Physicians Answer More Clinical Questions and Change Clinical Decisions More Often With Synthesized Evidence: A Randomized Trial in Primary Care
Ann Fam Med Alper et al.
3: 507
The Article in Brief
Physicians Answer More Clinical Questions and Change Clinical Decisions More Often With Synthesized Evidence: A Randomized Trial in Primary Care
Brian S. Alper, MD, MSPH
, and colleagues
Background Doctors often need medical information quickly. One source for such information is a medical reference system that summarizes and updates clinical topics based on medical research findings. This study examines whether primary care doctors answer more clinical questions, change clinical decisions, or change their information search time using this system, called DynaMed, compared with their usual information resources.
What This Study Found In this study, primary care doctors who use DynaMed answer more of their clinical questions and find more answers that change their clinical decisions when compared with doctors not using the system. Search times are the same between both groups.
Implications
- A system that summarizes and combines medical research findings is one way to meet clinical information needs in primary care.
