Cool Tools 2022 Spotlight: Airtable

Picture this: I’m opening up an Excel spreadsheet. Contained within are the citations for faculty publications that have been held up from being added to our institutional repository (IR). The reason for the delay? All of them need to have permissions requested from a publisher before we can load a PDF. I’m new to the Scholarly Publishing Librarian position and curious about what this part of the workflow might look like. And then I see that there are over 750 records-in-waiting. My next thought was: how the heck am I going to keep track of what I do to clear these out? There are so many of them! Thankfully, I found a way, and that way was building a lightweight database using Airtable. If you’re dealing with a complicated repository workflow, or do scholarly communications work, this post might be for you. I presented at AALL 2022 about using Airtable for project management, and I’d like to thank LIT-SIS for letting me share a summary here about this cool tool! Not doing IR work? That’s okay too; I believe if you have any workflow where a sequence of steps is relatively predictable but the timeline on which each step can be completed is not, you could build a similar project tracker

Faculty Workshop: Making SSRN Go Further and Going Further Than SSRN

This workshop was hosted by the University of Michigan Law Library and created by Sarah Woloschuk, Scholarly Publishing Librarian. It was presented on June 28 2023. This workshop is primarily intended for faculty who have their works included in the Faculty Publications listing and who would like to: Increase their awareness of how to optimize SSRN metadata and become more visible to potential readers Learn the benefits of including their works in SSRN and the institutional repository Learn what metrics information is available from each platform Provided here is a recording of the workshop presentation, as well as the slide deck with notes and a copy of the handout provided for the interactive component of the workshop.https://repository.law.umich.edu/presentations/1000/thumbnail.jp

Going Global: GIS Day(s) 2020

GIS Day, a traditional drop-in and interactive event to promote and celebrate geospatial technology, is recognized by most if not all OCUL institutions. This year, the event went digital, thanks to Western University Library and several OCUL institututions, organizations, and over 30 volunteers, and 47 presenters.  This article summarizes the planning, delivery and execution of this event.  &nbsp

Cool Tools 2022 Spotlight: Airtable

Picture this: I’m opening up an Excel spreadsheet. Contained within are the citations for faculty publications that have been held up from being added to our institutional repository (IR). The reason for the delay? All of them need to have permissions requested from a publisher before we can load a PDF. I’m new to the Scholarly Publishing Librarian position and curious about what this part of the workflow might look like. And then I see that there are over 750 records-in-waiting. My next thought was: how the heck am I going to keep track of what I do to clear these out? There are so many of them! Thankfully, I found a way, and that way was building a lightweight database using Airtable. If you’re dealing with a complicated repository workflow, or do scholarly communications work, this post might be for you. I presented at AALL 2022 about using Airtable for project management, and I’d like to thank LIT-SIS for letting me share a summary here about this cool tool! Not doing IR work? That’s okay too; I believe if you have any workflow where a sequence of steps is relatively predictable but the timeline on which each step can be completed is not, you could build a similar project tracker

Faculty Workshop: Making SSRN Go Further and Going Further Than SSRN

This workshop was hosted by the University of Michigan Law Library and created by Sarah Woloschuk, Scholarly Publishing Librarian. It was presented on June 28 2023. This workshop is primarily intended for faculty who have their works included in the Faculty Publications listing and who would like to: Increase their awareness of how to optimize SSRN metadata and become more visible to potential readers Learn the benefits of including their works in SSRN and the institutional repository Learn what metrics information is available from each platform Provided here is a recording of the workshop presentation, as well as the slide deck with notes and a copy of the handout provided for the interactive component of the workshop.https://repository.law.umich.edu/presentations/1000/thumbnail.jp

Retrospective Audit of Medication Order Turnaround Time after Implementation of Standardized Definitions

ABSTRACTBackground: Standardizing the interpretation of “stat”, “emergent”, “urgent”, and “now” medication orders can improve patient safety. However, the effect of implementing standardized definitions on the turnaround time for medication orders in hospital pharmacy dispensaries has not been studied.Objectives: To examine the effects of using formal definitions for “stat”, “emergent”, “urgent”, and “now” on turnaround time for medication orders within a pharmacy dispensary.Methods: Definitions for “stat”, “emergent”, “urgent”, and “now” orders, as well as for “turnaround time”, were developed from the formal literature and the grey literature. The definitions were implemented by educating all pharmacy staff. Retrospective audits of turnaround time were conducted at baseline (for all orders over a 1-month period) and after  implementation of the definitions (for a total of 28 days over a 3-month period). Health records and medication orders were used to calculate time from prescribing to administration (total turnaround time) and time from prescribing to departure from the dispensary (dispensary turnaround time). Differences between total and dispensary turnaround times were compared with nonparametric statistics.Results: During the baseline audit period, 84 (1.1%) of 7787 orders were identified as “stat”, “emergent”, “urgent”, or “now”. After implementation of the formal definitions, 142 (2.6%) of 5365 orders were identified by one of these terms. The percentage of orders meeting the target dispensary turnaround time of less than 15 min was at least 90% both at baseline (76/84 [90%]) and after implementation (129/142 [91%]) (p = 0.80). Median dispensary turnaround time for stat and emergent medication orders combined (10 versus 9 min, p = 0.27) and for urgent and now medication orders combined (10 versus 12 min, p = 0.09) did not change after implementation of formal definitions. Similarly, median total turnaround time did not change for stat and emergent medication orders combined (30 versus 45 min, p = 0.32), but it increased for urgent and now orders combined (35 versus 45 min, p = 0.041).Conclusions: Implementing standardized definitions for “stat”, “emergent”, “urgent”, and “now” had no significant effect on dispensary turnaround time. However, the majority of orders with these designations met the expected target for dispensary turnaround time. Further interventions aimed at other health care professionals may be needed to reduce total turnaround time. This research supports the concept of interdisciplinary interventions for reducing total turnaround time.RÉSUMÉContexte : La standardisation de l’interprétation des termes « stat », « emergent », « urgent » et « now » pour qualifier le degré d’urgence des ordonnances de médicaments peut améliorer la sécurité des patients. Cependant, l’effet de la mise en place de définitions standardisées sur le délai d’exécution des ordonnances de médicaments dans les pharmacies d’hôpitaux n’a pas été étudié.Objectifs : Analyser les effets de l’utilisation de définitions standardisées des termes « stat », « emergent », « urgent » et « now » sur le délai d’exécution des ordonnances de médicaments au sein d’un service de pharmacie d’hôpital.Méthodes : Une définition des termes « stat », « emergent », « urgent » et « now » utilisés sur les ordonnances, de même que de « délai d’exécution » a été établie à partir de la documentation officielle ainsi que de la documentation parallèle. La définition de ces termes a été mise en oeuvre au moyen d’une formation de tout le personnel de la pharmacie. Des vérifications rétrospectives des délais d’exécution ont été menées avant (pour toutes les ordonnances sur une période d’un mois) et après la mise en oeuvre des définitions (pour un total de 28 jours sur une période de trois mois). Les dossiers médicaux et les ordonnances de médicaments ont été utilisés pour calculer le temps écoulé entre la rédaction de l’ordonnance jusqu’à l’administration du médicament (délai total d’exécution) et le temps écoulé entre la rédaction de l’ordonnance et le moment où le médicament quitte la pharmacie de l’hôpital (délai d’exécution par la pharmacie de l’hôpital). Les différences entre le délai total d’exécution et le délai d’exécution par la pharmacie de l’hôpital ont été comparées au moyen de statistiques non paramétriques.Résultats : Durant la période initiale de vérification, 84 (1,1 %) des 7787 ordonnances ont été qualifiées de «« stat », « emergent », « urgent » ou « now ». Après la mise en oeuvre des définitions standardisées, 142 (2,6 %) des 5365 ordonnances ont satisfait la définition d’un de ces termes. Le pourcentage d’ordonnances exécutées par la pharmacie de l’hôpital dans le délai prévu de moins de 15 minutes était d’au moins 90 % pour les vérifications avant (76/84 ou 90 %) et après la mise en oeuvre des définitions standardisées (129/142 ou 91 %) (p = 0,80). Le délai médian d’exécution par la pharmacie de l’hôpital des ordonnances « stat » et « emergent » combinées (10 contre 9 min, p = 0,27) et des ordonnances « urgent » et «  now » combinées (10 contre 12 min, p = 0,09) n’a pas changé après la mise en oeuvre des définitions standardisées. De même, le délai d’exécution total médian n’a pas changé pour les ordonnances « stat » et « emergent » combinées (30 contre 45 min, p = 0,32), mais a augmenté pour les ordonnances « urgent » et « now » combinées (35 contre 45 min, p = 0,041).Conclusions : La mise en oeuvre de définitions standardisées pour les ordonnances « stat », « emergent », « urgent » et « now » n’a pas eu d’influence considérable sur le délai d’exécution par la pharmacie de l’hôpital. En revanche, la majorité des ordonnances ainsi désignées ont été exécutées par la pharmacie de l’hôpital dans le délai prévu. D’autres interventions ciblant d’autres professionnels de la santé pourraient être nécessaires pour réduire le délai total d’exécution. Cette recherche confirme le concept d’interventions interdisciplinaires pour réduire le délai total d’exécution