This paper describes the information-seeking behavior of medical professionals at a public university hospital, according to the different roles that professionals can take on these institutions, namely physician and teacher, as well as to major tasks associated with them, which are clinical care, teaching and research. The research was conducted at the Hospital of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (HC/UFMG), by applying an electronic questionnaire to medical professionals who have there their clinical care, teaching and research activities. The main information needs of these professionals and the influence of contextual factors, the professional role and the activity performed in the emergence of these needs and in the information search process configuration were identified. The results also show the sources of information most used, electronic sources, the influence of the characteristics of these sources and prior knowledge about them in choosing a particular source, besides the problems commonly encountered by medical professionals in their quest for information. Besides obtaining a profile of activity of medical professionals at the institution, it was also characterized the influence of the professional role and the activity performed in the information retrieval process of these professional setting.
Understanding the “Conflict of Interest