Information is a powerful tool for enabling physicians to provide quality healthcare for their patients. Information use in the clinic is a skill that must be learned. If medical residency programs fail to impart this skill, then patients will suffer.

The residents of the ETSU Quillen College of Medicine were surveyed as to their use of clinical information. Of the 217 residents of the 2005-2006 class who were surveyed, 105 returned the survey for a return rate of 48%. The clinical faculty was also surveyed in order to measure the responses of the residents against that of their instructors.

ETSU residents frequently had a new information need in the clinic. The majority of the time they did not seek an answer, but when they did they were often successful in finding an answer. Therapy information was the most frequently sought after type of information. Most residents used the Quillen College of Medicine Library, but not at a desirable rate. Residents stated that information obtained from the library was helpful in caring for their patients. The most frequent source of information used by residents was electronic resources and the greatest barrier to the use of information was time. The majority of residents were PDA users, with Palm devices being the primary platform. The residents rated their PDA skills and evidence-based medicine skills as above average. Few were LoansomeDoc users. The majority of residents received information training from clinical faculty and from librarians and rated it highly. Residents indicated a desire for more training and the majority indicated that they would like a clinical medical librarian for their program. They rated the library service of the Quillen College of Medicine and the area teaching hospitals highly. Residents used Google and the Web frequently. PubMed was rated as a valuable resource. Online journals and the UpToDate database were important electronic resources for the residents.

ETSU residents have many excellent resources and training opportunities in place. However, for ETSU residents to go out into community practice as true "Infomasters" an upgrading of their information training should be undertaken.