Journal article
Analysis of questions asked by family physicians regarding patient care
The Western journal of medicine, Vol.172(5), pp.315-319
05/2000
DOI: 10.1136/ewjm.172.5.315
PMCID: PMC1070879
PMID: 18751285
Abstract
Objectives\nTo characterize the information needs of family physicians by collecting the questions they asked about patient care during consultations and to classify these in ways that would be useful to developers of knowledge bases.\nDesign\nAn observational study in which investigators visited physicians for two half-days and collected their questions. Taxonomies were developed to characterize the clinical topic and generic type of information sought for each question.\nSetting\nEastern Iowa.\nParticipants\nRandom sample of 103 family physicians.\nMain outcome measures\nNumber of questions posed, pursued, and answered; topic and generic type of information sought for each question; time spent pursuing answers; and information resources used.\nResults\nParticipants asked a total of 1,101 questions. Questions about drug prescribing, obstetrics and gynecology, and adult infectious disease were most common, comprising 36% of the total. The taxonomy of generic questions included 69 categories; the three most common types, comprising 24% of all questions, were “What is the cause of symptom X?” “What is the dose of drug X?” and “How should I manage disease or finding X?” Answers to most questions (n = 702 [64%]) were not immediately pursued, but of those pursued, most (n = 318 [80%]) were answered. Physicians spent an average of less than 2 minutes pursuing an answer, and they used readily available print and human resources. Only two questions led to a formal literature search.\nConclusions\nFamily physicians in this study did not pursue answers to most of their questions. Questions about patient care can be organized into a limited number of generic types, which could help guide the efforts of knowledge-base developers.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Analysis of questions asked by family physicians regarding patient care
- Creators
- John W Ely - Department of Family Medicine University of Iowa College of Medicine 200 Hawkins Dr, 01291-D PFP Iowa City, IA 52242Jerome A Osheroff - Integrated Clinical Information Resources American College of Physicians American Society of Internal Medicine Philadelphia, PAMark H Ebell - Department of Family Practice Michigan State University College of Human Medicine East Lansing, MIGeorge R Bergus - Department of Family Medicine University of Iowa College of Medicine Iowa City, IABarcey T Levy - Department of Family Medicine University of Iowa College of Medicine Iowa City, IAM Lee Chambliss - Moses Cone Hospital Family Medicine Residency Greensboro, NCEric R Evans - Student Health Service University of Iowa College of Medicine Iowa City, IA
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- The Western journal of medicine, Vol.172(5), pp.315-319
- DOI
- 10.1136/ewjm.172.5.315
- PMID
- 18751285
- PMCID
- PMC1070879
- NLM abbreviation
- West J Med
- ISSN
- 0093-0415
- eISSN
- 1476-2978
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 05/2000
- Academic Unit
- Physician Assistant Studies; Psychiatry; Epidemiology; Family and Community Medicine
- Record Identifier
- 9984024531202771
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