NEW DELHI: Call it digital penetration or lack of clinical sources for information but as many as 90% of doctors rely on online search engines to aid their clinical decisions with Google being the most popular and frequently used non-evidence based search engine, showed a latest survey conducted in the Asia Pacific region.

Highlighting the existing gap between what physicians are really looking for and the information sources they use to achieve that, the findings showed top reasons for the search of clinical information on web was to “stay abreast of latest developments in their field” followed by “reference during treatment and surgery.” Doctors perform an average of six professional searches a day during their course of work, it said.

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Pointing towards an increasing trend of internet usage, the findings show 58% of physicians prefer to access information on their computers while 14% still refer to printed sources of information. One in three physicians said they use a mobile device at the point of care, especially during a patient consultation or treatment.

Though availability of information on web has made information sharing easier, experts say there is an urgent need to validate the same as much of this data is not evidence based.

“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,” said Pete Read, chief executive of Global Growth Markets – a UK-based healthcare data analytics firm.

The survey, conducted by Elsevier, a leading international information solution provider in the health and technology sector, showed 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.

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The most frequently used keywords for search were “most trusted” and “most updated content”, the data showed.

“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, chief medical officer, Elsevier Clinical Solutions.

Highlighting the challenges faced in their quest for clinical information, doctors said there is a need for continued medical education and for hospitals and other healthcare facilities to subscribe to clinical information services that help doctors stay updated with the latest reliable clinical information.

“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,” said Dr Edelstein.

The survey found eight in ten physicians indicated that having “instant access” to the latest reference content is “very” or “extremely important” in influencing their clinical decisions.

Some of those surveyed also said that there is “too much published information available,” and that they “need more training on how to search for clinically-relevant information.”