Information seeking by nurses during beginning-of-shift activities.

Information seeking by nurses at the beginning of a work shift is related to planning interventions and other patient activities. Subjects were observed for one hour following morning shift report. The most frequent type of information sought was medication schedules and other information related to medications. On average, nurses spent one-quarter of the first hour after shift report looking for and retrieving information. Nursing information, such as assessments and nursing summaries, required more time to retrieve than other types of information. Findings are compared to earlier research about nurses' information seeking.