Use, usability, usefulness, and impact of an infobutton manager.
BACKGROUND
We sought to understand how clinical information systems users access online information resources through an Infobutton Manager (IM) that provides direct, context-specific queries.


METHODS
We used 5.7 years of system log files, one year of pop-up surveys and user feedback, and an e-mail survey to collect information about our users' experience with online resources and the IM.


RESULTS
4,577 users used the IM 30,374 times to access information resources 20,249 times. We obtained 195 pop-up surveys, 108 instances of online feedback, and 70 e-mail surveys. User satisfaction with the IM ranged from 69% to 92% for various aspects and user groups; 74% felt that the IM had a positive effect on patient care decisions and 20% reported specific positive impact on patient care.


CONCLUSIONS
Context-specific access to health knowledge resources has been successfully accomplished, although the success varies with context and user type. Impact on patient care decisions has been positive. Our findings suggest ways to further increase use of the IM.
Cimino
James J
JJ
Department of Biomedical Informatics, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA.
D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D003625:Data Collection; D019992:Databases as Topic; D007255:Information Services; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009862:Online Systems; D014584:User-Computer Interface