title: Finding answers: information needs of a multidisciplinary patient care team in an emergency department.
abstract: Emergency Departments (ED) are fast-paced, information-intensive environments where patient care team members must address their information needs quickly and accurately. We conducted a qualitative field study of an ED team in a rural hospital to understand their information needs. We observed that the most commonly asked questions related to patient specific information but that they also had number of organizational questions. We also found that non-clinical members of the team, such as the unit secretary, played a critical role in helping find needed information.
authors.affiliation: College of Information Sciences and Technology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
authors.forename: Madhu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.forename: Patricia Ruma
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Spence
mesh_terms: D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration; D006780:Hospitals, Rural; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D020380:Needs Assessment; D010348:Patient Care Team; D000078329:Workforce