Digital Health Information Services (HLTH90020)

This subject provides knowledge and skills to support the work of information service managers, educators and researchers in many health settings. It introduces influences on good practice in health library and information services in the era of digital health. These influences include health informatics, digital health literacy, health research data management, trends in biomedical publishing, and the proliferation of information available in electronic formats, in bibliographic databases and on the Internet.

This subject offers an overview of the demand for information services in the health sciences and healthcare environment, and the diverse health information resources used by researchers, care providers, administrators, patients and members of the public. It gives guidelines for working with medical search terminology, explores the landscape of biomedical literature and provides insights into the significance of evidence-based practice.

This subject runs in partnership with Health Libraries Australia, for new and aspiring health librarians, and is recommended for Australian Library and Information Association members to specialise in this field.

This subject has four major topics and assessable activities:

1. Understanding the Australian healthcare environment, and the related information needs of health information service users. Students conduct a structured interview with a practicing health librarian, health information service manager, or consultant.

2. Navigating major health information producers and products, including availability of and access to resources, planning health information searches and summarising search results. Students prepare a report on analysing a realistic client information need and resolving it using these resources.

3. Becoming an evidence-based practice specialist in the healthcare environment, including applying EBP to continuous quality improvement in a range of healthcare contexts. Students undertake critical appraisal of two research articles relevant to a specific scenario concerning safety and quality of care.

4. Using health knowledge management technologies - e.g. for learning management, research data management, business intelligence and decision-making - including principles and practical considerations for their selection, implementation and evaluation. Students produce a desk assessment of a currently available digital health knowledge management product or service.