Medical Image Retrieval in the Web from the Perspective of Experts in Medical Sciences: A qualitative study

The medical image as a source of non-textual information has an important role in the field of medicine. Since the quality of life is directly related to health، employing this type of information is effective in improving the practice of health professionals. This study was aimed to survey medical image retrieval in the Web from the perspective of experts in medical sciences. This qualitative research study was conducted by means of a semi-structured interview with 25 medical experts. The data were analyzed on the basis of the grounded theory approach. According to experts’ opinion the following reasons were responsible for the retrieval of medical images on the Web: educational، research، and medical applications of images، instrumental and training role of images، benefits، importance and special characteristics of medical images، and motives such as personal، educational and research interests. Participants of this study used non-technical search engines and technical resources such as medical databases to retrieve these images on the Web. Their methods of recovery consist of browsing، accidental retrieval، purposeless and purposeful search، and diverse search. Experts have mentioned individual، organizational، systemic and technical issues as the most important problems in the area of medical image retrieval. The results showed that image retrieval is important for the experts. Despite numerous difficulties in retrieving images، the image is still the best type of information in the medical profession. To improve physicians’ access to and retrieval of medical images، it is recommended to hold training courses for search strategies and retrieval of images.