I have a BS in biology and an MLIS, and my education has served me well so far. However, I am not educated in medicine, and that has been something of a stumbling block for me in my outreach work.

The outreach I do as part of my job is targeted to healthcare professionals in several rural counties. I need to communicate with them about their information needs in a way that is easy for them to understand in the context of their everyday work. But not being a healthcare professional myself, it can be challenging to know how to relate information resources and behaviors to their practice.

This is an especially critical problem to solve because of the increasing influence of evidence-based practice. Healthcare providers are expected to combine current evidence, patient needs, and clinical experience to deliver safe and quality care. I try to help them with the evidence part of that triad, as they seek reliable and applicable literature to make care decisions.

But this world is almost entirely foreign to me. I’ve never been to medical school or worked in a hospital. I’m not familiar with the specialized vocabulary or the workplace culture. I don’t share a lot of common experience with the population that I’m trying to help.

I’ve found that the best solutions are time and honesty. I’ve spent almost a year working as a medical librarian of some sort, and my understanding of the healthcare world has improved dramatically. Every time I look up an unfamiliar term or concept from a conversation or query, my knowledge base grows. And if I still have questions, asking for more information always helps. I heard this quote in library school, and I think about it all the time during my outreach work – “I may not know everything, but I can found out anything”.