Communicating drug information to physicians

Information Sources Utilized by Private Practice and University Physicians

“…Similar to the results of other studies (9,12,(15)(16)(17), the PDR was found to be the most frequently used source for drug information. This was true regardless of the practice site, although the private practice physicians utilized the PDR sig nificantly more often than the academic medicine physicians.…”

“…For initial information about new drugs, textbooks are generally not men tioned, with pharmaceutical sales repre sentatives, mail advertisements or articles, medical journals, and colleagues most of ten utilized (8,11). Other studies have also described colleagues as being common ly used sources for drug information (12,13), perhaps more frequently in urban and institutional areas of practice (13).…”

General-practitioner prescribing

“…Parish (1971) reviewed previous work in this field and outlined some neglected areas for future study (Parish, 1974 (Mechanic, 1968 and1970) and North Ameriean studies (Clute, 1963;Peterson et al, 1956) (Dunnell and Cartwright, 1972) and in North America (Becker et al, 1972) and reviews (Herman and Rodowskas, 1976;Worthen, 1973) Regarding non-commercial sources of information Durno and Gill's (1974) finding that the Prescribers' Journal was one of the most frequently read medical journals, accorded with an earlier finding of the Com¬ mittee, and that of Wade (1968).…”

Drug Information: The Pharmaceutical Manufacturer's Viewpoint and Involvement

“…12 In their overview of the multitudinous studies of researchers attempting to identify the sources of drug information used by physicians, they isolated and elaborated upon a number of important points. Among the most notable are:…”