Evaluation of hospital staff’s perceived quality of librarian-mediated literature searching services

Abstract

ObjectiveThe research evaluated the perceived quality of librarian-mediated literature searching services at one of Canada’s largest acute care teaching hospitals for the purpose of continuous quality improvement and investigation of relationships between variables that can impact user satisfaction.MethodsAn online survey was constructed using evidence-based methodologies. A systematic sample of staff and physicians requesting literature searches at London Health Sciences Centre were invited to participate in the study over a one-year period. Data analyses included descriptive statistics of closed-ended questions and coding of open-ended questions.ResultsA range of staff including clinicians, researchers, educators, leaders, and analysts submitted a total of 137 surveys, representing a response rate of 71%. Staff requested literature searches for the following “primary” purposes: research or publication (34%), teaching or training (20%), informing a policy or standard practice (16%), patient care (15%), and “other” purposes (15%). While the majority of staff (76%) submitted search requests using methods of written communication, including email and search request forms, staff using methods of verbal communication, including face-to-face and telephone conversations, were significantly more likely to be extremely satisfied with the librarian’s interpretation of the search request (p=0.004) and to rate the perceived quality of the search results as excellent (p=0.005). In most cases, librarians followed up with staff to clarify the details of their search requests (72%), and these staff were significantly more likely to be extremely satisfied with the librarian’s interpretation of the search request (p=0.002).ConclusionsOur results demonstrate the limitations of written communication in the context of librarian-mediated literature searching and suggest a multifaceted approach to quality improvement efforts.

Longitudinal observations of expected and actual library resource usage and barriers experienced by public health students

“…The results of this study support two potential initiatives for addressing the problems that were uncovered [17]. First, managing expectations early, perhaps during orientation, would align students' planned resource usage with their actual usage and allow them to obtain a better sense of the time necessary for utilization of library resources and to develop time-management skills for their graduate programs.…”

Pre‐requisites, barriers and advantages of clinical informationist participation in grand round: a qualitative study

“…And advantages of CI participation for medical team members were similar to Ghaffari and Masoumi (), who have stated clinical librarian participation provides up to date information for the medical team, Brettle et al. () have stated that clinical librarians help save physicians’ time and improve the quality of services, Ghazavi and Salajghe () believed that this participation reduces the cases of malpractice, Miller and Kaye () have stated their role in helping research, Roach and Addington () stated that it leads to cooperation between physicians and CIs, and McKeown, Konrad, McTavish, and Boyce () believed that participation of clinical librarian in clinical environment is one of the factors for increased satisfaction of medical team regarding search results.…”

“…In this regard, McKeown et al. () and Esparza, Shi, McLarty, Comegys, and Banks () suggested some solutions for overcoming barriers and problems such as the use of face to face communication or phone calls for determination of time and method of participation in the medical team and having a planned participation is effective in improving cooperation and quality of CI services.…”

Information Literacy, Mental Health, and Lifelong Learning: Librarians and Health Care Professionals in Academic, Clinical, and Hospital Settings

“…For health care professionals seeking expertise in their field, proven information-seeking abilities such as database searching, article evaluation, and research application are often taught in the classroom by academic librarians but honed most effectively where their professionalism can be assessed via patient outcomes (20,21,(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30). Sheer recall (or transfer) of information literacy skill sets from undergraduate and graduate years of study can be eclipsed by knowledge acquired through other continuing medical education opportunities such as journal clubs, conference attendance, professional programs, or specialized certification (12,22).…”

“…Mohaghegh et al similarly relate that clinical librarians have specialized skills for searching, accessing, and summarizing EBP resources which have a practical impact on clinical decision-making, treatment behaviors, and searching behaviors on the clinicians and residents with whom they work and provide instruction (29). McKeown et al and Morris et al also describe the success of early involvement and instruction between hospital librarians with the medical research team which shapes the research question and saves the team time (28,45). Additional research has confirmed that the involvement of a clinical or hospital librarian early on as part of the care team has positive outcomes on patient satisfaction, promotes beneficial environmental factors, impacts point of care delivery of information, and supports group participants' information searching and retrieval behaviors in the future (25,46).…”