The Information Literacy profile of physiotherapists

1
The Information Literacy profile of
physiotherapists

• Louisa Bentley
• Mandy Guest
• Angela Guevara

20th February 2008
2
The Information Literacy profile of
physiotherapists

• General profile
• Information Literacy and IT competencies
• Information needs of the group
• Strategy to develop Information Literacy levels

3
Profile

• General to specialist (e.g. attached to cystic
  fibrosis unit)
• Acute and community settings
• Adult and child-focused practice
• Time for training possible for some acute based
  staff due to relatively flexible
  schedules/departmental support
• Time constraints for some community based staff
  (1)
• Students on placement form subgroup
• Bourne J.A. et al. (2007) Survey of the perceived
  professional, educational and
• personal needs of Physiotherapists in primary
  care and community settings. Health
• and Social Care in the Community. 15 (3)231-7

4
IL and ICT competencies

• Individuals vary but relatively homogenous group
• Some generalisations possible from experience
• Up-to-date on general ICT skills
• Educated to graduate level
• Good knowledge-sharing within teams
• Encouraged to undertake continuing professional
  development (CPD)
• Enthusiastic researchers
• May have limited access to PCs

5
Information needs of the group

• Clinical Governance improving standards of
  clinical practice e.g. audit
• Evidence Based Practice clinical decision
  making based on the best available evidence e.g.
  critical appraisal (1)
• Professional Development keeping up to date
  continuing education e.g. coursework (2)
• (1) Jette D. et al. (2003) Evidence-based
  practice beliefs, attitudes, knowledge, and
  behaviors of physical therapists. Physical
  Therapy. 83(9)786805.
• (2) Ellis, I. et al ( 2000) Living the
  HylifeAddressing the Information Needs of
  Physiotherapists. Physiotherapy, 86(5) 249- 256

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Strategy to develop Information Literacy levels

• Targeted training - instruction on resources of
  relevance to physiotherapists (Pedro)
• Time saving - appraised summaries (Dynamed,
  Clinical Knowledge Summaries)
• Flexible training - outreach, timed around work
  schedules, group based or one-to-one training
• Different levels of training - introduction,
  advanced, refresher sessions
• Additional support e.g. current awareness,
  literature searching services

7
Strategy to develop Information Literacy levels

• Information Literacy frames used
• Competency frame
• Social impact frame
• Bruce, C, Edwards, S and Lupton, M (2006) Six
  frames for Information Literacy
• Education a conceptual framework for
  interpreting the relationships between
• theory and practice

8
Conclusions

• Physiotherapists
• Group profile of physiotherapists indicate that
  information literacy needs of some are
  unfulfilled.
• High level of information literacy required to
  meet clinical governance, evidence based practice
  and professional development demands.
• The Information Literacy frames provide an
  understanding of learner diversity in terms of
  their interests or needs, informing strategies to
  develop information literacy levels.