Drug Information Sources: Reported Preferences by General Practitioners

Abstract

Objective: To estimate general practitioners' (GPs) self-reported exposure, use, and value assessments of different drug information sources, and explore strategies for information seeking in regard to newly approved drugs.

Participants and methods: A self-administered questionnaire was sent to GPs (n = 291) in an urban area of Sweden covering approximately 10% of the Swedish population.

Results: Response rate was 69% (202). More verbal noncommercial information was requested by 61% of the respondents. Two out of the three sources rated as most valuable were noncommercial. Commercial written information was received weekly by 67%. Regarding awareness of new drugs, the top sources were direct mail advertisements and written information from the regulatory authority. Differences in how quickly the GPs would consider prescribing a new drug were reported depending on the drug class. For example, 64% of GPs reported that they would try a new low-sedating antihistamine rather quickly, while only 6% said so regarding a new H2-blocker.

Conclusion: Noncommercial drug information sources have high credibility. GPs would like more verbal noncommercial drug information. Individualized information strategies tailor-made for different drug categories appear to be important.