Yesterday I learned a new word: 'Informationist.' According to a Wikipedia article The term was coined in 2000 by Davidoff & Florance, so it has only taken nine years to filter through to my blog [is this fast or slow, I ask myself?] and it describes an information speicalist who is embedded in a clinical department in the same way as a dedicated radiologist might serve a team. The National Institutes of Health in America set up a Clinical Informationist Program in 2001 after mistakes in searching the existing literature on an intervention led to the death of a research volunteer.
A PhD in computer science is thought to be a good preparation for the role according to Wikipedia, and duties include teaching Evidence based medicine, Endnote and Manuscript preparation skills.
Some argue that the role is the same as that already performed by Medical Librarians, and it certainly sounds similar to what we currently term "outreach librarians" in England (see my earlier blog on outreach librarians.) There are rumours that the MRC in the UK are discussing introducing the role into planned new research establishments, but funding would only allow a scaled down version of the NIH's scheme, which employs a team of 14 Clinical Informationists attached to 40 departments. See the NIH's bibliography on the subject at the bottom of their Informationists page.
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