School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
Insight Centre for Data Analytics, O'Brien Centre for Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
J Med Internet Res. 2020 Dec 17;22(12):e19747. doi: 10.2196/19747.
The widespread availability of internet-connected smart devices in the health care setting has the potential to improve the delivery of research evidence to the care pathway and fulfill health care professionals' information needs.
This study aims to evaluate the frequency with which physiotherapists experience information needs, the capacity of digital information resources to fulfill these needs, and the specific types of resources they use to do so.
A total of 38 participants (all practicing physiotherapists; 19 females, 19 males) were randomly assigned to complete three 20-question multiple-choice questionnaire (MCQ) examinations under 3 conditions in a randomized crossover study design: assisted by a web browser, assisted by a federated search portal system, and unassisted. MCQ scores, times, and frequencies of information needs were recorded for overall examination-level and individual question-level analyses. Generalized estimating equations were used to assess differences between conditions for the primary outcomes. A log file analysis was conducted to evaluate participants' web search and retrieval behaviors.
Participants experienced an information need in 55.59% (845/1520) MCQs (assisted conditions only) and exhibited a mean improvement of 10% and 16% in overall examination scores for the federated search and web browser conditions, respectively, compared with the unassisted condition (P<.001). In the web browser condition, Google was the most popular resource and the only search engine used, accounting for 1273 (64%) of hits, followed by PubMed (195 hits; 10% of total). In the federated search condition, Wikipedia and PubMed were the most popular resources with 1518 (46% of total) and 1273 (39% of total) hits, respectively.
In agreement with the findings of previous research studies among medical physicians, the results of this study demonstrate that physiotherapists frequently experience information needs. This study provides new insights into the preferred digital information resources used by physiotherapists to fulfill these needs. Future research should clarify the implications of physiotherapists' apparent high reliance on Google, whether these results reflect the authentic clinical environment, and whether fulfilling clinical information needs alters practice behaviors or improves patient outcomes.
在医疗保健环境中，广泛使用连接互联网的智能设备有可能改善研究证据在护理路径中的传递，并满足医疗保健专业人员的信息需求。
本研究旨在评估物理治疗师经历信息需求的频率、数字信息资源满足这些需求的能力，以及他们用于满足这些需求的具体资源类型。
在一项随机交叉研究设计中，共有 38 名参与者（均为执业物理治疗师；19 名女性，19 名男性）被随机分配在 3 种条件下完成 3 项 20 题多项选择问卷（MCQ）考试：使用网页浏览器辅助、使用联合检索门户系统辅助和无辅助。记录整体考试水平和个别问题水平分析的 MCQ 分数、时间和信息需求频率。广义估计方程用于评估主要结果的条件之间的差异。对日志文件分析进行评估参与者的网络搜索和检索行为。
参与者在 55.59%（845/1520）的 MCQ 中经历了信息需求（仅在辅助条件下），与无辅助条件相比，联合检索和网页浏览器条件下的整体考试成绩分别提高了 10%和 16%（P<.001）。在网页浏览器条件下，Google 是最受欢迎的资源，也是唯一使用的搜索引擎，占 1273（64%）的点击量，其次是 PubMed（195 次点击；占总点击量的 10%）。在联合检索条件下，维基百科和 PubMed 是最受欢迎的资源，分别有 1518 次（占总点击量的 46%）和 1273 次（占总点击量的 39%）。
与之前在医学医师中进行的研究结果一致，本研究表明物理治疗师经常遇到信息需求。本研究提供了新的见解，了解物理治疗师用于满足这些需求的首选数字信息资源。未来的研究应阐明物理治疗师对 Google 的明显高度依赖的含义，这些结果是否反映真实的临床环境，以及满足临床信息需求是否会改变实践行为或改善患者结局。
