TY - JOUR
T1 - Physicians' characteristics in the usage of online database
T2 - A representative nationwide survey of regional hospitals in Taiwan
AU - Chiu, Ya Wen
AU - Weng, Yi Hao
AU - Lo, Heng Lien
AU - Ting, Hsien Wei
AU - Hsu, Chih Cheng
AU - Shih, Ya Hui
AU - Kuo, Ken N.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported by a research grant from the National Health Research Institutes, Taiwan.
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - Physicians have to deal with a broad range of medical problems in clinical practice, thus making the timely acquisition of relevant information is a critical skill for physicians to improve care quality. The current national study investigates how physicians search for medical information and analyses how they use online medical databases. A structured questionnaire survey was conducted, with 457 valid returns collected. Internet-based resources (Web portals, online databases, and electronic journals) were more often accessed by physicians to look for medical information than personal or paper ones. Almost universally, physicians have accessed online databases. MEDLINE was the most frequently accessed database. Furthermore, physicians under 50 years old tended to access online databases more often than their elder colleagues (OR = 5.27, 95% CI = 1.96-14.14 for age < 35; OR = 4.68, 95% CI = 2.07-10.60 for ages 35-50). In addition, physicians with faculty position were more often accessing online databases (OR = 3.32; 95% CI = 1.75-6.30). Other factors - including clinical experience, administrative position, gender, academic degree, and professional specialty - carried no significant differences. These data may assist in determining how to promote the use of online evidence-based medical information for clinical services.
AB - Physicians have to deal with a broad range of medical problems in clinical practice, thus making the timely acquisition of relevant information is a critical skill for physicians to improve care quality. The current national study investigates how physicians search for medical information and analyses how they use online medical databases. A structured questionnaire survey was conducted, with 457 valid returns collected. Internet-based resources (Web portals, online databases, and electronic journals) were more often accessed by physicians to look for medical information than personal or paper ones. Almost universally, physicians have accessed online databases. MEDLINE was the most frequently accessed database. Furthermore, physicians under 50 years old tended to access online databases more often than their elder colleagues (OR = 5.27, 95% CI = 1.96-14.14 for age < 35; OR = 4.68, 95% CI = 2.07-10.60 for ages 35-50). In addition, physicians with faculty position were more often accessing online databases (OR = 3.32; 95% CI = 1.75-6.30). Other factors - including clinical experience, administrative position, gender, academic degree, and professional specialty - carried no significant differences. These data may assist in determining how to promote the use of online evidence-based medical information for clinical services.
KW - Evidence-based medicine
KW - Internet
KW - Physician
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U2 - 10.1080/17538150903102372
DO - 10.1080/17538150903102372
M3 - Article
C2 - 19670003
AN - SCOPUS:69249145650
SN - 1753-8157
VL - 34
SP - 127
EP - 135
JO - Medical Informatics and the Internet in Medicine
JF - Medical Informatics and the Internet in Medicine
IS - 3
ER -