Amanda Ross-White isn’t surprised by the upcoming closure of one of Canada’s oldest health libraries, but it’s the impact on rural and remote doctors that has her concerned.
“People are definitely concerned that this is just a part of a larger issue of making things very difficult for family physicians. It’s already hard enough for family physicians.”Ross-White said doctors are already under a lot of stress and it could add to an already heavy workload for those doctors.
If a patient has pneumonia, but is also 28 weeks pregnant, then that’s where the library can come in, Ross-White said. The college, in an emailed statement, said the decision to close was made by the board of directors “after careful consideration showing significant decrease in library use of the years.” The college says physicians and surgeons can instead use the University of British Columbia library or access medical journals online.All physicians and surgeons who hold a licence in B.C. were eligible to use the library, which was both physical and online.
Source: Healthcare Press (healthcarepress.net)