P08S09:
Chronic upper airway cough
Bottom
line: Information on chronic upper airway cough was used to maintain the
management of a patient (medication). There were no information-related patient
health outcomes.
Level 1 outcome (situational relevance): On December 3,
2008, P08 did a search at work, by themselves, and after an encounter with a
patient. They retrieved one information hit about chronic upper airway cough.
The reported search objective was to search in general or for curiosity. “I was searching after the fact. […] I have
already seen the patient in the emergency on Monday or something. But I was
searching from the clinic, there is not really time in the emergency to do
searches for that. […] [I was] wondering what would work best, in terms of
antihistamine use, because I have heard about the use of antihistamines but I
was wondering, you know, would the older style of antihistamines be better than
maybe some of the newer ones. That was the question I had. […] [The patient was
a] woman, […] probably late sixties, so sixty-eight, […] [with] chronic asthma
and [she] was having repeated visits to the emergency department with upper
airway symptoms. […] I was just curious. […] I see a lot of patients with
allergies, COPD [Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease], asthma, respiratory symptoms.
[…] I just basically was looking to see
if there was any new information on this.” According to P08,
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 confirmation, P08 stated: “I was thinking that the older antihistamines
would be better. And I was right.”
Retrieved
information hit(s):
1) e-Therapeutics+ (CIRT):
Therapeutics tab – Chronic cough – Highlight on antihistamines (P08S09H01)
Level 3 outcome
(information use): Information on chronic upper airway cough was retrieved, and used to maintain (be more certain about) the management of the patient (information
used as presented in e-Therapeutics+). “It
[the information] confirmed what I was already thinking. […] I had just
suggested the use of antihistamines. And I had suggested these, the older ones.”
Level 4 outcome (patient health): Regarding
patient health, P08 did not associate the information with any health outcomes.
Levels of outcome of information-seeking
|
Situational relevance |
Positive cognitive
impact |
Information use |
Patient health |
|
Satisfy curiosity |
Confirmed |
Be more certain |
No outcome |