ArticleJournal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA
Answering physicians' clinical questions: obstacles and potential solutions.
Article in Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 159 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
159 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Barriers and facilitators to clinical information seeking: a systematic review.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2019Pooled it
- Comprehensive process model of clinical information interaction in primary care: results of a "best-fit" framework synthesis.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2018Pooled it
- Automating data extraction in systematic reviews: a systematic review.Systematic reviews · 2015Pooled it
- Electronic retrieval of health information by healthcare providers to improve practice and patient care.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2009Pooled it
- Effects of librarian-provided services in healthcare settings: a systematic review.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIAPooled it
- Barriers and facilitators to use of a clinical evidence technology in the management of skin problems in primary care: insights from mixed methods.Journal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA · 2020Trial
- Effect of a clinical evidence technology on patient skin disease outcomes in primary care: a cluster-randomized controlled trial.Journal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA · 2019Trial
- Trial
- Using a systematic review in clinical decision making: a pilot parallel, randomized controlled trial.Implementation science : IS · 2015Trial
- Practicing evidence based medicine at the bedside: a randomized controlled pilot study in undergraduate medical students assessing the practicality of tablets, smartphones, and computers in clinical life.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2014Trial
- A training intervention to improve information management in primary care.Family medicine · 2008Trial
- Just-in-time information improved decision-making in primary care: a randomized controlled trial.PloS one · 2008Trial
- Effectiveness of topic-specific infobuttons: a randomized controlled trial.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIATrial
- A Dataset for Addressing Patient's Information Needs related to Clinical Course of Hospitalization.Scientific data · 2026Article
- Physician experiences with clinical uncertainty in the trauma setting: making clinical guidance accessible to those in need.Trauma surgery & acute care open · 2026Article
- A Physician-Driven Patient Safety Paradigm: The "Pitfall Bank" as a Translational Mechanism for Medical Error Prevention.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Evaluating the Reasoning Capabilities of Large Language Models for Medical Coding and Hospital Readmission Risk Stratification: Zero-Shot Prompting Approach.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Clinical Questions Addressed by First-Year Medical Students in Primary Care: A Cross-Sectional Study.Family medicine · 2025Article
- Modelling of physicians' clinical information-seeking behaviour in Iran: a grounded theory study.BMJ open · 2024Article
99 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo identify the most frequent obstacles preventing physicians from answering their patient-care questions and the most requested improvements to clinical information resources.
designQualitative analysis of questions asked by 48 randomly selected generalist physicians during ambulatory care. MEASUREMENTS: Frequency of reported obstacles to answering patient-care questions and recommendations from physicians for improving clinical information resources.
resultsThe physicians asked 1,062 questions but pursued answers to only 585 (55%). The most commonly reported obstacle to the pursuit of an answer was the physician's doubt that an answer existed (52 questions, 11%). Among pursued questions, the most common obstacle was the failure of the selected resource to provide an answer (153 questions, 26%). During audiotaped interviews, physicians made 80 recommendations for improving clinical information resources. For example, they requested comprehensive resources that answer questions likely to occur in practice with emphasis on treatment and bottom-line advice. They asked for help in locating information quickly by using lists, tables, bolded subheadings, and algorithms and by avoiding lengthy, uninterrupted prose.
conclusionPhysicians do not seek answers to many of their questions, often suspecting a lack of usable information. When they do seek answers, they often cannot find the information they need. Clinical resource developers could use the recommendations made by practicing physicians to provide resources that are more useful for answering clinical questions.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.