Critical incident technique helps determine how health library and information services influence clinical decision making and patient care: A literature review

Background The Critical incident technique (CIT) has been used for decades in the assessment of the impact of library and information services on patient care and clinical decision making. Objectives The purpose of this article is to identify and review the studies that have used CIT approach to assess the impact of library and information services on patient care and clinical decision making. Methods Related articles were searched in the information resources of Web of Science, PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Google Scholar and LISTA. Results: From among 1346 articles obtained, 22 met the inclusion criteria. The analysis of the articles indicated that CIT has been used for various purposes such as assessing the information value, assessing the information resources and librarians in their clinical practice and decision making, examining information-seeking behaviour and analysing cost- benefits. Discussion Critical incident technique is a flexible approach for libraries and information services, based on individuals' experiences of finding and using information to help resolve a perceived problem. Conclusions The studies identified in this review offer a variety of methods for using CIT that other libraries might consider for their own impact studies.