title: Health care workers in Africa access a broad range of topics using evidence-based online medical information.
abstract: Health care workers (HCW) rely on Internet-based medical resources to obtain current evidence-based clinical guidelines. While such resources are being used with increasing frequency in developed countries, they have not been broadly employed in resource-limited settings (RLS). To investigate the feasibility and the types of medical content used by HCW in RLS, we studied one Internet-based medical resource used in the United States, (UpToDate©) in four hospitals in Africa. Health care workers were trained on how to use this resource and surveyed over a six month study period. Automated topic tracking found that HCW searched a variety of medical topics. About 78% of HCW reported daily or weekly use of the Internet-based medical resource and 70% felt the tool was very useful for teaching. All users report the tool increased their clinical knowledge. This descriptive study suggests that Internet-based medical information resources are feasible in RLS and are accessed for a broad variety of medical topics. Supplemental content providing guidance when minimal diagnostic and therapeutic options exist could increase its relevance in RLS. With increased availability, Internet-based medical information could enhance current global health care initiatives to improve providers' knowledge, clinical practice and potentially patient outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Weill-Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Margaret L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: McNairy
authors.forename: Alysse G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Wurcel
authors.forename: Franklin
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Johanna P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Daily
mesh_terms: D022126:Access to Information; D000349:Africa; D003657:Decision Making; D003906:Developing Countries; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D063005:Health Information Systems / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D010564:Personnel, Hospital