Clinical Librarian Support for Rapid Review of Clinical Utility of Cancer Molecular Biomarkers

Abstract

The clinical librarian used a restricted literature searching and quality-filtering approach to provide relevant clinical evidence for the use of cancer molecular biomarkers by institutional policy makers and clinicians in the rapid review process. The librarian-provided evidence was compared with the cited references in the institutional molecular biomarker algorithm. The overall incorporation rate of the librarian-provided references into the algorithm was above 80%. This study suggests the usefulness of clinical librarian expertise for clinical practice. The searching and filtering methods for high-level evidence can be adopted by information professionals who are involved in the rapid literature review.

KEYWORDS:

• Cancer
• librarian
• literature searching
• molecular biomarkers
• rapid review

We would like to thank Dr. Lee Cheng from the Department of Clinical Effectiveness for his advice and comments. We also appreciate the editorial suggestions, queries, and comments from Dr. Jill Delsigne from the Department of Scientific Publication.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yimin Geng

Yimin Geng, MS, MSLIS ([email protected]) is Clinical Librarian

Clara S. Fowler

Clara S. Fowler, MSLS ([email protected]) is Manager of Research Service

Stephanie Fulton

Stephanie Fulton, MSIS ([email protected]) is Executive Director; all at the Research Medical Library, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1400 Pressler Street, Houston, TX 77030.