Table 2.
Hospital policies and IT infrastructure (153 hospitals)
| Questionnaire items | n (%) |
| Hospital policies | |
| Explicit policy to enhance IT infrastructure to improve accessibility to medical information (YES) | 144 (94.1) |
| Explicit recommendation for the utilisation of evidence-based medicine (YES) | 88 (57.5) |
| Explicit recommendation for adherence to clinical practice guidelines (YES) | 84 (54.9) |
| Accessibility to the internet and other information sources | |
| Electronic health records and internet access | |
| Access to both electronic health records and the internet | 110 (71.9) |
| Other | 43 (28.1) |
| Wireless LAN | |
| Available with no limitations/with limited access points | 110 (71.9) |
| Not available | 43 (28.1) |
| Major locations with wired LAN access (multiple answers allowed) | |
| Outpatient clinics/wards | 98 (64.1) |
| Other locations (including medical offices and library) | 144 (94.1) |
| Access to paid medical evidence databases (multiple answers allowed) | |
| Igaku Chuo Zasshi (ICHUSHI) database <in Japanese> | 118 (77.1) |
| Medical databases such as UpToDate, Clinical Key, Ovid and DynaMed | 84 (54.9) |
| Medical library and intranet usability within the hospital | |
| Provision of an intranet homepage with user-friendly interface | 42 (27.5) |
| Number of full-time medical librarians | |
| ≥1 | 66 (43.1) |
| 0 | 87 (56.9) |
| Medical library activities (multiple answers allowed) | |
| Periodic meetings held to improve the information retrieval environment | 84 (54.9) |
| Continuously working to improve library services and usability | 60 (39.2) |
| Participation in hospital librarian associations and communication with other hospital librarians | 25 (16.3) |
| Other | 23 (15.0) |
IT, information technology; LAN, local area network.