Role of information professionals in promoting evidence based medical services in Saudi healthcare institutions : a study

Abstract EN

Though Evidence-based Medical Practice has evolved over the years as a promising tool for the improvement of health care services in Saudi Arabia, knowledge management in health sciences institutions is still a major issue today.

The move towards EBMP has created a unique opportunity for information professionals to make a direct contribution to the decision making process of healthcare professionals by demonstrating their information and knowledge management skills.

The present study intends to assess the awareness, attitude and practice of evidence-based approach among information professionals working in Saudi medical libraries and also tries to explore their roles and perceived barriers to the implementation of EBM practice.

Methods : Survey methodology was used in this study.

A well structured questionnaire and SPSS software were used to collect and analyze data.

The sample survey, selected randomly, is limited to major health libraries of universities and government hospitals in Saudi Arabia.

Results : The findings show that health librarians, the majority of whom are of non-Saudi Arabian nationality, are aware of EBMP and practice the evidence based approach to meet the information needs of the health professionals.

However, there are a very few number of librarians who are subject experts and they also lack training, resources and organizational support to provide specific information services such as EBMP.

Furthermore, they have limited understanding of new ICTs and their implications for information provision and also they are less familiar with the research tools, techniques, and critical appraisal.

Conclusions : Due to the need of medical professionals for high quality, authoritative, relevant and timely information, library professionals working in healthcare institutions need to ensure that systems are designed that can track and provide access to need based research evidence to support Evidence-based Medical Practice.

Also on a personal level, they need to acquire new skills and develop clinical knowledge to perform effective literature search from the universe of knowledge and then analyzing, appraising, applying and evaluating the information as the basis for clinical decisions.

The paper suggests adopting standards with regard to personnel to be employed as medical librarians and also redefining and restructuring courses for medical librarianship with the aim of providing librarians training in clinical study designs, statistical concepts and critical appraisal of the literature.