Where there’s a way there’s a will! The Royal College of Nursing’s information needs survey of nurses and health professionals.

In 2004 the Royal College of Nursing Library and Information Services carried out a survey into the information needs of nurses and other allied health professionals in the UK. We wanted a good evidence base in order to develop our services and play an influencing role to improve nurses’ access to information. The survey focussed on:

• information or knowledge to improve practice in the clinical area
• information needed to support lifelong learning and formal study.

The research was carried out by means of a hard copy questionnaire which was distributed by RCN activists and health librarians. This methodology was selected to ensure that we got a good response from all our target audience, not just those health care professionals with good access to information technology. We managed to get a total of 1715 completed questionnaires and a good cross-section of our target audience, making this exercise one of the largest and most robust ever undertaken in the UK. The data was analysed using SPSS.

The results of the survey were encouraging both for nursing and information professionals. Having good access to information – via the Internet and via a physical library and via information skills – appears to have a direct effect on putting evidence into practice. Those with the best access to information were more likely to both search for evidence and to change their practice as a result of research. And respondents who search for evidence or report changing their practice as a result of research are much more likely to find a range of information resources useful for both improving practice and lifelong learning. This paper will discuss the research methodology and the key findings of the survey which has national and international implications.