Understanding nurses' information needs and searching behaviour in acute care settings.

Unlabelled: We report the results of a pilot study designed to describe nurses' information needs and searching behaviour in acute care settings. Several studies have indicated that nurses have unmet information needs while delivering care to patients.

Aim: Identify the information needs of nurses in acute care settings.

Methods: Nurses at three hospitals were asked to use an information retrieval tool (CPG Viewer). A detailed log of their interactions with the tool was generated.

Results And Conclusions: Our findings suggest that nurses' information needs are different from what is reported in the literature in terms of physicians' information needs. Questions regarding a nursing procedure or protocol were the most common needs nurses had.