Knowledge Management
Synopsis
Knowledge Management (KM), with a staff of 23, provides high-level data and knowledge
organization skills to optimize the enterprise clinical, research, and educational initiatives.
Collaborating with clinicians and researchers, highly trained information specialists embed best
practices in organizing, structuring and reusing the institution’s knowledge. The information
specialists that constitute the Knowledge Management team, in addition to their unique expertise
in library and information science, also hold deep knowledge and expertise in the areas of adult
learning, molecular biology, public health, pharmacology and communication. Current
knowledge management services include expert genetics/molecular biology information
assistance to support biomedical research and in-depth clinical evidence to inform the
development of local and national patient care guidelines.
Evidence-based Practice Support. The Knowledge Management team employs a matrix of
strategies to foster evidence-based medicine (EBM) practice. The team provides access to a list
of commercial evidence-based databases through the Digital Library. This list encompasses
critical resources such as UpToDate®; Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Review of
Effects, and Register of Controlled Trials; ACP Journal Club; and links to globally accessible
EBM resources such as the National Guideline Clearinghouse™. The Digital Library also
features KM’s internally-developed EBM databases such as the Clinical Informatics Consult
Service (CICS) Evidence Based Site, which houses evidence syntheses created in response to
complex clinical queries, and the Pathway/Order Set Literature Locator, which contains expert
search strategies and summaries of literature to support evidence-based development of
standardized clinical practice. Access to key National Center for Biotechnology Information
resources including PubMed, GenBank™, Entrez Gene ™, Map Viewer™ and OMIM™, as
well as others such as PharmGKB, Protein Data Bank (PDB), UCSC Genome Browser, Database
of Genomic Variants (DGV), OpenHelix, and TRANSFAC is available throughout the Medical
Center. In addition, the Medical Center information systems are accessible via the Digital
Library.
Clinical Programs and Services Facilitator. The Knowledge Management team is committed
to service, and its most important resource is the expertise of its staff. Information specialists
help students, residents and faculty stay abreast of the latest findings in the literature by actively
participating on clinical rounds and providing targeted support to researchers. In addition to
working as clinical and research informationists, KM information specialists participate in
multidisciplinary teams throughout the Medical Center, supporting a variety of programs such as
pathways/order sets development, the Institutional Review Board (IRB), and a variety of patient
information services. KM team members contribute vetted personalized patient information links
addressing diseases/conditions and lab findings/vital signs to the Medical Center’s online patient
portal, MyHealthAtVanderbilt, and the medical center’s electronic medical record system,
StarPanel. KM assistance with comprehensive literature reviews is available to researchers
developing IRB protocols, and to IRB protocol analysts.
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The Knowledge Management team has also been an integral part of Vanderbilt’s AHRQ-funded
Evidence Based Practice Center (EPC) since its inception in 2007 to develop topics for
comparative effectiveness review and authoring systematic reviews to evaluate evidence on
various health topics. The team has been participating throughout the systematic review process,
including authoring content in the final report.
To support Vanderbilt’s Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA), the KM team
provides expert training and consultation for requests received through StarBRITE: Biomedical
Research Integration, Translation and Education online system, a one-stop shop for VUMC
researchers in need of regulatory, study design, biostatistics, technology, or other support, such
as location of data on known single nucleotide polymorphisms (from dbSNP, OMIM,
HGVbaseG2P, and other databases) detected via Vanderbilt’s DNA Databank.
Research Institution. Knowledge Management’s research interests include integrating
evidence into the patient care and research workflow using informatics applications; assessing
various stakeholder groups' interaction with health information; education, skills development,
and leadership development of information professionals; optimal selection and use of
information resources; health literacy projects and interventions; organizational knowledge
management; and digital library development. Recently funded research projects include: Using
Patient Literacy Levels and Learning Style Preferences to Optimize the Delivery of Health
Information (IMLS LG-06-10-0186-10). By integrating both literacy levels and learning style
preferences to improve the usefulness of condition-specific health information provided to
patients during healthcare encounters, this research project will establish an infrastructure for
developing customized information prescriptions that can be broadly adapted for use in varied
care settings and with varied health conditions.
Toward Personalized Medicine. The Knowledge Management team aims to advance the
knowledgebase and capacities of VUMC for its personalized medicine missions. KM
information scientists provide training to VUMC personnel and research community on
pharmacogenetics and personalized medicine concepts and resources. In addition to group
training, KM information scientists also offer drop-in office hours for VUMC practitioners,
researchers, and students to gain assistance for using in-depth genetics and molecular biology
databases. The scientists also participate in VUMC’s Diagnostic Management Team (DMT) to
provide pharmacogenetics consultation services and informational support including the
development of a knowledge base tailored for the information need of the DMT.
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