Survey and evaluation of newsletters marketed to family physicians.
BACKGROUND
Newsletters are marketed to physicians to provide a concise, accurate, and timely overview of the medical literature. The goal of these newsletters seems to be to present information that can be a suitable substitute for reading the original article. The purpose of this paper is to describe and evaluate newsletters pertinent to family physicians.


METHODS
Newsletters appropriate for family physicians were selected by collecting newsletter advertisements and by searching newsletter directories. A 3-month sample and pertinent data were collected from the publishers. Evaluation criteria included accuracy and completeness of the abstracts, scope of coverage of the medical literature, and relevance of article sources.


RESULTS
Eight newsletters were collected and evaluated. Accuracy was high for the evaluated abstracts. Abstract completeness averaged only 70 percent (range 55 percent to 92 percent). The type and source of abstracted articles varied widely among the newsletters.


CONCLUSIONS
Newsletters available to family physicians vary widely; personal evaluation should supplement the results of the evaluation.
Shaughnessy
A F
AF
Family Practice Residency Program, St. Margaret Memorial Hospital, Pittsburgh, PA.
Schlicht
J R
JR
Vanscoy
G J
GJ
Merenstein
J H
JH
D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005194:Family Practice; D006801:Humans; D007255:Information Services; D008389:Marketing of Health Services; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards*; D014481:United States