Understanding nurses' information needs and searching behaviour in acute care settings

Area of Science:

• Nursing Informatics
• Clinical Information Systems
• Healthcare Research

Background:

• Nurses frequently encounter situations with unmet information needs during patient care.
• Existing research often focuses on physicians' information needs, potentially overlooking unique nursing requirements.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and describe the specific information needs of nurses in acute care settings.
• To understand nurses' information-seeking behaviors when using an information retrieval tool.

Main Methods:

• A pilot study involving nurses from three hospitals.
• Utilized a specific information retrieval tool (CPG Viewer) for data collection.
• Generated detailed logs of nurses' interactions with the tool.

Main Results:

• Nurses' information needs differ from those typically reported for physicians.
• The most frequent information needs concerned nursing procedures and protocols.
• Analysis of interaction logs provided insights into searching behaviors.

Conclusions:

• Findings underscore the distinct nature of nurses' information requirements in acute care.
• Information retrieval tools should be tailored to address procedural and protocol-related queries.
• Further research is warranted to optimize information access for nursing practice.