ArticleJournal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA2017
Unanswered clinical questions: a survey of specialists and primary care providers.
Article in Journal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 49 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Effectiveness of educational interventions for improving healthcare professionals' information literacy: A systematic review.Health information and libraries journal · 2025Pooled it
- Resident resource use in clinical settings: an institutional survey.Journal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA · 2026Article
- Web-Based, Open-Source LGBTQ+ Affirming Care Education for Primary Health Care Providers: Descriptive Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Structured prompting as reusable clinical tools.EULAR rheumatology open · 2026Article
- Information-seeking behaviour of primary care clinicians in Singapore at the point-of-care: A qualitative study.Health information and libraries journal · 2024Article
- Identifying primary care clinicians' preferences for, barriers to, and facilitators of information-seeking in clinical practice in Singapore: a qualitative study.BMC primary care · 2024Article
- Modelling of physicians' clinical information-seeking behaviour in Iran: a grounded theory study.BMJ open · 2024Article
- What information sources do Dutch medical specialists use in medical decision-making: a qualitative interview study.BMJ open · 2023Article
- PubMed's core clinical journals filter: redesigned for contemporary clinical impact and utility.Journal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA · 2023Article
- Efficacy and efficiency of information retrieval of community family physicians at the point of care: exploring the associations with information and computer literacy.Journal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA · 2023Article
- How searching under time pressure impacts clinical decision making.Journal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA · 2020Article
- Obstetrician-Gynecologist Views of Pregnancy-Related Medication Safety.Journal of women's health (2002) · 2020Article
- Content analysis of clinical questions from Australian general practice which are prioritised for answering: identifying common question types and perceived knowledge gaps.BMJ evidence-based medicine · 2020Article
- Perceptions, behaviours, barriers and needs of evidence-based medicine in primary care in Beijing: a qualitative study.BMC family practice · 2019Article
- Preferences for peer-reviewed versus other publication sources: a survey of general dentists in the National Dental PBRN.Implementation science : IS · 2019Article
- A library mobile device deployment to enhance the medical student experience in a rural longitudinal integrated clerkship.Journal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA · 2019Article
- [An online dynamic knowledge base in multiple languages on general medicine and primary care].The Pan African medical journal · 2019Article
- Clinicians' perceptions of usefulness of the PubMed4Hh mobile device application for clinical decision making at the point of care: a pilot study.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2018Article
- Evaluating the impact of clinical librarians on clinical questions during inpatient rounds.Journal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveWith the myriad of cases presented to clinicians every day at our integrated academic health system, clinical questions are bound to arise. Clinicians need to recognize these knowledge gaps and act on them. However, for many reasons, clinicians might not seek answers to these questions. Our goal was to investigate the rationale and process behind these unanswered clinical questions. Subsequently, we explored the use of biomedical information resources among specialists and primary care providers and identified ways to promote more informed clinical decision making.
methodsWe conducted a survey to assess how practitioners identify and respond to information gaps, their background knowledge of search tools and strategies, and their usage of and comfort level with technology.
resultsMost of the 292 respondents encountered clinical questions at least a few times per week. While the vast majority often or always pursued answers, time was the biggest barrier for not following through on questions. Most respondents did not have any formal training in searching databases, were unaware of many digital resources, and indicated a need for resources and services that could be provided at the point of care.
conclusionsWhile the reasons for unanswered clinical questions varied, thoughtful review of the responses suggested that a combination of educational strategies, embedded librarian services, and technology applications could help providers pursue answers to their clinical questions, enhance patient safety, and contribute to patient-based, self-directed learning.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.