Extent of utilization of health information by medical doctors in Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated the extent to which medical practitioners (doctors) utilized health information resources. It adopted survey design to answer four research questions. A total of 116 medical doctors were selected using a combination of stratified, simple random and purposive sampling techniques. The data collected were analyzed with frequency counts, percentage and mean. Two data collection instruments were used: questionnaire and observation check. The findings revealed that a majority of the respondents utilized textbooks more than the other sources of health information. Sources of health information were found inadequate. The sources of information available to the medical practitioners have impacted positively on medical service delivery as a majority of them reported that they use those information for diagnosis, symptoms of disease conditions to mention but a few. The study concluded that due to the busy nature of the respondents‟ jobs, a number of strategies that would assist to increase the use of the preferred health information sources, depending on their individual choices such as setting up mobile medical libraries should be adopted. Mobile apps which contain health information would also enhance health information delivery straight to the palm of the medical doctors.