Member Spotlight: Patricia F. Morris, AHIP

Fast Facts:

MLA Member Since: 2006
First Professional Position: Medical librarian, Medical Library, Mercy Hospital, Fort Smith, AR
Current Position: Medical librarian, Medical Library, Mercy Hospital, Fort Smith, AR
Education (include all degrees): BS, education; MEd, instructional technology
Favorite Website or Blog: Foundationcenter.org

Please describe your current position.

Medical librarian at Mercy Hospital Fort Smith, Arkansas. Besides library work, I write federal, state, and foundation grants; organize and facilitate monthly [continuing medical education] CME events for medical staff; and manage [audiovisual] AV set ups and video conferences.

What do you find most interesting about your position?

I love interaction with physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and all direct care staff. They continue to educate me and teach me about patient care, which helps me be a better medical librarian.

What has been your biggest professional challenge?

My biggest professional challenge has been learning to meet the technology changes during the past seventeen years. In 1999, we were using US mail to provide document delivery; then we faxed; next came Ariel; and today [portable document format] PDF by email. Medical librarians learn to live with change—to survive.

How did you become interested in medical librarianship?

“Medical librarianship fell into my lap.” I was a junior high school librarian at a parochial school. When the medical librarian at a local not-for-profit, faith-based hospital planned to move from Fort Smith, she asked me if I would interview for her job. I had no medical terminology skills and had never worked in health care. I quickly learned enough to do successful literature searches—got better and better with search skills by attending MLA-sponsored continuing education classes in Little Rock, [Arkansas], and Tulsa, [Oklahoma]. Through the years, I’ve attended all South Central Chapter (SCC/MLA) annual conferences and served on many committees. The SCC/MLA has been a wonderful support for a small hospital librarian. Most all medical librarians I have met have a need to serve, a need to share, and a need to learn more. Our hospital and clinic doctors and nurses are very supportive of my role in patient care, and I have felt from the beginning that I was a “fit” for health care.

What was your background before you became a medical librarian?

I had worked as elementary school teacher and as librarian at two parochial schools before taking a job as medical librarian.

What would you be doing if you weren’t a librarian?

I would be a full-time grant writer and/or grant coordinator focused on community outreach and community-based organization projects.

What do you think is the most interesting issue in librarianship today?

DOCLINE requests are down and clinicians relying solely on their own online resources.

What are you most proud of?

In my personal life, I’m most proud of being a mother of four and grandmother of eight, which includes two sets of twins. In my professional life, I’m proud of the community outreach projects I’ve completed as a medical librarian, especially a 2010/11 project with the Arkansas Department of Health, Sebastian County Unit. Our working relationship still exists today.

Whom do you admire?

I admire religious sisters who work their entire lives until they die in health care, education, and community outreach. Their lives are rich in caring for those in need and understanding the shortcomings of us all.

What other organizations are you involved in?

I’ve served on several local boards. Presently, I serve on Leadership Fort Smith Alumni Board and Mercy Crest Retirement Living Advisory Committee.

Is there anything about you that others might be surprised to know?

I had never turned on a computer until I was forty-eight, and I didn’t enter the work force until I was fifty.

What do you do for exercise?

I walk.

What do you do to relax?

I watch old movies on TV.

What is your favorite vacation spot or activity?

My favorite vacation spot is the Gulf Coast—anywhere between Florida and Mississippi. I love the people and their dialects, the food, and sound and smell of salt water.

What is the most daring thing you’ve ever done?

I ran for a school board position in 1987 against eleven opponents and won the runoff election to serve on that board for five years. I ran unopposed for a second five-year term. Public service taught me many life lessons, and I continue to draw on those life lessons in my work and personal life.

What advice would you give to a new member of MLA/new librarian/someone starting out in medical librarianship?

Start working on your [membership in the Academy of Health Information Professionals]. If you are working in a hospital library, take time each day to intentionally meet and talk with your coworkers. Seek out the needs of others. Don’t wait for them to come to you or you will be the loneliest person in the building. Make yourself approachable and especially help those who are working on advanced degrees. Learn to take on different projects so you can have a seat at the table with clinical staff.

What are your future goals/plans?

I want to work on a doctor of philosophy degree.