HOSPITAL LIBRARY REFERENCE SERVICE: AN ANALYSIS OF THE DEMANDS OF LITERATURE SEARCH

ABSTRACT

It analyzes the profile of the demands for a Literature Search in the Hospital Library Reference Service. This is retrospective research, with a sample of 189 Literature Search forms requested between 2016 and 2021. Among the requesters of the Literature Search, males predominated (50.8%), the average time spent to perform it was 6.5 (±7.1) days, specialties that most requested service were gynecology (12.2%), mastology (11.6%) and general surgery (11.6%). The most requested approaches were related to treatment (48.1%), diagnosis (34.4%) and surgical aspects (28.6%), mainly studies in English and in the PubMed^® database. The Literature Search is an essential service of the Hospital Library to assist the medical team in making decisions about treatment, diagnosis, surgical approach, among other aspects. English was the predominant language in health publications, with PubMed^® being the most requested database for bibliographic research. Database training and English language proficiency are essential requirements for the Clinical Librarian to carry out a Literature Search. A proper referral interview with the physician is essential to understanding the need for health information and performing a satisfactory database search.

Keywords:
Literature Search; Reference Service; Clinical Librarian; Hospital Library; Information Seeking