Do dentists use online sources of information?

This summary is based on the article published in the Journal of Public Health Dentistry: Use of online sources of information by dental practitioners: findings from The Dental Practice-Based Research Network (Winter 2014)

Ellen Funkhouser; Bonita S. Agee; Valeria V. Gordan,; D. Brad Rindal; Jeffrey L. Fellows; Vibeke Qvist; Jocelyn McClelland; Gregg H. Gilbert for The DPBRN Collaborative Group

Context

• Translating research findings into everyday practice can be a long process. A National Institutes of Health (NIH) report in 2000 estimated that it took on average 17 years for research findings to be fully implemented into clinical practice¹.
• An increasing majority of practicing dentists today not only have ready access to computers in their offices, but these computers are connected to the Internet.
• There is a wealth of informational resources available online for clinical decision making in dental practice and continuing dental education (CDE); however, the extent that online technology is utilized in clinical decision making in dentistry or the need for it is not well documented.
• Professional colleagues and personal journal collections were preferred sources of information².

Purpose of the Study

• Estimate the proportion of dental practitioners participating in the Dental Practice-Based Research Network (DPBRN) who obtain information to guide their dental practice through online sources.
• Identify practitioner and practice characteristics associated with use of online sources, and in broad terms, ascertain whether different measures of online information use reflect the same or different constellation of practitioner/practice characteristics.

Key Findings

• A relatively small proportion of dental practitioners use information from online sources for practice guidance.
• Characteristics that were significantly associated with online use varied for the different measures used in the study; namely reading journals online and obtaining CDE credits online were associated with more recent graduation.
• Variation exists regarding practitioners’ use of online source resources and how they rate the value of offline information sources for practice guidance.

References

1. Balas EA, Boren SA. Managing clinical knowledge for health care improvement. In: Bemmel J,McCray AT, editors. Yearbook of medical informatics 2000: patient-centered systems. Stuttgart, Germany: SchattauerVerlagsgellschft mbH; 2000. p. 65-70.
2. Strother EA, Lancaster DM, Gardiner J. Information needs of practicing dentists. BullMed Libr Assoc. 1986;74: 227-30.

The DPBRN Collaborative Group comprises practitioner investigators, faculty investigators, and staff investigators who contributed to this DPBRN activity.