Students' Experiences of Seeking Web-Based Animal Health Information at the Ontario Veterinary College: Exploratory Qualitative Study

BACKGROUND: Although searching for health information on the internet has offered clear benefits of rapid access to information for seekers such as patients, medical practitioners, and students, detrimental effects on seekers’ experiences have also been documented. Health information overload is one such side effect, where an information seeker receives excessive volumes of potentially useful health-related messages that cannot be processed in a timely manner. This phenomenon has been documented among medical professionals, with consequences that include impacts on patient care. Presently, the use of the internet for health-related information, and particularly animal health information, in veterinary students has received far less research attention. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to explore veterinary students’ internet search experiences to understand how students perceived the nature of Web-based information and how these perceptions influence their information management. METHODS: For this qualitative exploratory study, 5 separate focus groups and a single interview were conducted between June and October 2016 with a sample of 21 veterinary students in Ontario, Canada. RESULTS: Thematic analysis of focus group transcripts demonstrated one overarching theme, The Overwhelming Nature of the Internet, depicted by two subthemes: Volume and Type of Web-based Health Information and Processing, Managing, and Evaluating Information. CONCLUSIONS: Integrating electronic health information literacy training into human health sciences students’ training has shown to have positive effects on information management skills. Given a recent Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges report that considers health literacy as a professional competency, results of this study point to a direction for future research and for institutions to contemplate integrating information literacy skills in veterinary curricula. Specifically, we propose that the information literacy skills should include knowledge about access, retrieval, evaluation, and timely application of Web-based information.