Evaluation of literature searching and article selection skills of an evidence-based practice team

Background: An evidence-based practice (EBP) team at an academic medical center supports the development of evidence-based hospital policies and protocols via "Evidence Briefs." An early career librarian was added to the EBP team to meet increased requests for Evidence Briefs, which provided an opportunity to initiate a quality improvement (QI) analysis, improve work flow, and cross-train staff on literature searching and article selection skills.

Case presentation: This QI project evaluated literature searching and article selection skills of an early career librarian (less than 2 years' experience), a mid-career librarian (more than 10 years' experience), and a critical appraisal expert. This project examined 10 Evidence Brief requests completed within a 6-month period. Analysis of each individual's performance of literature searching and article selection was completed for each Evidence Brief. Across all Evidence Brief requests, the mid-career librarian performed the most comprehensive literature searches and captured the highest number of articles that ultimately ended up being included in Evidence Briefs (75%). The critical appraisal expert performed best on the article selection portion of the project and identified the highest number of relevant articles that were included in Evidence Briefs (74%).

Conclusions: This project provided a formalized method of assessing the literature searching and article selection skills of each member of the EBP team. This project illustrated the skill level of each individual and led to improvements in the Evidence Brief request work flow.