Use of the PDQ system in a clinical setting

This pilot study examined the use of PDQ (Physician Data Query)--a user-friendly, full-text, cancer database--as a clinical information resource on an oncology unit. The twenty-nine participants included faculty, hematology-oncology fellows, residents, interns, medical students, pharmacists, and nursing staff. During the one-month study, PDQ was available twenty-four hours a day at the nursing station via a microcomputer. Participants were trained to use PDQ and allowed to search the database as prompted by clinical situations. The project evaluated the use of PDQ, as well as clinicians' perceptions of its usefulness. Results indicate that access to PDQ on an oncology unit provides an excellent educational and clinical resource. Fifty-one percent of the participants used PDQ an average of 2.4 times each. Heaviest users were medical trainees (78%), although 39% of nurses became users. Over half of the PDQ users reported that use of the database affected clinical care.