The value and impact of information provided through library services for patient care: a systematic review

Abstract

Objective : An updated systematic review was carried out of research studies looking at the value and impact of library services on health outcomes for patients and time saved by health professionals. Methods : A comprehensive systematic search was undertaken of the published literature to September 2003 in  ,  ,  ,  ,  , the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register and Google. Some handsearching was carried out, reference lists were scanned and experts in the field were contacted. Twentyeight research studies of professionally led libraries for health-care staff, including clinical librarian projects, met the inclusion criterion of at least one health or 'time saved' outcome. Papers were critically appraised using internationally accepted criteria. Data were extracted and results were summarised using a narrative format as the studies were heterogeneous and precluded a statistical analysis. Results : There is evidence of impact from both traditional and clinical librarian services. The higher quality studies of traditional services measured impacts of 37-97% on general patient care, 10 -31% on diagnosis, 20 -51% on choice of tests, 27-45% on choice of therapy and 10 -19% on reduced length of stay. Four studies of clinical librarian projects suggested that professionals saved time as a result of clinical librarian input, and two of these studies showed evidence of cost-effectiveness. However, the clinical librarian studies were generally smaller, with poorer quality standards. Conclusions : Research studies suggest that professionally led library services have an impact on health outcomes for patients and may lead to time savings for health-care professionals. The available studies vary greatly in quality but the better quality studies also suggest positive impacts. Good practice can be gathered from these studies to guide the development of a pragmatic survey for library services that includes the direct effects for patients among the outcome measures.

Using library search service metrics to demonstrate library value and manage workload

“…Numerous follow-ups to the Marshall Rochester study exist in the health care field (Weightman and Williamson 2005). In one similar study of hospital clinicians in the United Kingdom, 89% said the information "did or would in the future assist in clinical decision making" (Urquhart and Hepworth 1995, 14).…”

Life as a knowledge broker in public health

“…CL activities involve assisting clinicians with access to clinical practice guidelines and guideline development, intensive literature searching, and professional development related to EIDM [19][20][21]. However, there is limited evidence of the effectiveness or cost-effectiveness of CLs [22,23]. This paper describes a typical "day in the life" of a KB involved in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) in which the KB was being evaluated in comparison with other, more passive knowledge transfer and exchange (KTE) strategies.…”

Key Performance Indicators in Irish Hospital Libraries: Developing Outcome-Based Metrics to Support Advocacy and Service Delivery

“…With over half of respondents indicating that risk or errors had also been reduced, these results suggest at least some positive impact of library services on key strategic objectives. No respondents indicated Figure 2 Flowchart of strategic objectives and indicators (Adapted from Boekhorst, 1995) that the information failed to have any effect or impact; however it is likely that this is in part due to self-selection bias from the nature of the survey -a common limitation, as highlighted by Weightman and Williamson (2005). Further research would be needed to estimate the extent to which this factor influences the overall results.…”