Nurses' information-seeking skills and perceptions of information sources: assessment using vignettes

Abstract

A survey of trained nursing staff in Plymouth (UK) indicated how national professional development proposals for nursing staff might affect the information and library services of the Tor and South West College of Health in Ply mouth. A structured interview of five per cent of the acute and community staff included a vignette (case study information problem) designed to elicit the level of information-seeking skills and perceptions of information sources, including the various local libraries with health care collections. Content analysis of the vignettes showed that about one-third of the respondents were confident information seekers. Another third appeared lacking in information-seeking skills. The informa tion-seeking strategy was associated with the group that used more than two sources of information, and this group was also more likely to mention use of a library than the other group which used two or fewer sources of information. However, there was no significant difference between those groups on (i) use of informal sources (colleagues, specialists) and (ii) mention of literature searching and journals. Study of the sources mentioned, particularly libraries, pointed to the need to consider networking and/or integration of health care library services.