Ann Fam Med. 2007 Jul-Aug;5(4):345-52.
Information needs and
information-seeking behavior of primary care physicians.
González-González AI, Dawes M, Sánchez-Mateos J, Riesgo-Fuertes R, Escortell-Mayor E, Sanz-Cuesta T, Hernández-Fernández T.
Servicio Madrileño de
la Salud, Madrid, Spain. [log in to unmask]
Abstract
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.
PMID: 17664501 [PubMed
- indexed for MEDLINE]PMCID: PMC1934982Free PMC Article