SINGAPORE, September 3, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --
Majority of doctors in APAC use
consumer search engines to answer clinical questions
Nine out of 10 physicians in Asia-Pacific use some form of online search to
aid clinical decision-making, with Google being the most popular
and frequently used non-evidence based search engine. Yet searching
for the "most trusted" and "most updated content" emerged as a
priority for majority of those surveyed, highlighting a gap between
what physicians are really looking for and the information sources
they use to search, a survey amongst 210 Asia Pacific healthcare
professionals reveals.
The survey - Clinical Search - An understanding of healthcare
professionals' attitudes, needs and challenges -
conducted by Global Growth Markets (GGM) and commissioned by
Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and
medical information products and solutions, underlines the integral
role of the internet and online search to the way healthcare
decisions are made today, while highlighting the challenges
physicians face in their quest for clinical information.
Some of those surveyed (11 percent) also indicated that there is
"too much published information available," with 10 percent of the
respondents saying they "need more training on how to search for
clinically-relevant information."
Findings from the survey were presented today, at the
14th Hospital Management Asia (HMA) conference in
Yangon, Myanmar, which was attended by more than 800 hospital and
healthcare leaders across the region.
A study conducted by Google found that doctors perform an
average of six professional searches a day during their course of
work.[1] Furthermore, it was
estimated that by 2020, it will only take 73 days for medical
knowledge to double in volume; knowledge is expanding faster than
people can assimilate or
apply.[2]
"As physicians, we are increasingly aware that to consistently
provide our patients with the best care, we must not only know
where to look for the information we need to solve complex medical
questions, but more importantly, we must find information sources
that we can trust as evidence-based, current, and reliable," said
Dr. Peter Edelstein, M.D., FACS,
FASCRS, Chief Medical Officer, Elsevier Clinical Solutions, who was
also a plenary speaker at HMA. "Almost anyone can publish anything
today on the internet. Thus we as doctors and healthcare
professionals need to be careful and use only clinical search
engines that quickly and easily deliver trusted and updated content
to support our critical patient care-based clinical decisions.
The survey also found that 8 in 10 physicians indicated that
having "instant access" to the latest reference content is "very"
or "extremely important" in influencing their clinical decisions.
However, the two most common challenges listed were limited
subscriptions to clinical information services by hospitals or
healthcare facilities and issues with Wi-Fi or network access.
Point of care where clinical information is used
The top reason cited for the search of clinical information was
to "stay abreast of latest developments in their field," followed
by "reference during treatment and surgery." Physicians also use
online search to plan treatment therapy, diagnostic tests, ensure
best care is delivered at the lowest cost, establish clinical
standards of patient care, and to prepare for a patient
interaction. The clinical specialties most reliant on search
include cardiology, internal medicine, general surgery, neurology
and oncology.
Survey results also showed that 58 percent of physicians prefer
to access information from their computers while 14 percent still
refer to printed sources of information. One in three physicians
said they use a mobile device at the point of care, especially
during patient consultation or treatment.
"Findings from this survey reveal that, regardless of which
country and background doctors and healthcare professionals come
from, their objectives and priorities with regards to clinical
search is very much the same - trusted content and quick access to
the most recent information," said Pete
Read, CEO, Global Growth Markets, who presented the survey
findings at HMA together with Elsevier. "It would be valuable for
healthcare providers to evaluate the effectiveness of their current
clinical information services and tools, and see where they can
direct their spending on information and technology to help fill
the gap that doctors face when searching for clinical
information."
References
- Google, Manhattan Research, Screen to Script, The Doctor's
Digital Path to Treatment. June 2012.
Accessed at:
https://ssl.gstatic.com/think/docs/the-doctors-digital-path-to-treatment_research-studies.pdf
- Densen P. Challenges and Opportunities Facing Medical
Education. Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological
Association. 2011;122:48-58. Accessed at:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3116346/
About the survey
The Clinical Search - An understanding of healthcare
professionals' attitudes, needs and challenges survey was
conducted with 210 doctors and healthcare professionals from seven
countries in Asia-Pacific,
including Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, Philippines, China, India
and Australia. The survey was
prepared by Global Growth Markets, a global healthcare market
information provider, and funded by Elsevier.
About ClinicalKey
ClinicalKey provides evidence-based clinical answers drawn from
the single largest body of clinical content available, including
600+ journals, 1,100+ books, drug information, guidelines, patient
education and Medline. The Smart Search enables ClinicalKey to
understand clinical terms and thus discover the most relevant
medical content and find related content often missed by other
search engines. ClinicalKey is optimized for any mobile device,
making it more convenient to search and validate on-the-go.
http://www.clinicalkey.com
About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading provider of information solutions
that enhance the performance of science, health, and technology
professionals, empowering them to make better decisions, deliver
better care, and sometimes make groundbreaking discoveries that
advance the boundaries of knowledge and human progress. Elsevier
provides web-based, digital solutions - among them ScienceDirect,
Scopus, Elsevier Research Intelligence and ClinicalKey - and
publishes more than 2,500 journals, including The Lancet and
Cell, and more than 33,000 book titles, including a number
of iconic reference works. Elsevier is part of RELX Group plc, a
world-leading provider of information solutions for professional
customers across industries. http://www.elsevier.com
Media Contacts
Jason Chan
Director, Corporate Relations, Asia
Pacific
Global Communications
Elsevier
+65-6349-0240
j.chan@elsevier.com
Jasmine Chng
Director, Singapore Healthcare Lead
Waggener Edstrom Worldwide
+65-6303-8474
jchng@waggeneredstrom.com