From Mobile Computers to Mobile Information? A Case Study of Physicians´ Mobile Information Use

Author

Ferreira, Daniel ; Rocha, Sara ; Santos, João ; Hauser, Susan ; Martins, Henrique M G

Author_Institution

(CI)2 - Centra de Investigacao e Criatividade Inf., Hosp. Prof. Doutor Fernando Fonseca, Amadora, Portugal

fYear

2011

fDate

5-9 June 2011

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

4

Abstract

Physicians are faced with questions and uncertainties regarding information/knowledge for the best care of their patients. There are several sources of medical information available from which they can retrieve the necessary answers, such as colleagues, textbooks or software on personal digital assistants (PDA). This case study evaluates how physicians seek medical knowledge when they face a clinical challenge. Our observational study took place in one of the US Veterans Affair (VA) Hospitals, during August 2006, with combined observation of, and interviews with, physicians. Search for information was significantly different in strategy and materials used depending on location, temporality and complexity of the question.

Keywords

information management; information use; knowledge acquisition; medical information systems; mobile computing; notebook computers; clinical challenge; medical information; medical knowledge; mobile computers; personal digital assistant; physician mobile information use; Hospitals; Internet; Medical diagnostic imaging; Personal digital assistants;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Communications (ICC), 2011 IEEE International Conference on

Conference_Location

Kyoto

ISSN

1550-3607

Print_ISBN

978-1-61284-232-5

Electronic_ISBN

1550-3607

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/icc.2011.5962442

Filename

5962442