Information needs and information seeking in community medical education

To investigate information needs and information seeking in primary care practices serving as educational sites.

The authors interviewed 15 community-based primary care physician-preceptors, once when the preceptor was working without a student and once when a student was present at the practice (in which case, the student was interviewed as well). The interview asked for questions that had arisen during the patient encounter or teaching moment that would need further investigation. A week after the interview, the authors contacted the preceptors to see whether they had pursued information to answer those questions.

The preceptors generated fewer questions when students were present (0.42 versus 0.29 per patient). Both preceptors and students most frequently had questions pertaining to diagnoses and drug therapy. The proportion of questions pursued by the preceptors decreased when students were present (32% versus 16%).

These findings cast light on information needs and seeking in the context of community medical education. Further research is needed to explore variables such as practice size and access to appropriate Web-based information resources.