Abstract:
The professional information needs of nurses, and the situations which cause nurses to seek information have not been widely studied. A small scale study involving questionnaire based interviews of paediatric nurses at Christchurch Hospital showed paediatric nurses viewed access to professional information as vital to the performance of their work. Work situations which required these nurses to seek additional information included the admission of patients with unknown or rare conditions, patient education, questions from other staff, and the development of ward protocols or standards. The most frequently consulted sources were patient records, nursing colleagues, and ward texts. These provided the bulk of nursing information, but the Nursing Library and nurses' private libraries were also used. Given the dependence on other nursing staff displayed here, it is vital that nurses keep up to date with their practice. There was a strong trend to passing information on to other nurses once it had been accessed.
