TY - JOUR
T1 - What information sources do Dutch medical specialists use in medical decision-making
T2 - a qualitative interview study
AU - Weller, Floris S.
AU - Hamming, Jaap F.
AU - Repping, Sjoerd
AU - van Bodegom-Vos, Leti
N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by the Academic Working Place ‘Care Practice and Policy’ of the Consortium Quality of Care of the Netherlands Federation of University Medical Centers (NFU), and National Health Care Institute under grant number 21556. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 BMJ Publishing Group. All rights reserved.
PY - 2023/10/5
Y1 - 2023/10/5
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - clinical decision-making
KW - clinical reasoning
KW - education & training (see medical education & training)
KW - information management
KW - qualitative research
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85173356684&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-073905
DO - https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-073905
M3 - Article
C2 - 37798031
SN - 2044-6055
VL - 13
SP - e073905
JO - BMJ Open
JF - BMJ Open
IS - 10
M1 - e073905
ER -