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Multicenter Study
. 2008 Feb;26(2):144-7.
doi: 10.1016/j.ajem.2007.03.031.

Answering clinical questions in the ED

Mark A Graber  1 , Bradley D Randles, John W Ely, Jay Monnahan
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Answering clinical questions in the ED

Mark A Graber et al. Am J Emerg Med. 2008 Feb.

Abstract

Objectives: The objective of the study was to determine how many patient-related questions emergency medicine physicians have and how they answer them at the point of care.

Methods: We conducted an observational study of 26 physicians at 2 institutions. All physicians were followed for at least 2 shifts. The number and type of questions were recorded. The percentage answered, resources used, and barriers to answering questions were also recorded.

Results: Physicians had 235 questions or approximately 5 questions per 8-hour shift . They attempted to answer 81% of them and were successful 87% of the time. The 2 most commonly used information sources were drug information resources (Personal digital assistant [PDA], pocket pharmacopeia [37% of the time]) followed by electronic resources (Google, UpToDate [29% of the time]). The most common reason for not pursuing a question was lack of time and distractions or interruptions, followed by a belief that an answer would not be found. When an answer was not found to a pursued question, non-emergency department physicians were the most common resource consulted (28%).

Conclusions: Emergency department physicians in this study pursued and found answers for most questions posed at the point of care. Rapid access to electronic resources and drug-prescribing references were critical for answering questions at the point of care.

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Comment in

  • Clinical questions in the ED.
    Talbot AC, Smith MB. Talbot AC, et al. Am J Emerg Med. 2008 Oct;26(8):962-3. doi: 10.1016/j.ajem.2008.04.001. Am J Emerg Med. 2008. PMID: 18926363 No abstract available.

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