Problem: Studies have found that physicians have many clinical questions that go unanswered. This problem is important because failure to answer clinical questions may adversely affect patient care. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to characterize areas where knowledge sources, such as textbooks and the Internet, fail to meet the information needs of primary care physicians. The long- term goal is to provide high quality answers to buy clinicians asking about how to care for their patients. Research Questions: What problems occur when attempting to answer patient-care questions, and how can these problems be categorized and addressed? Methods: The investigators will use qualitative methods to collect questions and characterize the problems that occur when trying to answer them. Using procedures similar to those in our previous study of 1101 questions, the principal investigator will visit 36 primary care physicians (12 family physicians, 12 internists, and 12 pediatricians). Each physician will be observed for 4 half-days and will report questions to the investigator, who will record them on a standard form. Based on our previous study, we anticipate a total 576 questions after 144 observations periods. While attempting to answer these questions, the investigators will characterize and classify the problems that occur. For example, a resource may explain how to treat a disease (heart failure), or the resource may provide insufficient detail to direct patient care, or it may discuss conflicting evidence without providing a bottom-line recommendation. Outcomes: The investigators will develop a taxonomy of problems that occur when trying to answer real patient-care questions. Based on this taxonomy, recommendation will be written to improve the usefulness of electronic and traditional knowledge resources. Benefit: By identifying areas where knowledge resources fail to meet the needs of physicians, we will provide recommendations to help knowledge base developers better meet those needs.
| Ely, John W; Osheroff, Jerome A; Maviglia, Saverio M et al. (2007) Patient-care questions that physicians are unable to answer. J Am Med Inform Assoc 14:407-14 |
| Ely, John W; Osheroff, Jerome A; Chambliss, M Lee et al. (2005) Answering physicians' clinical questions: obstacles and potential solutions. J Am Med Inform Assoc 12:217-24 |
| Ely, John W; Osheroff, Jerome A; Ebell, Mark H et al. (2002) Obstacles to answering doctors' questions about patient care with evidence: qualitative study. BMJ 324:710 |
