Table 2.
Emergency clinicians’ perspectives on information overload.
| Statementsa | VMean (SD) | |
| To what extent does medical information overload impact your work? | 5.10 (1.25) | |
| To what extent do you agree that medical information overload has increased for you at work? | 5.63 (1.34) | |
| Impact of each of the following causes of medical information overload |
|
|
|
|
24/7 culture (ie, the always available workplace) | 5.40 (1.56) |
|
|
4.86 (1.80) | |
|
|
Multidisciplinary communication | 4.51 (1.61) |
|
|
Local clinical guidelines | 4.50 (1.52) |
|
|
Info from employer/manager | 4.43 (1.67) |
|
|
Evidence-based practice | 4.22 (1.57) |
|
|
National clinical guidelines | 4.21 (1.52) |
|
|
Info to employer/manager (eg, as part of reporting activity) | 4.14 (1.67) |
|
|
Journal papers | 3.41 (1.67) |
|
|
Patients bringing information | 3.29 (1.62) |
|
|
Social media | 3.15 (1.88) |
|
|
Drug company information | 2.36 (1.50) |
| How does medical information overload impact on the following aspects? |
|
|
|
|
Guideline fatigue | 6.08 (1.56) |
|
|
Stress and tension | 5.25 (1.37) |
|
|
Longer working hours | 4.87 (1.70) |
|
|
Impaired decision making | 4.85 (1.57) |
|
|
Imprecise clinical judgments | 4.84 (1.45) |
|
|
Tiredness/illness | 4.81 (1.54) |
|
|
Decrease in social life | 4.26 (1.80) |
| What preventative measures do you adopt to combat information overload? |
|
|
|
|
Prioritization | 6.07 (1.13) |
|
|
Email handling skills (ie, ability to discriminate by importance) | 5.39 (1.50) |
|
|
Effective time management | 5.30 (1.22) |
|
|
Effective information management | 5.23 (1.30) |
|
|
Software/hardware | 3.40 (1.81) |
|
|
Information technology point of need delivery | 3.13 (1.82) |
|
|
Medical librarian | 1.85 (1.32) |
| What sources do you find most useful when in need of medical information? |
|
|
|
|
Local clinical guidelines | 6.13 (1.03) |
|
|
National clinical guidelines | 5.80 (1.09) |
|
|
Colleagues | 5.69 (1.34) |
|
|
Evidence-based practice | 5.14 (1.37) |
|
|
Multidisciplinary communication | 4.41 (1.49) |
|
|
Journal papers | 3.54 (1.39) |
|
|
Patients bringing information | 2.67 (1.56) |
|
|
Social media | 2.62 (1.65) |
|
|
Medical librarian | 2.60 (1.60) |
|
|
Drug company information | 2.17 (1.29) |
aAll statements were rated on a Likert scale from 1 to 7, and the values reported here are in decreasing order of importance.