Use of Internet Health Information Resources and Information Seeking Behaviour among Health Professionals in Federal Medical Center, Abuja

Authors

Chuks Daniel Oriogu, Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, NigeriaFollow
Roselyn Esoname Subair, Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, NigeriaFollow
Darlina Chima Oriogu-Ogbuiyi, Achievers University Owo,Ondo State, NigeriaFollow

Date of this Version

2-27-2017

Document Type

Article

Citation

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Abstract

The advent of Internet have given rise to the exponential growth of health information resources which has invariably provided a wider means of access to health professional in meeting their immediate information needs. The study investigated the use of internet health information resources and information seeking behaviour among health professionals in federal medical center, Abuja. Five research questions guided the study and the data collection instrument used was structured questionnaire, the study adopted survey research method. The finding shows that (83.7%) of the respondents have average levels of Internet use proficiency. The study revealed that majority of the respondents rarely use e-book, e-journals, Websites, e-newspaper/ Bulletin. The finding shows that the respondents only use African Journal Online (AJOL) and Nursing Journals. Based on the information seeking behaviour of the respondents, it was revealed that (85.7%) of the respondents do not have understanding of limitations of internet resources. The challenges encountered by majority of the respondents are slow connection of the Internet, lack of awareness of the available Internet health information resources in the library, poor/lack of subscription of e-databases and lack of time. The study finally recommends that health institutions should endeavour to provide basic information technology literacy training to health professionals, maintain continuous subscription of health e-databases, create awareness of open access health information resources and also improve effective access to Internet connection.