Medical Information Sources Used by Specialists and Residents in Mashhad, Iran

Physicians continually need to update their knowledge to ensure appropriate decision making about patient care. We aimed to identify and compare information sources used by specialists and residents, their reasons for choosing these sources, and the level of their confidence in these sources. We conducted a cross-sectional study among specialists and residents using a validated questionnaire in the five academic hospitals affiliated with Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (in northeast Iran). We compared the specialists with residents in term of gender, age, years since graduation, use of information sources, confidence in use of information sources, and reasons for selecting the information sources. Within each group, we also investigated the effect of work experience and gender on frequently used information sources and users’ confidence in them. The questionnaire was sent to 315 physicians, including 155 specialists and 160 residents. One hundred twenty-six specialists (response rate: 81 %) and 126 residents (response rate: 79%) completed it. The most frequently mentioned sources by all specialists included “English textbooks” (84.9%), “web/internet” (74.6%), “English medical journals” (62.3 %), and “discussions with colleagues” (57%). Among residents, “web/internet” (65.9%), “discussion with colleagues” (61.3%), and “Persian textbooks” (50.4%) were the most frequently used sources of information. In both groups, high confidence was demonstrated in “English textbooks,” “English medical journals,” and “international instructions/guidelines.” Both groups counted reliability, easy accessibility, and being up to date as their primary reasons for the selection of their information sources. There was also a significantly negative correlation between using the internet as an information source and age in specialists (Spearman’s rho=- 0.238, p=0.01), but not in residents. Reliability, easy accessibility, and being up to date should be considered in establishing information sources for physicians.