The information‐seeking behaviour of doctors: a review of the evidence

Abstract

This paper provides a narrative review of the available literature from the past 10 years (1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006) that focus on the information seeking behaviour of doctors. The review considers the literature in three sub-themes: Theme 1, the Information Needs of Doctors includes information need, frequency of doctors' questions and types of information needs; Theme 2, Information Seeking by Doctors embraces pattern of information resource use, time spent searching, barriers to information searching and information searching skills; Theme 3, Information Sources Utilized by Doctors comprises the number of sources utilized, comparison of information sources consulted, computer usage, ranking of information resources, printed resource use, personal digital assistant (PDA) use, electronic database use and the Internet. The review is wide ranging. It would seem that the traditional methods of face-to-face communication and use of hard-copy evidence still prevail amongst qualified medical staff in the clinical setting. The use of new technologies embracing the new digital age in information provision may influence this in the future. However, for now, it would seem that there is still research to be undertaken to uncover the most effective methods of encouraging clinicians to use the best evidence in everyday practice.

Problem-oriented drug information: physicians’ expectations and impact on clinical practice

“…The results support that EBM is a well-known concept and physicians generally have a positive attitude towards it [4,5]. Our study confirms that time constraints, lack of skills in searching and appraising the literature and limited access to EBM sources are considerable barriers to answering clinical drug questions [1,3,4,11]. A study among Danish hospital physicians found that most of them seemed to lack knowledge of the most basic aspects of evidence-based medicine, and this may represent another substantial barrier to implementing EBM into clinical practice [7].…”

“…A great many of the questions concern pharmacotherapy. About 60% of the answers are simple, such as the dose of a drug, and can easily be located by looking in textbooks or medication databases [1]. Other questions are more complex and a large portion remain unanswered although in many cases an answer exists in the literature that would have changed the physician's decision [2,3].…”

“…Questions about patient management arise in daily practice, with 0.16 to 1.27 questions per patient depending on the methodology used and the clinical setting [1]. A great many of the questions concern pharmacotherapy.…”

“…Despite the increased access to updated primary evidence (e.g. PubMed) and databases of pre-appraised evidence-based medicine (EBM), the traditional methods of seeking information such as consulting a colleague or use of paper sources still prevail amongst qualified medical staff in the clinical setting [1,3,6]. Electronic EBM sources seem rarely to be the primary resource of information [6,7], even though studies show that a substantial number of clinicians' questions can be answered by pre-appraised EBM sources [8][9][10].…”

“…The most prominent barrier is the lack of time to find the information. Other major barriers include difficulty formulating an appropriate search question, limited search skills and familiarity with evidence-based resources, limited access to EBM sources and the Web in clinics, uncertainty as to whether the relevant information has been found, and lack of skills to appraise the literature and transfer the many pieces of evidence into a clinically useful approach [1,3,4,11].…”