Use of internet searches for physician learning

INTRODUCTION In 2005 the American Medical Association (AMA) approved the structure for awarding continuing medial education (CME) credit to physicians searching the Internet for answers to point-of-care related questions. Previous investigations of how physicians use the Intenet have relied on self-recollections. Registering Internet point of care searches (IPoC) for CME credit affords the opportunity to investigate how physicians use the Internet to acquire information including the clinical problem being researched, goal and purpose of the search, search terms, types of search engines used, sources used, quality of evidence, perceived effectiveness of the process, and the application of new knowledge. In December 2006 we launched IPoC.