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. 2007 Jul-Aug;5(4):345-52.
doi: 10.1370/afm.681.

Information needs and information-seeking behavior of primary care physicians

Ana I González-González  1 , Martin Dawes, José Sánchez-Mateos, Rosario Riesgo-Fuertes, Esperanza Escortell-Mayor, Teresa Sanz-Cuesta, Tomás Hernández-Fernández
Affiliations

Information needs and information-seeking behavior of primary care physicians

Ana I González-González et al. Ann Fam Med. 2007 Jul-Aug.

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.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Information needs and information-seeking behavior of 112 Spanish primary care physicians during 3,511 consultations.
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