Effectiveness of educational interventions for improving healthcare professionals' information literacy: A systematic review

Background

It is unclear which educational interventions effectively improve healthcare professionals' information literacy.

Objectives

We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of educational interventions for improving the formulation of answerable clinical questions and the search skills of healthcare professionals.

Methods

We followed the Cochrane methodology and reported according to the PRISMA statement. The following databases from inception to November 2022: MEDLINE, Cochrane CENTRAL, EMBASE, Web of Science, CINAHL, and Google Scholar search engine, were searched. Randomised controlled trials and crossover trials on any educational interventions were included. Studies on search tools that are obsolete were excluded.

Results

Ten studies that mainly compared the effectiveness of lectures and bedside education to lectures or no intervention for searching of PubMed and/or MEDLINE, were included. There was evidence for improved attitude towards the intervention favouring lecture with self-directed learning over lecture, bedside education, and computer-assisted self-directed learning (RR: 1.14; 95% CI 1.06–1.23; N = 2 studies; 1064 participants; I² = 0%; moderate certainty evidence). There were limited findings on the knowledge, skills, satisfaction, and behaviour outcomes.

Conclusion

Future research should include a wider set of outcomes, be reported better and explore the use of digital technology for delivery of educational interventions. Further research should entail well-designed trials with relevant outcomes evaluating novel digital-based educational interventions.