Factors impacting physician use of information charted by others

OBJECTIVES: To identify factors impacting physician use of information charted by others. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A 4-round Delphi process was conducted with physicians and non-physicians publishing in the healthcare data quality literature to identify and characterize factors impacting physician use of information charted by others (other people or devices), either within or external to their organization. Factors with high average importance and reliability were categorized according to similarity of topic. RESULTS: Thirty-nine factors were ultimately identified as impacting physician use of information charted by others. Five categories of factors included aspects of: the information source, the information itself, the information user, the information system, and aspects of healthcare as an institution. In addition, 4 themes were identified: (1) value of narrative text in providing context, (2) importance of mental models and personal heuristics in deciding whether, and how to use information, (3) loss of confidence in, and decreased use of information due to errors encountered, and (4) existence of a trust hierarchy potentially influencing information use. DISCUSSION: Five similarly focused studies have recently probed clinician willingness to use information in decision-making. Our results mostly confirmed factors identified by prior studies, and uniquely identified aspects of the information user as important. CONCLUSION: According to the participants in this study, information quality is prominent among factors impacting physician use of information charted by others. Based on this and similar studies, it appears that despite concerns about information quality, physicians use information charted by others.