Impacts of bibliographic information on veterinary clinical decision making

The purpose of this research is to investigate clinical veterinarians' use of electronic bibliographic databases and the impact of information derived from searches on clinical decision making for patient-care activities. Reasons for searches and impacts of the information are classified into three derived taxonomies. The three taxonomies are derived by using a qualitative analysis of data gathered during interviews with clinical veterinarians. The qualitative analysis is based on a grounded theory approach that employs a constant comparative method for deriving the taxonomies. The three taxonomies are: (1) reasons why information was sought from electronic bibliographic databases; (2) assessments of clinical veterinarians of the impact of information derived from electronic bibliographic databases on patient-care decision making in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment tasks; and (3) the ultimate impact of finding (or not finding) the information derived from the use of electronic bibliographic databases on the outcome of the patient-care situation that prompted the search.; A model of the information search process for clinical veterinarians is proposed from the derived taxonomies. The model incorporates other models from cognitive psychology and motivation research, and reflects a domain-analysis approach. The domain-analysis approach is a view of information seeking that stresses the social and domain-oriented nature of knowledge. The model describes a synergistic relationship between motivation to use electronic bibliographic databases for patient-care tasks, the use of information derived from databases in problem-solving and decision-making activities related to patient care, and assessments of clinical veterinarians of the impact of information on patient-care outcomes. The model also views the information search process as an iterative process that is based on positive assessments of the quality of electronic bibliographic databases and the information products obtained from searches. The model also incorporates a situational motivation theory to demonstrate that clinical veterinarians have positive assessments of electronic bibliographic databases despite significant barriers to their effective use. Assessments were positive because they found that the information search contributed to the final outcome of the patient-care situation that prompted the search.