ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The purpose of our study was to compare the characteristics of medical practitioners who prefer using the Internet as their information resource and those who prefer using printed materials.<BR>METHODS: From December 2002 to January 2003, a non-anonymous questionnaire was sent out by post to members of the Japanese Medical Association (JMA) and physicians working in hospitals. Contributing factors were examined by using logistic regression analysis.<BR>RESULTS: The response rates for the questionnaires were 18.7% (n=1868) for JMA physicians and 68.0% (n=5901) for hospital physicians. Factors associated with the preference for using the Internet were: ‘younger age’; ‘use of the Internet to solve clinical problems and uncertainties’; ‘use of personal computers at work’; and, ‘use of personal computers at home’.<BR>CONCLUSION: The results of this study show that, although some younger physicians prefer printed materials, providing medical information via the Internet is better suited for younger physicians who are making full use of computers. In contrast, older physicians prefer printed materials because they tend to be less familiar with using computers and may have limited accessibility to the Internet. Therefore, using both the Internet and printed materials to provide medical information is necessary to meet the needs of the larger physician population.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: physicians' awareness regarding evidence-based medicine (EBM), clinical practice guidelines, and clinical information resources were rarely examined in Japan. We need to know them prior to the initiation of the Medical Information Network Distribution Service (Minds) by the Japan Council for Quality Health Care (JCQHC) .<BR>METHODS: A total of 10, 000 directors/owners of private clinics (CDs: clinic physicians) affiliated with the Japan Medical Association (JMA) and 8682 physicians working for hospitals certified by the JCQHC (HDs: hospital physicians) were randomly selected and surveyed by a mailed questionnaire.<BR>RESULTS: The response rate to the questionnaire was 18.7% (n=1865) among CDs and 67.8% (n=5885) among HDs. The percentage of respondents who uses internet was 39.9% among CDs and 69.3% among HDs. The information resource most commonly used by all respondents was medical journals, followed by textbooks. The percentage of respondents who used medical literature database was 10.8% among CDs and 49.7% among HDs, respectively. Approximately 80% of all respondents approved implementing EBM in daily practice. Fifty percent of all respondents indicated to have used clinical practice guidelines, and 90% of all the guideline users replied that clinical practice guidelines are useful tools for clinical decision-making. Over half of HDs required to access to the abstracts of the literature cited in the guidelines.<BR>CONCLUSIONS: Many physicians who responded to the survey acknowledged that EBM will contribute to improving the quality of medical services. They are positive in using clinical practice guidelines that include a series of recommendations proposed by specialists in the relevant field (s) in accordance to the reviewed evidence.
ABSTRACT
Our school of medicine began a new curriculum for medical students in April of 1999. In their final year medical students are allowed to schedule a 3-month clinical clerkship. This clerkship gives the students three 4-week periods to do rotations in their areas of interest. Our clinics have had a hard time finding the time to teach students evidence-based medicine (EBM) owing to their clinical workloads. Even when the divisions want to teach EBM there are few resources available for the students. Therefore, students are sometimes unable to receive adequate training in EBM. With the introduction of the new curriculum the Department of Hygiene and Public Health thought that the clinical clerkship program offered a good opportunity to teach students EBM with a one-to-one student-teacher relationship. We report here on our preliminary program that uses a scenario approach to EBM education. We determined the students' level of development by studying the detailed progress reports written by their teachers. The students were found to understand EBM when presented with its basic concepts which are then used in multiple discussions. Students will continue to use self-directed learning throughout their careers if they learn to think using EBM early in their training and practice it during their residency. We also show here a worksheet based on the Journal of the American Medical Association User's Guide series to use systematic EBM in daily clinics. Our program is just one of several methods we hope to develop to educate medical students in EBM.