[December 18, 2012]

Over Half of Medical Information Departments House Library Service Functions

Although medical information teams' primary responsibilities revolve around responding to unsolicited inquiries, many take on peripheral tasks. A significant amount of medical information teams take on library services responsibilities to increase the research process's efficiency.

Cutting Edge Information's recent study, "Medical Information Teams and Call Center Management" found that medical information teams frequently oversee library services. In fact, 57% of surveyed companies house their library services function within medical information.

"The library services function is often critical to medical information teams' workflow," said Ryan McGuire, research team leader at Cutting Edge Information. "During regulatory filing periods, it can be a lot of work for the few people in regulatory affairs or medical affairs departments conducing their own searches. Housing library services under the medical information group encourages more efficient multi-tasking."

In this study, research analysts found that not all organizations had equivalent library services. Company size plays a significant role in determining what library services responsibilities that medical information teams take on. For example, one small medical information team, consisting of 2 FTEs, is responsible for library services and conducts literature searches for the entire organization. Another small company outsources their library services, but manages its vendor though the medical information department. At the other extreme, some large pharmaceutical companies have full-scale, dedicated library service functions with full-time staff.

"Medical Information Teams and Call Center Management" (http://www.cuttingedgeinfo.com/research/medical-affairs/information-teams/) explores staffing, resources and call center management for medical information teams at company headquarters and affiliate offices. Use this report to:

• Position medical information teams to act as a key voice for the company
• Understand and manage a growing number of medical information responsibilities ranging from call center management to library services
• Leverage medical information teams' expertise to support internal functions and outward-facing groups such as MSLs and sales forces

For more information about medical information and medical affairs, contact Cassie Demeter at 919-403-6583.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]