Clinical Librarianship
In 2001-2, Alison Winning (now Clinical Effectiveness Librarian at Doncaster and Bassetlaw NHS Trust) and Catherine Beverley undertook a systematic review of clinical librarianship. The following abstract is taken from their article published in Health Information and Libraries Journal in 2003.
Abstract
Background: Clinical librarianship (CL), which is currently receiving renewed interest world-wide, seeks to provide quality-filtered information to health professionals at the point of need (e.g. via ward rounds) to support clinical decision-making. The review described here builds upon the work of Cimpl and attempts to establish the evidence base for CL.
Objectives: To determine, from the literature, whether CL services are used by clinicians, have an effect on patient care, and/or clinicians´ use of literature in practice and/or are cost-effective.
Methods: A systematic review of the literature was undertaken, following, where possible, the NHS Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD) framework. Modifications to this methodology included; the resources searched, and the critical appraisal checklist (CriSTAL) used.
Results: 284 unique references were retrieved. 17 (16 unique) evaluative and a further 33 descriptive studies met the inclusion criteria. On the whole, the quality of reporting of the literature was poor.
Conclusions: CL programmes certainly appear to be well-used and received by clinicians. However, there is insufficient evidence available on their effect on patient care, clinicians´ use of literature in practice, and their cost-effectiveness, thus highlighting the need for further high quality research.
Related publication:
Winning, M.A. & Beverley, C. (2003). Clinical librarianship: a systematic review of the literature. Health Information and Libraries Journal, 20(Suppl 1): 10-21.