title: Effectiveness of bibliographic searches performed by paediatric residents and interns assisted by librarians. A randomised controlled trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Considerable barriers still prevent paediatricians from successfully using information retrieval technology.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To verify whether the assistance of biomedical librarians significantly improves the outcomes of searches performed by paediatricians in biomedical databases using real-life clinical scenarios.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a controlled trial at a paediatric teaching hospital, nine residents and interns were randomly allocated to an assisted search group and nine to a non-assisted (control) group. Each participant searched PubMed and other online sources, performing pre-determined tasks including the formulation of a clinical question, retrieval and selection of bibliographic records. In the assisted group, participants were supported by a librarian with ≥5 years of experience. The primary outcome was the success of search sessions, scored against a specific assessment tool.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median score of the assisted group was 73.6 points interquartile range (IQR = 13.4) vs. 50.4 (IQR = 17.1) of the control group. The difference between median values in the results was 23.2 points (95% CI 4.8-33.2), in favour of the assisted group (P-value, Mann-Whitney U test: 0.013).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study has found quantitative evidence of a significant difference in search performance between paediatric residents or interns assisted by a librarian and those searching the literature alone.
authors: School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK. pgardois@gmail.com
authors: Paolo
authors: P
authors: Gardois
authors: Roberto
authors: R
authors: Calabrese
authors: Nicoletta
authors: N
authors: Colombi
authors: Annamaria
authors: A
authors: Deplano
authors: Carla
authors: C
authors: Lingua
authors: Filomena
authors: F
authors: Longo
authors: Maria C
authors: MC
authors: Villanacci
authors: Roberto
authors: R
authors: Miniero
authors: Antonio
authors: A
authors: Piga
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002983:Clinical Competence; D016206:Databases, Bibliographic; D020000:Decision Support Systems, Clinical / Q000295:instrumentation; D055317:Evidence-Based Practice; D005260:Female; D006302:Health Services Research; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000379:methods*; D007993:Libraries, Medical; D007998:Library Science / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D010372:Pediatrics; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric