The information seeking behaviour of paediatricians accessing web-based resources

Terence w Prendiville ^1*, John Fitzsimons ¹ and Jean Saunders ²

¹ Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin, Dublin12, Republic of Ireland
² Statistical Consulting Unit, Dept of Mathematics & Statistics, University of Limerick, Republic of Ireland

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: terence.prendiville{at}gmail.com.

Accepted 5 May 2009

Abstract

Objectives: To establish the information-seeking behaviours of paediatricians in answering every day clinical queries.

Design: A questionnaire was distributed to every hospital-based paediatrician (paediatric registrar and consultant) working in Ireland.

Results: We received 156 completed questionnaires, a 66.1% response. 67% of paediatricians utilized the internet as their first ‘port-of-call’ when looking to answer a medical question. 85% believe that web-based resources have improved medical practice with 88% reporting web-based resources are essential for medical practice today. 93.5% of paediatricians believe attempting to answer clinical questions as they arise is an important component in practicing evidence-based medicine. 54% of all paediatricians have recommended websites to parents or patients. 75.5% of paediatricians report finding it difficult to keep up-to-date with new information relevant to their practice.

Conclusions: Web-based paediatric resources are of increasing significance in day-to-day clinical practice. Many paediatricians now believe that the quality of patient care depends on it. Information technology resources play a key role in helping physicians to deliver, in a time-efficient manner, solutions to clinical queries at the point-of-care.