PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to determine the information needs of primary care physicians in Spain and to describe their information-seeking patterns. METHODS: This observational study took place in primary care practices located in Madrid, Spain. Participants were a random stratified sample of 112 primary care physicians. Physicians' consultations were video recorded for 4 hours. Clinical questions arising during the patient visit and the sources of information used within the consultation to answer questions were identified. Physicians with unanswered questions were followed up by telephone 2 weeks later to determine whether their questions had since been answered and the sources of information used. Clinical questions were classified by topic and type of information. RESULTS: A total of 3,511 patient consultations (mean length, 7.8 minutes) were recorded, leading to 635 clinical questions (0.18 questions per consultation). The most frequent questions were related to diagnosis (53%) and treatment (26%). The most frequent generic type of questions was "What is the cause of symptom x?" (20.5%). Physicians searched for answers to 22.8% of the questions (9.6% during consultations). The time taken and the success rate in finding an answer during a consultation and afterward were 2 minutes (100%) and 32 minutes (75%), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Primary care physicians working in settings where consultations are of short duration have time to answer only 1 in 5 of their questions. Better methods are needed to provide answers to questions that arise in office practice in settings where average consultation time is less than 10 minutes.
PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to determine the information needs of primary care physicians in Spain and to describe their information-seeking patterns. METHODS: This observational study took place in primary care practices located in Madrid, Spain. Participants were a random stratified sample of 112 primary care physicians. Physicians' consultations were video recorded for 4 hours. Clinical questions arising during the patient visit and the sources of information used within the consultation to answer questions were identified. Physicians with unanswered questions were followed up by telephone 2 weeks later to determine whether their questions had since been answered and the sources of information used. Clinical questions were classified by topic and type of information. RESULTS: A total of 3,511 patient consultations (mean length, 7.8 minutes) were recorded, leading to 635 clinical questions (0.18 questions per consultation). The most frequent questions were related to diagnosis (53%) and treatment (26%). The most frequent generic type of questions was "What is the cause of symptom x?" (20.5%). Physicians searched for answers to 22.8% of the questions (9.6% during consultations). The time taken and the success rate in finding an answer during a consultation and afterward were 2 minutes (100%) and 32 minutes (75%), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Primary care physicians working in settings where consultations are of short duration have time to answer only 1 in 5 of their questions. Better methods are needed to provide answers to questions that arise in office practice in settings where average consultation time is less than 10 minutes.
Authors: John W Ely; Jerome A Osheroff; M Lee Chambliss; Mark H Ebell; Marcy E Rosenbaum Journal: J Am Med Inform Assoc Date: 2004-11-23 Impact factor: 4.497
Authors: Nancy L Bennett; Linda L Casebeer; Robert Kristofco; Blanche C Collins Journal: BMC Med Inform Decis Mak Date: 2005-03-22 Impact factor: 2.796
Authors: Salimah Z Shariff; Meaghan S Cuerden; R Brian Haynes; K Ann McKibbon; Nancy L Wilczynski; Arthur V Iansavichus; Mark R Speechley; Amardeep Thind; Amit X Garg Journal: Implement Sci Date: 2010-07-20 Impact factor: 7.327
Authors: Patricia Alafaireet; Jeff Belden; Matt Botkin; Karl Kochendorfer; Robin Kruse; Dylan Strecker; Jayne Williams Journal: Mo Med Date: 2017 Jul-Aug
Authors: Maria T Botello-Harbaum; Catherine A Demko; Frederick A Curro; D Brad Rindal; Damon Collie; Gregg H Gilbert; Thomas J Hilton; Ronald G Craig; Juliann Wu; Ellen Funkhouser; Maryann Lehman; Ruth McBride; Van Thompson; Anne Lindblad Journal: J Dent Educ Date: 2013-02 Impact factor: 2.264