Electronic Health Information-Seeking Behaviors among Resident Doctors and Interns in Saudi Arabia Mohammed I. Alhefzi, MBBS, MSc(HI) Sr. Resident, Saudi Board in Preventive and Community Medicine, Health Informatics Track Resident Trainee, King Faisal Medical City for Southern Regions, Abha, Saudi Arabia MSc Health Informatics, Swansea University Medical School, United Kingdom
81%
Background
Objective
Current generation of doctors in Saudi Arabia is called to operate in a dynamic modern healthcare environment where skills in health informatics and knowledge management are increasingly important. There is a gap of knowledge and little is known about HISB among young doctors in Saudi Arabia, the need for research exploring this topic is demanding.
To identify health information-seeking behaviors, formal instructions and utilization of electronic resources on information searches among current medical interns and resident doctors in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Methods
Study Design
Cross-sectional study design.
1. Medical Interns (clerkship year). 2. Resident Doctors (Postgraduate clinical training in Saudi Commission for Health Specialties across Saudi Arabia)
Study Population
Sampling & Collection Techniques
Study Instrument
Adapted web-based questionnaire, constructed by O’Carroll, Westby, Dooley, and Gordon (2015). Internal consistency was re-evaluated due to minor changes; Cronbach’s = 0.79.
Data Analysis
Descriptive statistics was shown in the form of frequencies, mean and standard devotion (SD). χ2 was used with accepted significance level set to α = 0.05. Qualitative analysis of open-ended questions was carried out, common themes were identified and listed.
Ethical Considerations
The study’s protocol was reviewed and approved by the Research Ethics Committee at Swansea University Medical School and College of Human and Health Sciences with an IRB number: 080716, dated on June 16th 2016.
Mass invitation e-mails from Department of Postgraduate Studies and Medical Education
Residents
Voluntary invitations to a web link through social media channels, Twitter, Facebook…
Interns
Results
Study participants’ description
Residents
Interns
Med. Age
28
24
# of
177
48
# of
149
43
Total
326
91 417
Word-cloud generated by (Wordle) representing (by frequency) the 5 most used references among the participants.
Tree map showing (by density) participants’ distribution in terms of professional level, gender and clinical specialties. 2 7
Regularly
4 15
18 20
13 45
54 238
0 0
Training
0
Often
Sometimes
Seldom
Never
7
Accessibility
2 39
1 50
More Friendly Tools
12 229
Participants’ usage of the richest freely available healthcare professionals’ electronic libraries in Saudi Arabia.
The generated thematic analysis of the participants views towards improving their practice in using electronic resources.
Conclusion & Recommendations Current formal instructions may have minor effect in changing doctors’ behaviors, while use of trending sources like Google is rapidly increasing among them.
Recommendation
Acknowledgment
A collaborative allocation of financial resources towards an existing large electronic library like the Saudi Digital Library may benefit greater proportion of doctors aiding their evidence based knowledge and clinical practice.
The author gratefully acknowledges Mr. Athanasios Anastasiou, who supervised and offered guidance to this work. Dr. Fadi Munshi of SCFHS for his cooperation in coordinating this work. King Faisal Medical City for Southern Regions for their endless support. Swansea University’s MSc Health Informatics teaching staff for their enlightenments. Mrs. Shahd Alhefzi, AlWateen and Lateen for their limitless encouragement and inspiration.
[email protected] +966566288666 @alhefzi /alhefzi
