decisions as made by the review team. PICO Portal was evaluated by researchers with the Health Assessment Technology team at the University of Calgary, who routinely undertake PICO-based systematic reviews, currently using an in-house manual system. The team appreciated many aspects of PICO Portal and felt it held considerable promise to better support the review process. At the same time, they found it wasn’t as user-friendly as expected and would benefit from additional refinement if it is to appeal to a wider range of users, particularly those less familiar with the systematic review process.

Canadian Academics’ use of predatory journals

Introduction Predatory journals have been acknowledged as an increasing concern in the scholarly literature over the last decade, but research on the subject has been sparse. Research that has focused on predatory journals in the Canadian context has been even rarer, and limited to work focused on a single university. This study explores publishing trends in predatory journals by authors affiliated with Canadian Universities. Methods Articles published by authors at 30 Canadian universities, including all universities in the U15, were pulled from select predatory journals. Key data including author affiliation, article type, discipline, and grant information were extracted from the articles. Results All universities in the study were found to have publications in predatory journals. The health sciences accounted for 72% of the publications, and the sciences for 20%. Research articles accounted for 50% of the articles. Opinion, editorial, or commentary pieces accounted for 24% and 19% were review articles. Grant funding was indicated in 34% of the articles, with NSERC and CIHR being top funders. The research-intensive U15 universities were found to publish more in predatory journals than their non-U15 compatriots, even when the universities were of similar size. Discussion Canadian scholars were found to publish in predatory journals, particularly those scholars from the health sciences and research-intensive U15 universities. Grant funding was common, and often came from high profile funders like NSERC and CIHR. This exploratory suggests that policy and education initiatives may be warranted in Canadian contexts, especially in the health sciences and at research-intensive universities.

Systematic review support received and needed by researchers: a survey of libraries supporting Ontario medical schools

Introduction: Finding efficient ways to meet the growing demand for library systematic review support is imperative for facilitating the production of high-quality research. The objectives of this study were threefold: 1) to ascertain the systematic review support provided by health sciences libraries at Ontario medical schools and their affiliated hospitals, 2) to determine the perceived educational needs by researchers at these institutions, and 3) to assess the potential usefulness of freely available, online educational modules for researchers that discuss all stages of the systematic review process. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey in June and July of 2020. Data were analyzed and presented using median and interquartile range (IQR) for continuous measures, and in proportions for categorical measures. Results: Thirteen of 19 libraries invited provided usable data. Most libraries spent more time supporting systematic reviews via collaboration/participation than by providing educational support. The perceived needs of library users were contrary to the perceived gaps in researcher support provided by the library/institution. All libraries reported they would find freely available, online educational modules useful for training researchers. Discussion: The next steps for our inter-professional research team will be to develop freely available, online education modules that introduce researchers to all stages of the systematic review process. These modules cannot replace the value that direct support from librarians, biostatisticians or methodology experts can provide, however, they may offer a more efficient way for libraries to familiarize researchers and trainees with best practices and universally accepted reporting guidelines for performing a high-quality review.

Flipping it online: re-imagining teaching searching for knowledge syntheses

Introduction: This program description outlines our approach to re-developing our 3-part series for graduate students on comprehensive searching for knowledge syntheses from in-person to online delivery using a flipped classroom model. The re-development coincided with our library’s response to COVID-19. Description: This series followed a flipped classroom model where participants completed asynchronous modules built on Articulate Rise 360 before attending a synchronous session. Each week of content covered unique learning objectives. Pre- and post-survey evaluations were used to examine students’ understanding of the materials. Outcomes: 152 unique participants registered for the series across two offerings in summer 2020. We observed high engagement with pre-work modules and active participation during synchronous sessions. Discussion: We found the flipped classroom approach to work well for our users in an online environment. Moving forward, we intend to continue with our re-developed online workshop series with minor modifications, in addition to in-person instruction.