The Role Of The Clinical Librarian In Patient Management

Abstract

The usefulness of the Clinical librarian (CL) in obtaining relevant information for patient management was assessed over a period of six months. The responses of the CL and Resident Doctors (RD) in finding answers to questions raised during ward rounds were compared. Specifically, the number of literature materials provided in response, the time it took for answers to be provided and the value of the answers were compared.



The result shows that the CL responded 100% of the time, while the RD provided 33% response. The average time it took the CL to respond was 3.9 days and 2 1/2 days for the RD. 60% of the information provided by the CL were useful. The overall assessment of the responses showed that the CL has more statistically significant responses than the RD (P<0.001). It is therefore, concluded that the CL can play significant role in hospital patient care.

Nigerian Quarterly Journal of Hospital Medicine Vol.9, No.3 (1999) pp. 215-217