What information sources do Dutch medical specialists use in medical decision-making: a qualitative interview study

Objective To explore what information sources medical specialists currently use to inform their medical decision-making. Design Qualitative, semistructured interviews. Setting and participants A total of 20 semistructured interviews were conducted with 10 surgeons and 10 internal medicine specialists who work in academic and/or regional hospitals in the Netherlands. Results Medical specialists reported that they primarily rely on their general knowledge and experience, rather than actively using information sources. The sources they use to update their knowledge can be categorised into ‘scient... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Weller, Floris S.
Hamming, Jaap F.
Repping, Sjoerd
van Bodegom-Vos, Leti
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2023
Reihe/Periodikum: BMJ Open ; volume 13, issue 10, page e073905 ; ISSN 2044-6055 2044-6055
Verlag/Hrsg.: BMJ
Schlagwörter: General Medicine
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-26651857
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-073905

Objective To explore what information sources medical specialists currently use to inform their medical decision-making. Design Qualitative, semistructured interviews. Setting and participants A total of 20 semistructured interviews were conducted with 10 surgeons and 10 internal medicine specialists who work in academic and/or regional hospitals in the Netherlands. Results Medical specialists reported that they primarily rely on their general knowledge and experience, rather than actively using information sources. The sources they use to update their knowledge can be categorised into ‘scientific publications’, ‘guidelines or protocols’, and ‘presentations and meetings’. When medical specialists feel their general knowledge and experience are insufficient, they use three different approaches to find answers in response to clinical questions: consulting a colleague, actively searching the literature and asking someone else to search the literature. Conclusion Medical specialists use information sources to update their general knowledge and to find answers to specific clinical questions when they feel their general knowledge and experience are insufficient. An important finding is that medical specialists prefer accessible information sources (eg, consulting colleagues) over existing evidence-based medicine tools.