Bringing the Evidence to the Table

Abstract Patient care quality, safety, and cost-effectiveness must be blended in today's health care. Health systems nationwide have launched Care Redesign initiatives in response to new financial pressures, including health-care reform, unexpanded Medicaid, and market competition. At Duke Health, librarians are embedded in multidisciplinary Care Redesign teams to ensure the integration of the best available evidence throughout the process. Librarians provide high-level evidence and answer research questions on clinical, financial, operational, and market topics. Librarians select supporting literature based on the highest level of evidence available; for some questions, no evidence exists. Because of this work, the Library has a higher profile in hospital management and is a partner in administrative quality improvement. This chapter will provide an overview of Care Redesign generally, explain how the librarians at this institution work with teams, and offer ideas for how librarians at other institutions can get involved with their own institutional efforts.