Information‐seeking trends of medical professionals and students from middle‐income countries: a focus on the Philippines

Abstract

Background: Increased emphasis has been given to the practice of evidence-based medicine (EBM) worldwide. Access to quality health information is essential to the practice of EBM in developing countries. Objectives: To understand the information needs and sources of information of physicians from low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). Methods: Medical doctors and students participated in an 18-question online or paper study. Results: Of the 156 respondents from six LMICs, 146 (94%) came from the Philippines. Eighty-eight per cent encountered at least one clinical question daily, while 58% were very likely to search for answers. A basic mobile phone was the most used device at home (94%) and at work (82%). More than half had Internet connectivity at home (62%) and just under half at work (46%). In decreasing order, short messaging services (SMS), email, instant messaging and multimedia messaging services (MMS) were the most commonly used messaging tools at home and at work. The primary source for medication questions was a formulary, but for diagnostic dilemmas, colleagues were consulted first. PubMed use was high for therapy and management questions. Conclusion: The use of health information from the Internet through mobile devices may be increasing. Access to health information was higher at home than at work. These results may be useful when planning resources for healthcare givers in resource-poor settings.

A Survey from a Large Academic Medical Center

“…Most of these knowledge searches (91%) occur in the patient care setting within a very short time from the patient interaction. Interestingly, only a fraction of these searches actually occur at home or on a mobile device, a finding that is in contrast to previous studies [16,17].…”

“…The advancement of differing levels of evidence gives the knowledge seeker the opportunity to search a range from original journal articles and synthesized reports to evidence-based textbooks and computerized decision support tools [15]. In addition, the development of online resources compatible with mobile devices has also increased, and these have become popular knowledge searching tools, especially in resource poor settings [12,16,17].…”

Sources of drug information in neonatal guidelines of low- and middle-income countries†‡

“…This IRB exempt study took place from October 2017 to December 2017. An English language, cross‐sectional survey was developed by conducting a benchmarking literature review on neonatal DI . The survey contained three sections: demographics, guideline content/DI references, and accessibility and maintenance of guidelines.…”

“…Numerous barriers exist to accessing and applying drug information (DI) in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs) . Mobile health (mHealth) technologies provide a potential solution to these barriers through up‐to‐date drug dosing and preparation instructions coupled with clinical decision support algorithms and drug dosing calculators .…”

“…Numerous barriers exist to accessing and applying drug information (DI) in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). [1][2][3][4] Mobile health (mHealth) technologies provide a potential solution to these barriers through up-to-date drug dosing and preparation instructions coupled with clinical decision support algorithms and drug dosing calculators. [4][5][6][7] In order to implement mHealth technologies with pharmaceutical content and functionalities in LMICs, knowledge of the DI resources that inform national guidelines is needed.…”