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INFORMATION NEEDS OF NURSES

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On the basis of this observation, the objective of this study was to understand the information needs and

seeking behaviour of nurses at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, as well as identify the information

sources available to them and the factors that facilitate or hinder access and use of the sources.(More...)

O n t h e b a s is o f t h i s o b s er v a t i o n , t h e o b je ct i v e of t h i s st u d y w a s t o u n d e r st a n d t h e

i n f o r m a t i o n n e ed s a n d s e ek i n g b e h a v i o u r o f n u r s e s a t t h e Un i v e r si t y C ol le g e

H o s p i t a l , I b a d a n , a s w e ll a s id e n t i f y t h e in f o r m a t i o n s o u r c es a v a i l a b l e t o t h e m a n d

t h e fa c t o r s t h a t f a c i li t a t e o r h i n d e r a c c es s a n d u s e o f t h e s o u r c e s. [9] The assessment ofthe information needs and seeking behaviour of various professionals, such as nurses, is essentialfor assisting them to access and use information resources required for optimal work performance

(Oyewo, 2006).[9] Carrying out this study at the University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan wasconsidered most appropriate for gaining significant insight into the general information needs of

nurses in Nigerian teaching hospitals, because UCH is both the largest and the oldest medicaltraining institution in Nigeria, as well as the major supplier of nursing professionals to other similar

institutions in Nigeria (Osuntokun, 1992).[9] OBJECTIVES: The research identified and assessed

information needs and resources of public health nurses in a local health department.[17] From the

ground up: information needs of nurses in a rural public health department in Oregon.[17] Severalstudies have indicated that nurses have unmet information needs while delivering care to patients.[7] The differences observed confirm that nurses and physicians have different care deliveryresponsibilities, goals, and activities, emphasizing the importance of distinguishing their

information needs.[7] Nurses expressed a significant need for improved information in newdevelopments in their specializations, government regulations relating to health care, and other

subjects.[4] ingentaconnect Nurses - their information needs and use of libraries: the views.[22]RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that nurses information needs are differentfrom what is reported in the literature in terms of physicians information needs. Questions

regarding a nursing procedure or protocol were the most common needs nurses had.[7] Like mostother professions, the information needs and seeking behaviour of nurses have been in a constantstate of flux over the years, due to both rapid developments in the field, as well as the emergence of

new information technologies (Corcoran-Perry and Graves, 1990).[9] The data in Table 2 indicatethat the CPG document expert and nurses agree that the information found by the nurses did

satisfy the information need for the majority of sessions.[7] The information needs of registered

nurses from all fields in a 17 county area of upstate New York were surveyed.[4]

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Two important elements describe such information behaviour, namely: nurses' information needs

and the sources of information that they prefer and use (Dorsch, 2000; Pajarillo, 2001).[9]

Non-hospital nurses indicated greater need for information than hospital nurses in most subject

areas.[4] This recognition underpins nurses' need for access to useful information and the

necessary skills for using such information.[9]

Nurses also gather and transmit information from patients and the patients' families to other healthcare providers, and sometimes serve as liaison resource persons between the patients and the

patients' families.[9] Nursing educators tended to use all sources of information more often than

did other nurses.[4] METHODS: Nurses at three hospitals were asked to use an information

retrieval tool (CPG Viewer).[7]

According to Wilson (2000), information needs are influenced by a variety of factors such as therange of information sources available; the uses to which the information will be put; the

background, motivation, professional orientation and individual characteristics of the user.[9]

Major themes that emerged from analyses of interview transcripts included: (1) differences ininformation needs depending on position and role; (2) colleagues as the most efficient and trustedsource of information; (3) limitations of existing knowledge-based resources; (4) need forup-to-date and pertinent information; and (5) need for personal computers, basic communications

software, and expanded Internet access.[17]

We chose acute care settings because they cover a broader range of patient diagnoses, potentially

leading to the generation of more information needs.[7] For each information need recorded in thequestionnaire, the expert was asked to use CPG Viewer to find the most appropriate document (if itexisted), and to estimate how much time a given user would need to spend in order to find the

information in the document.[7] The document expert used the monitoring data to identify

whether information needs were really fulfilled or not based on the document that was found bythe users and the time spent reading the document.[7] There were, however, 6 cases when the userand document expert disagreed about whether the information need was satisfied by the

information content in the documents.[7]

Within the context of this article, we are restricting information needs to compromised needs, since

we are analyzing nurses use of an information system to resolve their knowledge gaps.[7] Clinicalinformation needs in context: an observational study of clinicians while using a clinical information

system.[7] Currie LM, Graham M, Allen M, Bakken S, Patel V, Cimino JJ. Clinical information

needs in context: an observational study of clinicians while using a clinical information system.[7]

The classification of clinicians' information needs while using a clinical information system.[7]

Our goal is to examine nurses information needs and searching behavior in acute care settings.[7]

What is clear, on the other hand, is the need to explore in more detail the nurses informationneeds. In a future study, we intend to combine the non-intrusive method used here with a more

traditional observational method.[7] Expanding the concept of medical information: anobservational study of physicians' information needs. Comput Biomed Res. 1992 Apr;

25(2):181-200.[7] Information use occurs when information acquired by a person to satisfy an

information need is actually put into use.[9] Potential explanations for non-use of the tool include(but are not limited to) workload constraints (staff are too busy to use the tool), a preference for


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(More...)

O rganized in 1960, the Interagency Council on Information Resources in Nursing is a voluntary group made

up of agencies and organizations concerned with providing library and informational resources for nursing and

improving access to library services for all nurses.(More...)

The health department director, a nurse by training, expressed the need for community health data and

basic, user-friendly statistical tracking software for monitoring health at the county level.(More...)

Fo r i n s t a n c e, if a n u r s e h a d i n d i ca t e d i n t h e q u e st i on n a i r e t h a t h e / s h e w a s l oo k i n g

f o r a p r o t o c o l r e l a t e d t o p a i n , a n d a l s o in d i c a t e d t h a t t h e in f o r m a t i o n w a s f o u n d ,

w e r ev i e w e d t h e m o n i t o r i n g d a t a t o i d e n t i fy t h e s ea r c h s t r a t e g i es u s ed , a n d i f t h e

a p p r o p r i a t e d oc u m e n t s w e re a c tu a l ly f ou n d a n d o p en e d . [7] Interview transcripts wereanalyzed using a constant comparative method to assess the information nurses sought and used in

their work.[17] Information is therefore a very crucial tool for nurses, and how they acquire and

use the information are key determinants of their performance.[9] The reasons for the failuresincluded improper document indexing, the nurse could not find the information within thedocument after searching for 3 minutes, and the nurse found the correct document but did not

open it during the search session.[7] The questionnaire was designed to specifically ask the nursewhat information he/she was looking for, and a confirmation if he/she had found the information.[7]

Akinyemi (2006) observed, however, that most of what is known about nurses' informationpractices comes from developed countries, and that most of the identifiable studies on information

access and seeking practices of medical professionals in Nigeria focus on medical doctors.[9]

In 1968, Taylor explained the need for information in four steps: visceral need , conscious need

, formalized need , and compromised need .[7] In order to use the CPG Viewer, nurses needto log in using the same user identification required by other IHC clinical systems.[7] Nurses carefor the sick and provide them assistance with physical and psychosocial needs, until they achieve

stability, regain their previous state of wellness, or achieve a new level of functioning.[9]

CONCLUSIONS: Lack of Internet access is a significant barrier to use of information resources, andinformation tools tailored to meet the needs diverse public health nursing roles and facilitate

information sharing among colleagues are needed.[17] The project will center on the use of asurvey as well as focus groups as the main tools to discover how school nurses currently find newinformation, what their needs are, and what would be the most helpful way for them to access

information in the future.[15]

To the best of our knowledge the information needs of the schoolnurse population have not been reported in the literature, and it is therefore assumed that it is an

understudied area.[15] For that reason the purpose of this project is to determine how Connecticutschool nurses currently retrieve information and what there information needs are, as well as what

the barriers are to information.[15] In October 2007, we distributed a survey to school nurses inConnecticut a survey to gather information about these needs. We look forward to receiving your

completed surveys.[15]

Some examples of terms used included nurse practitioner, nurse prescriber, nurse clinicians,district nurse, health visitor, drug information resources, drug information services, information


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needs, and information technology.[2] The Council meets twice yearly where members exchangeinformation, ideas, and experiences, explore the library and information needs of nurses, and makesuggestions to appropriate executive bodies regarding the development and use of library and

informational resources.[12] Learning Objective #1 : learn what information Thai nurses need and

use for their nursing care and practice in general and for specific nursing care activities.[16] Inpromoting evidence-based practice (EBP) among nurses, every party relevant to nursing shouldunderstand what information nurses need and use in both general and specific activities and what

factors influence these needs and uses.[16]

Rasch R, Cogdill K: Nurse practitioners' information needs and information seeking: implications

for practice and education.[2] Cogdill KW: Information needs and information seeking in primary

care: a study of nurse practitioners.[2] This original study aims to describe and explore thesemissing aspects by employing Henderson and Nite's Principles and Practice in Nursing to describenursing-care activities and Dervin's Sense-Making and Wilson's Model of Information Behavior to

explain Thai nurses' information needs and uses and the factors that influence them.[16]

The nurses" pattern was more complex than that of the doctors, reflecting their needs forinformation for teaching and mentoring colleagues, patient education and patient care

administration.[3] Many studies have assessed what information nurses need and use in general or

in nurses' role-related tasks.[16] Generally, nurses need information to solve problems like

supporting life long learning and improving their knowledge on the practice of the profession.[15]

W e w e r e a l s o co n c er n e d o v e r t h e r e p o r t e d r a t e ( 4 2 .6 %) o f u n s u c c es s fu l i n f o r m a t i o n

s e ek i n g s e s s io n s ; w e s p e cu l a t e t h a t t h e r e a s o n ( s ) f o r l a c k o f s u c c es s in c lu d e

u n f a m i li a r i t y w i t h C PG co ll ec t io n c ov e r a g e , n e e d f or i m p r o v e d d o c u m e n t s e a r c h

c a p a b i l it i es , o r n e ed f o r m o r e co n t e n t t h a n i s cu r r e n t l y a v a i la b l e in t h e d o c u m e n t s .

[7] Ehikhamenor defined information seeking behaviour as any activity of an individual that isundertaken to identify a message that satisfies a perceived need.[9] A person then formalizes theneed into a rational statement and may seek an answer to it by using an information system,

transforming it into a compromised need.[7]

Nursing-related information behaviour includes all the behaviours nurses manifest in relation toidentifying, gathering, processing and managing information for optimal work performance

(Pajarillo, 2001).[9] The NGC mission is to provide physicians, nurses, and other healthprofessionals, health care providers, health plans, integrated delivery systems, purchasers andothers an accessible mechanism for obtaining objective, detailed information on clinical practice

guidelines and to further their dissemination, implementation and use.[12]

David Benton, ChiefExecutive Officer, International Council of Nurses (ICN), highlighted that "lack of accurate and

current health information is a serious threat to patient safety and quality of care.[13] The article byKleier (2009) and the editorial by Karlowicz (2006) argue in turn that nurses provide vital health

information and education to patients.[6]

The partners of the Positive Practice Environments campaign publish a new Fact Sheet on the

information needs of health professionals, prepared by HIFA2015.[13] Librarians spend a greatdeal of time thinking about how to provide resources and services in anticipation of the

information needs of library users.[15] The study of these needs will help us to develop resources


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and design training to match those information needs.[15] The occurrence of hidden andunrecognised uncertainty suggests that there are areas of clinical practice where helping torecognise and articulate information need may stimulate further interest in evidence-based

practice.[19] Triggers to the expression of uncertainty and information need were pragmatic: the

presence of a problem in practice and evidence for a workable solution.[19] Without fullyunderstanding the information needs of any group, the result is an offering library services andinformation sources that Librarians perceive are the users' needs when in fact that may not be the

case.[15]

Information need was complex, and included contextual features relating to the patient,treatment process, treatment type and desired outcome.[19]

N u r s e s n e ed a w i d e v a r i et y o f in f o r m a t i o n t o m e et t h e ir c li n i ca l a n d e d u c a t i o n a l

n e ed s ( Ch e r ly a n d E l le n , 2 0 0 5) . [15] Chan T, Brew S, de Lusignan S: Community nursingneeds more silver surfers: a questionnaire survey of primary care nurses' use of information

technology.[2] In order to provide an accurate risk assessment and give reassurance or advice asappropriate, practice nurses feel that they need more information about familial conditions to be

able to manage patients confidently.[8] There is a need for further education for practice nurses

regarding family history information and the new genetics so that this information is managedappropriately.[8]

T h e 2 0 0 9 Ch a l le n g e w i ll b r i n g t o g e t h e r t h o u s a n d s o f n u r s es , m i d w i v e s, p u b l is h e r s

a n d l ib r a r i a n s t o w o r k o u t w a y s t o im p r o v e t h e q u a li ty a n d a v a i la b i li ty o f

i n f o r m a t i o n f or n u r s es a n d m i d w i v e s i n d e v e lo p i n g c o u n t r i e s. [13] Together we arecalling for relevant, reliable healthcare information to be made more easily accessible to nurses and

midwives in the developing world.[13]

Dr Jean Yan, Coordinator of Health Professions Networks and Chief Scientist, Nursing andMidwifery, at the World Health Organization, Geneva, declared: "Nurses and midwives, as thelargest group of healthcare providers, are often the first point of contact for individuals and

communities most in need.[13] The other articles included a case study to identify the educationand training needs of nurses in a pilot patient-focused care hospital in the UK (Jenner, 1998), andtwo articles about educating urology nurses to be aware of bias in journal articles and to thinkcritically about what they learn (Russell, 2006), and to be competent when working with patients of

different cultures (Broome and McGuinness, 2007).[6] Jenner E. A case study analysis of nurses'

roles, education and training needs associated with patient-focused care.[6]

For further information about this Project contact investigators at [email protected], and use thesubject line SCHOOL NURSE SURVEY, or phone 203-785-2396.[15] The HIFA2015 goal issupported by more than 90 health and development organisations worldwide, including the BritishMedical Association, Hesperian Foundation, International Council of Nurses, London School ofHygiene and Tropical Medicine, Medical Library Association, Partnerships in Health Information,Royal College of Midwives, Royal College of Nursing, and Royal College of Obstetricians and

Gynaecologists.[18] A Comprehensive, Integrated Nursing & Allied Health Portal for Practice,Education, Research, and Administration The information needs of today's nursing and allied

health community are changing.[19] Pakenham-Walsh N & Bukachi F. Information needs of health


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care workers in developing countries: a literature review with a focus on Africa.[18] The NationalPrescribing Centre, an organization of the National Health Service in the UK, describes severalcompetencies around information needs relevant to prescribing and emphasis is placed on using

relevant and up to date information in various formats (e.g. print, electronic, verbal).[2] Launchedin 1998, MedlinePlus ( medlineplus.gov ) was designed to serve the information needs of health

consumers as MEDLINE has done for health professionals.[11] No single study has investigatedinformation needs and uses for specific nursing-care activities such as care for patients dying or

experiencing pain.[16]

In 2010 the campaign is addressing the information needs of communityhealth workers.[18] Exploring the contexts of information behaviour, proceedings of the secondinternational conference on research in information needs, seeking and use in different contexts,

13-15 August 1998, Sheffield, UK, edited by T.D. Wilson and D.K. Allen.[3] Actual system use maythus be a small proportion of potential use, and the emphasis in information behaviour researchmay be on the patterns of information need and use and the perceived preferences for certain

information sources as opposed to others.[3] Information behaviour research is concerned with adeeper understanding of information needs and use, through sense making as proposed by Dervin(1986) or, for example, features, as proposed by Ellis (1989).A later integration by Wilson (1999) ofthe research in the field proposes a problem solving model which considers uncertainty, though ina slightly different manner from the phenomenological viewpoint of Kulhthau"s view of

uncertainty (1991).[3] New developments in object oriented analysis methods have similarities tothe methods that might be used to investigate information needs and use in information behaviour

studies.[3] It is unknown as to whether differences exist regarding types of resources used, drug

information needs, and utilization patterns among NPs and collaborating physician partners.[2] In2008 the campaign focused on the information needs of medical, nursing and midwifery students.[18] Wang (1996) obtained similar findings in a study of research students and faculty working on aresearch project, and suggests that subtle changes in information needs while working on a project

can be mapped by changes in cognitive structures.[3] Westberg EE, Miller RA: The basis for using

the Internet to support the information needs of primary care.[2] The results could thus beanalysed to show the patterns of purposes associated with particular sources of information, and,

similarly the patterns of sources associated with particular purposes of information need.[3]

Urquhart, Christine (2001) "Bridging information requirements and information needs assessment:

do scenarios and vignettes provide a link?".[3]

Responses to questions about information resources indicated that the resources used by thenurses were more a function of health department position and role than their professional nursing

background, (similar to their responses about information needs).[1] In 2004, the Royal College ofNursing (RCN) library and information services (LIS) carried out a survey into the information

needs of nurses and other health professionals.[6] In 2004, we decided therefore to revisit thestrategy for meeting members' local information needs. As the first step in this process, we decided

to carry out a UK-wide survey into the information needs of nurses, midwives, health visitors andhealth care assistants.[6] Report of key findings of RCN's survey of the information needs of

nurses, health care assistants, midwives and health visitors. 2005.[6] Bertulis, R. andCheeseborough, J. (2008), The Royal College of Nursing's information needs survey of nurses and

health professionals.[6] A critical first step for building information systems that can successfullyassist public health professionals in their work is deeper understanding of the intersection of publichealth professionals' roles with public health information needs. This study indicates that localhealth department nurses occupy a variety of positions and perform a variety of tasks that require

them to be knowledgeable in a wide range of health areas.[1] The purpose of this qualitative studywas to identify and assess the information needs and resources of public health nurses in a local


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health department in rural Oregon in relationship to their roles, job positions, and work-related

tasks.[1] From the ground up: information needs of nurses in a rural public health department inOregon - UKPMC Article - UK PubMed Central OBJECTIVES: The research identified and assessed

information needs and resources of public health nurses in a local health department.[1] A DigitalDivide: Assessing the information needs and use of nurses from an Oregon county public health

department.[5] This echoes the findings of a study of nurse practitioners in North Carolina, USA in1998, where respondents were asked to indicate the weekly frequency of their information needs as

a result of patient encounters and their relative use of a range of information resources.[6]

Theseinterviews suggested that many of the information needs, uses, and challenges of the local healthdepartment nurses investigated in the current study were similar to nurses working in other health

departments in the state.[1] To help determine if the information needs expressed by the publichealth nurses were typical of other rural public health agencies in the state, the researchersconducted a limited number of informal, on-site interviews with four additional public health

nurses employed at two medium-sized and one large-sized local health department in Oregon.[1]

This finding is consistent with studies on the information needs of professionals includingclinicians, nurses in clinical settings besides public health, and the broader public health workforce.[1] Information Needs Differed Depending on Employees' Positions and Roles Although the healthdepartment nurses shared a common professional background, they were employed in a variety ofpositions, including clinical office nurse (4), home visiting nurse (3), school nurse (2), nursingassistant (2), women's health specialist (2), nursing supervisor (1), communicable disease nurse (1),

bioterrorism liaison (1), and health department director (1).[1] Describe knowledge-basedinformation needs of nurses in clinical and academic settings, with an emphasis on evidence based

nursing and the ANCC Magnet initiative. 2.[24] The nurses in a small-scale UK study of theinformation needs of theatre staff differentiated their needs from those of doctors and saw nursinginformation as patient- or care-centred and holistic, in contrast to the medical or scientific

information required by doctors.[6] This site serves the information needs of nurses who work inmedical/surgical, intensive care, emergency, trauma, critical care, pediatrics, geriatrics, operatingroom, postanesthesia, obstetrics/gynecologic, neonatal, neurologic, oncology, psychiatric, and other

settings.[25] Because of widely differing positions and roles, the information needs of public healthnurses in a local health agency varied greatly, suggesting that a multifaceted approach is likely

necessary to address the needs of this population.[1] Interviews with the nursing assistants wereincluded because of their direct involvement with assisting nurses and their likely insights intonurses' information needs; these participants were also nursing students. (Note: All interviewees

throughout the remainder of the text are referred to as nurses.)[1] Links provided to articles aboutthe Magnet designation, articles about Evidence-Based Practice, about the information needs of

nurses.[24] Course Description: Learn about knowledge-based information needs of nurses in

clinical and educational settings.[24] If you work as a nurse, you now have rapid access to acomprehensive Website dealing with the major issues, trends, and professional and clinical

information you need to stay up-to-date with nursing.[25] Nurses working in local public healthhave a tremendous need for access to reliable and easy-to-access information.[1] Some nursesexpressed concern about the need to filter through the large number of websites returned from anInternet search engine, but they also expressed confidence in their ability to select quality

information from credible sources.[1]

Books from the workplace were reported by approximately 79% of UK primary care nurses as a

commonly used source of knowledge and information used to support practice.[2] Unreported datafrom this survey showed that the majority of nurses reported using computer systems and

computer templates to manage patient information and were confident in so doing.[8] Data from


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structured interviews of a sample of 22 community nurse prescribers reported by Hall et al.revealed that the majority relied on print materials to access information, namely the British

National Formulary.[2]

Of the nurses that routinely take information about family history, most activity occurs in newpatient clinics; family history of ischaemic heart disease is the most commonly collected in all clinic

settings.[8] Pritchard K, Chan T: The confidence and competence of community nurses in using

information and communications technology and in accessing clinical evidence through electroniclibraries and databases.[2] The suggestion of lectures or workshops and written materials sent tothe practice were both very popular (513 of the nurses would like to attend a lecture/ workshop

and 317 would like written information sent to the practice).[8] Approximately 60% of nurses feltconfident about collecting the relevant details regarding a family history of breast cancer but felt

less confident in collecting the information regarding familial colorectal cancer.[8]

Learning Objective #2 : to apply, if they want to promote evidence-based practice in their nursing

work place, what information and resources they need to prepare.[16] The user will find

information using the phrase "breast cancer" and not need to use "breast neoplasms."[11]

The HIFA2015 Knowledge Base aims to build a picture of the information needs of different cadres

of healthcare provider, and how to meet them.[18] It is debatable whether brainstorming does infact produce more ideas about a problem than might be obtained from the group workingindividually ( Buchanan & Huczynski, 1997 ) but for the purposes of information needs orinformation requirements discussions, CRC cards or focus groups may encourage a sharedunderstanding of the concepts, the events and procedures that may be involved in an information

system or situation.[3]

Results for medical staff indicated clearly that personal education and updating was often

associated with the need for information on a rare condition or specific patient problem.[3] At

Ovid, we conducted extensive market research with students, practitioners, and administrators, aswell as librarians and information managers into the way they work and the tools they need.[19]

From the marketing point of view, information managers need to assess the likely segments of the

market for services.[3] Practice nurses are ideally placed to collect family history information andadvise patients accordingly in new patient, family planning, well women/men and chronic diseaseclinics, but little is known about their knowledge, skills and attitudes towards providing genetic

advice.[8] A possible approach for existing qualified nurses would be to provide training to enablepractice nurses to take detailed family history information that is then utilized by the GP to assess

risk and make referral decisions.[8] Ninety-six per cent of practice nurses reported that they

routinely collect family history information.[8] Table 1 shows that practice nurses frequently collect

family history information.[8]

Computerized templates to collect family history information and provide decision support formanagement options could improve nurses' confidence and ability to manage patients' concerns

about family history more appropriately.[8] Alpay L, Russell A: Information technology training in

primary care: the nurses' voice.[2]

For doctors, use of a database such as MEDLINE was primarily associated with personal researchneeds, while for nurses computer based resources such as the CINAHL database was primarily for

formal course work.[3] Nurses were also unsure how to proceed, with over a third of nurses


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referring patients to the GP even if they thought the patient was at population risk or, conversely,not referring those that they thought were at considerably higher risk to the GP. There was areported need for education about familial disease in general and overall agreement that nurses

could play a role in genetics in primary care.[8] Tyler C, Hicks C: The occupational profile and

associated training needs of the nurse prescriber: an empirical study of family planning nurses.[2]

Librarians and information professionals need to provide up-to-date good quality relevantevidence for busy nurses in manageable amounts.

[6]The aim of the survey was to find out current

information needs of all the nursing community, not only RCN members, so that we would have agood evidence base from which to develop the RCN library and information services and play an

influencing role to improve nurses' access to information.[6] Dee C.R., Stanley E.E. Nurses'

information needs: nurses' and hospital librarians' perspective.[1]

O r g a n i ze d i n 19 6 0 , t h e I n t e r a g e n c y Co u n c il o n I n f o r m a t i o n R e so u r c es in N u r s i n g i s

a v o lu n t a r y g r o u p m a d e u p o f a g e n c ie s a n d o r g a n i z a t io n s c on c e rn e d w i th

p r o v i d i n g l i b r a r y a n d i n f o r m a t i o n a l r e so u r c es fo r n u r s in g a n d i m p r o v i n g a c c es s t o

l ib r a r y s e r v i c es f o r a l l n u r s e s. [12] Nurse practitioners and their collaborating physicianpartners in Nova Scotia were sent a survey in February 2005 to determine the frequency of use,usefulness, accessibility, credibility, and current/timeliness of personal digital assistant (PDA),

computer, and print drug information resources.[2] Drug therapy information resources for NPs

and nurse prescribers have frequently been described as essential in supporting practice.[2]

Hall J, Cantrill J, Noyce P: The information sources used by community nurse prescribers.[2]

Such real-life examples provide a valuable feedback into training needs analysis for library andinformation services, as well as showing graphically the actual search strategies that students adopt.

[3] It is evident that concerns regarding hereditary disease are often raised in practice and thatthere is a need for further training for practice nurses in this increasing area of awareness.[8] Italso investigated what practice nurses think their role should be in relation to the delivery ofgenetic services; their educational needs; and the most appropriate ways of delivering

training/support.[8]

Darbyshire P: "Rage against the machine?": nurses' and midwives experiences of using

computerized patient information systems for clinical information.[2] Research on nurses'behaviours related to information seeking is available from the hospital setting but the

generalizability of these behaviours to NPs with a prescribing role is unclear.[2]

Developed by Huber and Delaney 1,2,3, nursing leaders in the United States, the USA NMMDS is aresearch based data set that has the potential to support the diverse information needs of nurse

managers, executives and health care administrators.[26] In a literature review of rural healthpractitioners, Dorsch has found that while the information needs and practices of rural healthpractitioners are similar to their urban counterparts, the barriers to accessing information differ:rural health professionals are thwarted by isolation, lack of services by local libraries, inadequateinformation-seeking skills, and lack of Internet access that other health professionals do not

experience.[1] Few systematic, qualitative studies have been performed of information needs,patterns of information use, information-seeking behaviors, or relationship between information


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resources and current work processes among health department employees, particularly at the

local level.[1] To the authors' knowledge, qualitative methods have not been used tocomprehensively investigate the information needs and uses of local public health department

professionals.[1] Because such information is critical to the successful design of informationsystems for public health professionals, this study addressed this gap by applying qualitative

methods to investigate critical information needs and uses at the local health department level.[1]

To design effective information systems for the practice of public health, librarians and

informaticians must clearly understand the information needs of local public health agencies andunderstand how staff members use information in their daily work.[1]

Qualitative methods have been used successfully by researchers to investigate the information

needs of health care providers in clinical care settings.[1] This finding is consistent with studiesevaluating the information needs of rural health professionals and findings from the 2003 Turning

Point survey.[1] Dorsch J.L. Information needs of rural health professionals: a review of the

literature.[1] By improving the organization and access to pertinent up-to-date resources,librarians can play a key role in helping meet the information needs of these local public health

professionals.[1] Electronic access to peer-reviewed biomedical literature is available throughMEDLINE (3); however, this resource meets only a portion of the public health practitioner s

information needs (4).[10] With an understanding of information needs, librarians can play animportant role in locating pertinent resources and improving the organization and access to public

health information.[1] Improving access to credible and relevant information for public health

professionals: a qualitative study of information needs in communicable disease control.[5]

The questionnaire assessed the types of information needed by the nurses, how they met these

needs, and the perceived relevance, availability and accessibility of the information sources.[28] A

study carried out in Canada in 1998 showed that nurses lagged behind other groups in terms ofworkplace Internet access and use, and that only a very small proportion of them (1%) reportedusing the Internet at work for more than 1 hour per week for practice information. 4 The authors

attribute this largely to the fact that, in many work environments, time taken to access the Internetmay be regarded as 'non-productive'.[6] Although access to the Internet was limited, nursesindicated that they occasionally conducted Internet searches, primarily using the Google search

engine, to access information about which they had little knowledge.[1] Discuss search strategiesfor Medline, CINAHL & internet for information on evidence-based nursing, services to nurses,services to collaborative & interdisciplinary groups, and other aspects of nursing practice as

highlighted in the Magnet program.[24] Nurses.com was launched by VertMarkets, Inc. in April1999 with three lofty goals: First, to become the leading source of clinical, professional,

pharmaceutical, product, and services information for nurses.[25] Almost all the nurses (94.0%)searched for information in order to improve their knowledge, while only 28.5% reported

searching for information for patient care purposes.[28] Nurse informaticists manage andcommunicate nursing data and information to improve decision making by consumers, patients,

nurses, and other healthcare providers.[4] This study also demonstrates that use of qualitativemethods can provide an in-depth understanding of the issues and challenges related to information

for nurses working in such settings.[1]

Several authors have conducted literature reviews to analyze the information needs of health

practitioners.[1] Numerous public health-related data and information resources are available onthe World-Wide Web (e.g., MEDLINE, MMWR, CDC Prevention Guidelines Database, andEmerging Infectious Diseases ); however, little systematic work has been done to understand the


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information needs of the public health workforce.[10] These data are based on interviews withpublic health professionals in Washington only and may not represent the information needs in

other states.[10] Using a Web-based telephone survey to assess the information needs of public

health professionals.[5] In an effort to better understand the relationship between professionaltraining, experience, and information needs, participants were asked to describe their backgroundand training in public health, as well as the circumstances that brought them to the heath

department.[1] The following bibliography contains citations for materials on the information

needs and behaviors of public health professionals; a particular focus is on publications stemmingfrom National Library of Medicine public health outreach grants.[5] Revere D., Turner A.M.,Madhaven A., Rambo N., Bugni P., Kimball A., Fuller S. Understanding the information needs ofpublic health professionals: a literature review to inform design of an interactive digital knowledge

management system.[1] Rambo N., Dunham P. Information needs and uses of the public health

workforceWashington, 19971998.[1] Lee P., Giuse N.B., Sathe N.A. Benchmarking information

needs and use in the Tennessee public health community.[1] In the future, these techniques can beused to expand information needs research to other members of the public health workforce such

as environmental health specialists and policy makers.[1] Participants discussed individual projectsfocusing on informal assessment of public health information needs but recognized the need for

more systematic research into the information needs of the local public health workforce.[1]

Chambers L.W., Haynes R.B., Pickering R., McKibbon A., Walker-Dilks C.J., Panton L., Goldblatt E.

New approaches to addressing information needs in local public health agencies.[1] Some publichealth workforce groups were not interviewed (e.g., health educators, nutritionists, social workers,and other outreach workers); therefore, the study probably underestimates the range and diversity

of information needs among public health workers.[10] Approximately one fourth of theinformation needs identified in this study was shared by all segments of the Washington publichealth workforce, but nearly half of the information needs was not shared by more than one

segment.[10] Meeting information needs in health policy and public health: priorities for the

National Library of Medicine and The National Network of Libraries of Medicine.[5] Given thewide range of information needs, it is not surprising that employees often chose to search the

Internet using Google, rather than using bibliographic resources, such as PubMed.[1] ParticipantsNeeded Computers, Software, and Internet Access Improved access to basic computer and Internet

technology typified another information need.[1] Respondents were also asked about their use of

sources for different types of information need ( Table 13 ).[6] Assessment of information needs in

public health in Germany: results of a nationwide survey.[5] Evaluating and addressing theinformation needs of an urban public health department through an academic health sciences

library/health department partnership.[5] Photos of events: Information needs assessment ofPutnam County public health workers, information needs assessment of Orange County public

health workers, and Public Health Information Partners (PHIP) project team.[5] The potential forresearch-based information in public health: identifying unrecognised information needs. BMC

Public Health, 1(1), 1.[5] Forsetlund L., Bjorndall A. The potential for research-based informationin public health: identifying unrecognized information needs. BMC Public Health. 2001; 1 :1.[1]

Reaching out to a diverse population: assessing the information needs of faculty in a School of

Public Health.[5] Evidence based information needs of public health staff in Regina, Saskatchewan.[5] Meeting information needs in health policy and public health: roles for the Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention.[5] Information needs in public health and health policy: results of recent

studies.[5] O'Carroll P.W., Cahn M.A., Auston I., Selden C.R. Information needs in public health

and health policy: results of recent studies.[1] This report summarizes the results of thosediscussions, which indicate that different segments of the public health workforce have different


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information needs.[10]

Public health practice spans numerous health, environmental, and social science disciplines;therefore, public health practitioners need access to diverse and complex information and data

from multiple sources.[10] Public health professionals and their librarian colleagues are obligatedto select information tools and resources that fit a particular user's need in the context of a

particular point in time, for a specific topic or issue, in a variable work environment.[1] Aims: Tofind out about the nursing community's needs in the following areas: information or knowledge toimprove practice in the clinical area; information to support lifelong learning and formal study.[6]

Covell D.G., Uman G.C., Manning P.R. Information needs in office practice: are they being met.[1]

In addition to diverse information needs, these findings may reflect differences in training,

experience, and professional culture.[10] Information needs differed greatly depending on the

respondent's position and professional role in the department.[1] Sweetking-Singer, J., & Williams,

M. Supporting the information needs of GIS users in an academic library.[5] Osheroff J.A.,Forsythe D.E., Buchanan B.G., Bankowitz R.A., Blumfield B.H., Miller R.A. Physicians' information

needs: analysis of questions posed during clinical teaching.[1] Interviewees reported that this need

for pertinent clinical information was felt most acutely during patient visits.[1] Several surveys

have been conducted to investigate the information technology needs of, and use by, local healthdepartment personnel.[1] Local health department information technology assessment: survey of

current capabilities and perceived needs.[5]

Meeting the need? Paper presented at the Accessing Useful Information: Challenges in Health

Policy and Public Health, New York.[5]

The vision of its 1999 information strategy was to create access to information wherever andwhenever needed, offering equity of service across the UK. Since 1999 there have been manychanges in nurses' access to information with more information available electronically, moreinformation available from other organizations and, most crucially of all, more nurses having access

to the Internet.[6] Nurses require a blended service, with physical resources and support frompeople, as well as online information.[6] Librarians and information professionals have aninfluencing role to play in ensuring that nurses have access to appropriate information.[6] Thevariety in the types of information needed is matched by the diversity of the public healthworkforce itself that includes agency directors, environmental health scientists, epidemiologistsand health assessment specialists, health educators, health officers, laboratorians, nurses,

nutritionists, sanitarians, social workers, and outreach workers.[10] Many of the nurses in a studyof community nurses in the Western Isles of Scotland, UK felt they lacked the time to search for

information and did not view it as an essential part of their job.[6] Clinic nurses wantedstandardized charting forms or charting templates to take with them for home visits, while school

nurses desired easy access to health education standards, lesson plans, information on healthinterventions, and information on better communication with parents and teenagers.[1]

In order to understand the differing perceptions of information needs and communication patternsof healthcare professionals as they relate to medical errors, we conducted a survey and 5 focus

group sessions of inpatient physicians and nurses.[30] Nursing2007 Critical Care: The Journal of

Critical Care Excellence addresses the information needs of the busy critical care nurse.[14]

Although nurses and physicians stated differing information needs, both groups expressedsignificant problems with obtaining patient, domain and institution-specific information in a timely

manner.[30] Distributed 2,000 print surveys to school nurses to identify their health information


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needs. Partnered with state school nurse supervisors to aid in the timely delivery of surveys.[32]

There is a compelling need to train nurses in information discovery, to highlight critical resources

and provide services to facilitate the research process.[32] The RCN undertook an online survey ofnurses to find out the extent of their awareness of the current developments in Information andCommunication Technologies (ICT's) in the NHS. It also sought nurses' views on the importance

and potential beliefs of ICT applications in the NHS and their training and support needs.[18] RN

also offers information on health, stress management, and family life, keyed to nurses' particularneeds, making it a truly comprehensive publication.[14]

Information needs of Connecticut, USA school nurses: assessment and resource implementation.[32] Determine the information needs of the school nurse population in Connecticut, USA. Develop

a strategy of information delivery and training opportunities targeted for school nurses.[32]

T h e h e a l t h d e p a r t m e n t d i r e ct o r , a n u r s e b y t r a i n i n g , ex p r e s se d t h e n e e d f or

c om m u n i t y h e a lt h d a t a a n d b a s i c , u s e r -f r ie n d l y s t a t i st i ca l t r a c k i n g s o ft w a r e fo r

m o n i t or i n g h e a lt h a t t h e co u n t y l ev e l. [1] One clinic nurse described how frustrated she waswith the need for registered access and passwords, so she abandoned her search for journal articles

through the Ovid database in favor of using Google ( Table 2 ).[1] Third, to provide a way for nurses

to efficiently reach suppliers who meet their needs for products and services.[25] The nurses

identified a need for better computerized systems to track and monitor patients.[1] Due to varyingneeds, job requirements, and educational background, these results might not be applicable toother local health department employees besides nurses, such as environmental health specialists

(e.g., sanitarians) and clerical staff.[1] Hundreds of thousands of job openings will result from the

need to replace experienced nurses who leave the occupation.[4]

Learn efficient methods for finding resources for evidence-based nursing practice via the Internet,CINAHL and MEDLINE. Use what you learn to identify collaborative education and servicestrategies to improve knowledge-based information services for nurses and nursing students in

your organization.[24] An early qualitative study of Canadian nurses in a medical/haematology unitfound that there was little opportunity or encouragement for nurses to use research material on thejob, and that the workload measurement system did not include information seeking as a nursing

task.[6]

Cultural attitudes have as much impact on nurses' access to information as physical access to IT.

This is more difficult to resolve.[6] Participants Needed Easy Access to Pertinent, Up-to-Date

Information Resources on a Broad Range of Subjects Clinic nurses desired better access to primarycare nursing information, as well as a wide range of more specific medical topics.[1] Although thenurses shared common professional training, the activities and tasks involved with their position

dictated the information resources they used at work ( Table 1 ).[1]

Lack of Internet access is a significant barrier to use of information resources, and informationtools tailored to meet the needs diverse public health nursing roles and facilitate information

sharing among colleagues are needed.[1] To identify these needs and patterns of use and to setpriorities for developing new online public health information resources, the University ofWashington School of Public Health and Community Medicine (UW SPHCM) and the Washington


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State Department of Health (WSDoH) held structured and facilitated discussions with segments of

the local public health workforce in Washington during 1997-1998.[10]

Identify collaborative services strategies and education opportunities to improve knowledge-basedinformation services and evidence-based practice for nurses in clinical and academic settings. 3.[24] Summation: Collaborative education and service strategies for the library to offer to improveknowledge-based information services to nurses in clinical and academic settings. (Lecture: 5

mins.) 12.[24]

Hall J., Cantrill J., Noyce P. The information sources used by community nurse prescribers.[1]

There is very high demand for value-added information services that help nurses find good quality,

up-to-date, relevant evidence in manageable amounts.[6] Eight of the 35 studies looked atinformation needs as perceived by health workers, patients and family/community members; 14

studies assessed the knowledge of health workers; and 8 looked at health care practice.[34]

Information needs or "wants" may include (1) recognition by health care providers of their ownknowledge deficits and (2) identification by health workers of what they consider would be useful

to improve their practice.[34]

It is highly appropriate to assess local information needs within the broader context of local

epidemiology and health care services.[34] Understanding the local disease patterns is a majorprerequisite to formulating appropriate strategies towards meeting the information needs of health

care providers.[34] Sakti GM, Boldy DP: Aged care in Indonesia: information needs of health care

professionals in community health centers.[34] The purpose of this review is to providepreliminary information about the information needs of health care providers in developing

countries and to highlight ways to address the issue.[34] In the last decade, some important stepshave been made towards meeting the information needs of the "upper" echelons of healthprofessions (research and tertiary care), but remarkably little progress has been achieved inmeeting the information needs of primary and district health care providers in the developing

world.[34] The Report of the International Collaboration on Information Use in CardiovascularHealth Promotion in Developing Countries pointed out that "before information technology can beused as an effective tool for promoting cardiovascular disease prevention, the information needs

must be considered".[34] There is a need for further information on this, distinguishing between (1)reference materials at the point of patient care (i.e. on the health worker's desk, or carried byhealth workers during their daily work), and (2) learning materials that health workers may use to

update knowledge.[34] It is therefore emphasized that practical guidelines by experts in the fieldneed to be developed with the active participation of end users, especially primary health careprofessionals and there should be a better understanding of local needs. Thus, practical health care

information should be user-driven, easy to use and accessible at the point of care.[34]

Qualitative methods are particularly important in assessing information needs, and are particularly

useful for assessing needs as perceived by health care providers.[34] By contrast, personnel inhealth centres have different information needs. One particular study in primary care healthcentres in rural Uganda found that the few books donated to the facilities were too technical,contained inappropriate content and were generally irrelevant to the local needs. As one doctor put

it ".[34] Eight of the 35 studies looked at information needs as perceived by health workers,

patients and family/community members.[34] Explicit knowledge from research studies is unlikelyto lead us to a "complete understanding" of information needs. Our understanding of changingneeds can be strengthened by "continuous information needs assessment" for example, by


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capturing tacit knowledge through email communities among specific health groups.[34]

Information needs of health workers in developing countries are varied and are constantly under

the influence of multiple factors professional, institutional, cultural and infrastructural.[34] Thisreview provides a preliminary glimpse of the journal literature on the information needs of healthworkers in developing countries (with a special focus on Africa), and ways in which information

needs can be assessed.[34] Every individual health worker has unique information needs.Furthermore, a health worker's perceived and actual needs change with time, place and clinical

caseload.[34]

Pakenham-Walsh N, Priestley C, Smith R: Meeting the information needs of healthworkers in developing countries.[34] No single method is ideal in evaluating health information

needs. A snapshot of the published literature highlights progress, challenges and opportunities.[34]

The aim of the report was to find out the current information needs of all the nursing community,not just RCN members, and including access to computers, the Internet, and other sources of

information.[18] The USA NMMDS includes core essential data needed to support the

administrative and management information needs for the provision of nursing care.[26]

There appears to be a need for research to investigate the contribution of lack of knowledge or lackof information as a contributing factor to individual preventable deaths, especially where such

deaths are caused by failures of health care.

[34]

This paper provides the first phase of a broaderliterature review of the information and learning needs of health care providers in developing

countries.[34] A mechanism for doing this is provided by two email groups that are specificallyfocused on the information and learning needs of health care providers: HIFA2015 and

CHILD2015 http://www.dgroups.org/groups/HIFA2015/ webcite.[34] I feel professionallyinsecure without these materials") suggests a real need to investigate further the link between lackof information and feelings of professional isolation and general dissatisfaction among rural health

workers.[34] The information and learning needs of family caregivers and primary and district

health workers have been ignored for too long.[34] This disparity in infrastructure limits the abilityof health workers to take full advantage of information technologies in meeting their information

and learning needs.[34]

This two-day course provides practical training in crisis communication techniques, and will focuson the role of public information in incident management, the information needs of the public in a

crisis, and the various means of effectively communicating through the news media.[35] Surveyquestions provided data on current information-seeking strategies, barriers to information access,

and future information needs, as well as demographic questions.[32] An earlier study, again in TheLancet, noted: "Much more research needs to be aimed at identifying information needs in

less-developed countries.[34] Decidedly non-clinical, the Library exists to meet the research and

information needs of the association's programmatic activities.[24] This report communicates thekey results from the Information Needs Analysis (INA) conducted by RCN Library and Information

Services with a wide range of RCN learning and information colleagues from across the UK,including Learning Representative leads and Learning Representatives.[18] An informal review inThe Lancet, and its accompanying comment from WHO staff, provide an overview that attempts tohighlight the importance of meeting information needs, particularly at primary and district levels;the importance of local relevance and usability of information in addition to its reliability; and theadvantages of "pull" approaches to meeting information needs, as compared with the prevalent

model of industrialized countries' "pushing" information onto developing countries.[34]

Assessment of information needs requires a mix of quantitative and qualitative research.[34] Ourstudies suggest that information needs and communication difficulties are common and can lead to

medical errors or near misses.[30]


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Receiving health information through a physician or nurse was found to be a protective factor for

diabetic complications as compared to mass media and health news."[34] The American Journal ofNursing Magazine is the premier professional journal for today's nurse, providing comprehensive

and in-depth information to help nurses stay current in their profession.[14] Nursing 2007 is an

award-winning how-to journal created to provide practical, hands-on information to nurses.[14]

This document from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) emphasises the importance of

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and e-Health in the role of the nurse.[18]

Thedocument provides information on how nurses can extend their ICT skills and be more involved in

ICT processes.[18] Wherever nurses care for patients--the ICU, CCU, cath lab, PACU, telemetry,progressive, or transitional care--each bimonthly issue of Nursing2006 Critical Care offers vital

information on topics that boost readers' assessment and intervention skills to the next level.[14]

RN is a leading magazine among registered nurses and the premier source of clinical information.[14] This study highlights the barriers school nurses face in finding and accessing information for

use in daily practice.[32]

Articles such as An Update on the New NCLEX Format, and The Latest News on SARS provide

nursing students with information and advice they need while they pursue their degree.

[14]

Nursing needs for information not only influence their adoption of particular technologies but also

shape their design.[37] Basing information provision on perceived needs is important, not leastbecause it is more likely that information provided in response to expressed needs ("pulled"

information) is more likely to be put into practice than information that is "pushed".[34] This couldbe a dramatically effective advocacy tool to promote the importance of meeting information and

learning needs.[34] Contributing to a clear global objective: Understanding the information andlearning needs is recognized as fundamental to the global initiative, Healthcare Information For All

by 2015 http://www.hifa2015.org webcite.[34]

This document describes the short-term easing of the shortage, looks at the current and future

need for nurses, and offers advice for new nursing school graduates.[20] This policy emphasis isneeded to adequately address the growing need for faculty and nurses to serve in primary care and

other advanced practice roles.[20] This professional, contemporary journal serves the educational

and communication needs of nurses in a particularly demanding field.[14] Findings indicate thatnurses do not feel sufficiently informed about or consulted on NHS IT developments and a large

majority highlighted the importance of and need for training.[18] The 2007 State of America'sHospitals - Taking the Pulse According to a report released by the American Hospital Associationin July 2007, U.S. hospitals need approximately 116,000 registered nurses (RNs) to fill vacant

positions nationwide.[20] Advanced practice nurses rely on this timely journal to stay informed onimportant breakthroughs in pharmacologic treatments; physiologic, psychologic, and social patient

needs; management of dysrhythmials; outcomes research; and much more.[14] This first-of-its-kind journal addresses the needs of the advanced practice nurse for today's complex,

sophisticated ED challenges.[14]

Work with information standards organizations and nurse leaders/managers in diverse healthcareorganizations in order to: standardize the coding of NMMDS elements, include NMMDS elementsin healthcare information systems, and further develop best practices with appropriate

benchmarks.[26] Demonstrate that school nurses lack access to current and appropriate healthcare

information resources.[32]


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POSSIBLY USEFUL

Section Contents:

The overall conclusion from the pilot data are that CPG Viewer was used by about half of potential users

during the context of clinical care, and users reported success in finding the information sought over half of

the time.(More...)

Respondents reported print, health professionals, and online/electronic resources as the most to least

preferred means to access drug information, respectively. 37% and 35% of respondents reported using "both

print and electronic but print more than electronic" and "print only", respectively, to search monograph-

related drug information queries whereas 4% reported using "PDA only".(More...)

We decided to use a hard-copy questionnaire to ensure that we reached the whole target audience, not just

those health care professionals with good access to information technology and the skills and confidence to

use it.(More...)

Availability of health information provides confidence in clinical decision-making, improves practical skills and

attitude to care and alleviates professional isolation, yet this resource remains invisible in the complex health

care systems.(More...)

T h e o v e r a l l co n c l u s io n f r o m t h e p i l o t d a t a a r e t h a t CP G V i ew e r w a s u s e d b y

a b o u t h a l f of p o t e n t i a l u s e r s d u r i n g t h e c o n t e x t o f cl in i ca l c a r e , a n d u s e r s

r e p o r t ed s u c ce ss in f i n d i n g t h e in f o r m a t i o n s o u g h t o v e r h a l f o f t h e t im e .[3]

Sources of information most frequently used were colleagues, articles in newspapers and

magazines, books, and papers in professional journals, in that order.[4] The quality of sourcesof information available to the user is also important because relevant sources are most likely

to beget useful information.[1] In the three false positive cases, the user indicated

information was found but the document expert felt the information sought was not availablein the search session; the reason for the disagreement is unclear.[3] Other factors are thesocio-political, economic, legal and regulatory systems surrounding the user, as well as the

consequences of information use.[1] Repeat use tended to be higher among those who weresuccessful in finding information compared to those who were not, however the sample size

was too small to draw any confident conclusions.[3]

In the three false negative cases the user indicated the information was not found when the

document expert felt the information was in the documents accessed.[3] Table 2 illustratesagreement between users and the CPG document expert with respect to document

information content.[3] Search Behavior Information (Mandatory): Search type; Queriesmade (search strings); How many documents have been returned in a query; Whichdocument has been opened and its position in the query results list; For how long the

document was viewed (opened).[3]

Seminars, workshops and conferences, and video, slide, and tape programs were the most

popular potential sources of information.[4]

Nurses constitute the majority of a hospital's clinical employees, and they are also the most

frequently consulted resource persons in the health care system.[1] Nurses are responsible


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for not only implementing physicians and surgeons' clinical orders or prescriptions, but also

for maintaining a constant surveillance over their patients' health.[1]

The pilot study was conducted in three inpatient acute care units: a) A 46-bed medical unit ata tertiary hospital (LDS Hospital), with 44 nurses; b) The 39-bed Medical/SurgicalIntermediate Care Unit at a secondary hospital (McKay-Dee Hospital), with 54 nurses; and c)

A 22-bed rural hospital (Heber Valley Medical Center), with 28 nurses.[3] Hospital nurses

are responsible for coordinating all care activities for patients in their care.[1]

Nurses from these three sites were trained to use the CPG Viewer to search and browse the

CPG documents.[3] Along with the most recently trained nurses, they made more significant

use of certain library-related products and services.[4] It is concluded that library provisionand use can be improved only by co-operation between nurses, students, educators, librarians

and managers.[5] A brief comparison is made with the perceptions that librarians have ofnurses information-seeking activity followed by a more detailed discussion of the ways that

librarians consider that nurses use of libraries could be improved.[5] METHODS:Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with seventeen public health nurses at a

local health department in rural Oregon.[2] RESULTS: Public health nurses performed a

wide variety of roles and associated tasks.[2] The monitoring data allow us an unprecedentedopportunity to investigate the information- seeking behavior of bedside nurses and provide

developers with feedback necessary to improve the usefulness of the tool.[3] Fifteen (53.6%)out of 28 nurses who completed the questionnaire used the Viewer again during the pilot

study ( Table 1 ).[3] Out of the 126 potential users, 60 nurses, or 47.6%, used the CPG Viewer

during this period, resulting in 178 information-seeking sessions.[3]

Users indicated that the needed information was found in 31 (57.4%) questionnaires and was

not found in 23 (42.6%) questionnaires.[3] Information could be defined in terms of tools,

processes or knowledge (Bates, 2002).[1]

Nurses and other clinicians can search and browse the CPG collection using an intuitive

web-based tool called CPG Viewer .[3] Twenty three (38.3%) nurses used the CPG Vieweronly once, 14 (23.3%) nurses used the tool twice, 20 (33.3%) used it between 3 and 8 times,

and 3 (5%) used it relatively frequently (from 11 to 13 times).[3] Review Internet-basedinformation-seeking behaviour amongst doctors and nurses: a short review of the literature.[3] Formal training of nurses started in Nigeria in 1957 at the University College Ibadan before

its transformation to University of Ibadan in 1962.[1]

Librarians and informaticians can assist by addressing these needs and improving the

organization of content and interface design for commonly used websites.[2] Each documentgroup follows a specific template, and the main sections of these templates are items like tasks , goals , documentation needs , risk factors , symptoms , laboratory and

diagnostic findings , and literature references .[3]

The monitoring data collected during the information-seeking session were used inconjunction with the questionnaire answers to further understand the information seeking

behaviors.[3] Information sources are efficient if they provide relevant, useful, specific and

accurate information that could help users solve their problems.[1]


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For the general public, patients, and health professionals, there is consumer-orientedinformation on a wide range of topics as well as comprehensive descriptions of research

programs and clinical trials.[16] The National Cancer Institute coordinates the NationalCancer Program, which conducts and supports research, training, health informationdissemination, and other programs with respect to the cause, diagnosis, prevention, andtreatment of cancer, rehabilitation from cancer, and the continuing care of cancer patients

and the families of cancer patients.[16]

Health & Wellness Resource Center from Gale is a comprehensive resource for libraries,schools, and hospitals that provides integrated access to medical, statistical, health, and

related information.[16] Our own survey shows that if health practitioners have access to

information they will use it to bring about change."[9] Electronic access to researchinformation for health professionals is a key component in developing evidence-based

healthcare.[10] Toxicology and Environmental Health Information Program maintains acomprehensive toxicology and environmental health web site that includes access to

resources produced by TEHIP and by other government agencies and organizations.[16]

Since 1997, healthfinder.gov has been recognized as a key resource for finding the bestgovernment and nonprofit health and human services information on the Internet.

healthfinder.gov links to carefully selected information and Web sites from over 1,500 health-

related organizations.[16] MedlinePlus also has extensive information about drugs, an

illustrated medical encyclopedia, interactive patient tutorials, and latest health news.[16]

NOAH (New York Online Access to Health) provides access to high quality consumer health

information in English and Spanish.[16] The Health & Wellness Resource Center features a

fully updated, intuitive interface -- providing multiple pathways to key information.[16]

Authoritative health information developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human

Services together with other Federal agencies.[16] IBIDS is a collaboration between two U.S.government agencies: the Office of Dietary Supplements of the National Institutes of Health,and the Food and Nutrition Information Center (FNIC) of the United States Department of

Agriculture's (USDA) National Agricultural Library (NAL).[16]

Librarians and health professionals in New York and beyond find, select, and organize

full-text consumer health information that is current, relevant, accurate and unbiased.[16]

Neil Pakenham-Walsh, Coordinator of the HIFA2015 campaign said: "HIFA2015 is raisingawareness of this vital issue, thereby improving the provision of health information, and

improving health outcomes.[9] Cathy Warwick, General Secretary of the Royal College ofMidwives (UK) said: "Information gives midwives and other health workers power; the

power to stop women and babies dying needlessly.[9] MedlinePlus brings togetherauthoritative information from NLM, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other

government agencies and health-related organizations.[16]

Jackie Cheeseborough, Learning Development Manager for Information KnowledgeManagement at the Royal College of Nursing of the UK added: "Good quality, up to date,relevant evidence is essential for improving patient care, and that is why the RCN is giving its

full support to this important campaign.[9] JSTOR uses cookies to maintain information thatwill enable access to the archive and improve the response time and performance of the

system.[39] The International Bibliographic Information on Dietary Supplements (IBIDS)database provides access to bibliographic citations and abstracts from published,

international, and scientific literature on dietary supplements.[16]


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It offers a varied selection of resources and focused topics in medicine and drug-relatedinformation, with links to individual resources with drug information and summaries tailored

to various audiences.[16] The Drug Information Portal is a gateway to current and accuratedrug information from the National Library of Medicine and to other key government

agencies.[16]

Any personal information, other than what is voluntarily submitted, is not extracted in thisprocess, and we do not use cookies to identify what other websites or pages you have visited.[39] Results of the data collection will be analyzed to develop a strategy of information

delivery and potential training opportunities.[7] The National Cancer Institute provides

valuable cancer-related information of all kinds on their website.[16] Scientists will find

detailed information on specific areas of research interest.[16]

The method used was participant observation of three groups of nurse specialists frommultiple health care providers who met over time to construct evidence-based consensus

recommendations for practice.[8] Five articles addressed the issue of educating and trainingnurses to specialize in the care of urology patients, the th most recent of which used a D l histudy t d t t t f hi h d Delphi t d to determine th procedure competencies and j b f i the d t i djob functions ti these nurses specialists require, such as removing sutures/staples and bladder

irrigation (Ream et al., 2009).[6]

The collaboration between the World Health Organization, HIFA2015 and our partners willimprove access and exchange of high quality, evidence-based and appropriate knowledge for

nurses and midwives worldwide.[9] Elaine Gustafson - Consultant to YSN and Department ofEducation in Connecticut regarding activities of school nurses; active member of theTechnical Assistance and Training Committee of the National Assembly of School based

Health Care.[7] Of these, eight articles provided continuing education activities for urology

nurses on topics such as prostatitis (Lovejoy, 2001), male infertility (Graf, 2004), urinarycalculi (Yancey, 2005), and bladder training (Lajiness et al., 2007).[6] Available from:http://tinyurl.com/34h7xpc or http://www.oxfordradcliffe.nhs.uk/forclinicians/referrals/renal/urology/urology.aspx Ream E, Wilson-Barnett J, Faithfull S, Fincham L, Khoo V,Richardson A. Working patterns and perceived contribution of prostate cancer clinical nurse

specialists: a mixed method investigation.[6] As nurses take on extended roles and workmore autonomously, it is assumed that they will take increasing advantage of these

technologies.[10]

R e s p o n d e n t s r e p o r t e d p r i n t , h e a l t h p r o f e s si o n a l s , a n d o n l i n e / e le ct r o n i c

r e so u r c es a s t h e m o s t t o le a s t p r e fe r r ed m e a n s t o a c c es s d r u g i n f o r m a t i o n ,

r e s p e ct i v e l y . 3 7% a n d 3 5 % o f r es p o n d e n t s r e p o r t e d u s i n g " b o t h p r i n t a n d

e le ct r o n i c b u t p r i n t m o r e t h a n e le ct r o n i c " a n d " p r i n t o n l y " , r e sp e ct i v e ly , t o

s ea r c h m o n o g r a p h -r e la t e d d r u g i n f o r m a t i o n q u e r i es w h e r e a s 4 % r e p o r t ed

u s i n g " PDA o n l y " .[11] Of all resources within the print, online/electronic, and healthprofessionals or other categories, NPs and physicians rated the Compendium ofPharmaceuticals and Specialties (CPS) and pharmacists as the top two most frequently used

resources for providing drug and therapeutic information.[11] Respondents indicated that


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print resources (mean 4.56, SD 0.80), health professionals (mean 3.26, SD 0.90), andonline/electronic resources (mean 2.70, SD 1.20) were the preferred method (1 least

preferred to 5 most preferred) for accessing drug information.[11] The CPS, is described as"the Canadian drug reference for health professionals" and is intended to provide a central

source of drug information on drug products available in Canada.[11] Academic detailing is aform of continuing medical education where a trained health professional visits prescribersfor a fifteen to twenty minute session to provide objective information regarding a

therapeutic topic based on best available evidence.[11]

Renowned heart surgeon Dr. MichaelE. DeBakey encouraged the development of a resource for consumers: "Not only healthprofessionals, but also consumers, should have the most recent medical information at their

fingertips" ( National Library of Medicine, October 22, 1998 ).[20] Reliance on other healthprofessionals, especially pharmacists and physicians, as a resource for information was

evident from our study and concurs with the findings of others.[11] This pattern of use can beexpected to grow, calling upon health professionals to be aware of what health information

the Internet has to offer.[20] Factors such as gender, age, practitioner type (NP vs physician),accessibility, technical support, Internet connection speed, patient volume, presence of anEPR, and home computer use were examined to determine if they were associated with the

use of a work computer to search for drug information at the point of care.[11] Variables thathave been described by others as barriers such as accessibility, high speed internet access,patient volume, age, practitioner type, and technology support did not appear to influencecomputer searching for information on drugs or therapeutics related to patient care in our

results.[11]

Keeping current with drug therapy information is challenging for health care practitioners.[11]

MedlinePlus belongs on the core list of Web sites used by health professionals in directing

their patients or clients to quality information.[20] The increased availability of high-speed

Internet access and users with more online experience contribute to the increased interest inseeking out online health information.[20] HIFA2015 is currently supported by the BritishMedical Association, International Child Health Group (Royal College of Paediatrics andChild Health), Network for Information and Digital Access, Royal College of Midwives, Royal

College of Nursing, and TRIP Database.[18] Health Topic content includes a link to apre-formatted PubMed/MEDLINE search for those users seeking more research-oriented

information.[20]

The role of NPs is relatively new in Canada and there is limited information available toindicate the type of resources (e.g. print, electronic, EPR based) these prescribers use for

drug and therapeutic information queries at the point of care.[11]

Approximately 50% ofcomputer survey respondents reported using their work computers for searching drug or

therapeutic information related to patient care.[11] Thirty-seven percent of respondentsreported that searching for specific questions related to drug information (e.g. usual dosage,duration of therapy) was conducted using both print and electronic resources (but print use

greater than electronic) (Table 2 ).[11]

Respondents indicated other resources and programs, such as clinical calculators, that theywould like to access from their computer or PDA. The top three resources that were desiredincluded Canadian clinical practice guidelines, patient education information, and ability to


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track clinical activities/statistics.[11] In our study, printed materials (e.g. compendia, journals,textbook resources) and professionals (e.g. pharmacists) were the most preferred and

frequently used means to access information.[11] Producing an information leaflet to help

patients access high quality drug information on the Internet: A local study.[20]

Healthcare Information For All by 2015 (HIFA2015) is a global network of more than 3000health professionals, producers of reference and learning materials, librarians, technologists,

researchers, and policymakers.[18]

MedlinePlus: The National Library of Medicine bringsquality information to health consumers.[20] Godlee F, Pakenham-Walsh N, Ncayiyana D,Cohen B, Packer A. Can we achieve health information for all by 2015? Lancet

2004;364(9430):295-300 Accessed March 27, 2010.[18] In November 2009 the GlobalHealthcare Information Network and ePORTUGUESe (World Health Organization) launched

a Portuguese-speaking version of HIFA2015.[18] In 2003, NLM launched a pilot HealthInformation Rx (information prescription) program in conjunction with the American College

of Physicians Foundation.[20] HIFA2015 was formally launched in October 2006 at the 10thCongress of the Association for Health Information and Libraries in Africa, in Mombasa,

Kenya.[18]

Cullen RJ: In search of evidence: family practitioners' use of the Internet for clinical

information.[11] A critical incident questionnaire was sent once a week for four weeks to thesample (just under 300 medical staff (hospital staff and general practitioners) at 11 sites)asking, for one incident in the previous week, the purposes for which information was sought,

the sources used, and the degree of success obtained.[14] Research results from a previousinvestigation of Nova Scotian physicians' behaviours regarding drug information were also

used to further revise the survey.[11] Vignettes may also be used to present data analysis, anexample in the information studies field being the narrative "week in the life of" a socialservices department in Project INISS ( Wilson & Streatfield, 1980 ).The aim is to condense themass of te

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