The perioperative librarian: luxury or necessity?

There has been an explosion of medical information in the past decade. Current clinical practice demands that anesthesiologists be aware of current treatments and procedures, along with the latest practice standards and guidelines. The need to be able to rapidly retrieve relevant, accurate clinical information at the point of care is now felt more than ever. This review explores the impact of clinical medical librarians, with particular emphasis on their application in the perioperative setting.

An increasing number of hospitals are turning to medical librarians to help clinicians improve their information-seeking skills. As a result, the role of medical librarians has expanded dramatically. Most studies evaluating the effectiveness of clinical medical librarian programs support their value in clinical teams, yet the studies rely primarily on descriptive surveys and qualitative data.

Anesthesiologists have particular information needs for which the physical library is no longer sufficient. New outcome measures to define the 'success' of clinical medical librarian programs need to be formulated, and economic considerations need to be factored into these programs.