DOI: 10.1097/SCS.0b013e31819d78dc

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PMID: 19305240

Issn Print: 1049-2275

Publication Date: 2009/03/01


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Infometrics, Technometrics, and the Power of the Digital Written Word

Mutaz B. Habal

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Excerpt

As I was strolling in the hospital one day, the librarian whose services I use constantly was waving at me, telling me that this time the demise of the real library is for sure. They are getting rid of all the books and journals, canceling the subscriptions, and changing the library space to a few offices or, as they were called, productive spaces, that is, money-generating spaces. However, there will be 3 computers in the hospital lobby cubby so that interested individuals can look something up related to patient care and can use PubMed and Ovid. That is interesting. It shows again that the businessmen running these institutions think of doctors as practicing a trade by knowing how to carry out certain skills, and all we have to do is repeat it over and over so they can generate the cash-certainly a misconception in the understanding of the profession. We, I mean some of us, let them do that because our leadership is not really leadership; it is directorship, for they are not powerful or empowered over the populace.
A few years back when I was in a leadership position of the staff in another hospital, I was faced with a painful decision. It was decided that the library, which was well endowed, was to be closed and its place changed to a green-making service. Well, to make it short, with the help of a few colleagues, that decision was reversed for a while. A utilization survey revealed that only a handful of surgeons used the library, and that was adequate for persistence. So it was changed in part. The books were kept there, and all the magazines (as they are called) were disposed of.
If we look at most of the physicians who know how to tackle the virtual literature, their percentage of the critical mass is small, but the good sign is, news is that it is rising as the new and younger computer-savvy staff arrive on board and the chronologically older staff are fading slowly. So, in a hospital that is all hot-spotted, it is easy to use the laptop and look up whatever is needed; wireless communication is everywhere. In the past, I had Grateful Med, a software that allowed doctors to communicate with the National Library of Medicine. Now I have Ovid or similar services to see the written words, as well as PubMed that is available globally.
So, we can see the writing on the wall. The future of the journal articles will be all electronic. I had just cancelled one of the journals that I had received and read weekly since my first year in medical school. I received it and read it now online. It is not only laptops but also phones and palm computers that do the same service for us doctors in reviewing the written words. One day, my son said, "Dad, why do you get those journals to read when you rest? You can receive it online, and avoid the clutter and the papers in your office." I now use the wireless system he helped install in the house and can read the electronic journal on day-to-day basis in bed or on the recliner, as well as in the office without lugging big heavy bags filled with reading materials. Only one problem: I cannot read on the beach, but I recently found an MIT grad who had just marketed such technology that can be viewed in bright sunlight, the XO computers.
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