Table 3.
Table 3. Use of Handheld Computer Clinical Reference Software: Self-reported Estimates Compared to Actual Usage Patterns
| Reported Average Use of Clinical Reference | Actual Tracked Use of Clinical Reference ∗ |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Respondents ∗∗n (%) | Mean n (SD) | Median n | Spearman Correlation | |
| Pharmacopeia use for drug information lookups per day∗∗∗ | r = 0.36; p < 0.0001 | |||
| None | 2 (0.2) | 3.3 (3.2) | 3.3 | |
| 1–2 | 283 (23) | 3.7 (9.2) | 2 | |
| 3–5 | 402 (32) | 5.1 (8.5) | 2.7 | |
| 6–10 | 250 (20) | 7.7 (14.5) | 3.8 | |
| More than 10 | 312 (25) | 9.1 (16.1) | 4.2 | |
| Total | 1249 | 6.3 (12.4) | 2.9 | |
| Pharmacopeia use of the drug-drug interaction tool in the prior 4 weeks | r = 0.50; p < 0.0001 | |||
| None | 175 (14) | 0.13 (1.3) | 0 | |
| 1–2 | 321 (26) | 0.80 (2.0) | 0 | |
| 3–5 | 276 (22) | 2.5 (4.7) | 1 | |
| 6–10 | 199 (16) | 3.3 (4.6) | 2 | |
| More than 10 | 274 (22) | 7.5 (10.7) | 4 | |
| Total | 1245 | 2.9 (6.4) | 0 | |
| Diagnostic and therapeutic information resource use in the prior 4 weeks | r = 0.49; p < 0.0001 | |||
| None | 29 (10) | 2.1 (1.9) | 1 | |
| 1–2 | 70 (25) | 4.1 (4.3) | 3 | |
| 3–5 | 72 (26) | 6.9 (7.6) | 4 | |
| 6–10 | 58 (21) | 9.1 (10.1) | 6 | |
| More than 10 | 46 (16) | 18.7 (27.5) | 12 | |
| Total | 275 | 8.4 (14) | 14 | |
∗ Actual usage patterns were collected by synchronization of the handheld computer to track the prior 4 weeks of clinical reference software data use.
∗∗ Of the 1501 survey respondents, 1249 (83%) had synchronized their HCs in the prior 4 weeks and included 275 (61%) of the 453 subscribers to the Dx guide.
∗∗∗ On average, the clinical reference software was used on 13 of the 28 days. For each physician, the daily use was calculated by dividing their 28-day total usage by the number of days he/she used any of the clinical references.