"Mini-Medical School for Librarians": from needs assessment to educational outcomes

This study evaluates the outcomes of the "Mini-Medical School for Librarians" or "Medical School Experience," a continuing education symposium designed to improve librarians' understanding of medicine and medical education.

The subjects are the symposium participants, a group that consisted of fifty-eight medical librarians and other information professionals.

Pre- and post-symposium self-evaluation surveys gauged participants' self-assessed confidence with the course content. A follow-up survey was administered six months after the symposium. A learning action plan recorded both the intended and actual applications of course content to professional settings.

T-test analysis of paired pre- and post-symposium responses reveal a significant positive change in the mean self-assessed confidence with course content immediately following the symposium. Pairings of post-symposium and follow-up survey responses indicate a slight reversal in attendees' confidence in the months following the symposium, but pairings of pre-symposium and follow-up survey results demonstrate that the longitudinal impact of the program on self-assessed confidence with course content was positive and significant. Analysis of the learning action plan revealed a disparity in how participants planned to use the information they learned in the course and how they actually used it.

Continuing education programs that address the content and structure of medicine can be an effective means by which to inform both the novice's and mid-career medical librarian's understanding of medicine and medical education.