Information-seeking practices of dental hygienists

This paper reports on a survey of the information-seeking, critical-analysis, and computer-application practices of dental hygienists. Questionnaires were mailed to a convenience sample of seventy-one dental hygiene practitioners. A 62% response rate was achieved. Results indicated that discussions with colleagues, continuing education courses, journals, and newsletters were the sources used most frequently for professional development and information retrieval. To evaluate professional information, these hygienists tended to rely on personal experience, credibility of the journal, and discussions with colleagues. Word processing was the most frequently used computer application; online database searching was rare in this group. Computer used within the employment setting was primarily for business rather than clinical applications. Many hygienists were interested in attending continuing education courses on use of computers to acquire professional information.