Publication/Presentation Date

7-26-2013

Abstract

Capturing the Progress of Lehigh Valley Hospital from Past to Present

Research Scholar: Sarah Martin

Mentor: Kristine Petre

Summary of Experience:

My role at Lehigh Valley Health Network this summer involved working as the Research Scholar in the Library Services department of the hospital. I spent the majority of my time organizing and inputting research from students and hospital newsletters into the institutional repository, known as Scholarly Works.

What is Scholarly Works?

Scholarly Works is an institutional repository provided by LVHN that maintains a collection of scholarly information, including journals, articles, posters, newsletters, or research, that may be of importance to the medical staff. This database houses the history of the hospital, which can provide the staff with the ability to observe the progress that has been made and have insight into the future of medicine. Another feature of this database is that all the documents in Scholarly Works are full-text searchable.

Statistics on Poster:

- Content within the repository.

- Manually entered 2496 items into repository

- Types of newsletters

Focus of Research:

Hospital Newsletters:

I worked on putting a variety of the LVHN Newsletters into the repository, each having something different to offer the hospital including updates on procedures or medications, staff related information, or even statistical reports. I have made the medical and technological progress found in the articles of the newsletters the main focus of my research. For example, it has been amazing to see how much technological progress has been made in the hospital. Using E-Mail previously was described as an unconventional method of communication within the network. Now, technology is being used to train the medical staff and help patients with rehabilitation.

Research Scholar Poster Presentations:

This is the collection in Scholarly Works that I worked on the most. It holds the research posters of Research Scholars dating back to 2001 up until Present Day. Each data entry includes the name of the scholar, the title of their poster, a picture of their research, as well as if they were given an award for their work. Library Services plans to have text from the research poster also available in the repository. This information allows us to see the differences in medical research of students from today compared to over ten years ago.

  • 305 Total Posters entered into the repository

LVHN of the Past:

- 1951 Newsletter:

  • Highlights:
    • Women’s group hand-makes hospital dressings – sewed garments, dressings, and towels.
    • New equipment given to hospital – Oxygen tens and fracture tables.
    • Hospital graduates nurses – Class of 53 women.

Present Day Progress

  • Technology:
    • Simulation Center:
      • Trains medical and nursing students in standard patient care, operating room procedures and protocols, emergency responses, and birthing methods.
      • Involves simulated professional actors, task trainers as well as high-tech mannequins used as the patients.
      • Innovative Rehabilitation:
        • 15 computer games in OmniVR virtual rehabilitation system.
        • “The better they do these tasks, the better they should be able to walk.”
    • Sustainability:
      • Operating Room “green team” – Goal is to recycle or resterilize as much as possible.
      • Cost effective and positive environmental impact.
      • Hospital fleet vehicles that run on compressed natural gas.
    • Diversity:
      • “Bridging the Gap” is a week-long 40-hour course that provides individuals with the opportunity to become medical interpreters.
      • Provides the interpretation needed in the workspace, rise dramatically for Spanish-speaking interpreters.

Department(s)

Library Services, Research Scholars, Research Scholars - Posters

Document Type

Poster

Rights Information

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION ~ When using this image, the credit information should be in the following format: Image courtesy of Lehigh Valley Health Network

Share

COinS