Vision, Mission, Goals

Improving Access to Knowledge for BC's Health Students & Professionals

e-HLbc's Vision

To provide the entire British Columbia academic and health care community with province-wide, consistent, high quality, cost-effective, equitable, and easily accessible health library resources that will support and improve practice, education, and research.

e-HLbc's Mission

To build a consortium for collaboration, support, training, and for the sharing of information resources that will foster cross-sectoral collaboration in the selection, acquisition, and management of BC's e-library health information resources.

e-HLbc's Goals

Improve Health Outcomes and Enhance the Quality of Care:
A major goal of the e-HLbc is to increase knowledge of current health research by health care practitioners, policy-makers, research scientists, health educators, and students across BC. Professionals are challenged to obtain the substantial knowledge required to remain current, given rapid advances in diagnostic and treatment protocols and related technology. Facilitating access to up-to-date information will enable health professionals to better do their jobs -- to provide patient care that is evidence-based, to develop programs that improve health outcomes, to teach students best practices, and to reinforce quality care.

Recruit and Retain Health Professionals:
Successful recruitment and retention of health professionals is key to ensuring quality care. While there is a global health human resource shortage, it is particularly challenging in rural and remote areas. Providing province-wide access to electronic health resources is one strategy to assure health professionals that they will be able to remain at the forefront of their practice, despite the fact that they are geographically removed from major population centres.

Meet the Needs of the Expanded Medical Program:
Since January 2005, the University of Northern BC and the University of Victoria have been training medical students. While classroom learning will largely occur at the university sites, clinical learning will occur at hospitals throughout the province. The students will require access to the same research and study materials as students in Vancouver in order to complete their coursework. Critical to the success of the medical education program will be the ability to assure these students and clinical faculty that province-wide access to electronic health information is available.

Support Student Learning Across the Province:
In addition to expansion in the medical program, there has been and will continue to be an increasing number of seats in several other health sciences programs in BC post-secondary education institutions. This will generate a need for greater capacity for student placements in all health disciplines. To meet this need, placements will be provided in new settings -- across the continuum of care and across the province. Students and clinical faculty in these settings will require access to the same research and study materials as their counterparts in the traditional urban acute care settings. Providing province-wide access to electronic health information will facilitate creating a consistent and uniform approach across the health authorities for supporting health sciences students.

Support Health Research:
The past several years have seen significant growth in health research in BC. A province-wide electronic health library will firmly anchor BC's information infrastructure, act as a catalyst to attract researchers and students, stimulate investment, nurture lifelong learning, and foster further growth of research in BC.