UK survey demonstrates a wide range of impacts attributable to clinical librarian services

Abstract

Objective: To understand the impact of the UK Clinical Librarian (CL) workforce and benchmark the results against a study undertaken in the North West region of the English National Health Service (NHS).Methods: An online survey was distributed by CLs to their service users regarding literature searches that had been carried out on their behalf in the 6 months from April to October 2017. Interviews were later carried out in person with selected respondents to the questionnaires.Results: CLs across the UK contribute to a wide range of outcomes, with 41% of search requests contributing to the choice of intervention, and 41% also to the advice offered by the clinician requester to a patient or their carer. These results are in line with the previous work undertaken in the North West.Discussion: CLs provide diverse services to clinical teams. They support the continuing professional development and personal research needs of team members, service development needs of organisations, and the information provided contributes to improved quality and safety of patient care. Conclusion:The survey confirms the findings of the earlier NW study. It demonstrates the impact of services based around literature searching on patient care.

Making the most of public policy in health libraries and information services: Example of the Health and Care Bill 2022

“…When library and information workers are suitably trained they can contribute to the wider activities of their organisation, as demonstrated in the final two studies in this issue. Divall et al (2022) conducted an online UK survey of clinical librarians regarding literature searches undertaken on the behalf of clinical teams. Six hundred thirty‐seven completed questionnaires were submitted.…”

The impact of libraries and informationists on patient and population care: a mixed-methods study

“…We began with a review of the literature in 2017 (updated in 2021) to find studies that examined the value of librarians working in an academic setting similar to our own, that focused on patient and population care, and included data (qualitative or quantitative). We found a number of studies that examined the information needs of clinicians [1,2]; other studies looked at the usefulness of clinical librarians [3][4][5][6] or explored the impact measure of libraries [7,8]. The study that was closest to the work that we wanted to do was Marshall [9], a replication of the 1992 Rochester study [10].…”