medical students caring information needs and seeking behavior pattern in clinical education of emergency department

introduction: in medical education, ambulatory medicine education especially emergency is the most important part of medical education. aim of this study is the survey of medial students information needs seeking behavior pattern. we expect this study impacts on the clinical education quality, the recognition of students' education needs and better management of patients by medical students. methods: this descriptive and analytic study examines the information needs of interns in the emergency departments of teaching hospitals of iran medical sciences university in 2008. questionnaires and observations were used to collect data from seventy medical students. observations and questionnaires were used. reliability was assessed and there was found high reliability (0/80). chi-square and two-tailed and bi variation correlation tests were used to investigate significant associations among the data. results: the statistical test revealed significant association between the diagnosis and treatment needs (p < 0/001, co = 0/576). the majority of the students information needs were laboratories test (84/3%). the least of those were dead persons transfer (1/4%). medical students were most likely to rely on patient, patient chart, colleagues and printed sources. significantly medical student were likely to pursue needs related to treatment with printed sources. (p = 0/01). conclusion: a few organizational or management questions were asked. the students did not pay attention to legal issues. many medical students prefer to obtain information from resources that are convenient, easy to use and reliable. it is recommended that initiate programs about importance of legal issues and organizational information in curriculum and development of educational programs to promote evidence–based decision making among medical students.