Asking questions: information needs in a surgical intensive care unit

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Informatics
• Organizational Behavior
• Clinical Communication

Background:

• Hospitals are information-rich environments, yet healthcare providers encounter significant challenges in meeting their diverse information needs.
• Existing research often focuses on individual needs, neglecting the team-based dynamics crucial for patient care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the information needs of a patient-care team within a tertiary care Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU).
• To explore how team members in a SICU setting access and utilize information.
• To understand the role of organizational context in shaping healthcare information seeking behaviors.

Main Methods:

• A qualitative study was conducted focusing on a patient-care team in a tertiary care Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU).
• Information needs and seeking behaviors were examined within the specific organizational context of the SICU.

Main Results:

• Organizational information was identified as critically important for SICU team members.
• The primary resource utilized by team members for information retrieval was other human team members, surpassing electronic or paper-based resources.
• This highlights the significant role of interpersonal communication and collaboration in clinical settings.

Conclusions:

• Healthcare teams in specialized units like SICUs have unique and critical information needs.
• Interpersonal communication and reliance on colleagues are paramount for effective information exchange in high-acuity care settings.
• Future information system design should consider and support team-based, human-mediated information flows.