Abstract
Hospitals are turning to total quality management (TQM) to lower costs of providing care. A hospital library in a TQM environment needs to embrace corporate goals while maintaining its accountability as a contributor to quality patient care. Alliant Health System (AHS) Library at Norton Hospital and Kosair Children's Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, conducted a study to establish TQM benchmarks and to examine the significance of its role in clinical care. Using a methodology designed to allow both library user and nonuser to respond, 2,091 surveys were distributed to physicians and nursing and allied health personnel. Areas surveyed included frequency of library use, impact of information received on clinical judgments, cognitive value of the information, and satisfaction with library products and services. Results confirm that the library has a substantial clinical role. Eighty-eight percent of reporting physicians agreed that information from the library contributed to higher quality care. Nursing and allied health were less convinced of the importance of the library's clinical role. Sixty-nine percent of nursing personnel and 58% of allied health personnel agreed that the library contributed to higher quality care. Nursing and allied health personnel also used the library less frequently than physicians. With these results as benchmarks, improving the clinical role of the library will take commitment to the TQM process and a willingness to change.
Full text
PDFSelected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Berwick D. M. Continuous improvement as an ideal in health care. N Engl J Med. 1989 Jan 5;320(1):53–56. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198901053200110. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Fredenburg A. M. Quality assurance: establishing a program for libraries. Spec Libr. 1988 Fall;79(4):277–284. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- King D. N. The contribution of hospital library information services to clinical care: a study in eight hospitals. Bull Med Libr Assoc. 1987 Oct;75(4):291–301. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Marshall J. G. The impact of the hospital library on clinical decision making: the Rochester study. Bull Med Libr Assoc. 1992 Apr;80(2):169–178. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- McLaughlin C. P., Kaluzny A. D. Total quality management in health: making it work. Health Care Manage Rev. 1990 Summer;15(3):7–14. doi: 10.1097/00004010-199001530-00002. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]