Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Bulletin of the Medical Library Association logoLink to Bulletin of the Medical Library Association
. 1997 Apr;85(2):187–192.

Characteristics of information resources preferred by primary care physicians.

M L Thompson 1
PMCID: PMC226247  PMID: 9160156

Abstract

Primary care physicians use patient data, medical knowledge, logistic information, and population statistics. They rely on their personal knowledge to care for their patients, their top priority. When they seek information beyond this personal knowledge base, they frequently want information in the context of the care of a specific patient. They also continually add to their personal knowledge base. Less frequently, they seek logistic information and population statistics. For patient-specific questions, physicians most often seek medical facts or medical opinions. A physician may be persistent in seeking information if the patient's problem is perceived to be urgent and the doctor believes a definitive answer exists. Information resources for answering clinical questions should be readily available, familiar, and quick to use. Lifelong learning activities should also be readily available, and they should require a minimum of time, effort, and expense. Minimal cost in time and effort is particularly important when knowledge is sought as a part of ongoing medical learning, since there is less immediate benefit to balance the time and effort invested in information seeking.

Full text

PDF
187

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bowden V. M., Kromer M. E., Tobia R. C. Assessment of physicians' information needs in five Texas counties. Bull Med Libr Assoc. 1994 Apr;82(2):189–196. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Chambliss M. L., Conley J. Answering clinical questions. J Fam Pract. 1996 Aug;43(2):140–144. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Coble J. M., Maffitt J. S., Orland M. J., Kahn M. G. Contextual inquiry: discovering physicians' true needs. Proc Annu Symp Comput Appl Med Care. 1995:469–473. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Connelly D. P., Rich E. C., Curley S. P., Kelly J. T. Knowledge resource preferences of family physicians. J Fam Pract. 1990 Mar;30(3):353–359. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Covell D. G., Uman G. C., Manning P. R. Information needs in office practice: are they being met? Ann Intern Med. 1985 Oct;103(4):596–599. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-103-4-596. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Curley S. P., Connelly D. P., Rich E. C. Physicians' use of medical knowledge resources: preliminary theoretical framework and findings. Med Decis Making. 1990 Oct-Dec;10(4):231–241. doi: 10.1177/0272989X9001000401. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Dee C., Blazek R. Information needs of the rural physician: a descriptive study. Bull Med Libr Assoc. 1993 Jul;81(3):259–264. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Ely J. W., Burch R. J., Vinson D. C. The information needs of family physicians: case-specific clinical questions. J Fam Pract. 1992 Sep;35(3):265–269. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Finberg L., Adler K., Cohen J., Kuperman A., Roman S., Stimmel B., Jones F. Primary care in New York State: report and recommendations of the associated medical schools of New York. N Y State J Med. 1991 Oct;91(10):450–453. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Forsythe D. E., Buchanan B. G., Osheroff J. A., Miller R. A. Expanding the concept of medical information: an observational study of physicians' information needs. Comput Biomed Res. 1992 Apr;25(2):181–200. doi: 10.1016/0010-4809(92)90020-b. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Gorman P. N., Helfand M. Information seeking in primary care: how physicians choose which clinical questions to pursue and which to leave unanswered. Med Decis Making. 1995 Apr-Jun;15(2):113–119. doi: 10.1177/0272989X9501500203. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Greer A. L. The two cultures of biomedicine: can there be consensus? JAMA. 1987 Nov 20;258(19):2739–2740. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Gruppen L. D., Wolf F. M., Van Voorhees C., Stross J. K. Information-seeking strategies and differences among primary care physicians. Mobius. 1987;7(3):18–26. doi: 10.1002/chp.4760070306. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Kosecoff J., Kanouse D. E., Rogers W. H., McCloskey L., Winslow C. M., Brook R. H. Effects of the National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Program on physician practice. JAMA. 1987 Nov 20;258(19):2708–2713. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Lundeen G. W., Tenopir C., Wermager P. Information needs of rural health care practitioners in Hawaii. Bull Med Libr Assoc. 1994 Apr;82(2):197–205. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Manning P. R. Continuing education needs of health care professionals. Bull Med Libr Assoc. 1990 Apr;78(2):161–164. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Northup D. E., Moore-West M., Skipper B., Teaf S. R. Characteristics of clinical information-searching: investigation using critical incident technique. J Med Educ. 1983 Nov;58(11):873–881. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Osheroff J. A., Forsythe D. E., Buchanan B. G., Bankowitz R. A., Blumenfeld B. H., Miller R. A. Physicians' information needs: analysis of questions posed during clinical teaching. Ann Intern Med. 1991 Apr 1;114(7):576–581. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-114-7-576. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Shaughnessy A. F., Slawson D. C., Bennett J. H. Becoming an information master: a guidebook to the medical information jungle. J Fam Pract. 1994 Nov;39(5):489–499. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Slawson D. C., Shaughnessy A. F., Bennett J. H. Becoming a medical information master: feeling good about not knowing everything. J Fam Pract. 1994 May;38(5):505–513. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Stross J. K. Information sources and clinical decisions. J Gen Intern Med. 1987 May-Jun;2(3):155–159. doi: 10.1007/BF02596142. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Verhoeven A. A., Boerma E. J., Meyboom-de Jong B. Use of information sources by family physicians: a literature survey. Bull Med Libr Assoc. 1995 Jan;83(1):85–90. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Weinberg A. D., Ullian L., Richards W. D., Cooper P. Informal advice- and information-seeking between physicians. J Med Educ. 1981 Mar;56(3):174–180. doi: 10.1097/00001888-198103000-00003. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Williamson J. W., German P. S., Weiss R., Skinner E. A., Bowes F., 3rd Health science information management and continuing education of physicians. A survey of U.S. primary care practitioners and their opinion leaders. Ann Intern Med. 1989 Jan 15;110(2):151–160. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-110-2-151. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Bulletin of the Medical Library Association are provided here courtesy of Medical Library Association

RESOURCES