Clinical Information Needs Among Latin American Physicians: A Multi-Country Analysis of Semantic Clinical Search
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Background
Physician clinical information-seeking behavior is poorly characterized in Latin America.
Objective
To describe query topic patterns, geographic distribution, and trends among Latin American physicians using a semantic clinical search platform.
Methods
Retrospective query-log analysis, May 2025–June 2026; 9,443 physicians across 20 countries, 235,803 queries; a 10-category taxonomy applied via prefix matching.
Results
Activation rate: 84.4%. Management Plan (35.6%), Differential Diagnosis (20.6%), and Work-up and Test Selection (11.4%) accounted for 67.6% of queries; this hierarchy was consistent across 17 countries. Per-physician volume was broadly similar (mean 29.6 queries).
Conclusion
Query behavior in this Latin American physician cohort was oriented toward clinical decision support, with a consistent hierarchy across countries. Future studies should evaluate clinical impact.