title: Study of the uses of Information and Communication Technologies by Pain Treatment Unit Physicians.
abstract: Adequate use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in health has been shown to save the patient and caregiver time, improve access to the health system, improve diagnosis and control of disease or treatment. All this results in cost savings, and more importantly, they help improve the quality of service and the lives of patients. The purpose of this study is to analyse the differences in the uses of this ICTs between those physicians that belong to Pain Treatment Units (PU) and other physicians that work in pain not linked to these PUs. An online survey, generated by Netquest online survey tool, was sent to both groups of professionals and the data collected was statistical analysed through a logistic regression methodology which is the Logit binomial model. Our results show that those physicians that belong to PUs use ICTs more frequently and consider it more relevant to their clinical practice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Salamanca, Avda Alfonso X El Sabio s/n, 37007, Salamanca, Spain. murimuriel@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Muriel Fernandez
authors.affiliation: VisualMed Systems Group, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain.
authors.forename: María José
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Sánchez Ledesma
authors.affiliation: Anaesthesiology Service, University Hospital Virgen Macarena, Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: López Millan
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Salamanca, Avda Alfonso X El Sabio s/n, 37007, Salamanca, Spain.
authors.forename: María Begoña
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: García Cenador
mesh_terms: D000776:Anesthesiology / Q000193:education*; D003195:Computer Communication Networks / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D016015:Logistic Models; D008490:Medical Informatics / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D059408:Pain Management / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000639:trends*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Continuous medical education; Information and communication technologies; Pain; Pain treatment unit