P04S03: Fibromyalgia (treatment options)
Bottom line: Information on fibromyalgia was used to maintain the management of the
patient (medication). There were no information-related patient health
outcomes.
Level 1 outcome (situational relevance): On July 10, 2008, P04 did a search at home, by themselves, and after
an encounter with a patient. They retrieved one information hit about
fibromyalgia. The reported search objectives were: to address a clinical
question and to search in general or for curiosity. “I have a patient
who has fibromyalgia, she's in her early 40s, and I'm just always looking for
options for treatment for her. […] I believe I had a phone call case study with
a third party, I believe an insurance company regarding her, and just reviewing
that I was doing everything I could for her. […] [I] just [wanted] to see what
were the recommendations for pharmacological treatment of fibromyalgia, and to
see if I was doing, if I was on the right track with her, if there was anything
I should be doing differently. […] I was just playing on e-Therapeutics and it
came up.” According to P04,
e-Therapeutics+ was the only source for information, and the found information
was relevant.
Level 2 outcome (cognitive impact): One hit was associated with a report of positive cognitive impact (see table). Regarding motivation, confirmation, reassurance, and reminder, P04 stated: “[I am motivated to learn more] because I don't feel I have a strong grasp on
fibromyalgia and there's always new information coming out on it. […] It
appears that my management plan of the patient, it is congruent with what was
recommended under pharmacological choices. […] I had at one point reviewed all
of this with her, in regards with her clinical presentation but in
re-evaluating her situation I wanted to, once again, re-evaluate more and more
of the recommendations that were out there to see if anything needed to be
added on or changed, what were my options. […] I didn't pay as much attention to the
non-pharmacological choices, but a lot of that has been done for her already.”
Retrieved information hit(s):
1) e-Therapeutics+ (CIRT): Therapeutics tab – fibromyalgia –
pharmacologic choices (P04S03H01).
Level 3 outcome
(information use): Information on fibromyalgia was retrieved, and used to better understand
a specific issue with respect to the management of the patient, and to maintain
(be more certain about) the management of the patient (information used as
presented in e-Therapeutics+). “[I used
the information] to continue with her management. […] I saw her this
week and I didn't change anything, I just continued on, she seemed to be
improving so no need to make any changes right now. […] [And] I just wanted to
make sure, like I said, talking to the third party, insurance person, that I
was doing everything that I could be doing at this point.”
Level 4 outcome (patient health): Without this information, P04’s management of the patient would have
been the same. There were no clear relationships between the use of
information and expected patient health outcomes.
Levels of outcome of information-seeking
|
Situational relevance |
Positive cognitive
impact |
Information use |
Patient health |
|
Address a clinical question Satisfy curiosity |
Reminded something Motivated to learn Confirmed Reassured |
Be more certain Understand issue |
No outcome |