The library is one of my favorite places. And why shouldn’t it be? There are centuries of knowledge in those dusty books. It was at the library that Sister Mary taught me how to use Boolean logic to find sources for my research papers, unveiling a plethora of sources for my history paper on pirates. If the loss of a library in Alexandria, Egypt could result in the dark ages, then surely a library visit could shed some light on the mysteries I was trying to solve?
Likewise, healthcare professionals across the nation must repeatedly ask “What was done in the past?” If we don’t know what was done in the past, we are in the dark, blindly searching for an answer that was already discovered.
So before we start planning any changes in our processes, we need to know what was done in the past. As soon as an issue is brought up, it is a relief to know that there are experts all over the world who study common problems in healthcare and recommend evidence-based solutions for exactly the issues that our facilities experience. Even the ability to review existing policies can reduce errors and delays. That is why existing research is one of the three tenets of a thorough data program.
By Gayle Porter
