INFORMATION RESOURCE AVAILABILITY FOR MEDICAL SERVICES IN THE ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the information resources available for medical services in Anambra State. Five research questions and three hypotheses guided the study.  This study was carried out in Anambra State.  The population of the study comprised three hundred and seventy nine (379) medical doctors, twenty five (25) library staff in Teaching Hospitals, and four thousand and seventeen 4017 medical information resources in the Teaching Hospitals in Anambra State. The entire population was studied. A self-constructed questionnaire was used as instrument of data collection in this study. The research instrument was entitled: Information Resource Availability for Medical Services Questionnaire (IRAMSQ). The research purpose, research questions, and draft copies of the instrument were submitted to two experts in library and information science, two experts in measurement and evaluation in Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka and two medical doctors one from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka and the other from University of Nigeria, Nsukka. These experts examined the items in terms of content relevance, item clarity as well as the coverage of the dimensions of the study. The test–re-test method for testing reliability was applied. In doing this, the researcher was assisted by two research assistants who administered copies of the questionnaire on 15 medical doctors in University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, (UNTH), Enugu State. After an interval of two weeks, copies of the questionnaire were administered again on the respondents. The responses were collated and the scores were computed using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation analysis. This produced reliability co-efficient of 0.87. The results indicated the internal consistency of the instruments and were therefore considered satisfactory for the study.  The researcher collected data with the help of 3 research assistants who are members of staff in the hospitals. Statistical mean and standard deviation were used to answer research questions two, three, four and five. The Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMCC) was used to test hypotheses one and two. The three hypotheses were tested at 0.05. level of significance. The findings from this study are presented as follows: Medical doctors do not frequently consult medical journals, encyclopedia of medicine, medical dictionaries, health related articles on newspapers, health related magazines, medical bulletins, projects, health related journals, e-encyclopedia and e-magazine under this study; Medical doctors read medical text books, consult medical materials for the purpose of carrying out research, for studying, read newspapers for current information on health issues , prepare for examination, write assignment, prepare for seminar presentation, borrow  and return health related information

materials, to consult reference materials and to use abstract; Medical doctors agreed that they retrieve information resources from the medical library through the use of manual card catalogue, shelve browsing, and through direction given by medical library staff and friends. Based on the findings of the study, the following recommendations are made: Librarians and library management should put in place plans, programmes and strategies that will encourage medical doctors to always consult the different health related information resources that are available in the library. In order to sustain the use of the medical libraries by medical doctors, they should be made to feel comfortable whenever they come to the library. Librarians and the management of medical libraries should make it an imperative to sensitize doctors on the use of modern information retrieval channel, such as the use of OPAC, internet and social network sites, etc. The various human factors acting as a barrier to the effective usage of the medical libraries should be addressed by library management by organizing staff orientation programmes and also create a medium of getting feedback from the doctors on the overall performance of the library.