The Healthcare Library of Northern Ireland Impact Survey 2019

The Healthcare Library of Northern Ireland ran an impact survey from 11th February 2019 to 22nd February 2019 to gather examples of how our role in providing Health and Social Care professionals with free library and information services, and expert advice and training supports patient care, evidence-based practice and continuing professional development. Invitations to participate in the survey were sent to a random sample of Healthcare Library members.

A total of three questions were asked:

• Give an example of something you have asked The Healthcare Library to help you with
• In what way did the Library help?
• What was the impact on your professional practice, patient outcome, safety or cost?

From the survey, it can be seen that members ask the Library to help with four main categories: literature searching, access to resources, training and requesting material.

The impact of this help falls into the categories of continuing professional development (CPD), patient care and safety, policy strategy and guidelines, evidence-based practice (EBP), and research.

The results of the survey will be invaluable to us in reporting to the Department of Health and to support future business cases for enhanced funding or specific projects. In the current financial climate, it is extremely important to be able to prove the value of our services and your input is crucial to this. Thank you to all who took the time to respond to the survey, and although the survey has now closed, we are always grateful for feedback especially case studies highlighting the impact of our service. If you have any such example, please contact info@healthcarelibrary.qub.ac.uk or use the online feedback form.