Dental hygienists' information seeking and computer application behavior.
A questionnaire requesting information on information seeking, critical analysis, and computer applications was returned in 1992 by 136 of 197 (69 percent) currently licensed dental hygienists residing in Alaska, Delaware, and Idaho. The most common sources used for professional development and information retrieval were continuing education courses, discussions with colleagues, and journals. The respondents' own experience, credibility of the journal, and discussions with colleagues were the most frequent methods used to evaluate professional information. Many hygienists owned or had access to a computer, yet they rarely conducted online database searches to obtain professional information. The computer was primarily used to perform business functions rather than for clinical applications in these dental hygienists' employment settings. The majority of these hygienists were interested in attending related continuing education courses and indicated that computer skills should be part of dental hygiene curricula.
Department of Dental Hygiene, Idaho State University, Pocatello, USA.
S L
SL
Gravois
D M
DM
Bowen
W
W
Fisher
S C
SC
Patrick
D000328:Adult; D003200:Computer User Training; D003201:Computers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003756:Dental Hygienists / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology*; D004496:Education, Continuing / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007255:Information Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008523:MEDLARS / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012494:Sampling Studies; D013192:Staff Development; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States