A qualitative interview study of acute care surgeons' approach to literature acquisition: Are you up to date on staying up to date?
Publication/Presentation Date
9-1-2026
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Acute Care Surgery (ACS) surgeons care for a wide variety of life-threatening surgical conditions and have a high burden of night and weekend calls. Maintaining current knowledge of published literature is increasingly challenging. This study aims to describe motivations and methods used by ACS surgeons to stay current with published literature. We focused on how ACS surgeons acquire new information and apply it in practice, their views on the effectiveness, efficiency, and potential bias of their methods, and their perspectives regarding future knowledge acquisition methods.
METHODS: A prospective qualitative semi-structured interview study was performed. Informed consent was obtained from purposively recruited participants: ACS surgeons practicing in the United States. Interviews continued until theme saturation. Reflexive inductive thematic analysis was used to generate qualitative results.
RESULTS: Thirteen interviews were conducted, averaging 27.3 min each. Participant interviews revealed several motivations for remaining current with published literature: problem-based literature review, self-promotion, curiosity, job performance, and job satisfaction. Participants used various strategies to identify and access new literature, including academic and non-academic sources. Barriers included paywalls, time constraints, and information overload. Facilitators included user-friendly interfaces and working at an academic institution. Participants provided insights into their effectiveness, efficiency, and biases and were wary of artificial intelligence processes that may reinforce bias. Participants unanimously desired more efficient methods when asked how literature acquisition may improve in the future.
CONCLUSIONS: ACS surgeons are motivated to stay current with published literature. Current barriers and facilitators were identified, and participants desired more efficient methods to stay current.
Volume
33
First Page
22
Last Page
27
ISSN
2589-8450
Published In/Presented At
Wohlgemut, J. M., Seltzer, T., Herman, A., Bankhead, B. K., & AAST AM Qualitative Research Group (2026). A qualitative interview study of acute care surgeons' approach to literature acquisition: Are you up to date on staying up to date?. Surgery open science, 33, 22–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sopen.2026.05.007
Disciplines
Medicine and Health Sciences
PubMedID
42376585
Department(s)
Department of Surgery
Document Type
Article