Is There an App for That? Are Medical Apps Helpful to Clinical Librarians?

摘要

Clustered in the hallway of patient care floor in a hospital, a group of white-coated clinicians discuss a new overnight admission. The patient, the intern reports, presented with acute melena that was later confirmed to be caused by bleeding gastric varices. The problem, however, is that the patient has severe atrial fibrillation, a past history of stroke, and is being anticoagulated for secondary stroke prevention. The intern wants to know: How do we manage this? The attending thinks aloud about balancing the risk of an additional stroke with getting the bleeding under control. He's unsure and wonders if there is any literature on managing this situation. Suddenly, all eyes are on the clinical librarian standing at the ready, iPad in hand. But what resource should be consulted first?