Document 0678
 DOCN  M9550678
 TI    Information needs of health care professionals in an AIDS outpatient
       clinic as determined by chart review.
 DT    9505
 AU    Giuse NB; Huber JT; Giuse DA; Brown CW Jr; Bankowitz RA; Hunt S;
       University of Pittsburgh, PA.
 SO    J Am Med Inform Assoc. 1994 Sep-Oct;1(5):395-403. Unique Identifier :
       AIDSLINE MED/95153427
 AB    OBJECTIVE: To examine the information needs of health care professionals
       in HIV-related clinical encounters, and to determine the suitability of
       existing information sources to address those needs. SETTING: HIV
       outpatient clinic. PARTICIPANTS: Seven health care professionals with
       diverse training and patient care involvement. METHODS: Based on patient
       charts describing 120 patient encounters, participants generated 266
       clinical questions. Printed and on-line information sources were used to
       answer questions in two phases: using commonly available sources and
       using all available medical library sources. MEASUREMENTS: The questions
       were divided into 16 categories by subject. The number of questions
       answered, their categories, the information source(s) providing answers,
       and the time required to answer questions were recorded for each phase.
       RESULTS: Each participant generated an average of 3.8 clinical questions
       per chart. Five categories accounted for almost 75% of all questions;
       the treatment protocols/regimens category was most frequent (24%). A
       total of 245 questions (92%) were answered, requiring an average of 15
       minutes per question. Most (87%) of the questions were answered via
       electronic sources, even though paper sources were consulted first.
       CONCLUSIONS: The participating professionals showed considerable
       information needs. A combination of on-line and paper sources was
       necessary to provide the answers. The study suggests that present-day
       information sources are not entirely satisfactory for answering clinical
       questions generated by examining charts of HIV-infected patients.
 DE    Ambulatory Care/*ORGANIZATION & ADMIN  Databases, Bibliographic
       Databases, Factual  *Health Personnel  Human  *HIV Infections
       Information Systems/*STANDARDS  Medical Records Systems, Computerized
       Questionnaires  Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.  JOURNAL ARTICLE

       SOURCE: National Library of Medicine.  NOTICE: This material may be
       protected by Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.Code).