Physicians’ Perception about the Role of Clinical Librarianship at Alzahra Medical Center

Abstract

Introduction: With the advent of information technology and expansion of medical resources, physicians face problems in search and retrieval of medical information. A need for a medical liberian to assist them to increase their skills and hence improve the clinical services rendered to patients is greatly felt. The purpose of the study was to identify and determine physicians’ viewpoints concerning the medical Liberians role in providing the service at Alzahra Medical center. Method: This survey was an analytical, applied and cross sectional study in which data were collected by means of a questionnaire. The population were 212 doctors in Alzahra Hospital. 137 physicians were randomly selected on the basis of Morgan Table. Content validity was determined by the experts, and reliability of the questionnaire were measured by chronbach`s alpha (Cronbach Alpha was 0.74). Finally data were analyzed by SPSS18, using descriptive and inferential statistics( nonparametric tests using Man-Whithney, one-way analysis of variance,Kolmogorov - Smirnov, Kendall correlation coefficients). Results: 60.3% of the participants mentioned lack of time as an obstacle in accessing the new information. 52.5 % acknowledged the need to help them search the information. There was no significant difference between male and female participants and work experience in regards with the need to medical librarians in Al Zahra Hospital. There was no significant difference between their familiarities with databases with need to the need to medical librarians in Al Zahra Hospital. Conclusion: On the basis of the findings of the study, trained medical liberians to provide assistance in the search of medical sources is needed as physicians do not have sufficient time to meet their needs to information.