title: Searching for medical information online: a survey of Canadian nephrologists.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Physicians often search for information to improve patient care. We evaluated how nephrologists use online information sources for this purpose.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this cross-sectional study (2008 to 2010), a random sample of Canadian nephrologists completed a survey of their online search practices. We queried respondents on their searching preferences, practices and use of 9 online information sources.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Respondents (n=115; 75% response rate) comprised both academic (59%) and community-based (41%) nephrologists. Respondents were an average of 48 years old and were in practice for an average of 15 years. Nephrologists used a variety of online sources to retrieve information on patient treatment including UpToDate (92%), PubMed (89%), Google (76%) and Ovid MEDLINE (55%). Community-based nephrologists were more likely to consult UpToDate first (91%), while academic nephrologists were divided between UpToDate (58%) and PubMed (41%). When searching bibliographic resources such as PubMed, 80% of nephrologists scan a maximum of 40 citations (the equivalent of 2 search pages in PubMed). Searching practices did not differ by age, sex or years in practice.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Nephrologists routinely use a variety of online resources to search for information for patient care. These include bibliographic databases, general search engines and specialized medical resources.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. salimah.shariff@lhsc.on.ca
authors.forename: Salimah Z
authors.initials: SZ
authors.lastname: Shariff
authors.forename: Shayna A D
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Bejaimal
authors.forename: Jessica M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Sontrop
authors.forename: Arthur V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Iansavichus
authors.forename: Matthew A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Weir
authors.forename: R Brian
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Haynes
authors.forename: Mark R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Speechley
authors.forename: Amardeep
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thind
authors.forename: Amit X
authors.initials: AX
authors.lastname: Garg
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002170:Canada; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D016206:Databases, Bibliographic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016239:MEDLINE / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008490:Medical Informatics / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009398:Nephrology; D009862:Online Systems / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010820:Physicians / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D039781:PubMed / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D057386:Search Engine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data